Boys Knit

Knitting 101 with Eliza-Jane (Kingman watching intently - his locs look great!)

12-year-old Eliza-Jane has been knitting since she was 5-years-old

A selection of beautiful yarn

Eliza-Jane instructing the class-"I'm not waiting to shine," reads her business cards

 It was my friend Teresa who first taught me that boys can and should knit.  Her children attended Waldorf Schools and participated in all kinds of art and handwork as a part of their education.  So when the chance came for my son to take a knitting class taught by another homeschooler, I jumped at the chance.  It helped that two other boys were also enrolled in the class.  We are now hooked because we had awesome teachers!  During class today Zion commented to one of the moms that he felt like an "old woman" knitting.  She gently reminded him that the ancient practice of creating Kente Cloth in Ghana is done by the men of the village.  Oh yes, African men use their hands to do good and purposeful work.  Making your own scarf falls into that category.  The next class we're making hats and Kingman is ready for the challenge.  In the meantime, we're going to start researching male weavers and cloth makers from Africa.

Ghanian Kente Cloth Weaver

"Yarns for weaving come in a variety of forms and qualities. In the past yarns were either spun from locally grown cotton or unraveled from cotton and silk cloths imported from Europe and Asia. Today, factory made cotton, silk or spun rayon yarns are obtained from factories in Ghana and outside Ghana. Various colors of yarns may be combined in particular ways to reflect the symbolic significance of the cloth. Quality of yarns used in weaving a particular cloth reflects on the level of prestige associated with the cloth. Silk yarns are usually considered the most prestigious and are therefore the most highly valued. Silk cloth, in the past were reserved for royalty and the wealthy. An average width of a strip is 4 inches. Several strips are carefully arranged and hand-sewn together (some weavers use sewing machines in recent times) to obtain a desired size. Tradition has it that Kente is woven mainly by men. Women, in the past, played a significant role by spinning raw cotton into yarns, dying yarns into desired colors, sewing strips together to form large cloths and assisting in the marketing of the cloths. Today, factory spun yarns have replaced hand-spun yarns, and therefore, the woman's role is mainly in the area of sewing strips together and marketing the cloth."

 source: http://kente.midwesttradegroup.com/history.html

Boys to Men: A Coach's Job

LeBron James, the Fab-5 and Coach Dru

 First Penn State Football, now Syracuse Basketball is in the news with another scandal involving sexual molestation and our sons.  As the mother of an athlete who plays travel soccer and now AAU basketball, these stories trouble me deeply.  Coaches are an important figure in the lives of young males, even more so for males who do not have a father or strong male figure in the home.  So it was probably no accident that a mom from my son's soccer team recommended I check out the documentary More Than a Game.  This was a moving, edge-of-the-seat exciting documentary about the life of LeBron James and the formation of the "Fab-5," a loving moniker for he and his four best friends.  These young men grew up facing all kinds of adversity, but it was the game of basketball, more importantly, the coach that helped them find their way.  Their victory wasn't just about the state championship or becoming the #1 basketball team in the country.  The Fab-5 became a family and the coach like a father.  That was the real victory, because without that sense of stability, nothing else would have been possible in their lives. What moved me most about the documentary was Coach Dru Joyce's realization that his mission was not just to win the game, but to transform these "boys into men."  How profound! There are all kinds of lessons in this film.  As I reflect on this photo of my son in a huddle during his first AAU game, I pray that his coaches have already come to that realization. If you have an athlete in your home, no matter the sport, this is a must see film.

Slam Jam Hoyas - KingMan in the electric blue Nikes