A new knitter suffers withdrawl...

The following is a close as I can get to the original transcription of a conversation I have with my friend and co-worker, Crazy M. My friend, Sharon, just taught Crazy M. how to knit.

The names have been semi-changed to protect my arse.

Crazy M shuffles into GrimmWitch's (I am GW - step aside former president) disgustingly stifling hot box classroom.

Crazy M (in a tortured tone): GW, what should I do?

GW (fearing her friend may be uncomfortable in the heat): Are you OK?

Crazy M: Yes, but I have a problem. I need to knit.

GW (relieved and puzzled): Ok, so go knit.

Crazy M: I can't, I gotta teach a class.

GW: No, I'm taking all my kids to DARE practice (the show was great, by the way. Bravo, my minions!)

Crazy M: But I still have the 6th grade.

GW: Oh...well then you have to teach.

Crazy M: You don't seem to understand. I need to knit! I want to knit now!

GW: I'm sorry, M. But you're a good teacher; you're going to go teach that class.

Crazy M (grumbling as she shuffles from the room): What did you people do to me now? All I want to do is knit! I can't teach like this! I just want to sit and knit, that's all!

GW: I'm sorry, M, but I warned you...it is like crack.

Even when the kids are not there I manage to have fun at work.

Hats Done!

Mr. G helped me take the pics but I think they came out funny.

Taking a Break from my Knitting with...more Knitting

I have been working on the Baby Surprise for Mrs. B's grandbaby. I got the invite for the party but sadly it's on my birthday so I won't be staying for the whole thing.

It's a second kid for the parents, so Mrs. B was asking us in school in June if we thought it was appropriate to have a smaller party. I think that whenever anyone has any sort of excuse to have a party one should do so; maybe a smaller party is called for or asking for donations instead of gifts is an option. I also feel that whenever a child of the opposite gender enters a family (the 1st child a boy, the 2nd a girl, or the 1st two boys, the 3rd a girl,m visa versa and etc) you're pretty much starting from scratch in many areas so a typical baby shower is fine. Mrs. B is just a very considerate person. She never wants to offend people.

So here is a pic of the newest portions of the sweater, now with lavender stripes introduced.

I took a break from sox and the Clapotis to make a hat. Mom (Lupie) had picked out a pattern she wanted to make and I wanted to work along with her, but I was eyeing another pattern from tentenknits.

I worked on it one afternoon at Mom's house and two nights in a row when I was trying to get to sleep and finished quickly. I tried my best with the floats but know that tension will get better with practice.

Tomorrow I'm going knitting with the ChalkDust Knitters for the first time in months. I'm very excited b/c I know Karen will have the latest news from school (she is an administrative assistant in another grammar school in my district). I don't know if I mentioned it yet, but apparently my school has been closed down due to asbestos. Gee whizz, I wonder if all the cave-ins, cracks, and ceiling nipples with dripping asbestos water could have put any of my kids in danger!?!?

Warning...Crazy Teacher Rant...

I really want to know what's going on b/c I had big plans to completely re-do my classroom so that it would be more organized, easier to run, and therefore a less stressful place to be. But who knows what will happen now, and who knows whether or not all the dangerous crap will really be cleared away. I bet any amount of money it won't.

People wanna know why my little dudes can't score as high as other districts (even though we score high compared to other urban districts like our own). It's because my funny, smart, beautiful, clever, awesome, caring, inspirational, terrific students (they are really too wonderful for words) are going to school in a century old building that was permitted to slowly desintigrate. They look at drab beige and brown walls and floors every day, my posters and decorations stretching to cover up the veins of water damage and dusty cracks that have been unrepared for years.

Then people try to blame the custodians. I imagine keeping my school clean must be something like trying to dust and restore an Egyptian pyramid after someone plays paintball inside.

Teacher Rant Over

I went out recently with two women I went to high school with. It's weird to call them women:) I still feel 18 sometimes. I think if someone had asked me which one of us I thought would be married and in a stable teaching possition ten years later I would have been my last guess. I tell my students all the time that sometimes life takes you to the complete opposite of where you thought you'd be. And in my case it ended up to be the best thing as I sit here typing next to the man I never thought I'd want to meet, in the home I never imagined I'd own.

And in music news I stumbled across the two year old album of the band She Want Revenge and really liked it. So one may want to check it out...it sits just perfect between Joy Division and The Cars in my iPod, but I wouldn't say it's exactly like either.

And the Countdown Begins...the Great GrimmWitch Relocate

Thank the Gods my college course is over. I was never able to find enough time for it. For whatever reason perhaps b/c of my rockin' SmartBoard, work I do at home for my job has increased and I find myself working at least two or three hours on work work after I get home at around 4:30. The move is slowly creeping forward and We need to start packing.

In between that I still have a huge amount of pressure at work. It doesn't feel like home away from home anymore. Every day I'm waiting for something else to go wrong.
I'm also trying to take the next few steps in my quest to be a mom. I suppose I should have listed that first in my non knitting pursuits, but sometimes my priorities get all jumbled.

So, cute things 1st. Smudge has made a wonderful recovery from the head tilt he had over the summer. We thought we'd loose him, and we hoped at the most that he'd live on unhindered by a permanent tilt, but he is my little hero and looks exactly just as healthy as he did before he was ill.
I didn't want to remember it so I didn't take pictures of his illness, but by the point the below was taken I was elated that he was alive and kickin' and thought this was going to be it for him so I snapped this shot.Well, since then he's improved greatly and is up to no good again. He discovered the moving boxes.
As previously promised I have some pics from Mr. G and my little trip to Phili for Eastern State Penitentiary's Terror Behind the Walls, a remarkable haunted house set up in the historical prison. Mr. G has yet to send me the few pics he took w/ his phone at the pen, but the next day we went to the Camden Aquarium (nice, but worth $45 some odd dollars per person?).

