Gull antics & tandem knitting

It's Wednesday, so Teen Knitting Club and bird photos. The sun angle was wrong for all the good shots I wanted to take, so instead we have a few gulls being gulls and a trio of young pelicans.

Knitting club was wild today. A pesky girl came in and waved knitting needles around and I used The Voice and ejected her. She came back and I made her choose between sitting and leaving (she sat). All those years of voice lessons have paid off -- I can project a totally intimidating authoritarian voice and then go right back to tandem knitting and encouraging uncertain newbies. I have clear memories of being marched up to the principal's office at that school...

Had a lot of newcomers and most of the regulars. DD taught more spinners using her Bosworth spindles and Grafton batts. Each of the girls who could knit had two or three girls to teach, and I worked with three at a time. A bunch of boys came in wanting to learn how to knit socks, but we were using all our needles and I simply didn't have enough hands. They'll be back -- I showed them the pair I had on and they were intrigued.

Tandem knitting is wonderful, now that I've bent my brain around it. First, I show the kid how to knit, sitting facing her and knitting as if it were her hands knitting. Then as it starts to make sense, I let her choose a needle to hold and I do the rest. By the end of the row, she has both needles and the yarn under her control and I'm just the coach.

I added a few beads to the bag for DD's Spanish teacher. I knit a quick hat for Coach, just crossing cables at the top, symmetrically this time since it's quick and he's that kind of guy. We've put an assortment of tea bags in one purse, a can of Scharffen Berger cocoa in the second, and shortbread in the third (each teacher's favorite). I have three balls of merino yarn wrapped for the teacher who comes to TKC, and we put bags of chocolate-covered espresso beans in the guys' hats. Now, it's just two gifts for our favorite librarians and a few for friends, lip balm and soaps for DD's girlfriends, and a few pairs of socks for The Ships Project. Oh, and swatching for the three KAL's that start in January. Ack!