Taos Wool Festival 2009

Even though it’s January of 2010, I felt like I still needed to write about my Taos experience from last October. Last year I drove by myself, but went through Cimarron, NM. It was a gorgeous drive, but took the longest because of the winding roads. This year I took the more direct route through Fort Garland and San Luis. It was a clear, but cold morning going up. It had been a year since I had been through the area, but it was nice to see the scenery.

Even though the gang wouldn’t be there until Sunday, I had to be there early Saturday morning to drop off my skeins. I decided that this year would be the first to have my spinning judged. I had 2 huge skeins that were definitely much bigger and heavier than the minimum requirements, but I wasn’t about to cut my skeins. I wasn’t really going to win ribbons. I had heard that they judging here would really let me know what I’m doing that’s good and things I could be doing to make my spinning better. While there, I ran into Sharron, Peggy, Allie. Both Sharron and Peggy were there filling out their many cards for judging. They had a lot! Sharron had some for different categories for using the wheel, one or two for drop spindle, and maybe one for novelty. Most of Peggy’s was novelty yarn. She’s soooo good at her boucle and such. Both women of course would be entering as an expert. I would be entering as a novice, since this was my first entry into a competition. You are allowed to step up into the expert category by placing in any of your entries.

I thought that I wasn’t going to go through the booths until the rest of the gang got there, but I couldn’t resist. Both Sharron and Peggy were there with their husbands. Sharron’s husband had to work on some things while there. Peggy and her husband, Jeff, had volunteered to work around the festival. So Sharron and I decided to make our rounds. There were booths that I recognized and those that I didn’t. It was fun. We got to see a guy spinning! I mean I have seen a guy spinning before at Rock/Distaff day in Jan ’09. What was different about this guy was that he was a cowboy. He had the jean, boots, and cowboy hat. It was awesome! We were also able to see Peggy doing a spinning demo. It’s always nice to see her doing something I hadn’t seen before. She was using a string as a core yarn and then using fluff and another string to ply it all at once. It came out so nice and airy!

Since I had been the year before I had more of an idea of what I wanted to get. I had seen a shawl that I absolutely loved, so I wanted to get the pattern and yarn to make it. I had also learned how to work with mohair locks, so that was something that I wanted to get. Since Peggy was the expert of using mohair, I had asked her where the best locks were. She told me that I would have to spend some money, but they would be good quality.

We also were able to see sheep get sheered. The guy who did it was pretty fast! I think he had one done in less than 5 min.

When I first started I didn’t think that I would be the type to buy a full fleece. I really don’t know what makes a good fleece well…good. I don’t know enough about the different breeds of sheep or goats and the type of staples that are produced by each. I don’t really know what to look for, but after seeing Peggy with bags of Wensleydale and Teeswater fleece, I wanted to find some for me! When Sharron and I did find full fleeces I was shocked by the price. I knew that a full fleece would be expensive. Then you have to take in mind that you loose some of the weight due to lanoline and VM. I’m so used to buying prepared roving, but didn’t really think I was ready to buy fiber that required me to wash and prepare the fiber. There was a fleece that was so pretty. The curls were so nice to see and feel. I wanted it sooooo bad, but couldn’t afford the entire bag. I did find a smaller bag of Teeswater. I was happy to find out that all I would need to do with this was wash it. I could spin it as is. I didn’t need to card it out unless I wanted to. I have asked Peggy whether or not she would help me dye it and she’s agreed! It’ll be so much fun to finally take another step forward in my spinning.

We were told that the judging of the spinning was supposed to be done by 5pm, so Sharron and I sat around talking to other spinners while we waited. During this time we both decided that we needed to bring our wheels for next time. We saw that they had gone through the drop spindle and novelty categories. We also saw Allie holding up skeins of Sharron’s when they had received a ribbon. Before we had gotten there, Sharron had received a ribbon on an original knitting pattern for a hat. By the time I saw her receive another ribbon, her first spinning ribbon, my whole idea of not needing a ribbon changed. I wanted a ribbon! I got myself so worked up so much that a migraine started. I can’t remember what time it was when all was finally judged. I think it was close to 6pm.

