Slow and Steady

Progress on the Yggdrasil Blanket has been continuous, but not swift. However the time constraint on the blanket has been lifted. The blanket was originally going to be a wedding present for a dear friend, who is now no longer getting married. I'm trying to keep motivated on the project, though. I don't want to set it aside, get distracted by other things, and find it six months from now crumpled into a ball with the needles pulled halfway out.


I've completed the center panel of trees.

There are four of those trees that all connect at the branches...or roots, depending on your perspective. After the tree panel, comes the first braid border. The border is knit perpendicular to the tree panel and connected by knitting together a border stitch with a center panel stitch.  The border itself is a series of braided cables. that I have had to watch pretty closely to keep mistakes at bay.



As you can see, I've gotten all the way across on side, around the corner and am starting on the next side. The corner itself was a bit tricky. It is done by using short rows. Combining short rows and cables is a tough task, especially since I'm a leftie and have to flip the cables around in my head. So the first corner is not completely mistake free, but I'm hoping that the mistakes are less noticeable than I think they are.

At least that is what I'm counting on.


I've also been putting in some knitting hours on the Frock Camisole. It is hard to capture in pictures how it is turning out.


It looks pretty boxy, but the tank is designed to be very floaty and drapey. The yarn drapes beautifully, which can't be seen in this picture...I'll try to get some pictures of it hanging next time and see if that helps. It is also hard to see the sheen and color of the yarn. The yarn is brown, but two-toned and the addition of silk gives it a nice sheen. The yarn has been awesome to work with.


I have also caught up on my socks. The first of my June socks is now finished and I'll be starting on the next one really soon. I'm hoping I'll be able to get the second sock completed by the end of the month, so I can stay on track.

Nutkin V. Nutkin

The May socks have been finished in a timely manner, just not photographed and blogged about until now. 

They turned out quite lovely if I do say so myself. This was the second time that I created socks using this pattern, Nutkin.


These are the original Nutkins, which turned out very lovely as well. I absolutely love how the yarn and pattern work together on this pair. I was pleased, but not as enthralled with the color/pattern combination on the second pair of Nutkins.


However, the Nutkin pattern is not terribly stretchy, so the first pair didn't go on very smoothly. I really had to yank to get the sock over my heel. It was a lot of work, too much work for a pair of socks, no matter how cute. When making the second pair, I used a half-size bigger needles, which gave me a little more room to pull the socks on and off.


Another problem with the original socks was the cuff. The pattern called for a fold-over cuff. Again, not very stretchy, so I replaced it with a ribbed cuff, which also helped with the fit.

While on the subject of socks, I'm lagging a bit behind on my June socks. Today is the 15th, so technically I should be finished with the first sock. I'm about halfway down the foot, about 3/4 finished with the completed sock, so I'm not too far behind.


June's sock is knitted in a handdyed sock yarn I bought on Etsy. It is a mixture of yellow, purple, and brown. The pattern is called Petunia Dursley's Double Eyelet Sock, an one of the many Harry Potter inspired sock patterns that can be found. It's a pretty simple pattern, easy to memorize to the point of being almost boring, which may be why I'm lagging behind on the knitting. However, I am determined to finish these by the end of June, as that will make 6 pairs of socks in 6 months, which is halfway to my goal (and a pretty impressive feat in its own right). 

Scary Stuff

So, I had a bit of a scare last week. I'm not sure that it is entirely over, but the worst of it is (I hope). Last Tuesday, I go in for my yearly eye exam. No biggie, I've been wearing glasses since I was in 7th grade, and I've been seeing this particular doctor for the past 13 years, so there should be no surprises.

Well, the doctor is looking at my eyes, and starts to furrow his brow and looks again, they consults my chart and looks more concerned. Then he asks if I have had any problems with blurred vision, headaches, blackouts, stuff like that. No, no more than normal. I suffered from the occasional migraine and I sometimes get headaches, everyone does (I"m actually getting over a doozie of a headache right now, a regular headache, not a migraine. I'm not one of those  people that thinks every headache, or even every bad headache is a migraine. That drives me crazy, migraines are a specific medical condition, but I digress). So doctor takes another look at my eyes, another look at my chart, and asks again about problems with headaches, etc. 

He tells me that my optic nerves are doing something they shouldn't. They stick up, or are swollen, or enlarged...something along those lines. That is usually caused by an increase in pressure inside your cranium, like a brain tumor might cause. 

