New Year Resolutions?

There's been lots of talk around the blogosphere about resolutions. For them, and against them. I can see both sides to resolutions, but I think I come down on the side of making them. Not as hard-and-fast rules, but as guidelines for where I want to go in the next year.

I do spend some time in the week between Christmas and New Year's thinking about the past year, and how I want the next year to develop. I think about the things I've accomplished, the things that I fell short on, the things that turned out to be not something I really cared about, but thought I had.

Sometime before midnight, Dec. 31st, I set down a list of things I'd like to work on for the next year, and save it in a file I've called "Aspirations". (and I save a copy of that file on a CD, because I don't want to lose the accumulation of years I have in that file!) It's interesting to go back and look at previous year's aspirations, to see trends, to remember successes and failures. It makes me laugh, and sometimes go "Hmmmm", which is good for my soul, right?

My aspirations cover all facets of my life, of course. I don't separate them into categories, because I believe everything we do affects everything we are. I know some people can neatly separate the different parts of themselves into compartments in their mind, but I can't do that, and I don't think I even want to. Life doesn't come in neat little packages, clearly labeled. It flows onto you like a wave, sometimes buoying you up, other times overwhelming you. Occasionally, it tries to drag you back out to sea with itself, and sometimes that's a good thing. Growth is change, and change is messy, and not always pleasant.

One of my "aspirations" for the coming year is to finally knit a pair of socks. I owe it to myself (and my cold feet!) to master this knitting feat (heh). My mother always claimed she couldn't knit, but she knit argyle socks all the time. I can knit, but I can't knit a pair of plain socks for the life of me. I intend to change that, this new year. I have never used DPNs, and I rarely use circulars ( collars and such, usually), so I have no preference for which to use for socks. I just know that this year, I will make a pair of socks. Maybe more than one, but at least one pair.

I also want to knit more, in the coming year. This past year I knit very little, and I missed it. And, of course, knitting more will mean a decrease in my stash, which would be a good thing, too. And while I'm knitting more, I want to actually finish more things, all the way through seaming them together, and weaving in the ends. I can't count the number of items I have finished knitting that are sitting around in bags and baskets, waiting for me to sew them up, weave in the ends, and wear. It's ridiculous.

Another thing I want to do more of this coming year is sew. My fabric stash isn't much smaller than my yarn stash, and I want to decrease the amount of space all that fabric takes up. Plus, I'm not really a fan of much Ready-to-Wear, given that I'm a petite woman (not just small, but petite, with shorter arms, different proportions, etc.) and sewing allows me to make those adjustments in the beginning, not pay for alterations after the fact. (I like to sew, but I hate alterations and would rather pay someone to do them.)

Probably the most important aspiration I have this year is to get organized. This is, no surprise, a repeating aspiration for me. I have massive collections of books, yarn, fabric, patterns, pattern books, and magazines. My collections take up space in every room in my apartment, and the disorganization of all of them is making me a little crazy. It also causes me to buy things I already have, which isn't smart or financially wise. So, while I made some small progress on getting organized last year, this year I need to really dig in and become organized, not just work on it.

There are other aspirations, of course, but those are ones I don't think I'll post online for the world to see (although based on the number of comments I get, I really shouldn't worry about that!).

I don't know that I'll post again before the new year, so to everyone, I'll wish you a Happy New Year, and hope that it brings you love and laughter and many happy surprises!

A Change in plans for my Lang Venezia

Well, I just don't like the fabric my Venezia creates when using the 7s or 8s that are recommended. It's much better on 6s, but I'm thinking it will be best on 5s. I'll swatch tomorrow, just to be sure. I don't have any patterns for vests that use 5s or 6s. For that matter, I have very few patterns for anything that use needle sizes below 7s or 8s. I'm not a tiny needles person, although I have knit with them (I have needles down to size 1, for that matter, even though I can't remember what I knit using them). Guess this means I'll be doing a pattern search through my rather extensive stack of knit magazines.

The Venezia is a dream to knit, however. It's 50% mohair, but it behaves like it was silk, instead. Just glides off the needles. (Frogging the swatch wasn't as easy, however, but considering the mohair, much easier than it could have been.)

Tomorrow will be a day spent dreaming. I'll haul out the pattern books, and encounter all those sweater patterns I marked as "someday"s, and wonder what in my stash would work for them. I'll encounter patterns that didn't impress me back when I bought the magazine or pattern book, but suddenly catch my eye now, and wonder what in my stash will work for them now. I'll start going through my stash to answer those questions, and find things I didn't know I had. And return to the pattern books and mags to see if there's a pattern there to work with that fabulous yarn I just found.

Thank God I actually have a few errands to run, or I would spend the entire day running back and forth between my stash of patterns and my stash of yarn, and get nothing concrete done.

And, just to prove that my good intentions about knitting from my stash were just so much smoke, I dropped in on Webs today, and ordered 22 balls of yarn to add to my stash. Half of them, at least, are for that darling little girl's dress I mentioned, that my niece will love. In a purple she'll love. In a washable wool that her mother will love.

The other half are Laines du Nord Cash silk, just because. Webs is having its year-end sale, after all. I mean, cashmere and silk, for $3.99 a ball? I just had to, you know?

A Book Review (a yarn book!)

I just finished reading The Knitter's Book of Yarn, by Clara Parkes. What a joy it was to read. I learned things about yarn I didn't even know I wanted to know, but am passionately glad I do now know them. She writes in an engaging way about the stuff yarn is made of, the effects of plying, dying, twist, and special effects. She includes patterns that are designed to show off the qualities of the yarn she's just discussed. She talks about washing handknits, and felting (on purpose). She provides guidelines for telling how a yarn will perform, before you buy 20 skeins of it for entirely the wrong project. For once, I feel as if I truly understand why a particular yarn will tell me what it wants to be, and why some yarns just don't speak to me at all. I heartily recommend this book. It makes for great reading! (This book was a Christmas present to myself, one I'm really glad I got.)

In other news, I haven't knit a single stitch in days. I did come across a beautiful girls' dress that caused me to eye my stash a bit (I have a niece who would love it if I knit it for her), and I'm still pondering what to do with my Lang Venezia in that lovely royal blue. I'm almost sure it wants to be a vest, but I'm still waiting to hear if it wants to be a cabled pullover type, or a patterned, button-up type. I don't go back to work or school until Jan. 7th, so hopefully, we'll have made up our mind by then.

I did receive some new yarn from my favorite online yarn source, Elann. I picked up some Austermann Inka, in a sort of faded mulberry color. This is an alpaca blend, and it's incredibly soft. It came, with 11 balls of Inka, with a pattern I quite like, and may even make out of the intended yarn (not a common occurrence for me). Or not. I never know.

I frightened myself while I was eying my stash, looking for a yarn for that girl's dress. I have wayyyyy too much yarn. Seriously too much. I may even have to commit to knitting from my stash for a while or so (or move to a bigger place). A long while, even. Years. (If I retired today, and lived another 30 years, I honestly don't think I'd *have* to buy another skein of yarn, and would be able to knit every day.) Of course, having to buy yarn, and wanting to buy yarn are completely divorced feelings. Is there a Yarn Junkies Anonymous out there somewhere?

Merry Christmas!

I know I've been a very bad blogger, but life has been so much more hectic this year than ever before. Finally, today, my Master's program class is over, and my work has ended for 2007, so now all I have left to do is wrap presents, buy a couple of presents I still haven't found, and wrap presents. I got my nephew a telescope for Christmas, and I don't know what I was thinking (that maybe it would need assembly?), but it arrived in this huge box, and when I opened it, there was this HUGE package inside. Maybe I should have read the telescope's dimensions, eh? At any rate, I still need to find wrapping paper for it, since none of the rolls of the stuff I have are enough to cover the box. Maybe they don't make wrapping paper big enough for it? Ah, well. The paper won't last long, anyway, so if it's a bit patchwork, who will care?

My sister in law wanted crochet hooks. She has lost the bundle of hooks she had (she has a daughter, 8, who loves to play with them), so I got her a set of eight with ergonomic handles ~ I don't crochet much, but after holding these, I'm going to have to buy myself a set of them! Then I went looking for a case to put them in, something bright that would be hard to lose, and couldn't find anything. Oh, I could find cases, but all of them came filled with cheap crochet hooks, the slots weren't big enough, and they weren't very bright. I finally settled for a needle case in black and fuschia, which is rather bigger than I planned, but that should just make it harder to lose, right? I also found a neat crochet booklet on Ebay, which I snapped up for her. Oh, and the latest Kinsey Milhone mystery (I got her addicted to these). She's an OR nurse, and works two jobs, so her gifts are all about leisure time, which she doesn't have enough of.

I still need to find something for my former teaching partner. She's rather hard to buy for, and I just haven't found anything that says "Betty" yet. But I still have two days, right? Piece of cake! (heh)

I hope this holiday season brings you joy and laughter, love and hope, and all the good things you'd wish for yourself and your loved ones.

Alive, on Ravelry, and the funk is beginning to lift!