When Allie did hold up my wool skein, I turned to Sharron and hit her in the arm with a huge smile on my face! I think I took her by surprise. When my alpaca was held up, she leaned to the side knowing I was going to hit her again. Haha When we were finally allowed to go in to look at the wall of skeins I started texting everyone I knew that would appreciate or understood why this was so important. I informed Rosemary that one of her drop spindle skeins got runner-up for best of show. I was also able to look at the other winning skeins. The person who got best of show, I thought, shouldn’t have received it. It had guard hairs in it (which I guess were purposely left in). The plying I think could be a little tighter. Rosemary’s spinning is just awesome! I really wish I was able to drop spindle like her!

In the novice wool category I got 3rd place. I didn’t quiet pay attention to the skein that won 1st, but I did look at the 2nd place skein. I understand that my skein was not completely consistent and it was 2-ply, but I really didn’t think that the 2nd place skein was 2nd place quality. Yes, it was a 3-ply but there were so many more inconsistencies in the spinning. There were a lot of very thin spots and thick spots. Maybe it’s just me.

The second ribbon I got was for my alpaca. I got first place! Allie told me that I was the only entry in the novice category for alpaca. She also told me that if the judge didn’t think it was worth a blue ribbon, I wouldn’t have gotten it. I could believe it! First place! It was so awesome to see that! Allie was so happy with how we had done. I told her that it wasn’t really us, it was her fiber. She tried to argue with me, but I told her that her fiber is a dream to work it. It pretty much tells you what it wants to become…how it wants to be spun. So if there is anyone who wants to work with great alpaca, Allie Neas from Eyedazzler’s is the best person to talk to!

On Sunday I made my way to the festival again. I decided to start my X-Mas projects of mini-sweater ornaments while I waited for the gang to show up. I got to sit around and talk to other knitters and spinners. Most of them were followers from Ravelry. Around lunch time, I was finally able to meet up with the gang: Emily, Joyce, Karen, Winnie, Sue, and Sandy. (Not shown, Sandy and Karen.)

There were some booths that I didn’t go into the day before on purpose. I wanted to wait until I was sure what I wanted from that booth and whether or not I had the money. I was able to get the pattern and yarn for the shawl that I saw from the year before. I couldn’t find the same color waves from the one I saw last year, but I got some that I thought would look good together.
Overall the trip was great! I think it was a beginning to another chapter in my spinning. Not only will I just spin, but I will learn from my spinning and new spinning techniques. I just wish that I remembered which direction I was going in. When I’m in Denver, I’m so used to driving down I-25 going south. For some reason I decided that when I was in Walsenburg that I wanted to go south. Well about 15-20 minutes later, I noticed that I was heading to Aguilar! So I had to turn around and wasted about 30-40 minutes. It was funny afterwards, just not at the moment.
Well onto the many spinning projects til October 2010!

Well the past couple of weeks have been busy, but that sounds like the rest of my summer vacation. The last week of July was spent signing a lease for a new apartment, packing last minute, moving (hired help-yay!), cleaning the old place, unpacking the new place, applying for the master’s program at CSU-Pueblo, knitting, visiting, and so much more. I really don’t know how I’m still going. One thing that has kinda kept me going are my projects. They are a nice way of getting the mind off unpacking, but a temporary getaway can be dangerous when it comes to unpacking. I want to say about 50% of the boxes are unpacked. All I need to work on is the extra room which has most of my school, scrapbooking, yarn, and fiber.

A few days after being in my new place I finished my Pinwheel Rug. I was so happy to get it done. I started on it in March while CSAP testing, so that’s about 4.5 months. I had a few people who tried to talk me into not felting it; that I should use it as a blanket instead. Last Saturday I felted it at home and laid it out to dry at the LYS, since I didn’t have room at the new place. I was really shocked at how fast it took to felt, but I am very happy at the outcome. I think my wheel looks awesome on it. :D

I have been working on my first sweater since a few women at the shop have finished a couple of sweaters. Some of them being felted sweaters, which means they were bigger projects than mine to begin with. Pretty bad, I know. I finished with a seed stitch and picot bind off. It looks really nice. Then I started to work on the sleeves and noticed that they were HUGE! The pattern I’m using is for a guy, so the size I was using was for a bigger guy…therefore big sleeves. With discussion from a few friends, I’ve decided to do something I didn’t want to do…I must cut it. I guess it’s called steeking. When I cut it I will be sewing up a seam. This will close up the armholes creating a tighter sleeve; one that will fit just one of my arms. I was hoping to do the sweater all in the round without seams, but I gotta do what I gotta do. The lesson that was learned: Stick with patterns for the correct sex unless you have experience knitting that type of garment.

