Did You See This?

I have nothing new to offer on the knitting front, but have you seen this? Theresa C. you are amazing! I cannot even begin to fathom completing any project in 15 days; especially a charted one! Kudos!

A Redbird Christmas

Yes, I know it is the end of June. But if I am like most folks, Fannie Flagg is an author that catches the eye for one reason or another when spied on the library shelf. If you are looking for a light, feel good read - complete with a "too perfect" ending - this is it. A RedBird Christmas portrays a town that can only exist on paper. But Lord help me - I love to believe it is real!

But here is the reason I needed that dose of sugar. Young adult literature. I have returned the last three selections to the library unread because I could not get through them. I have had it up to here (you decide where that it is) with novels written for teens that show nothing but dysfunction. Is there an unwritten rule that states that if teens are to read it that the mother must be dead, missing, or dependent on something horrid (drugs, sex, alcohol, an abusive spouse/partner)? That the adults in their lives are all self-centered and would make outstanding poster children for 101 Ways to Be a Bad Parent? As the teacher of these young adults, may I say to the authors: That they are not sucked in! They find it depressing! They think it is fake! They want to read about worlds that they can be places of fantasy. Yes, Harry Potter. But also stories that are about them - not hordes of septic youth that the ALA seems to think are out there reading. End of rant, but I am finding it difficult to find something new to use in my classroom. Any suggestions?

But back to knowing it is the middle of June and not Christmas... bought a GREAT little scarf book. And I plan on knitting my way through the whole thing! I shall post very soon the FINISHED project. Then it is off to the socks!

No, I Have Not Moved to the Bahamas

It would be nice if I could spend some quality time on one of these lovely lounge chairs. Unfortunately, my time has been spent on some other high quality endeavors.

For example, we have...

...end of the marking period grading, final exams and proctoring in 90+ heat :(


Spending far too much time with these...

And really trying to fly through a lot of these to pick out books for next year's exciting 8th grade ELA class...

As the year starts to wind down, I think of all the projects that are waiting for me. Where would you begin?

• Entrelac socks
• Lorna's Laces self striping sock
• Brown "magic loop" sock
• Fair Isle sweater
• White "oh so many funky yarns" cardi
• Eros "it will never fit you right, so why don't you forget it?" zippi
• Side to side cardi "the one in the blue bag that I cannot find"
• Cool chunky yarn to make the "OMG that is so easy, I can make that!" pullover I saw while on vacation
• Tweedy Cable pullover for my husband; aka "You never make anything for me!"
• Philosopher's Wool substitute for my wonderful SIL, that I love ever so much! Yes, she can wait another Christmas because she loves me, too!

And those are the ones on the needles. We shall not discuss what is in the bags, lined up like little soldiers ready to do battle. Oh yeah, and did I tell you I started the coolest little scarf on Sunday because it was too hot to work on the Manos afghan from Hell?

Can You Say "Entrelac Sock" 5 Times Fast?

"Entrelac is a technique in knitting whereby a knitter creates a fascinating and beautiful multidirectional fabric by knitting little squares in opposite directions. Some knitters enjoy this to no end and advocate learning to knit backward to simplify the knitting the millions of little squares. These knitters are patient and talented. In my experience, however, if you enjoy knitting entrelac, you may also want to try pulling all your nose hair out with tweezers."

Pearl-McPhee, Stephanie. At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much. Story Publishing, 2005.

This from a woman who knits Latvian mittens as though they are an Olympic sport? So let us have a peek at the little goodie up above. I LOVE entrelac. It looks really cool, and it does not require a chart. So when I saw that a LYS was offering an entrelac sock class I was in! Great pattern, not so great colors. I had a choice between muted and bright. This is bright. Me no like. I really should try to reserve judgment until they are finished.