Many exhibits featured pumpkins for seasonal look.

Me looking at jaws from the extinct Megalodon.

View of hippo from the underwater area of their tank - this made it worth the money - they are extraordinary!

And the weekend's booty pictured next to my well loved copy of Watchmen. Can't wait for the flick. Mr. G bought me this Teddy Scares at the prison and he comes with a ball and chain...
And at back tat!
Now for knitting...
I finished Griffin's tomten a while back and added monkey buttons, but don't have a pic yet. Finished the ripple blanket as well...pics to come. Its being washed as I type.

I knitting a baby surprise for a co-worker's brand new granddaughter, Sophia, out of CottonTots from Bernet. I love that stuff.

The buttons are butterflies.


In celebration of this festive Yule season I made my sister, a long time Impressionist fan, a pair of socks out of Rio de la Plata merino in the colorway Starry Night purchased from Yarnmarket.




I made a scarf for a student of mine that gifted me with some yarn. She crochets and I knew she would appreciate this and wanted to thank her for her gift.

In addition to finishing my tomten for Griffin's cousin, another adorable Sophia, I'm working on Jaywalkers for mom, and a top down cardigan out of Zebra Caribe.

And another Baby Surprise for another pregnant co-worker.

I just love this pattern. I love that I don't have to seam too much b/c I feel that's my weakness. I think it's a warm, practical jacket that can be made to look so different every time by simply changing the colors and the way in which they are used.

Just as the vacation rolls downhill to a too quick end the ChalkDust Knitters met up for a great meet at Pat's house. It was just so nice, her place is beautiful, and I enjoy our time together more than I ever thought I could. Pat gave me a great book on beading (very comprehensive...Thanks Pat!!) Those of us who were not able to make it were enormously missed.

Pic Pilfered from Knitting with my Mother's Hands (aka - my mom's site)

And now for something completely different!

Happy New Year!!!

If you gotta label people...

I was reading one of my favorite blogs Knit and Tonic and read this post about some knitters labeling others a "Muggles" (from Harry Potter, you know)and then she goes into this whole thing about how she doesn't really like it because she was once in that position and would have been named that, as was anyone else who's ever learned to knit. I guess that's what I would be. Anyway, read it, 'cause it's a good post. She also talks about feeling uncomfortable when she walked into her LYS (local yarn store) and people were sitting at the table knitting and kinda looked sideways at her. If you've ever been in that position (and who hasn't - 'cause there's always that one person in there who gives you a disgusted look) it feels good to see that even someone who comes up with amazing designs has had to deal with that. The Yarn Harlot uses the term, but kinda makes it sound like an almost endearing teasing sort of thing.

Since I've been only knitting for a year and a month, but crochetting for 16 years I usually see that many knitters look down on crochet. I don't understand the logic of that either. 2 is better than 1? Kinda knowing both now (because I do think I'm a better knitter than crocheter) I can say for sure that they're similar in many ways, and each is vital this or that task. I doubt anyone who does that "I'm better than you are" gaze would ever read this, but if you do...cut it out. You just look obnoxious.

Got together with people from work...Septembers coming.

Mom's in Connecticut...

and I really miss her : ( I cast the Schaefer aside...I love working with it, but I tore it out for the 90th time, and I don't want to ruin it. I started the same pattern I'm working on, but double stranding Wool Ease. We'll see. I still have to get my school tests, study guides, and papers ready for 9/6. Pepper's 1st year...my sixth year, but tenure year in my district...hopefully my mom's last year teaching...may be interesting.

EPILOGUE...

I had spent this migrane-y day at home with Smudge burning every Knitty Gritty I have on TiVo onto a DVD. Then the lights went out.

The super of this sell-your-first-born-to-afford-the-rent garden apartment complex I live in is never home...he's always "at work." I've known supers...being a super IS THEIR JOB!.
Hubbie is unreachable, and when he finally calls me he has no time to help me...I get the moonlighting super on the phone and he's rushing me off the line like he doesn't have the time to speak to me. He sends his "brother" over - who knows - and asks me if I have keys to the basement where the fuses are. Darlin' if I had keys to the frickin basement I wouldn't have called anyone to being with!

This was just the latest in a series of irritating events that have been bothering me regarding the apartment that's way too expensive for it's condition. I wish I could transplant the apartment to some other place, because I love my actual apartment, but ...bleh!! Whatever, man...talking, rather, typing about it I feel a bit better now...oh, but all those Knitty Grittys!!:( I need me a chocolate milk.

Current Projects 7/12/07

I should have been working on this stuff today, but I spent the day goofing off:)



This is a toddler sweater. The white, periwinkle, and green yarns are all Caron Simply Soft, just like the Bunny Sweater . Some people get weird when it comes to yarn and insist that more expensive yarns are better, or that items made from inexpensive yarn aren't as nice. Basically, I don't care what anyone else thinks and I use the yarn that feels or looks best for me.

The varigated yarn that looks greenish-blue is Araucania Pehuen. Proof that I do mix it up as far as pricing is concerned. I really loved this yarn and had very little of it in this color. Mom suggested I use it for something special so I chose to take a risk here. I don't know how all of this will wash together, but either way, the process was nice. The Caron is so nice to work with, as is the Pehuen, but in different ways.

The next piece is something I started during the last few days of school. I had no work to do in the evenings and didn't want to go back to this Fitted Knits piece I have sitting around quite yet (I've ripped it up three times). It's a from the top down raglan and I just decided to wing it. I had some Noro Silk Garden I got on sale and it seems to be coming out o-tay.