My cold has finally said goodbye (yay!), parent conference week from hell has ended (double yay!), I got my invite to Ravelry, and started listing my stash (I need pictures, and a Flickr account, but it's a start, anyway), and I do believe my knitting funk is beginning to ease up. I've been eying some gorgeous royal blue Lang Venezia, wondering what I can make with just six balls of 130 m each. It says it knits 18 sts/4" on 8s, but I haven't swatched yet, so I'm not sure. It's 50/50 mohair/acrylic, and it feels incredibly soft against my skin. Maybe a pullover vest?

I don't wear scarves or hats, or mittens or gloves, for that matter. I mean, this is SoCal. Not much use for those sort of things. (Not much use for wool or mohair or alpaca, either, but that's never stopped me. I just wear them to work, which is air conditioned on the cold side.)

My Masters program is eating up a lot of time. It's crazy, to be honest. This is just the first course, one course! ( A 6 unit course, but still), and it has 2 to 4 assignments each week, as well as 3 to 5 required discussion posts, and feedback requirements for those posts, as well. Seems like a lot to me, considering this is a program for working adults. But I haven't been a student in a long time, so maybe this is normal, and I'm just out of touch. I have about 500 -1000 pages of reading each week, which has to been done before assignments and/or discussions, and I'm finding that I have to give up being online much at all in order to complete the readings, as well as having no time for recreational reading or blogging. With this past week being conference week, and me never being home before 7 pm, it was a very tough week.

A week ago Friday I had a personal disaster. I walked outside to go to work that morning, and my car was gone. I immediately thought it had been stolen. Talk about panic! When I called the police to report it, however, they assured me it hadn't been stolen. It had, however, been damaged in an accident very early Friday morning, and they had towed it to a towing yard. When I called there, they would only confirm that they had it, but couldn't be bothered to tell me what condition it was in. He just worked in the office, you know? I scrambled to write emergency lesson plans and emailed them to work, scrambled to call in for a substitute when none of the numbers we'd been given for the new system worked (I finally logged into the new website, and was able to request a substitute, but no one ever showed up. My kids were taken by a 4th grade teacher all day ~ that woman deserves a medal for coping with 35 5th graders on top of her 35 4th graders!), and then finding someone who would give me a ride to the police station for a release, and then to the towing yard. Where I found out my car wasn't just damaged, it was totaled. Completely. Whoever hit it (I'm still waiting for the police report, so I have no idea who, or how many, hit my car, or whether they were insured), after smashing the backend into my backseat, flipped onto the roof, crushing it, blowing out the back window, and fracturing the front, which held in place a million fragments, but leaned inward onto the steering wheel. The roof was resting on the seatbacks. One rear wheel was parallel to the ground, instead of vertical, and the front driver side wheel tilted at a 45 degree angle. The driver side passenger door was bent badly enough not to be able to be opened, and that window was also gone. The front end was crumpled, but not that badly considering the rest of the car. It's a total loss

I had the towing yard tow the car to my mechanic, who agreed that it was a total loss. I had my ride drive me to a car rental place, where I was able to rent a car for the week (and now a second week). I drove (the same car like I had, in a different color) home, went inside and threw up. I was a bit stressed, I think. Then I just sat down and cried for a while. My insurance company won't do anything until I get the police report (10 days, they say), and we find out who hit me and if they're insured. (Please, God, let them be insured. I need a break!)

So, my life has been a little strange lately. And it's likely to continue being strange for a while longer. But after all this, my knitting funk is beginning to lift, and that makes me feel hopeful. Something I haven't felt in a while, and have missed, greatly. Now, if I can just find the perfect project for that Venezia!

Apologies

Okay, so I'm not much of a blogger. I'm sorry. My life has been so hectic lately, I've had no time to do much of anything blogworthy. My Masters program has started, and I'm knee-deep in reading, writing, and researching for that. I just got made the PTA president, when the former president unexpectedly resigned. I'm on the Leadership team at school, and am responsible for researching and recommending a new vocabulary program for our school. Parent conferences are coming up in a week. I've had the cold from hell for the last two weeks, and it hasn't yet shown me it's leaving.

I haven't knitted a single thing in weeks. I haven't even thought of knitting anything in weeks. I have added to my stash (Webs had their sale, you know, and it's sacrilege to ignore it, right?), but even that hasn't inspired me to pick up a needle, or even search through my voluminous supply of patterns and stitch dictionaries. I'm in a funk, and I don't know when it's going to end. And with the amount of work my Masters program seems to be generating, even if the funk ends, I may not have time to do anything about it.

So, I apologise to any readers who may have noticed my absence. I have no FOs or even UFOs to share. I have no knitterly advice, no knitterly questions, no knitterly progress. I just have way too much to do, not enough time to do it all, and no knitting mojo at all.

Random Thoughts

Well, someone obviously had a talk with the weather ~ Thanks! It's cooled down, and life has returned to almost normal. This is my crazy month, with school beginning, parent nights, reorganization (we just got told we have to pick two kids to move to a combination class, teacher unspecified. Like I can choose two of my kids to move! I am already very attached to all of them, and I don't want to lose any of them, dammit. I might be okay giving up the kid who just started on Friday, but I can't give him up, since Friday was only his second day in the US, and he doesn't speak any English ~ well, almost no English)

My partner 5th grade teacher and I had our Back To School night on Thursday (while our principal sat in his office writing the surprise memo about reorganization and didn't tell us in time to alert the parents). Our BTS is about 3 weeks earlier than the official one. Who ever heard of waiting 6 weeks to have a BTS? About half my parents showed up, so I guess the other half are content to wait the 6 weeks. Or do I really have half a class full of parents who don't care enough to come to BTS? Yikes, I definitely hope not.

This week we have the official meeting for our DC trip. The travel company rep comes down with all the info for the trip, including the price (which I think is going up $100, but we added a day so that's really reasonable), and will answer all our parents' questions and concerns. And then I have a PTA board meeting this week, too. I'm the Programs chair.

I'm also getting ready to begin my first class for my Masters degree, which begins in October. I just checked my university bookstore, and the books for just this one class are $185. For one class. I think there are 8 ~ 10 books listed, but they're all required. Looks like I'll be doing a mountain of reading in October. I downloaded the syllabus for the class, and that's on my reading list for later today. September is so busy for me, I'm trying not to look ahead too much, but it's hard.

I finished the vest from Classic Knits, but it's still sitting here staring at me, not sewn together. I really should get that done, because it's wearable now (if the Weather Gods don't have a really twisted sense of humor, of course), and it turned out to be pretty cute. I haven't even thought of knitting this past week, what with all the work related craziness. I do want to get back to my mohair/cashmere comfort sweater, though. Hopefully, I'll do a little work on that this evening, as I wind down from all the school paperwork and planning I'm doing today. I passed up an all-expenses-paid trip to the Fair today, to work on school stuff (and finish up the paperwork on my Masters program), so I'm feeling virtuous (or is that just "sorry for myself"?) The LA County Fair is the largest county fair in California, and possibly the country. I usually go for all the crafts, and the animals. I've never yet seen a sheep shearing, but I did see, and fall in love with, angora goats one year. They are so cute!

Ah, well. Time to get back to lesson plans and creative activities for 10 year olds.

Someone Tell the Temperature God That I Give Up!

I have nothing knitterly to report. SoCal has decided to become an oven, and it's been hell waking up to an apartment that is close to 100 degrees, even at 5:30 am. When I am home, I'm sitting in front of a fan that simply blows hot air on me, or in the shower letting cold water run over me. Mostly I've been not home, since home is hell.

I've gone back to work, officially. (I actually went back to work on August 13, but I don't get paid for any of the setup work my classroom requires, so it's not "official"). A useless day of inservices on Monday, a (boring) staff meeting on Tuesday, followed by "meet the teacher" bits all afternoon. And the news from our principal that first, for some unknown reason, all of us have to teach 10 45 minute lessons from an anti-drug/violence curriculum before 9/14. So, during the first 3 weeks of school, when I normally focus on rules, policies, getting to know my students, instead, I'll be force-feeding them interminable lessons from a program most of us find ineffective and cumbersome. Good idea, badly done. And then, I get the news that I'll be out of my classroom 2 consecutive days, on the 12th and 13th, for yet another inservice on a writing program that's good, I suppose, if one wants to produce technical writers.

Finally, on Wednesday, my students came to class for the first time. Well, all except one girl, who was still in Mexico, until Friday. I have 35 students. So does the other 5th grade teacher (yes, we're a small school, and there are only 2 5th grade teachers. And 2 4th grade teachers, as well). And we have a waiting list. As usual, back in June, our district decided that our enrollment would be down in September (from 298), so we had to let one teacher go. So, our enrollment in September? 348, with a long waiting list for every grade, except 4th. (Until the first day of school, both of us in 5th grade had 38 students on the roll. Fortunately, 6 of them moved.) While I don't like having 35 students (It's way too many for me to be really effective with them, no matter how hard I work), I do like all 35 of the kids I have. They're cute, they respond well to direction, and for the first time, they all seem to be okay with turning in their homework (or the stuff that passes for homework, the first week of school).

