Happy Mother's Day!

Now that Mother's Day is over and my mom received her gifts I can show you what I've been working on for the past few days: a set of three cotton dishcloths.

Round dishcloth
Simple square dishcloth
Wheatfields dishcloth
Close up of the Wheatfields
Wrapped for mom
I used Rowan All Seasons Cotton and a US size 6 needle for all three. They took 4 days to finish. I'm quite proud of my quick work. I can't remember all the details of the patterns but they all came from the same collection and they are on my Ravelry page (Ravelry link).

I spent today cleaning house and napping. Early this evening I cast on for some lacy gauntlets. I'm still working on the mitered squares but I need something to break up the monotony a bit. I plan on knitting the mitered squares when I'm at work or out and about and knitting the gauntlets when I'm at home. I'll have more pictures soon but I'm a little tired tonight so they will have to wait.

Also, in other news, I have a new job! Yes, I'm still going to be teaching 1st grade and, yes, I still teach private music lessons (wait, I didn't tell you about that one? oops...), I'm just adding another hat I will wear. I'm going to be helping a friend of mine with his on-line store called Eat. Sleep. Tweet. If you are a fan of Twitter you should check it out. If you're not you should check it out anyways, it's pretty cool. I'm going to be in charge of shipping and distribution. Basically whenever you order something from the site I'll be filling your order and sending it to you. I'm looking forward to this new endeavor. It will earn me a little extra spending money...which we all know equals more yarn :)

Sometimes...

Sometimes I come home really late from work.
Yes, that is p.m.

Sometimes, even though I'm not coming home until late, I stop at the grocery store just to pick up my cats favorite cat food.

She loves salmon.

Sometimes making taco salad helps you relax.

Notice there is nothing remotely green in my taco "salad."

Sometimes eating a cookie or two helps.

I hear a good stiff drink works too. Or both.

And knitting...well, knitting always makes you feel better.

Super secret Mother's Day knitting.

Secret Knitting

I'm so counting down the days until school is out. Today had some interesting, trying moments. It started this morning when I was trying to help a friend out and I ended up catching some unexpected slack for it. It wasn't anything illegal, or even very big (in my opinion) but I still got an earful. And then at lunch we began discussing what was going to happen for next year and all hell broke loose. New teachers going to be hired without any one's knowledge, having new classes in reading and math that no one wants (especially the kids), and the dreaded block scheduling discussion. I really feel badly for everyone. For some reason more problems with schedules and hiring seem to come up in middle school than in high school and certainly more than in elementary school. I think we as educators need to stop thinking about what is most convenient to us and start thinking about what is best for the students. Unfortunately, there are people who teach who don't really have the drive that is needed for this field. And this isn't just a problem for the public schools, it happens in the private schools too. Don't think just because you pay more for your kid's schooling that the teachers want to be there any more.

Needless to say I took a nap, worked out, and then settled in to knit when I got home.

What do you get when you take this yarn...
Rowan All Seasons Cotton

and these needles...

Boye needles US size 6

and knit it up? This of course!

Oh, wait, you can't tell what that is? That's because it's part of my mom's secret Mother's Day gift. I have pictures of the finished project on Ravelry where my dad can't spy and tell my mom :)

I'm still working on the mitered square blanket but I've taken a little break on it to finish this Mother's Day gift. See, here's a recently finished square.
It needs a fraternal twin but it will have to wait for just a few more days. More teaser pictures tomorrow!

Slowing Down

I'm finally able to slow down a bit now that the crazy week/weekend is over. This weekend I helped my mom celebrate her birthday and went to a friend's wedding. Yesterday we had a big fundraiser dinner for our band. The only major events I have on the horizon are 2 concerts next week. Then we are basically done. I'm so looking forward to the summer and some time off to relax. For now though I'm just going to chill on my couch under a blanket with my kitty and watch some tv. I'm also starting a super secret mother's day project that I'll post about after the weekend. And I'm still knitting on the mitered square blanket but that's not too exciting so I think I'll save the picture posting for a day when I'm a little more rested.