Oh, hi

Well, thank you for checking in. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Currently feeling a bit like a big snowball rolling downhill, gathering debris & more snow as it gains momentum.

The school year is coming to a close. Seniors have one more week. Graduation will be the following Friday. In the meantime, the seniors' last week is also the week we are doing End of Course (EOC) testing (those state tests that determine whether we're leaving children behind). This coming week will be a bit of a mess. All of the testing is going to be done in my room and the adjoining math classroom; the rooms are separated by a heavy curtain that will be pushed open.  The kids are allowed at least 2 class periods to take each test, so during testing, not only will I be booted out of my room every day (except the 2 days of math tests), but everyone who is not testing is going to remain in their 2nd hour class for 2 hours, then in their 5th hour class for 2 hours, so we don't have people moving around and disturbing those who are testing.  I can keep my 5th hour busy for 2 hours every day; there are only 5 students, and 4 of them are seniors. They are in the highest-level math course we offer, and have some extensive reviewing to do before they take their final exam on Thursday. But 2nd hour is a whole different story. They are not in an EOC tested course, or we could use the extra time for review. I teach another section of the same course, and I will not see those students at all next week, as they are in my 6th hour class. So 2nd hour has 10 hours of class while 6th hour has none. I'll have to figure out some way to keep them busy and learning, even though we will probably have to meet in the library or computer lab. Oh, computer lab, you say -- there must be math things they can do on the computer. Probably so -- I'll just have to figure out what, since we haven't been using the computers much.

My daughter will be graduating from college this coming Friday, then there's a wedding for one of her friends on Saturday. These events are approximately 150  miles apart. Son graduates from high school the following Friday. Then we have one more week of school. Please do not begin to think that I will be lying by the pool (if I had one) for 3 months until school starts again. There is so much to do over the summer for school -- it contributes to that snowball feeling.

Actual knitting content:
Who has time to knit? Really, days go by and I don't touch the knitting. But I have been trying to get in a little "sanity break" with some knitting the past few days. I received my Loopy Ewe May sock club shipment yesterday, and wound the yarn immediately. I cast on for the scarf project this morning. Well, I wasn't going to, since I have so many works-in-progress, but when I checked my needles, I did have the recommended size available, so it must have been meant to happen, right? I am making the scarf rather than the socks because I saw so many pretty lace scarves/shawls at the Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling 2 weekends ago. My roommate (hi, Mel!) had a whole wardrobe of them with her. So I decided I need to make some.

Spring Fling was wonderful, of course. Sheri is a master event planner. A whole weekend of knitting, Starbucks coffee, knitting classes, a trip to shop at The Loopy Ewe, meeting like-minded people from all over the US and several foreign countries (at least those who got out before flights were grounded by volcanic ash). I forgot my camera, though, so no pics. There are several with me in them on the Spring Fling Flickr group, and one on Sheri's blog. (Scroll down to the 5th picture. That's me in the foreground, exhausted from yarn shopping!) The class I took was taught by Jared Flood (brooklyntweed). It was a seamless sweater class. He's a very good teacher. I enjoyed the class, and will be trying some of his suggestions as I work on the sweaters that I currently have on the needles, as well as future projects.

One of those on-the-needles sweaters is the youth-sized sweater for Afghans for Afghans. Unfortunately, I am not going to meet the new deadline. But I have finished the body, worked in the round to the armholes. I have a partial sleeve, too, as I decided to work on that a few days ago. Hmm - I haven't incorporated Jared's short-row shaping into the sweater body. I wonder if it would be fewer short-rows for a smaller sweater.  I'll have to look at the sweater directions I'm following (Jacqueline Fee's Sweater Workshop, basic sweater) and see how she does the shoulder & back-neck shaping, and maybe try the short-rows instead.

I finished the Tweed Baby Blanket at the Spring Fling. I haven't run in the ends or blocked it yet, though.