Since I am in no hurry to finish the sweater by cutting and sewing it back together I had to find a new project. You’d think that I’d be able to choose something from the tons of books and my large stash, but noooo! I instead used the internet (Ravelry) and bought new yarn. Lol I’ve always wanted to wear the slouchy, rasta style hats/berets. I knew the Alpaca would hang nicely, and would be like heaven to work with. It took me about an afternoon, early evening, and morning to finish it. Once I tried it on I decided it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. It wasn’t slouchy enough. So I plan on giving it to my sister for her Christmas present. It’s in a color she would like. I’m going to try to alter the pattern so that it fits the way I’d like.

I’m working on a new slouchy beret. I started it today. I have the brim and the beginning of the lace pattern started for the first round. So far, it’s not too bad. I just don’t like that there’s a YO at the end of the stitch grouping. It’s hard to do a YO doing magic loop. Well I think so anyways.

Well that’s it for me. I better be getting to bed. I have training tomorrow and Friday.

A Crafty Update

It has been way too long since I’ve written. I have been meaning to, but just haven’t had the time to do so. When I first started writing on here I had just started my job. Right now I’m about a week away from finishing summer school. Crazy!

Where to start…I guess I’ll start with my spinning. I currently have 2 projects on my wheel. Actually I have 3. Extra bobbins are both good and bad. Every time you find something new you look at those empty bobbins and think, “I could work with something different.” I still have the Cranberry Merino on one bobbin. I have tried to find a nice brown or beige fiber to ply it with, but hadn’t found a good combination. Nothing was ever the right shade until about 6 weeks ago. I started spinning a Merino/Angora/Silk blend at a spin night at Green Valley Weavers in Old Colorado City. I started passing around the Cranberry for the show ‘n tell and I was told that it would go perfectly with the blend I was working on. I looked and the colors would go well together. So that’s the plan with that. (Pictures coming soon.)

While at this month’s spin group I had only brought materials for a spin technique. I had a full day at work, and had taken off the Angora blend from my wheel before making the drive up north. The instructor of the technique couldn’t make it that night, so I didn’t really have anything to work on. So the good and bad thing about being at a yarn and fiber store is that they had a way of fixing my problem. I got 4 oz of a Merion/Yak blend. It’s soooooo soft! I can’t wait to finish it!

As in spun projects that are finished, I have 3. In December and January I started to spin some of Allie’s alpaca that I had bought from her last year. Her stuff is so nice. When I went to Distaff Day, I decided to get more of it. By February of this year, I had two full bobbins full of white and brown alpaca. Once plied, I had one and half of my Traditional bobbins full. All together, I have about 400 or so yards of 2-plied alpaca. It’s like a dream cloud of softness! Almost nice enough that I want to use it as a pillow. Hehe I have seen a pattern in Interweave that I would like to use it for. It’s a nice lacy cowl.

I think that makes for one finished spun project that I actually have a knitting project in mind. I think that same month I learned how to “cage spin” while going to the spin group up north. It’s the process of “caging” something in between two singles during the plying process. So I decided to use some wool from the shop since it was my first time. I think that I’ll have to knit something like a hat or thin scarf for St. Patrick’s Day next year.

My recent finished spun project was completed about 6 weeks ago. I decided that I wanted to spin something with color after I had done the two-tone alpaca. I bought the Interlacements wool braid at Taos, NM last fall at the Taos Wool Festival. This is the first purchase of the festival that I’ve touched/spun. I tried Navajo-plying it, but it didn’t look good, so I plied it on itself. Since the two bobbins were a little uneven I had to wrap the rest of the last bobbin on my hand. OMG! My hand cramped up through the whole process, but it was totally worth it! It came out so nice! The combination of the different colors is awesome! I like it! I just got to find something to do with it. Winnie from the shop spun something like my color combination and used it with some purples for a pair of fingerless gloves. I’m thinking that maybe something like that will work. Just got to find the right pattern. (Pictures coming soon.)

Now onto knitting…there are quite a few. I was pretty busy for the past few months when it came to knitting. Last winter I worked on all of my X-Mas presents. Normally, I make all of my X-Mas cards, but this year I made my own gifts. Each ornament was hand knitted with Elle Rae and size 6 beads. They were very easy to make. I made over 2 dozen of them. Most of them went out to friends and family, except there a few that I haven’t gotten out yet due to the fact that I’m afraid they’ll break.

