Quaranteaching and quarancrafting

This week is the last week of my school year, and I have some test reviews to do, two tests to give and grade, report card comments, a day on campus to deal with resource returns, and a final distance staff meeting. However, the test is on Tuesday, so my schedule is starting to look quite a bit lighter. Distance learning has been an interesting challenge; I missed my students a lot, I missed my coworkers, and I missed my routines, but I’ve been working on creating new markers and things to look forward to in my weeks. This summer I have quite a bit of professional development I want to work through, as well as tackling the filing of a bunch of resources that I have been putting off. The ACCS conference is going to be online, so I plan to ‘attend’ that and get some more ideas and inspiration for next year.

In addition to work, I’ve also been working on several fiber projects! I finished a pair of socks for my sister-on-law that were originally meant to be a Christmas present, but ended up being a Mother’s Day gift. I adapted the heel on the Jaywalker sock; I quite like how it turned out and would consider doing that again, but this time I’ll take notes!

I started my long anticipated Ink cardigan last spring and promptly lost steam on the collar, so I dug it out and I’m about halfway to the dividing for the arms and body point. I LOVE how this is knitting up, and plan to have it done for this fall/winter, as I need another layering piece for work. I love the cable, I love the yarn, and I’m super excited about having the finish garment. Plus, as a sweater in fingering weight it will be quite wearable.

The other garment I’m currently working on is a summer top, Vanora. I decided that rather than knit it in two pieces, I would seam the shoulders and join in the round after the underarms. Now that I’ve done that, the next exciting bit is going to be when I get to the hem…in several inches. So, until then, it’s half a row of lace and half a row of stockinette. I’m using the Lion Brand Coboo yarn that I made my tank out of last year; it’s a sport weigh cotton/bamboo blend which drapes nicely, and is cool enough for a Texas summer. I’m looking forward to having this done and being able to enjoy it! This is a picture of the back lace pattern.

Since I had only one pair of movie socks hibernating (not like I’ve had the chance to go see a movie in the last few months!), and since I’ve been watching my way through Star Trek’s the Next Generation, I decided the time had come to cast on my Trekkie yarn in an easy, vanilla sock pattern. I think I’m going to do an afterthought heel with forethought gusset; I’ve got a little more time before I need to make the final decision. I’m getting the itch to do a more patterned sock soon, but I figured with a cable and a lace project, a vanilla sock would round out my WIPs nicely.

Since I last posted I have finished the delightful yarn from my birthday fiber from last year, and I’m dreaming about what to knit with it. I plied this on my wheel; I have improved as a spinner dramatically, and I’m quite pleased with how this turned out.

Not only did I finish that project, but I tested out the Andean plying technique on a little oddment of fiber with pleasing results.

Now I’m working on spinning up an indigo dyed batt from my good friend Rebekah, and I’m still trying to decide it if I want to try chain plying it on the wheel, or make it a two ply. It’s coming out super fine so I’m inclined to chain ply it, but I have some time to keep deciding what I want to do with it. Stash Dash is coming up, and I’m hoping to reach 5k again!

Lastly, I decided to treat myself to a life-long dream, but ordering a Schacht Cricket rigid heddle loom. I got the 15” size as it seemed like the most versatile starting point, and it arrived on Friday. It was super easy to assemble, and I had it warped in no time. I learned quite a bit from that first project; I ran out of yarn so the one end is rather purple, but it was well worth it for the learning process.

I’m currently working on a set of four cowls out of early, very lump handspun, which is turning out to be all I hoped. I continue to learn; I got my warp centered properly this time, but still need to work on my warping calculations a bit. After this set of cowls is off the loom, I’m going to put in my finer heddle and work with some laceweight that has been sitting in my stash for over a decade. I also have ambitions for dishtowel weaving this summer, so stay tuned!

Parting shot: If my knitting is on the floor being photographed, that *obviously* means I want Neko to come sniff/lie on it, right?

Reading

I absolutely have made boring to look at progress on two project this week, and I'll show you a progress picture of the big one in a minute, but to put things in a bit of perspective, this is what is taking up big chunks of my day.