Then I made replacement soles for my Felted Clogs. Haven't sewn them up & felted them yet. This is an experiment -- the outer layer of the soles was starting to get holes, and then the puppy helped improve the holes. So I thought I'd try knitting and felting a new outer layer, snipping off the old one, and attaching the new one. And I have the pieces of a pair of French Press Felted Slippers completed, but not sewn together or felted.  It seems that my to-do list should be pretty obvious.

It is a beautiful sunny day here in Southeast Missouri. About 65 degrees F for a high temp today. The past few days have been around 80 degrees.  I hope your weather is good, too, and if not, that you can curl up with your knitting & enjoy a quiet day at home.
Our first iris appeared last weekend; lots more have bloomed in the past week.

Talking about weather reminded me about Prom last Saturday. The weather went bad, and just to ensure this would be a Prom nobody would forget, we had to evacuate to the storm shelter sometime before 10 p.m., as the tornado siren was blaring.  Too bad there's no sound system in there -- we could have plugged in someone's ipod and continued dancing.  I think the dj packed up and left at that point, so prom was over an hour early. They were anticipating another round of bad weather later, but it passed by on either side of us. This is my son and his date. The prom theme was "A Night Under the Stars". The junior class and their sponsors did a wonderful job transforming the (unairconditioned) gym for the event. Just realized he's standing in the stream.

Yum!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Catching up

My high school history/government teacher said that we use the word "up" too much, that it is redundant in most cases. I don't think a post titled "Catching" would make much sense, though.

Over a month has gone by since my last post. It's been a busy time. The Olympic knitting project was a fail. [But Afghans for Afghans is doing a part 2 for their youth campaign, with an early May deadline. Maybe I can get the sweater done by then.] Progress to date:

The February KAL for the Loopy Ewe Spring Fling was also a fail. This is as far as I got. And there's a mistake in it -- I'm missing a stitch on the top of the foot, all the way up. So I'll either have to repeat the mistake on the 2nd sock or rip this out and have a do-over.

Not that either of those incomplete projects has kept me from starting at least one more. In this case, it's the March KAL for Spring Fling: a Jared Flood (brooklyntweed) pattern. I chose the Tweed Baby Blanket. The center is all garter stitch, done on the diagonal. Really not too bad. I'm on the more mindless decreasing part, so I don't even have to count stitches anymore.

A week ago, we got home from a week-long ski trip in Winter Park, CO. My husband and I hadn't skied in about 20 years, and the kids had never skied. We had lessons for a couple of days, then took a day off, then skied the next 3 days. I spent most of my time following the 17-year-old (boy child) down the mountain as fast as he could go. Practicing his turns, of course, but no stopping to rest until we got back to the bottom of the chair lift. Legs burning. Whew. It was a great week. I think when I grow up, I want to move to Colorado and be a ski instructor. What? It could happen. Our instructor was retired from something like 30 years as an accountant. I'd need to stock up on sunscreen, though. Here's the whole gang, day 2: me, my husband, his brother, the kids.

School is in upheaval again. For the second year in a row, we have lost or gotten rid of the high school principal. This one intended to at least finish out the year, but something happened while I was in Colorado, and he left. My son, who is a senior this year, has had a different principal every year he's been in high school. Last year's mess could be counted as 3 principals in one year: the new one who started the year, the one who filled in after he left, and the one who was hired at the end of March to finish the year, who moved to the elementary school to be the principal there this year. Now he's having to do double-duty with the middle-school principal and a third administrator to cover the high school for the remainder of the year. Fortunately, all 3 schools are on the same campus, within easy walking distance.

[Just to clarify: our ski vacation was scheduled for Spring Break. Unfortunately, Mother Nature provided us with snow days that had to be made up, so Spring Break turned into make-up days. So school was in session and my poor students had to muddle along without me, with a "mean" sub who made them work all week.]

Grades were due last Monday by the end of the school day. I did take stuff with me to Colorado, and did some work, but it was an intense couple of days getting grades in. No time for frivolities like knitting or reading email. So I'm also catching up on my ridiculous amount of unread email. As well as planning lessons, writing curriculum.... oh, and I should get started on the taxes, too, I suppose. :-(

Happy Valentine's Day

Olympic Knitting

Before the opening ceremonies, I gathered my yarn, needles, and books:

Here's my progress, after 3 hours.