In December I house sat for my friend Emily. She used to own the knitting shop and had just recently sold it. So I can say that the house was pretty well stocked with yarn. It was hard to keep my hands off her stuff and stuff it all in my bag, especially her cashmere, but I withheld. While there I did knit an Alpaca Cloche. It’s so freakin cute! I had to alter the number of rows a little, but it fits perfectly!

In January or February, I started a cashmere blend scarf at a luxury knit nite and started a hat for my dad. The cashmere scarf was a bright blue and so soft! I decided that I didn’t really care for the color myself and gave it to my aunt for her birthday. She loved it!

The hat for my dad was kinda designed color wise by himself. He wanted a yellow and black striped hat. He’s a Matt Kenseth fan and his pit crew is called the Killer Bees. So, I used Jared Flood’s Turn a Sq pattern. Every one at the shop had been using the pattern, so I figured that I should try it too. The problem was that the hat was too short and a little too narrow for his big head. Instead of ripping out the decreases and re-knitting it, I gave it to the niece. It looks good on both of them.

I also worked on a scarf for my supervisor, Kolleen. She’s been very helpful this year and has taken me out to eat many times. I thought that she deserved a little gift. She had admired my knitted scarves that I wore to school, so I picked out some nice thick ‘n thin wool that is totally her color. She really liked it.

A little after that I finished my first felted project. It was weird knitting a hat pattern that could’ve fitted a head about 3x the size of mine. I did enjoy doing the flowers. That was first type of embellishment that I had knitted. The author said something about being comfortable with a wet head. Every 30 minutes, I would take it out of the washer, ring it out and try it on. A wet head indeed! I have to admit that I made it towards the end of the cold weather and didn’t get to wear it out too much. Next year for sure!

Somewhere in between all of this I finished my last Monkey sock. The problem is that I don’t know where the first one is. I thought that I had put it in a safe spot…a spot that I don’t remember. Since I’ve been busy with work and everything else I haven’t found it. I hope to soon. I want to be able to wear it. I really don’t want to make another one with the leftovers.

About mid-March I started on the felted pinwheel rug that I wanted to start in the winter because of how big it gets. It would’ve been a great lap blanket. I started it while doing the CSAP at school. It was nice to start it there since I had to walk around the classroom and watch my students test for 2-3 hrs a day for a few weeks. It took about a little over an hour to get one panel done. The hard part about the project is that it takes about one skein of Cascade for each panel. As the yarn added up, it got pretty heavy and I couldn’t work on it anymore while at work. Currently, I have about 10 of the 18 panels done. It looks pretty good. It’s just too hot to work on it right now. We’ve been having 80-90 degree weather recently.

For Mother’s Day I made my mom a pair of socks. I decided that I had made everyone a pair of socks (friends and my sister), except my parents. I had some Encore that had my mom’s favorite colors in it, so it worked out perfectly. I didn’t even have to buy it. It was already in my large stash! Score! What was even cooler is that I made them in about 4 days. It helped that the yarn is worsted and that I used size 7 needles…and that I’m that good! Haha I made her try them on so that I knew I had gotten the sizing correct. Perfect fit!

It's a Fiber thing!

A couple of weekends ago I visited Taos, New Mexico for my first time that I know of. It was for the Wool Festival. Once Emily told me about it and since I had already gone to one festival in Estes Park, I knew that I had to go to this one. Emily had suggested going through La Vita pass, but I decided to go through Cimmaron instead. It was a gorgeous drive. New Mexico started out flat. There were grassy plains with little groups of deer here and there. About an hour or so into the southern state things started to get a little rockier and the straight highway started to curve. The grass plains turned into hills, rocks, and mountains. The dry grass turned into green pine trees with splashes of yellow and orange from the changing aspen trees. There were times that I just had to pull off when I could to take it all in…along with pictures. The road kept winding and winding and winding. I was starting to think that maybe I was on the wrong highway. Then I was on Kit Carson Road and I saw all of the haciendas. So very cute!

The only thing that I knew about Taos was that it was known for its skiing and other winter sports/activities. I am not a skier or snowboarder so I normally don’t go to towns like this. I had a friend of mine die in a skiing accident when I was in middle school and since then I won’t do it. I’ll take pics of the mountains, but that’s my limit. The town is full of so many art galleries! Since I have driven through parts of the town and outside the town, I know why there is so much art there.

