TeachU TeachMe

Last day of the worse year of my life.

I have often thought of and referred to 2014 as a year of Transition, Now I am ready to move on the the next year with determination to take charge of my life and make 2015 a better year. After all, I have been saying for months "when the worse possible thing happens to you, you begin to put your life into perspective and daily living takes on a different meaning." So here it is the end of the year, what will the next year bring? How will I respond to new events?

Just to be clear, in the last 16 months: My father, husband, and mother all died; I have completed (wll almost) probates activities for the three wills. For years, I had been primary caregiver and errand runner. Now I am a widow and orphan, as someone so kindly reminded me during this year. Again to be clear, I do not see myself as either of those. I am still married to my husband and I am still a daughter to my parents and always will think of myself as such.

But life goes on and I intend to live a life ~~ my life. I intend to live with love, joy, and happiness. Those three people always wanted that life for me and most often did all they could to ensure I had that life.  I will live so that they will know I honor their love. 

Here is what I came to understand during this year. 

1. It may be cliché to say but I am stronger than I thought and I am resilient. 
2. I am blessed with a family, and espcially a brother, who shared the grief and sorrow, but also cared for me and continue to make sure I felt their loving support. 
3. I have an incredible circle of friends who took me into their arms to comfort me and push me back to life with their laughter and love.
4. I  am so luckly to have a job that gave me structure, purpose, and fully supported me during this year. The students in my university classes forgave my moments of distraction and offered their support in so many ways throughout the year. I am incredibly thankful for their understanding. My  colleagues (many of whom are counted in my circle of friends) supported me by kindly reminding me of tasks I had forgotten, covering my classes and attending meetings in my place while I took leave to mourn, and brought many bottles of excellent wine to share with me. 
5. Finally, and the knitters who may read this will fully understand, I had my knitting. The Zen of Knitting should not be underestimated by the non-knitters. So many scarves, baby sweaters, hats, and socks were knit while I cried, talked to myself, and worked on making peace with all that happened.  

I have never been a very good blogger, but I hate the waste of the money and so I am making one final effort to blog my way through this year of renewal. 

 

4. New Habit(s)

1. are very hard to establish, especially if your life has gotten turned totally upside down and old routines have been forgotten in trying to right your world. Next week, back to work and hopefully new habits. 
2. Time (Jan 3) New habit of posting daily keeps getting lost in chaos of my life. I tumble through the days as one letter or phone call rearranges the tasks I must do.
3. Something New (Jan 2) The one constant in every day is my knitting time. Here is my last project of 2013 and a Ravelry link. 

Summer Time = summer school

We are now two weeks into the second session of summer school and my on-line Assistive Technology course. I like teaching this class as everyone who takes it wants to be in it. . . it is an elective. Tomorrow is the one of the two times we meet as a class. This is a field trip to the South Carolina Assistive Technology Project ~~ a lovely place full of technology devices created or modified to meet the living and learning needs of persons with disabilities. It will be fun for me and an excellant learning experience for them.

Meanwhile I have been working in the garden and knitting. Went on a personal yarn crawl in Charlotte, NC one Friday with a former grad student who is now a teacher-in-waiting (for a contract) and knitting friend. Over the next several weeks I will show you what I bought ~~ some great stash.

I do have a couple of FOs. I finished the Carybdis by Glass of Fashion (2009).

Buddy is enjoying all of the one-on-one time with his mom and the sunny days.

Waiting Room Time

Sadly I have had quite a bit of waiting room time lately, at the hospital and a variety of doc offices. I have been waiting with my husband who is facing a recurrence of cancer. In the end, it will be okay, but I will have about 15 more hours of "wait time." I am planning my knitting now. So far I have a new sock almost to the start of the heel.
      

The pattern is Carybdis by Glass of Fashion (2009). The fiber is ella rae Lace Merino (color 106 Lot 90003). I am loving it; just enough pattern to keep me interested, but not so much I have to give it all of my attention ~~ so I can listen to an audio book while waiting and knitting.

Meanwhile I also have been knitting on the scarf ~~ Seattle Bloom Time Scart by Jennifer Chase-Rappaport in Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders (page 104). I decided not to do the flowers in the corners. Too much fru-fru for my taste, but I love the seed stitch borders and the diagonal stitch. The fiber is Caper Sock (color Sherry; lot K867) from String Theory. 

I should be able to show some finished work soon.

Buddy seems unconcerned about unfinished knitting as he lost all his hair yesterday. He wants to run free in the backyard, so that is the price he pays ~~ He gets matted so badly that we can't get them out without lots of pain and crying; that's my pain and crying.

 

Forgetfull and then lazy

I forgot to post a photo of the entire Honey Badgers that i finished last week; then I got too lazy to find the camera and put socks back on the stretchers.  But finally, here they are in all their glory.

Since I was on spring break, I had some time to knit. So I have a new project. I am loving it. Not the casting on of 240 stitches, but how fast it is knitting up. It is Infinitude Scarf by Jeni Chase. I am using some very old Berroco Pure Merino, Nuance, in a verigated blue (found in my stash). The pattern calls for 300 yards of 6-ply cashmere, but I am going to use up all of my stash, just under 400 yards.

While I really, really love my job, I am sad that I am back to work today. . .But looking forward to topics I am teaching this week. We are talking about collaboration, co-teaching models, and project-based learning. Fun topics all. 

Buddy wishes all of you a "fun" week at whatever you are doing as he keeps the world safe from his perch. 

