Continuing Education

I've signed up for a class on entrelac up at the Black Sheep. Now I just have to wait until February 9th. I know I could probably teach myself from a book, or from the directions for Lady Eleanor, the gorgeous entrelac shawl in Scarf Style. (I'd love to post a picture, but it'll have to wait until I start knitting mine. I don't want to poach a picture. Oh, but it's okay to post a link to another blog, right? So you can see a beautiful one here on the Scarf Style knitalong page. I like the ball fringe this knitter used. The one in the book has long knotted fringe, which is lovely, but I think might catch on things.) But I think it'll be fun to learn in a class with an instructor and other knitters. I think I need to practice knitting backwards. I understand that makes entrelac go faster...once you get the backwards knitting thing down.

And Rachel's Contemporary American Lit class sounds like a hit. She had the first class last night and called us briefly, and cheerfully, to tell us about it and then said, "I'm going to go watch Buffy with my suite mates and then go to bed. Love you. Bye!" Now that's the kind of conversation I hope for in a college-going kid. Already this experience is better than Sarah Lawrence, where she was so isolated. (Her dorm there was a converted garage, off campus, and she and her non-compatible roommate were the only freshmen women...) Roommates and suite mates can be annoying at times, but they can also be life-savers and, with luck, good friends. Or at least warm bodies to watch Buffy with. So even though this isn't exactly what she wants to be doing, I am hopeful that she will get some good out of it and perhaps even come to enjoy it. Or parts of it, at least.

Oak Leaf and Acorn is proceeding well. I am not super happy with the way the stitches jog at the join. I almost think I prefer a seamed look...or a three needle bind-off. I think I'll be knitting this scarf again at some point, because it's very pretty. But I may try a different option for joining the two halves. I think I'd like to try it in a heavier yarn, too.

Current Reading

I started George R. Martin's Game of Thrones this morning. Rachel, before she had three tons of college reading dumping on her, was reading this and said it was pretty good. So I'll give it a try. It starts out with three men riding through the woods and running into some deadly supernatural enemies. I wonder how many fantasy novels start this way. I know I've read (or started) at least two others like that.