There's something about ribbing

Do you like ribbing? Or hate it? I'm not sure what my answer is to that. I think normally I would say I'm not a huge fan of ribbing. All that back and forth tends to slow things down. But recently, I've done a few projects that have more than just a bit of ribbing. My Noro Silk Garden top had a nice deep 1x1 ribbing at the raglan neck. I thought it was going to take forever, but I cruised right through it. Then my Noro Iro shrug from Jenny Watson Designer Mini Knits was ALL ribbing. This time 2x2, so in a bulky yarn, it was quick. And my most recent project, finished 2 nights ago, had even more ribbing. (More than you see, since I had to redo the neck twice, since I didn't like how the pattern told me to do it...) This is the KPS #275 Children's Neckdown Bolero in Plymouth Kudo. Ribbing certainly isn't as mindless as garter or stockinette, but it does have such a nice rhythm to it, that it's sort of its own TYPE of mindless.

Tomorrow is our last day of knitting session #2 for the kids at school. This session has been going really well. Suzie and I came up with a plan - a few projects that we thought the kids could finish in a 6 week session. A few of the kids have done really well. They're enthusiastic and aren't concerned with dropped stitches, random increases, etc. They take their knitting home and actually knit a bit during the week. Helen and Sophie knit during the week, because when they are finished their homework, and finished playing and dinner's not quite ready, I remind them that they could knit a few rows. Helen will do it without being reminded. She really likes to create things - and wait until you see what she is doing now. (I'm not helping her at all, and I'm BLOWN away. More about that in another post.)

But Sophie needs to be reminded. Knitting is clearly not her favorite thing to do. In fact, there were 2 days when after school activites (ie: their knitting class) were cancelled due to icy weather. She whooped and hollered and carried on like it was the best present she'd ever received, to NOT have to go to knitting. WTH? (Here she is last Monday knitting a few rows for her bag project. Clearly she would have rather been playing with the stuffed "Hedwig" that is tucked under her arm.)It's okay, she's her own person. Just because I love knitting doesn't mean she has to love it. Anyway, the other day she had finished her "bag" and so she learned how to purl. She practiced the purling and made a little square in stockinette, and she thought it was amazingly fun. More fun than just knitting. Then I was working on my Plymouth Kudo sweater, and she saw the ribbing around the neck and wanted to learn how to do it. So grabbed some Brittany needles and a spare ball of Berroco Pure Merino DK that I had lying around, and I taught her 2x2 ribbing.

Well, there's hope folks. She LOVES the ribbing. I have seen with my own eyes that she has picked up her knitting WITHOUT being reminded and worked on it all by herself. I taught her how to read her stitches, so if she puts it down and then picks it up later, she can look at the next stitch and know exactly what kind it is, a knit or a purl. I have even "caught" her knitting now when she is supposed to be doing homework. And look - proof that at least for now, the knitting has won out over the stuffed animal! Hedwig is nowhere to be seen.So I guess the lesson here is that knitting is surely different for each of us. We're all capable of doing all the different stitches, but of those stitches, some excite us more than others. If you're in a rut, try something new, or go back to something you haven't done in a while. You may be surprised at how much fun you can have.