How many is too many?

It's a trick question.  The answer is, "there is no such thing as too many"... projects to bring when you are out for a day, a week, or more.

I take you back to the other day when it was time to bring Thing #2 to school.  The drive is less than two hours. That means approximately four hours of car time mixed with random acts of knitting should we hang around at all.

Since I was swatching for two upcoming design projects, I would bring those yarns and several needle sizes.  That was easy if not particularly time consuming.

The next project is a design in process, boot toppers.  They were nearly done. I'm knitting them in Ultra Alpaca Light (Sport: 50% Alpaca, 50% Wool, 144 yards).

May I say at this point I felt very responsible and productive bringing my time sensitive knitting.  It just didn't feel like enough.  Nothing I was bringing was very time consuming.  This is assuming I finished everything I brought. 

I decided to throw in the Bandana Cowl that I'm knitting in Malabrigo Merino Worsted (Worsted: 100% Merino, 210 yards). 

Here are the results of the trip:
1. Swatch completed.
2. Couldn't work on swatch #2 since we were using my phone's gps and I needed the stitch dictionary on said phone. (For those of you saying "work the cable without a cable needle"... don't like to do that. On a small needle and it would've been fiddly at best.
3. No cable needle for boot toppers.  Curses, foiled again.  I had paired down bags for this journey.  Note to self: don't do that.  More is MORE.
4. Thank goodness I brought the Bandana Cowl.  I would have been without knitting!

Moral of the story: 1. Make mini notions kits for each project and put it in the project bag. 2. Bring as many projects as my little heart desires.

Aha Moments in Knitting Class

Lately in my classes, I've been asking students (at the end of the class) what their big Aha! moment was.  It's been very interesting for me as a teacher and for the students as a group.

In this weekend's Building Blocks Afghan class several of the students were on the block that introduces lace knitting: yarnovers and leaning decreases. Here's what they had to say:

Janice: "Not to get nervous about two yarnovers near each other leaving holes." She thought she did something wrong until she understood the purpose of the yarnover/decrease in a pattern.

Mary Ellen: She joined us for the first time today and hadn't knit in a while.  I loved her Aha! moment. "You can get back into knitting. I rediscovered the zen of knitting."

Annie's Catalog

 Louise: She was knitting into the back of her stitches. "I was knitting the wrong way.  I learned how to knit the stitches properly and they look better.  It does make a difference."

Mary Y.: Hers was more a "Tada" than and "Aha".  She was on block six and it was giving her a tough time.  She had finished one row. Tada. ;)

 Robbie: Her aha moment came from the realization that "I learned a lot in the Exploration Station shawl I knit prior to this class and it really prepared me for the yarnovers in this square."

Lionbrand

Mary S.: That the different ways you can decrease a stitch: k2tog, ssk, skp, k2togtbl, affect how they learn.  Specifically in this block: k2tog leans to the right and k2togtbl (through back loop) leans to the left.

I'd love to hear your Aha moments.