I'm feeling better!

The antibiotics have done their job, and I'm officially over my bout with pneumonia. My doctor is still telling me to take it easy, but he and I both think the worst is over (finally!)

I got some good news at work this week ~ I was selected Teacher of the Year for my school! I am both honored and excited to be chosen (even if it does mean more work, writing essays, doing an interview, etc.) This is part of the National Teacher of the Year, but I'm not counting on that. I'm not even counting on becoming my own district's Teacher of the Year LOL

On the knitting front, well, there's nothing new. I have basically been going to work, coming home, and collapsing. I haven't had the energy to knit in weeks and weeks, and I don't even have the energy to choose a new project right now.

Both my graduate courses and report cards are due next Friday, so the coming week is going to be very hectic, as I write my final papers for my grad courses, and report cards for my students (now numbering 37, due to a new boy who arrived Thursday). I kind of doubt I'll find either the energy or the time to do any knitting until after all this. At least I get a couple of weeks off grad school after the 14th!

I'm alive, but not very well

I apologize to everyone for not posting for so long. I've been down with pneumonia, and I'm just now slowly recovering. I had to spend a couple of days in the hospital, and miss a week from work (and my school, too). I haven't gotten anything accomplished in ages.

To my swap buddy, I need to apologize for not getting your package in the mail on time. I've just been too ill to do anything about it. I'll try to finish the package this weekend, and mail it on Tuesday, but it really depends on how well I feel (which isn't wonderful, yet).

I obviously haven't been knitting at all, either. Between the illness and the meds to cure said illness, I've just been a zombie for the most part. So, apologies to all, and hopefully I'll be back to posting regularly soon.

And the Winner is....

It's been a rough two weeks, and last night was the worst. The wind kicked up here, and first, ripped my bedroom window off its track, so it had to stay wide open all night (and all day today until I could get home to crawl up on my dresser, remove the screen, strong arm the window arm back onto/into its holder, and finally (Yes!) crank it closed). Next, the open window let enough of the gale force wind in to knock over a large container holding my jewelry, scattering it all over my bedroom. While I was on my hands and knees, gathering up the scattered jewelry (and fending off my cat, who was fascinated by all the small shiny objects), the power went off. And stayed off. All night. So there I sat, in the dark, in the cold (my one and only wall heater is in a boxed in hallway, with 4 rooms, 2 doorless, opening off it. Needless to say, it doesn't heat anything much), afraid to go to sleep for fear I'd oversleep, waiting for the power to come back on. It didn't. I got to put on my make-up in my car this morning, and couldn't do much more than brush my hair (which normally desperately needs blowdrying into shape.) Sleepless, frozen, wild hair and sketchy makeup, I made it to work on time, much the worse for wear.

I didn't get to put all the names into a bowl until today, but I did finally get that done. (I'm behind on several other things, too, thanks to last night.) And so, congratulations go to Grace! She's the winner of all 5 skeins of Araucania Atacama alpaca yarn, and given how many wonderful shawls she has knit, I'm sure she'll put this to beautiful use, too. So, Grace, send me your address, and I'll get this off to you as soon as I can.

Picture for the Atacama

Okay, I cheated. Kmkat left a comment that reminded me that Ravelry is a great resource, so I jumped over there and found this picture of Araucania Atacama #514, which is what I have 5 skeins of. It's still gloomy here, so this is a godsend. (and bad me, I don't remember whose picture this is, so my apologies to the photographer.)

So, just imagine these plus two more skeins of this beautiful, soft yarn and that's the prize for my Blogiversy contest. It's not too late to enter!

No pics today ~ can we say "gloom'?

It's pouring again today, and it's as dark as all get out, here. I don't even want to get dressed up to go out shopping, which I need to do. Instead, I'm sitting here figuring out ways I can avoid that. I don't need to drink coffee, right? Eating? Well, maybe tomorrow. It's just that yucky out.

I ordered Sweater Wizard v3 a few days ago, and it arrived yesterday. It isn't everything I wanted, but I'm still exploring it, so that may not be true. I'll need to play around with it a lot more. Lion Brand is also advertising their new knitting software (even though it's out of stock, presently), and there's a thread on Elann about it, asking if anyone knows anything about it. It's a lot cheaper than Sweater Wizard, even without the 30% discount. And it may have more bells and whistles, but it's hard to tell without buying it and trying it. Does anyone really need two knitting programs?

