In Progress

Not a whole lot has been happening in my world of knitting and reading for the last week or so due to the preparations for the start of the new school year(and hour after hour of mind-numbing meetings), but here's what's "In progress." I'm hoping to find my way back to these projects in the next week.

1. Special Olympics Scarf

I'm really not fond of working with the specified yarn (there's nothing like the smell of acrylic trapped in a ziplock bag), but it's a fun project for a great cause! I'm boring and am knitting a suggested pattern but any pattern will work as long as you have the required yarn.

2. Clapotis
I'm in the throws of "Straight Row H * ll." I've already done 13 straight row repeats and need to do at least another 10-argh!!!!!!! I plan on finishing the Special Olympic scarf and then getting back to this.

3. I'm also 2/3 of the way done with this book. I am sooo not a vampire lovin' reader but really got hooked on this series. So far it's not my favorite book in the series but is definitely keeping my interest.

Off to purchase some last minute goodies for the first day with kiddos tomorrow! It's always a relief to get started and get our routines going. I don't think I could handle another week of meetings!

Rules For Teachers

One of my favorite reads this past summer was Florence, The true story of a country schoolteacher in Minnesota and North Dakota. This was a book I acquired last summer at the cabin during a family book exchange. I loved the page that outlined the rules for teachers back then. Tomorrow I begin my 19th year of teaching and am sure glad these rules are not in place today!

1915
Rules For Teachers

1. You may not marry during the term of your contract.
2. You are not to keep company with men.
3. You must be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless attending a school function.
4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.
5. You may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board.
6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.
7. You may not smoke cigarettes.
8. You may not dress in bright colors.
9. You may not under no circumstances dye your hair.
10. You must wear at least two petticoats.
11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle.
12. To keep the school room neat and clean, you must: sweep the floor at least once daily; scrub the floor at least once a week with hot, soapy water; clean the blackboards at least once a day; and start the fire at 7 a.m. so the room will be warm by 8 a.m.

Whew! It was definitely a different era for teachers but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Audrey Wendland's grandmother (and the photos) and her experiences as a country schoolteacher.

Dog Days of Summer

After spending the summer at home, I've decided that Sophie sleeps 20 hrs a day. It seemed I was constantly catching her taking a snooze.
Ruff (heh) life!

Interview with the Mister

After reading this post I knew I wanted to do the same with my DH. I emailed him the questions and told him he was free to be as snarky or witty as he liked. I see he went for snarky.

What is your favorite thing about my knitting? Keeps you pretty quiet. (Me: What's that suppose to mean??!!)


What is your least favorite thing about my knitting? Lots of paraphernalia around...everywhere...all the time. (Me: Yeah..he's right about that one)


What is something I have knitted that you recall as being good? Hemp bag
(Me: Hmmm..surprised he didn't mention the 160 fish)


Do you think knitters have an expensive hobby? Yep (Me: I guess he knows more than I thought)


Do you have any hobbies? Maybe (Me: Sigh....Mr. Conversation...)


What are your hobbies? I like diecast cars of certain makes...and watches...and shoes. (Me: He really is into shoes and watches-I've never seen a man with so many shoes before)


So, if we compared money/time spent on hobbies, who would win? I really have no idea what YOU spend. (Me: That's probably a good thing)


Has my knitting in public ever embarrassed you? No


Can you name another knitting blog? Yarn Harlot? Knit Witch? Guesses. (Me: That's pretty good!!)


Do you mind that I want to check out yarn stores everywhere we go? Nope (Me: You can tell how much he liked answering these questions!)


Do you understand the importance of a swatch? Nope...unless it relates to color matching.


Do you read Knitty McPurlyPants? No...unless prompted to view it. (Me: That's probably a good thing!)



Do you think the house would be cleaner if I didn't knit? I am not sure.


Is there anything else you want to say? Knit On!


And because I can..here he is at age three...what a cutie-and he still likes having the poof of hair on top!

Found it!

