Welcome!

For some time I have been considering whether or not to create a new blog (this blog)  for knitting and academic matters, keeping the old one for writerly things. I still haven't completely made up my mind about this, but I've taken a big step forward today, with a new location and a new look.

First of all, let me make clear that I am not a professor who teaches knitting. I'm a mechanical engineering professor who likes to knit. I teach design and mechanics classes, usually, with an occasional thermodynamics class---or something---for variety. And I have been teaching for a very long time. Decades (plural), in fact.

I learned to knit (and crochet) at my German grandmother's knee when I was five. Knitting has always appealed to me far more than crocheting. The last time I crocheted was about fifteen years ago, shortly after my grandmother passed away, when I finished a lace tablecloth she was making to fit my parents' dining room table with all the leaves added. The last time I knit was last night.

Sweaters are my passion, particularly Arans (a.k.a. fisherman's sweaters), but last year I discovered (or re-discovered, after more than 40 years) that I'm also very fond of knitting socks. I knit them from the toe up, and prefer to knit both socks at the same time, using the Magic Loop method. The pair I completed Friday, for my youngest sister for her birthday, is shown in the photo. I call them "the Purple Socks" for obvious reasons.

I'm also an avid reader, mostly novels, history, and biographies.

Susannah