The blue circle are the resource books (not to mention a few binders) that I need to be familiar with for this school year, the green are the books I've already read, and the blue are the ones I need to/am currently reading. I'm hoping to finish Herodotus in the next few days as well as do an online course for teachers at my new school before I go in for another Omnibus orientation meeting on Thursday. And I have that stack to keep working through, as well as hopefully get my science materials so I can start working through that too. So, simple knitting it has been for while I relax in the evening after a days reading with a few errands thrown in. One of many reason why I wanted to move down as close to two months before school as I could!

In addition to doing a lot of reading, I've been doing a few other things. All my DMC embroidery floss is now neatly put away in boxes again--I brought it back from Zambia in bags to save weight.

I made a small cake with my mini spring-form pans,

and I tried mini pizza waffles- some more tweaking is needed, but they were acceptable.

I splurged on some beautiful yarn that I've wanted since I first saw it a few months ago and Yarnia just got a fresh stock of- Amanda Hope's Aegean colorway. Not only is her yarn amazing, but it's also locally dyed!

And, I'm almost ready to start the bust shaping on my Cityscape tank; I'm adding a bit of length as I have a long torso 'cause I'm tall, but I need to do a bit of knitting math before I determine exactly how much. If my stich gauge was slightly off, my row gauge likely is as well.

Sorry for that last picture being a bit blurry; I had interference from a certain Ginger Pants while trying to photograph it. It's so nice to have a cat around the house again!

Well, that's all for now; more history of the Persian war in Greece tomorrow!

Birthday!

This week was my birthday, and while I’m scarily close to being 30, I enjoyed my day very much. Beth surprised me with an ice cream cake, we cracked upon the bag of American Doritos (yes, there IS a difference), and enjoyed watching Frozen together. I’m so thankful for these lovely ladies who made me feel so loved and appreciated.

This Monday I finished the sixth chart on my scarf—I’m working on the barrels right now. The Lonely Mountain is in sight! Here are charts 5 and 6; I’ve not downloaded my pictures for awhile.

I’m really debating right now whether or not to add the crochet boarder around the scarf. There is one part of me that quails at the thought of that after all this knitting, and there is another part of me that wonders how hard it will be to make that look nice. I think the scarf is about as wide as I want it right now, so I might just leave it off. The main advantage as far as I can tell is that it would cover those places at the beginning where I didn’t always wrap my yarn very well. Oh well, there are a few more charts worth of knitting for me to ponder through…

I’m hankering to start a new knitting project right now, but I’m not sure what. I have a sock that is just about ready to be cast off, and I finished my red spiral scarf made with the Mountain Color mill ends I bought in Montana last summer.

I’m still planning out my gift knitting for Christmas and a few birthdays, and I came across another scarf pattern that I want to try out. If only teaching didn’t interfere with all my knitting! The trick is to find something that a) I want to knit and b) calls for yarn I have in the stash. Yes, I have a rather, er, good sized stash, but sometimes there just isn’t anything that will work for what I have in mind. I think I’m going to do a left-overs sort of project to clear out some space in my sock yarn shoe organizer…

Parting shot: I have some pretty crazy animals; here is Java in a bag,

and Hazel napping in a culvert!

A Mouse is Miracle Enough!

After re-reading the lovely book A Mouse is Miracle Enough by Myna Lockwood, I was oddly enough seized with the urge to own a mouse! While my siblings have had a series of mice, I have never owned one myself. Since I have some time on my hands this summer, we own several cages, and mice are cheap, I decided to indulge myself with this little critter:

Meet Claudia! The name is a reference to the smart and feisty character on Warehouse 13--fitting as this little character almost chewed her way to freedom from the cardboard box on the way home, and mastered the art of running in the wheel (and on the top of it as I watch her just now!) within an hour of being placed in her new home. Yes, I know I can't take her home with me, and yes, I know I live in a home with three cats. However, I think it will be a fun summer 'project,' and besides--I've always wanted a mouse!

Now that Mary's wedding is over, things have gone back to whatever passes as normal around here. Here are a few pictures of the day-

It was a beautiful wedding, but I am SO GLAD that it's all over! Jordan is a welcome addition to our family, and I look forward to many years of watching those two grow and serve the Lord together. Coming soon--a knitting update!