 

 

 

 

Finished Objects!!

Yes, at last photos of finished projects. Finished the Honey Badger socks. Very happy with the results ~~ fit like a perfectly made pair of socks!

note the lovely Sweet Tomato Heel wedges. Cat Bordhi is genius! I had to rip several times to get them perfect, but think the finished product was worth the work. See details on Ravelry.

I finished another baby sweater, another version of the Tulip Sweater found here. This one is for a precious Bambina Stellerine, yet to be born or named. Find the details on ravelry.

    

Buddy says that spending the day at the groomer's is not a reason for him to smile at the camera. 

 

I have sock!

At last, I finished the first of my "mix-it-up" sock.  The yarn is  Punta Yarns Merisock Hand Painted that I purchased at The Yarn Shop in Pineville, NC.  

I call it the "mix-it-up" because I used 3 patterns (more photos at the Ravelry link). First, I am back to Wendy Johnson's Basic sock pattern from Socks from the toe up. I followed the toe construction and worked to the point where I needed to start the heel.  At that point I use Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Sock Heel pattern of short rows. I used 2  1/2 short rows to fit my foot. It WAS sweet and gave me the best fitting heel I have ever knit. I have used other short row heel patterns~~but those did not fit so well. These socks are snug and cozy.  To make the socks and knitting them interesting, I used the pattern from Irishgirlieknits' Honey Badger. It hums along so that I can easily knit while in meetings, at the doc's office, or waiting in the pick-up line at Walgreen, etc. Here is a little photo of  toe and heel as I was knitting.

                                                              
In the future, I think I will be using that short row heel unless there is a compelling reason to use something else. My only concern is wear? How will it hold up? Anyone have a history with short row heels?

What? it is February already?

It has been a whirlwind of a month. The semester is off to a good start: good classes and interesting students. I am happy.

Went shopping mid-month at The Yarn Shop(LYS) in Pineville, NC. about 20 miles from here. Good thing it is that far as I went just a bit wild. I will share the stash slowly, so you have a good look at each.  The first is next in line for the needles; recycled blue jeans.  I am thinking a small shawl or scarf to wear with jeans. I have two skeins = 700 yds.

There's a close-up from my not-so-good digital camera. The fiber is soft and will get softer with washing so that is why I am headed for shawl --- no more 100% cotton sweaters for me; too much sag.

Reading has been limited to student papers and emails; not a thrill a moment. But for a few moments each night I am trying to read Grafton's latest: V is for violence. Not her fault I keep falling asleep.

Buddy is feeling somewhat camera shy tonight.

 

Saturday Stash

What happened? I was supposed to have two wonderful weeks between the end of summer school and the beginning of fall semester. I am sure that they occurred, but I am not sure why I don't feel as if I had a vacation. 

Since beginning the fall semester my knitting time had all but disappeared. Lots of meetings, but not of the type where I can knit w/o unwanted attention. So I have only one finished object and three works in progress, plus some new stash. 

First the stash. I need to make some Christmas gifts; I can't keep sending checks or gift certificates. So this year many will be receiving hand-mades. So the new stash is for gifts. I am such a fan of the Noro fiber (all of this was purchased on-line via Jimmy Bean), so I bought some Kureyon Sock (Color S221) and some Silk Garden Sock (color S273)

and some more Kureyon Sock (Color S102) that is a work in progress, a slouchy hat by bohoknits that I like to make. This is my meeting knitting for now.
Other works in progress include two baby sweaters ~~ some sweet folks I know are having "bebes" in the future. I am making the same sweater for each, but one in pinks and blues (Berroco Weekend) and another in darker tweeds of burgandy and blue (Berroco Remix). All purchased at The Yarn Shop in Pineville. I have the back done on each one. Fiber is washable cotton for both.

 

Finally, I am happy to report that I have finished the socks from the last post. Here they are

                                      

click on photos for larger image

That's it for the knitting report. I will be back on Monday with a report on the four-legged child, Buddy and his progress from being a Cujo to Good Dog.
      
 

 
  

 


 
 
  

Saturday Stash

I have not been able to get away to my LYS or to any store lately, except Lowes and Target for cleaning and fix-it supplies. So I have been busy shopping late at night. It generally works out for me, but then. . .

Several weeks ago I was reading knit blogs late at night. . .guess where this is going? I love PayPal, but they make it too easy to complete quick transactions on-line. So I joined a fiber club, but I was overly eager and did not read the fine print. Later in the month I received my fiber. Much to my surprise, it was roving. Roving is wool that is ready to be spun, but I am not a spinner; I am a knitter. 

I am confessing all of this so that I can praise the person who prepared and dyed the roving because she was generous in her treatment of my mistake and it WAS my mistake. As a result I have three hanks of beautiful hand-dyed, hand-spun fiber to share today. So if you are a knitter, please consider stopping by Cosy's blog (@ http://cosymakes.com) to see her beautiful new baby and the items for sale in her ESTY shop (@  http://www.etsy.com/shop/cosymakes). Here is what I got as part of my refund. 

               
Snapdragon Light Fingering in three swoony colors: yellow, bright green, and blue green (it is darker than pictured here, I was photographing in bright sunlight). Not sure what I am going to make with them ~~ but not socks as this is wool. I am thinking scarves and/or shawls, as there is 700 yards in each hank. Whatever I decide there is plenty to make whatever I want.

Buddy says "Where is this fiber? I need to taste it to be sure of quality control."