I decided to see what was at the festival and was overwhelmed with all of the booths set up in the park. It was so much to take in all at once. There were a couple of animals, but soooooo much fiber!!!!! By the time I made one round the booths…I was pretty much broke when it came to cash. I started out with about $100. I got 3 oz of an alpaca blend of roving, 4 oz of variegated alpaca, and an 8 oz Interlacements wool braid. The colors were amazing!!! By the time I was done spending money it was time for me to check into my hotel room, so I walked back to my car. On the way, there was a cemetery in the park! A memorial for Civil War Vets named, Kit Carson Park Memorial Cemetery. It is the resting place of Kit Carson, his wife, and mother. Supposedly I’m related to Mr. Carson through marriage. His third wife is the one that is buried next to him, but I’m not sure which wife I am related to. My mom tells me it was the one that was Indian (Apache maybe). From what I’ve seen online he married two Indians, so I’m not sure.

Since Emily, Winnie, and Sandy wouldn’t be in town until later that evening I went to Wal-Mart and got some office supplies, snacks, and more cash for the next day. Lol I spent a good 5-6 hours off and on grading lots of papers that I needed to grade for awhile. They sadly kept piling up and were shouting, “Grade me!!!” There were times that staring at papers got to be too much and I had to stop and watch Night at the Museum. It was nice knowing that those got done and I wouldn’t have to worry about them when I got back in town. I just wished I had a computer so that I could have entered them into the grade book while there. Of course if the computer were with me, the papers wouldn’t have been graded.

The next morning I ate breakfast in the hotel downstairs and wrote a friend of mine a snail mail letter. I was surprised to find out that I was only allowed a 4 oz. glass of orange juice. Yeah, I could have had coffee or tea, but I don’t drink either in the morning so I asked for another orange juice. I was told that there were no substitutions allowed. OMG! It’s just 4 oz.!!! She was nice enough, after all of my complaining, to bring me another 4 oz. It was a little weird, because I was the only person sitting alone. I could have joined the girls but we all had free breakfast at our own hotels. Hmmm…

While waiting for the girls I watched some TV until check out time and then I decided to walk around the area of the park. When I finally met up with the girls it was similar to the same excitement as the day before…but way better! On the first day I was just poking through the booths, but with the girls I was paying more attention to what was really there…which in other words was good and bad. One good deal that I got was my buffalo! My friend Emily had bought two skeins of buffalo a few years ago from the Taos fest and just recently knit up some really nice fingerless gloves. I fell in love with the feel of the buffalo and wanted some of my own. A skein of 200 yds was $65! Emily just happened to have her buffalo gloves with her and showed them to the guy who ran the tent. He was then able to give me a deal on a skein of my own! Yay! I was so happy! I too plan on making myself a pair of fingerless gloves. I just got to find the right pattern!

Continuing to walk around with the girls, they start to point out more things you either hadn’t looked at before or missed. I had to break down and buy myself more alpaca from the same booth I got the variegated alpaca. I got some spruce green alpaca that I couldn’t pass up. Then Winnie gave me the idea of spinning it with some copper angelina! Then while looking at that I found exactly what I was looking for! Rose grey alpaca!!! Cheaper than the dyed alpaca! It was awesome. I was also to meet up a few members of Ravelry! I even got a Ravelry pin to wear around. I also found a cool headband that I wanted, but it was over $100. It’s totally not worth it when you can make your own. I also got a variegated silk blend to make a shawl that was displayed in a booth there. It’s a good thing and a bad thing to have samples and patterns available. Good…but bad. It’s also a bad thing to run out of copies for another cool pattern for a shawl I loved!!! (Skeins seen in pic in above paragraph.)

We had lunch at a local restaurant and then went shopping around at some of the local shops there. It was fun. Then I decided to follow the girls back to Pueblo. I didn’t feel comfortable going through the windy mountain side in the dark, especially since it had rained a little late in the afternoon. The rainbows we saw as we drove home were so bright and colorful. I have to say their route was a lot prettier and less curvy. The hills and mountains in front of the sunset were awesome! I got home a little after 8pm and climbed the stairs to my apartment with a handful of fiber. It was nice!

