Been a while, I know!

 

 

I'm alive and well, but I haven't been knitting for quite a while now. During the school year, I never seem to have enough time to knit. I get home around 5 or 6, read my email, grade papers, sometimes find something to eat, and then it's time for bed, so that I can get up the next day at 4:30 am.

 

Hopefully, I'll be able to do some knitting over the two-week winter break. Of course, Christmas is in that 2 weeks, so I will have other obligations to pursue, beside knitting. Guess I'll see if I can get anything knitted.

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful and joyous Christmas or Hannukah.

Too Hot to Knit

Well, it is finally too hot to knit. We're under a heat advisory notice, with expected temps up to 108, but above 100 for the week. Great. It's still nearly 80 degrees, and it's almost 9:30 at night.

I don't have A/C, so I'm sitting here with a fan blowing, bouncing off the wall in my bedroom. It's enough to keep me from fainting from the heat, but it doesn't really keep me cool. I'm still sweating, and have been since about 11 am.

Tomorrow is the first day I can get back in my classroom, to start setting up for the new year. Maybe I can even learn who is in my class. Why they won't let me know that before school is practically starting, I'll never know. At any rate, I am going in to the school tomorrow, and probably the rest of this week. At least my classroom is air conditioned. And I may be spending a lot of time at my brother's house, since they have A/C. Maybe I can take some knitting with me to their house. His wife knits, too, so maybe we can have our own "Knit Nights" this week. I just need to find something to knit. I've been looking through patterns for something to do with my Silken Kydd, and for the Silk Mohair from the LB Collection. I had forgotten I'd ordered that. It's in a nice deep wine color, a bit lighter than the Silken Kydd. I've got 1,386 yards of the Silk Mohair, and although it's classified as a 1, the label says the gauge is 17s/20 rows on 8s(5mm). I was thinking of a light cardigan, maybe 3/4 sleeves. Just simple, for wearing in my classroom where it often gets too cold for me but just right for all the students, and at night (when the nights cool down again, that is). I know I've got more than enough yardage, but I can't find a good pattern for it. I've already searched Ravelry and found nothing that works for me. Most of my pattern books and magazines are in another room, and it's simply too hot to go looking through them now. I'd say I could do it in the morning, before it heats up, but honestly, 70 is the lowest temp we've had today (From midnight to now), and 70 isn't really all that cool, considering I have west facing windows in my living room and  in my bedroom, (on the 2nd floor) so the apartment warms up early and stays hot late. Oh, well.

So, I'm searching for a simple, 3/4 length sleeve cardigan which will work with a silk/mohair yarn. Something light and airy. Any suggestions are welcome.

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I just learned Tuesday that I'd won $136. from Elann.com in their drawing. I was thrilled to win that, especially since I didn't have to do anything to enter, so this came as a complete surprise! I already spent about half of it buying some cotton yarns and a pattern book. If you've never taken a look at Elann, I urge you to do so. They offer huge discounts on great yarns ~ their own and top yarn companies. They offer something called Silken Kydd that I think is even better than Rowan's Kidsilk Haze, and at an amazing price. It's 70/30 Super Kid Mohair/Silk, and 232 yards to 25 grams.

I absolutely love Elann, and have been shopping with them for years. They're a Canadian company, but with a presence in the US, in Washington State. Excellent service, quick shipping, terrific yarns, and wonderful member benefits, too. Membership is free.

School is over, and my classroom is packed up. I have time, now, to do some knitting, but I can't decide what I want to knit.  I picked up some Classic Elite Bamboozle, and they have a couple of patterns for that yarn that are perfect summer knits (which means I can pretty much wear them year round, here in SoCal). I also got two different colors of Silken Kydd the other day, winter white and a deep wine color I can't remember the color name of. I haven't decided what to knit with it, but I'm still thinking about it.

I don't knit scarves or shawls or hats, because there really isn't a need for them in SoCal. I could use a scarf maybe a couple of times a year, if that. Hats would be decorative only, and they really mush my hair, so there's no point in knitting them. Shawls? Never wear them, so no reason to knit those, either.

Baby knits and knitted toys are out, too. No one I know is having, or likely to have, a baby. My nieces and nephews are in high school, and everyone at work is past childbearing age, or nearly so.

Which leaves me with stuff for myself, sweaters or household items. And I'm not really a fan of knitted pillows or other accessories, and I've already knitted or crocheted all the afghans I can use.

So, I'm looking for sweater patterns for me. Cardigans and pullovers. Maybe a tank or two, to go under a blazer or jacket. Maybe knit a jacket, too? Too many patterns, not enough time to sort through all of them, much less keep up with the new ones coming out all the time. And I have a huge stash, as well. (So huge I may need to move to a bigger apartment if I don't stop buying more, now!)

What I have, I guess, is an embarrassment of riches. Too much yarn, too many patterns, no pressing demands on my time (for about a month, anyway).  Heh. I'll probably end up knitting lots of washcloths.

Blogger is being hateful, and I can't post unless I log in from IE, which I only discovered today would work. Some weirdness while on AOL that says there's a problem with a subroutine between ie8 and ie9. Oh, well.

Anyway, I've been busy working, reading, knitting, and discovering the joys of my Kindle Fire. Never thought I'd use e-books, but turns out I really enjoy them.

I haven't finished the sweater I mentioned I was designing/knitting. I kept making mistakes, and frogging, so it's been put aside until I get over whatever is clogging my brain when I try to knit it. I did make a nice pair of fingerless mitts, which came in handy when we had those mornings where 45 was the high for days. No pictures, yet, since my camera has been hijacked by my sister-in-law until further notice.

And now the weather is trending toward the high 70s or low 80s, so warm weather knits are looking better all the time. The new Knitty is out, and I took a quick look earlier today. Franklin's pineapple bag is both goofy and wonderful, but not something I think I'll ever knit. And I am so not a shawl person. A couple of sweaters seemed possible, both short and long sleeved.  As I get older, I tend to avoid sleeveles or short sleeved tops, however. I don't even know why. I mean, my upper arms aren't flabby or wrinkled, so I don't *have* to cover them. I just do.

Not much else to say, just dropped in to let folks know I was still here.