Knit Sub

Ahh . . . Spring Break!

2010-03-30T19:02:00.002-04:00

Spring break is here and I couldn't be happier. Despite my determination to stay true to myself and not let my new job take over my life - it totally has. The past three months have been insane and exhausting and confusing all at once. I keep reminding myself that the first year of teaching is supposed to be difficult, that I'm supposed to be feeling this way, but it's hard not to beat myself up over it. I keep thinking that if only I were more organized or better at planning or faster at grading I would be in a better position. While all those points are undoubtedly true, I have to take into account that I need to learn HOW to do all those things, and the only way to learn them is to experience different situations, experiment with different methods and make lots of mistakes. I hate having to make mistakes, but I'm pretty sure it's unavoidable in this profession. I'm still insanely happy not to be substituting anymore, but this career is a lot more intense than I could have imagined. It's really hard!

I've been knitting each morning on the way to work, so I haven't completely stopped my crafting. However, knitting with a lot on your mind is not as fun as carefree knitting. Now that I have a week to catch my breath I was able to sit and crank out a project, just like in the good old days. My mind must have been staved for mindless crafting, because I was able to crank out my Saroyan in just three days. It's blocking now on my bed and pictures will follow tomorrow. I had almost forgotten how good it feels to sit down with your needles and watch a project grow under your hands. I have missed that feeling of satisfaction. I have also finished my second attempt at a February Lady Sweater during my carpool knitting time. I need to get that blocking next. It's smaller than the last one, which I wanted. We'll see how it blocks.

Tomorrow I'm going to sit down and crank out some lesson plans in an attempt to get ahead. I'm already counting down the days until summer. My students are restless since the end of the year is getting close. I'm restless too for that matter. Things will be so much better next year when I get a fresh batch of students that I can establish my expectations with at the very beginning of the year. It's hard to try and fill another teacher's shoes. For now all I can do is try different things and learn from this group of children and prepare myself to start next year off right.

I never thought teaching would be easy, but I had no way of knowing it would be THIS hard. But hey, even in my darkest moments I can always think, "At least I'm not subbing!"

Treading Water

2010-02-11T06:33:00.002-05:00

I had no idea how busy it was possible for one person to be until I started teaching. I have lessons to plan, papers to grade and paperwork to fill out. Every time I turn around, there's a new form for me to fill out and deliver to someone I don't know. I have kids constantly bugging me for makeup work and I have student work jammed into every corner of my bag awaiting grading. It's all a bit much and I haven't figured out an organizational system that works for me yet.

Now that I've been working for a month, the shine has worn off of my excitement about getting a job. Don't get me wrong, I'm still incredibly happy about not being a sub anymore, but the realities of the profession are starting to sink in. I'm frustrated by the fact that I'm not perfectly organized and on top of everything like I usually am. I know that logically, it's impossible to come in and instantly be perfect. It still bugs me that I'm not though.

Parental contact has been an unexpected annoyance. I knew that I would have to have some contact with parents doing this job, but I'm getting emails every day about one kid or another. My favorite email so far has been, "My daughter's A isn't high enough. What is she doing wrong?" Ridiculous.

I'm making a serious effort to relax more and accept the fact that I am only one person and I can't be everything to everyone at once. I have to prioritize and deal with the most important things first, then the less important and balance all that with enjoying my personal life. It's really challenging!

I am determined to enjoy this weekend and not work through all of it. The Olympics are starting tomorrow and I plan to participate in the Ravelympics and cast on a project (my angora Saroyan) when the torch it lit. My awesome husband has planned a wonderful Valentine's Day for us - first we get to go see Wicked at the Performing Arts Center, then we get to go out to dinner at my favorite restaurant. So this weekend will be full of more than just work and I'm very excited about that fact.

I'm just going to keep treading water until I fall into a routine that works for me. I hope I figure it out soon, because I want to get back to knitting! Thanks to knitting in the car on the way to work (carpooling), my FLS is nearing completion. I think I've solved the problem of the baggy armpits!

Busy!

2010-01-22T21:17:00.005-05:00

I have been incredibly busy with work lately (and I LOVE that I can say that now). For example, today I helped my department head clean out the language arts closet, entered in my students' grades and called a whole bunch of parents with kids that are in danger of slipping into "D" territory on account of missing assignments. I have a severe case of phone-phobia and all of the calling I had to do was a source of great anxiety, but I got it done! I'm settling into my job quite nicely. The only downside is that all the work has greatly reduced my knitting time.

This fact has not slowed down my yarn acquisition at all. I keep on ordering yarn despite my complete lack of time to knit with it. In the past week I've ordered three skeins of Classic Elite Lush in Peony for a Saroyan, and a skein of the new Madeline Tosh Prairie in Ginger (because I can't resist trying a new lace yarn, especially from Madeline Tosh). I also received the skein of Dream in Color Smooshy I won in the Yarn Lotto at Eat Sleep Knit. I chose the Plum Paisley colorway and it is GORGEOUS! I think I have a sickness. A sickness that I have no desire to cure. What makes this even more dangerous is that I now have a salary which enables me to buy more yarn than ever before.

Still Alive

2010-01-17T00:07:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm two weeks into my new job and I'm doing okay! Better than okay, in fact. I'm actually really happy. Happier than I've been in a long time.

I have a lot of advantages at my new school. I have a big, beautiful classroom stocked with all the latest teaching technology. I have three periods of very intelligent advanced students that are eager to please. I'm surrounded by master teachers that are very nice and very helpful. With all these things on my side, it's no wonder I'm doing well. I have my difficulties, and the first year of teaching is always very challenging, but I've hit the ground running and I feel like I have everything under control.

My miserable year of subbing gave me invaluable experience in crowd control. My classroom management is very good. I have some difficult classes of average kids, and while I don't have their behavior exactly where I want it yet, they aren't out of control by any means.

The reality of all this hasn't hit me yet. I'm still afraid that I'm going to wake up and find out that this was all a dream. I can't believe I landed in such a wonderful position at such a wonderful school. I can't believe I'm doing as well as I am. It turns out that I wasn't wrong to go into teaching after all. All my doubts about the profession are falling away. I'm suddenly confident about everything. I'm not perfect at this job yet, but I'm learning more everyday and I know that I can be great in this career as I gain more experience.

It's really nice to feel like myself again. I haven't felt ambitious or motivated in a long time. It's just crazy how good I feel right now! I realize I sound like a complete sap and I don't even care. I didn't even understand how sad and depressed I was before I got this job. I'm so happy right now that I don't even know that girl who was so hopeless only a few months ago.

Of course, my knitting has taken a backseat as I have started working. I've managed a few more repeats each on my Citron and my second February Lady Sweater over the last two weeks, but that's all I've managed to accomplish. I really enjoy knitting both patterns, so I keep switching from one to the other. I need to hunker down and make real progress on one though - probably the sweater. Once I get a good rhythm going with my lesson plans and grading I'll get back into crafting a little each day. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't let my job completely take over my life and I plan to keep it.

Welcome 2010!

2010-01-01T23:35:00.002-05:00

I have been having the best holiday vacation of my life. I didn't do anything special or travel far away. I just rested. This has been a blissful two weeks of sitting on the couch, watching the first two seasons of Dexter and knitting. I'm very sorry to see it come to an end. Sure, I have big and exciting things to move on to, but I have very much enjoyed the nothingness. My DH and I spent huge amounts of time just sitting on the couch and hanging out. There was no hurry, no niggling little worries running through our heads about work to be done - we were just free to relax. It was wonderful.

Now that we are officially in 2010, it's time to think about my New Year's Resolution. Last year, I had many resolutions, some of which I totally conquered and some of which I did not. Most notably, I managed to succeed in starting a blog (obviously), reading a book a month and getting a job. That last one came through just in time, eh? I think I got hired at the last possible moment for employment in 2009. I didn't end up learning color work or jewelry knitting. The color work I just didn't get to. The jewelry knitting I lost interest in. I'm moving learning color work into my 2010 resolution pile - and I'm going to get to it this time!

Here are my new resolutions for 2010:

Prove myself to be a fantastic teacher.
Work on my sock challenge.
Participate in 10 Shawls in 2010.
Learn color work in my knitting.
Design a knitting pattern.

Despite my holiday relaxation, I haven't forgotten about all the work I have to do to prepare for my new job. I have done quite a bit, mixed in between all the lounging and knitting. I made a discipline plan, a parent letter, a parent information sheet, a fun activity for the kids to work on their first day, signs for the room about my rules and how to head a paper, and conversed with my mentor through e-mail and gotten approval on all these things. Today the DH and I went out and bought a ton of stuff for my classroom, including a fully stocked treasure box for rewards. I also completed the county's online orientation! It was a complete joke (entirely unhelpful and inefficient), but at least it's done. I still have to make a PowerPoint presentation for my first day, make new seating charts and finish reading the novel my advanced classes are in the middle of. I plan to tackle all of that tomorrow. I'm actually doing pretty well prep-wise!

In my knitting world, I'm working on so many projects right now. It's like I have knitting ADD. On the needles are a new February Lady Sweater (I realize I haven't blogged about my first one - I'm not happy with it and I am trying again) and a Citron. I'm also about to cast on for my Konnichiwa socks. I tried casting on for these last week, but I discovered that the yarn I wanted to use was too light of a worsted. I couldn't get gauge with it so I had to order something else. Let's hope Lorna's Laces treats me better.

Now I'm off to bed. I'm sorry to see the last true day of vacation slip away, but excited to prepare for what is lying ahead of me.

Inspiration

2009-12-19T11:56:00.002-05:00

I've been very restless since yesterday. Part of it is because of my episode with the online orientation for my school district (which I'm still avoiding finishing), part of it is because I'm nervous about starting my job in January and part of it is because I don't have anything exciting on the needles right now. I will work more on the orientation today and prepare myself as well as I can for work in January. Those things are easy to work on. The lack of knitting excitement is another story all together. I don't want to start a shawl, since I'm participating in 10 shawls in 2010 next year and anything I start now won't count. Unfortunately, all the patterns I'm interested in right now are shawls! I have a lace scarf on the needles that's been hanging around my closet, trying to guilt me into finishing it for ages, but it's not very fun to work on. I did a few rows of it today and was bored almost immediately.

I decided that I needed to come up with a knitting goal that is personal and just for me. I wanted something that inspired me and had no time restrictions on it. For a while now I've been wanting to challenge myself to take a knitting book and make every pattern in it. I have a ton of knitting books here, but only a few would be suitable for such an endeavor. After perusing my library, I decided that I want to take the Knitted Socks East and West Challenge.

This challenge, which I have entirely made up myself, consists of knitting all of the socks in Judy Sumner's beautiful pattern book, Knitted Socks East and West. I have never been inspired by a knitting book like I have been inspired by this one. All I have to do is crack open the pages and I'm instantly lost in the beautiful photography and interesting commentary. There are thirty wonderful pairs of socks here, using distinctive Japanese stitch patterns. There are several new stitches to learn, all of which look exciting. I have really wanted to get into sock knitting, and this seems like the perfect way. I will be learning all about sock construction while creating some beautiful and unique pieces.

This challenge will be very loose. There are only two rules:

I have to knit all the patterns in the book
I have to knit them in the order they are presented

I will take as long as I want to do this and I won't try to power through all the patterns right in a row. I will be knitting loads of other things in the new year besides my challenge socks, so I wont get burned out on the project. This is a very long term goal.

I already have the yarn for my first pair, Konnichiwa. I hope this will be the perfect way to get myself out of my knitting funk and cure my restlessness. I'm excited to get started!

Lacy Little Bookmark

2009-12-18T15:58:00.003-05:00

Today has been a really restless day for me. I had grand plans to power through as much of my county's online orientation as I could today. Those plans fell apart when I realized how terrible the program was. It's so fiddly and broken that I can only handle doing it in small chunks. I got a good portion done, then I got to a point where I just couldn't do anymore. I had to take a break. So I did some chores, made a grocery list and took pictures of the bookmark I knitted my mom for Christmas.

Pattern: Flourish Bookmark by Nina Casey
Yarn: Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton 4-ply
Mods: I stopped knitting i-cord at 8 inches instead of 10 because the tail was long enough.

I'm very happy with how this turned out. It was a very quick pattern. Of course, it took me a week to make because I made a mistake in the lace at some point and decided to just start over rather than fudge around with it anymore.

Blocking this piece made all the difference. It looked okay when I finished knitting it, but it didn't look at all like the project pictures on Ravelry. Giving it a nice soak and pinning it out really finished the piece nicely. I ironed it once it was dry to flatten it out a little more. It looks great!

Now I'm off to choose a book to gift to my mom along with it!

New School

2009-12-18T07:39:00.002-05:00

I went to visit my new school on Wednesday. It was a very enlightening experience.

First, let's talk about the classroom. It's huge and beautiful! It's located in a brand new building which houses the sixth grade. There's only seven other teachers in there with me, and everyone seems really nice. It's like we have our own little club, completely separate from the rest of the school. The classroom is a "smart classroom," meaning that I have a sound system, a digital projector, a laptop and a Smart Board, which is a giant touch screen for making presentations. It's all top of the line stuff and clearly too good for me. I can't believe I lucked out like this. The teacher who is vacating the position is leaving most of her stuff in there for me. Decorations, lesson plans, tests, assignments - basically everything I could ever want is being provided for me. If I wanted to, I could completely coast by on the materials she left until the end of the year. Of course I won't do that, but it's nice to have some prepared things in case of emergencies.

I also got a chance to observe some of my students. I didn't introduce myself to anyone, I just sat in the back and watched a few lessons. Here's where I saw what my trouble is going to be. Their current teacher lets them run wild. She calls her teaching style "controlled chaos." From where I was sitting it looked more like regular chaos, but that's just my opinion. She goes out of her way to be a friend to the kids and wastes a lot of class time having non-academic conversations with them and repeating herself over and over (because they all won't stop talking). We have completely different views on what is appropriate in the classroom. That's perfectly okay - her way appears to be working for her and the kids absolutely love her - but I can't run my classroom like she does. Those kids are in for a rude awakening once I take over. I can already tell that my biggest problem is going to come from them fighting me on my rules and procedures. They will be going from an environment where the rules were very lax to an environment where the rules will be fairly strict. It's going to be a rough transition because they have so many bad habits.

So that discovery made me a little nervous, but I'm still ridiculously excited to start working. I have to go in there and be true to myself and my style as an educator.

I had to make the tough decision to drop out of my Villains swap this morning. I didn't want to, since I have been waiting for this swap for a long time, but I realized that I wouldn't have time to make a good package and learn to be a good teacher all at once. I'm bummed about it, but there will be other swaps.

Christmas Gift Cavalcade!

2009-12-13T11:17:00.004-05:00

In between being excited/terrified about my new job, I've been knitting Christmas gifts like a fiend. I decided to knit as many gifts as I could from my stash this year, to save on money. All the people in my family that wouldn't appreciate a knit gift will get a tin of homemade cookies, which also saves money. You see, my husband and I would rather spend what Christmas money we have on each other. It's a little selfish, but this will be our first ever Christmas morning alone together and we want it to be special.

We've been together for about 8 Christmases now, but some were when we were kids in high school, some were when we were in college and were staying at a parent's house for the holidays, and the last one was when we were living with my mom. Now that we have our own place, this will be the first Christmas where we'll wake up in the morning and be all alone. I'm so excited! We've got all kinds of plans for a present-filled morning followed by a huge breakfast. The rest of the day will have to be spent with family, but at least we'll have the first part all to ourselves.

Anyway, I have a couple of gift projects to post about today. First up is the scarf I made for my MIL.

Pattern: One Row Handspun Scarf by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Vanna's Choice in Cranberry
Mods: None

This was probably the most painless scarf I have ever made. As the pattern implies, there is only one row to memorize for this scarf. It is reversible and was very fast to knit. The single row of the scarf is easy enough to knit very quickly, but interesting enough to keep you from being totally bored while you knit it.

As my MIL is shorter than me, I knitted until the scarf was a little over 5 feet. It took about one and a half balls of Vanna to get it to that length. It lays perfectly flat, so there's no need to block it. However, I think I will run it through the washer and dryer as Vanna becomes wonderfully soft after going through that process. I think the scarf looks classy - almost expensive, and the color is perfect. I hope my MIL likes it!

Next up is the hat I made for my cousin -

Pattern: Rib-A-Roni by Jane Tanner
Yarn: Vanna's Choice in Black and Silver Gray
Mods: I made the adult large size, but stopped knitting the body at 6 inches.

This is probably one of the most boring hats I have ever knit. It's for a teenage boy though, so that kind of comes with the territory. It's not like I could experiment with wild colors or a lacy pattern. He is your typical teenager and his tastes in clothing run to the simple and the black. At least I got a gray stripe in there for some visual interest.

I made the adult large. I don't think he has a particularly big head, but I haven't seen him in a year and he's a growing boy, so I didn't want to take any chances. The whole hat is ribbed, so there's a lot of forgiveness in the sizing. I stopped knitting the body at 6 inches, because the hat looked tall enough at that point.

The resulting hat is a little big for me, which should be perfect for my cousin. I took care to knit it in a machine washable yarn too for ease of care. He lives in Massachusetts, so he will actually be able to use it! I think it actually looks pretty nice, despite how boring it was to make.

Last for today is the hat a knit for my dad:

Pattern: Armando Hat by Gina House
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Oceanos
Mods: I added an extra body repeat.

If this hat looks familiar to you, it's because I have made it before for ym husband - in this same yarn too, no less. This is the naughty yarn with all the bad spots in it that frustrated me so much a couple months ago. I cut out the bad parts and used the rest of the yarn to knit this. When I was finished, I threw away the yarn that remained. I'm glad I found a use for most of it and got rid of the rest!

I chose to knit this hat again because I already knew it was fast, easy and looked good in this color yarn. The only change I made this time was to knit the hat with size 9 needles instead of size 10. The pattern calls for size 9, but the first time I knit this hat I didn't own that size, so I knit it with 10s instead. Since that time, I've purchased a Knit Picks Harmony 16" circ in size 9 (which I love), so I decided to give the hat a try using it. It came out smaller that I would have liked, so I had to add an extra pattern repeat into the body. If I was going to knit this hat again, I would go back to the size 10s. I should have left well enough alone I guess.

I also finished a lacy bookmark for my mother. It came out really nice, and I'm hoping that blocking it makes it even nicer. I only have a few more gifts to finish up in the next week, so I'm right on track to finish everything by Christmas. Whew!

I Got the Job!!!

2009-12-08T14:32:00.002-05:00

The title of this post says it all- I finally got a job!!!!! I had completely given up hope on getting this job after what I felt wasn't a very good interview. The principal said that they would be making a decision last Thursday, so when I didn't hear anything last week I figured that they went with someone else. I was SO surprised to get the job offer today! I won't start until after the holiday break, but I'm officially a 6th grade English teacher now!

This couldn't have come at a better time. I was getting to a very bad place emotionally. I was depressed about not being able to find a job and subbing was turning my brain to mush. I did not expect my life to stagnate this badly after college, and seeing the bright side of things and remaining hopeful was becoming increasingly difficult.

With this job I can see so many more possibilities for me. The world is in color again. We'll have money. We can go places and do things. We can save for the future. We can start planning for a family. My real life is about to begin and I couldn't be happier.

Cranford Mitts and Cowl

2009-12-01T21:12:00.002-05:00

Well, I had my JOB INTERVIEW today. It was absolutely terrifying! The principal and assistant principal I interviewed with seemed very nice, but that did little to help my nerves. Although I did the best I could, I came out of it feeling like I didn't do very well.

They asked me a lot of specific questions like, "How would you teach reading?" and "How will you help your students prepare for standardized tests?" How am I supposed to know any of that? I haven't seen the textbooks the kids will be using, I haven't had the opportunity to attend the workshops teachers get to attend on strategies, and I haven't had to plan an actual lesson, ever! I could only answer questions like this in the vaguest of generalities. I felt like I wasn't being clear when I was answering just because I didn't know what to say. On top of that, I actually forgot the name of the school I interned at. Seriously. I did that.

I was a little depressed when I got home because I figured I blew the whole thing for sure. Then, my MIL called me. She knows this particular principal's wife through her job. She told me that the principal actually called his wife and told her that I had the best interview so far!

So now I don't know how to feel about the whole thing. Frankly, I'm just relieved that I didn't come off as a total idiot. Even if I don't get this job and I never hear from this guy again, I will be happy just knowing that I am capable of interviewing well.

What I do know for sure is that I need to stop obsessing over this interview! Time to blog about knitting!

I just learned yesterday that my swap box arrived safely to my partner in Canada! She seemed to like everything in it too. Now that she's seen all the knitted goodies, it's time to blog about them. I made her a mitts and cowl set in the colors of her Quidditch team, the Appleby Arrows.

Pattern: Cranford Mitts by Jane Lithgow
Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Cotton in Deep Water and Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton in Oak Bark
Mods: None

I am very pleased with these mitts. The pattern was well written and very easy to follow. I always get nervous when it's time to pick up stitches for the thumb on projects like this, but I found that I didn't have to worry. The holes from the lace pattern disguise any little holes around the thumb gusset perfectly - they blend right in.

My partner in this swap has a lot of allergies. She can't wear any animal fibers, so selecting the perfect yarn for these mitts was a challenge. I knew I wanted to go with a cotton yarn, but I was afraid that a thick cotton like Peaches and Cream would be too stiff and bulky. I ended up picking a cotton, bamboo and nylon blend sock yarn for the body of the mitts. The nylon gave the yarn some nice stretchiness and the bamboo gave it some extra softness. The gray yarn at the top and bottom of the mitts is a pure cotton and it was a dream to knit with. So smooth and soft! I didn't know cotton could be such a treat. I will definitely use both of those yarns again.

I wanted the cowl I was sending to match the mitts perfectly, so I ended up improvising my own pattern using the same lace from the mitts.

Pattern: Custom Cranford Cowl by Smartcinderella (me!)
Yarn: Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Cotton in Deep Water and Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton in Oak Bark

This was my first time creating my own pattern. I wouldn't call this a truly original design, because I borrowed most of the pattern from the Cranford Mitts, but I did apply what I borrowed to a completely new format. I'm very happy with the results. The mitts and cowl look like they belong together, which was my goal.

Now how's that for a professional looking swap gift, huh? A lot of time and thought went into these, and I'm very glad that they were a success with my partner.

And with that, my round of swaps is all done! I won't be working on any more packages until January, when I will get my partner in the Villains! swap. I'm totally excited for that, but for now I'm happy to take a swap vacation.

Another Ribs and Ridges

2009-11-30T14:57:00.003-05:00

I mentioned in my last post that I was thinking of making another Ribs and Ridges hat for my sister, since I liked my own so much. I remembered that I had the PERFECT colorway for her in my stash last week, so I just went for it. Luckily, this fit the requirements for my last class in the House Cup. I got to double dip - House Cup goodness with a Christmas present.

