Shake out those hands!

Please read Verna's comment to yesterday's post. She earned the CTS badge the hard way and has some excellent tips and advice we should all follow. :::shaking out hands::: Verna also has multiple Alden Amos wheels so is ultra-motivated to retain as much use of her hands as she can.

It's Wednesday, Teen Knitting Club day at DD's school. The kids are so fun at this age, sass and melancholy and curiosity and faux sophistication all mixed in a tumble inside. I went to that school, too, and was miserable, which I have told the kids, and they find it fascinating that I was a nerd like them (and still am, and am still comfortable with it). There are only the tiniest bits of innocence left; kids *know* so much more nowadays, but they haven't really experienced it yet so it's a hollow, tentative knowledge. All of this flows out while they're sitting around knitting. I wonder how many of their parents actually listen to them?

Today we made more pom-poms, definitely an excellent ice-breaker for the newer knitters. The confident knitters knit happily, chatting away. I brought that blue fulled messenger bag and a pile of PH chunky and we discussed bag shapes and how we want to go about knitting a bag as a group. I got permission from the vice principal to meet outside on sunny days -- I'll get the kids to make a fun meet-on-the-lawn sign to hang on the door of the classroom. And DD walked in crying, unable to speak, so after club I signed her out and we got a ride home. Time for more ginger tea and chicken soup. [There were no curlews on the shore today so here's a handsome bobbing willet.]

And since it's Wednesday and glorious out, we have bird photos! I realize a person doesn't really think of vultures as being shorebirds, but they thrive here and fill a very important niche. Our local pair of young vultures had two dead birds and a dead fish scattered along the beach. They don't quite know what to do when there is enough for both of them to eat; they are so accustomed to squabbling over the carrion. The parents are rather distant, but these youngsters are fun. They don't make any noise, or they haven't responded out loud to my talking yet, but they communicate clearly with body position and Significant Looks. Real sweeties, for vultures anyway.

This Koigu mitt is what I was knitting on my walk. Another pair for DD, who showed off the cabled pair at club today. This will be a basic pattern, fingertips up, and I'll post it when complete. Sure a lot quicker without all the fussy cables!