It would have been about twice as much, but I misinterpreted the directions for left twist (LT): "K the second st tbl, then k the first st and sl both sts off needle." I stuck my right needle into the back loop of the second stitch from the front of the work (going between the 1st and 2nd sts), to knit that stitch, then knit the first st, and slipped them off the needle. Didn't look right, but I persevered. Three rounds later, I decided to try putting my needle into the back loop of the 2nd stitch from the back of the work to knit that stitch, then knit the first stitch and slip them both off. Ah, that looks better. So did I stop at that point, rip back & redo the first twist round? No. I plowed on, did 3 more rounds, telling myself that it wouldn't look too bad. On the third twist round, I decided it really didn't look too good, so I tried fixing one by laddering down and working back up. Bad idea. Next step: rip it back to the first twist round. So I wasted about an hour and a half. Oh, well. I'm much happier with the way it looks now.

This morning, I finished the bottom of the sweater (not really ribbing, not a hem -- what do I call it?), increased from 90% to 100% of my stitches, went up two needle sizes, and started the stockinette body of the sweater.

I started a pair of socks for the February Spring Fling KAL. These are Wendyknits' Mock Cable Socks. Notice that they have twisted stitches, too. I have been taking the stitches off the needles, switching them (right or left, depending on where they should go) and then knitting them. Time consuming. I'm wondering if I can do LT and RT instead. I'm an old pro at RT (right twist: knit two together leaving sts on LH needle, then knit first stitch again, slip both sts off left needle). I figured there should be a similar procedure for LT, and now that I have learned it, I think I'll try doing the twists instead of the cables on this sock.

A recent post on ScoutJ's blog led me to this pattern: Rosemary Hill's Brandywine Shawl. She is donating $5 from each pattern sold to Haitian relief efforts. While watching the new version of "We are the world" last night, I told my husband I had donated to Haitian relief by purchasing a knitting pattern, and he just reacted with a facepalm.

Oh, and in the "completely random" category, Mock Homecoming 2010. My favorite high school senior and his mother (doesn't look a thing like me, does he?):

Snow Day!

At this rate, we'll be in school till June. For some of you, this may be a cause for confusion, as you're always in school till June. We started school on August 19th, a good 2 1/2 weeks before the traditional after-Labor-Day start that seems to be more common on the East and West coasts. For whatever reason, our district never builds snow days into the calendar. They tease us with Spring Break, then take it away to make up missed days. Our total so far this year: 2 1/2 days in October for flu, one day the following week for flooding, 4 days the first week of January (2 for a "boil water" order in town, 2 for snow/ice), last Friday and today for snow. We had school on MLK day, and will have school on Presidents' Day. That makes up 2 of the 9 1/2. Four more will come from Spring Break (they're letting us keep the Friday). That leaves 3 1/2 which I guess will be tacked on to the end of the school year. Looks like May 25th could be our last day. God willin' and the crick don't rise. And that's happened, too. We've already missed one day due to flooding in October. Spring rains could cause more of that. Que sera, sera.

I received a plea from Afghans for Afghans. They're conducting a youth campaign right now. They need sweaters, vests, socks and mittens for 7 - 14 year olds. Apparently, they have plenty of hats. Deadline is early March.

I have decided to kill several birds with one stone. I wanted an Olympic knitting challenge, and this is it -- a sweater for an Afghan youth. I have some wool yarn that a friend gave me years ago. I should have enough to make a sweater with a 34" chest (stash reduction). Now, for a pattern: I have never made the Basic Crew from Jaqueline Fee's Sweater Workshop, and this seems like the ideal time for it. So I have already swatched (pats self on the back) and filled out my "Gauge Page". I don't care for the 2x2 ribbing at the bottom of the sweater and the sleeves, so I have to figure out what to do instead. I think I'll still use the 90% of key number cast-on (key number is gauge x chest circumference) and the 2-sizes-smaller needle, but some other kind of edging. I have Nikki Epstein's Knitting on the Edge; I should be able to find something in there that will work.