I haven’t been able to spin or knit anything that I’ve bought. I’m working on some alpaca that I got at the Estes Park Wool Festival this last summer. After that I can’t wait to get my hands and wheel on the green alpaca and angelina. I have no idea what I’ll make out of it, but it’ll be fun!

The temperature here is starting to get cooler and I’m starting to realize that I don’t have a lot of things to wear to keep me warm that I’ve made. Once I’m done with my Christmas presents I need to work on more things from me. I’ve already gotten supplies, I just need the extra time to get the projects done. That’s when I ask again, “Is it Thanksgiving yet?” Sadly I have to say it’s still 4 weeks or so away. Darn it!

National Alpaca Farm Day

This last weekend was National Alpaca Farm Day and I spent Saturday in Westcliffe, CO at my friend Allie at her Eye Dazzler Alpaca Ranch. I had planned on it being a trip for my mom, my niece, and myself, but then my friend said she wanted to go (no problem) and then my dad invited himself (problem). My dad tends to be rude and has a short fuse with lots of things. It wasn’t until a few miles out of town I ad to roll my eyes and think “I should’ve driven in my car and had them follow.” It would’ve been different if it was just family, but my friend was with me.

I had been to Allie’s place before, but just for spinning. Every time we were at her house I wanted to see her Alpaca’s, but we and her were so busy that we never got around to it. Hailey was excited once we got out of the car. Of course the hour drive down there wasn’t too fun. She was so ready to pick out a pumpkin that sat outside the barnyard doors…even though it was about two-thirds her size.

Inside they had about a dozen alpacas in pens for people to see and if you had permission, to go inside and get to touch some of them. Since I knew the owners I was able to flag down Allie’s husband a he let us touch one of the painted baby alpacas. It was so soft! The momma was pretty cute too…just a touch of white on her nose.

While there they had dry and wet felting demonstrations. They also had an outside area where you could see a few alpacas and even get to have your picture taken with one. There was one black one that seemed to take a liking to Hailey. It seemed to be attracted to her. Hailey did not want to leave. Allie also had a big white dog that is a Polish something or another. My friend Debbie called him, Falkor, the white dragon from The Neverending Story.

Lunch was also provided. It was a Peruvian lunch. It was a chicken soup with red potatoes. I don’t know how to spell or pronounce the name of the soup, but it was good! We all ate on bails of hay while Hailey sat next to the barn cat. He was a pretty good behaved kitty. A total beggar of food though. He kept staring at Hailey, her bowl, and her tortilla.

There was also spinning demonstrations. Rosemary gave spindle demonstrations and Julie and Sharron did spinning wheel demonstrations. While there I kept telling myself “I should’ve brought my wheel and drove myself!!!” After lunch, I removed my shoes and tried out a new spinning wheel that Julie had left vacant. It was a double treadle, but I didn’t like it. I think it was a Majacraft. I liked the different speed settings but not the point where the fiber gets its twist and leads onto the bobbin. You could feel each turn in your hands and it was annoying. It was probably like this when spinning wheels had a actually spindle. Maybe I’m just spoiled with my wheel.

Even though I had bought about 8 ozs of alpaca roving the last time I had been at Allies for spinning I had to buy more. I bought some from my friend Luci and more for myself. Sharron mentioned that she had an alpaca blend that was machine safe and it would be good for making socks! Shame on you Sharron! (Other side of me is saying “Thank you Sharron!!!”) I think I will make a 3 ply on the spindle for the alpaca blend to make socks. Wouldn’t that feel awesome on your feet!?!

Well I better go. Got papers to grade. Are you sure it isn’t at least Nov?

I almost forgot! I got two new drop spindles!!! Aren't they purdy!?!?!

Middle School Horrors!

Towards the end of August I started my new teaching job at my first middle school. I do have 1.5 years of experience teaching, but at the high school level. I though that there was a need for a change and just went for it. Our first day was on a Tuesday, but I had to miss the first two days for a mandatory meeting on a new math class that I was going to teach. I thought that since I would miss the first two days I would go in early to get my room together. I went in and got my keys. I had been called a month in advance to be told that I was going to be placed in a science room, but when I walked into my room I found out it was still a science classroom. Nothing had been taken out. I had a loud and huge fish tank, my cabinets were still full of science books, and the back cabinets were still full lab equipment. I was totally upset! One of the new science teachers came in and helped me move out the science books and clear out the closet. By mid-afternoon my classroom was somewhat put together. I still had all of the lab equipment and the fish tank, but it was still a work in progress.

