Thursday, October 25, 2007

Forgive me, readers.  It's been a month since my last confession entry.

It seems to take me a week to get ready to leave my house (and family) for a long weekend of teaching (clean out the fridge, get groceries, make lists of when to do what, take the garbage out, make sure there are clean clothes and towels, gas up the car, pay the bills, go to the bank, go to the post office, and oh yeah -- get class notes and samples ready, and pack).  It also seems to take me a week to recover and get my house back in shape when I get back (clean out the fridge, get groceries, throw away the untouched lists of when to do what, take the garbage out, make sure there are clean clothes and towels, gas up the car, pay the bills, go to the bank, go to the post office, and oh yeah -- go through my class notes and samples and unpack).  Maybe I'm too old for this.  I'm still exhausted.

My weekend in Oakland, substitute teaching for Beth Walker at the TKGA Fall Knit and Crochet Show, was fun.  My loyal roadie this time was Pat, who graciously put up with some insane flight schedules (I'm still new at this) and all of my insecurities (although I was much more relaxed than at Stitches Midwest).  We were able to see a little bit of Oakland, and to bring home quite a bit of yarn.  The students I met were great (of course -- they're knitters!), and the classes went well, despite the arctic conditions in the classrooms and, in one case, a lack of working light bulbs (fun!).

I had the opportunity to meet Laura, with whom I've corresponded irregularly for a number of years, and she introduced me to Ann Rubin, founder of afghans for Afghans, and to some of the other dedicated volunteers who sort and pack the items donated from around the world.  I hand delivered what I had brought with me, and mailed another box as soon as I got back home, of items that had been finished and dropped off in my absence.  I quickly crocheted a vest using a pattern from the a4A website, aiming for an older teenager (I try to knit in sizes that would fit my own children). 

It's definitely not quite big enough for Sheila dummy, but you get the idea.  It was a great stash buster, and I'm getting better at this crochet stuff.

afghans for Afghans current need is for baby hats, baby socks, and warm baby blankets (I'll crochet one!).  There's more information here.  Please consider making an item or two (or more!) for them.  My local guild's monthly Knitting for Others gathering at Schuler's in Eastwood Towne Center is this Sunday (10/28) from noon to 4.  You do NOT have to be a guild member to join us.  I'll have to duck out at 2:15ish for Son Number Two's flag football game, but ya'll can stay as long as you like.

My therapy knitting while in Oakland was this pair of socks for my brother-in-law's birthday:

Trekking XXL, color 69 (brown, although very olive greeny in daylight), toe up, switching between magic loop and double points (depending on whether I was on the ground or in the air).  I used a garter rib (one round of k2p2, one round of knit) (I think) and Charlene Schurch's idea of putting in an upside down heel (i.e., the heel flap is on the bottom of the foot -- whacky!).  The birthday boy has worn them and says they fit well and will take more pairs, so hooray!

I would just like to add that for a night owl such as myself, the time change which occurs when traveling three time zones to the left (that would be west for some of you) is not a problem at all.  The time change to the right, however, piled on top of some ungodly number of hours in some ungodly number of airports (including a six hour layover in Los Angeles) is not so good.

In the two weeks between Oakland and Baltimore, I did the aforementioned house readiness/recovery routines while getting ready for my final stint as a Beth Walker wanna be.  This included whacking about five inches off of the Bavarian Twisted Stitch hat (actually only about two inches, but it made such a huge difference in fit that it may as well have been more):

And starting a Bavarian Twisted Stitch sock from Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles:

I am, in fact, using two circulars, although I keep screwing up and ending up with one shaped like a pretzel, so I'll probably switch to the magic loop technique once I find my really long size 0 circular (it's probably right where it belongs, but I haven't looked for it yet).  The yarn was a gift from Nancy J (frequent commenter, previously blogless, but now, happily, blogfull!).  I thought the sort of solid (heathery) yarn would show off the stitch definition well, and it certainly does!

Stitches East in Baltimore was great -- I'm definitely still learning how to handle larger class sizes, but I just love this teaching gig that I've stumbled into.  My partner in crime was Sharon, who was very good at scoping out places to go in our free time -- she found us some very excellent crab cakes (when in Maryland . . .).  I do have to learn to travel without a posse, but I sure appreciate them when I've got them! 

The Knitter's Magazine Knitter of the Year for 2007 was introduced -- Karen Porter, founder of Children in Common.  This is another organization worthy of our attention.  She's asked knitters to contribute socks, vests and sweaters for children aged 6 months to 5 years.  I may have to quit my job to have time to knit for everyone I want to knit for.  Either that or I have to stop meeting these amazing, good hearted people.

My therapy knitting in Baltimore was the second sock of this pair:

Remember the pooling that I didn't like?  Well, I got rid of it, although I learned that when there's elastic in the yarn, your gauge can really be affected by take offs and landings.  I knit and re-knit over and over (and over), until I got a second sock with colors that didn't pool.  Success, right?  Wrong.  The second sock is way bigger than the first sock.  Back in the marination chamber they go.  Great pattern, though!  The yarn is Panda Cotton from Crystal Palace.

I'm totally blanking on anything else that happened while I was gone, so I'll move on.  The students were enthusiastic and appreciative, the classes went well, I behaved myself in the market, I got stalked in the bathroom (Hi Vivian!) and signed my first real autograph (the first one that wasn't instigated by Rob).  I'll let you know if I remember anything else.  I still can't think straight, and I've been home for weeks.

Speaking of being home . . . I do have a teaching job here, too.  My students keep asking me not to forget about them while I'm out jet setting across the country.  Here's what greeted me when I got back:

This is Audrey, wearing the sweater she designed and knit along with my Entrelac Design class.  I'm so proud of her!  Look at the great job she did on the neckline and zipper:

Yay!

And here's Julee, with HER design from the same class, knit in teeny tiny Koigu.

It fits great, it looks great, and there are about a million little tiny squares there.  See?

That's dedication.  Gorgeous!

And here's the hunting hat Frankie knit for her husband in my Continental Knitting class:

I think Louie will be safe in that hat, don't you?  Bright!  Orange!  Don't shoot me!

What am I working on?  Too many things, and not the ones with deadlines.  Here are a couple of photos for you, though.

Faith Jacket Version 3.0:

It looks pretty good here.  I'll have to put it together and try it on before I know for sure.  The sleeves are going to be too short because I ran out of one of the colors of yarn, but I have lots of leftovers of other colors, so I'll add cuffs once I see how much I need.

And I'm working on a vest along with my current batch of Entrelac Design students, using this Diamusee yarn from Diakeito. 

Very pretty.  Strange spans of solid gray, white and brown intermingled with gorgeous variegated colors.  I'm screeching to a halt, though, because I'm pretty darned sure I'm going to run out of yarn, and Nancy knit the only spare ball she had into a hat, so I may have to wait for the next shipment.

And finally, tying up some loose ends.  There were some fabulous prizes of pretty sock yarn from uberimma, awarded to a couple of the knitters of my blankie.  The first went to Angie, whose squares were actually 12x12, as per the instructions (which made uberimma very happy).  The second was awarded to the winner of a very scientific drawing:

There are (were) 36 slips of paper in that bowl, one for each square that was knit.  Angie's name was in there, and there was a question mark for the square from the unknown knitter.  Some names were in there more than once, if more than one square was made.

And the winner, drawn by the totally objective (and clueless) Son Number Two?

Carolyn.  The prizes have been awarded.  Thank you, uberimma!!

I'm off to chip away at the celery that got frozen to the back of the refrigerator . . .

Sarah

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