I had to rearrange my plans for this week. First, to accomodate the above-mentioned drug program. Next, because of the weather ~ I don't think it's healthy to do outdoor activities in 110 degree heat, so several activities have been postponed until SoCal returns to livable conditions. If it ever does. Thank God all our classrooms are air conditioned, and all of them seem to be working (which is generally not the case the first few days of school).

Because of that blessed a/c, I'm going to spend some time in my classroom today and tomorrow. I could do most of the work at home, but with this heat, I feel completely sapped of energy, and it's hard to work with multiple pieces of paper with a fan blasting you, so I'm heading to my classroom to get things done in blissfully cooler air.

I may also spend some time wandering around Lowe's, looking for a small a/c unit that won't overload my already full circuit board. (I live in an old building, and it was never designed for a/c, window style or otherwise.) But I live in hope. Besides, Lowe's is airconditioned, too, so it's just one more place I can spend time avoiding the heat.

Wow, we're having an earthquake! Not a major one, of course, but my bed just started shaking, and my computer monitor was dancing a bit, and it went on too long for it to be a reaction to some heavy truck on the road outside. I guess life is never dull in SoCal!

Lunch with SK and Barbara

Wednesday, Barbara and I met up with Shui Kuen and her mother for lunch at Ocean Star, a dim sum restaurant in Alhambra. It was wonderful ~ I love dim sum, but rarely get to eat it, since there aren't many good places for it anywhere near where I live. SK and her mother did all the ordering (no menus, no one seemed to speak English), and they treated us to a terrific array of dishes.

It was great to see SK again, and to see what she's been working on. Barbara had brought both magazines that have SK's work in them, and she was thrilled to see those. SK showed us the Forget-Me-Not shawl she's working on now, knit in Elann's Kid Silk ~ simply gorgeous! She also had with her a terrific cabled cardigan she'd made some time ago ~ although I doubt she's had any chance to wear it here, with our extreme heat.

Barbara brought her Comfort shawl with her ~ it's absolutely gorgeous, and feels yummy as well. Between SK and Barbara, I almost feel compelled to knit a shawl, even though I never wear one and have no use for shawls in SoCal.

After lunch, we all went back to SK's mother's house, where her mother tried to feed us more, and SK brought out all the goodies she's working on. We had a great time, and I regret that SK lives so far away (in the wilds of Canada!) that we rarely get together. If she lived nearer to me, I swear I'd just sit at her feet and learn from her ~ she's one awesome knitter!

I didn't have anything to show, unfortunately. I'd been working in my classroom before I left for the meeting, and I forgot to take anything with me when I left home (before 7 am!). I didn't even remember to bring my camera, so the above were graciously sent to me by Barbara, who did remember to bring hers, although she forgot until we were getting ready to leave. Bless her for sharing.

An Almost FO

I finished the knitting portion of the tank top from Classic Knits last Friday. It takes no time at all to knit, using Big Wool and size 17s. I think I spent a couple of hours on it Thursday night, and finished it Friday evening after I got home from organizing my classroom. It's cute, but it's still not sewn together. I really like the Big Wool Fusion I used ~ it's pink and cream, sort of swirled together, and knits up really nice. I even made it longer than the pattern called for, and made a larger opening for my arms, since this has to be worn over something, not by itself. It's a satisfying very quick knit.


I've been busy at my school, getting my classroom set up for the new year, which begins next week. I'm down to 35 students as of today, from a high of 39 at the beginning of last week. (35 is the max I'm allowed to have, but our district keeps enrolling students even when we've reached our max, thinking they'll shuffle kids once school begins. Ask me how stupid I think that is!) Anyway, I'm pretty much done with setting up, but still have my "first day bags" to fill, and some activity sheets to run off. And my "Parent Handbook" to finish assembling, too.


My school is air conditioned, which has made me glad to go in to work, even though it's unpaid, this past week or so. It's been hot as h*** here, over 100 each day, and not cooling off much at night, either. Which is partially why the tank top isn't sewn together ~ it's just too hot to hold all that luscious wool in my lap while I sew it together. It's supposed to be cooling down a little bit this week (I'm still waiting for that to happen ~ it's 6:30 pm and 91 degrees right now), and if it does, I'll sew that tank top together and be done with it.


Tomorrow, I'm having lunch with Shui Kuen and Catbookmom, my Elannite friends. SK is down from her home in Canada to see her mom, and she and Barbara and I are having lunch somewhere in Alhambra. I think SK's mom is joining us ~ she's a knitter, too, but she doesn't speak any English at all. SK is a very talented designer ~ her shawl patterns are beautiful and very, very well written. I recommend them all. Two of them are in magazines right now, in Elann ads. The first one out was the Champagne Leaf and Acorn Lace Shawl, on page 115 of the VogueKnits Anniversary issue out now. The other one is called Forget-Me-Not, and it's on page 103 of the new Fall issue of Knitter's. She is just amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing what she's got on her needles now, and Barbara is always fun to get together with, so lunch will be a blast. I'll try to remember to take my camera, and actually have pictures for this blog! (I just need to put the camera in my school tote tonight, since I'll be going in to school before I go to meet them)

Well, it's hot and I need to see about something for dinner that doesn't include turning on the stove or oven. Even the microwave puts out hot air, so I'm really limited in what I can make. But turning on anything that adds heat to this already overheated apartment will kill any appetite I might have, so I'm going to go get creative in the kitchen.

Absolutely No Knitting Content

Some things just make me so angry. There's a newstory on AOL today, about a Texas church that canceled a memorial service for a dead veteran 24 hours before it was scheduled because (they claim) they just found out he was gay.

"Officials at the nondenominational High Point Church knew that Cecil Howard Sinclair was gay when they offered to host his service," said his sister, Kathleen Wright. But after his obituary listed his life partner as one of his survivors, she said, it was called off. "It's a slap in the face. It's like, 'Oh, we're sorry he died, but he's gay so we can't help you,"' she said Friday.

Wright said High Point offered to hold the service for Sinclair because their brother is a janitor there. Sinclair, who served in the first Gulf War, died Monday at age 46 from an infection after surgery to prepare him for a heart transplant.

The church's pastor, the Rev. Gary Simons, said no one knew Sinclair, who was not a church member, was gay until the day before the Thursday service, when staff members putting together his video tribute saw pictures of men "engaging in clear affection, kissing and embracing." (His sister said there were no pictures like that in what she gave the church.)

"Simons said the church believes homosexuality is a sin, and it would have appeared to endorse that lifestyle if the service had been held there."

There is just so much wrong with this that I don't know where to begin. This is a Christian church? Heh. If so, haven't they heard that only Christ forgives, only God judges? And how does burying a dead veteran endorse homosexuality? The hypocrisy of most "Christian" churches makes me sick.

I respect everyone's right to believe in the religion of their choice. I do not respect religions who pervert the Bible to make it say it's okay to hate people based on their lifestyle, sexuality, skin color or choice of religion. I think there should be mandatory truth in advertising for churches ~ and any church who usurps God's sole right to judge, who denies Christ's right to forgive, should be forbidden from calling itself Christian. Perhaps they could call themselves The Church of Bigotry and Hate. That would at least be truthful.

Electricity ~ To Have or Have Not

My electricity has died twice this week. It's driving me nuts! Tuesday, it was out for over two hours. No lights, no fan, no computer, TV, radio, CD, DVD. Nothing. And of course it was around 90 degrees outside(it was 5 pm), which made it miserable inside my 2nd floor apartment. I finally left and sought refugee status with my brother and his family.

Today it went out, again. Fortunately, it didn't last long ~ 15 -20 minutes. But I lost the document I was working on, for my upcoming Masters. Had to recreate it, saving it every 5 minutes, of course. I am so not starting over a third time!

I just don't understand why the power keeps going out. I mean, this is SoCal. I lived through the Enron years, the brownouts, the power shortages during 110+ heat, and never, never lost power. Now, in the midst of what seems to me to be a very mild summer, I lose it twice in 2 days? (Actually, it was less than 48 hours between the first and second time) And the week's not over, yet.

Whatever bug the power company has, I desperately hope they get it fixed before school starts up again. I need my alarm to get up at the ungodly hour of 5 am (I am so not a morning person, and it's still dark out then). I need light to put my make-up on, to choose my clothing. I need electricity to make my coffee. I need electricity for my blow-dryer. I mean, I teach 10 year olds, and they don't deserve to see their teacher coffee-less with wild hair, you know? When the power goes out here, the only thing that works is my cell phone. Life isn't pretty without power.

Classic Knits, Stash, and Life

I succumbed to Erika Knight's Classic Knits yesterday (only 3 days after it arrived from Amazon!), and ordered some Big Wool Fusion from Webs to make the tank top in it. The pattern has a mistake in it ~ says it has a gauge of 18 sts to 4 inches, on 17s! ~ but if you just drop the 1 from the 18 it works just fine. Silly mistake, and I seriously don't understand how books get published with errors in it, considering how many people read the damn things before publication.