Pattern: Ribs and Ridges Hat by Pren Wilcox
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Citrus
Mods: I'm pretty sure at this point that the pattern does have errors, so I had to modify it a little bit. You can read the changes I made here.

I'm happier with this hat than I am with my last one, since this one is mathematically correct. Not having to fudge stitches is a great feeling. Now I'm kind of sad that my original Ribs and Ridges is messed up. It's not messed up in a way that anyone can see, mind you. Only I know it's messed up. It's bugging me anyway.

These colors are so happy. It kind of looks like a candy corn puked, but I like them. They represent my sister's personality perfectly. She's loud and cheerful, all oranges and sunshine. I hope she likes this.

Right now I'm freaking out a little because I have a TEACHING INTERVIEW tomorrow (yes, that event really does warrant all caps)! I'm practicing potential answers I'll give tomorrow and preparing myself the best I can, but my stomach is in knots.

This job isn't exactly ideal. It's further away from home than I'd like. I'll have to bum rides off of someone every day since I don't drive. I can make it work though. God, I'd do anything for a real job. It would be so nice to have some extra money, especially around the holidays. Not having to sub any more would be divine.

But now I'm working myself up. It's just an interview, it's just an interview . . .

Ribs and Ridges

2009-11-28T14:59:00.002-05:00

It's been ages since I properly blogged! I have been working hard on the projects for my final swap, which I mailed out last week. My partner is in Canada, so she hasn't gotten them yet and that means I can't blog about them. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.

However, I can blog about the awesome hat I made for DADA. It's one of my favorite hats of all time. I brought it to Disney last weekend on our impromptu vacation and it did a nice job protecting me from the rain.

Pattern: Ribs and Ridges Hat by Pren Wilcox

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Whales Road
Mods: Either the pattern has an error, or I made an error (more likely). I ended up having to completely fudge the placement of the last set of ribs. It's an easy pattern though, so doing this was just a matter of moving them over a few extra stitches.

Let me just say that I LOVE this hat. The pattern was simple and completely addictive (and free!). I finished the entire thing in half a day because I couldn't put it down. It fits perfectly too.

The pattern is an excellent choice for variegated yarns. The ribs and ridges are chunky enough to stand out against a mix of colors that would obscure a more subtle pattern. I'm one of those knitters/crocheters that loves variegated yarn, but never knows how to show it off in a project. I think that the Whales Road (which is a mix of all of my favorite colors) was the right choice for this project. It looks great!

In other knitting news, I finished my February Lady Sweater last night! I bought some buttons for it this morning. All I have to do is block the thing and sew them on. Of course, the yoke is still too big so the darn thing looks horribly bunchy under my arms, but at least it's done. Maybe the blocking will help improve this problem. I'm taking it as a learning experience. No one's first sweater comes out perfect, right? It's a lesson for next time. Don't make the yoke "just a few rows bigger, in case." That sounds so stupid when I say it out loud. Why did I do that??

Little Lamb

2009-11-16T20:29:00.002-05:00

I've been in swap mode for the past few days. I got one package out in the mail today and I'm feverishly working on another. When that one is done I'm taking a small break from swaps. I need some "me" time. Odd Ducks is doing a villains swap in January though, and I HAVE to be a part of that. So, the break will be small, but it will be nice.

I have a surprise finished object to post about today! I say it's a surprise because I didn't know I would be making it until this weekend. I thought I had my favorite animal swap package all done. Then I received MY package in the mail. It was so good that I figured I had to do one more thing for my partner. She had Christmas ornaments on her wish list, so I went with a little sheep for her tree.

Pattern: Sheep in Sheep's Clothing by Frankie Brown
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in White
Mods: I used a fingering weight yarn and size 0 needles

This little lamb came out really cute! The pattern was easy. The body and legs are knit in one piece and the head, ears and tail are done separately and sewn on. Embroidering the face was tricky. It took several false starts, but I made some admirable french knots in the end.

The head was the only difficult part. You knit it flat (it looks like a diamond shape), then make a running stitch along the edge of the piece and pull tight to gather it up into a round shape. I had to do it twice because my first attempt looked like a piece of chewed bubblegum. I got it eventually though - the trick was to be really careful to make your running stitch neat and even and to gather the stitches with a light touch. Stuffing the head with a little bit of batting helped as well.

I have another project done, but that is for a swap partner who knows who I am so I can't post pictures here! Now to get back to being productive . . .

Restless

2009-11-12T19:59:00.002-05:00

I'm feeling restless today. I had a really hard week at work last week, and coming off of all the stress from that has left me feeling drained and lost. I'm finding it hard to muster the energy to clean, cook and find jobs. I'm just so tired- not quite physically tired, but emotionally tired. I'm trying very hard to stay positive and keep going about my usual routine, but it's just a down week for me.

I know I'm depressed because I'm reading The Great Gatsby again. That's my go-to novel for when I'm feeling sorry for myself.

My February Lady Sweater is disappointing me. I made the yoke too big and now it's looking all bunchy under my arms. I'm foolishly holding out hope that blocking the sweater will fix it. Like pinning it out will magically erase all of its imperfections. I'm totally bummed because I really like this pattern and I didn't want my FO to look amateurish. I'm thinking that if I really don't like the look of the sweater once it's finished I'll make another. This one will be like a test run.

I finished one project for the House Cup and I'm about to start another. Again, I'm not particularly enthused about the assignments this month. I'm certain now that I won't be participating in the next term. I will miss it, but I need a break. I am looking forward to pursuing some different projects that don't really fit in with the Cup.

Now, back to knitting and Gatsby.

Luna's Traveling Bag

2009-10-28T11:56:00.002-04:00

My illness is almost gone. The only symptom I have left is a terrible nagging cough that hurts my chest. I was able to go into work yesterday. Of course, I forgot to bring my cough drops and had a major coughing fit before first period was even halfway over, but I made it through the day. I was actually subbing for my FIL, and I know where he keeps his supply of reward Blow Pops. Those worked pretty well as substitute cough drops, so I was okay for the rest of the day.

I have a project to post as well! I was going to save this post for after this object arrived at its destination, but the end of the month is coming up quickly and don't want to wait too long. I'm worried about the status of the swap package this project is a part of. It should be at its destination by now. I hope nothing bad happened to it, because it cost an arm and a leg to mail. Seriously. An arm and a leg. That would be just my luck - for it to have completely disappeared along the way somewhere.

Pattern: Ilene Bag by Hannah Ingalls
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Gray and Light Blue
Mods: I added 5 extra reps of the mesh pattern into the body of the bag, for length. Because I altered this, I had to alter the handle set-up row as well, knitting 22 stitches at the beginning instead of 10.

This is the first market bag I have made and I'm pretty darn happy with it. It's a decent size, it stretches out nicely without looking like it's about the break apart, and it was all done in one piece. I love projects with no seaming!

This was very easy to make. The only tough part was picking up the stitches around the bottom of the bag. I had to be careful to space them out perfectly, so the bottom of the bag looked even and not all bunchy. I'm getting a lot better at picking up stitches though - I don't really get nervous when I see a pattern that requires it anymore. I'm pretty sure that this is my first project requiring me to pick up such a large number of stitches. It came out well!

Those are Ravenclaw pins embellishing the bag. This package went out to a Ravenclaw, hence the name "Luna's Traveling Bag." The theme of the swap was the Hogwarts Express, and I could picture Luna carrying a bag like this on board, packed full of stuff to do. I hope that swap package is okay! I will be seriously bummed if this package is lost.

I have another project to post later on. I have to take pictures of it first. Perhaps I'll get to it later today. This illness has put me behind in everything!

Angry Cat

2009-10-23T19:01:00.002-04:00

I have been so sick this week. I've missed a ton of work because I don't have my yelling voice. I can't sub if I can't be VERY LOUD. Plus I have a nagging little cough that is driving me crazy. At least I have the free time to knit in my convalescence. From this free time that was both highly enjoyable and incredibly miserable, an abomination of crafting was born. Meet Angry Cat.

Pattern: Marmalade Ginge by Donna Wilson
Yarn: Morris Empire 4ply in orange and cream
Mods: None

Believe it or not, Angry Cat wasn't meant to look so angry. I think my miserableness subconsciously transferred to him during the crafting process. This little guy came out so serious looking! I meant for him to be cute, I swear it! This is for a swap, so I hope the person who eventually receives him appreciates his unique personality. I like him a lot. However, I have a nagging fear that my partner will unwrap him and exclaim that he's the ugliest cat she's ever seen. His expression was just too funny to rip out and start over. It's a work of art.

Let's talk about the construction on this project. The cat is knit in three pieces - the front, the back and then the tail. Everything has to be seamed up at the end. Of course, the whole thing is knitted in stockinette stitch, so all the pieces curl up like nobody's business. It was a challenge to put him together, to say the least. He's also striped from the bottom of his paws to the tips of his wonky ears, so neat finishing was a must. Stitching him up sloppily would be really obvious because the stripes wouldn't match on the sides. Look at that side seam though! I did him up right!

This pattern is from the Knitted Odd-Bod Bunch book. I like how he came out. It was a real challenge to put him together. That super-long tail that I thought was so cute (120 rows of stockinette knit flat and seamed) was a huge pain in the ass. It was worth it in the end though! I kind of wish I was keeping him.

Kitty Toys and Crafty Earrings

2009-10-21T17:55:00.003-04:00

Well, I finally figured out what to do for my Charms assignment. Try as I might, I just wasn't feeling this class when it was first posted. I had no idea when to make for it. I didn't want to make useless junk, and I wanted to somehow fit one of the swap items I'm working on into it. Luckily, the perfect projects came to me yesterday.

The assignment was based on the Reducio charm. We had to make something, then make a miniature version of it. Only a genius like me would come up with a cat toy/earrings combo for this (kidding . . . mostly).

First up, the cat toys.

Pattern: I made it up myself! I'm not patting myself on the back too hard though, it's just a crochet ball.
Yarn: Lily Sugar and Cream in Yellow and Hot Blue
Special Materials: These are stuffed with a healthy amount of cat nip.

I crocheted these out of small amounts of worsted weight cotton with a G hook. Yellow and blue are my favorite color combination and I'm really happy with how cheery these came out.

Of course, I have no idea if I put in too much cat nip or not enough. I think cats are completely adorable, but a life of hair all over everything and stinky litter boxes isn't for me. I figure that if I can smell it from outside the toy (which I certainly can), then a cat will be able to. I hope my partner enjoys these once I mail them. Well, more accurately, I hope her cats enjoy them.

Next, the earrings:

Pattern: Again, I made it up myself! It's almost exactly the same as the toys.
Yarn: JP Coats Crochet Thread in Golden Yellow

These came out really cute. I made the yellow beads using the same pattern as the toys, minus a set of increases and a body row (and the cap nip). I think that was a good call as they are verging on being too big.

I'm excited for these since I can actually wear them out regardless of how hot it is. Too many of the things I make are relegated to a drawer until winter comes.

So, my mission of fitting a swap item into this assignment is completed! Now I have to move on to completing herbology and getting started on arithmancy! I have too much on my plate this month. I'm sick too now. I've got some kind of cold that has me dried out and stuffed up. I'm hoping that it doesn't get any worse tomorrow. :(

The Flies

2009-10-19T09:44:00.005-04:00

So, I haven't blogged about this particular topic yet, but I I think we're at a point where this bears reporting.

For the past month, my husband and I have been living in a fly-infested apartment. It was terrible. There were flies everywhere. Every time one of us would make food or get a drink we'd be slapping flies away from it. We'd try to make dinner and flies would be buzzing around our heads, driving us crazy. It was BAD. They were EVERYWHERE.

Obviously, we had a big problem. It goes without saying that our number one priority was getting rid of the flies. Our problem was that we could not figure out where they were coming from. We saw most of them in the kitchen area, which happens to be right around the corner from my bunny's cage. I keep Weatherby's cage very clean on a regular basis, but I started to clean it every single day just in case that's where the flies were breeding. I didn't think that the flies could be coming from him, because I never saw any flies or maggots in there, but I stepped up the cleaning just in case. It didn't make a real difference. That's not where the flies were coming from.

So then we moved onto the kitchen. We looked everywhere for the source of the flies. We thought that maybe a potato had rolled into a corner somewhere and rotted or something. But no, there was nothing unusual- and there was no rotting smell anywhere. We started taking our garbage out every single night just in case that's where the flies were spawning. This didn't make a difference either.

It was driving us absolutely crazy. We are not dirty people and we keep our apartment VERY clean! It just didn't make sense. There had to be a breeding area somewhere that we were just missing. We were on the point of calling our landlady to look into it when I found where the flies were coming from.

This is our new rice maker. My husband received it as a birthday present about a month ago. Curious coincidence, right? We use it all the time. I had noticed flies hanging out around it before, but I thought that they had just happened to land there, because flies can't possibly be breeding in the rice maker, right? WRONG.

On the back of the unit is a little plastic reservoir that catches excess water from the steam produced when rice cooks. As I was packing my husband's lunch last night, I happened to catch a glimpse of this plastic cover out of the corner of my eye. It was FULL of wriggling little maggots. I had no idea that this cover existed, that it was removable or that I was supposed to be cleaning it. It isn't mentioned in the instructions for the rice maker, which I read from cover to cover when we received it. It's on the back of the unit, so why would I ever think to look for it? When you clean the rice maker, you just remove the interior pot where the rice goes. You don't wash the base at all.

So I snapped off this cover (which came right off, because I'm apparently supposed to be cleaning this piece whenever I make rice), and got rid of the maggots. Now I am a little wiser about rice cooker maintenance and our fly problems are (hopefully) solved.

The real victim in this is poor little Weatherby, whom we all slandered by assuming that he was the cause of the flies. Sorry buddy!

Till Death Do They Part Wreath

2009-10-18T15:50:00.002-04:00

Well, I promised a wreath update, and here it is! This thing came out stupidly well.

This was made on a 12" wire wreath frame. This is the first time I've ever attempted a wreath and I wasn't sure how to attach all the pieces to the base. I didn't think that glue would be a very good idea, so I used yarn scraps to tie everything on. It's been holding together very well so far, but it isn't the studiest construction job I've ever done. It might be worth picking up a book on wreath design or searching for more information online.

I can definitely see myself making other wreaths for different holidays. I should get cracking on one for Thanksgiving next.

I have another project done for the House Cup, but it's part of a swap I'm in so I won't be posting it until my partner receives it. I have three more projects for the House Cup and my OWL to do in the rest of this month. I'm still struggling with the class assignments. I'm just not inspired. I don't think this is the fault of the teachers. Maybe it's me that's changed. Perhaps once this term is over it's time for me to take a break from this. I still have to think on it. I could just be in a midterm funk.

Some Halloween Crocheting

2009-10-12T13:31:00.002-04:00

I was not as inspired by the House Cup projects this month as I usually am. They aren't bad assignments at all. It's just that none of them are jumping out at me. This has led me to be more creative in finding projects to apply to the different classes. I figured that I can combine DADA and Transfiguration this month to make a nifty Halloween wreath for my front door. I'm not double-dipping on projects, because that's against the rules. I'm making two separate projects, which I will turn in for the classes. Later, I will combine them to make an amazingly impressive decoration (I hope). See? Creative.

First up is Transfiguration. We had to transform something from real life into a yarn version. I crocheted some purple yarn roses.

Pattern: Centifolia Rose and Irish Leaf from 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet

Yarn: Vanna's Choice in Eggplant and Caron Simply Soft in Dark Sage
Mods: I used worsted weight and a J hook for both patterns

The roses were very easy to crochet. You make a long strip of stitches and then roll it up, sewing it closed as you go. The rolling part took a little getting used to. By the second rose I had it pretty much down. They key is to keep the back of the rose completely flat and not concave or convex.

The leaves were a piece of cake. It only took one day to make all of them. The pattern was well written and it yielded a perfect leaf, just like I wanted. They look very nice up against the roses.

These are meant to go around the wreath. The middle of the wreath will showcase my next project - a skeleton bride and groom.

Pattern: Skeleton Bride and Groom by Needlenoodles
Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in White and Vanna's Choice in Black.
Mods: I used 12 mm safety eyes instead of making the clay eyes that the pattern suggests

I am SO FREAKING HAPPY with these. That's right, my joy has transcended my ability to type in lowercase. This is the first pattern I have tried out of my Creepy Cute Crochet book. It was easy to follow and turned out such an adorable final project. I can definitely see myself making a lot more of the little guys from this book.

Let's talk about the bride first. The toughest part of the construction on her was definitely the tulle veil. I may be able to crochet with the greatest of ease, but a master seamstress I am not! I attached it once, decided it sucked, did it over and decided I could live with the look of the second try. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for a wreath where people won't be seeing her backside.

Now the groom. He was easy-peasy. The only tough thing I ran into with him was trying to crochet at a tight gauge with black yarn. I felt like I was going blind. In the instructions for attaching his hat, the book instructs you to "attach at a jaunty angle." What do you think, jaunty enough? That made me laugh.

My project for the rest of today is to assemble the wreath. I'll update when I have it finished. Once thing's for sure - it's going to kick ass.

Charity Knitting

2009-10-11T15:34:00.002-04:00

Well, October is here. I've been hard at work on a number of projects for the different swaps and activities I'm in. I really shouldn't spread myself too thin, but if I'm not constantly busy I tend to get depressed thinking about my lack of a real job. Keeping ridiculously busy with fun things works for me.

One project I wrapped up early this month was my charity knitting for Quidditch. Quidditch is really different this year. Instead of decorating ourselves with wrist warmers we are making projects for different charities. I chose to contribute to a charity collecting preemie caps. My goal was to do three.

Pattern: Preemie Hats for Charity by Carissa Browning
Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby Solids and Marls
Mods: None

This pattern was really great because it has a lot of variations on a simple hat. I made three different versions, because variety keeps me from getting bored.

I have to admit that I wasn't initially thrilled with how Quidditch was set up this term. I was of the general opinion that money would be more valuable to a charity than hand-knitted items. After knitting these hats I understand charity crafting more now. Money is undoubtedly a more utilitarian donation to make, but it lacks the soul that knitting items yourself provides.

Someone is going to choose a hat that I made with my own hands and place it on their baby's head. They will know that somewhere out there, someone took their own time and yarn to make an item to warm their child. I think the knowledge that there are caring people in the world provides a kind of comfort that store-bought items never could.

In any case, I'm glad I gave charity knitting a try. I will definitely donate something again, if I find the right cause.

Damson

2009-09-30T20:36:00.003-04:00

Here I am, finally ready to post my last project for the month of September. This one is special to me because it came out so well.

Pattern: Damson by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Abril
Mods: None

This pattern was very well written and easy to execute. Ysolda's patterns are worth every penny. It took me about a week to knit this. I was working around the clock because I wanted to be able to wear it to a dinner I was going to. I felt really good wearing it, and it got loads of compliments (after my hubby called everyone's attention to it, but still).

Two of the many things I love about this shawl are its shape and size. It stays around my shoulders without slipping off. It's also small enough to be used with casual outfits. I love knitting shawls, but I just don't have a ton of events to attend where a big lacy affair would be appropriate. This shawl is small enough to throw on over a t-shirt and jeans.

I also love the way my yarn showed up in this pattern. Abril is a really nice blend of purple, blue and pink. The variations look really nice in the FO. I was a little nervous that the colors would pool unpleasantly, but they ended up looking great!

So needless to say, I'm quite happy with this project! It's one of the best things I have ever knit. I'm ready to try more of Ysolda's patterns now - maybe an Ishbel.

A Dark Cowl and a Flighty Hat

2009-09-29T18:31:00.009-04:00

Today was a trying day. I was in a middle school social studies classroom and the kids were climbing the walls all day. Little jerks. Towards the end of the day (when I was good and frazzled from the difficult day I'd been having) I made a kid throw away his paper football. His response to this was to say, "It's called paper you know. I can make another one." I think all the blood in my body rushed to my head and my vision started going all wonky. I was SO angry! I completely broke my promise to myself not to let a child get to me.

My response was to get catty and say "It's called a referral you know. I can write you one." Then I did. Not my proudest moment as an semi-educator. Oh well. All I can do is live to try and do better next time.

I have two more projects today to blog about, as promised yesterday. First up is my Darkside Cowl.

Pattern: Darkside Cowl by Sarah Fama
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Worsted in Harbor
Mods: The pattern offers a choice of using size 7 or 8 circs. I used size 7.

I am ridiculously happy with this little cowl. The stitch pattern is brilliant. It's a nice and stretchy rib, but with much more visual interest than plain ribbing. It was a fast knit and the size of it is perfect. It fits snugly around my neck without choking me and has enough stretch to go over my head comfortably.

The Shine Worsted was a good choice for this project. It's a cotton and modal blend. The modal (which is some kind of fiber from wood) gives the cotton some stretch and makes it much easier on the hands to knit with than plain cotton. It's buttery soft and doesn't itch at all, which is really important in a neck accessory.

Next I have my Butterfly Hat. Finally, a chance to try Madelinetosh Tosh Merino!

Pattern: Butterfly Hat by Sofiya Cremin
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino in Victorian Gothic
Mods: I did an extra repeat of rows 1-20 in the body of the hat to accommodate my five-head.

This is a neat little hat pattern. It would have come out a too small if I made it exactly as the pattern instructs. Adding in an extra 20 row repeat made it a tiny bit too big, but I like that in hats. My ears really hurt when it gets cold outside for some reason, so I like hats that cover them up. The pattern would probably have shown up better if I used a solid color yarn, but I was in love with this colorway, and I think it still looks great! I love patterns that look nubbly and bumpy, and this fits the bill!

I was really excited to try Madtosh Merino, because it's essentially another Malabrigo, which I love. When I saw this colorway on Eat Sleep Kni t, I knew I had to order it. It doesn't photograph so well for some reason. In real life it's a mix of purple, black and brown. It is much richer in tone than the pictures suggest. I have another skein of this and I plan to make some fingerless gloves to match when I get the chance.

After knitting this hat with the Madtosh, I can safely say that this is pretty much exactly like Malabrigo. The only difference I noticed was how smelly this yarn was. My skeins absolutely reek of vinegar. It actually kind of turned my stomach. Once it aired out a bit it wasn't so bad and I'm sure that washing the hat will help it even more, but phew! It stunk! My husband even noticed the smell, and he has the weakest sense of smell I've ever seen in a human (sorry honey!). The smell wasn't enough to discourage me from buying this yarn again in the future. The colorways are too pretty!

Tomorrow I will have my final FO for September up. I've saved the best for last. That's right, my Damson will finally materialize!

Hurricane Hat!

2009-09-28T21:22:00.003-04:00

I have been lazy and slow about posing my projects. I've got 3 FOs to post about and another project that's really close to being done. With the end of the month looming, I've got to get my act together if I want to make the House Cup deadlines. The prospect of sitting down and posting all of my projects at once is making me nauseous, so I'm going to break them up a little. Tonight I present my Hurricane Hat.

