I've got class

Well, I taught part 1 of the sock knitting course on Wednesday, and I think it went really, really well. Everyone seemed to have fun, and they definitely learned what they needed to learn. Honestly, a lot of the credit for such a successful first class has to go to the students, who caught on to the concepts quickly and did extremely well their first time out with all the new techniques. Huge kudos also go to my baby daughter, who was an absolute ANGEL throughout the whole thing. (Okay, she lost her freakin' mind after the class was finished, but she was perfect during it.) The store and I are trying to arrange a 'make-up' session of the first class with a customer who wants to take the course but who was out of town on Wednesday. Hopefully we'll be able to get that in for her on Monday or Tuesday so she can do the rest of the course with everybody else.

It was the most fun I've ever had 'working' (with the possible exception of being a counsellor at summer camp, which was probably as much fun as this, but not more). Doing something that rocks your world - what a concept! I could totally get used to this! So now I'm trying to find the time to do practice runs of class #2, and I'm starting to put together a schedule for a lace class. The students were also interested in learning how to knit continentally, so apparently I should be planning a class for that, too. :) At the moment, I'm on the maternity portion of my leave, which means I can't earn money without getting my benefits clawed back (I'm getting compensated with yarn instead, which of course is awesome, I have my eye on some Zephyr for starters). But around mid-August, the parental portion of the leave will start, and then I'm allowed to earn some income. Once that happens, this teaching thing will be such a fantastic supplement to our household income. I am so, so grateful to be able to do this.

Cotton lace doily

I've now reached the stage where each row is a slog. If you've ever knit something which increases in size as it goes on, you know whereof I speak. It is definitely coming along, though - I've just finished off the 'petals' and am now working exclusively on the 'background':

Rainbow lace blanket

I've been working on this in little bits here and there. It's growing, but not significantly enough to be photo-worthy.

Wild socks for DD1, foot-pampering socks for moi, and sleep socks for moi

These saw a little bit of action at the sock class as I demonstrated the techniques for knitting socks in the round, but we're not talking a whole lot of project progress.

Tubey for moi

Well, I ripped out everything I'd done and started over with a cast on of 40 stitches instead of 50. Three days later, we are back to having three balls knitted up. I have a completed first sleeve and a second sleeve that's probably about a third of the way down my arm. The fit is much, much better.

Bayerische socks for moi

I came across these yesterday while in our workroom and came to the conclusion that even though technically they do fit my legs, the stretch is truly too much and I should be making them bigger. So I'm going to rip out everything I've done so far and cast on again with 2.75mms instead of 2mms. It's a lot of work to destroy, but since the point is to have usable socks at the end of the process, it's gotta be done.