Tuesday night I had a dream
that I taught a man to waltz and he then asked me to marry him. (The man in question is a B television actor
who shall remain nameless … and blameless.) That is the extent of the dream.
On Wednesday I told my
students in my “Knit Fingerless Mitts” class at Interquilten this dream. It
got a chuckle. I added, “Everyone should
know how to waltz!” To which Pat
replied, “And everyone should know how to polka!”
Too true! I often use the waltz and the polka to
explain the concept of take-up tension on spinning wheels. A low take-up tension is like a waltz; a
strong take-up tension is more like a polka.
Wednesday night as I was
falling asleep, I was thinking about waltzes and polkas. My mind started to see different knit stitch
patterns for the two dances. Doesn’t the
traditional “Feather and Fan” stitch make you think of a waltz? And I think of bobbles when I think of polkas.
Then my mind really got
revved up with this stitch-dance pairing. Here are some more dance forms that I would
like to, someday, translate into knitting:
Tango, Contra, Minuet, Morris, Square, Fox Trot, Rumba, Danzón, Swing, Jig, Strathspey, Schottische...
I could go on….
One more note about the
Wednesday knitting class. I had three
students: Pat, Claudia, and Julia. Julia is eleven, about to turn twelve. And she is crazy about knitting. What a treat!
I got everyone started with the mitt pattern last week, and I told them
to go as far as they want to before the second session. At that second session on Wednesday, Julia
stunned everyone by bringing in two finished mitts (nearly) and a third one
started! Now that’s precociousness defined! Tawni, the owner of Interquilten, took a picture of Julia with her mitts:
Julia is all personality and inspiration. I enjoyed being in class with her. And I love, love, love the fingerless mitt pattern.
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