Pattern: Hurricane Hat by Andrea Goutier

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Oceanos
Mods: I used size 8 needles instead of size 7 for a bigger hat

This hat is a Christmas present for my grandmother. She has been asking for one ever since I learned how to knit. I'm happy with how it turned out. The pattern would show up better if I used a solid color of yarn, but this yarn is pretty and the spiral shows up nicely enough for me. My grandmother has a big head, so I went up a needle size. The hat fits my husband nicely, so I'm thinking that it should do just fine for her. At least I hope it will. I won't know until Christmas.

I'm afraid that's all I have a picture ready for today. I should have more ready to go for tomorrow.

On a funny note before I end this post, I got requested for a sub job today. My first request of the year and it came from that bitch that nearly gave me a nervous breakdown by not preparing adequate instructions for me. Go figure. I was so afraid that I screwed that entire day up, but I guess I did pretty well since she wants me back for Friday. I was VERY tempted to turn the offer down because her students are challenging (i.e. annoying) and she doesn't prepare well for subs, but I figured that the devil I know is better than the devil I don't know. This time the job will be easier on me because I know that I must have been implementing her lesson plans correctly the first time. I'll just muddle through the best I can again and count down the minutes until I get home. Life is strange sometimes.

Another Report from the Field

2009-09-24T11:29:00.002-04:00

Well, here I am again. I'm sitting in another middle school classroom on my lunch break blogging about the little cretins. I've only gone through 2 of the 6 classes I will teach today and I have already written an office referral and caught 2 kids cheating. I can only imagine how fun and exciting the rest of the day will be.

I'm proctoring a standardized test in a math classroom today. With the type of kids this teacher has, that ain't easy. There are three main obstacles in my way.

1. This is a standardized test, so I have to enforce complete silence.
2. Nobody brought a pencil to school today.
3. These kids are raving lunatics.

It's really tough to try and get kids to be completely quiet. I usually allow a low level of talking while I'm working a job because it's nearly impossible to get silence. The nature of their assignment today, however, necessitates a quiet atmosphere. I have had to threaten more kids than I can count with referrals and I'm not even half done with the day. I'm doing it though! I have to be a complete and total bitch, but I'm getting silence. Go me!

The pencil issue is my biggest problem. Perhaps you all didn't know this, but no one brings school supplies to school anymore. Kids show up with no backpack, no books, no paper and no writing utensils then proceed to act like entitled little snots that deserve to have their teacher provide these things for them. They look at you like it's your problem that they aren't prepared. I have had to waste about ten minutes at the beginning of each period letting the kids with no pencils go around and find someone to borrow from. Then they all have to sharpen those pencils, which they do as loudly as possible. Ugh. It's a serious distraction and I have no way to fix it. The teacher didn't leave me extra pencils (he really shouldn't have to, so I'm not complaining), and the kids have to be able to take this test. It's county mandated so I can't let them sit there doing nothing if I can help it. It's not like they're capable of sitting and doing nothing anyway. The havoc that a bored child can wreak is unparalled thoughout the galaxy. They all NEED to be working or they will be making trouble.

The last obstacle goes without saying. These kids are underachieving and nuts to boot. A great teacher can help kids like this to grow. A substitute can only hope to keep them from hurting themselves or others during the class period.

Well, back into the breach once more I suppose. I can't wait to be back at home, sitting with a cup of tea and watching Dancing with the Stars on my DVR. Four and a half more hours, four and a half more hours . . .

Three Things

2009-09-21T14:35:00.002-04:00

Three things today.

1. I actually finished my Damson in time for the big dinner! I may have been dueling with Father Time until 2:00 AM the morning of, but I eventually prevailed! Fancy pretty pictures are coming soon. Let me just say now that it is lovely and it is quite possibly my favorite project to date. The dinner itself was improved immeasurably by the presence of my shawl. To me anyway.

2. I worked a high school computer class job today. It was quite possibly the most boring day of my life, but that's a good thing in my profession. The kids were mostly quiet and mostly doing what they were supposed to do (rare!). This was a day I actually could have sat and blissfully knitted almost the entire time, but of course, the project I brought decided to have issues. Actually, it was the yarn that had the issues. I was trying to finished off two half-balls of Malabrigo Worsted on a scarf for my grandma, but as I worked further into the yarn I was finding a lot of inconsistencies with the weight. I would run into a chunk that was equal to super bulky yarn in thickness, then it would taper way down into a strand as thin as laceweight. This kept happening over and over and it was making the scarf look like complete crap. The laceweight sections were holey and the super bulky areas looked sloppy. The yarn wasn't returning to worsted weight thickness either. It was averaging around dk or sport after the ridiculous thick/thin sections. I ripped out the few inches I had done and didn't have the heart to start over. I'm mad at Malagbrigo right now and I think I need to throw the two half-balls of yarn I have left straight into the trash (even after considering the fact the the other ball of it I was going to use probably doesn't have these issues). I'm just sick of looking at it.

3. I have a finished project to post! This is my DADA assignment for this month. The assignment was all about what we did on our summer break. Well, I moved over the break and bought all new Ikea funiture. I decided to crochet some coasters to prevent water rings.

Pattern: No pattern. This is a basic granny square I found in the tutorial for how to make a granny square in Stitch 'n Bitch: The Happy Hooker.
Yarn: Sugar and Cream in Ecru

As plain as these little guys are, I love them. I made a set of six, which is more than enough for my husband and me to share around the house. They are simple and clean, which matches the rest of our furniture perfectly. Proper furniture care FTW!

From a Middle School Classroom . . .

2009-09-17T11:50:00.003-04:00

Well, this is a first. I'm blogging from a classroom during my break. Today is bad. Very bad. I am bone-crushingly tired and I don't know how I'm going to get through the rest of the day. My head is fuzzy and I don't feel entirely mobile - like heavy weights are attached to my limbs, dragging me down.

The reason for the badness is the intense amount of stress I'm currently under. I'm in a reading classroom and the teacher didn't leave me readable notes. She left her plan book (which I'm sure makes perfect sense to her), and a listing of groups of kids on the board. This is a Read 180 class. It helps kids pass the FCAT, our state standardized test, by implementing small group instruction mixed with computer work and independent reading for pleasure. Her periods are all double long, and I'm supposed to spend them shuffling groups of kids around from station to station. I work with the small group while the rest are split between independent reading and technology. After about 25 minutes, we all switch around. I only know this because I have subbed for other Read 180 teachers that left me excellent notes about the process.

This teacher didn't see fit to leave me with any notes at all. Just her coded plan book and lists of groups on the board. No advice about how to best implement the system. No information about where I am supposed to be and how the kids are supposed to act at each station. No freakin attendance sheets. I have had to cobble together the information I needed for today from my previous knowledge of the Read 180 program, various signs posted around the classroom and the kids (who are not a reliable source of information). This lack of help has left me incredibly high strung and stressed out today. I don't know if I'm doing ANYTHING right. Is it too much to ask to be treated like a human being in these schools? Is a thorough note, addressed to me, too much to ask for on a job? This is a complicated set up she's got in this classroom. If I didn't have previous knowledge of this type of class I would be completely lost right now. As it is, I'm barely hanging on. How is this acceptable?

The one good thing about today is that the kids are okay (very needy and immature, but okay) and the class sizes are very small. I have been able to keep control of the kids so far, but my authority is severely weakened by me not knowing their daily procedures. If the kids have to tell me the correct way to do things at every turn, who is really in charge?

I have only taught one of her classes so far. I have two left to go. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the rest of the day. I am intensely beat down from the stress of trying to figure out how to run her classroom. I've done a pretty good job this year of not stressing out over the bad behavior of the kids, but the bad behavior of the teachers is throwing me for a loop.

UPDATE: I'm home now. I made it. It was one of those exhausted, heaving myself across the finish line kind of finishes, but I did it. Now I'm trying to de-stress with some tea and bad TV. Biggest Loser, here I come!

My First Terrible Day

2009-09-16T21:49:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was the first in what I'm sure will become many terrible days of substituting. The scene was an 8th grade language arts classroom. This particular teacher left me an inappropriate lesson plan for her three low-level periods, and I just couldn't implement it. She wanted her classes to finish reading a story from their literature books and answer the questions at the end of it. This doesn't seem like such a big deal, right? Wrong. It's impossible.

What many teachers don't understand is that underachieving kids WILL NOT BE QUIET when a sub is in the room. They can't be expected to read quietly on their own, especially if their normal classroom procedure is to read everything out loud as a group. That was the case in this classroom. The kids were vehemently against having to read by themselves. They refused to do the assignment and spent the period acting like a bunch of baboons instead. They were loud, disrespectful and intensely irritating. I gave up and just sat at the desk in these three periods. It was all I could do to keep the kids from beating each other to a bloody pulp. In my sixth period, two girls almost came to blows. They were in each other's faces, screaming and carrying on. I ran to the classroom phone to call for help. The phone didn't work.

I was so incredibly lucky that they backed down on their own. I sent both up to the office after the incident was over. I shudder to think what would have happened if they had actually started fighting and I couldn't reach anyone for help. Nightmare.

I've got another middle school job lined up for tomorrow. Joy.

A Curious Niffler

2009-09-14T11:58:00.002-04:00

I have been feeling slow lately. A general sense of malaise seems to have come over me. Not good, as I have to plan my husband's birthday celebration.

I have finished two House Cup projects and I am working on a third. I really hope to have Damson finished for the big dinner at Berns this Saturday. I wish I didn't have to go, but the hubby's dad is obsessed with this trip. It means a lot to him to spend a lot of money at a fancy restaurant that is way too classy for any of us. I would be happier at a more casual dining place, but to each his own. In any case, I am stuck going with some insufferable people (inlaws) and I would like to feel beautiful and protected while I am there. Wrapped up in my knitting. It's a long project and I don't have much done on it so far. We'll see if I can pull it off. I need to make a lot of progress on it. Today.

Before I start frantically blitz knitting on that, I have a finished project to post about. Imagine that! Blogging about knitting on a knitting blog! This is a little niffler that I made for CoMC.

Pattern: Smith by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Marble Heather and Black
Mods: None

This is one of the first patterns I have ever used that I have had to pay for (besides book patterns that is). I bought Ysolda's Whimsical Little Knits 2, and I am beyond happy with the purchase. Her patterns are detailed and thorough. Definitely worth every penny. I have to go and buy Whimsical Little Knits 1 next weekend.

This is the smallest size Smith. I made him with size 0 dpns. It was a fiddly affair with many parts to it. See, you knit the spines separately from the body and knit them onto the body as you go. It's brilliant because you don't have to sew on a million little pieces at the end of the project, and the spines go on perfectly straight this way.

I'm extremely happy with how the face came out. He's got french knot eyes and I actually managed to embroider them on evenly. Sewing techniques aren't my strong point so I'm really glad I was able to do this competently. If anyone is interested in a really good french knot tutorial, check here.

My First Drink

2009-09-10T09:31:00.002-04:00

It's been a little while since I blogged last. I've been enjoying an impromptu week off. I can't find any sub jobs (probably because Monday was a holiday and the teachers aren't taking any more days off this week). I actually want to get out of the house and work a little. I feel like a jerk just sitting around while my husband is working so hard every day at his school.

I'm in the middle of knitting a little niffler (hedgehog pattern) for my Care of Magical Creatures class. I thought this would be a one day project, but it's taking forever! I'm really enjoying watching the little guy emerge from under my fingers row by row, but boy this is a long pattern. I'm using fingering weight yarn and size 0 needles, so it's going to be a really cute size when I'm done (IF I ever get done). I'm also working on my OWL, which is a sweater. I have to take it off the needles to try it on soon, and I'm really nervous about it. I'm afraid I'll twist all the stitches doing this and have a wonky row. Me and moving stitches around just don't get along.

Yesterday, I had my first drink. Yes, I'm 23 and I had never tried an alcoholic beverage before yesterday. I went through all of college at a huge party school without drinking a drop. I'm not against drinking in any way, I just have never been interested in trying it. My husband, who is the same way, decided that we need to loosen up over the weekends, so he bought some Mike's Hard Lemonades. We were supposed to wait until Friday or Saturday to break into them, but my husband came home yesterday in such an incredibly bad mood that I decided to move things up.

It didn't take very good, but it wasn't bad either. We both drank our bottles and promptly fell asleep on the couch for about a half hour. That was it.

Isn't that the worst first drinking story ever? I'm just not cut out for being cool and trendy.

The First Day

2009-09-02T11:45:00.002-04:00

I made it through my first day back at work alive. I wish I had an exciting story to tell about how it went, but it was an utterly average day. The only interesting thing that happened was a kid broke a red pen, spread the ink all over himself and pretended like it was blood. How clever, right? He wasn't convincing with his joke at all and he had to spend the rest of the day walking around in really stained clothes. I hope his mother beat his ass when he got home for that.

In one of the classes I covered (which were all reading classes, by the way), a few autistic children were in the mix of students. They had an ESE aide with them, and she spent the whole period gossiping about them quite loudly with me. "This one (and she points to a kid rocking back and forth and trying to stuff his knees into his shirt) is just lazy! He doesn't do his work!" "And this one, (she points to another kid working quietly) is able to fit in with the other kids. He doesn't like people to know I'm here to help him!" The classroom was dead silent. Everyone heard. She was so inappropriate. How is it that people like this are gainfully employed and I can't find a real job???

I didn't manage to find work for today, but I do have jobs for Thursday and Friday already. Middle schools again. Ugh.

The new classes for the House Cup went up today and they assignments look amazing! In fact, I'm off to get started right now. It's been too long since I made a project post in this blog!

Tomorrow

2009-08-31T20:35:00.002-04:00

So, tomorrow is the big day. I have my first sub job of the school year lined up. I'm pretty nervous to step back into the classroom after all this time. What if I lost my substitute mojo over the summer? What if the kids are all running amok and I can't make them stop?

These are irrational fears, but that doesn't stop the dread from gnawing at my stomach. I was hoping that I could ease back into the swing of things with a nice high school job, but no such luck. This is a middle school job. Tomorrow I have to don a professional outfit, pack a lunch and head straight into the heart of the war zone.

I have already decided a few things about the upcoming year. First of all, this is going to be the year of "no." I've been timid and foolish in the classroom and that has to come to an end. I'm not letting anyone go anywhere besides the bathroom or the nurses office anymore, no matter how much they badger me or how mad they threaten to get. I used to fold under pressure and permit behaviors I shouldn't have in order to keep the peace. This is not effective and it has to stop.

This is also going to be the year of leaving work at work. I'm determined not to be too stressed out at the end of the day. No one expects a sub to walk into a classroom and make miracles. The kids aren't going to listen to me very well and I need to accept that. It's part of the job. As long as I keep everyone safe and quiet enough I'm counting the day a success and going home happy. My life is too precious to me to waste a second of it thinking about other people's ill behaved children.

I honestly think that the best way to get through this year is to picture the kids as dollar signs and remember that I am in this for the money! More jobs equal more date nights with the hubby, more trips to Disney and more yarn. I'm still searching for a real teaching job, but until then I'm just going to support my little family and try to be at peace with my situation.

Even though I'm insanely nervous for tomorrow, I will at least have something to look forward to at the end of the day. It's the first day of the fall term of the HPKCHC! I am so excited for the classes to be posted! This is one of the things in my life that is my saving grace. Something to be happy about and focus some energy on, since the job search isn't going so well. How happy that it coincides with my first day of school. It's like fate or something.

Full report on the first day tomorrow.

School's In

2009-08-25T16:32:00.003-04:00

Today is the first day of school in my county. Not surprising in the least is the fact that I didn't get a sub job today. You would have to be a pretty ballsy teacher to take the first day of school off. I'm actually not expecting to work this week at all. Not that I mind. The jobs will come rolling in soon enough and I'll be staring at another generation of moron children.

I am trying to stave off the cold feeling of dread sitting in my stomach with knitting my Reducio Swap items. I just finished the most beautiful little object to include in my package. I actually kind of want to keep it for myself. I wish I could do a project post about it, but the walls have eyes on Ravelry and this treasure must be kept secret until my future partner receives it.

Aside from that I spent today cleaning the apartment. I forgot just how much work it is to maintain a whole place. When we were living at my mom's I was only responsible for cleaning our bedroom, office and bathroom. Now I have a kitchen and living area to worry about. Bleh. It took all day to finish.

My husband will be home soon. I am sitting here waiting to hear all about his first day with his students. Lucky him, having a job and the normalcy that comes with it. For now, I will enjoy watching hours of CSI reruns and sitting on my ass with my knitting. My revolving door of kids and classrooms will be here before I know it.

Changes

2009-08-20T14:32:00.002-04:00

It has been quite a while since my last blog entry. In the space between my last post and now, I have moved out of my parent's house and into an apartment with my husband. We're in our first real place together. I'm so happy. It was a rough few years living with my mom. She was wonderful and very accommodating. I'm extremely grateful for everything she did for us, but there is no substitute for living on your own. Independence is precious. This is a fact that I will never take for granted.

Aside from the happiness of freedom and the stress of cleaning and unpacking, I have been experiencing some anxiety. School resumes very soon, and there have been absolutely no job prospects. Very few teaching positions were posted during the summer. The ones that were were always somehow unsuitable - like it would be in a rough school or be too far away to contemplate. I'm hopeful that once school starts up again principals will assess their needs and open up more jobs. Whether that happens or not, I will have to at least start off the year subbing again.

The prospect of going back to work is truly horrifying. I hate my job. Hate is actually an understatement. I utterly loathe it with every fiber of my being. I have vowed to leave work at work this year and stop stressing about things I can't change. Sometimes I feel positive- like I can make this change. Sometimes I feel cynical and pessimistic about it. Too many emotions are crowding around my brain. Whenever I think about starting work again I feel like I can't breathe. It's starting to get to a point where I don't even think it's worth the suffering anymore. Maybe I should just give up on teaching and do something else entirely. If I had the money to go back to school I would be back in an instant. It's not like I picked teaching because it was my dearest ambition. I picked it because I thought it would be easy to get a job doing it. Ironic, huh? Everyone says that teachers are in high demand. Well, it turns out that's not true of everywhere all the time.

I feel like I'm stuck chasing a career that I'm not even passionate about. I don't even want it anymore. My husband says that if I get a job teaching, then at the very least I could put together money to go back to school. I think that's what I might do. I made a horrible mistake. I should have chosen something else. It makes me angry thinking of all the time I wasted going to school to learn this stuff. I'm so unhappy with it.

I've decided that rather than dwell on my job issues, I need to focus on the happier things in my life. My knitting has never been better. I'm learning more all the time. The new term of the House Cup will be starting soon. I've been chosen to host a knitting workshop in a new group I'm a part of. I'm taking part in the next round of the Reducio swap. These things make me feel much better. Maybe I won't be one of those people that get fulfillment from their careers. I will get it from my hobbies, my husband and the things I can do for myself with the money I earn.

I haven't had too much time for knitting with everything that has been going on, but I did participate in a KAL. A group of girls from the House Cup decided to make Ice Queens over the break and I decided to take part. I just got it off the blocking boards today.

Pattern: Ice Queen by Rosemary Hill
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze in 582
Mods: I made version A and used 24" circs instead of the 16"

This can be used as a cowl or a hood. I used green beads to accent the piece. It's wonderfully warm and soft. Kidsilk Haze is a really nice yarn. It's hairy and sheds all over when you knit with it, but the resulting halo is worth it.

Like so many of the things I knit, I can't wear this now. I will have to wait until winter arrives to try it out. It's so beautiful and special. I can't wait to show it off.

I'm really glad I got to participate in a KAL. The people I've met through the House Cup are wonderful and working alongside them is so special. Knitting can be lonely if you don't know a lot of other real life knitters. The only people I know who knit are online. I'm very happy to be connected to such a great community.

Right now I'm working on items for the Reducio swap. This round, the theme is "The Hogwarts Express." I'm making something beautiful and knitting good thoughts into it for my partner.

A Quidditch CAL

2009-07-30T14:58:00.004-04:00

Here I am, posting my very last project in the spring 2009 term of the House Cup. It's been a fun and challenging experience to say the least. I am sad that things are about to come to an end. On a positive note though, I only have one month to fill until the fall term starts and I can play all over again! For the month of August, I am taking a change on a new Potter activity - The North American Institute of Magical Education. It's basically a mini house cup that runs just in the month between terms. It sounds like a blast and the perfect thing to keep me busy while I'm waiting for the real Cup to start again.

The Potions assignment this month was genius. We were studying the Felix Felicis potion, and the project was to make something small, gold and sparkly. However, Felix is a banned substance on the Quidditch pitch. So, if we were a part of our house Quidditch team (which I was), we had an alternate assignment. We had to make something see-through instead. How fun is that?

The Slytherin team decided to do a KAL/CAL together since we all had to do the alternate assignment. The people that wanted to knit made the Omo scarf. The people that wanted to crochet made the Alpine Frost Scarf. This time, I decided to go along with the crocheters.

Pattern: Alpine Frost Scarf by Amy O'Neill Houck
Yarn: Caron Naturally Country in Peacock
Mods: I used a worsted weight instead of a laceweight, so my hook size and starting chains had to be recalculated. I used a K hook and cast on 27 stitches.

I am very pleased with how this scarf came out. I love the color, the yarn I used and the drape I got after I "killed" the acrylic yarn. It was my first time trying this technique and it worked beautifully.

I can't wait until it's a little colder out and I get a change to wear this! I crocheted until it felt long enough and I'm happy with the length I ended up with. I can't measure it now because I am in the middle of packing up and moving, but I believe it's about 5 feet long.

This pattern was originally written for laceweight yarn, and it would look very lovely in that weight. I wanted a quicker knit this time, and using worsted made that a possibility. The open stitch pattern makes it airy and light even though I used a thicker yarn.

This is a very good scarf, and that's all I can say. What more could I want? Now it needs some fingerless mitts to match it!

On the moving front, things are progressing quickly. I'm happy to be moving, but I'm a little apprehensive too. It will be the first time we are on our own - completely supporting ourselves. It's irrational to worry because I know we have enough money to live nicely, but still. It's a little scary! Everyone's gotta make the leap sometime though, right? At 23 years old, I am way past due. Now if I could only find a job so I could start pulling in more than the pitiful salary substitute teaching pays . . .

Ants!!!

2009-07-23T12:27:00.002-04:00

Well, today turned out to be a very busy posting day! I just got word that my swap partner has received her package from me. I included my Charms homework from this month as one of the items and now that she has her package I am free to post about it!

The assigment this month was to make something, then duplicate it. I decided to make two identical ants:

Pattern: Ants by Hansi Singh
Yarn: Vanna's Choice Worsted in Chocolate Brown
Mods: Instead of picking up stitches for the antennae, I made small crochet chains and sewed them onto the head. Picking up stitches from the head neatly and uniformly is extremely difficult.

This project was hard. I had to do a multitude of fiddly things like picking up stitches, short rows, grafting and seaming properly. With items this small, the tiniest mistake tends to stand out. Since these were a gift for another person, I had to make sure that I did a professional, classy job.