Anyway, in a few days (or more than a few days, considering it's Web's sale days) my yarn will be here and I'll be knitting away on a very fast tank top, one I can use right away. Until then, I will be working on Mariel, since it seems to have cooled down here. Unbelievable, I know. But even the weathermen are talking about the spring-like weather we're having. I can't remember an August that was this cool (well, 88 is cool for here, anyway). If this were the regular summer weather here in SoCal, I might actually like living here, instead of dreaming of moving away to someplace that has real seasons, and doesn't have furnace-like summers. But I just know that in a few days or a week, we'll be back to the regular August weather of 100+ temps, just when everyone has relaxed and begun to believe in this balmy weather. Life is like that.

I know I shouldn't have bought more yarn. Somewhere in my stash I'm sure I have something bulky like Big Wool that would have worked. I am just addicted to the purchase of yarn. Yarn and books. I can't seem to live without either. I mean, I'm single, and I live in a 3 bedroom apartment, because I need the room for my books and my yarn. And that's not even enough room, if I'm going to be honest. My books take up one whole bedroom, plus, in boxes, part of the closet in another, and about half the room in my bedroom (the one I actually sleep in). I have a *lot* of books! And yarn? It's everywhere. One bedroom is full of it, and it's overflowing in my bedroom, and in the living room, and.... Well, there's a lot of it, okay?

I really, really need to knit from my stash. Really. I need to make some sort of promise to only knit from my stash, and stick to it. And to knit, for that matter. I get startitis, regularly, but I don't want to tell you how many unfinished projects I have sitting around here. And the really amazing part is that many of them are finished except for the seaming up and weaving in of ends. Some are even seamed, but haven't had the ends woven in. I seem to get to the end of the knitting, and just lose interest. That has to stop, too. (So many things I have to stop!)

Ah, well, it will all be good for me. I'll spend less money (yay, says my budget), I'll have new(ish) clothes to wear, and I'll still be knitting, which is good for my blood pressure and my soul. Now, of course, I just need to find the time for it.

School will be starting in 22 days, although I'll be back in my classroom in just 5 days, to get it all set up for the new year. And I'm starting my Masters program this year, as well. I've applied to start in October, online. It will be the first class I've ever taken online, but it really does fit my life better than committing myself to physical attendance in a program. Most days I'm physically tired after spending the day with 35 ten year olds, plus dealing with an incompetent principal, and meeting with parents or my teaching partner. So, online just sounds better.

I guess I really like being busy, though. Between teaching, and learning, I also fundraise like mad for my students so they can go on the DC trip my partner and I do each year. It's pretty expensive for the kids ~ last year it cost $1500 per kid, $1700 per parent ~ but it's such a terrific trip for our kids. We go to DC, but also to Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. 5th grade history is all about the founding of America and colonial life, so this trip is perfect. And the kids get so much out of it. So, their teachers commit to hours and hours and hours of fundraising. As well as the accounting of said fundraisers, crediting each kid with the amount he or she has earned, or that the parent group has figured out the division of a lump sum to credit them with. (That's a terrible sentence, but I'm too tired to care.)

I think I need a time budget in addition to my $$ budget (which I'm not very good at keeping, but I'm working on it!) I wonder if there's a program out there, like Quicken, that helps you budget time?

Nothing much to report

Well, it doesn't look like I'm going to finish Mariel this month. The humidity, combined with the heat, has made the idea of knitting a cashmere/mohair sweater just too much to think about. I haven't done more than 3 inches this entire week. I will finish it, but I think it's going to have to wait til it cools down a bit and dries out a bit more.

I don't understand the weather here lately. It's our driest year in recorded history, yet we've been dealing with 80%+ humidity for weeks. It's not supposed to be that bloody humid in SoCal. My mother's family is in the Carolinas, and I expect humidity there (and it's a killer humidity there ~ can humidity go above 100%?). But this is SoCal, a desert area. This freaking humidity is obviously lost on the wrong coast.

I've got the blahs, today. Nothing seems to interest me. Not reading, not knitting, and most definitely not cleaning. I just don't seem to have any energy at all. I'm blaming the heat. It doesn't even really dry out or cool off at night, and sleeping in that is difficult, at best. So, I'm tired, lack energy, and can't sleep. Not a good combination. I can't wait for fall!

A Rant (fair warning)

I am totally sick to death of the "cult of personality" that passes for news in this country. Weeks of Paris Hilton. Months of Brittney Spears. Ongoing 'breaking news updates' on Lindsey Lohan. Wake up, people! They are not news!

Why does valuable news time continue to be wasted on the irresponsible, spoiled, self-destructive behavior of these 'celebrities'? I don't care how self-destructive they are. Personally, if they all disappeared tomorrow, I'd be a happy woman. Having talent (although that's highly debatable for all three, less so for Lohan than the other two) does not make you newsworthy. It doesn't make you a good person. It doesn't make any difference in any aspect of the world.

And please, don't blame the papparazi. These women deliberately court the pack of photographers who feed on them. It is entirely possible to avoid them. Of course, that would mean not going on drunken rampages in public. It would mean not stripping down to your undies in public. It would mean wearing underwear under your too short mini skirts. It would mean being responsible and mature.

And it would mean that the news companies would have to actually report on real news. It's becoming very difficult to distinguish between the nightly news and Entertainment Weekly. When I tune in the news, that's what I want to see. I don't watch any of the entertainment programs, because I have no interest in their subject matter. I don't want it foisted on me during what should be a serious review of the day's noteworthy events. What's happening in the world? What's the news on Iraq, Afghanistan, London, DC? What's going on in India (besides the growing number of Indians who now constitute "customer service" for most major US companies). What's going on on the campaign trail? What's happening in Congress? Where are we on getting out of this disastrous war, and getting rid of this imperial presidency?

It was a disastrous failure by the media that led this country into accepting the Iraqi invasion. The Fourth Estate abdicated their responsibility to report the truth. And now, having realised that, what do they do? They abdicate their responsibility to report the news, and become an entertainment program or rag. It's just sickening.

Okay, we now return to regular programming.

Harry Potter and more

Well, I read the newest Potter last night. Picked it up around 5, finished it around 1:30 am. I won't spoil anyone else's read of the book, but I have to say I'm ambivalent about it. I mean, I liked the book. It was worth the wait. But I hate the way she's wrapped up the story. It seems slapdash, careless. Somehow, I didn't expect that from Rowling, not with Harry.

I've been really restless, knitting-wise, this past week. I've flitted from project to project to dreaming of next projects. I haven't knit much on Mariel (I'm about half way done with the front, so I have that and the sleeves left to do). I have some Lang Colombo, a cotton-silk blend in an aran or bulkier gauge, that I've been playing with, trying to find a stitch pattern I like. It's a beautiful yarn, and it shows great stitch definition, but it's also a heavy yarn. I only have about 600 yards of it, so I've been looking for a stitch pattern that doesn't eat a lot of yarn, that's also not too open. Being a teacher, I have no use for any item that's got "holes" in it, unless it's a cardigan. (SoCal doesn't really get cold enough, ever, for me to go for the layering look.)

I managed another couple of inches on my sister's cashmere scarf. (I'm making two for her, both in cashmere. One, 100% cashmere, in off-white, the other in Elann's baby cashmere blend, in claret. The 100% one is the one I've worked on this week) That yarn is incredibly soft and yummy. I love knitting with it, the feel of it in my hands. I'm going to have a hard time actually sending this off to my sister. Good thing I don't actually wear scarves, I guess. Well, good for my sister, anyway.

My Ilga Leja pattern arrived this week. It came complete with errata! Fortunately, none of the corrections were for my size, so I didn't really have to worry about them. Now I'm just pondering things like what yarn, and what color, to make it in. I'm not a fan of DK yarns. I much prefer worsted or bulkier ((I'm an ADD knitter, so faster is better!) I do have some lovely Rowan Pure Wool DK, but it's in a deep, foresty green, and I'm not sure I want to make that lovely jacket in green. I know I don't want it in any sort of beige, though, although it's beautiful in that color on the model. I'm just not a beige kind of woman, I guess. White, okay. Beige, not so much. I used to love grey, but as I've greyed, I've moved away from that color, too. I tend toward deep colors. Wines, any true blue-red, deep purples (aubergine), royal or darker blues, forest or darker greens. Black, or white. I don't do much with pastels. But this jacket seems to need the softer look of pastels. So, I'm pondering.

I also got some Katia Diva, in a black/white mix, this week. Very bulky, almost an astrakhan sort of look. 20 skeins, at 33 yards a skein. Knits up on 11s ~ 13s. Obviously some sort of jacket, but I haven't decided on what yet. I think it's going to marinate in the stash for a bit, until it begins to cool down some here. (It's actually been cool, for here, the last couple of weeks. 80s and 90s is cool, for my area in July. I'm not missing the 100+ temps, though!)

I was glad to see a stash that is way bigger than mine, this week. Bets posted on Elann about it, and CatBookMom mentioned it, so I had to take a look. All I can say is "WOW!" I feel ever so much better about my own stash, having seen that one. Although I do envy her all those glass-front cabinets. What a great storage item! And CBM was right, I have seen LYS with a lot less yarn than that.

