Because Lydia asked...

this is the best description I can give about how to maintain an even tension on a cotton yarn.

Normally, I tension yarns by simply having them looped over my right index finger (I'm a "thrower" and I knit by "flicking" that finger and catching the loose yarn around the needle). For the cotton, I find if I wrap the yarn twice around the finger (rather than just holding it looped about halfway, like I usually do with a wool) and then also hold that bad boy in place by folding my ring and pinky fingers over the yarn as it comes into my hand off the ball. This seems to keep the tension stable but it can be stressful on the hands. It does help, I find, to either balance my right elbow on a pillow (or a Boppy; I have a Boppy my mom gave me years ago. And despite what the website looks like, they're not just for nursing/coddling babies). Or I knit with my hands down closer to my lap. That seems to help with the hand pain for me.

Well, the demonstrations seemed to help in class today. And I also found a little online quiz about "how much water does it take to produce...". (I will say I'd like to see some kind of citation given for their numbers; I trust them because they're USGS but I'd like to see some discussion of whether that figure for hamburger is for one hamburger, or a pound, or a whole cow's worth...) I think I'll need to do that with this class - start off with some kind of interactive thing most days to break the ice.

I have a cool/devious thing lined up for the day we do cell membranes....they get wrapped candy but they only get to eat it after they figure out how a "cell" (plastic Wal-Mart bag) would "eat" it.

I've gotta keep scanning the Access Excellence site and the other one I posted yesterday for ideas to use.

I really do think last spring, all the crap going on in my personal life (worries about my dad, worries about other people, feelings of being overworked and unappreciated in my volunteer stuff) was spilling over and affecting my teaching. I'm much happier and more energetic now. I just hope I can keep it up once Youth Group and AAUW and everything else start up and all the busy-ness hits the fan....