The little ant legs have wire in them so they are bendy. If you are considering trying this pattern out, you'll notice that Singh claims using pipe cleaners inside the legs is an optional step. Be aware that if you leave them out, the ant will look like total crap. The legs absolutely need structure.

Also, if I were to make this ant again, I would seam up the ant legs around the pipe cleaners right from the outset. The pattern suggests inserting them much further along during the assembly. I found this to be impossible, so I had to use thinner and less stable craft wire. The legs should most definitely be seamed around pipe cleaners.

One change I made to the pattern was the assembly of the antennae. The pattern tells you to pick up four stitches in a tiny circle on each side of the head and do an i-cord outward. I couldn't find a way to do this without it looking totally uneven and lumpy, so I just crocheted a couple of chains and sewed them on. It works just as well in my opinion.

Here's a shot of the underside. The finished product is really cute. It was a tough job putting these guys together, but totally worth it in the end. The only problem is that now I want one for myself!

Lavender's Bath Set

2009-07-23T11:35:00.005-04:00

In the interest of being all caught up with posting my projects, here's what I turned in for DADA today. Our assignment was to make an item inspired by the Half Blood Prince novel. I made a trio of washcloths in honor of Lavender Brown, girly girl extraordinaire.

Patterns: Two Hearts as One Dishcloth by Cathy Waldie (red)
Lattice Hearts Dishcloth by Rachel van Schie (white)
X's and O's Dishcloth by Rachel van Schie (pink)
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton in Poppy Red
Sugar and Cream Cotton in White and Light Pink
Mods: none

I'm very pleased with how these cloths came out. This red one was a very easy pattern and the heart image shows up nice and clear.

I knew I wanted the cloths to be in pink, red and white. That meant one of them had to be boring because white just isn't all that exciting. You can't see the pattern as well as you can on the other cloths in this color, but it looks excellent in person.

This cloth was the most intricate and it has a little bit of lace in the center, so it's my favorite. I was just telling my husband the other night that once we move out into our own place, we will never have to buy a dishcloth because I will be making all of them. These will make a nice start to that stack.

In non-knitting news, I'm finally moving! My sister has to move to a new apartment. Her old landlord, desperate to keep her from moving, offered to lower her rent to $590 a month for her one bedroom condo if she would stay. Price wasn't the issue behind her moving, so she declined the offer, but we jumped all over it. We will never find a better deal around here, so we are moving into her place at that same low rate. This could all happen as soon as August, since my sister's new place wants her to move in at the beginning of the month!

Finally, we won't be living with my mother anymore! We will be independent! This is SO worth cutting back on yarn to save for moving expenses!

Ugh - My hilariously off-gauge hat

2009-07-23T11:17:00.002-04:00

I wrote a little bit yesterday about my hat debacle. I mustered up the strength to take some pictures of it outside today so I could do my blog entry. Without any further adieu:

Pattern: Foliage by Emilee Mooney
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Honeydew
Mods: I made version 1 using a size 10 needle

It's a real shame that my gamble on needle substitution didn't pay off because the hat came out very nicely. I didn't make any errors in the pattern and the yarn is nice and smooshy. What a complete waste.

Honestly, the thing came out so small that I doubt using the size 10.5 needles would have saved it. It needed another one or two repeats of the lace added in. Once again - I hate top down hats! This isn't one I'll be making again, that's for sure. The problems were all my fault, but that doesn't make me any less frustrated!

A Super Slouchy Beret

2009-07-22T22:31:00.002-04:00

I finished blocking my Muggle Studies project today, and in the interest of being prompt with my posting, here it is!

Pattern: Grace Lace Beret by Elizabeth Eisenstein
Yarn: Knit Picks City Tweed DK in Morning Glory
Mods: None

I made this hat for my sister, who has been asking me to make a beret for her for a long time. It came out really well. I definitely like how the City Tweed knits up.

I followed the instructions on this pattern to the letter. It was an easy and fun project. I was really surprised to see how much it grew during blocking! It was a bit on the small side for a beret, but once I put it in some cool water I feel like it grew 50% in size. I was so afraid I wrecked it by making it too big, but my sister said she likes it.

Naturally I tried it on before giving it away, and I discovered that I don't look good in berets. At all. It's my huge forehead that wrecks the look. Oh well.

In other news, my hatred for top down hats continues! I was trying to make Foliage today for my Herbology project. I was using the wrong size needle (a 10 instead of a 10.5 just because I don't have a 10.5) and it came out entirely too small. Like, we're talking child sized. There's no way that it would have been right even if I had the right needle.

That's my issue with top down hats - I can't try them on as I go. I hate trying to figure out gauge on hats because doing a swatch in the round is super inconvenient. I like being able to try it on as I knit so I can decide if I want to add more repeats or whatever. That luxury is gone when you're knitting from the top down. I hate it!

Some day I'll learn not to do top down patterns. Until that day comes, I need to find a child to bestow my shrunken hats on.

Luna's Earrings

2009-07-21T22:14:00.004-04:00

Wow, two posts in one night! It's a new record!

I actually finished my Astronomy project a few days ago, but I'm just getting around to posting about it now. For this assignment, I was supposed to make something that sparkled like the night sky. I chose to make these cute earrings that I saw in the new issue of Interweave Crochet out of some sparkly silver crochet thread I had laying around.

Pattern: Island Earrings and Necklace by Robin Chachula
Yarn: Aunt Lydia's Classic Crochet Thread in Silver (Size 10)
Mods: None

These earrings were a little bit tricky to make. The thread I was using had this silvery tinsel-like thread running through it. This made the thread wonderfully sparkly, but very tough to crochet with!

I'm mostly pleased with how they came out. They aren't 100% identical (which is completely my fault), and that bothers me. Darn my inner-perfectionist! I don't know If I have the guts to wear these out. They're so big!

In other news, I got my Reducio Swap package yesterday! My partner sent me a ton of lovely things, including a Slytherin mini-sock and a really fun crochet cupcake pincushion.

I really love everything I got. I can't wait until my partner gets my kit in the mail. I just sent if off yesterday, so it will be a few days yet. Until then I will knit and wait in anticipation to see if she likes it!

My Completed OWL

2009-07-21T21:20:00.005-04:00

After three months of very hard work I finally finished my Charms OWL. The shawl came out very nicely and I'm happy to report that the various mistakes I made throughout the piece essentially disappeared with blocking.

Pattern: Queen Anne's Lace by MMario
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Shocking Pink
Mods: I used size 4 needles to get a smaller FO

I love how bright and vibrant the Shocking Pink is. It really makes the shawl something special. Despite my frustrations and little boo boos I make knitting it, I'm pleased with the final product.

It is still my dream to knit a completely mistake-free shawl one of these days!

I just love lace. Really. I do. It's far and away my favorite type of knitting.

Status Update

2009-07-14T20:00:00.002-04:00

Wow, it's been awhile since I blogged! Rest assured, I have been busy with a lot of knitting and crochet projects. I have some things completed for my July classes, but I can't put up photographs! You see, they are surprises for a few swaps I'm in right now. Once my partners receive their items, I'll do full project posts. I'll have to leave them a mystery for a little while longer. :)

Some things I can show you are the projects I completed for Quidditch. As a chaser on the Slytherin team this term, I felt it was my duty to pull us out of the slump we were in with wristers. I whipped up 20 pairs for us!

I also did a few emergency baby hats, which helped us meet our baby goal.

Thank goodness for the speediness of crochet!

In other exciting news, I have my shawl blocking! That's right, my OWL is complete. I should have full pictures of that up very soon. It turns out that you can't see my major mistake in it when it's all blocked out! Well . . . I can see it. I'll always be able to see it. But I don't think anyone else will!

Harry Potter tonight! Yay!

My First Shawl

2009-06-28T20:59:00.003-04:00

While I was out taking pictures of my Bobble Head Hat today I brought along the shawl I didn't finish for my Charms OWL last term. I've had it completed for a few months now and I just got around to taking the fancy FO pictures.

Here's a view of the blocking process (which was monumental in itself):

And here it is all finished:

Pattern: #10 Triangle Lace Shawl by Karen Joan Raz

Yarn: Alpaca with a Twist Fino in Royal Velvet
Mods: I went down a needle size to size 4.

I don't have a lot of commentary for this piece. It's the first big bit of lace I've ever done and it means a lot to me. I love this shawl from top to bottom, mistakes, frustrations and all.

Bobble Head

2009-06-28T16:50:00.002-04:00

Well, I braved the stifling heat to go out and take a picture of my Herbology hat today. That's officially the last project I have to turn in for the month of June in the HPKCHC! I'm doing very well this term - turning in every possible assignment and getting my OWL where it needs to be. If I can keep it through July I'll have a perfect record! Now, onto the hat!

Pattern: Berry Bobble Hat by Cathy Carron
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Emerald Blue
Mods: I used size 8 needles and made the smaller size. This was purely because I don't like the size 7 circs that I own.

I have to admit that I'm not incredibly pleased with the finished hat. While making it the first time through, I dropped a stitch somewhere and it slowly unraveled down the hat, messing up my stitch count and somehow going unnoticed by me for several rows. Of course, having this missing stitch messed up my bobble placement and by the time I figured out what was wrong there was nothing I could do except frog it and start over. On the second go around I lost a stitch somewhere else right toward the end. I'm pretty sure I just took one too many stitches into a bobble and it got gobbled up that way. I was too frustrated at this point to fix it properly, so I just added in a stitch to the row I was working. Sloppy, I know. You can't tell unless you know what you're looking for though.

This hat was knit from the top down, a construction method that I don't like too much. I have never had much luck with the fit of hats made this way, even though I know that isn't logical. Why shouldn't it fit just the same as hats knit in other ways? This particular hat goes on my head, but it is just a fraction too big. I feel like using the proper needles would have been a better idea, but I only have Fiddlesticks brand size 7 16" circs, and they suck the big one. I need Clovers in this size.

I also am not a huge fan of the way the hat is shaped on top. It makes my head look like a Hershey's Kiss. I can't complain too much about that though, because that's exactly how it looks in the magazine picture next to the pattern. I was hoping that knitting it a little bigger and pulling it down on my head firmly would eliminate this effect, but that didn't really work out. It just wants to puff up at the top and no amount of pulling on it stops it.

The point of this assignment was to knit something with bobbles, and that part of the project went right. I got quite proficient at making them, and they look really cute. Using the variagated yarn gives them a neat effect - they are all slightly different colors.

It's definitely not my favorite project that I've ever done, but the hat looks okay on my head. I guess you can't ask for much more than that in the end, right? It took a long time to make on account of all the bobbles, and I hate the fact that I used up a precious skein of Malabrigo on a projects I don't like all that much, but it's all good. I'm going to chalk this up to a good learning experience. I learned how to make bobbles and I leaned a new disappearing loop cast on that worked very well closing up the top of the hat. I also reaffirmed my notion that I don't like top down construction. I could see myself wearing this in the winter, but I don't ever see making another one.

Finally Finished

2009-06-27T11:27:00.004-04:00

Well, after several days of very poor (and non-photo friendly) weather I finally have my next project ready to post.

I have technically been working on this project since before I ever got involved with the House Cup. I received a precious skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk for Christmas last year from my husband in the beautiful Tiger colorway. Even though I knew I had the Cup starting that January, I couldn't resist casting on a scarf with it right away. I decided on the Horseshoe Lace Scarf from 101 Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders, got out my size 4 needles and cast on.

The knitting went well from the start. The pattern was simple and not even all that boring. However, when the Cup started I got so busy that I put it down and barely touched it for three months. In the one month interim between my first and second terms I decided that I had to finish it. I took the needles back up and finished the knitting portion a few days before the beginning of May. I stopped the repeats of the scarf at a good time - there was just enough left of the yarn ball for tassels. After that the Cup started up again and my poor scarf sat crumpled up in a ball on top of my bookshelf for another month, needing blocking and tassels.

When July rolled around, I was pleased the see that our DADA assignment was to finish up a WIP. I admit that my first idea was to finish a blanket I had stashed away in the closet from a year ago. As I pulled it out and tried to work on it again, I decided that I just couldn't bear it. It was too boring and I would need to buy a lot more yarn to finish it. I didn't want to waste money on a project I wasn't enjoying, so I stuffed it back in the closet and decided to finally get my scarf done.

The first step was blocking, which requires a nice long soak first.

I put the scarf in the sink and let it get nice and saturated. When I went to retrieve it so I could pin it out, I discovered how wet sea cell and silk yarn smells. Not good.

The next step was getting my blocking wires threaded through the sides of the scarf for a perfect edge and pinning it in place. This was the most difficult part of the process. It wasn't hard to get the blocking wires in, it just took a long time and made my back hurt. I was hunched over my blocking boards on the floor for an hour! In the end I got it all pinned down nicely.

After the scarf had a night to dry it was time to make the tassels. Tassels aren't exactly my favorite things to make as they are a bit fiddly, but as I just wanted small ones for this project they didn't take too long. I used the tried and true method of wrapping the yarn around a book to make them.

One all the tassels were cut out and lined up neatly I attached them using a crochet hook. I did seven tassels on each end of the scarf, placed at each of the points I had pinned out the day before. The scarf has a bit of a scalloped edge and the tassels finished out the points nicely.

After all that work I was left with a beautiful silk scarf. It is probably one of the nicest things I have knitted, based on the quality of the yarn and the simple elegance of the pattern. I am very pleased I got a chance to finish it this month.

Pattern: Silk-Wool Horseshoe Lace Scarf by Marci Richardson
Yarn: Handmaiden Fine Yarn Sea Silk in Tiger
Mods: I cast on 55 stitches for fice repeats of the lace pattern for a skinnier scarf. I knit until there was only enough yarn left to make tassels. This worked out to be 49 repeats.

The finished scarf is about six feet long and it is stretchy. I'll have to make sure I don't snag this on anything as there are lots of YO holes.

The cool thing about Sea Silk is that the yarn smells like the beach. Now I'll have memories of summer when I use this scarf in the cold weather.

I'm very happy this scarf is finally finished. I always felt guilty about letting it sit around half done for so long since the yarn was so precious to me. This pattern was an excellent way to use up a ball of Sea Silk. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the ball of it I have in Glacier.

Quidditch Mitts

2009-06-25T14:48:00.002-04:00

Well, the weather is definitely not cooperating with my plan to take pictures of my Herbology hat and DADA scarf. It is raining cats and dogs outside! All I have to post today are the mitts I made for Quidditch.

Pattern: I heavily modified the Merletto Mitts pattern. I basically took the numbers for casting on stitches and the instructions for making the thumbs. I eliminated the lace pattern and did 4 round wide stripes of gray and green.
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Sock yarn in Pine and Ash

These mitts were a pain in the butt to make, but not for any big specific reason. They were just boring with all the stockinette. I persevered though and I got them done. I'm proud of the job I did on them because they look really nice in person. They are neat and well made. I can see myself using them a lot once winter rolls around.

The only other thing I have to talk about is my OWL progress. I am on row 144 out of 159 total rows, so I am well past the required 25%. It's hard to take a good picture of this since it's all bunched up on my circular needles, but it is looking really pretty so far. I can't wait to see it all stretched out!

There is one big mistake in it that's killing me inside. It happened sometime in the beginning rows and I didn't notice it until it was WAY too late to tink back and fix it. I'm hoping that I can make it less noticeable in the blocking. In any case, I know that the untrained eye won't notice it, but I will. It will bug me forever. I'm trying to learn to embrace it as part of what makes the shawl unique. It's not working so far.

Crunchy Coasters

2009-06-18T16:58:00.003-04:00

Today I have another FO to post. After this one, I will have only one more thing in the FO pile on my desk.

Today's project is my Transfiguration assignment. Our task was to knit or crochet something out of a non-yarn material. I was a little lost when I first read about this class, but when the idea of using plastic shopping bags was tossed out there, I knew that I had to give that a try.

Crunchy Coasters

There's no yarn or pattern information for this project. I just cut two plastic shopping bags up into a long continuous strip (by cutting off the handles and spiraling down the bag), and used my lucky green crochet hook (J) to make a basic circle. I did a brown bag and a white bag to make coasters for my husband and me.

When cutting up the delicate plastic to make my "plarn," I remember thinking that crocheting with this stuff could easily turn into a nightmare. When I started hooking though, I was pleased to find out that it was easy to work with. I used a more delicate touch than I would employ with regular yarn, but other than that I didn't do anything differently and I had no problems with breakage or stretching.

The finished products work like a charm. In fact, I've got my water bottle sitting on one right now. The good thing about using plastic yarn for these is that sweat from cold drinks or spillage won't hurt them. They will rinse clean every time! What a nice way to recycle.

In OWL news, my Queen Anne's Lace shawl is coming along very well. I am well past the 25% mark I need to get to by the end of this month. If everything continues to go according to plan I will definitely be finished by the deadline.

I went with my husband to see his new school today. Thank goodness he found another position! I was afraid we'd both be stuck subbing next year and never move out of my parents' house! He ended up at a magnet school for the performing arts. He's teaching math, so he isn't involved in the special electives they offer, but he gets the benefits of having students motivated enough to enroll in a magnet school. I hope that he won't have as many behavior issues with these kids as he did with his kids in his regular public school from last year.

Now all that's left is to find me a job so that I don't have to sub anymore! I'm not holding my breath on this one for this year though. The economy is in dire straights and our school boards are completely screwed as far as budgets are concerned. So many teachers have lost positions that there aren't really any jobs left for people looking to get into the game. All of those laid off teachers have to go somewhere, and they get priority when jobs open up. They should, of course. It just sucks for me because it means that there probably won't be any jobs left for new people.

I will wait and be strong until I can get in somewhere. I have no other choice. Until then, I will knit.

Illusion Knitting: Like Magic!

2009-06-16T16:29:00.002-04:00

I'm back with another project from the pile of never-ending FOs on my desk. There's only two things left after this one. Getting closer!

This time I have a washcloth for my Charms assignment. The idea was to make an item using illusion knitting. I had never tried this technique before, so I decided to start with something small. This happy little washcloth seemed to fit the bill. Posted below are the head on and then the angle shot that reveals the knitted image.

Pattern: Fleur De Lis Illusion Dishcloth by Tricia Shafer
Yarn: Sugar and Cream cotton in Cornflower and White
Mods: None

Pretty nifty, huh? My husband actually liked this so much that he claimed it for his own shortly after I made it. Now that's a real compliment!

Illusion knitting isn't difficult, and it really spices up simple garter stitch patterns. This was fun and easy to knit.

The colors and fleur de lis remind me of the design scheme of Cinderella's castle at Disney World. That idea makes me feel more royal already. I may need to make another one of these for myself!

So it was my birthday yesterday. I got a lot of nice gifts this year (including a ball winder and swift!), but the best part of it all was going out to dinner with my husband and getting away from the house. I had a great time. Of course, I completely blew my diet, but we're both back on the horse now. Life wouldn't be any fun if we couldn't indulge in tasty Chinese food every now and then!

A Cheery Coaster

2009-06-14T17:33:00.002-04:00

In my (seemingly) never-ending quest to clear the pile of FOs off my desk, I bring you my project for Divination: a cheery little flower coaster for my favorite tea cup.

Pattern: Springtime Coasters by Doni Speigle
Yarn: Sugar and Cream Cotton in white and yellow
Mods: None to the actual crochet pattern, but I did add a small bee button around the edge.

The assignment was to either create something that related to tea or make something that represents an omen (good or bad). With this assignment, I did both. The coaster by itself is for my favorite tea mug, so it fits the first assignment. Bees are a good omen to me (as that's what my patronus is), so it fits the second assignment too.

I actually had to make this coaster twice, as the first time I completely screwed it up and ended up with one too many petals on the flower. This was completely my fault. I miscounted the stitches somehow the first time around. The pattern was correct and well written.

I think the finished product is adorable. I would love to make a set of these in all different colors to give as a gift to someone. They would look adorable as part of a picnic gift set or something. Too bad I don't know anyone that would appreciate such a thing!

May Book Review - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

2009-06-14T10:57:00.002-04:00

I did actually finish reading this book in May, but I haven't gotten around to posting it until now. There's no reason in particular for this, I've just been Internet lazy lately. :)

I have always considered Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to be a little bit different from the rest of the Harry Potter series. It is perhaps the most self-contained of all the books. The story it tells seems to be separate from the main mythology of the series. Although it still deals with the same characters and Harry once again thwarts Voldemort in the end, it just feels different.

Perhaps this is because the plot of this novel deals with a Voldemort from the past - with a memory preserved in a diary, waiting to return to full power. Voldemort is Tom Riddle here. He is the student at Hogwarts that would eventually grow up to become the most feared dark wizard in the world. In effect, this is an entirely different Voldemort from the one we met in The Sorcerer's Stone. I wonder if the real, flesh and blood Voldemort was aware of the events going on at Hogwarts in Harry's second year. I also wonder what would have happened if Harry had failed to defeat him in the end of the book and the memory of Voldemort had come back to life. Would there have been two Voldemorts then, or would they have somehow combined to return the original Voldemort to full power?

I believe my feelings on this novel are based on this concept of the "memory" of Voldemort as the main villain. It doesn't feel like events are moving forward because Harry is busy fighting the past. Once this book is over it doesn't seem like anything has changed position from the first book. We don't get any updates on the current status of Voldemort and we don't learn to much more about most of the interesting characters such as Harry, Dumbledore and Snape. Of course, we do learn quite a bit about Voldemort's past, which is a good thing. We also learn a lot about Hagrid and establish the very beginnings of Harry and Ginny's relationship.

Rowling ties this book in with the rest of the series by eventually revealing that the old diary Voldemort's memory was hidden in is a Horcrux - a small piece of his soul that could be used one day to bring him back to life should he be defeated. These horcruxes play an integral part in the rest of the series, so it turns out that Harry's adventures in the Chamber of Secrets are of major importance. Even with this tie-in, I still feel that this novel doesn't quite fit with the rest of the series. In spite of that, I still feel that this is a tremendously good novel and I enjoyed reading it very much. It was just a bit different from its fellow books.

We get some real gems in the way of new characters in Chamber of Secrets. We get to meet Dobby, the interminably cute house elf and Gilderoy Lockheart, the criminally narcissistic Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. We also get Colin Creevy, a somewhat overenthusiastic first-year Gryffindor. These three characters are written with brilliant comic flair, making them some of the most entertaining people in the series.

On the darker side of the novel, we meet Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy for the first time. He is tremendously evil and we begin to understand that he is most certainly still a faithful follower of Voldemort. From this, we can assume that Draco is as well. Lucius is one of my favorite characters in the books simply because he is so incredibly good at being bad. Slippery and suave, this guy manages to wiggle out of everything and start a lot of trouble. He's pretty good looking too, at least in the movies.

This novel is also good for introducing creatures. We get to meet an acromantula named Aragog (one of Hagrid's pets of course), Dumbledore's pet pheonix Fawkes, and the basilisk. There are some tremendous action and fighting scenes concerning these creatures. Perhaps that is why this book in particular translated to the big screen so well.

