I've got blanket fever!

Sometimes, for reasons that I can not explain to save my life, I get gripped by these strong knitting urges that just won't leave me be until I've either cast on or been gripped by another one. For some reason lately (perhaps looking through Mason-Dixon Knitting is responsible...) I've been gripped by a powerful desire to knit blankets. Yes, me. Miss Sockista. So, after I finished this sweet little bonnet for a baby girl who will be arriving tomorrow,

and my second Wurm hat,

I rewarded myself by casting on a blanket for the same little girl. I'm doing the Baby Chalice Blanket. I only started on Friday night, so I have only done one pattern row so far. Hopefully it will actually look like something next week!

While I really wanted to start the baby blanket, the other thing that has been giving me a knitting itch is the Curve of Pursuit blanket that I saw at the start of the dangerous Log Cabin section in Mason-Dixon Knitting. Something about it just screamed my name, and what with my new furniture,

I just had to start a cozy lap blanket for dry season. So, here goes! So far I'm loving the simplicity of the garter stitch and the order of the pattern. It truly is the simple things in life...

The other thing I've really been working on this week is trying to get the rest of that green roving spun and plied. I should probably practice a bit more before diving into some of my 'nice' stuff, but I am getting better at this, and I'm loving the results. Now I just need to find something special to show off all my hard work!

Well, that about does it for this week. Here is the overall shot of my efforts,

and this week's parting shot:

January Picks

I’ve decided that in order to keep things under control, each month I get to choose a new Kindle book and a MP3 album. So, to catch up, here were January’s picks.

Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Vol. 1 was my January choice; I watched the movie on the plane, and then with my family once it was out on DVD, and I have to say that while the movie is a totally fun guilty pleasure, I loved the oldies in the soundtrack. So when I saw that they had actually published it all in one place I was thrilled! This album is also a guilty pleasure; I have a had a lot of fun singing along to this as I processed mangos and relaxed after school. Totally worth it!

Unbroken
I have to admit that I haven’t started this one yet; I am waiting for the term break so I can gobble it up and be an emotional wreck if I need to. The first thing I heard about this was that it was a movie directed by Angelina J. that was coming out in December—not terribly interested. But when I saw that the book was written by Laura Hillenbrand, then I was VERY interested. Her book Seabiscuit was so superbly written, that I decided it was worth trying out. I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve actually read it!

Spinning, a FO, and Valentines!

I’ve decided to play with my new collage app by making a collage of what’s on my needles (and in this case spindle as well!) every week to a) motivate myself, and b) record my progress. So, here an overview of what I’ve worked on this week:

Here is a closer look at something I just finished today—this adorable little bonnet from Jane Austin Knits 2014. I feel in love with this as soon as I saw it, and knew that it would have to be made for a certain little girl I love to knit for. I think I might have to make another one…

Something new I’ve tried this week is plying on the fly. Normally when you spin, you make something called a single which you then have to wind off your spindle, and ply together with another single or in a chain with itself to make yarn. Well, I’m learning to spin a length of single and then ply it up right then and there. It took me awhile to get my fingers around it, and yesterday I discovered a lump that didn’t ply properly, but overall I’m petty tickled with my efforts! I have some lovely rovings that I hope I feel confident enough to tackle this holiday…

Finally, after having to rip the pattern part out and a spectacular error with the heel that I don’t even want to discuss, here is a closer look at my finally working for me Smaug sock:

I’ve got another sock pattern from Jane Austin Knits 2014 that I’m itching to cast on, but I told myself I couldn’t cast on until I had finished one of my other pairs of socks. It so hard to be good sometimes…

Yesterday was the best Valentine's Day I've ever had at Sakeji. Not only was my 'rotic' and treat binge with Beth a lot of fun, but it was really neat to see the kids get really into making and giving valentines. I didn't do anything special for it this year; I cheated and bought a box of Pixar valentines before coming back, but I really enjoyed feeling like we were a) celebrating something and b) enjoying it! Here's a look at my 'loot'-

Parting shot: Just cause, and because I wish I could call this man...

Some knitting, lots of mangoes, and a busy week.

I've been so busy over the last week that I have not had the time I would like to knit (though honestly, when can I ever say that I have?), but I did managed to finish something. I have totally fallen in love with this hat pattern-Wurm.

I love how the colors work together, I love how it fits, and I love how it looks. I love how it will keep my head warmer than the 'cute' hate I took up north with me, and I love how simple it was to knit. Full of win!

I may have already cast another one on as a gift...

I also wanted to post pictures of the tiny little baby sweater I made for a friend's little girl. I love knitting this, but it turned out pretty small. I want to make it again, but I'll have to think through how to make that work.

My other big project for this week was making mango butter from the 9 cups of mangoes I picked up and processed from under the trees here at the school. Totally worth all the effort!

Parting shot:

‘Betcha Wondered What I Made for Christmas!

Now that I’m back at Sakeji, that Christmas has come and gone, and that I have a little time to breath before the storm, I thought I’d do a post or two of my Christmas crafting. I made most of the ornaments during the August holiday when I was doing my nerd Christmas, and the knitting happened all year and up to the very last minute. I had so much fun coming up with an ornament for each member of the family; finding something that was unique to them and their interests was a challenge and a pleasure to do.

Daddy- As a die hard Star Trek fan from the 70’s, I couldn’t resist when I saw this one!

Mother- Knowing that Mother loves Firefly and knitting, how could I not give her one of these?

Flynn- For the one who introduced us to Warehouse 13, I created this Farnsworth ornament.

Jordan- Since Calcifer is more Jordan’s cat, I had fun customizing this ornament to look as much like Calcifer as possible.

