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Candlepower Socks

Posted on October 27, 2014 by auburnchick

My strategy for getting lesson plans finished before the weekend is beginning to reap dividends.

Yesterday, I finished another project!

I present my Candlepower Socks…the second pair of three proposed socks for this term’s OWL.

It took me thirteen days to complete this pair.  I could have done it in a week had it been summer (aka no responsibilities).

The yarn is Gypsy Girl Creations, Transitions, and the colorway is Evening Solitude.  I used 316 yards (almost two skeins) and size 0 needles.

This pattern was less tedious than the pair I finished a couple of weeks ago.  The pattern was easy to understand and just made sense, if you know what I mean.

The only thing I wish is that I’d gotten to the yellow part of the yarn.  I had envisioned starting with this color but didn’t wind my yarn that way.  Oh well.

I have one more pair of socks to complete before the end of November and hope to cast on sometime this week.  It may be the weekend, though, because I know how zombied out I get during the week…especially with me working so hard early on to make my lesson plans…staying up into the wee hours of the night to meet my goal.

Stay on the lookout though.  You know I’ll share!

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Maeva Socks

Posted on October 17, 2014 by auburnchick

Thanks to the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet forum that I participate in on Ravelry, I haven’t completely given up on my yarn fun, despite being so busy with school responsibilities.

My latest creation is my pair of Maeva Socks, which is the first of three planned pairs for this term’s OWL.

These took me just over a month to complete because I only managed to find time on the weekends…usually on Sundays.  I did take advantage of Fall Break and knit two of my four days off, finishing up that Monday.

I used Malabrigo yarn I purchased a few months ago and knit with size 0 needles.  For those of you non-knitting peeps, they are itsy bitsy needles.

The pattern wasn’t really all that difficult, but it did require a bit of concentration because of the cables.  Honestly, I probably could have finished these in a couple of weeks if I’d had less distractions…such as work.

😉

I’m pretty happy with the final product.  They fit well and are warm.  I’m sure I’ll begin wearing them soon with fall weather upon us and the temperatures slowly growing cooler.

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: | 1 Comment »

Still Plugging Along

Posted on September 13, 2014 by auburnchick

I am still here, everyone.

Like most teachers this school year, I am completely overwhelmed by a new test I don’t know a lot about but am trying to prepare my students for, new mandates from local and state education officials, and the new-to-me personalities of my classes.

Molly is getting tired of my lonnnnnnggggggg days.  She and I try to spend quality time together each morning while I’m getting ready for work…

I’m busting my tail (literally and figuratively…see below) to come up with engaging activities for my students.  I borrowed an idea from another reading teacher for a Text Features foldable and made a template for it.  My students are very particular about lining things up so their work doesn’t get messy, so I thought a template would make things easier…

I spent Friday afternoon and late evening grading and finished up when I got up today…

Then, I spent another nine hours creating my lesson plans for the week…

Yes, you do see football going on the TV behind my computer.  Please don’t ask me for a play-by-play.  I couldn’t give you one if I tried, except for the Florida/Kentucky nail-biter.  I was too focused on my lesson plans.

I am still a S-L-O-W lesson planner.  I know I make things harder by creating a Smartboard file to accompany each week’s lessons, but that weekly file helps me see things from my students’ perspective.  Plus, I export the files as pdf files and email them to my parents on Fridays (or Saturdays, depending on when I get the chance to do it).

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m taking on more of a leadership role at school.  I attended my first leadership meeting this past week and walked away with this book…

It’s one of those “teacher” books.

Let’s just say that I’m about to learn a LOT about PLCs (Professional Learning Communities).  Thank heavens I watched a lengthy video on teachingchannel.org and have a good friend who worked at a school where she helped create common assessments for her department.  I have a somewhat elementary knowledge of this new-to-me collaboration and have much more to learn.

Despite my crazy life, I did manage to finish a YA book this week…

This book has been around a while.  It was published in 1971 and tells the incredibly sad story of a young woman who struggled with drug addiction and mental illness.  She wrote this diary, although her name is omitted from the book and cover.

It’s very raw and unlike anything I’ve ever read.  Many of my students have, surprisingly, read it already, and one spoiled the ending for me.  Grrr.