One feature of this book that I particularly enjoyed was learning a little bit more about Slytherin House. The storyline concerning the Heir of Slytherin and the Chamber of Secrets were quite interesting. Since Slytherin is too often portrayed as the generic "bad house," I enjoyed breaking away from that a little bit and learning about their mythology. As a reader I tend to gravitate toward the evil characters in books, so naturally I enjoy learning more about characters like Draco and Snape and Slytherin in general. I prefer my villains to have a bit of depth and if I could make one complaint about the Harry Potter series, it would be that the Slytherin characters are sometimes just a little too stock. People usually have more motivations for being evil beyond just "I'm in Slytherin, so I have to be a jerk." This is why I particularly like Snape. Now there's a complicated guy.

Well, this review has dragged on long enough, so I suppose I should finish it up. I loved this book the first time I read it, and I continue to love it today. It doesn't seem to fit into the series as well as the others do for me, and it isn't my favorite out of all the books, but it is still better than 90% of everything else I've read lately. I give it 4.5 slimy socks out of 5.

From the Stack of FOs . . .

2009-06-13T15:48:00.002-04:00

I have been exceedingly lazy lately! Don't get me wrong, I've been knitting up a storm, I've just been internet lazy. I'm finding it hard to get up the motivation to post projects, update Ravelry and blog. The shame of it all!

I have a big pile of FOs to post sitting on my computer desk. It's quite overwhelming to be honest. I have decided to take things slow and post one thing a day until I'm finished. First up is my cabled DS Cozy for Muggle Studies.

Pattern: Cabled DS Lite Case by Simplethings
Yarn: Vanna's Choice Baby in Pink Poodle
Mods: None. I stuck to the pattern on this one.

I say this all the time, but this was a truly wonderful pattern to work with. The directions were clear, the design was clever and best of all there were no seams to sew at the end!

I made this for my Muggle Studies class. The assignment was to create an accessory to a muggle electronic device. It just so happens that I have been meaning to make a case for my DS for ages, so I took advantage of the opportunity. I really like the look of the nice fat cables on this. Cables are one of my favorite things about knitting, but for some reason I don't do a lot of patterns that include them.

The cozy is knit all in one piece, in the round starting at the top. The bottom is closed using the kitchener stitch. The kitchener stitch and I have never been the greattest of friends, so I was a little wary to finish the project using it. I looked around the internet for some tips and found this excellent video (link in the "finishing" section) showing how to do it easily and neatly. For some reason, seeing someone else do it was all it took for me to understand it instantly. I'm so proud of how the bottom came out! It really looks like a professional, finished piece with no bulky, uneven seams to deal with.

So, there's my project for today. Tomorrow I will post another. For now, the only other new thing I have to report is that I did end up deciding to join that Harry Potter swap I was thinking about. In this swap, we all have to have a Harry Potter name to use. I entered my real name into the Harry Potter Name Generator and it spit back "Bridget the Bloodthirsty." I thought that was so funny that I decided to go with it.

This swap requires me to use a blog, and I decided to set up a new one as my character, Bridget. You can access it here if you are interested. I also added a link to my sidebar. I'm really excited for this. I just hope I don't let my swap partner down!

Well . . .

2009-06-05T22:00:00.003-04:00

Well, it's been a little while since I posted. Sorry about that, but I've been busy knitting (and to a lesser extent, crocheting)!

I'm just about ready to post a handful of projects I have completed for my June classes in the HPKCHC. I haven't taken pictures of anything yet because I am lazy and I hate my camera. I've also been enjoying the new summer with my husband. Since we both teach, we both have the summers off together. I love being able to reconnect with him.

Exciting news: My birthday is coming up! I hope to receive lots of yarn-related goodness. Of course, there will be pictures of that. But truly, I will be happy just to spend some quality time with my husband. The only bad part about birthdays is that I'm kind of obligated to hang out with the rest of my family too. It's my birthday, shouldn't I be able to spend it doing whatever I want with whoever I want?

I'm thinking of joining another Harry Potter swap. Sign ups start Monday and I probably won't decide until then. I really want to participate, but I have never done a swap before and I don't want to let whoever I get paired up with down!

Sorry for the blah post, but I will be back soon with lots of project pictures and my (belated) book review for May.

Straw Into Gold

2009-05-21T14:29:00.003-04:00

Today is unmercifully hot and sunny, which means that I was able to take some pictures of my scarf! Yay!

Pattern: No pattern. I used the "Wavy Shell Stitch" pattern I found in my crochet dictionary.
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Worsted in Caution (6 skeins)

The assignment was to create something based on a muggle fairy tale, and I chose Rumplestiltskin and the idea of spinning straw into gold as my inspiration. The pattern looks like little piles of gold coins and the tassels on the ends represent straw.

I'm so happy with this project. The finished scarf measures about 6.5” wide and 5’10” long including the tassels. I will be proud to wear this scarf once it gets cold out. I'm usually such a "follow the pattern line by line" kind of knitter that making this scarf really took me out of my comfort zone. I had to decide everything about yarn weight, hook size, stitch pattern, tassel length and so on. It's a one-of-a-kind item now! I definitely want to design more pieces myself in the future.

And now for the promised yarn pr0ns from yesterday:

Malabrigo Laceweight in Purple Mystery

Dream in Color Baby in Ruby River

Madelinetosh Tosh Lace in Warm Maize

I love everything, but the Tosh Lace is the star of this show. The color is rich and saturated and it feels so . . . classy. Soft and expensive feeling. It's hard to describe, but I love it. This is a new yarn. I think I will need a skein in every color.

Fail

2009-05-20T18:09:00.003-04:00

So I was all set to take a bunch of pictures and post the scarf I made for my Ancient Runes homework today, but the weather is totally not cooperating. My camera pretty much only functions well in natural light, and it is pouring outside today! I 'll have to wait until the weather isn't so wet to go outside and snap some pretty pictures of it. For now, here's a poor quality teaser shot that I took inside on my desk:

More information will be posted shortly on this scarf, which I designed myself and am very truly happy with.

I just got a box of lace yarn from eatsleepknit.com that I am thrilled with. I'll get some stash pictures going tomorrow (hopefully). This is my last little shipment of yarn until June because we bought a Wii this weekend and need to establish a budget. I got some Dream in Color laceweight in Ruby River, some Mal laceweight in Purple Mystery and some Madeline Tosh lace in Warm Maize. It's all amazing. Seriously. This box was a winner.

I had a very rough day at work today. I feel like such an imposter sometimes. I'm really a glorified chair-warmer, honestly. Today the teacher next door asked me to step between my class and hers to watch over her kids while she ran to get a cup of coffee (ninth graders). She was gone five minutes, tops. In that amount of time, two of her kids got into a screaming match over nothing, and the girl who was involved threw her open bottle of chocolate milk at the other kid's head. She got chocolate milk everywhere. On the ceiling, on the floor, on the tables, on her teacher's files. Thankfully it did not get on me. That's about the only good thing I can say about my day. I didn't get doused in chocolate milk. What an accomplishment.

I felt like SUCH AN IDIOT when the teacher came back after five minutes to find her classroom in ruins. I must have looked completely incompetent- like I couldn't handle watching some kids for five minutes. Sheesh. I was so embarrassed. I honestly feel like there was no way I could have handled the situation better. Her kids are true crazies and it all happened so fast. What was I supposed to do? The slow motion dramatic leap in front of the chocolate milk, arms outstretched, screaming "NOOOO!"? The girl that threw the milk seemed quite unstable. I know it's not my fault, because they should be able to behave, but that doesn't help me feel any better about it.

There's only another week of school left after this one. Let's hope I can make it through alive (and milk-free).

A Hat Fit for a Mandrake

2009-05-14T18:15:00.003-04:00

Here I am checking in with another finished project. This time it's for Herbology:

Pattern: Thorpe by Kristen Kapur and Mountain Laurel Leaf by Bonnie Sennot
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Hazelnut and Wool of the Andes Worsted in Grass
Mods: I knit the hat using a size 10 needle as that's all I had in a 16'' circ. The green yarn is held double throughout the hat and the leaves. I knit the leaves using size 10 and 9 needles (they alternate in size around the top)

The idea of this project was to knit something inspired by the mandrake plant. My twisted mind went to a hat with leaves on it right away. The hat is a little bit big, but it will definitely keep my head warm (you know, if I ever decide I'm crazy enough to wear it outside). I'm happy with how it came out.

Now onto Ancient Runes! After that project, my homework will be complete and I can move onto Quidditch.

Tomorrow I'm subbing in a nasty classroom. I hate the kids, but the teacher is really nice and asked for me especially, so I agreed to the assignment. This is a high school reading class that is filled to the brim with with the felons of tomorrow. I literally think I could get several of them to take a swing at me if I chose to give them a hard enough time. All I can do when I am there is prevent them from wandering off (MUCH harder than you probably think).

All she's left them to do is watch random movies. This means I have to try and keep them relatively quiet throughout their 90 minute period. Yeah, okay. Right away. It's going to be interesting tomorrow, that's for sure.

There's a Can

2009-05-13T15:24:00.002-04:00

Today I've got a quick project to share. It was my assignment for Muggle Studies this month: The Lisa Simpson Necklace!

Pattern: None - I cobbled this together using techniques I learned crocheting amigurumi
Yarn: Red Heart Soft Yarn in White

The assignment for this class was to create a project based on a movie or TV show. For my inspiration, I chose Lisa Simpson (one of my favorite Lisa quotes makes up the title of this post). She always wears a big ole pearl necklace on the show, so I decided to imitate that. I used worsted weight acrylic yarn, cotton batting and a little bit of elastic to tie it all together. I think it came out pretty well.

In my next post I will hopefully be able to share the rest of my homework. I've been hard at work lately - Go Slytherin!

A New Term Has Begun!

2009-05-05T19:19:00.003-04:00

May has finally arrived and with it comes the start of the Spring 2009 Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup! I am so excited to be back at home in the Slytherin dungeons that I have finished three assignments already.

First up is Defense Against the Dark Arts:

Pattern: Ribbed Lip Balm Holder by Dawn L.E. Riden
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Teal and Marble Heather
Mods: None in the knitting process, but I did add the stripes by changing colors every two rows of ribbing.

The object of this assignment was to knit something that protects something else. There were bonus points promised for making the item in house colors. This is actually my first green and gray project (but not the last one of this month).

The pattern is fantastic and the cozy fits around my chapstick like a glove. The only difficulty I ran into on this project was getting starting knitting in the round on size zero double points! It was very fiddly trying to get the first few rounds done. I'm quite happy with the finished object though!

Next up is Charms:

Pattern: Deathly Hallows Wristband by not_gini
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Evergreen and Mist
Mods: Sadly, none. I should have reduced the needle size and maybe cast on less stitches. This came out too big for me.

The idea of this project was to knit an object that would identify you as a witch to your fellow witches, but not be obvious to muggles. I decided to finally take the plunge of learning Fair Isle on this small project. It was a good way to learn it, because the chart for it is very simple and short. I think that the colorwork came out great, and I accomplished one of my New Year's Resolutions (in part) by learning it! Like I said above, it came out too big. It fits my husband perfectly though, so it belongs to him now. I fully plan to make another one for myself with some modifications later.

Lastly, Arithmancy:

Pattern: Snails and Slugs by Anna Hrachovec
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Teal and Marble Heather
Mods: None. I made the size 1 needle version.

This is the smallest and perhaps the cutest thing I have ever made. It is super tiny at 1 and 3/4 inches long and 3/4 of an inch tall. The assignment was to knit something representing the Golden Ratio. This little guy's spiral shell does that. Don't ask me how, because I don't do math. I just copied what another student made!

You can't help but smile when you hold him. I did him up in Slytherin colors and named him Severus. He's officially the coolest snail on the block.

All I have left to do now is post my Muggle Studies assignment (pictures coming soon), and figure out projects for Herbology and Ancient Runes. Not bad for the first week of the game, huh?

Oh, and I made Chaser on the house Quidditch team! More on that in future posts. :)

April Book Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

2009-04-27T13:59:00.004-04:00

My book selection for the month of April turned out to be one of my favorites. I wanted something easy and fun to read, so I chose Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by the great J.K. Rowling.

I have read this book several times and I love it to death. If you have somehow never read this story about about a boy who learns he's a wizard, go and pick it up right now! It's perfect for adults and children alike. The writing is wonderful and the style doesn't allow you to put it down.

I can't review this book in an unbiased way (clearly), so I thought that for this month's "review" I would do something just for fun. Without further adieu, I present to you:

The Top 5 Things I Don't Understand About Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

5. What happened to the Dursley family after Hagrid came and took Harry away from the hut on the rock in the sea?

So, we all know that Hagrid comes personally to deliver Harry his Hogwarts letter because his uncle Vernon is actively trying to prevent Harry from receiving it. At this point in the story, Vernon had gone a bit mad and holed the family up in a small hut out on a rock in the middle of the sea in an attempt to keep the post office from delivering any more of the letters. They arrive there by a borrowed row boat, on a journey that "seemed like hours," so we can assume that the family is pretty far out in the ocean. It is also mentioned that the only rations Vernon provided the family with were four bags of chips and four bananas, which they ate that first night. Around midnight, Hagrid comes bursting into the hut (arriving by magic) and takes Harry away to Diagon Alley the next day. The two of them leave the hut in the boat that Harry and the Dursley family used yesterday.

So how do the Dursleys get back? Rowling never says that Hagrid sent the boat back to them. Are we supposed to assume this? If not, how long was it before someone came to rescue them? They had no food or water in that hut. Furthermore, when Harry is returned to the Durselys later that day, they are all home safe and sound. Nothing is ever said about how they managed to get back to shore. They were also able to be back at home when Harry returned there, despite it having taken them more than one day of Vernon's crazed driving to reach the hut in the first place.

4. Why would Dumbledore hide Fluffy behind a door that could be opened with a simple unlocking spell performed by a first year?

Dumbledore, deciding that Hogwarts is the safest place in the world to hide something, places the all-important Sorcerer's Stone behind a series of magical obstacles hidden within the castle. These obstacles start with Fluffy, a gigantic and dangerous three headed dog who is ready to tear anyone coming after the stone into pieces. Fluffy is kept on the third floor corridor on the right hand side. Dumbledore tells students that this area is out of bounds to anyone who does not "wish to die a very painful death." Miraculously, no students seem to test this new school rule (because that's super-realistic for children), but Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville accidentally stumble into the room when looking for an escape route from Filch. The door is locked, but Hermione manages to open it with a simple "Alohamora."

Now I ask, is it wise to keep an extremely vicious and dangerous animal locked up in a school full of children behind nothing but an ordinary muggle lock? You know, this is a school of magic. There are doors within Hogwarts that can not be opened with Alohamora. Why in the world isn't this one of those? What if Fred and George Weasley, troublemakers as they are, decided to go and investigate this mysteriously locked area? They could be killed. Anyone could be killed. It doesn't make sense for it to be that easy to get into that room.

3. Why doesn't Dumbledore catch on to Quirrel's evilness?

We are immediately given the impression in this book that Dumbledore is the greatest wizard of all time. He seems to be everywhere and know everything. He claims that he doesn't need a cloak to become invisible and always seems to be one step ahead of everyone. Why then, doesn't he pick up on the fact that Voldemort is living in Hogwarts? Why doesn't he figure out what's hiding up in Quirrel's turban? Professor Snape is clearly shown to know that Quirrel is a bad guy and he reports directly to Dumbledore (as we find out in later books). So why doesn't Dumbledore take down Quirrel himself?

The evidence that Dumbledore knew about Quirrel is pretty damning based on his close relationship with Snape and his Superman-like magical powers. Is it possible then that Dumbledore wanted to let all of this go on so that Harry could face Voldemort himself? If that's the case, that's pretty scary. Harry is 11 and Quirrel and Voldemort combined could easily kill him with a quick Avada Kedavra. Dumbledore left the castle on the night that Harry and Quirrel both went after the stone. If he was monitoring the situation to give Harry a chance to "prove himself," why would he ever leave the premises?

I think it would just have been easier for Dumbledore to barge into Quirrel's room one night, rip the turban off of his head and let him have it.

2. Why were the magical obstacles guarding the stone so easy?

There are a series of magical obstacles guarding the stone, each set up by one of the Hogwart's staff members. Harry, Ron and Hermione are able to blaze through them all extremely quickly. If the Hogwarts teaching staff can't manage to stymie a few first years, then Dumbledore may need to look into their qualifications.

Furthermore, the only obstacle that was truly unbeatable was Dumbledore's mirror trick. The other obstables were wholly unnecessary and more like a fun challenge. Why not just enchant the Mirror of Erised and stuff it in a closet somewhere? No one would ever find it, and if they did, they wouldn't be able to access the stone inside of it. Done.

This all points stongly to the notion that Dumbledore wanted Harry to be able to reach the stone and face Voldemort. This idea is very irresponsible and unsettling to me. Harry is eleven people! Eleven!

1. Why wasn't Quirrel able to get the stone out of the mirror?

The final hiding place of the stone is the Mirror of Erised. It will only reveal itself to someone who wants to find it, but not use it. This is how Harry is able to get the stone out of the mirror and protect it. He wants to prevent Voldemort from getting his hands on it and not use it himself, thus, the stone pops right into his pocket.

Well, why can't Quirrel get it then? He wants to find it for Lord Voldemort, not use it on himself. He wants to serve his master, not synthesize a pile of gold. According to the logic of how the spell works, the stone should have come out for him too.

People might say to this that Voldemort was sharing Quirrel's body, so maybe the mirror interpreted that as a part of him wanting to use the stone. That is a possible explanation. It just wasn't presented clearly enough for me to say definitively that that is why the stone wouldn't come out for him.

Well, that's my fun list. I in no way mean to disrespect Harry Potter with this. I love the series in spite of the little things that make me scratch my head. The chief enjoyment in this series lies with reading it for fun and suspending your disbelief for a little while.

A Toasty Cowl

2009-04-20T15:17:00.003-04:00

I finished this cowl some time ago, but just got around to taking pictures for it today.

Pattern: Spiral Cowl by Keri McKiernan
Yarn: Knit Picks Andean Silk in Bluebell
Mods: I used a size 7 needles and worsted weight yarn. I omitted two of the spiral pattern repeats.

The hardest thing about this project was the picot edging. The instructions for the bottom edge ask you to knit some rows, then fold your knitting up to the inside of your cowl and knit a row holding the edges together. It was incredibly difficult to do this evenly. I figured it out eventually, but after much ripping. It did end up coming out very pretty.

The yarn I used, Knit Picks Andean Silk, is delicious. It's soft and smooshy and I love it. It has a pretty sheen to it, from the silk, and a nice halo from the alpaca. It looked so good just sitting in the ball that I had an indescribable urge to stuff it in my mouth. It sheds like crazy while you knit it, but the finished product doesn't really shed at all. I will definitely use this yarn again.

The only things left on my needles at this point are my shawl and a lace scarf I started working on ages ago, last December. I've been bringing the scarf to sub jobs lately, so I should have that finished up this week. My goal is to have everything completed by the end of the month. The new House Cup term is starting and I want a clean canvas, so to speak.

Today's been a trying day. I hate subbing. Why do kids hit each other so much? My DH and I are going on a vacation to Disney on April 29th. I can't wait to get away from it all!

Now, back to the shawl.

Blech

2009-04-14T14:14:00.002-04:00

If I had to come up with one single word to describe how today is going so far it would have to be. . . "ass."

I got a sub job with one of my regular classrooms today. The kids are low, but I get along well with them and I usually don't have any problems. Today was different. I blame it on the horrible thunderstorms and tornado warnings we've had all day today. Something in the air brought out the inner troublemakers in all of them.

In my first period I have a boy. Let's call him A. A decides that he's not interested in listening to the story another student is reading out loud to everyone. Let's call the student reading the book (a girl) B. A tries everything possible to disrupt B from reading, including getting into her personal space, putting his sneaker in her face and ramming her chair with his chair. I try desperately to separate them before the fireworks happen, without success. A keeps finding new ways to torture B. B finally decides she has had enough. She takes off her flip flop and starts beating A in the head with it.

Of course I am on them like white on rice trying to defuse the situation. A eventually gets mad and storms out of the classroom on the pretense of going to the office to report the incident (I found out later he was hanging out in another classroom).

Now I ask you, why would A spend so much time trying to rile up B if he was only going to get mad and pissy when she retaliated? It makes no sense! I was glad to have him out of the classroom in any case. I wrote him a referral and left it for the teacher to deal with.

Of course, this incident ruined the kids for the rest of the period. Everyone was disrupted from their work and it was really impossible to get them back. Not good.

So then 2nd period rolls around. I already know from previous jobs in this classroom that this will be the worst class of the day. Two boys, let's call them C and D, decide that they don't want to do anything besides fuck with me and each other. They started off the period by plastering each other with packing tape (on heads and hairy arms) and ripping it off their bodies loudly. Once I wrangle the tape away from them they get back at me by stealing the television remote off the teacher's desk and turning on the TV and turning it up as loud as it will go. At this point I don't yet know who took the remote and I am getting incredibly frustrated. I unplug the TV and wait for the remote to surface. Once I finally pin down the culprits, I send them both up to the office.

If course, their actions completely disrupt the rest of the class and not much learning takes place. Again, not good.

When your day starts off so badly, there's not much you can do to salvage it. His other class did not get the best of me because I was so messed up from the other classes. Days like this make me question my decision to teach. They also reinforce my notion that substitute teaching is the WORST job in the world. I don't know what I do wrong or what I could do better. Being mean as hell is not in me. I suppose that my laid back approach will work in most classrooms, but not in others. I need to be able to adjust my demeanor to match the tone of the class. What I did today did not work at all.

Perhaps the worst news of the day is that my cowl is all complete, but I can't take pictures because it is such a gray rainy day. Maybe tomorrow. :(

Happy Easter!

2009-04-11T18:53:00.002-04:00

I wasn't planning on making any special projects for Easter this year, but this one just fell into my lap.

My mother really wanted to decorate Easter eggs this year. As I was boiling them up in preparation for dyeing, three of them got cracked. They were no longer suitable for decorating, so I decided to make some little hats for them.

Pattern: Chick Egg Cozies by Derya Davenport
Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool Merino, Vanna's Choice, Red Heart Ltd. Soft Heart Solids
Mods: I knit the cozies as the pattern directed, I embellished them with scrap yarn differently.

Happy Easter everyone!

Some WIPs

2009-04-07T18:39:00.002-04:00

I thought today would be a good day to do a little sprucing up around the blog. I changed up my header and redid the colors. Nice, huh? This is much more cheery and it puts me in the mood for spring!

Speaking of spring, I am currently enjoying more time off in the second part of my break. The DH has his spring break this week, so I am taking some more time off to chill with him. We really needed the recharge time too. When you work all day long, you don't have much time to just be a couple.

I worked a little bit today on my shawl, which is nearly finished. I have four more repeats of the border pattern to go and then the bind-off! Please excuse the messy progress picture - the shawl is now so big that I can't really stretch it out for a proper picture without risking some stitches falling off the needle.