Meanwhile, I have finished Tudor Grace (photo above), and am starting the Spring Fling February challenge, a Wendyknits pattern. This will be the Mock Cable Socks from Socks from the Toe Up, in Trekking XXL color 147 (wine).

Proportions

Or, you just might use that math you learned in high school.

I am currently working on the Tudor Grace pattern by Anne Hanson. It is the January KAL project for The Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling. I was fortunate enough to get a spot at this year's Fling, to be held April 22-25 in St. Louis. I didn't get to go last year, but I did attend the first one the year before. I was the last person to arrive, Friday evening. This time, I'm skipping school on Friday and going to St. Louis on Thursday evening.

Back to the title of the post: the pattern calls for 43 6-row repeats. I would like to use as much of my yarn as possible. So I have been weighing the yarn ball & counting the number of repeats that I have completed. Using proportions, I can figure out how many more repeats I should be able to do.

I have been teaching proportions recently, in fact, in one of the courses I teach. Now, when students ask when they're ever going to use this, I'm just not sure the knitting-to-the-end-of-the-yarn example is going to do anything for them. Probably just result in a bunch of blank stares.

My yarn is Socks That Rock Lightweight in the Lenore colorway.
The scarf is now about three times the length shown in this picture.

I meant to do 2 6-row repeats per day, so I would finish well before the end of January, but I'm behind already! It's still do-able, though.

I just realized this picture was taken one morning after the chocolate lab puppy had apparently tried to knit while I was asleep. She chewed the cable of my needle in two. I repaired it with electrical tape. Not a good repair, but I'm knitting back-and-forth, so it hasn't really affected me. I will probably never be able to use this needle for a circular project again, though. The bit of yarn above the needle in the picture was very stiff and smelled like dog breath. I removed it.

Winter Lace Project

I am working on approximately a dozen or more projects, as usual. I just dropped in to invite anyone reading this to join a new Yahoo Group; Andrea of BadCatDesigns is going to do a KAL for a Pi shawl (circular, using Elizabeth Zimmermann's Pi shaping). The charts will be posted at SnowQueenShawl. She'll be closing the group when membership reaches 400, so get over there! Description from the group site:
BadCatDesigns Winter 2010 group project! This project uses Elizabeth Zimmerman's formula for a Pi shawl construction and original charts designed specifically for this project. This project is going to be technically advanced for lace knitters looking for something fun and a bit different.

I have ordered yarn from ColourmartUK, a cashmere/silk/merino blend in light grey. Seemed Snow-Queenish to me. Who knows if I'll actually knit along or not? I have joined so many knit-alongs over the years, and I'm not sure I've ever completed a project with a group. Some never even got cast on. But I do have intentions of eventually making most of these projects. Eventually. Ha. Did I mention eventually, or some day? Notice the lack of explicit time reference in there.

Snowed In

Not really snowed in, but we checked highway conditions between here and home and decided to stay another day. For the 1st half of our trip, the map shows that the roads are partially covered. And the snow continues to fall, here. So we may be here longer than Plan B dictates. The boys are out trying to start the vehicle right now. Not sure what's wrong. We went to the movies last night (Sherlock Holmes) along with many other "idjits" out on the snowy roads. It was a good (well, I was going to say 10 degrees colder, then looked at the thermometer) 6 or 7 degrees colder last night, and it started just fine. They have decided they're tired of sitting around and need to go to Home Depot. Oh, I just heard it start. Love that diesel engine. ;-) Ugh, the youngest mechanic just came in and said they're going to buy new batteries while they're out. It takes 2, and not the least expensive ones.

Stream-of-consciousness blogging ... what do you think?

Merry Christmas!