After my training, I had my first meeting with all of the staff members. Come to find out, the teacher who was in my classroom before still taught at the school!!! After the meeting I approached the principal with the fact that I had gone through her stuff. I was informed to collect everything of her’s and make it available. The bad thing is that I had thrown some of it away…thinking the teacher had left it there. The teacher…Mrs. S came into the office pissed off (understandably). I informed her that I wasn’t told the teacher hadn’t been moved out. She informed me “I wasn’t going to move my classroom in the summer.” I went and gathered all of her stuff together that I could and went to help my supervisor. When I came back she had torn down the bulletin board decorations above the chalk board and it looked terrible. The paper and boarders had been thrown in the trash. If she didn’t want the boarders all she had to do was leave it alone. Now I had to add something new to my list of things to be done. I was furious. This we coming from a woman that was close to twice my age! I understand she was pissed off at me, but I wasn’t informed that she hadn’t moved her stuff.

That afternoon my supervisor found an empty classroom and asked the principal if I could move my classroom to this new room. She agreed and so the next morning I spent the day moving my room including my stuff, math books, and the desks (with the help of the custodians). I didn’t like the two-seater desks that the classroom had. Remind you, this is on a Friday…before classes started the next Monday. It had been the 8th grade math classroom and it too had lots of stuff left in it from the teacher previous (and she wasn’t coming back). The desk was still full of stuff and all I could do was shake my head and curse under my breath as I put it everything in its place.

My new classroom is pretty big. I have a full wall of chalk boards but they are hard to get to with the cabinets that are installed beneath the boards. The other wall is full of bulletin boards that were covered in cartoonish material. That has been replaced with something nice and somewhat subtle. I’ve gotten complements on them a few times. The first couple weeks of class I had a class of 45 kids and without a good cooling system it get very warm. After the second week that class was reduced to 25. It was a nice change since they turned out to be one of my best classes behavior wise.

It is now week 6 and I am stressed out. I have been coving my a$! by making my phone calls home to inform parents of their kids grades. I am having problems getting the kids to turn in their work. There is also a lack of respect for their elders. They like to talk back and refuse to do what you ask them to do. I know that if were to do something like that and my dad heard about it, I would have gotten a spanking of a lifetime. These kids don’t care. There are older teachers and staff that tell me “When I taught this worked for me.” I don’t think they understand the difference between kids then and now. I’m going to stick with my phone calls. I know that I am getting a good response from parents when I do keep them informed….whether it be good or bad news. Lately it’s a lot of bad news. It’s their grade and behavior and not mine.

Is it Christmas yet?

The Move

Last fall I had to return to home with the folks while I finished my degree in math education…just one class short. Since this was class that I had already taken a time or two before I didn’t want to hurt my chances of passing the one class I needed to graduate while working full-time. It was a good plan because I got the class passed and with a whole 2 letter grades better than my first time! Yay me!

Being at home this summer became more uncomfortable and I had to get out ASAP. I looked around for about a week and found a cute little Victorian house that’s been remodeled and turned into a 4-plex. For what I’m paying and the places I’ve been before, it’s not as clean or well taken care of, but it was the best I could find at the time. I’m just happy to say that I am on my own and alone! (Which is good (No parents) and bad (I’m alone alone). I don’t have to deal with anyone else’s bs, but my own.

It’s a 2 bedroom with a nice little sunroom in the back. Most of the floors are either wood or tile. My kitchen has black and white tiling with a pink counter! Yes, pink! I’ve made the extra bedroom into an office/craft room. Since it’s an older house the extra bedroom is kinda small. About half of my boxes were for my addictions: scrapbooking (3-4boxes), knitting (3 boxes & 2 large plastic containers), and spinning (1 box).

At my last place (before my return home) I didn’t really organize my things and most of the stuff stayed in boxes. My second bedroom became a storage room. About three years ago I worked at Hobby Lobby and bought so much yarn! The discounts and the sales were too good to pass up. So two years ago I took back a lot of it and was only able to get 50% back. Some of it I thought I needed to keep for some reason or another. Since then I started visiting the LYS. I found better yarns, yarns that were better to work with than the acrylic stuff I had been buying before. While unpacking my boxes recently I found the acrylic yarn that I had decided to keep from before and wondered why the hell I decided to keep them. I totaled everything that I didn’t want & could take back and it totaled to a little over $200. I was only able to get about $130 back. I figure that it was better than getting nothing back.