Have you ever had a "Great! Now they have the color I want!" moment? While working on the sock, I spied the new shipment of Manos in the colors I really wanted. But nooooo....I had to be hastey and buy what she had last month, didn't I? Crap, crap, crap! And would you believe I now want to rip out the last panel and 3/4? How irrational is that? I won't. I will finish. I. Will. Finish.

It is now time to revisit the ugly from the great "Don't you dare touch that yarn" auction. I knit a sample of the 'good' blue and the 'ugly' red. Unfortunately, they do not felt at the same rate. So here's the plan: knit the backpack in red. Knit a mile or so of blue I Cord. Felt. Attach I Cord to backpack with invisible stitch. I am so excited!!

What Was I Thinking?

The Good

The Bad

And The Ugly

Thursday night was the knitting guild's annual yarn auction. I really get very excited about it. The question is why? Certainly there are deals to be had. And this year there was more yarn than ever. I think every member over the age of 67 decided this was the year to clean out the stash that they had been willed by their knitting grannies and aunties.

Over 130 bags of goodies were lined up on the tables. But this year with a twist: No one was allowed to open the bags and fondle the goods. Now is this fair? I think not. Heavens, we do not know where some of this stuff has been. What if it came from the house of a smoker? Or had been used by the family kitty for more than a bed? Yeah, I know, I exaggerate. But you know what I mean.

I am now the not so proud owner of some rather questionable yarns. I grabbed the lopi only because it came with a really great scarf pattern. That alone would have been around $5; for an additional $5 I have two skeins of Lopi. Not so bad. For $24 I was able to buy over 1400 yards of Jeannie by Phentex: 100% cotton in a nice denim color. And the final item in the "good" lot was a rather hefty bag of top. Do I know what I have? Absolutely not! Someone said, "Hey that's way better than roving! Good for you!" Could someone tell me what I bought?

Now we move on to the "bad". Do not, I repeat, do NOT knit during the auction. Even if you think you can knit, and bid at the same time, trust me - YOU CANNOT! I pick up my paddle thinking that the huge bag of Lamb's Pride is the next item. But suddenly the local Vanna White is moving with it. I panic. I thought they were on the ugly grab bag of mismatched red wool. I bid. I win! An ugly grab bag of mismatched mostly red wool. Crap! Oh double crap! I am still in shock when the bag of Lamb's Pride went for less than $40.

I shall save face by walking into next month's guild meeting with a great felted back pack that subtle shading from top to bottom with a soft blue contrast on the bottom and flap edging. Who needs nice yarn anyway?

And Another Week Begins!

I am not sure this is the appropriate place for this topic, but unfortunately, this is an issue I am forced to contemplate each year. Normally, breaking records is a good thing. But not this time. So ladies (and gentlemen?) an all time high has been reached this school year. We now have four, count 'em four, pregnant teenage girls in my building.

Why? Why do they have sex at the age of 13 or 14? Why do they have unprotected sex? Why do they have so much unsupervised time on their hands? Why do their parents not ask who they are with and what are they doing and where they are going? It makes me sad. Very sad.

And in 13 years, one of those 'babies' will walk in to door to announce that their mother was in my class. In the meantime - I think I will have another conversation with my daughters.

Knitting wise...the work on the panels continue. I hope to finish the fourth one tonight. I really want to take it to the Knitting Guild 'Show and Tell' next month.

Me Talk Pretty!

The Green Eyed Knitter and her SIL did a bit of spring cleaning last night and it shows! Now my banner even sports a little bit of my favorite vest. YES!

The weather held out. I finished my 5 mile walk for MS a good hour before the rain fell. It made me feel good to do something constructive for others, now I just need to peddle for the cold hard cash donations! Yeah, I know I did it backwards, but we had a late start on this. All in all a great success. My daughter, E, and my SIL joined me. Thank goodness, because the lovely little kids from National Junior Honor Society that came along did not want to walk with their teacher. I give them credit! Over half of the group just finished their middle school musical last night - along with a very late night cast party. Oh to be young again ;-) Oh seriously, who could pay any of us to go back to those years?