We are on stop #2 of our whirlwind tour of the families. We had a wild family gathering at my parents' house yesterday. My sister and her husband and 3 children, my brother and his wife and 2 children, my husband and I and our 2 children, my parents and my aunt (mom's sister). Gift exchange was rather wild -- like a swarm of locusts. Dad came through a few times with a trash bag so we wouldn't be buried under the wrapping paper flying everywhere.

We left this morning and are now at my mother-in-law's house. It's a bit quieter here -- my children are the only ones here right now. Their cousins are at their mother's house until later, or tomorrow. Their father, my husband's brother, is here. He keeps things hopping.

It has been snowing here for awhile, and the temp is down to 17 F. White Christmas! (And the movie "White Christmas" is showing on AMC right now.)

I made a pair of socks for my 9-year old niece. But I started a little late. Finished sock #1 on Tuesday, but it looked fat, and the toe was too pointy. Soldiered on and started sock #2 Tuesday evening, finishing after dinner Wednesday, before dessert and the above-mentioned wild gift exchange. But I had decided to make some changes so sock #2 wouldn't look as fat as sock #1. I had done an eye-of-partridge heel flap, and since it draws up more than the slip-stitch heel, I did more rows to make the flap the right length. The problem is that the gusset is then that many stitches wider (5 on each side, in my case), making the sock circumference that much bigger. I corrected this on sock #2 by doing the same number of rows I would have done with a regular heel stitch, so I had the right number of gusset stitches, and a much better looking sock. But it didn't match the first sock, so I had to rip out the first sock, back to the heel flap. By some miracle, I did get the sock finished by just after 11 pm last night and was able to leave it there for my niece to pick up (my brother's family lives near my parents). The one sock that was finished in time did seem to fit perfectly, however, which is an enormous relief. I made the sock based on the specifications in The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns for an 8-year-old child to Women's Small (that's one size) instead of my usual (getting foot measurements and knitting to those) and it worked!

Twelve Days of Christmas

Just because I am seeing so many 12 Days of Christmas promotions, contests, etc. I thought I'd point out to anyone who might care that the 12 days of Christmas start on Christmas day, not on December 1st, or December 12th, or 13th.

Carry on.

Miscellaneous, with tomatoes

Maybe I can forgive my less-knowledgeable younger self. The squares for the Manos afghan have different row gauges, anywhere from 22 to 28 rows to 4". And yes, that first square with the most rows is the one with the 28 rows to 4". That makes me feel a little better. But the biggest row gauge is the staghorn cable square, not the light blue beaded rib square. I still haven't figured out what to do with the knot in the back of that staghorn cable square. The ends aren't long enough to undo the knot and weave them. I could pick out the row joining that square to the 4th one, and rip, do a felted join, then reknit and graft the squares back together.

I planted tomatoes today, finally (with much labor performed by my son and husband).

They're in Earth Boxes, which I have used for several years. They seem to work really well. This year I have cherry tomatoes, Better Boy, Celebrity, and Beefsteak tomatoes. I never can remember from year to year which varieties I've tried & which grew well, or which I preferred the flavor of. The large plant in the back box is either catnip or mint which survived the winter and started growing without any human intervention. The marker next to the stalk says catnip, but it smells minty.

The kids are in the kitchen (after 10 pm) baking a cake so their father will have something to eat for breakfast. Yes, really. What good children ;-). I don't suppose they'll wash those dishes, though

Manos mess

I'm already sorry I dragged this Manos throw out yesterday to try to finish it.

I started looking at the different sizes of squares, and then started counting rows. Out of seven completed squares, 2 have matching row counts. That would be the top one on the left, and the bottom one on the right. Believe it or not, the short squatty square on the bottom left has more rows than any of the others. And the huge light blue square above it has the fewest rows - 12 less than the square below it! I have clearly grown in my knitting and thinking abilities since I started this project a bazillion years ago (seriously, at least 10). How did I think I was going to attach a square with 33 garter ridges to one with 37 garter ridges? Didn't think, that's what. And then, in the middle of my inspection/ridge counting, I found a knot in the middle of the back of the herringbone patterned square (left, second from the top). Why would I have done that? I could have spliced it with a felted join, and just continued knitting like the problem never existed.