So even though I have gone through most of my yarn, knitting, and fiber boxes (one left) this is what I have. This does not include the unfinished faux suede afghan that I started for an person who is longer a friend of mine, yarn (bought more than 5 years ago) for a blanket I was going to make my sister, yarn (bought at least 3 years ago) for a wedding/anniversary gift for friends of mine, more yarn that I thought I could save for my next knit clubs at work, and about 3 unfinished afghans that were left from my late grandmother. Now I feel like I need to finish all of these projects, especially my grandmother’s afghans.

Right now I have about 5 projects going on at once. I’m working on my first sweater which is a neck-down pattern and I’m just below the bust. It’s been kinda warm here and it’s almost a little too heavy to be working on right now. The second project are my Monkey socks. I have one of them done right now and they’re just beautiful. Then I have 3 spinning projects; two on spindles and one on my wheel. The multi-colored wool (Navajo 3-ply) I misplaced some drafted roving and found it after I had already reconnected from the braid, so the colors are off a little. I was so mad at myself that I put it aside and started to work on my other spindle. When I got back into spinning a few months ago my friend Rosemary gave me about an ounce of some really nice Merino. It was one of those beginner’s fears. Nice fiber for my first spinning project!?! I should’ve faced that fear because Merino is sooooo nice to work with! (Along with alpaca…it’s a total dream to work with!!!) I got my wheel about a month ago and I love it! I’m currently working on some Cranberry Merino. I’m spinning it pretty thin and have about 2/3 of bobbin full. I plan on it being a 2-ply and I would love to knit a lace pattern…maybe a shawl.

I worked my last day at the LYS last weekend. I had enough hours to pay for my wheel and more (yarn, fiber, a Namaste bag, etc). I’ve got more Market Bags to make (finally some for myself) and a felted pinwheel rug for my new hardwood floors. I loved working at the shop, but just like any other friends who knit they give you new ideas for projects. Bad girls! Bad girls!!! ;)

Speaking of last weekend…I was bitten by a dog. As I was coming off the interstate I saw a red husky loose. The exit is a hill and I have been known to kinda “speed” and I was afraid that the dog would most definitely get hit. I’m the type that has Animal Control on speed dial. Since I too have a red husky at home, I couldn’t bare to see one that looks like my puppy get hit. I decided that I would try to get the dog out of harm’s way until Animal Control could make it. Scared, the dog of course did not come to me, but trotted closer to the interstate. Thank god a cop was coming down the hill to help me corner the dog so that I could grab the collar. Once I had the collar I tried to lead the dog down the hill, but it wouldn’t budge. I tried again and the dog jumped, twisted and bit me. I knew that if I let go of the collar the dog would probably run into traffic that was still coming down from the exit. From there I decided it would be best to stay where I was. While waiting I looked down at the hand that still had hold of the collar and blood was dripping down my wrist and hand. I knew he had bit me, but I didn't realize he broke the skin like he had. I looked at the collar and did not see a name tag, but thankfully a rabies tag (I’m up to date with my shots). Finally Animal Control showed up and collected the dog. My arms were wet and covered in black dirt and I smelled…gross like the dog. I’m glad to say that the truck was well stocked with antibacterial wipes, cream, and band aides. Since then, my arm has turned black, blue, and now yellow. My scar is healing very nicely and there is no sign of infection. I was very lucky in that sense, but so was the dog. I hope they find his owners or a new home.

Lastly (two pages later), Tuesday is my first day back to school. This year I’ll be teaching my first year of middle school at the 8th grade level. I have been at a high school level for 1.5 years and need to try a change. I had too many incoming freshmen that weren’t prepared for high school, so I think I need to step in to give them that. There is to be no babying. They need to know what deadlines are and that they will be responsible for their grade. My first two days were supposed to be full of meetings with my new colleagues, but instead I have to train for a one section of a math lab I’ll be teaching. I have one week to prepare for the kids. I know the material I’ll be teaching so I’m good there, but again it’ll be my first time teaching at this level so I’m a little nervous. I’ll be going in on Monday to set up my classroom. I’ll for sure being posting pictures of that soon.

Well I better end here. I always type out my stuff on Word first and I just started page 2. Til next time!