Mary- And since Howl is more Mary’s cat, I did the same for her.

Mercy- Given her love of all things Asian, I thought this would be perfect for Mercy. I didn’t look up the character to make sure it said what the pattern claimed…hopefully it didn’t lie!

Spencer- Spencer is the Star Wars fan of the family, so I made him a Rebel Alliance ornament.

Lucy- Since Lucy got her sweet dog, Captain Jack this year, I thought I’d commemorate the addition to the family.

Jasper- Jasper is pretty much obsessed with Minecraft, so how could I not make him a Creeper?

Finally, I made this ornament for Beth. I must say I'm a little less fond of Smudge after looking after her for several months, but she is still a really cute cat.

Next time I’ll post pictures of the knitting I did for various family members. Some are much easier to cover in hand knits than others!

Parting shot:

A burst of creativity

Hey—I actually finished some things over half-term! It was a pretty crazy feeling; being all caught up on marking and having time do some more fun projects. Too bad my kids had homework this week… Ah, the double edged sword… I also did some cloths altering over half-term, but that’s not terrible photogenic. So, here’s what I did!

Unfortunately for blog fodder, there are some Christmas gifts that are just going to have to wait to be shown in all their glory, but I think I can pretty safely show these siblings ornaments—Captain Jack

And a Creeper for a certain teenage boy among my relations! He’s kind of a cute little green guy…

I also finished off one of these that I charted off a picture of a kit I found online. I sure hope the character is correct! I really like how it turned out though.

I also made some of these lovely paper snowflakes—way easier to make than they look, and possible to do with even rather inept children. I’m considering making some for the hall now…We’ll have to see how far the crazy train goes!

In some spare moments last week I also whipped up this little gem—it made me SO HAPPY! Nothing like a crafty release for my inner nerd!

The big thing this week has been trying to get my travel plans nailed down. I think the outline is there now—I just need to get confirmation from someone before I can buy tickets for a quick trip to OH and GA. I know December is going to fly by so fast and there are so many people I want to see and things I’d like to do! Continually praying for wisdom and help in knitting all these loose ends together.

Parting shot:

I've always wanted a pirate hat...

Hey-I actually finished something this week! First though, since Reformation Day was Friday, I want to share how I made my tricorn hat so I could be a very quiet steampunk pirate (not that I told anyone that!). After shaping two layers of felt into the crown using a bowl and some white glue, I cut out the two brim circles and stitched them on. Result- a very floppy hat!

Then I put glue between the layers and pinned them in to the tricorn shape and let it dry.

After that I just sewed some ribbon binding around the edges and put in a few judicious stitches to hold the shape. Voila—swash swash buckle buckle in the bush!

I whipped up a pair of baby socks to match the sweater I just finished; I took the lace pattern from the sweater and used it on the cuffs. They look slightly out of proportion to me and I have no idea what size they actually are (oh the difficulty of not having the baby around to try things on!), but hopefully they will be usable with or without the sweater.

I’ve also made some good progress on my dragon fire shawl. After adding several repeats to it I’m back in the pattern proper and about to finish the second chart. Yes, I am one of THOSE people who almost never knits a pattern exactly as written!

I’m working on a Christmas ornament for someone special, and I started a gift for my brother-in-law that is so barely started and boring right now that I’m not even going to post a picture. Other than that, I’m enjoying researching ancient Greece for history, re-reading the Anne of Green Gables books, and trying to not die of stress before the term can end. Just a month till I’m home!

Parting shot:

Not dead, just very busy!

After two weeks I figured for my own self discipline I had better put something up here. Plus, I never know who is actually reading this and keeping up with me and my oh so riveting life!

The big story today has been adding two products to my TeachersPayTeachers store. I've generated so many documents and things over the last five years of teaching--it will be interesting to see if other people find them useful too! I was surprised to see that the one I uploaded today has already sold one copy; huzzah!

I've been mostly working on this adorable little baby cardigan for a wee hobbit that has arrived in some dear friend's lives. I love the yarn, and I'm using up the last bits of it designing some matching socks. While it's rather challenging knitting for a baby long distance, I love this one so much (even though we've never met!) that it's worth it to me to attempt it!

I've also been cross stitching lately. I finished this delightfuly nerdy project (don't look to close though; I apparently can only count some of the time)--if only it were real!

I also had a serious bout of 'I-want-to-cross-stitch-something-fall-related-and-there-is-a-really-cute-pattern-I-like-but-it-costs-money-and-I'm-trying-to-save-for-December-so-I-guess-I'll-check-out-Pintrest.' This was the result:

I'm still working on my 'dragon' shawl and a few other things, but nothing else worth posting pictures of. With that, and since I am deep in Holmes lore with my grade 8 and 9's just now, I leave you with this parting shot

Nothing much to report

I have been pretty insanely busy lately--what's new? I haven't been able to do near as much crafting as I wanted to, I've not got my marking done as quickly as I hoped, and there is the double edged sword of Christmas looming on my horizon (Escape! Deadlines! Show! Report cards!), so I've been just keeping my head down and taking each day as it comes. That being said, I have managed to do this in the last two weeks:

My dragon shawl now has the full edging finished; I'm just working out how to lengthen it a bit without making my life too interesting. I really like the beads I've added, but I'm glad that they're all on now as they are a bit fiddley!

My Christmas gift for a little hobbit is coming along nicely.

Over half-term I put up 5 shelves--mighty woman!

Also, I started a project who's first step looked like this,

Any guesses?

Parting shot: This has been my iPod background and been making me smile all week!