Dear Bully,

I had a really great experience, recently.  Like all great experiences, it was accomplished with a fair bit of nerves, a lot of mental swearing, and the need for a cold beer and an enchilada afterwards, but that’s the price you pay, you know?

I just taught my first class.  I know!  It was the Grrlfriend Market Bag (Ravelry link).  I’m not going to lie to you, the first hour of the first class was one of the most (as my mother always puts it) character building experiences of my life.  There were a lot of DPNs hitting the floor, is all I’m saying, and a lot of curses muttered under people’s breath. My students were incredibly patient with me, and I did my best to live up to their patience.  I am, shall we say, frequently opinionated about some things.  I had to learn to take a step back and remember to say "well, this is how I did it, but if that’s the way that works for you, then that’s the way you should do it."  I had to rip back some truly impressive tangles.

But you know what?  By the second class, everything was coming together.

It might have helped that the air conditioning was working again, but all of a sudden?  People were actually having fun.  We remembered that we actually like knitting, that we do it because we enjoy it.  That they were taking the class because they wanted to learn something new, and that I actually was there because I wanted to teach it.   Um.  And Marianne was definitely having more fun than most.

These pictures were of the bags that were actually finished that evening, and I hope to get some more to add as some of my other (fantastic) students complete theirs.

(I love how Carol looks like she has the ultimate knitting halo here.)

(Kim looks really proud here, doesn’t she?)

Thanks to all of my wonderful students, who were more patient with me and themselves than I had any right to expect. 

Love,

Emily