Hey-I just realized that today's date is 08/08/08!

YES!!! I found the wayward giftcard. Believe it or not, I found it about an hour after posting my last blog post when I was looking through my desk drawers with a fine tooth comb. It was in a ziplock bag among a bunch of paint sample cards. I don't even remember putting it there. When I came across the ziplock I almost didn't bother looking knowing it was just paint samples and a CD or two but then decided to look through and came across a plain-type card and sure enough it was DH's birthday card with the giftcard enclosed.

We used it this evening and the food was so-so but the Chocolate Chocolate Tower cake was fantastic!

The sun is setting on my summer vacation. I had my first taste of being back to work with a 3 hour meeting/planning session today. I have some work to do this weekend (I'm presenting at New Teacher Orientation next week). I have training to attend on Monday and Tuesday, training to give on Wednesday and Thursday, Friday will probably find me getting a head start cleaning my desks and such. My first "official" day back is Monday the 18th though. All this thinking about the upcoming school year caused me to finally turn the calendar by my desk to August (I thought if I kept it on July my vacation would last longer).


My day was made today with the arrival of some hand-spun goodness, with some cool notecards added from Bezzie's monthly K.A.Y.E. contest.


Here's a better photo of the yarn from her site. I love it! Thanks so much!!

Outback Dilemma

I need some advice on what to do. Here's the situation: My S-I-L gave DH a gift certificate to the Outback restaurant a few months ago for his birthday. He gave it to me for safe keeping.

Here's the state of my desk these days:

What you don't see are shelves (and drawers) that are just as cluttered around it. Normally it's not this messy but in the summer I tend to bring school stuff home for safe keeping and I'm in the process of taking care of end-of-summer vacation business so many appts are being made (Dr.'s, vet, car, hair, etc.) which adds to the clutter.

He's been dropping hints about wanting to use the gift card. I have searched high and low for that damn gift card and I can't find it. CRAP! I know if I tell him I've lost it he'll make snippy remarks(not in a mean ugly way, but more annoying) for the next hundred years about how I lose things and my desk should be better organized-hey I can find things 99% of the time. I mentally divide my desk into the United States and remember things by their location. The highlighting tape? Why that's in Washington (in a basket). The bills to be mailed-Kansas. Get it!?

I remember him handing me the card and I also remember thinking wherever it was put down wasn't a good spot and I needed to move it. I didn't move it..

Soooo...I'm going to look one more time in every possible place. Here's where you come in, if I don't find it, should I just go and buy another one ($25.00) and he'll be none the wiser or fess up?

Summer of Yarn

This has truly been a Summer of Yarn for me. It started in June with my trip to Austin with Juanita, then I checked out the stores in Boerne, I've bought from my LYS in San Antonio and now the latest additions.

Last Sunday, knitting friends Patty, Terri, Jody and I piled into my car and we hit The Knitting Nest and HCW in Austin, TX. What a treat!

I ended up purchasing:

More sock yarn (Cascade 220 Hand Painted Sock yarn, Koigu KPM, Misti Alpaca Sock yarn, and some Art Yarn Ultra Merino 4)


Manos Silk Blend (my favorite yarn of the day), Classic Elite Inca Alpaca, and Alchemy Synchronicity for some projects

And some Cascade 220 for a felted bag.

You can see the yarn details in my stash on Ravelry.

We even found some time to knit while at The Knitting Nest before ending our day at Steak 'n Shake and heading back to S.A.

Patty and Teri

A few days ago my Summer of Yarn came to a close with the arrival of some Knit Picks Palette.

That's it....no more yarn til Kid 'n Ewe....Unless it's for a project...or a new sock yarn....or a GREAT deal....you get the idea.

Funny of the day: DH saw my pile o' yarn I had out for taking photos for my Ravelry stash and declared, "I bet I could sell that lot of yarn on EBAY for twenty dollars!" At first I was going to correct him as to its worth, but then decided against it. What he doesn't know won't hurt him.