I'm really enjoying the knitting still, but I can't wait for it to be finished. I've never been so excited to block something.

My other WIP at the moment is a cowl I wanted to use for the HPKCHC, but I didn't get it finished in time. I feel honor-bound to finish it before the next term starts (next month!).

See that decorative picot edging on the bottom? Hardest knitting thing I've ever done, hands down.

It was incredibly fiddly and I had to tink back tons of times to correct bunching issues. Once I got the hang of it, it came together nicely, but I was sweating all the way. There's no way I'm not finishing this cowl now, because then all that hard work would have been in vain!

The worst part is that I have to do the edging again at the top.

March Book Review: The Great Gatsby

2009-03-31T12:48:00.003-04:00

I slid in just under the wire with this month's book selection. I finished rereading it just this morning! I can't very well review The Great Gatsby in the usual way, because who the heck am I to say anything about one of the greatest books ever written? For this month, I'm just going to record some of my feelings about this novel.

I first read The Great Gatsby when I was in the tenth grade. It was required reading in my honors English class. I remember enjoying it vaguely then, but not really understanding all of it. The prose confused me at times, and I didn't feel connected to the story. Still, there were the famous images that stuck with me- the green light at the end of Daisy's dock, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg and the valley of ashes, to name a few. I knew then that this book was something special, even if I didn't completely understand it. I knew I was reading something important, even if I could only glimpse that importance from behind the curtain of my own immaturity and inexperience.

I decided to read it again after subbing in a few English classrooms where the students were engaged in slogging through this novel. I had an opportunity to present chapter three to a tenth grade honors class, much like the one I first read Gatsby in. This chapter is quite an important one to the novel. It is the first time we get to see one of Gatsby's parties and also the first time we meet Gatsby himself. As we went through the chapter, I couldn't help but notice how much more sophisticated this book seemed to me- and how much wiser. The language played and flowed in intricate ways and the characters, who once seemed stiff and unpalatable to me, came alive. I could see Nick surveying the glamorous crowd, watch Jordan's jaunty walk and feel the misguided hope of Gatsby as he isolated himself at his own party. The excesses and superficiality of the 1920s came roaring at me and also reminded me a little bit of the how the excesses of our society today has led us into our current recession. It was then that I realized I needed to read this book again.

My second reading of Gatsby found me about six years older, with a degree in English from the University of Florida under my belt. I honestly felt like I was reading a different book from the one I read before. How could I ever have been bored or confused by this masterpiece? The language is deceptively simple, conveying complicated themes in few words. I found myself stopping to read parts again, amazed by Fitzgerald's writing. Knowing the tragic end of the novel helped me understand more as well. I could see how the story was drawing towards its inevitable conclusion. I could track Gatsby's increasingly desperate behavior and see the delusion that he labored under clearly. As an immature reader, I was disappointed that the novel didn't have a "happy" ending. I was sad that Gatsby and Daisy didn't end up together. How foolish! This novel was not about that. This novel could not have ended any other way.

I found myself very interested in Gatsby throughout this second reading. I admired that was he was charismatic and mysterious until he became tragically simple. I pitied him for holding onto a dream that never really was and never really could be again. The man was completely deluding himself, and upon this reading I found that to be incredibly sad. The most striking quote in the novel for me comes when Nick tells Gatsby not to expect to much of Daisy and reminds him that he can't repeat the past. Gatsby replies with, "Can't repeat the past? . . . Why of course you can!"

You can't repeat the past- this book shows us that. Gatsby, however, went on believing he could, right up until the end. Even when things were very obviously falling apart for him, he still clung defiantly to his dream of what could be with Daisy. How could one not be moved by his story?

A lot is said about Nick Carraway as the narrator in this novel. Is he a good narrator? Reliable? Honest? He is obviously slanted in favor of Gatsby, despising some of his actions but liking the man. He is both a character and observer in the novel. He tells us the story years after the events occur and chooses to arrange parts of his narrative interestingly. He passes judgements on the rich while participating in parties with them. Is he right to do so? Are we expected to embrace Nick's opinions or refute them?

I view Nick as a regular person and a good narrator. I expect that were I in his position I would have acted in much the same way. I would have observed and went along with the crowd at times and still held my own personal opinions of people. I think I would have felt the same way about Gatsby too. I would have liked him, pitied him and been repulsed by him in some ways. No one is completely uniform in any direction. People sometimes do things they aren't comfortable with and watch as things go on that they don't agree with and say nothing. That doesn't make them bad people, it makes them regular people. I don't make any harsh judgements on Nick because I don't think it's anyone's responsibility to police the world. The best we can hope for is to go through life being a mostly good person. Nick does this just fine. I trust him.

Obviously, I like the novel. I could go on and on about the supporting characters, the striking symbolism and the moral implications of the novel, but I would not say anything that hasn't been said about this book before. If you have never read The Great Gatsby, read it! If you have read it before and didn't like it much, give it another shot. You may be surprised at how you interpret it a second time. I give this incredible novel 5 green lights out of 5.

My favorite part of the story is the exploration of the past, and how you can't go back to it. You can't change it, but that doesn't stop most of us from wanting to (or even trying to). Who can't relate to the human longing to go back and make things right, or to go back to a happier time when we didn't have the problems we have now? The last few paragraphs at the end encapsulate the hopelessness of this striving beautifully.

"As I sat there, brooding on the old unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther . . . And one fine morning----

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Spring Break!

2009-03-30T15:46:00.002-04:00

So now I am officially on Spring Break and I am loving it! More time for knitting and lounging and reading and anything else I wanna do. Of course, every moment is tinged with the knowledge that my husband lost his position last week, but we are coping. If we dwelled on this all the time we would both go mad.

I've stayed true to my promise and learned how to play Magic with my DH. It's actually not bad, even though he whoops my butt more often than not. He's also kept true to his promise and taken a knitting lesson from me. Here's his first little garter stitch square -

It has uneven tension and it's riddled with accidents, but it's awesome for someone just starting out! He's admitted that knitting isn't as bad as he thought it would be, and I'm taking that as a victory. I've even signed him up for a Ravelry account, so he can post all of his projects.

I'm still working on my shawl, and it's coming along well. I'm off now to continue. Hopefully next time I post I'll have some progress pictures.

Tough Times

2009-03-24T16:48:00.002-04:00

You know, I am really sick of the economy these days.

You can't turn on the television or read an article in the newspaper without hearing about the current economic crisis. People are losing their jobs, there is no money for things like education and health care and everyone is suffering. It is amazing how the greed of the people at the top of our society has affected us peons living at the bottom of it.

My husband found out yesterday that his teaching position is being eliminated from his school, due to budgetary concerns. He hasn't lost his job yet, but he will have to move to a different location in the county for the start of the next school year. The existence of another job isn't an 100% guarantee, but it is more than likely he will get another placement. Thank God.

The bad in this is that he is depressed. He has lost the momentum he gained from putting everything he had into this school, and doing a damn good job of it. His county is HUGE, so we may have to move out from my parents' house before we are ready. All of my substitute teaching experience is in the county neighboring his. If he gets another job far away and we have to move, I will have lost all the progress I made here, trying to show my face around and make connections. In effect, we might have to both start over.

The good is that he still probably has a job, and that's not something everyone who has been affected by this economic downturn can say. He might end up in a high school, or even 7th or 8th grade, which he would greatly prefer. Moving out on our own would cause us to live pretty meagerly, but it would probably be a good thing over all.

We will be okay. I know we will because we have to go on living. There's no real use in sitting and being depressed about this because this happens to a lot of teachers and there's nothing we can do about it. None of that stops the event from being a crushing blow to us. We were starting to get comfortable here and now we have to move on and possibly start over somewhere else. How long are we going to have to wait to start a family and move on with our lives? I'm disappointed. There's no disguising it. I hope my husband, who is the BEST teacher and the BEST partner in the world isn't hurt too badly by this.

To console ourselves yesterday he let me order an embarrassing amount of lace weight yarn from Knit Picks and he ordered a whole slew of Magic cards online. We have made a deal with each other - he is going to learn knitting and I am going to learn how to play Magic with him. We will pick up each other's hobbies and have some fun together. We will concentrate on ourselves and our relationship and let the rest of life's events come as they may. Together, we will get through anything.

After the spending spree we decided to go on a pretty strict budget. We need to have enough socked away to move if his new job ends up being far away. He won't know anything at all for two months. The waiting is the hardest thing. This whole situation sucks - and it has to be fraught with uncertainty too. That's why I went nuts with the lace weight. You get a lot of knitting out of skinny yarns!

I don't think my Charms OWL will be finished in time for the HPKCHC deadline. I have been working diligently on it, but it's taking way longer than I thought it would. I love the project though and I am having fun, so that's okay. I will post some update pictures in my next entry.

More FOs

2009-03-18T18:23:00.002-04:00

Today I managed to get the photos together for two more HPKCHC asignments. I'm proud of these projects - I think my knitting/crocheting has gotten better since the beginning of the year.

First up, March Herbology:

Pattern: Baby Octopus by Ana Paula Rimoli
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential in Granny Smith
Mods: I used a size D hook and fingering weight yarn to make this little guy mini-sized. I also embroidered on the face rather than using felt and plastic eyes.

The idea of the assignment was to make something shrunken, and I knew I wanted to do an animal. Flipping through my Amigurumi World book, I saw this little octopus and fell in love. He was fairly easy to make, but the finishing was a bitch! The body and legs are made separately, so I had to sew the 8 little legs on by hand. It was incredibly hard to get them on properly! There were many amputations before I finally got him looking the way I wanted him.

Right now he's sitting on my speaker next to my computer, keeping me company. He's completely pointless, but adorable all the same.

Next up is my Charms project:

Pattern: Calorimetry by Kathryn Schoendorf
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Verdes
Mods: None!

The idea of this project was to make something pointless. I chose to make this little number because I already own 8 million hats, I have never worn most of them, and I live in Florida where hats aren't necessary anyway!

I absolutely love this project though. I love that I can wear it without it messing up my hair and I love how cute it looks on! This was the last of my yummy green Malabrigo. :( I need some more of this color!

Anyway, I have an update on the book front. I have decided not to read Under the Greenwood Tree this month. I tried my hardest, but I couldn't get into it! I suppose it's not the right time for me to read something like that, which requires concentration. I have decided instead to reread The Great Gatsby. It's one of my favorites and I haven't looked at it since high school. It will be wonderful to go through it again with grown up eyes.

The Top 5 Things About Substitute Teaching

2009-03-17T14:12:00.002-04:00

In an effort to remain positive about my current career, I have decided to compile a list of the five best things about my job. It doesn't hurt to look on the bright side, right?

5. It isn't hard.

Frustrating? Yes. Miserable? Yes. Hard? No. The vast majority of my days consist of me giving out instructions at the beginning of class, then sitting on my butt for the rest of the period. Sometimes all I have to do all day is press play on a VCR. Sure, there are some days where I have to do a lot more work to keep things under control, but my average day isn't much of a challenge. As long as I take the attendance, respect the kids, and keep them from disturbing the classrooms around me I am golden.

4. The expectations placed on my abilities are low.

This makes it hard to be a disappointment. No one expects a substitute teacher to walk into a classroom full of rowdy kids and magically make them behave. Everyone understands that kids behave much worse than usual when a sub is in the room. I am not expected to do a better job than a regular classroom teacher. In fact, I am expected to do much worse, so there isn't too much pressure to perform well.

3. No one pays attention to me.

This can be a drawback in some ways, but my personality type probably derives more positives from this fact than negatives. While I do sometimes get lonely on the job, I enjoy not having to interact with that many people. I work well on my own, I don't have to make small talk with other adults and when the bell rings at the end of the day I am out the door with no one holding me back. No one comes by my classrooms to check on what I am doing, so I can sit and knit all day while the kids work. The knitting is what preserves my sanity, so I consider bringing along a project as necessary as wearing pants.

2. I can work whenever I want.

I can pick and choose which days I want to work. If I have a doctors appointment or I get sick, I don't have to beg a manager to let me take time off. It's nice to not have to answer to anyone in this regard.

1. If a day goes poorly, who cares? I'll probably never see these kids again.

Unlike regular classroom teachers who have to work to solve behavior issues, I can blissfully ignore them. If the day totally sucks, I don't have to come back and deal with the students ever again. I can make it through the day and then walk out, never to return. It's quite freeing. I do the best I can, but some days are just monsters. On those bad days, my best consolation is knowing that these students aren't mine and I don't have to try and fix their problems.

Just in Time for a Florida Summer - A New Scarf!

2009-03-16T16:31:00.002-04:00

Today I finished blocking my assignment for my Care of Magical Creatures class. It is a scarf, it is made out of Malabrigo and it is lovely. The idea of the assignment was to make something with animal tracks on it.

Pattern: Rabbit Tracks by Alison Jeppson Hyde
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in Verdes
Mods: I cast on 4 extra stitches so that I could knit the first and last 2 of every row for a border

This was the easiest knit scarf I have ever done. It is made over a four row repeat, and two of those rows are just purling across. The pattern was very easy to memorize, and knitting it up on size 11 needles made it fly by. I am quite pleased with the finished product. As an aside - I got to use my new blocking wires for the first time on this project!

Now I'm off to continue on with my other projects!

First Finished OWL

2009-03-12T10:57:00.003-04:00

Well, I've officially done it. Thanks to a strange exhaustion inducing virus that caused me to miss a whole bunch of work this week, I've been able to finish my potions OWL. The assignment was to do a granny square afghan. Technically I've done granny hexagons, but you get the idea.

Pattern: Graphic Granny Afghan by Katherine Eng
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Country Blue, Soft Blue and Gray Heather
Caron Simply Soft Brites in Coconut
Mods: I chose my own colors for the blanket, and made the first two rounds of each hexagon the same color. I also used a size J hook for the project.

I'm quite pleased with the way this came out. The colors work well together and it's a good size for a lapghan. If I had more time, I might have added on more hexagons, but I'm on a tight knitting schedule right now and I couldn't do that. As it is, this is the biggest crochet project I've ever done.

The only annoyance I have with it is the little ends I've weaved in that keep managing to work their way out. If I were to make this blanket again, I would tuck in the ends from the last round of the hexagons better. I would weave them into more interior rounds. I didn't realize that the finishing process would cause them to sneak out like this. I keep having to go over the blanket looking for ends to trim. Now that I'm done tugging on it for the seaming I'm hoping that this problem will disappear.

This will eventually be a gift for my mother. Her birthday isn't until May, so I'll have to wait a little while to show it off. It's nice to have it done ahead of time though! My mom and my dad actually have the same birthday, so now I've just got to worry about him.

I've still got lots of work to do this month - that scarf I mentioned in my last post is nearly finished and I've got a mini octopus in the works for Herbology.

Of course, my charms OWL is still alarmingly far from completion. The plan for today is to get a whole bunch of rows done on that. It is going slower than slow for some reason lately. Probably because the darn thing gets bigger every row.

Out with the Old - In with the New

2009-03-07T17:28:00.003-05:00

Today has been a day of new things. Firstly, I got my new computer today! It is absolutely beautiful and shiny and powerful. I love it. My old computer, which grudgingly served me for the past few years finally self-destructed to the point where it would no longer turn on. Rather than spend money to fix an outdated rig that would surely break again in the near future, my DH treated me to a nice new Dell.

I know just enough about computers to know I don't deserve to have one this nice. Just look at the screen! My horrible camera really doesn't do it justice.

The second new thing that's happened this week is that I finished my old book (Foxmask) and I'm ready to start a new one. I chose Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy. I figured that it was time for a classic after reading mind-rotting contemporary fiction for the past 2 months. This will be the one that I review for March. Not that I can presume to "review" anything by an author as great as Hardy, but I'm going to write down my thoughts.

A third new thing is the scarf I'm working on for my Care of Magical Creatures class in the HPKCHC. The assignment is to make something with animal tracks on it. I chose the Rabbit Tracks scarf. It's a simple lace pattern that is knitting up beautifully so far in Malabrigo worsted.

The lace pattern with be more visible once the scarf is blocked (with my brand new blocking wires!). I will provide more details in the scarf's FO post.

For an "out with the old," I'm nearing completion of my first OWL! My granny square throw for Potions is nearly complete. I finished all the crocheting and now I'm at the finishing stage. I still have hours of work to put into it, but the main part is done.

This big pile of stuff is the blanket so far. All the components look fantastic, but all of the sewing is going to take forever!

Tonight is the night we "spring forward." I hate losing an hour of sleep. It's not like I'm not tired enough already. I had an especially tiring sub job last Friday. It was a special request from a teacher who nabbed one of my notes from a sub job I did a while back for another teacher in the school. I was flattered that she thought enough of me from an old note to hire me for this job. As usual, I completely misinterpreted the situation. This lady probably hired me because I was the last sub left who didn't know about the mess she has going on in her classroom.

This was a middle school art classroom, and that should have been a red flag to me right there. Art teachers tend to conform to the fruity, hippie stereotype. Not all of them, of course, but some do. Some try to be earth mother/friend of the students and have horrible classroom management. This lady was one of those. The kids were climbing the walls all day. They were nuts, and not the usual nuts that comes along when subs are in the classroom, but a special, evil kind of nuts. Clearly, they were used to acting like savages in this classroom and my presence was not going to change that.

When a teacher does not have control of her own classroom, there is no way that a sub is going to have it. Talking with some of the nicer kids that day revealed that this behavior was the status quo in the room. "It's like this every day," they told me, "Sometimes worse." Great. Just great.

At least I know that it wasn't my fault I had a horrible day. I don't know how this teacher deals with this type of behavior. I understand that she probably wants art to be fun for the kids, but there still needs to be some semblance of order. Kids can't be running around the room screaming and jumping on desks.

Ah, well. The best thing about being a sub is that I can move on and forget this day ever happened. I don't have to puzzle out a solution to this mess. As one of the shrewder children remarked to me, "You'll still get paid whether we behave or not." Truer words were never spoken.

Goodbye February

2009-02-28T16:43:00.005-05:00

I can hardly believe how quickly this month flew by! February is a shorter month to begin with, but it really seems like yesterday was February 1st!

I've been working fairly steadily lately. One of my regular jobs is for a teacher that is undergoing cancer treatment. Every two weeks I go in and sub one whole day followed by one half-day. I've really bonded with his 4th block class, so that's pretty cool. They aren't the easiest kids to work with - they've got a lot of issues - but they are all good at heart. I know all of their names and everything, and that never happens.

They see me knitting all the time and they always ask me what I'm working on and how I do it. I think that this school (or any school, really) would do well with a knitting and crochet club. A lot of kids get into trouble (especially the ones I'm talking about here) because they have nothing better to do than hang out with the wrong crowd. I keep thinking that maybe if they had something positive to keep their hands busy they could avoid some trouble.

Eh, that's probably wishful thinking on my part. If I had things my way, everyone would be required to knit.

Anyway, I've got some FOs to show you to round out February. Here's the last bunch of assignments from the HPKCHC.

First, my DADA project.

Pattern: Bzzz Hat for Queen Bees

Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Beige
Mods: CO 80 stitches
Complete 5 full pattern repeats, then start the decrease rows
End with 32 stitches on the needles

This hat was a real pain in the butt to make. The pattern as written knits up to an elephant-sized hat. Seriously, I feel like something is wrong with the pattern. I had to frog this three times and seriously fiddle with the number of stitches to cast on and the number of pattern repeats to make.

The end result was so cute that I consider the frustration worth it. I'm glad I figured out how to make this hat fit! The bee buttons are from Michaels.

The assignment was to make an object that related to your patronus. My patronus is a swarm of bees, so I made this beehive hat. I explained my reasoning behind my choice of these quite succinctly in the DADA thread in the HPKCHC boards:

Work ethic: Bees keep busy and work hard, (you know the saying, “busy as a bee”) and so do I. I never have nothing to do. I’d go nuts if I had to sit still for too long, so I keep myself busy. This usually takes the form of knitting or crocheting, but if I have something to do for work I work on it relentlessly until it is done.
Pollination: Bees give flowers the pollen they need to grow. As a teacher, I give students the knowledge and guidance they need to grow. We both help raise up beautiful things.

Sting: Bees are tiny creatures, but they don’t let that get them down. They have a powerful sting. I am kind of scrawny myself, and my small stature doesn’t do me any favors when it comes to dealing with difficult students. I have to pack a sting through my attitude and procedures in dealing with them. My strictness functions as a warning for them to behave as a bee’s stinger functions as a warning for people to keep away.

Next is my assignment for Herbology. A (mostly) self-designed Trellis Scarf.

Pattern: Crocheted Mesh Scarf by Heidi Hirtle and Mountain Laurel Leaf by Bonnie Sennott
Yarn: Knit Picks Main Line in Ivory, Knit Picks Essential Sock in Granny Smith and Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Baby in Pink
Mods: I chained fewer stitches for the scarf that the pattern called for to make it more narrow (around 30 or so). I worked about 40 rows of the pattern.

This project was special to me because it is the first thing I have made that I haven't followed exactly from a pattern. The scarf base and the leaves were from pre-existing patterns, but I brought them together in a way that was all my own. The idea of the assignment was to use at least a yard of i-cord to make something that wraps around the body. I was inspired by the idea of a garden trellis. I ended up with about 186 inches of i-cord altogether, which I used as vines to weave through the scarf base.

The most annoying thing about this project was the finishing. There were so many different pieces to sew onto this scarf! It all holds together very well though, so the time I put into it was worth it. This is a goofy project, but it is unique!

Lastly, I have a hat for Arithmancy.

Pattern: Maze by Celeste Culpepper
Yarn: Knit Picks CotLin in Eggplant and Desert Turquoise
Mods: I completed three full repeats of the maze pattern before beginning the crown decreases

What can I say about this hat? It's beautiful. It's not itchy. It's just the right size. I am in love.

The idea of the assignment was to make something related to labyrinths. I immediately thought of this project from Knitty. From my post on the HPKCHC boards:

When this assignment was posted, I immediately thought of the Maze Hat from Knitty (I’m surprised no one else made this for this class). I was pleased to see that this pattern suited my arithmancy numbers well. For example, the number seven shows up in the pattern over and over, and seven is my social number. The pattern uses slipped stitches to create the maze image, and the slipped stitches are always alternated with knit stitches (i.e. slip 1, knit 1), so my character number of one shows up many times as well. I also cast on for the hat with size three needles and three is my heart number. It seemed like destiny for me to use this pattern for my project.

For my colors I chose the same ones I worked with in last month’s assignment - purple and blue. They work well together and match my numbers. The finished product is absolutely beautiful. While I don’t consider this true color work (I’m only holding one strand of yarn at a time and slipping stitches to create the image), this is my first experiment in a more complicated color design.

So, obviously, I've been a very busy knitter lately! Tomorrow is the start of March and with it will come another batch of projects to make for the HPKCHC. I can't wait to see what's in store for us next!