Brain tumor? Sweet Jesus (that may just be a direct quote). However, since I don't have any of the other symptoms, he's not sure what is going on (which is always a reassuring thing to hear from your doctor). So, he's going to take some pictures and scans and send them into a specialist. In the meantime, I shouldn't worry. Right, because this isn't something to worry about.

So, two excruciating days later, Eye Doctor calls, he's consulted with a couple of other doctors and this is something that they should look into. Really? Thanks for that super piece of doctoring. So eye doctor is going to pass my chart along to the internist and someone from his office will be in contact with me. 

Not very much later, a nurse from internist's office calls, they've schedule a CT scan for that afternoon. They'll look at what that shows and make a decision on what further tests that I need from that point. So, now I'm really worried, things are moving fast, and things never more fast in the medical field unless something serious is going on. But let's get this over with, I go and get the scan.

Of course, the guy running the machine can't tell me anything, except that the radiologist is done for the day (honestly, it's 2 p.m, and he's done for the day?) and he'll be in from 8 to noon tomorrow morning and will read the scan the next day (okay, off by 2 one day, and four hours the next day...not bad working hours). So more pacing and waiting. Pacing and waiting.

I get the call the next day around noon. There was nothing unusual on the scan, but nurse is not sure what the next step will be because they want to consult with Eye Doctor again. And Eye Doctor is in Canada for the next week. Awesome, so something is causing my optic nerves to be wonky and we don't know what it is, but I should just sit tight while Dr. is on a fishing trip.

So the good news is, I don't have a giant tumor in my brain. However, there may or may not be invasive neurological tests on the horizon. Will keep posting updates as they occur.

Deep Breath and Move On

On most days, subbing is a crap shoot. You never really know what kind of class you're walking into, what kind of mood the students will be in, and what sort of sub plans the teacher has left for you. It is an adventure to walk into the classroom. Every class is different, some will wait patiently while you try to figure out what is going on, and some will attempt to set the building on fire while waiting.

The third grade class I subbed for on Wednesday was much closer to the latter. I try to arrive early to be prepared, but there are always some start of the day things that pop up. The first couple of activities were rough, but I've learned to just preserver until the students go out for recess or to a special to regroup. Which is what is did. Knowing that this class didn't have much tolerance for down time, I made sure that everything was laid out to get me through until lunch time, the class came back, and SHAZAAM things went much better for the remainder of the day.  But by much better, I still had a class that:

• about a third of the students requested to go to the office for "upset tummies," later, I found out that this school has a policy of giving mints to students with upset stomachs...maybe not the best plan, office ladies

• a student that requested to call home about 10 different times (and seriously, 10 is a conservative estimate), and on at least 2 separate occasions, I caught trying to make a phone call after being told no (and no, I'm not a meanie, there was a note from the teacher that she's a chronic home caller, to the point where the parents say not to let her call)

• another student that had a mysterious aliment causing her eyes to blur whenever she was required to do work, but be fine any other time

• a student attempting to use a 2 foot pencil for the entire day (okay, that one was pretty entertaining).

Ah, subbing, there is no job in the world quite like it.

On the job front, the job search is becoming discouraging. For a short time, there were jobs being posted everyday. Not always for this area, but still jobs. Now that is slowing down, and I've gotten a couple of "Thanks, but no thanks" letters from school districts this week. It is getting pretty tough not to get down about the job hunt, especially when lots of well meaning people ask about interviews and point out vacancies. It's tough to put on the happy face and keep telling people, "Nope, no real prospects, and thanks I've applied for that, but haven't heard anything." Perhaps, I just need a distraction from all of this...

Better Late than Never

The April socks are completed. Don't mind the fact that they were not finished until May 10, but they are now finished. 

Mad Colorweave Socks in Dirty Martini by Knitters Brew Company. They turned out pretty cute, I especially like the mini-cables that run down the sides. They are pretty similar to the Paul and Virginia socks I did a couple of months ago, I think in February, but the cables give them a different look.

I've also started my May socks, a little late, but they are started. Now, my May socks are a bit of a deviation from the self-imposed sock club. I discovered the yarn during the stash reorganization, and knew I had to make it into socks. The yarn is Tosh Socks by Madelinetosh in the colorway, Frida (a combination of pink, orange, blue, and green).