I'm trying to decide what to do. I could probably fudge the seams. And the 5 squares that I still have to knit can be knit to match the row counts of the squares beside them. But that knot....

Finished!

In some sort of order, my finished objects include:

• my testing for certification to teach high school math
• the Lacy Chunky Throw, and
  
  
• my second year of teaching.

It got a little crazy there toward the end, but I persevered.

Also finished: my husband's tour in Iraq. He is HOME!

If I were a more introspective person, I would summarize the past year, or even the 4 months or so since I blogged last. But I don't think I'll do that right now. I just wanted to let you know I'm still here, and even doing a little knitting.

Well, that can't be good

We heard a loud crashing noise on Saturday, and looked out to see this:

There's a tractor, baler, and mower under there somewhere. I called the after-hours claims department for the insurance. One of their local offices just got their electricity back yesterday, and I'm sure there are people with much more pressing concerns. We have a roof over our heads, lost power for only two hours Tuesday evening. Today is snow day #6 from this storm. We'll be in school till the 4th of July at this rate. Not really -- at some point the state "forgives" the missed days. There were several days after the storm with temperatures in the 40s and 50s, but there is still a lot of snow/ice on the ground. Nighttime temperatures are in the 20s or below, and today, despite beautiful sunshine, the air temp is 25 degrees F.

Another oops:
Right there in the middle of the picture, I somehow created another stitch. Nothing to do but rip. Fortunately, my felted joins held, and I wound up (!) with a big ball of yarn. It didn't seem to take as long to re-knit as it had taken to knit to that point in the first place. I'm not sure what the wonkiness is in the picture below (left side), but I think it will work itself out in blocking. This is Wenlan Chia's Lacy Chunky Throw (in Classic Elite's Web Letter issue 63). I am using Classic Elite Waterspun Weekend, a now-discontinued yarn I originally bought to make a sweater from Vogue Knitting several years ago. I can't find the issue with the pattern right now. The sweater wasn't flattering, so I have been looking for a project for this yarn ever since I ripped the sweater out. My throw is 84 stitches wide instead of 76, which will make it about 60" wide. I have lots of yarn. I'm just going to knit till I run out of yarn.

Days like this...

...make me appreciate my handknit wool socks!

This mess started Monday evening as a "wintry mix". It continued all day Tuesday, as I began to wonder how there could be that much water in the sky. Sometime late Tuesday, it turned into snow, and we woke up Wednesday to about 2 1/2" of snow on top of at least 4 or 5 inches of icy stuff.

Those wool socks came in handy this afternoon (this is snow day #3 so far this week) when we thought we'd venture out from behind the hill -- our road going out is uphill for about 1/4 mile, then back down about the same distance. The 16 y/o had gotten out earlier in the big pickup, using 4WD, and gone in to town to retrieve the mail. He had a physical therapy appointment this afternoon, and I had to go with him as he is a minor. Then we were going to do a little grocery shopping. But the truck got stuck on the way out, so we walked back to the house. I got a little bit of snow in my shoes, but thanks to the wool socks, I didn't feel the cold or wet. Used the tractor to get the truck unstuck, and now we are once again just hanging out at home. He has optimistically rescheduled his physical therapy for tomorrow afternoon.

The physical therapy is post-surgical -- he had arthroscopic knee surgery two weeks ago. The doctor wasn't sure what he would find when he got in there -- they were thinking possible meniscal tear, or other possibilities that would require 6 weeks of no weight on that leg. Fortunately, what they found was excess tissue, called a plica, which has been removed. He is already walking on that leg. He got a cane, partly because the crutches were rubbing his upper arms raw, and partly because he wants to be Dr. House.

Knitting is sporadic. I am up to my ears in school stuff, to include prom planning and fundraising. My Ravelry pages are probably the easiest place to keep up with my projects. It's taken me 3 snow days just to get caught up enough with life to do a blog post.

I hope everyone out there is staying safe & warm. Feel especially grateful if you weren't in the path of this winter storm. I'm having some doubts that we'll even be able to go back to school Monday, but we shall see.

