Friday, March 30, 2007

Potential



And you thought this was a knitting blog.

Well it turns out that when I'm swamped things don't knit themselves (strangely enough, dinner doesn't cook itself and the house doesn't clean itself either). But the glorious unfolding of spring continues one bud at a time...




... without any effort on my part.

With the world coming back to life around me, I can't help but feel that this week is one of great potential. Spring break at last :) How far do you think I can get on the CPH?

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Bridge


On my way from here to there. Learning lots, which means making mistakes every day... but also having the opportunity to do better next time. A bit tired from all the planning, grading and high intensity interaction. Three days until spring break...

Monday, March 19, 2007

Crabapple

The crabapple tree down the street suddenly burst into blossom.





Spring is lovely here.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

So, Where Was I?

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! In honor of America’s favorite Irish icon (who wasn’t actually Irish) I bring you a green FO.




This is a version of Calorimetry modified to account for Malabrigo’s different gauge. I purposely made it deep enough to come down over my ears and still cover most of my head since I like having warm ears. Of course this means that I need to sew in a little bit of lining… or I’ll have nice warm itchy ears every time I wear it.
Had I the chance to make another (which I might, given the gorgeousness of the yarn and the practicality of the final product) I would make it just an inch and a half longer. As you can see the button pulls a bit.




There hasn’t been a post for a while because I’ve been busy making money hand over fist ;) After a week and a half teaching in the Social Studies position I mentioned in my last post, the English department at the same high school suddenly needed a long term substitute. Since I’m more qualified to teach English they switched me over. Needless to say, I’m very excited to be teaching a subject that I really enjoy and feel I know something about. But that did result in a lot of meetings and planning and a whole new situation to figure out.

During the next couple months while I’m teaching full time, my goal will be to post once (maybe twice) a week. I don’t want to abandon the blog, but I have been known to give up eating and bathing in order to keep up with lesson planning… and the blog is gonna go way before that.
So far things haven’t totally taken over my time. I was able to finish weaving in the ends on this gift for a friend…




And start a scarf.





The striping effect and the drape make this a fun scarf yarn. Once again, my dislike of the slightest itchy sensation makes itself apparent. (My mom doesn’t call me “The Princess and the Pea” for nothing). I plan on using the alpaca silk for the center where it will touch my neck.

One last happy thought. I – own – the – mitten – book.




Squee!

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Ready, Set, Go!

The second appraisal happened on Thursday. I was going to spend a bunch more time fussing with all the little details around the house that we hadn’t finished (trim painting, light switch and outlet covers etc.), but I got called on Wednesday afternoon and asked if I would like to sub Social Studies indefinitely - starting on Thursday morning. So adjusting to a new schedule, a new set of 100+ students and a new subject area has been keeping me busy. When I came home after my first day I saw this.



All the dishes washed. True love :)

There have been a few exciting other exciting events at the M. residence this week. First of all a pair of enormous speakers arrived.





These 200 lb, 54 inch beauties were double boxed with peanuts, bubble wrapped and sent by freight from the East coast. We used a good deal of the cargo space in our Suburban when we went to pick them up from the shipping terminal. For the record, they were worth all the effort. They make a CD sound like the band is doing a live, personal performance in your living room.

A considerably smaller package holding my interchangeable needle set arrived yesterday.


Time to start swatching! This weekend we finally have a bit of a chance to relax. With the appraisals over, we aren’t very motivated to work on the house so we just get to rest…ahhh…