I’m making decent progress on the cardigan and so far I like how it’s turning out. At this point you can really see how the cables are coming along, nice even twists that will go all the way up to the neckline. You can also see how not screwed up they are. I did screw up a couple of twists, holding the cable needle to the back instead of the front, but the internet taught me how to fix my mistake. I used the video on Wise Owl Knits, tensely watching and pausing at each step along the way.

Pulling out stitches in knitting is terrifying to me. All those tight little loops turn into floppy strands of loose yarn, and it’s very easy to twist everything the wrong way or tangle things up as you try to knit them back together. Well, easy for me, anyway. The floating hands in the knitting tutorials make it look so simple. I seem to have done it all right, though, my sweater looks good again, and I’m a little less terrified of knitting mistakes than I was before. Progress!

On a different note, I’ve been thinking about cursive this week. I heard California passed a law requiring schools to teach cursive. It sounded excessive to me until I learned that pretty much everything schools do is written up in a law somewhere, and this isn’t really any different. Every state already has laws requiring schools to teach reading and writing in general, it seems. I guess it’s just how things get into the curriculum.

Cursive is being specifically mandated because it’s dying. I’m part of the very last generation to really be “native” to cursive writing. I didn’t just learn a bit in elementary school and move on; we spent a lot of time on it because our papers and essays for every other class would be done in cursive. You didn’t need a law about it because people just assumed that teaching writing meant teaching both print and cursive.

Back then, filling out worksheets with long strings of connected letters, I had no idea I was learning a dying art. Looking back, though, I definitely was. All the birthday cards and letters I’ve saved from older relatives are written in cursive, but letters from high school and college friends (this was the 1990s) are a mix. Some in nice printing, some in cursive. Some in print with all lowercase letters. We all seem to have that one friend who won’t use capital letters.

My kids all learned cursive a little in school, but not enough to really read it. They learned it the way we all learned Roman Numerals–enough to recognize them but not enough for them to feel natural. No, instead my kids spent a lot of time learning computers. It was a little sad for me at first, but if I’m honest it’s a smart use of their time.

Now that it’s dying, knowing cursive feels kind of romantic, like knowing a secret language or being part of an older time. I’ve found out there’s a whole history of cursive, with different eras and styles. Since it’s more of a hobby than a necessity now, people choose what they like–Spencerian, Palmer method, Italic–and practice it as calligraphy. I’ve practiced this a bit, and I might get back to it someday. The type I learned in school was apparently Zaner-Bloser cursive, though I had no idea there was any other type, and in my opinion it’s not the prettiest type. It would be cool to write in lovely Copperplate or Spencerian cursive, maybe with a fancy fountain pen. I’m a lefty, which adds a degree of difficulty, but there are other lefties out there who do beautiful cursive so I know it’s possible.

Anyway, I think that’s enough nostalgia for one day. After some downright summerlike weather, it’s finally gotten beautifully cool and cloudy again, so I think I’ll cozy up with a nice cup of tea. Something involving lapsang souchang, I think. Until next time. –Corvus