Some FOs

2009-02-18T16:04:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the short blog absence, but I haven't felt much like writing lately. Subbing is getting to me a little bit. It's exhausting, frustrating work with very few rewards. Most days all I want to do when I get home is sleep. Adding to the stress of it all is the everlasting school budget crunch which means I probably won't be finding a full time teaching position anytime soon. If I didn't have knitting to keep my hands busy I would be having a considerably harder time with everything. It's my own form of meditation I suppose.

Anyway, I've come today to post some FOs I've made for the HPKCHC over the past week. First up is my Care of Magical Creatures project - my Ashwinder. This one comes in three parts: the snake, the eggs and the little snakes.

Pattern: Ayame the Snake by Mary E. Smith
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino
Mods: None

Pattern: Happy Eggs by Ana Paula Rimoli
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino
Mods: None

Pattern: Bendy Snakes By Frakie Brown
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino
Mods: I used embroidery floss to stitch on eyes rather than use the paste-on googly eyes the pattern recommends.

I explained the story behind the project more thoroughly in this post. Basically, our project this month was to make a magical creature. I chose to do an Ashwinder from the HP universe. An Ashwinder is a snake that crawls out of magical fires to live for one hour. In that hour they lay a clutch of bright red eggs . I took the whole thing a step further and made little baby snakes to pop out of the eggs.

The baby snakes are essentially strips of garter stitch seamed up around a pipe cleaner. It's a simple pattern, but quite ingenius. The little guys have gone over pretty well with everyone I have shown them to so far.

The next project I completed was my Charms project. I made a hat for my husband as a Valentines Day present.

Pattern: The Armando Hat by Gina House
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted
Mods: I used a size 10 16" circular instead of a size 9 because that was all I had. I made the medium size.

Our Charms assignment was to make an object which had to be kept a complete secret from somebody. With Valentines Day right around the corner, a present for my DH seemed to be the perfect thing.

Happily, it fits my hubby perfectly and he likes it a lot. I loved working with Malabrigo again. The colorway of this yarn is absolutely gorgeous and perfect for a guy. I feel like it's interesting and rich without being flashy.

I've got a lot more in the pipeline as far as my HPKCHC classes go. My DADA project is completely finished and awaiting pictures. My OWLS are at 25% each and waiting for pictures. My Herbology homework is well on its way (that one has a lot of components). The only thing I haven't started on yet is Arithmancy, as I need to go and buy some needles for that one. I'm really hoping to get everything finished in time!

February Book Review: Twilight

2009-02-10T09:42:00.003-05:00

February is here and that means it's time for a new book review. This month I am taking a look at Twilight, the bestselling teen vampire novel by Stephenie Meyer. There will be some spoilers in this review, so if you plan to read this book in the future, stay away.

Let me open this review by saying that this book is tremendously popular among the students I substitute for. It doesn't matter whether I'm subbing middle school or high school, I'll see at least five kids walking around with one of the Twilight saga books under their arms. My whole reason for reading it was to see what all the fuss was about. I knew it would be juvenile, because the target audience is juvenile. I expected it to be cheesy because the previews for the recent movie adaptation were beyond cheesy themselves. What I didn't expect was how incredibly bad it was.

The story centers around Isabella Swan (Bella), a seventeen year old girl who relocates from her comfy home in Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, a small town in Washington state, to live with her father. At her new small town high school, she meets the mysterious Edward Cullen and falls instantly in love with him. She soon finds out that he is a vampire, but she doesn't care. No one can stop their love! Edward and his family feed on animals rather than humans, so she's safe as long as Edward can resist her alluring scent. As the novel progresses, Bella finds herself in danger when a new coven of vamps come to town. From this point on the story descends into nonsensical plot twists until Edward finally rescues her and saves the day. Then they go to the prom. Not even kidding.

This book is a lot like The Da Vinci Code to me. It's a bad book, and you know it's a bad book as you're reading it, but you can't put the damn thing down until you've finished it. I read the whole thing in only five days. The book is very fast paced, which makes the reading go by fast too. That doesn't mean that the reading is particularly enjoyable, mind you. I don't see how anyone above the sixth grade could be tricked into truly liking this series, but it's happened. Twilight purports itself to be a children's book, a romance novel and a suspenseful thriller and it totally fails on all three fronts.

While this novel is undoubtedly written for children. It fails at being a great children's book. If we look at some of the truly great works of adolescent fantasy literature such as the Harry Potter series or the Narnia books, we can find common threads running through them. They value bravery, intelligence and morals. The characters learn a lesson or stand up for what's right through the story. The plot lines are exciting and action packed. These are the kinds of things kids should be reading about. Standing in counterpoint to these ideas is Twilight, with its weak storyline and pathetic main character.

Bella is perhaps the most helpless literary character I've ever encountered. Her personality is unpleasant to say the least. She is cowardly, has no self confidence, is intensely negative and always sarcastic. Physically, she is clumsy to the point of being disabled, pale and sickly looking, prone to fits of fainting and literally needs to be carried through many parts of the book. Aside from her naturally weak traits, she is also the victim of a ridiculous level of bad luck. She can't go anywhere without almost dying. This, of course, is so that Edward can repeatedly rescue her to the delight of middle school fangirls everywhere.

The damsel in distress routine is interesting to a point, but it gets tiring real fast. Take this quote, for example. It takes place just after Edward tells Bella they are going on a five mile hike through the woods:

"Five miles. I didn't answer, so that he wouldn't hear my voice crack in panic. Five miles of trecherous roots and loose stones, trying to twist my ankles or otherwise incapacitate me. This was going to be humiliating."

Keep in mind this is Bella's reaction to the thought of walking around. Come on girl! Not everything has to conquer you!

What is perhaps, the most unforgivable offense of the novel is that Bella doesn't change at all by the end of it. She is still a wimp. She still needs to be rescued from everything. She is even hampered by a broken leg in the closing pages of the book so she still needs to be literally carried around. So much for character growth, huh? Returning to the classic children's novels I mentioned, Twilight just doesn't fit the pattern. There is no real bravery, no standing up for what's right, and no lessons to be learned. There is only Edward, Bella and their unbalanced love affair where Edward is good at everything and Bella is good at nothing (not even walking).

Meyer is so desperate to create reasons for Edward and Bella to touch that she doens't pay much attention to what that says to the children she is reaching out to with her writing. Bella is a horrible role model for young girls. I would not want my daughters reading a book like this. This is 2009. Women these days have an equal part in relationships. We value our intelligence and trust our instincts. We do things for ourselves and believe in our abilities. There is nothing women can't do now. We do NOT need a man to define us, but Bella does. Bella spends the entire novel mooning over Edward and doubting herself.

Yes, I understand that Edward is a vampire and is somewhat super-human. Bella should have been given some abilities that could compete with the strength of his character. Instead, she is continually allowed to pale in comparison. Meyer allows her to disappear in his shadow. It is this message that women are weak and need to be rescued that makes Twilight fail as a children's book.

The second thing Twlight tries to be is a romance, and it fails spectacularly at this as well. I have read a lot of romance novels in my day, so I know the template they usually follow. The problem with Edward and Bella's love affair is that it is acknowledged too soon. A teen romance novel obviously can't have sex in it. That means that the climax the story should build towards is the first kiss of the couple. Edward and Bella kiss too soon. They become boyfriend and girlfriend too soon.

All of the romantic anticipation is spent halfway through the novel when their first kiss occurs. There are no more delicious, "Will they or won't they?" moments. After they come together and are intimate for the first time, the rest of Edward's romantic gestures become cheesy and played out. Oh, great, he's kissing her neck again. Not like we haven't read that before.

Another issue I found with their romance is the feelings raised by this quote, spoken by Edward after some nighttime canoodling with Bella:

"I'm just pleasantly surprised," he clarified, "In the last hundred years or so," his voice was teasing, "I never imagined anything like this. I didn't believe I would ever find someone I wanted to be with . . . in another way that my brothers and sisters. And then to find, even though it's all new to me, that I'm good at it . . . at being with you . . ."

The first issue here is that a hundred year old man is seducing a seventeen year old girl. I can overlook that to a point, it's kind of necessary as Edward is eternally a teen and all. The real issue I had was the fact that Edward is a virgin.

I'm sorry, but from what I know of vampires, the words "sexy," "vampire," and "virgin" don't even come close to belonging in the same sentence. Vampires are supposed to be experienced and irresistible, not inexperienced and unsure of their sexual prowess. I would rather have had Edward be a widower six times over than a virgin. At least he would have cut a sympathetic figure to the reader in that case.

I'm assuming that Edward's virginity is Meyer's attempt to make him less creepy to her readers. A hundred year old virgin is probably more acceptable to her reader's mothers than a hundred year old straight up pimp. It somehow makes Edward less of a man though. I don't want to fantasize about someone who is probably inept in bed, but maybe that's just personal to me. I'd much rather have a hero who knew how to get my blood boiling.

Aside from those specific problems, Edward and Bella's romantic interludes are marked by cheesy and horrific writing. I wanted to vomit repeatedly while reading lines like this:

"Hesitantly, always afraid, even now, that he would disappear like a mirage, too beautiful to be real . . . hesitantly, I reached out one finger and stroked the back of his shimmering hand, where it lay within my reach. I marveled at the perfect texture, satin smooth, cool as stone."

*Barf*

The last thing Twilight fails at being is a suspense thriller. About three quarters of the way through the book, the storyline abruptly shifts from straight romance to romance/thriller. The shift to the climax of the story is blatantly obvious, and not done smoothly. As I was reading this section, I literally thought, "Oh, I guess this is where the end of the story starts," and that's never good.

It seems like Meyer ran out of coherent ideas for how to finish off the story, as the plot twists become improbable and confusing. Locations jump from Forks to Phoenix to Forks again with little to tie everything together. Edward's family figures majorly into the final conflict, which is weird, since we never got to know them all that well before this. They seem unnecessary and out of place playing such major parts in the story right at the end. The whole conclusion seems rushed and surreal and was not enjoyable to read.

Of course, the novel ends with Bella being grievously injured. She tried to do something on her own without Edward, so of course she ends up in the hospital. Luckily for us, she recovers enough of her strength to go to her prom. The only surprise in the story is that it doesn't end with her being elected prom queen. I honestly thought that's where all this was going.

As the novel failed on all three genres it tried to fit into, I'm giving this book just 1 prom ticket out of 5. Don't waste your time on this anti-feminist tripe.

And now, for some Romance . . .

2009-02-09T14:15:00.002-05:00

Sir Cadogan
A Valentines Day Poem

Oh good Sir Cadogan,
Knight of my heart!
It's you that I love,
Though you're technically art.

Oh how my breath catches,
And how my heart stirs,
As you call us all cowards
And liars and curs.

I watch you each day,
As you run through our school
While I hope and I pray
That you'll ask me to duel!

But for now I must wait,
For the time I dream of
When you'll leap from your painting
And slay me with your love!

A Soup to Warm the Blackest of Hearts

2009-02-09T12:30:00.002-05:00

Remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned that the new HOM assignment was to make something inspired by your favorite character in Harry Potter? No? That's okay. Read on anyway.

I spent quite a while trying to figure out what to do. I have many favorite characters from the series, but it's not so easy to come up with the perfect thing to represent them. I wanted to turn in something thoughtful and unique, but I didn't want to cast on another knitting project (I have a lot on the needles right now). Finally as I was drifting off to sleep one night, an idea hit me. I could cook something! Of course!

Aside from knitting and crocheting, cooking is probably my favorite other art form (and food is an art form). It would be perfect for me to tweak a recipe to make it represent a Harry Potter character. With my medium finally decided, my thoughts fell to figuring out which character to represent. My favorite characters in novels and movies always shy away from the norm. It's rare that I come to love a main character the best and it's even rarer that I love a character on the side of good. Everyone loves a villain, right?

I decided that it would be way more fun to cook an evil recipe than a good one, so I ran down the list of my favorite Happy Potter baddies in my head. After considering my options, I ended up choosing none other than Lucius Malfoy. No only is this guy a royal asshole, he's pretty sexy too (in the movies at least).

With a character in mind, I quickly formulated a cooking plan. A food inspired by Malfoy Sr. would have to be dark in color for sure. Black if possible. It would have to be spicy too, obviously. It would need to have layers of smoky flavor, as Lucius has many layers of deception operating on a regular basis. Besides all that, it would need to have some green ingredients, for Slytherin, and some white ingredients for his white hair, probably his most defining physical feature. The one food I could think of that fit all of these parameters was black bean soup.

After scouring the Internet for a suitable recipe, I settled on this one. I made some changes to it so that it would suit Lucius Malfoy better (described below). A quick trip to the grocery store secured my ingredients and I got to cooking.

I began by preparing the onions and garlic. I also added a diced jalapeno to the recipe, for some spice and some Slytherin green.

When that prep was all done, I starting the cooking part of the recipe. It began with frying some diced up smokey bacon. The recipe called for 10 strips of regular bacon, but I used 5 strips of real bacon and 5 strips of turkey bacon to make the recipe a little more figure-friendly. When the bacon had given up some of its fat, I added the onions, garlic and jalapeno to the mix. You can not imagine for AMAZING this smelled.

After that mixture had sizzled for a little while, I added in the rest of the ingredients, including the black beans, tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and chicken broth. The only change I made in this section was to substitute spicy Mexican chili powder for the regular chili powder the recipe called for.

All that remained to do after that was to let the soup simmer for a little while. At the time specified in the recipe, I added in some fresh cilantro and lime juice (both Slytherin green ingredients might I add).

I garnished the finished soup with fat free sour cream and sprigs of cilantro. The cilantro is to remind us of Lucius' Slytherin heritage and the sour cream is for his shock of white hair.

I don't want to brag too much, but this soup was amazingly delicious. It had the right mix of smokey and spicy flavors. The dark coloring was perfectly evil and the garnishes finished the soup nicely. I would definitely recommend giving this recipe a try!

I think I'll call it "Lucius Malfoy's Evil Black Bean Soup." Try it . . . if you dare. :)

Hiss!!!

2009-02-05T21:56:00.002-05:00

Yikes! Mini-snakes are everywhere today!

Pictures of my first FO for the HPKCHC coming soon. ;)

February is Here!

2009-02-04T20:55:00.005-05:00

I can't believe that we are already into the second month of the new year. It seems like just yesterday I was setting up this blog and solemnly pledging to write in it at least once a week. I've done a pretty good job so far. Let's see if I can keep it up this month!

The first bit of knitting to report is an unexpected project. It seems like everyone wants to know a knitter when babies are on the way. My mother asked me to make a pair of baby hats for two different clients with newborns. One boy and one girl. She was buying the yarn, so I said, "Why not?"

The pattern is Fixation Newborn Hat. The yarn is Lion Brand Jiffy Solid. No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. One hat is substantially bigger than the other.

I cast on for the boy hat first and I followed the pattern exactly. It wanted me to cast on 70 stitches, which seemed like a lot to me -- especially in bulky yarn. I, however, never follow my knitterly instincts. I assumed that I must naturally be wrong and forged ahead with what the pattern called for. The resulting hat was probably appropriate for a baby elephant. I didn't want to stress about it though, so I just assumed the kid would grow into it one day and cast on 50 stitches for the girl hat. That one looks much better. I should learn to listen to myself more!

The next knitting news is about my Potions OWL in the HPKCHC. I decided to make the blanket strip by strip, assembling it as I go. This is to avoid weaving in all those ends at once! I need to have 25% of this sucker done by the end of the month to earn some more house points. I have a long way to go. I have one strip done so far:

Purdy, huh? I'm liking it so far! I rarely pick colors that go together so well but I did a good job on this project. It reminds me of winter weather. I hope my mom likes it when all is said and done.

Lastly for tonight I have part of my new Care of Magical Creatures assignment. The challenge was to craft an amigurumi magical creature. I chose the Ashwinder.

From Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them:

" The Ashwinder is created when a magical fire is allowed to burn unchecked for too long. A thin, pale-grey serpent with glowing red eyes, it will rise from the embers of an unsupervised fire and slither away into the shadows of the dwelling in which it finds itself, leaving an ashy trail behind it.

The Ashwinder lives to only one hour and during that time seeks a dark and secluded spot in which to lay its eggs, after which it will collapse into dust. Ashwinder eggs are brilliant red and give off intense heat. They will ignite the dwelling within minutes if not found and frozen with a suitable charm."

Here's what I've got so far:

Most of the snake and most of the eggs are done. I need to affix eyes to the snake, put a wire in the body (for mold-ability) and make a bevy of little snake babies for the eggs. I'm really pleased with the way the project is coming together so far. I think it will make for some awesome pictures.

I will share more details about patterns, yarns and such when I've completed everything. For now, that is all. I've got a sub job for tomorrow and I need my sleep!

Knit Sub Book Review: Son of a Witch

2009-01-28T11:26:00.005-05:00

This is the first in a series of 12 book reviews I plan to do in 2009. My choice for January was Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire.

Son of a Witch is the second volume in what is now a trilogy of books in the Wicked series. The story follows the life of Liir, the probable son of Elphaba Thropp, famed Wicked Witch of the West. Throughout the novel Liir struggles to find himself and his purpose in life while making his way through Maguire's vividly imagined land of Oz. On his journey he encounters an unusual cast of characters which include some old faces from Wicked as well as some new ones. His actions are set against the backdrop of a political and religious upheaval in the Emerald City. This is a bildungsroman - a story of growth and development for the main character.

Let me open this review by saying that I am huge fan of Wicked, Maguire's first book in this series. I have read it multiple times and found something new to love about it in each reading. When I finally settled down to read its sequel, I was excited to travel into Oz once more and find the answers to some of the questions left unanswered in its predecessor. I was to be disappointed.

My criticisms of this novel must begin with its plot. Son of a Witch is unbearably slow and plodding. It also suffers from being terminally uninteresting. The entire first half of the novel is composed primarily of Liir's memories of the events occurring immediately after Wicked's conclusion, including what happened in the aftermath of Elphaba's demise, Liir's travels around Oz, and his eventual career in the military. While these memories provide essential background knowledge to the story, they are disjointed and rambling. I felt as if I was waiting for the "real" story to begin throughout the first 200 pages, and that's a long time to wait for a novel to catch up to real time.

When the novel does finally break from memories into current action, that action is slow and forgettable. The plot of the novel is tenuous at best and incomprehensible at worst, involving a new flying menace, the religious mania of a new emperor and the social upheaval of an Oz in transition that the reader never seems to know enough details about. It skips from one event to another with little to connect all the pieces together in a way that is satisfying to the reader.

Some plot points in Son are brought up and then disappear as the story lumbers on towards its conclusion. Many questions raised by the novel remain unanswered, and not in a good way that leaves you wanting more. The mysteries in this book are left unsolved in a way that leaves you wondering why you slogged through this book all the way to the end only to have it not explore its most interesting points. I found it very hard to find something to care about in this story.

The reason for the dullness of the novel's plot is undoubtedly Liir, who can not carry a whole novel by himself. In Wicked, Liir was a damaged child. He suffered from the neglect of his mother and the general uncaring attitudes of the people around him. Going into this book I expected him to still be pathetic in many ways. The nature of his upbringing would naturally leave him scarred. However, I did not expect Liir to remain useless and pathetic for the entire novel. Maguire never allows Liir to grow a spine, and Son suffers for this. Liir can't make decisions, has next to no talent at anything, lets everybody down and is generally boring to read about. This kid is even wishy washy on the subject of his own sexuality.

Liir doesn't make too much happen - things tend to happen around him and he reacts, usually in the most unsatisfying way possible. He struggles to find a path in life, but he dosen't seem to have strong enough feelings about anything to decide on a specific future. Even in the end of the novel, when Liir has supposedly grown and changed, his actions don't feel real or meaningful. Maguire was so successful at making this character a dud that his ending feels forced and imaginary.

The other characters in the book don't fare much better in the character development department. There are no characters to love in this novel- only ones to put up with as they pass through. The few characters from Wicked that appear in this book, such as Glinda, Nanny and Chistery, seem to function only to remind the reader of how much better they were in Wicked and seem oddly out of place in Son. There is a cloud hanging over this book that dulls even these very well developed and colorful characters.

Aside from Liir, there aren't really any other major characters to come to know. The handful of people we meet are all flat and uninspired. So much attention is focused on Liir that the reader doesn't really get a chance to enjoy reading in depth about anyone else.

The two exceptions to this are Candle and Trism, who have major parts within the plot. However, despite their integral roles in the story they are never given enough time or attention to develop as they should. Too many questions are left unanswered regarding these two. Both of them are far more interesting than Liir and I wish I had gotten a chance to learn more about them.

Maguire's writing style is complex and intricate. There can be no doubt that he is a talented wordsmith, but the joy of deciphering his text is completely lost within his boring storyline. This novel demands your full attention to understand and gives you little in return for your investment. I distinctly remember that it took multiple readings of Wicked to pick up the little nuances and references in Maguire's writing, and I'm sure that Son is much the same. This is a novel that probably becomes more comprehensible through re-reading, but it is so uninspired that I wouldn't want to read it again. Maguire's superior writing is dulled by his weak plot and weaker characters.

Despite my heaping helping of criticisms, there were some things I liked about this book. The richly imagined setting was one of those things. Oz remains as vivid and interesting as it was in Wicked. Everything from politics and geography to economics and religion has been detailed and presented to us. Oz feels like a real place. It is, in fact, the most developed character in the novel. It is this fully created and explored world that will lead me to read the third book in this series, A Lion Among Men, in time. I also loved the closing sentence of the novel. It is only four words long, and not entirely unexpected, but it makes up for a lot (and it opens up the door for - may the Unnamed God help us - another sequel involving Liir).

The novel interestingly concludes with an excerpt straight from Wicked. It is a touching passage between Elphaba and Fieyero that reminded me of how truly great that book was. Was it an apology from Maguire for the quality of this obviously inferior book? Most definitely not, but I couldn't help feeling that way as I read it and remembered how much I loved Wicked.

At the root of it all, the most disappointing thing about this novel wasn't just the plot or just the characters, it was how inferior it was to its predecessor. Wicked is one of my favorite novels, and Elphaba is one of my favorite characters in all of literature. While I understand that Son is very much its own novel, I was expecting the same quality of writing and sense of adventure that characterized the first book in the series. This novel is nowhere close to the greatness of that book. It feels as if Maguire wanted to capitalize on the success of the broadway adaptation of Wicked and pump out something quickly to sell a lot of books. The plot is boring, the characters are flat and the whole experience left me wanting more.

For the many faults I perceived in this novel, I'm going to give it 3 brooms out of 5. It was going to get 2.5, but the last line of the novel boosted it up a bit. I would not reccommend the purchase of this book to anyone, but if you are a fan of Wicked, it would be worth checking out of the library just to see how the story continues.

Sub Hell

2009-01-28T10:50:00.002-05:00

So, jobs have been hard to come by lately. Perhaps teachers are taking fewer days off in the month after Christmas break, or perhaps since I've been exercising and knitting more I haven't been able to put the same effort into looking for them. It's probably a combination of the two, honestly. In any case, I haven't been working as much lately and this worries me. This worry led me to take a job for a vacant position yesterday. This meant that I would be going into a class for which they had no regular teacher. The subject was math.