I'm already getting antsy for school to start up again, and it doesn't until the end of August. I'll be back in my classroom, setting up, a couple of weeks before then, though. Unpaid, of course. (My district thinks you can set up a completely stripped classroom, tables and chairs piled in the center of the room, in a half-day, between staff meetings in the morning, and parent visits in the afternoon. Idiocy.) And I've decided to get my Masters, finally. I've put it off for so long, and it just doesn't make sense. It means a higher pay scale for me, of course. But the main reason I'm going for it is I need some new strategies for teaching reading. Every year, the classes we get seem to be worse and worse readers, and my partner teacher and I have run out of strategies for changing that. So, I'm going for an MA Ed, in Reading and Literacy Skills. Between parent meetings, fundraisers for the DC trip, and my online Masters program, this next year is going to be a really busy one for me.

I've already been doing tons of reading on reading. Amazon has loved me, lately! I've gotten books on assessments of reading, diagnostics on reading, what to do with the info you get from all those diagnostics and assessments, current theory on reading, what it is, how it's learned, etc. It's not light reading, but some of it has been valuable. Some of it's been Doh!, but I guess it really doesn't hurt to have what you already know confirmed by some "experts".

I'm going to have a wheelchair-bound student, this next year. Tiny boy, with some sort of disease that makes him extremely fragile, and keeps him tiny. He's been at our school since kindergarten, and I don't think he's grown even 2 inches since then. I've been spending some time this summer trying to work out ways to include him in some of the activities I do with my kids, since his participation is pretty limited in any physical sense. He comes with aides for the whole day, so that's something else I'll need to adjust for. Another adult in the room! Wow! What a luxury that will be. His 4th grade teacher told me she placed him with me specifically, because I'm more "structured" than my partner, and he needs that. I've never thought of myself that way, so I've been examining myself a bit, too, this summer. I do establish routines with my kids, and I do chunk instruction, and give them plans for accomplishing tasks, so maybe I am structured. I'm still thinking about that.

Anyway, this is just rambling on and on, and I should get offline and do some knitting. Or reading. Or pondering. Just something!

I'm a Gryffindor!

The sorting hat says that I belong in Gryffindor!

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those with brave deeds to their name."

Students of Gryffindor are typically brave, daring, and chivalrous.
Famous members include Harry, Ron, Hermione, Albus Dumbledore (head of Hogwarts), and Minerva McGonagall (head of Gryffindor).

Take the most scientific Harry Potter
Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

It's Only Tuesday!

My book order from Amazon got here just now. Fitted Knits, Harmony's 450 Knitting Stitches, and Cindy G.'s I Can't Believe I'm Knitting Socks. Yay! Reading knitting books and patterns is almost as much fun as knitting. (But then, reading is my other obsession.) I'll have some time today to read Cindy's book, but I won't start on a sock just yet. I ordered some yarn from Webs, including some SWTC Tofutsies, and I plan to use that for my first socks. I just got an email saying it was shipped today, so it should be here by the weekend.

I love the Harmony Guides. I was worried for a while that they were being taken off the market, but it seems they're back, although some of them look a bit different. The 450 Stitches I just got seems to be the same as the older ones I have, though. I like the color photos of the stitches, and I've always found their directions clear and straightforward. I've had their Aran book for years, and it's gotten plenty of use around here.

I got Stephanie Japel's book, Fitted Knits, not so much for the patterns as for her methods of shaping.There isn't any one pattern I absolutely have to make,(although the Perfect Dress is calling to me), but I'm interested in how she uses different stitches to shape garments. That will mean some close reading, so I'll save that til I have some solid uninterrupted time.

I lose track of time when I'm on my summer vacation. There's nothing I have to do (well, besides housecleaning, feeding my cat, etc), no place I have to be, so the days all run together. I can't believe it's only Tuesday, today. Feels like it should be Wed. or Thursday. I have no idea why it feels that way, I just know it does. Thank God my computer keeps track of the days!

Rambling on

I've finished the back, and begun the front of Mariel. It got a bit too sticky to work yesterday afternoon. It wasn't that hot, but with over 80% humidity, it felt too warm to be knitting cashmere and mohair. It's a relatively quick knit, though, so I plan to get this finished before the end of the month (I get a lil insomniac on my summer vacation time, and it does cool down a tiny bit at night)

I'm waiting to get a pattern I ordered a week ago. It's this one: Antique Lace sweater Ilga Leja I don't generally knit much lace, but I absolutely love this one, so I'm going to try it. It will be perfect to wear when I get back to work in late August.

I've also decided to finally (!) learn to knit socks. I see all these folks knitting merrily away on their socks, and they get to post so dang many FOs! So, even though I have sock knitting patterns, and sock yarn, and even a sock knitters how-to book, and I haven't done a thing with any of them, I bought Cindy G's new sock knitting book, and I'm determined to actually learn to knit socks.

My mother always said she didn't know how to knit while simultaneously turning out pair after pair of socks. Argyle socks. Lacy socks. Plain, workhorse socks. If she could do that, I can. I just need to get over my fear of doublepoints, and I'll be fine. Really. I can do this.

I think my real problem with knitting socks is that I can't visualize it. I can see in my mind what a sweater pattern is going to look like. I can design, from scratch, a very complex Aran sweater. I can take a black and white fair isle design, and picture it in many color schemes. I can take a stitch pattern and visualize it as an all-over pattern, as an inset pattern, as part of a mosaic of stitch patterns. But give me a sock pattern, and I draw a blank. I can't see any part of it. All I see, to be honest, is all those needles forming a pointy circular forest. And it stops me cold. I even tried the Cat Bordhi method of two circulars, but got nowhere with that, too. I just couldn't figure it out.

So. Sometime before 2008 gets here, I will have made a pair of socks. I'm promising myself that. I owe it to my development as a knitter to master this area, and I am going to. (I figure if I keep saying that, it will happen!) I intend to utilize all the folks I know that are sock knitters (fair warning!). I may even break down and head over to my LYS (which has moved, and I haven't been to the new place yet) and beg them to teach me. Some how, some way, I will knit a pair of socks this year.

Pictures (not good, but pictures nonetheless!)

My apartment is dark, even at midday. Since it helps a tiny bit in keeping the heat down, I don't mind all that much. However, trying to take a picture of yarn or parts of a sweater in this light just sucks.

So, long exposure, which makes it a tad blurry (I can't hold still that long, and I don't know where I've stored my tripod), and only barely adequate color . Oh, well.

Below is a shot of the yarns I am using for my version of Mariel, followed by a peek at the back, just to show the fabric. The yarns are actually deeper wine than the pics show, and the specks of color in the mohair are much brighter and shiny.

Obviously, I need to find a better spot to take pictures, and I probably also need take a short course in close-up photography.

Since I'm going to be taking classes

online this year, I probably won't have the time for a photography course, but I will be looking for a better spot to take pics.

If you don't read The Yarn Harlot, I urge you to do so. There's a story, yesterday, about Tory Bowen, that will make you scream or cry, possibly both. Stephanie provides links to contact your reps about this outrage ~ please, if this misogynistic slap at a rape victim moves you, tell people and contact your reps to ask them to help. I asked both my senators to talk to their Nebraska colleagues about the reprehensible behavior of the judge. I just can't believe this can still happen in America. Or, perhaps, I just don't want to believe it.

(Generally, though, I read Stephanie because she makes me laugh, not cry!)

Actual Knitting Content! (gasp!)

I know, I know ~ y'all thought I was fibbing when I said I was a knitter. Hardly a word about knitting in all this! So, just to prove I really do knit, there's this:

Our weather dropped a bit this week ~ down from 110 to merely 95, and today, so far, the low 80s. I can knit! And to celebrate that, do I finish any of my WIPs? Nope, I start something entirely new. In mohair and cashmere, of course, not practical cotton.

Because it was so hot, I was just cruising online for knitting patterns, and of course I checked out the Berroco website. Among several other patterns I grabbed, there was a perfect slouchy sweater in mohair (I'm thinking ahead to December, when it might actually be cool enough to wear this, of course). And so I downloaded the directions to "Mariel", printed it out, and put it away. Then I was cruising through my stash, and I found the wonderful wine colored mohair I'd gotten on Ebay not too long ago, and went "Ah Ha!". Whipped the pattern out, did a gauge, and scratched my head. No way I'm going to get 14 sts to 4 inches with this yarn and these needles. I checked Berroco again, to check out the yarn, and it looked very, very similar to the weight of the mohair I was using. So I looked at the pattern again, and discovered I'd completely missed some important info ~ they used two different yarns together to knit the pattern. Duh. (The second yarn used in the pattern is no longer made by Berroco, and they don't even have the yarn info online, so they didn't do the usual bright blue link for the yarn, and I just plain missed it.)

So I sat there for a bit, grabbed the scarf I'm making for my sister and knitted a few rows and then noticed that the wool/cashmere yarn I am using on my sister's scarf is a perfect match to the mohair I want to use for Mariel. Eureka!