KnitDad uses SW a lot, so I'm thinking I'll be asking him how to get it to do what I want it to if I can't figure it out myself. For the basics, it really is simple. Plug in a gauge, tell it what needles you're using, tell it the basic shape you want, and presto! There's your pattern, with all the math worked out for you. I like that part. I just want to tweak it, of course.

Tomorrow is my "return to reality", and I have to admit I'm not looking forward to it. I mean, I love my kids, but I have also loved being off work and off graduate school for the past two weeks. Even with the holidays, it's been a relaxing break from the frenetic pace my life is. I didn't get done with everything I wanted, but that's okay. I gave myself permission to not set any absolute goals for myself during this time. I have too many of those all the rest of the time.

I've been accepted for Grace's MiniSwap, for those of us who didn't make it into the original CocoaSwap. I don't know who my partner is yet, but I'm excited about participating in this. It's my first swap, ever! And it's chocolate! (That's a food group, right?) I'll let you know how it goes. It's only a one-month swap, one package, so I think that's manageable, even for me.

Don't forget, there's still plenty of time to enter my Blogiversary Contest. It doesn't close until 1/15, so leave me a comment about your favorite knit, and why, and you'll be in the running for some deliciously soft alpaca.

An Anniversary, and a Contest!

It just occurred to me that my one year blog anniversary is coming up soon. I had to go look to be sure, but my first post was on Jan. 15, 2007. I can't believe I've been posting that long, to be honest. And I haven't posted that often. I mean, 40 posts? Heh. So, it's a good thing I've sort of promised myself to post more often. I won't be joining the Blog365 group, because there's just no way I could find enough time or content to do that, but I will try posting at least once a week.

So, in honor of my 1st anniversary, and in the interests of reducing my stash some way, I've decided to have a contest, with yarny goodness as a prize. I have 5 skeins of Araucania's Atacama Alpaca yarn, in a turqoise/blue/black/brown colorway (514) that, while I love, I will probably never knit up, so it's going to go to a good home. It's 110 yards/50g, and knits at 18 sts to 4 inches on 7s. Enough for a vest, maybe? I'll take a picture of it as soon as I buy new batteries for my camera, tomorrow or Monday, and post it then. In the meantime, to enter, simply leave me a comment between now and midnight on the15th, telling me what your favorite knit has been, and why. I'll put all the names into a hat (well, something) and draw the winner on the 17th. Easy, right? And it really is beautiful yarn. For some reason, Blogger won't let me start a new line (enter doesn't seem to work), so maybe it's time to end this post. I can read the writing on the keyboard LOL

No Progress to Report

One other aspiration I would like to pursue in 2008 is to post more regularly, and to (finally) post pictures of my WIPs and FOs. Of course, I'd have to actually have those to post pictures of them, right? And right now, I don't. I still haven't decided on what I want to knit now. I've cast on and frogged several yarns and patterns, but none of them have been IT, so I'm still searching.

I go back to work on Monday, and my Master's classes begin the same day. I didn't have access to those until today, so I printed out the syllabi today, and began the reading required. I only have about half the books required, since my order hasn't arrived yet from the college bookstore. (My Amazon order for the other half got here in two days. Yay, Amazon!). This program is supposed to be for working teachers, but the way they assign the reading and the assignments, you'd never know it. I know it's valuable, and I am learning something from it, but keeping up with it all is an extreme challenge. I'm taking 7 units per quarter, 2 classes, because I don't want to spend years doing this, but I may have to reconsider, if the pace doesn't let up a bit.

I'm about this -------- much closer to knitting a sock. I have the yarn (more than one choice, even) and the needles (well, if I don't have to use 1s or 0s, I do), so all I lack is sufficient motivation to cast on. I think I'm just in yet another funk. Nothing seems to be what I want to knit, not just socks. And I think I even feel a bit of pressure, knowing that my free time is about to take a nose dive again, beginning Monday, and not letting up until the end of March (and then only for a week or so, given that conferences and report cards happen right after my Master's classes end.)

A bright spot for me, though, has been my winning two (yes, two!) contests on other blogs. Well, I won one, Sharon's "Name My Dummy" contest, and on the other, I came closest but was over by 1, so Sandra decided to reward me, too! I can't wait to get my goodies, and I promise I'll post pictures of both of them as I get them. Promise! (Even if the light around here sucks, especially right now, given the deluge (rain) we're having).

I'm also considering joining a swap that another Elannite mentioned. I read about it on Grace's blog, and it sounds doable. It also means I would have to blog regularly, since that's a requirement for it. Maybe that's a good idea? I'll have to decide soon, but I'm leaning that way. It would be my first swap, if I get accepted. Any thoughts?