When I got to the school, the principal's secretary informed me that there should be lesson plans in the room and they were looking for a long term sub for the job. My ears perked up at the possibility, but I held my tongue. Quite wisely, I decided to see how the students were before asking for more information on the job possibility.

When I got to the room I found that there were indeed lesson plans there. I fastidiously wrote the student's assignments on the board (this was sixth and seventh graders) and created an in-box for them to turn in assignments. When the room was ready, I went out into the hall to do what I always do - ask the teachers around me for assistance in case I had an unruly child throughout the day. I've found it's a good idea to ask those around me for help BEFORE I run into problems. While I was doing this, the teachers informed me that I would have a very hard day ahead of me. These students had been without a teacher for three weeks and they were completely out of control. They wished me luck with pity in their eyes. This couldn't be a good sign.

From the very first period (out of six I would see that day), things were a complete disaster. My good pencil and pen were stolen before the bell for first period had even rung. That's never happened to me before. The students themselves were a nightmare. The notion of getting them to do an assignment was a complete joke. They were loud, aggressive and out of control the entire time they were in my classroom. Apparently, they've had several subs go through this class and not stick around because of the bad behavior. Heck, their own teacher retired in the middle of the year! I didn't stand a chance.

Here's some highlights from my day in hell:

1. Students opening the emergency window and attempting to jump out of it (Luckily we were on the first floor).

2. A student yelled at me for trying to get her to sit down.

3. Students sneaking out of the classroom.

4. Yelling, screaming, standing on desks and running around all period.

5. Kids beating on each other.

6. Complete and utter disregard for my presence in the room.

When behaviors like this are going on, me yelling and screaming at students does little to nothing to calm the situation. I know how to be a total bitch to kids and scare them straight. That tactic did no good here. It was all I could do to keep everyone as safe as possible in the classroom and wait for the day to run out. It wears you down. I am not paid well enough to scream myself hoarse for 45 minutes per period to little brats that are so far across the line of respectable behavior that they can't see it any more.

It's sad to me that this was the school day for these kids. Mixed in with the morons are kids that actually want to learn. They are the ones missing out on an education. This points to a problem with how schools treat substitutes. They figure that as long as a sub is in the room, they've covered their asses. Never mind how unrealistic it may be for one sub to handle the problems a classroom might have, as long as a warm body is in the room they figure that's good enough.

The situation yesterday was unsafe. Plain and simple. Administrators at this school knew that the class was a problem, and they actually came by a few times throughout the day to check on the kids. However, staying in the classroom for two minutes does nothing. The students resume bouncing off the walls the second they leave. This classroom needed more than one sub, or a sub with backup, like the school resource officer. To throw a sub into a classroom like that unprepared is irresponsible and unprofessional. Remember, I never would have known the situation was as bad as it was if I hadn't went outside my room, on my own volition, and talked to the teachers around me. The administration did nothing to prepare me for this.

If one of those little bastards had hurt themselves or someone else, it would have been my ass. If they had fallen out of the window and broken a leg or stabbed someone with a pencil, it would have been my fault. I deeply resent being put in that situation. This class had run off two long term subs, one of them a big coach. The school knows that the situation in that classroom is in crisis and they didn't do anything to help me. They would prefer to let the students run a riot everyday I guess.

Oh well, it's behind me now. All I can do is learn from the situation. I now know that I should NEVER take a job for a vacant position. I have also seen the very worst the job can get and I survived. I can handle anything now. Learning to accept the fact that my best isn't good enough in all situations is tough. I want to be a professional and succeed in everything I do. Some classrooms can not be tamed, especially if you're only coming in for one day. I can't change the world in one school day. No one can.

The worst thing about the whole situation? I didn't get to crochet anything yesterday. I didn't dare take anything out of my sub bag with the sticky fingers in that classroom!

Many Things

2009-01-26T13:21:00.002-05:00

I have many things to blog about today, as I have been too busy to sit down and make entries as events occur. Bear with me.

1. The situation with Perv Boy has been handled. The next day at work, I spoke with the school's SRO about what happened. I explained the incident and told him that I didn't have the first clue about who the kid was. Luckily for me, this particular school has security cameras placed in all the hallways. The SRO took me down to his office and we watched a crystal clear tape of Pervy entering and exiting my room at the times I stated. In a stroke of pure awesome, the officer recognized the student right away. Even better - it was the big football star of the school.

I know this is small of me, but I LOVE it when jocks get what's coming to them.

Anyway, I wrote a referral for the kid citing sexual harassment and they hauled him down to the principal's office. He was suspended for three days. I think the punishment was too light, but at least he got something.

Here's the best part of the whole thing: When asked what he was thinking, the kid replied, "I was just trying to welcome her to the school." (!!!!) Now that's one welcoming committee I can live without, thank you very much! I am incredible happy that was the best excuse he could come up with, because it makes him sound like even more of a jackass than he already is.

I found out later that his mother is appealing the referral, because a sexual harassment complaint could ruin his scholarship (because of course this fool has college paid for based on his ability to throw a ball). Unfortunately, I probably won't ever know the outcome of the whole thing, but I hope this loser crashes and burns big time. Probably not, since he's a jock, but I can dream, can't I?

2. My resolution to help my husband lose weight is going really well. We've been running more or less regularly and eating much better. We've put a moratorium on restaurants until Valentines Day, so we've been cooking healthy more and eating greasy fried food less. He's lost 10 pounds already. I don't have much to lose, but I feel better and I look pretty good if I do say so myself. :)

3. My January book, Son of a Witch isn't going so well. I'm very close to being done and I'm just not impressed. I am going to post a review when I finish. I also added a sidebar to the blog for a list of my reading by month.

4. My Charms OWL continues to go well. So well in fact, that I decided to take on a second OWL, in Potions. This one requires me to complete a granny square afghan. My mom has been bugging me for one lately, so I figured now was as good a time as any to start preparing for her birthday in May. I've got three squares done so far and I'm LOVING the color combo I chose.

I'm making it out of Caron Simply Soft, to keep the cost down. Hopefully I will be able to take this project out on jobs with me, to finish it faster.

5. It's almost February already! I can't believe that I'll have another whole round of HPKCHC projects to work on soon. Time flies!

Oh Good Lord

2009-01-21T14:08:00.002-05:00

You would not believe the way kids behave in school these days.

I feel like I'm about 100 years old saying that, but I am truly shocked by the behavior I witnessed today. Prepare to be disgusted.

On Tuesday I started a sub job that will last through Friday. The first day went really really well. The teacher I am subbing for teaches Television Production in high school. His students produce the school's morning show. They are pretty independent and function decently without much intervention from me. I'm having the standard trouble with getting kids to come back when they use the restroom pass and getting them to stay quiet, but on the whole they're a good bunch. I can sit and work on my scarf basically all day while keeping a watchful eye on the kiddos doing their busy work. Yesterday I was praising whatever cosmic deity gifted me with such an easy position. Today, I don't feel so lucky.

The real trouble started after school, although the school day didn't go as well as yesterday did. I had a few kids sneak out through the production room exit (not even in the same room as the regular classroom so it's impossible to monitor everyone at once), and they were caught dallying in the halls and brought back by an administrator. Then I had too many kids figuring out how to play violent games on the bank of computers in the classroom. Yeah, I could go apeshit on them and kick everyone off the internet, but what would that accomplish? The kids have to do something and their teacher did not leave enough assignments to cover the period. This particular school is on block scheduling, so there are four periods in a day and they are each an hour and a half long. I don't care if I'm the Wonder Woman of substituting, I can't come up with enough crap to keep them busy that long (and frankly, it's not my job to do so anyway). I was too chill with the kids on Tuesday, and now I'm seeing the effects of that. You give them an inch and they take a mile every time. I'm going to have to be a Nazi tomorrow to recoup my losses.

But anyway, getting back to the real trouble of today. After the final bell had rung and the kids had left the classroom I was packing up and preparing to go home. A student suddenly entered the room and sat down in the chair next to my desk. I did not recognize this kid at all as he wasn't in any of the classes I am covering this week. So naturally, I lead off with, "What are you doing here?"

This particular student was a big tall guy. Much bigger than me. My alarm bells started going off when he replied, "Why do you have to be so mean?" in a flirty tone of voice. He continued with, "I'm here to show you a little lovin because I find you attractive."

I was in complete shock. I couldn't think of a good thing to say, so I sputtered out a lame "You can't talk to a teacher like that! You have to get out of here!"

He was unfazed and continued on with, "Damn, you're mean! I'm 18, I can say whatever I want. What, you mad cause you got a boyfriend?"

My senses finally started to return at this point and I answered with, "I have a husband, not that it's any of your business! You have to get out of here!" I was trying to be casual and mean, because at this point I was getting a little afraid. This student could easily overpower me and I was all alone. I wanted to be mean enough for him to get the point, but aloof enough for him to just give up without getting hostile. This was the best thing I could think of to do at the moment.

Thankfully, he left. Now that it's all over, I've thought of a million better ways I could have handled the situation. I'm mad that I missed the opportunity to really let him have it. In the heat of the moment though, I wimped out because I was afraid of him. Am I really cut out to teach if I am so easily intimidated by a student?

I didn't get into teaching to ward off sexual advances from idiots. Unfortunately, I'm not finding very many of the reasons I did get into teaching in any of the classrooms I cover. There are no eager students. There is no respect. There is absolutely no intelligent, creative or original thought anywhere to be found. There are plenty of mind games and lies though. Plenty of nasty, disgusting behavior and, apparantly, plenty of sexual harrassment. I'm disheartened and confused, to say the least. Can I possibly make a difference to any of these types of students? It honestly seems like most kids come to school for the free meals and babysitting.

So, after all that, I'm nervous about tomorrow. I have to go back for the next two days and I don't want to run into this kid again. I don't know his name to report him to anyone, so that option is out. I don't even know if I could pick him out of a lineup. I see so many different kids at every school every day. They all look the same to me.

Oh well, at least I have knitting to get me through these terrible days. My OWL shawl is growing steadily longer and it looks pretty good so far.

I haven't made any more dumb mistakes, so progress has been good. I'm near row 70 now. Still many more rows left to go.

It's tough to see the details of the pattern right now, since it's not blocked. Here's the best I could do by stretching it lightly:

In other knitting news, the new assignment for History of Magic has been posted in the HPKCHC. It is to make an artictic representation of any character from the series using any craft medium. I have no idea what I will do for it yet. I like to do a little smbroidering, but my skill are still subpar in that arena. Good thing I have until Valentines Day to turn it in.

This will take some thought, as I don't like to do anything half assed. We'll see what I come up with . . .

A Good Week for Yarn

2009-01-18T15:16:00.003-05:00

This truly has been a very good week for yarn. Early in the week (after a particularly nasty sub job, might I add) a box arrived for me from Knit 'n Knibble (a LYS). I hadn't ordered anything, so I was mighty curious about what was in the box. Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found this waiting for me inside:

Two skeins of Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Oceanos

and . . .

Two skeins of Malabrigo in Citrus

It turns out that the mysterious yarn was a gift from my DH "just because." Do I have the best husband in the world, or what? Not only is he attentive enough to know that surprise yarn is the BEST GIFT EVAR, but he also knows that Malabrigo is my new favorite worsted weight yarn.

I have no idea what I'll make yet with the Citrus, but I know I'm making a hat for the best hubby in the world with some of the Oceanus.

This was obviously the best start to a week possible, but my good yarn fortune didn't end there. This weekend I got to take a trip to my favorite LYS, Uncommon Threads, and pick out a few more skeins.

Firstly, some Dream in Color Smooshy for some new socks.

Secondly, some more Malabrigo because I apparantly have a serious addiction to this yarn. This time the color is Emerald Blue.

Between all the stashing, I finally got started on my OWL shawl. After several hours of intense concentration, this is what I have so far.

It's not much to look at yet, I know. I had to rip back four rows last night due to an incredibly stupid mistake (I read a row in the wrong direction and all my beads were shifted over one stitch). Thanks goodness for lifelines! I've got about 50 rows down. Many, many more left to go.

This is by far the most difficult project I have done. There are so many little bits of info I have to keep straight in my head! Remember 2 stitches on each end for the selvedge, remember to read the chart right, remember to knit a stitch for the center, remember the YOs at the beginings and ends of the rows . . . arg! It's enough to drive a girl batty. I'm hoping that after I work on it for a while longer I wil memorize more of the pattern and get into the flow of the piece without having to think about it so much. Each row takes intense amount of concentration right now. This is not a casual project! It will be worth it in the end though I suppose.

I start a 4 day sub job at my old high school on Tuesday. I'm wary. These long jobs have the potential to go really bad. If I don't mesh with the class, or if they just plain don't like me, each day will get worse and worse. This teacher teaches Television Production, so I have no idea what type of plans he will leave or what types of students he has. It will be an experience, that's for sure.

Here's to hoping it's not a disaster and that the kids are good enough for me to be able to read and knit the hours away.

Parade of FOs

2009-01-12T14:06:00.003-05:00

This past week has been jam packed full of knitting! I've barely had any free time to sit and blog in between projects. Today I've come to a bit of a resting point, so it's time for my parade of FOs!

First is the hat I finished up for my Charms assignment in the HPKCHC.

You've got to love an assignment where the only criteria is that the item you knit must be for yourself. As previously mentioned, I knit the hat out of Malabrigo. Wonderful stuff. My hat is smooshy, warm and not itchy. The perfect hat trifecta. And on a slightly off topic note, how awesome do I look in that picture? Sexy knitter alert!

Next up are the fingerless mitts I made for my DADA class. The pattern is Fetching, from Knitty.

I'm mostly happy with these. The thumb gussets are bugging me because they aren't perfect. I don't know how people get their thumbs to look like a natural extension of the glove. I can't manage to crack that secret. I suppose this is one of those areas where practice makes perfect. I hope to make a hat to match these eventually. Maybe by next winter I'll have a nice set.

Last in the parade is my little bookmark, my assignment for Arithmancy.

I crocheted this project for a change of pace. It only took a few hours and it came out really cute. I never think much of the bookmarks I make with crochet thread, but they seem to be far and away the favorite projects of my family. My husband and mother absolutely gushed over this and requested their own. I can spent weeks knitting a scarf or a hat and I get a "nice." I spend three hours crocheting a bookmark and they rave. Go figure.

The colors and design elements of the pattern all relate to my Arithmancy numbers. You can read about all that here.

Up next on the needles is my OWL project, the #10 Triangle Lace Shaw l, which I have three months to complete. It will be my most intricate project ever. I'm using some beautiful soft Alpaca with a Twist Fino and some pretty purply beads. This should be interesting to say the least.

Let me just say I am REALLY happy that I started participating the the HPKCHC this year, because it's getting me focused on my craft. I've already completed four projects and the month isn't half over yet. This is shaping up to be a productive year.

Of course, this week wasn't all good. Sandwiched in between the knitting triumphs was one of the worst sub jobs in the history of sub jobs. It was a three day assignment in a middle school band room. Why oh why do so many band teachers miss school? I've had too many band jobs in my short subbing career.

There were some nasty pockets of kids in these classes. Of course, nearly everyone is nasty when there's a sub around, but some of these kids were especially bad. The teacher left movies to watch all three days. Of course, it was movies the kids had seen 100 times before (and let me mention, 2 times before so far in that exact class alone). Basically, day one was a disaster. I was trying to gauge the class and I wasn't as strict as I should have been. The kids had movie poisoning and they were climbing the walls. One period was especially interesting. There was a faction of cool kids and a faction of nerds and they were absolutely at each other's throats all period long.

I was determined to make the rest of the assignment bareable, so I entered complete Professor Umbrige bitch mode for the other two days. I was loud, I moved seats and I ran the classroom instead of the kids. They were so afraid of me I was able to finish a good portion of my Fetching Mitts while they were cowed into being pin-dropping silent. In the period with the warring factions, I put a quick end to the feud. Naturally, I let the "cool" kids have it. As soon as the ringleader of the cools started in on making fun of the nerds, I said in my best (mean) teacher's voice, "Excuse me! There will be none of that today. If I hear another word from you about them you will be out of here! Yesterday was a joke! Today will be different!" There weren't any more problems.

I really hate having to be a total ogre all day, but there is no other choice. I am a small, young woman and the kids don't respect me. I can't joke around and be relaxed or they walk all over me. It is draining and sad to have to be so mean, but it is a necessary part of subbing. If I was taller, looked older, or even if I was a man, things might go better for me. As it stands now, I have to make up for my short stature by being loud. Oh well.

There was one bright spot in it all though. One of the aforementioned "nerds" came up to me on day two and asked me to teach him to knit. I didn't have anything appropriate to teach him with on me, so I cut him a deal. I said, "If you are good all period, I will bring things to teach you tomorrow." He was absolutely silent for the whole period.

I had to hold up my end of the deal, since he behaved so beautifully. I went out to Jo-Anns that night and got some blue super bulky and yarn and arrived at school with my size 13 needles in tow. When his period rolled around I got to give a knitting lesson to him and his friends. His friends were pretty hopeless at it, but the original kid who asked me for the lesson was actually pretty good. He got it. He ended up knitting all through that period and coming back during another period to continue (his other class had a sub too and she was more than happy to get rid of a kid). By the end of the day he had produced a lumpy, uneven square. He made a bunch of accidental YOs and ended up with way more stitches on the top of his square than on the bottom, but he was so proud of himself. He said he was going to ask his dad to get him his own knitting needles and I gave him some helpful knitting websites to look up at home. It was adorable. The best part of my three day job, hands down.

He said at the end of the day, "Real men know how to knit."

"That's exactly right," I replied.

Wedding Weekend

2009-01-05T12:12:00.003-05:00

This was how I spent my weekend last week. My BIL got married! That would be him in the picture above with his new bride. They are both so photogenic! They make me and my DH look like a pile of crap.

The wedding was big and beautiful. It was five hours away from us in south Florida. It was a long car ride, but the awesome thing about it was that I got to knit! Between the ride there and back I was able to finish my assignment for Care of Magical Creatures: Simple Rug Knit Snuggle.

It's meant to be a small pet blanket. As I have no pets of my own, I'm going to give it to my dad's girlfriend, who has 2 cats. Hey, nothing like a low-cost gift for people you don't really like but have to be cordial to, right?

I actually really like the way the colors showed up in this piece. I used two strands of some old Red Heart I had lying around in a soft blue and white. I've never carried two different colors together before, so this was an interesting experiment. It's as pretty as a cloudy sky.

We got home from the wedding festivities on Sunday, so I used the time remaining in the weekend to complete my Herbology homework. The assignment is kind of different this month: organize all knitting supplies and your Ravelry queue. I desperately needed to do this, so it's a good thing this assignment came along.

Before this assignment, I treated my Ravelry queue as more of a favorites list. I added anything that looked remotely appealing, whether I planned to make it in the future or not. This was simply not functional, and my queue was over 1100 items long. *blushes*

I went through each and every item on the list and transferred the patterns I still liked onto my favorites list (complete with tags), and I got rid of the stuff I no longer wanted. I eventually got my queue under 20 and my favorites down around 800 patterns. Not too shabby, eh?

After that I decided to add all my yarn to the stash feature Ravelry has. I had never added anything there before, but now all my yarn is up, complete with pictures. I'm glad I did this now, as I can see my stash growing exponentially in the future. It's good to start cataloguing this stuff while I still have relatively little of it. When that was done, I updated my hooks/needles list and my library. Everything on Ravelry is now up to date.

After the computer stuff was done, I tackled the physical organization of my knitting supplies. My tools and books were never all that out of order, but my yarn was stuffed randomly into a bin in my closet and a bin near my bed.

I organized my bookshelf and my needle case, cleared the clutter away from my storage areas and organized my yarn by fiber type. I also tossed some yarn remnants I know I will never use again. You know, it's really hard to throw away yarn, no matter how little of the skein is left!

The last bit of the assignment was to make a 12 month project plan. I chose beautiful patterns that I really love and assigned them each a month. You can check my queue for details. I'm going to try my hardest not to deviate from the items on the list!

That's about as far as I've gotten in the HPKCHC. Today I couldn't find a sub job (probably because Christmas break just ended), so I have a chance to work on my Charms homework, The Amanda Hat. The assignment is to make something for myself, and what is better than a hat? It is my first time using Malabrigo, which I am absolutely loving. I'll post pics when I have more done than the cast on. Hey, I'm definitely not missing the monsters of middle school today!

A New Year, A New Blog

2008-12-31T21:51:00.006-05:00

New Year's Resolutions have become very important things to me. I learned to knit at this time last year because it was my resolution to do so. That was the first resolution I ever kept and it completely changed my life. I fell in love with the craft and now a day where I don't knit a little on something rarely goes by.

In light of last year's success, I have formulated several resolutions for this year. Some are fun and some aren't. In the interest of having them written down somewhere, here they are:

Start a knitting blog and update it at least once a week.
Learn how to do color work in my knitting.
Learn how to knit jewelery.
Help my husband to lose weight and keep us both on a healthy eating plan.
Learn to let things go and focus on myself and my happiness.
Read at least one book per month.
Participate in the Harry Potter Knitting/Crocheting House Cup on Ravelry.
Get a teaching job.

So there they are - and now I have to make progress on them all since they are immortalized in a blog (see, I'm already making good progress on resolution number one!). The most important and most difficult one is probably number five. I have a hard time letting things go and I tend to hold grudges for ages. Since getting married I've come to realize that this is stupid and it must change. Why do I allow myself to get so worked up over unimportant things? Well, more specifically speaking, why do I allow myself to get so worked up over what my mother-in-law says and does? *snicker* Getting to a point where I just can smile and shake my head at her antics will be a looooong process.

Anyhow, what good is a knitting blog without any talk about knitting? I was just sorted into Slytherin today in the HPKCHC (see resolution number seven). I have some ideas for projects to cast on, but I'm holding off until the first month's assignments are posted tomorrow just in case any of my ideas could fit one of them. For now I'm working on my Horseshoe Lace Scarf from 101 Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders.

I'm using Handmaiden Fine Yarn Sea Silk in the Tiger colorway. It's 70% silk and 30% sea cell and I absolutely love it. My one precious skein of it was a Christmas gift from my DH. It's my first time using this yarn and the scarf is working up very nicely so far. Of course, this is lace, so I won't be able to see its true majesty until it's blocked.

The stitch definition is wonderful. The scarf almost has a sheen to it. My horrible camera can't pick up the true color of the yarn under artificial light, so you'll have to take my word on it. This will be beautiful when it is all done.

As for mods, I changed the pattern from 7 repeats of the lace in each row to 5 repeats to make the scarf a bit narrower. That's it so far. There's a lot of rows left to do, so this will be an excellent project to bring along on the five hour ride I'm taking this weekend down to my new BIL's wedding. I could do a whole blog entry on the various annoyances associated with that little affair, but I'm remembering resolution number five right now. Breathe in, breathe out.

2009 is going to be a long year.