So, I'm knitting this:


(That's Berroco's shot of the sweater, not mine, not me) I'm about a third of the way through the raglan decreases on the back, but I made some changes to the pattern. I didn't like the way the decreases were done on the body of this ~ it disrupted the flow of the K3P3 ribs. So, I instead just gradually made the K3P3 ribs into K3P2 ribs, after casting on 12 less stitches at the beginning. The pattern states the bottom edge would be 49 inches, and on me, that would be enormous. The pattern called for 24 stitches to be decreased before the bustline, and the decreases are all done 9 stitches in from the sides. I tried it, but it just destroyed the vertical flow of this sweater. So, I ripped back, eliminated 12 sts, and substituted the remaining 12 decreases in the P3 rib, and got the right number of stitches for the bustline. I'm much happier with this decrease, because it's completely unnoticeable.

I'm using 10 1/2s, with Mario Niccoli's Mantegna mohair and Elann's Baby Cashmere held together. It feels incredibly yummy! The mohair has random bits of color scattered throughout and it's much more subtle with the cashmere added. I hope to have pics of it tomorrow, so y'all can see the color. I really, really love it! (The light today is just impossible, or I'd have pics now)

Missing in Action

I know it's been a while (over a month!) since I last posted anything, but I've been busy, busy, busy. First it was the trip (fantastic), then Open House at school, then the end of the school year, then cleaning/organizing/storing my classroom, and finding homes for the stuff I had to bring home since my classroom is stuffed to the gills.

I was done with all that last Wednesday, finally. It's just finally sinking in that I'm on vacation. I have time! Yay, me!

Of course, it's the summer, here in L.A. Insufferably hot (which matters greatly to me, since I live in an upstairs apartment with no A/C), and very, very dry. Driest year in 130 years, officially. Cities are scrambling to outlaw fireworks for the upcoming 4th of July (I wish they'd just outlaw the individual fireworks permanently ~ professional displays are enough.) Today was 103 around 2 pm, and it's 90 now, at nearly 9 pm. They say the next two days will be hotter. I can hardly wait.

The idea of knitting while I swelter is somehow not very appealing. Well, the idea is appealing, very appealing. It's the application that isn't. I've started several things ~ a scarf for my sister in VA (It will be her first winter there, and she's a native CA kid like me), a short sleeved top for me, a cabled tank in cotton/silk. I do a couple of rows, and quit. It's just too hot. It's too hot to even just read, which is another obsession of mine.

I guess I'll be heading over to the library for some in-house reading time in the next few days. And window shopping in malls. I'll wander over to my LYS, which has relocated, too. I'll have to find a project to make using the yarns I've bought there, so maybe I'll get a little knitting time in. In general, I'll be searching out all the places that offer a chance to spend time in A/C without involving lots of money. It's hard to believe it's already this hot, this early. I can hardly wait for August!

That's it, for now. I'm going to go get some ice water, and decide whether I want to drink it or pour it over me ~

Off to DC, Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg

Today I leave for Washington, DC. It's been exhausting and way too busy getting ready for this, and trying to deal with a perfectly incompetent principal hellbent on harassing me. I can't wait to get on the plane and just relax. Never thought I'd look forward to a 5 hour flight, but it sounds lovely to me now.

Every year, my teaching partner and I fundraise, solicit donations, and just plain beg to raise money to take our students on this trip. California kids just have no idea of what our country was like 300 years ago. For that matter, they don't have any idea what our east coast life is like, either. This trip makes American history come alive for them in a way no teaching, pictures, or videos can do. The tour company we work with is just wonderful at making this trip easy to arrange and full of enriching activities for our 5th graders. Usually we're the only group of 5th graders in DC and the other areas. Having seen 8th graders (the usual group taken on this trip) run screaming around the Smithsonians, shouting obscenities at the Wall and at the Jefferson Memorial, etc., I am infinitely pleased that we take 5th graders, instead. They're still polite, and capable of awe. They look at DC with wonder in their eyes. I love watching them explore. We're gone a week, and we are on the run from breakfast at 7 am til we put them in their hotel rooms around 10 pm. (Bless our tour company ~ they provide a security guard from 10 pm til 5:30 am each night.) It's a packed week, and everyone walks miles and miles, but we have a grand time.

I keep promising myself that I'll come back to DC on my own, and take my time exploring it. I love that city, and we never have enough time there. I want more time in the Archives ~ the Public Vaults are amazing! I want to go inside the White House (but this president has 3 times declined our requests for a tour, so I guess I'll wait til we have a new president). I want to walk the streets, to get close to some of the amazing architecture in that city, and explore the microparks. I want to get over to Alexandria and just spend a day or two exploring it. (The ghost tour there is wonderful, for any age!)

Every year we go, we see something new on this trip. 3 years ago, we were just looking out the windows of the tour bus, on our way to Williamsburg, when we spotted giant heads of the presidents. Presidents Park! 18-20 foot sculptures of the heads of all of our presidents. Never knew it was there til we saw it. We just asked our tour company to take us to that place with the giant heads next trip, and they found it and booked us. One year, our guide took us to Ben's Chili Bowl, the place where Bill Cosby met his wife. The owners ship their chili all over the world to famous and not-so-famous folk. Another year, we discovered The Awakening ~ a giant, partially buried human sculpture. Each year, more of it is visible. The kids loved it. And then there was the Einstein Monument ~ he's one of my most admired folks, so it was great to see a statue of him. I got to sit in his lap for a picture. (Everybody else was just scattered all over him. It's a not-to-be-missed photo op!)

So, I leave in about 3 hours. We're taking the red eye, but at least it's a non-stop. Try herding 35 10 year olds through a plane change, and you'll understand why we appreciate non-stop flights. My teaching partner doesn't fly well, so I won't be getting any sleep on this trip. (She keeps telling me that if people aren't awake and believing the plane can fly, it won't!)

I'll have stories and pictures (finally!) to post when I get back. Or at least, after I get back and sleep for a day.

Catching up ~ or catching my breath

Report cards went home today, and surprisingly, kids seemed pretty happy about them. Not that they were great report cards ~ my students this year just don't seem to realize what they don't know, and don't seem to care. And nothing I say or do or show them seems to change their minds. Oh, well.

I was too busy last week to get any knitting done, although I have started a small, summer sweater using Plymouth Yarns Bella. Got it at DiscountedYarns, which I learned about on Betsy's blog (You Can't Read My Mind...). I like the yarn, and the pattern (rather mindless ribbing, which is soothing), so hopefully I can get back to working on it. I've only got about the first 5 inches of the front (or back) done so far, but it's going to be either sleeveless or very short sleeved, with minimal finishing, so it should go quickly.

Of course, now that I'm knitting a summer sweater, it's gotten cold and rainy. Not encouraging. But this is SoCal, so it should be warmer soon. And too warm, just after that.

My students and I are travelling to DC/Williamsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown in just one month. We spend a week there, exploring America's past, and all the monuments and buildings in DC. It's a wonderful trip, and I wish all my students, and all my teaching partner's students, could go. But it's also an expensive trip ~ $1,475 this year ~ so I do understand that not every student can go. And often parents who can afford to let their child go, won't let them go because it's too "scary" to do so. For most kids, it's their first plane trip, first hotel stay, first overnight away from parents. And it's a full week away. They do get homesick (although most of them don't notice that til they call home ~ then it's 'lump in the throat' time!) But the trip enriches the kids understanding of our history so much, I want them all to go. My partner and I fundraise constantly, to help kids raise the money to go. We've already started the fundraising for next year's trip ~ several kids have raised a couple of hundred dollars already, with more fundraisers planned before summer. Never a dull moment, at my school!

Between report cards, a landlord error that nearly got *me* evicted, the tragic news out of VA, and the ongoing fight with the IRS, this hasn't been a good month for me. But, it's almost over (yay!) and I am just positive that May will be much better. Maybe, at long last, some pictures of actual knitting!

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut died.

I miss him, already. Oh, I know he wasn't actively writing novels any more. I know he wasn't making public appearances lately. But, still, I miss him. His wit, his insight, his black humor. He's gone, and the world is a little less for its loss.

I know that he was the rage in college dorms in the late 60s and early 70s, but I was too young for college then, so I first encountered Vonnegut in junior high. I don't even remember which of his novels was the first one I read. I read them all. Repeatedly. I'll probably read them all, again. Not today, though. It would be too hard.

The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. Kilgore Trout. Billy Pilgrim. Bokonism (sp). Breakfast of Champions. There was a piece he did, nonfiction, on the genocide of the Ibo tribe, in Nigeria, in the 70s. Heartbreaking and funny. Left me gasping in pain over the evil that people do, the evil that indifference lets thrive. Gave me a new definition for "sorry", one that I've taken to heart and used ever sense.

I don't get starstruck. Actors and actresses don't move me, generally speaking. A performance might, but I don't really care much about the person performing. Writers, though, and singers, seem to resonate within me. Maybe it's because they, unlike actors, give themselves in their work. Vonnegut's books are windows into his past and present. You knew him in reading his books. He made himself vulnerable to share his stories with the world. And now he's gone. A part of me was hoping, until the news came, that we might all get to share another of his stories, infused with his insight into the war and the political mess we're in today. I would have enjoyed reading his story about that.

