Boring

This is a rather boring post, but wanted people to know that I am still here! There won't be any pictures and only talk of the non-knitting I have done. I started my new teaching job two weeks ago and pretty much worked 12 days straight, 10 hours a day. Last week, I was at school until 6:30 each night (which is the time they kick us out at) trying to set up my classroom and preparing for the next day's lessons. As a first year teacher it hasn't been easy, but I figure it can only get better! I haven't been able to do ANY knitting. Today is my first day to kind of relax (although I'm still thinking about lesson plans). I have a bbq today for my boyfriend's sister and kind of wish I had brought some knitting. I am a month behind on my STRs and I just got the next shipment yesterday. Oh, I need to knit!!

Finishing and Finished Projects

When I get to the part in a pattern that says "Finishing" I feel a sense of dread come over me. I love knitting!! I HATE seaming parts, weaving in ends, felting, etc. I finally finished this bag:



Now, it wasn't the knitting that was the hold up. It was the felting. I was going to give this bag to my mom back in May for her birthday. So the bag was definitely knitted up by the middle of May. I just had to felt it. Ha! I didn't get around to doing that until last week. Then I had to stitch on the handles. I pretty much did that right when it dried so that the bag wouldn't be sitting around for another 2-3 months. It's not that the felting or attaching the handles is hard, I just don't really care to do it.

Another project that works as an example is the following:



I got this yarn from my trip to Colorado. I finished the project in 2 weeks (which is quite an improvement from the market bag). The thing is, it took me about 3 or 4 days just to sew on the sleeves. I literally did one half of the seaming on each sleeve at a time.

Finally, I made this adorable guy:



(He's pictured here doing his morning yoga)

Eddie has decided to keep James (that's what he named him). Notice the lack of eyes. I knit up this monkey in less than 24 hours. He was made while I was at Eddie's house and I didn't have any embroidery thread with me. I wanted to bring him home so I could put on his eyes as soon as possible before it got to the point where he just sat around for months on end because of my dislike for the "finishing touches." Oh well, I guess he'll be blind for awhile.

Anybody else have this problem with finishing?

Officially Employed!!

Although it doesn't have anything to do with knitting, I have to start out by celebrating that I just signed my contract this morning for a teaching position!!! I was hired at a year-round school to teach Language Arts to 4th, 5th, 6th and ELD students. It is a position that very different from what I was expecting, but I think it will be a wonderful experience. Since I will be at a year-round school, I will start work on July 14th, much sooner than expected. I also started the masters program, but changed my schedule so that I am only taking one class. I really don't know how much time that will leave for knitting, but on the bright side, I will finally be making some money :)

To catch up a little...two days after I graduated from the credential program, I headed out to Colorado for a short vacation. On the airplane and in between activities I knit this:



While in Colorado, one of the activities was river rafting. Here are a couple photos (I'm in the middle on the left side of the raft if you're on it facing forward):





It was tons of fun and very cold!!! The guide told us that the river had 4000 cubic feet pass per second the day we went rafting. This may not mean much until I tell you that is it normally 400 cubic feet per second at this time of year. That's a whole lot of water!

I shopped at I Love Knitting in Denver. The staff was very helpful! I got some yarn and a book of patterns there. I am working on a bolero from the book. I don't have any pictures, but have almost completed the project. I will post pictures when I am finished.