Lucy Ellen Surko Reth

My grandmother, Dad's mother.

1931, high school graduation

Mother's Day 2004

Her time on earth ended today; she would have been 92 years old in a couple of months. Rest in peace, Grandma Lucy. See you again someday.

Couldn't resist

This is not my cat or my yarn or my house. I just found it hysterically funny.

Life has been extraordinarily busy. I am doing a little bit of knitting, have started a few new projects in the past couple of weeks. Quick things like fingerless mitts, hats.

School is busy, busy. We get a day off tomorrow because the septic system has backed up. I was prepared for a substitute tomorrow anyway, as I am going to a workshop all day.

In other news, my favorite soldier is coming home Friday, just for 2 weeks. He'll have to go back before Thanksgiving.

The day after the presidential election, I'm having a hard time getting excited about this vague notion of "change". Actually, I'm kind of concerned about what kind of changes we might see. Change isn't always good. We'll just have to see.

Happy birthday to my sister, the middle child.

Long time, no post

Yikes, another 7 1/2 weeks have gone whizzing by. School started August 20th. This is my second year teaching. I have to finish my certification this year, before my temporary certificate expires. I am a junior class sponsor, which means there is prom to plan & funds to raise. So far, we seem to have a pretty good group of students who are taking ideas and checking into possibilities for prom locations (our new principal is encouraging us to go off-site, instead of using the high school gym as we've done for the past ... million years or so; of course, that's pending school board approval) and fund raisers. My daughter is back at college and my son is actually getting to play baseball this year. He was injured last fall, and just didn't get to play much during the spring season. For those of you accustomed to football in the fall, most of the schools in our area are too small to field a football team, so we have baseball and softball in the fall as well as in the spring.
And my husband is somewhere in the Baghdad area. He does get to email regularly, and calls occasionally. I've been so busy, I haven't really had time to pine. We're all doing fine so far.

I managed to finish the chenille scarf. I think it may be a gift for an as yet undetermined recipient. I just knit until I ran out of yarn. I don't remember if I have another cone of this yarn somewhere or not. I sorta hope not. Since it doesn't have any wool content at all, I didn't even try the felting process as the Vintage Velvet pattern calls for.
Pattern: Vintage Velvet, from Scarf Style
Yarn: Blue Heron Bulky Rayon Chenille, Heather

I also finished a pair of socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, in the Liberty colorway. These were ripped & reknit multiple times. I just couldn't seem to find a stitch pattern I liked. Ended up with a 7x1 ribbing because I didn't like the plain stockinette either. And I'm not thrilled with the way the colors do whatever it is they're doing. Great zig-zags of alternating rows of color & white. I'm guessing the Country Christmas colorway I have will look just like this, with green in place of the navy on this sock. These are going to Socks for Soldiers.


And last on my roster of items finished since my last post is yet another one I'm not thrilled with. This is Sizzle, which is not quite sizzling on me. I clearly don't quite have the hang of knitting to fit myself. The bottom of it is too big around. The waist decreases end just under my bust, instead of at my waist, and the bust increases continue above where they needed to stop. The yarn is Tahki Cotton Classic, recycled from another ill-fitting sweater I made myself. I do not plan to rip this out, but consider it to be a learning experience.

In much cheerier knitting news, I love this scarf! The yarn is Noro Silk Garden, in 2 colorways. Alternating 2-row stripes of 1x1 rib, a la brooklyntweed's directions. It is growing rapidly, not tedious at all to work on. I think it's the anticipation of what color combination is going to appear next that makes it so much fun to do.

Now, where was I?

Good question. Lots of catching up to do.

Psychology course: Done! And I got an A, but this time I worked for it.

Then I went and signed up for a program called Passport to Teaching, which will allow me to get certified without taking any more college courses. I just need to pass two tests -- one on Professional Teaching Knowledge, and one in my subject area (Secondary Math). This is a lot less expensive, too, than the 15 more college credits I needed.

