one down, one to go

And so my friends, it is true.  My knitting addiction is back, but not without reason.  I honestly have been doing my very best to intentionally stay out of all fabric stores and yarn shops since coming to Borås; but, this past week, when I was invited to attend the ladies sewing club at church, I caved.  Shortly after accepting the offer, I found myself wandering down the craft aisle of the local Eko department store fingering the balls of wool and sizing up the needles.  After examining the store’s selection, I picked out a plump ball of raspberry-violet wool and some size 7 needles.  It was not long after cycling home that I was casting on.  Knit two.  Pearl two.  Knit two.  Pearl two.  And that was the start of my mitten. 

Several days later, my mitten was half done and it was time to venture out to the ladies sewing club.  I was picked up at twenty past six, and after a short drive, warmly welcomed into a roomful of woman.  Each lady had brought her own project—some cross-stitching, some sewing, and some knitting.  What ensued was a delightful evening of chatter and crafting mixed with a good measure of tea and a healthy dose of Scandinavian treats.  By the end of the evening, I had met about a dozen new people, picked up a few new Swedish phrases, and my mitten was near completion.  One down, one to go.  

In other news, this past week was rather monumental in terms of my teaching career.  This week, I had the pleasure of conducting my first-ever parent-teacher conferences.  Overall, they went well, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to meet the parents and discuss my students’ goals.  I thought it was funny though that the most common question I got from parents was something to the effect of, “so you now know what a gaffel and kniv is, right?”  I typically responded with little smile, and held up my pen—“this is a gaffel, right?”  It’s funny the stories that kids decide to share at home.