Life, Computers, and Insanity

My life has been much harder than it has to be, lately. Blogger "disappeared" me for a month, my boss asked for 6 impossible things in 2 days, the IRS has decided that I owe them $1,200+ in back taxes (I'm a school teacher, dammit. How can I owe them so much for as little as I earn??), my computer's power supply died (never had that happen before!), and once it was replaced, we (computer tech and I) discovered that it had screwed up my Window's installation, as well. Seems everything was still there, but from Turn On to Open Program could take ~ well, I don't know, exactly, because I gave up after 45 minutes. No problem, I thought to myself. I have that big, wonderful 160 gig hard drive, just waiting to be installed (to replace the old C drive that just died, back in October (no reason, no saving it, just dead, and most of my documents, pics, etc with it). So, I install it. Install a new copy of XP. Slave my old D drive to it. Works great, I say to myself. Faster than ever, even.

One problem. Can't even look at my old D drive. Says it's blank. (It isn't. It has my life on it, the one I painstakingly rebuilt after my C drive died.) Okay, I say. I saved a bunch of stuff on CDs, so I'll just copy that to the new drive. Except that Windows goes nuts when I try to read the CD. Doesn't reject it. Just goes into NeverNeverLand. Welcome to reboot city. I check to see that I really did install the CD burner program that created the CDs. It's there. It works. I can burn CDs. I just can't read the CD with my edited life on it. (There is one miracle here, though. I burned a CD with all my report cards on it, and it will read that one. Hallelujah! Oh, wait. My gradebook is on the now defunct D drive. Sigh)

I'm going to try a couple of other techy things with my old drive, to see if I can't salvage some of it. If/when that fails, I guess I'll be wandering off to CompUSA, where they say they can save info on any harddisk(for $$$, no doubt). We'll see. Wish me luck?

A Way to Make the World Better

Today I found a wonderful website. Kiva.org coordinates microfinance loans, enabling anyone to make loans as small as $25 to very small entrepreneurs in painfully poor areas of the world. If you've got $25 and a Paypal account, you can help a man or woman in Africa, Samoa, Asia, etc, build or expand his/her small business, a business that often supports entire families that currently live on only a few (or maybe even 1) dollars a day. It's ingenious, heartwarming, and incredibly easy! I'm now the proud financier for two different women, struggling to grow their businesses in Ghana and Ajherbazhan (sp?).

It's a wonderful feeling to know that in only minutes, I've made a positive difference in the lives of these women, that I've helped and encouraged them to make their lives better. Kiva makes it so easy ~ they've done all the work to find these people, to find local financial groups that will disburse the loan funds and collect the repayments, to keep you informed on how they're doing, and to manage the repayment of the loan. All you really have to do is find someone to loan your $$ to(just surf through their postings), and Kiva does the rest. It's incredible, truly.

I've put a button on this blog ~ click on it and it will take you directly to Kiva.org. See for yourself how much good you can do with as little as 5 minutes and $25. Please ~ take the time. It's soooo worth it!

Oh, no!

There must be some weird karma going around. I spent weeks down because Blogger malfunctioned. I finally get up and running, visit my friend's, Catbookmom, blog, and now she's got Blogger troubles! Her blog disappeared! What is with Blogger lately? I've heard all sorts of complaints in the past couple of months. Is it all because of the change over from the old version to the new? Seems to me the new Blogger blogs should still be okay, but mine was always the new version, and I had trouble, too. Makes life interesting, as in the Chinese curse interesting.

In other news, perhaps my time in the doldrums is beginning to end. At least, I can feel my interest beginning to return. (yay!) I'm sitting here staring at some E. Lavold Angora (just "oats" color, a nice warm beige), and there's a tweedy blue wool that's trying to attract me.

I guess I don't do seasonal knits. I knit wool year round, cotton year round, pretty much anything anytime. Maybe that's the SoCal influence. We don't really have seasons here (well, there's Fire Season, and Mudslide Season, but I don't think those really count), so I don't knit seasonally. (What sort of knit is appropriate to Fire Season?? And all that orangey-red fire color is just not me!) I wonder if I'd knit differently if I lived somewhere with real seasons. Dress differently, for sure, but knit differently? Hmmmm.

Anyway, here's hoping Blogger is more responsive to my friend, and her blog is back and working really soon.

My first quiz!

I found this over on Catbookmom's site, and couldn't resist. Heh. Found out I'm stuck in the middle! LOL

You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

No thanks to Blogger

Well, I would have been blogging along merrily several weeks ago, but Blogger malfunctioned. Letters to them required more than a week before they responded, and the first one I got from them clearly showed they hadn't even read my letter before responding. It just told me to do all the things I'd already done, and told them I'd already done. The next letter needed 9 days before they could respond, and then, again, they told me to do the things I'd already done.

So, I just started messing around with my computer, not doing anything they suggested, and after restarts, deletions, renamings, and various changes to settings they'd said would work but didn't, voila ~ I can now resume blogging.

Of course, I'm not sure that will be true the next time I want to sign on, but I'm crossing my fingers. (Any prayers/good wishes/black magic would be welcome, as well. God knows, Blogger won't help)

On the knitting front, not much is going on right now. I've been consumed with work and with a flare up of my arthritis (both knees, traumatic kind since my 20s), so I haven't been knitting much at all. The scarf I posted about is only about 4 inches longer. I've wound my wonderful ribbon yarn into balls, but haven't cast on yet. I've made a start on seaming a sweater I did in Noro Silk Garden, but I haven't finished that, either. Between problems with my DSL provider, problems with Blogger, problems with my knees, and too much work, I think I'm just feeling the doldrums.

Hopefully, that will end soon. Maybe Spring will revive me (yeah, I know, in SoCal, our winter is very much like everyone else's spring, but still~). Maybe more daylight hours (remember, Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday!) will help. Something will, soon. Maybe just looking at that partially constructed Silk Garden sweater will motivate and inspire me.

So, if I disappear for a long time, again, you can pretty much figure it's Blogger problems again, and not me just gone missing. And, with any luck, next post will have some pictures of at least a Silk Garden sweater (completely put together and wearable!).

School related woes

Well, I still don't have a flash card for my camera, but that's on hold for now. I'm awash in the dreaded "report card writing" part of teaching. I have 31 report cards to write. Each report card contains 37 grades plus comments. Half of them must be done in Spanish (my second language is French. Not much help). At least, this year, finally!, I can now do my report cards on my computer. I can't import grades from my school-provided grading program, but at least I don't have to laboriously hand write every one. Yay for progress!

The quarter ended Friday. Report cards are due in the principal's hands by this Wednesday morning. I work Monday and Tuesday, although he has graciously given us an hour off from the students on Tuesday, ostensibly to work on our report cards. A whole hour!

Teaching, at least in California, is the only profession I know of that requires, routinely, that teachers put in volunteer hours to carry out their job. And it isn't just a few hours, here or there. It's built into every week of the school year, and beyond. I got green with envy (and green isn't my color) when talking to a teacher from NC. She gets paid to come in 2 weeks before her students in the summer, to set up her classroom. In my district, we get paid to come in 2 days before the students, and the first day is an all day "staff development/welcome back" affair; the second day is a staff meeting with the principal, and then meeting the parents a couple of hours later (in your "has to be ready" classroom. What are they thinking? End of the year requirements leave our classrooms with bare walls, boxed books, empty shelves. At least in elementary school, there is simply no way you can go from that to ready to welcome new students in a couple of hours. (Oh, I forgot to mention that the summer cleaning crew moves all the furniture into a pile in the center of the room, and leaves it there. We get to move it back ourselves.) So, of course, I and my colleagues find ourselves hard at work in our classrooms weeks before the first paid day back. (For that matter, I stay long after the students have gone, at the end of the year, because I refuse to strip my room of all the student work, the posters, the books, etc., before the students have gone. And paid time ends the same day the students leave.)

I digress. And my break from writing report cards is coming to a close, so I'd better end this and grab something to eat before my breaktime ends. I'll be back with some pics by the middle of the week, hopefully.

Well, after much trouble, and renaming this and saving it as 3 different kinds of file, Blogger finally let me upload this pic of my Amherst scarf. The color is a bit lighter than it appears here, and the dark spots are from it being smushed by my scanner's lid.
This is two repeats of the pattern, about 9 inches long. Hopefully, once I get my camera working, much better pics will get posted.

Blogger trouble

Here I thought I'd be clever, and use my scanner to get a pic of my scarf. It's still small enough to fit on the bed of my scanner, so I scanned it in. No problem. It's not a great pic ~ the scarf is being smushed by the lid of the scanner, so it has some dark spots on it and the stitches look a bit wonky. But, it's a pic, right?

So, I log on and tell Blogger to upload it. Blogger says it's uploading "Amherstscarf.bmp", and finishes. Except that it isn't a picture of my scarf. It's a picture I'd saved from someone else's blog, of *her* scarf. Arrrgh! Can it be that Blogger is trying to tell me something?? LOL

Pictures delayed

Pictures will have to wait til either I find my missing card for my camera, or give up and buy a new one. I have two digital cameras, but my newest (and best) has a 1gig card, which my printer doesn't recognize, and the USB cable for it doesn't fit my PC, so I can't upload any pics from it. I know I have a smaller, 512M card somewhere, but it isn't in its case, so I have no idea where it got to.

