TrulyGrace

Learning to Knit

This past Monday I learned how to knit, thanks to Eva in the School of Information Sciences Knit Group. The group consists of loosely-knit individuals, all linked by our affiliation to the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences (SIS) and our varying degrees of fondness for knitting and crocheting: The group is organized by Judy Jablonski. Eva first taught me how to "cast on" (which I kept calling "cast off," as my affinity for Irish ceili dance--especially the Waves of Tory--showed); then how to knit, which made more sense to my wee li'l brane. I likened the process of knitting to locking a Prisoner's Lock, a lock composed of rings and a u-shaped bar which requires an algorithm to open and close. I told Eva about a book, Children's Toys from Around the World; and I recalled how my friend Myron Brooker from Ohio made a prisoner's lock for me. I wonder how Myron and his family are doing today.
Today, the SIS Knit group will meet at lunchtime. Some of the Fast Track students will join us for an hour of knitting. It will be fun to practice knitting and to meet more people. The first meeting I went to on Monday I saw my former professor/instructor Arlene Taylor, who is retired and currently editing a book she authored. She was surprised to hear that I was in the Biosciences department, and curious how I use my organizing and cataloging skills there. I received my highest exam marks in her class, Cataloging, while in SIS grad school.
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Last Monday, after the SIS Knit group, I went to the ongoing Newman discussion group on John Paul II's The Theology of the Body. We've been focussing on Genesis for this semester's discussion. Quite an interesting discussion, focussing much on human relations and the various kinds of love (as discussed by Pope Benedict XXVI in his encyclical, and defined by C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves). Various friends from the Newman Center, the Catholic Alumni Club, and the Cathedral choir are also in regular attendance.

posted by Grace @ 3/25/2006 08:06:00 AM