Sunday, September 30, 2007

AHH!!!

I feel like I'm already going crazy. Last week I started my first placement as a student teacher. It went well, but all I really did was observe and give some spelling tests. Next week I have to plan reading lessons for a group of students who are struggling with reading. Each lesson is about one hour. So I'm freaking out a little, even though I know it will be a piece of cake. I started my classes for the credential program on Thursday. I have only been to two out of my five classes and am stressing about all the assignments I will have to do on top of student teaching. The good news is that most of the assignments have to do with things I will be doing in the classroom (as a student teacher). I think I really just need to be able to take it one day at a time, which is definitely not one of my strengths.

What does this have to do with knitting??? I really want to knit and have tons of projects that I want to start working on, but feel a little guilty if I'm knitting instead of reading or doing assignments for school. I totally understand why they recommend not working during this year. Which means I also stress about money! Ah, life! Hopefully I will be able to get some knitting in. In fact, I should require myself to get some knitting in because it is definitely a de-stressor!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Parents Hooked it Up!!

My parents hooked it up! Apparently there was a sale at Joann's Fabric on the Super Size Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn. They know that I am crazy about knitting (which in turn means that I'm crazy about yarn too). This is what they got me:

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Leave it to my mom to take the full advantage of a sale :) They got me 16 balls of this yarn (4 ea of 4 colors). I really don't know what I will do with it all. The only thing that I have ever used this yarn for is dishcloths. I also made one scarf when I first started knitting. I am using the varigated yarn to make the Baby Surprise Jacket. I'm not sure how it will turn out, but I'm hoping for the best. Fortunately I know plenty of people who are having babies. If the first jacket turns out ok, maybe I will use the rest of the yarn to make more Baby Surprise Jackets. If not, people are getting lots of dishcloths for Christmas! LOL!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Da Bears!

As promised, I have a picture of Eddie wearing the socks that I made for him.

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I was able to give them to him last Sunday when the Bears played the Chiefs. We now know that the socks work because the Bears won 20-10!!! Hopefully the luck lasts throughout the season and the Bears can make it to the Super Bowl again. I'm not a Bears fan (nor a huge football fan in general), but I figure if he can support my obsessive knitting habit then I can support his team :)

P.S. I have only been on Ravelry for two days, but I absolutely love it!! If only I could organize my entire life this way :) I have also finally found something to make with my Amaizing yarn (SWTC). My name on Ravelry is "abarclay." Check it out!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Ravelry!!!

I cannot believe it! I am on Ravelry! To be honest, I really don't know all that much about it, but a couple of people have been saying how great it is. I also noticed that there was a LONG waiting list! I figured I better get on that waiting list and maybe I would be on by the end of the year. Much to my surprise, I had an invitation waiting for me in my email. Went on Ravelry, signed up and started checking it out. I can't wait to get home and start filling it out. I put in one pattern that I have finished (Trellis - see below) and then I was able to see all the variations of that pattern that other people had done! So cool. I definitely need to find more time so I can play around with it!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Packages

So I have been looking at other people's knitting blogs and many people have pictures of packages that they have received in the mail. These packages usually have candy, yarn, knitting needles and all other kinds of fun stuff. My question is, how do I get in on this??? I love getting mail that isn't a bill, especially when it's a package!! Does anyone know how I sign up for one of these exchanges?? If so, please let me know :)

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Visiting Family

For the last week and a half I have been visiting family in Oregon and Arizona. First, I went to see my cousin, Laurie, who is having a baby (the one that I gave the baby sweater to). She loved the sweater!! She wanted to hang it on the wall in the nursery instead of putting it on her baby. The day after I gave it to her she was talking to her husband's grandma from Pennsylvania. Grandma Phoebe said that it must be "some sweater" because Timothy (Laurie's husband) even told her how awesome it is. That made me super excited. Laurie has done a little knitting on her own, but mostly purses, scarves and hats. She still feels that she is a novice knitter. It was great giving the sweater to someone who knits because then she really appreciated the gift. It was awesome! I got a better response than I thought I would. This is my cousin and me at a waterfall in OR:

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Since I have a little more experience knitting (Laurie was calling me a "professional," which I am far from) Laurie wanted to get in as much knitting time as possible. While there I worked on this scarf:

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Using this yarn:

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We went to the LYS, The Naked Sheep (http://www.thenakedsheepknitshop.com/) and I loved this shop! They had a pattern for felted clogs that I had been thinking about getting for a long time. I was really debating on whether or not I should get yarn along with the pattern while I was there. I had plenty of yarn back at the house to do some projects, but I really really wanted these clogs! So, naturally, I bought some yarn so I could knit up the clogs right away. I am so glad that I did. I LOVE THESE CLOGS!!! Here is a pic pre-felting:

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The pen is there so you can get an idea of a the ginormous size of these clogs before felting :) The finished product will be in a picture below.

Laurie had been working on a baby sweater and was feeling a little discouraged about it. So she added on some red to the bottom of it and it made a world of difference. Laurie decided to try different kinds of stitch patterns while making baby blocks. She wanted a project where the end results would come a lot quicker! I really liked the way the blocks turned out.

I had been looking at some stitch markers on ebay that were absolutely adorable. Since my cousin enjoys using Sculpey clay and had some on hand, we decided to make some of our own stitch markers. My first four were insects, which ended up being WAY to big, so they became magnets instead. My cousin made me a set of purple stitch markers and I love them. I was also able to get a good start on the Bears socks for Eddie. Here's a picture of us with all of our projects from the week:

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Laurie decided to make her own pair of clogs. She started her clogs the night before I had to leave for AZ. Since she wasn't able to get to the last part of the clog before I left, we sat down before I went through security and I showed her how to do a three needle bind off so she would know how to do it when she got to that part. I think that we knit every minute we possibly could, literally right up until I went through security. It was great being able to knit with someone else. I usually knit alone, or while I'm with other people who don't knit. I don't know what it is, but there is definitely a difference when you're with fellow knitters.

Next, I went to AZ. While there, I finished Eddie's socks. I also watched the Bears game on Sunday (he wasn't able to watch it on TV in CA) and they ended up losing. I told him it's because he didn't have his lucky socks. Hopefully the Bears will win the next game when he can wear the socks :) I will have to post a picture of them later.

I taught my step mom how to knit while I was there. She started a garter stitch scarf. My dad has a dog (a boxer) who is almost two years old and definitely likes getting into mischief. I had some yarn in my suitcase. The suitcase was closed, but not zipped. The dog decided that my yarn should be in the living room and this is what she did to it:

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The picture is a little difficult to see, but basically she took a new, NEAT ball of yarn and knotted it all up. I couldn't be too mad because she is adorable! While in AZ, I started a pair of ankle socks for myself. I can definitely say that the 115 degree weather did not encourage me to do too much knitting.

Wow this is a long blog! I should probably just keep it up to date more frequently :)