I went ahead and started my scarf with Webs Amherst ~ I needed some soothing time after the hectic search for my digital card. I decided to go with cables, and settled for baby cables inside an angular, larger cable. One repeat (24 rows) on 9s is 4.5 inches, with another half inch seed st. border. I'm figuring 12 repeats, which will give me a 55" finished length. I'm petite, and 5'4, so that sounds right for me. I'll check when it gets a bit longer, to be sure. I do love this yarn! It's got good stitch definition, and feels so soft. It's in a periwinkle color (Webs' name for it), a bluey purple that's perfect for me.

Anyway, sorry for no pictures, as previously promised. I'll try to get some this week, whether I find that &$%# card or not!

Actual knitting content!

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be able to post some pics. It's been a very busy week for me, and until today, the days have been overcast, and dark early. Not good for pictures at all. Tomorrow is supposed to be like today, sunny, so I should be able to take at least a few pics. We'll see.

I'm going to start a scarf using Webs house yarn, Valley Yarns Amherst. I love this yarn. It's wooly and springy, and lovely to knit with. I've been swatching different stitch patterns, trying to find one I really like. So far, none have made me fall in love. Guess I'll be trying a few more tomorrow. Maybe I'll just wing it, throw in a cable or two, and see how that goes.

I also just got some gorgeous ribbon yarn, Cherry Tree Hill's Rainbow Ribbon in Winterberry. I'm planning on using it to make a summer top I found in an old Vogue. Wow, a really old Vogue! I just looked, and it's from 1990! (Yes, I hoard pattern magazines, too) The original is pretty ethnic, and I'm not, but I think the colorway I chose will lessen the ethnic flavor a bit. I think this is one I'll want to take with me when I head off to DC in late May with my students. It's cotton, with barely cap sleeves, so it should be good in the warm, humid DC/VA weather.

I have so many WIPs, I should feel guilty starting any new project. But any WIP in time-out is there because 1) I got tired/bored knitting it or 2) I didn't like how it was developing or 3) I ran into trouble knitting it and put it aside til my frustration level decreased, so until I come up with a real desire to restart any of them, they'll remain WIPs, and I'll happily begin something new. Knitting is therapy for me, and being frustrated, bored, or unhappy while doing it just doesn't feel theraputic.

The parent of one of my students brought in a big plastic tub of craft stuff again today. (This is the second big plastic tub of such that he's brought in) It's from his mother, who was a "crafty lady", but he's a single dad, getting ready to move, and "this stuff has just been sitting around in the garage" since his mother died years ago. He thought of me because his niece (he's her guardian) is in my afterschool knitting club. So, two big (more to come) containers of all the craft things he's found as he cleans out.

Lots of acrylic yarn, in many colors. Crochet hooks, mostly steel; knitting needles of all sizes, mostly 14", but today lots of dpns. Thankfully, included was a needle sizer, since the dpns were all loose, and most have no size markings on them. I'm assuming the weird, U shaped metal objects I found in today's box are hairpin lace tools, but I'm not sure. And there were four or five elliptical objects which brought to mind shuttles, one out of abalone shell. I'm not sure what they were used for, though. Does tatting use shuttles? Maybe I'll post a picture of them if I can remember to take my camera to school next week, and see if anyone can tell me what they are used for.

History does repeat itself, generally not the way we want it to.

I read this tonight in a book about the Battle of Bunker Hill, an American Revolution battle. It seemed so appropriate for today.

"If force is to be used at length, it must be a considerable one, for to begin with small numbers will encourage resistance, and not terrify; and will in the end cost more blood and treasure." and "A large force will terrify, and engage many to join you, a middling one will encourage resistance, and gain no friends". Thus wrote General Thomas Gage, British commander of the army in the colonies, to officials in King George III's government. I couldn't help but think how true this was of the situation in Iraq, today. Rummy's downsizing, his absolute, arrogant belief that a small number of troops would effect miracles.

The British army, in the 18th century, was every bit as awe-inspiring as the America of the 21st. Gage was an experienced, intelligent military officer, and he knew that even though the British soldier was considered the best in the world, and the native population admired them, and many supported them, that Britain could not win in America if they didn't apply overwhelming force from the beginning. Perhaps our George II should have read a little more history?

Rambling Thoughts

I am obsessed with yarn. I admit it. I have a SABLE in my home. (SABLE= Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy, term courtesy of the Elann chatsite). I truly don't need to buy another skein of anything, and would still be able to knit non-stop til I die (and I'm planning on living a great many more years). It should distress me, but it doesn't. It's a sort of therapy for me, living surrounded by yarn. It's tactile, it's colorful, it's dream-inspiring. What more could I ask for?

Well, I guess I could ask that it inspire me to actually knit some of it up into one of the other huge collections I have ~ knitting patterns. Or even my own pattern, since I do make them up from time to time. I'm currently trying to create a record of the patterns I do own, to organize that *stash*, but it's slow going. I open a magazine, to find the patterns I bought it for, but find that I have to browse the whole thing, reread the articles, look at each pattern again, reconsider some of them, etc. And then I start to think about the yarns I already have ~ at least the ones I can remember unaided ~ and start calculating about whether I have enough of said stash yarn to make one of them, or how I can tweak said pattern to my needs. And before you know it, hours have flown past, and I've recorded maybe one or two patterns. Out of the thousands I have. I'm thinking this is going to take a long, long time.

My stash is made up primarily of natural yarns ~ wool, silk, alpaca, cashmere blends, bamboo. I love knitting those. Sort of impractical, since I live in Southern California, where (except for the last week) the temperatures tend to be a bit on the warm side. But I get cold easily, and my work environment is airconditioned (too airconditioned, but then, I have no control over that), so I can wear my natural fibers, as long as I don't go for something really heavy. So of course, I absolutely love heavily cabled sweaters. Judging by my knitting desires, I really should live somewhere that has actual seasons, including cold ones.

I said in an earlier post that I don't knit for my family, and that's not quite true. I have knit for them before, using washable yarns. My youngest brother is a clothing snob, but I seem to be able to meet his style sense. He's also 6'4, so I'm not inspired to knit much for him given how big a project that is. Both my sister and youngest brother have provided me with nieces and nephews, and I have made several things for them. The girls were especially fun to knit for, because they're both girly-girls, and love brightly colored, frilly, fancy things However, their parents are, as I said, wash & wear types, so I have to abandon my natural fibers and knit in machine washable yarns. Some of them are fun knits, and the kids have loved having Aunt Christine make them something.

I work a lot. Teaching is so not a "9 to 5" kind of job, although I don't think many people realize that. In addition to lesson plans, grading papers, parent conferences, report cards, etc., I do a huge amount of fundraising. The other 5th grade teacher and I take our students (as many as we can get to go) to Washington, DC, Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown, every year. Coming from SoCal, it's a tad expensive, so we find ourselves fundraising like mad to help the students go. I don't have nearly enough knitting time, and even when I do find myself with spare time, oftentimes I'm too tired to knit. So I have become a selfish knitter, knitting for myself only, with rare exceptions.

One exception to this selfishness ~ I do teach my students to knit. Well, as many as want to learn, anyway. One year I did do it as a whole class, and we even made our own knitting needles (dowels, sharpened in the pencil sharpener, then sanded smooth, with beads attached to one end. I can't remember what size dowels I used, but they became size 10 needles, more or less.) And I've loved the fact that, many years, it's my boys who seem the most interested, and the best learners. And my learning-disabled kids do just as well, if not better, than my other students. I love that.

Well, it seems I've rambled on for quite a bit. This blogging can be a bit addictive! I'm off to work on grading papers, with, hopefully, a little knitting time after that. I'm working on a simple little cropped jacket, a quick knit, and I'd like to finish it soon.

Blogging Away

Just an update ~ I'm arduously linking to all my fav blogs, but it's slow going. Good thing today is a holiday for me! I'm still tinkering with the template and layout, (Blogger is rather limited, and I'm so not up on html )

Christine

Welcome to my corner!

Hello to any and all who've dropped in. This is my first attempt at blogging, although I've been reading blogs for ages. Advice welcome!

I'm going to be blogging about knitting, teaching, life, politics ~ I guess just about everything. (I'll try to keep the politics to a minimum, but here's fair warning ~ I am NOT a fan of George Bush!)

I'm a single woman (my cat doesn't agree) living in the Los Angeles area. I've been teaching for almost 20 years, and knitting for almost 40. I tend to knit mostly for myself, I don't knit Christmas gifts for the family (they're all wash&wear types), and I haven't done any charity knitting to date. I just send checks, instead. Maybe that will change this year, seeing all the great causes in the blogs I've been reading.

I'm working on pictures, but it will be a few days at least until I have some. I haven't been in the habit of photographing the sweaters I knit, but I'll drag some out and take photos soon. Oh, and I guess I'll have to do the finishing on all my FOs that are sitting around waiting to be seamed together! (I hate that part, could you guess?)

I'm off to figure out the rest of Blogger ~ thanks for dropping by

Christine