I started the socks in a pattern called Padfoot, but I didn't like how the colors were pooling, so I ripped it out (ripping out projects seems to be a common occurrence in this household). I started them again in the Nutkin pattern. I've made the Nutkins before and was pretty happy with how they turned out. This time I'm making a brief modification, changing the cuff.

So far, so good. Tomorrow is the 15th, so technically I should be finished with the first sock to stay on target, but I don't think it is going to happen. Luckily, my cousin gets married tomorrow in Marshfield, so I will have a couple of hours of knit time in the car over the next few days, which is good.  Hopefully, I'll be able to make good time over the next couple of weeks and get caught up.

Job Search

So, I've been done with student teaching for almost three months now (hard to believe!). And I've gotten pretty comfortable with the subbing groove. Don't get me wrong, subbing is a great gig, and I love getting to peek into all of the different classrooms. However, I'm at that point where I would like a full (or part) time job for next year. I'd like to have the promise of income, benefits, etc. I'd also like to be able to go to bed each night knowing whether or not I will be working the next day. And, I'd like to work with the same group of students so that I could build relationships and perhaps make a difference. 

The job market, however, is a little discouraging. People are full of stories about district cutbacks, teacher layoffs, and the ever helpful story about a niece, cousin, dog's next door neighbor's son's wife, etc that has a degree in Special Ed and has been looking for a job for the last three years and cannot find one (always an upper, thanks for that). 

I'm trying to stay positive. I know that schools are beginning to post vacancies, and new ones are showing up every day. I check those listings several times a day, I tune into all the rumors about districts that are and might be hiring, and I'm applying for every job that is posted within an hour and a half from here.

The applications themselves are daunting. They should have had a class on what to expect from a district application. At least five open answer questions about discipline, lesson planning, students, educational philosophy, IEPs, transition, differentiated instruction, behavior management, and theories of education, more than one that I've had to google. (And not to sound snotty, but seriously, if in four years of teacher training at one of the best teacher training colleges in the Midwest, I didn't come across the theory, not even a mention of it, can it really be that important? I've spent hours flipping through binders from classes, looking for materials to include in my portfolio.

My interview clothes are hanging up and ready to go. I'm tweaking my professional portfolio and studying interview questions. I'm waiting for that phone to ring, and it sits silent.

It cheers me a little that I've yet to apply for a job that I'm super excited for. I've applied for some good jobs, but nothing that makes me think, "man, I have to get this job." I know I just have to be patient and wait...and wait...and wait...

Maybe I'll go check the postings another time.

An Omen of Doom?

So I casted on for the Yggdrasil Blanket, a wedding gift for a dear, dear friend. I've been worrying that the project is too big, too complicated, or too hard for me to complete in time, but I figured that I would never know until I tried.

I sat myself down on the couch, with my yarn, needles, and pattern. the cast on method was one that I had never done before, but I read the directions carefully, reversed them to meet my left-handed needs and gave it a go...and failed.

So, I took a deep breath, re-read the directions and tried again...another fail.

Well, maybe I was making a mistake while reversing the directions. Now, I can knit both right and left handedly (though I'm pretty sure that handedly is not a word), I'm just much more comfortable and faster knitting left handed, but no matter, I'll just cast on with my right hand and do it that way. I re-read the directions one more time, took another breath...and failed.

Okay, at this point, I'm forced to admit there is a problem, so I got up, switched the laundry and cracked open a diet coke. Now my head is cleared, and the whites are in the dryer (important as husband informed me this morning he needs some clean socks) and I have some caffeine, I can do this. This time, I manage to get yarn onto the needles and it looks sort of like what it is supposed to, but I'm not convinced that it is correct.  Time to head to the internet for some advice.

After about ten minutes of research I find a less complicated cast on that seems to serve the same purpose. I give it a go and...presto! The yarn is on the needles and looks like it is supposed to. I do a little happy dance and knit a couple of rows.

Now, while knitting I'm beginning to worry that I may be in over my head. This feeling increases when I go to enter the project into Ravelry, where suggested tags include "lock-me-up-in-the-looney-bin," "biting-off-more-than-I-can-chew," "in-over-my-head," and "I-hope-to-finish-before-I-die."

This may be the point in the movie where everybody knows the hero should just turn back now, get a massage and live to fight another day, but the hero stupidly plods onward into danger. Let's hope I can emerge victorious.