Back to School*

*The pictures in this post have absolutely nothing to do with the post.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go back to my former place of employment and help one of my friends who still teaches there. She has a bit of a wild class (not unlike the class I had my second year teaching) and needed another set of hands to help control the chaos. Since I have the time now I decided to go help her out. I know how these things can be.

The Romanian chocolate I ate the other night. It had rum in it. The rum may have fermented. I got drunk just opening the package.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still enjoyed being around wild and crazy children. I was afraid that I was just going to be turned off to the whole teaching/being around kids thing after my experience the last 3 years. But I wasn't. In fact it was nice to be able to help her and I remembered why I love kids in the 1st place. On the other hand, it was nice to be able to leave after an hour or so and go home and eat decent (non-cafeteria) food and take a nap.

A cake. In the shape of a Storm Troopers head. Full of awesome.

The good thing was I proved to myself that I could handle a "real" job (I was a little afraid that self-employment would make me never want to go back into the "real" workforce again) but that it seems I enjoy it most on my own terms (getting to show up when I want, wear what I want, set my own hours). So, I guess I better find a really flexible boss or a job I really love and wouldn't mind compromising on (I'm thinking the latter will probably win out).

Mai cat. She iz watchin you park yur carz.

After a rather productive day yesterday (there was also a trip to the hospital to sort out a bill, some birthday yarn buying (from my own b-day back in June), picking up my contact lenses, and fixing/making discussion postings for grad school) I feel completely unmotivated. I think knitting might solve this. Then I am making something. And that's productive, right?

I Blame Work

I blame work for...

1. Not getting to go to Sock Summit.

2. Having to get up early.
This is what Penelope does while I have to get ready to go to work.

3. Lack of real knitting progress.
Charity sock. Second of the pair. Not even to the heel turn.
Rivulets sock #1. Not fully past the heel.
Charity sweater. Still working on the collar. Pretty much looks the same as the last picture.

4. No pictures posted of Peru nor put in a photo album (they have been printed though).

5. Dyeing? Ok, work isn't to blame for this. Lack of work is the reason to celebrate these 2 rovings that will go in my shop soon.
Jillian's Razzmatazz
Dwain's Mango Tango

I asked my friends to come up with good color names and these two where the ones I liked best. I dyed the roving after they'd given me suggestions.

6. Lack of shop updating.

7. Making chefs knit on the back stoop.
This is the chef of the restaurant next door to Rare Purls. He just learned to knit. I know he'd be a full on knitterly type if he didn't have to cook all the time. Poor guy.

(For the record, school officially starts back Monday for the kids. I was scheduled to go back to work this Monday but due to state budget cuts I was on furlough for 2 days. This means we crammed 5 days of faculty meetings, planning, registration, open house, and room set up into 3 days. I think that's the definition of fun.)

Lets Do the Time Warp Again

I know I've been very bad about blogging lately so let me go back in time and try and catch up a little.

Last week was full of knitting goodness. At some point I received my shipment from WEBS of their closeout yarn I had ordered. Something of a late Christmas present to myself.
Cascade 109 in beautiful purple (or Aubergine as it is listed).
Smooshy blues (I'm too lazy to go look up the names but I think the teal color on the right is Summer Pool or something equally as dazzling).
More of the Summer Pool (or whatever it's called).
A nice burnt orange.
Some Cascade Bollicine Revolution in fun, punky colors.
Simple blue.
And a nice tan to compliment the blue.
I think there are 5 more balls of the Revolution coming, they were on back order.

In addition to yarn there was lots of knitting. If you remember about a month ago I got in touch with a woman who ran an online yarn store here in Duluth. She invited me out to several groups and I'm happy to report that I went to both the local knitting group and the larger, more official Atlanta Knitting Guild meeting last week. I will say that it is a little odd to be one of the youngest people in the room. I went through that when I first started teaching but many of the people I taught with were only a few years older than I was. Sure, we had people who had been teaching for 20+ years but there was a decidedly younger crowd. In the groups I went to last week I was definitely in the minority. Young knitters need to unite! We need to be going to guild meetings. We are the future of knit wear! :::Steps off soap box:::

So, yeah, there was knitting.

The Burnished Tunic got one sleeve.
And I worked a lot on this sweater for Warm Woolies.
This is my first top down raglan and I used a little sweater calculator that I found on Knitting Fool to help me come up with the pattern. It's a little vague and I can see how a knowledge of top down sweaters would be helpful. Or you can be like me and throw caution to the wind and simply learn as you go!

On a non-knitting note, I just finished this book tonight:
I cried. I'll admit it. It was sweet. A perfect ending to the series. Even if you don't like vampire stores there is so much to this that isn't about vampires.

Also on a non-knitting, totally random note, I had to show these pictures. Last week my class read the story of the Gingerbread Man. I gave the kids some cutouts and let them decorate them so they could re-enact the story. Most students came up with something like this:
But one of my students did these (remember these are 1st graders):
Batman and the Joker. Amazing. This was, not coincidentally, the same kid who had the dirty sock in this desk. I can hear the phone call now...

Day 3, Day 4 and Day 1 (again)

Day 3 Update:
Total knitting time: maybe a few hours
Watched: women's rowing and the men's gymnastics team finals
Total knitting: 13 inches total length
Day 4 Update:
Total knitting time: about an hour
Watched: men's synchronized diving
Total knitting: 14.25 inches total length (pitiful progress I know)
The reason for the very little bit of knitting I got done today was because I was utterly exhausted. Today was the first day of school. I love my little sweethearts. They are so full of energy. And, of course, at the end of the day one of my babies missed her bus. I felt so sorry for her. It caused me to end up staying at the school to finish up stuff until almost 5:30. I'm so glad that I wrote up some detailed lesson plans last week though. One less thing I had to worry about.

On a different note...
This is what happens when an 8 pound cat decides to "chase" the blind cords off the back of a chair. Luckily only one slat is permanently damaged.
The perpetrator looks strangely unconcerned...