Vacation Bible School was in there somewhere, too. I have been in charge of the 5th grade for the past 6 summers, but I was finishing that psychology class and didn't have time to do justice to both, so I was a helper in the 4th grade this year.

In June, my husband came home from the National Training Center in the California desert (Death Valley). What? Oh, yeah -- I haven't mentioned that after 11 1/2 years of retirement, during which he has been teaching high school JROTC, he has gone back on active duty in the Army for about 16 months. So, you might guess what they were training for.... He was home for a week or so, then we went to spent a couple days each with my parents and his, then we dropped him off at Ft. Riley, KS and drove away. He flew to Kuwait City a couple of days later, and he and his team are now in Iraq. They'll be there another 11 months or so. Prayers for his team's safety and that nothing in my house goes drastically wrong while he's away will be greatly appreciated! (He's the tall, dark & handsome one standing front & center in the photo below.)

Knitting ... it looks like I have finished 2 pair of socks and a replacement pair of felt clogs since my last post. Not real impressive.

The first sock started out as the Reversai pattern from Sock Madness. I got knocked out of the competition that round, so I modified the pattern -- the garter stitch sole, which made the sock reversible, just wasn't working for me. Mine are not reversible, but that's ok. The yarn is Regia 4-ply Nordic Color #5511. I got it some time ago from Kim at Socks for Soldiers, and these socks will be going to her, so she can send them on to Iraq or Afghanistan. The purpose of the group is to knit socks to wear in uniform, but she also takes leisure socks.

The other pair of socks is knit in Colinette Jitterbug, in the color Charcoal. I lost track of the number of times these were ripped & reknit. I tried plain stockinette feet -- too loose. I tried a lace pattern -- didn't like it. Finally went back to the beaded rib I had originally thought to use. My proudest accomplishment on these is the heel. Since Jitterbug is a slightly heavier fingering weight, the yardage is a little shorter than with most sock yarn. I had carefully split the skein in half, and wanted to work toe-up so I could knit the foot to my length, then the leg could go until I ran out of yarn. But I didn't want to do a short-row heel. No problem. I have 2 different sources for directions for a heel-flap & gusset done toe-up. And I have tried them both. They're pretty much the same; I wasn't really happy with them. So I hunted around for other ideas. And thought about how to reverse a cuff-down heel flap and gusset. Looked at the You're Putting Me On sock by Judy Gibson. The light bulb started to come on. But she turns the heel and then you have to pick up stitches along the edge. I knew it could be done without having to pick up stitches. Then I checked Wendy's free patterns, and found the answer. Wendy's toe-up slipstitch heel sock has the coolest heel method. The only problem is her numbers and mine weren't the same. No problem. I teach high school math. I can handle a little knitting math, right? And I did it! This heel fits beautifully.

My daughter managed to wear holes in the soles of her felt clogs in about a year. I patched them with a bit of needle felting, and they held for awhile, but when she got home from school in May, it was clearly time for a new pair. Toes sticking out of the bottom of her slippers - she looked like a classic hobo. These will have suede soles attached, in the hope that they will last a little longer! The soles aren't attached yet, because that requires sewing, but I'll try to get to that later today.


Finally, I am also working on UFOs (unfinished objects). This one is the Vintage Velvet Scarf from Scarf Style, in Blue Heron Chunky Rayon Chenille. I purchased the yarn from an ebay seller eons ago. The color is called "Heather". Started the scarf in June, 2 years ago. I did one 22-row repeat and set it aside. I am now up to almost 5 repeats. It's not hard. There are really only 2 rows to memorize (even and odd), and then rows 5 and 16 of the repeat get the cable crossing. I added stitch markers (wasn't using them, even though the pattern says to), and since they're different, I know whether I'm on an even row or an odd row. I think the color in the top pic is more accurate.



Whew! Sorry about the long post! Maybe if I posted more often, I wouldn't have so much to say all at once.

Last, but definitely not least, I wanted to point you toward a raffle for a good cause. It's on earthchicknits blog. She's got some fabulous prizes, too.