Speaking of books…I received my first order of the year…

I peeked at Tupac’s book of poetry.  It.  Is.  Amazing.  What a talented young man.  His early departure from this world is a tragic loss.  I am going to read and discuss his poems with my students.  It’s part of my plan to have my students love me forever.  😀

I also created a new incentive to encourage good behavior.  I stole this idea from a teacher at a different school.  To earn five minutes of free time at the end of my ninety-minute block, tables must avoid getting three Xs for behavior THEY listed on the poster you see below.  A couple of years ago, I had picked up the magnetic white boards you see.  Because I don’t have a large white board in my room to keep tallies on, I thought the small ones were perfect!  Tables who earn three Xs have to spend the five-minutes of free time writing me paragraphs that explains their behavior choices and their plans to rectify them in the future.  🙂

I managed to do a few things non-teaching related.  I started a new project…

…and finished it…

Ready, Set, Ruffles with Red Heart Sashay yarn

I also fought symptoms of a fractured tailbone…

I’m pretty sure I broke it when I caught major air on a steep slide that Rooster and I went down on Labor Day.  I’ve been suffering for nearly two weeks and was in a LOT of pain the end of this week…worse than right after I did it.

Meanwhile…we had a pretty rough storm today.  I thought it was your average thunderstorm…until I walked outside to let the dogs go potty…

The pictures don’t really depict how LARGE those branches are!  The one on the left came off of the tree below.  If you look closely, you can see where it snapped off.

Oh, and I’ve been having fun ordering dresses from ShopHopes.com.

Check out this one…a new favorite, I think…

That’s about all I’ve got for now.  My fingers are crossed that I’ll be able to do more planning at work so I can indulge in activities that will help me maintain more balance.

Ahhhh…who am I kidding?  I give up my brain and all of my energy from August through May.  To think otherwise is to delude myself.  😀

Filed under: Books, Knitting, Teaching | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Hitchhiker Scarf

Posted on July 29, 2014 by auburnchick

As you saw when I posted pictures of my Vernal Equinox Shawl, I’ve spent a good portion of my summer knitting.

About a week ago, I finished another large project…my Hitchhiker Scarf.  The pattern is available on Ravelry.

I knit it for the final round of Quidditch in my Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup group on Ravelry.  You might recall that I’m a Hufflepuff.  We complete projects that fit into prompts…all in the hopes of accruing lots of points to help our respective houses win the Cup (just like the books).

This final round of Quidditch was brutal.  In fact the entire term’s Quidditch matches were challenging.  You had to craft for certain teams and could not proceed to the next round unless you had crafted for the previous rounds.  Thus, the number of people making things went down each round.

Also adding to the challenges of each round were yardage requirements.  The final round’s rules stipulated that crafters use a minimum of 450 yards of fiber.

Oh word!

Hence, my Hitchhiker Scarf.

I dug deep into my stash for the yarn and selected Regia Silk.

I bought the yarn so long ago that it’s been discontinued.

Ahem.

What drew me to this pattern and the yarn was the casualness of it.

I love the color of the yarn.  I think that will make this scarf pair well with a pair of blue jeans and blouse or button down shirt.

I was only able to knit 37 pattern repeats and bound off on the 38th.  The pattern was super, super easy, and I had it memorized after only a few repeats.

As I played with the scarf, I tried out different ways of wearing it and discovered, to my delight, that it can be worn as if it is a shawl.  This pleases me.

If you’re looking for something to whip up as a gift, I highly recommend this pattern!

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: , , , , | 5 Comments »

Vernal Equinox Shawl

Posted on July 22, 2014 by auburnchick

Although it has seemed as though I’ve been sleeping the summer away, I have, in fact, kept myself busy…reading…watching many, many episodes of Alias, AND knitting.

“Sid, Sloan is here,” Marshall mutters in a barely-audible voice. heehee

The Harry Potter group I’m involved with on Ravelry encourages “students” to propose and complete OWLs.  An OWL is a larger project that requires more time to complete.  It’s a fairly big deal to propose and must meet the specifics of the prompt a student selects.

I set my sights on a Runes project…one that required multiple charts.  Enter in my Vernal Equinox Shawl, a free pattern you can find on Ravelry.

Here’s my swatch…

I’d purchased Cascade Alpaca yarn for it during Spring Break.

I cast on May 25th.

The project grew…and grew…and grew.

For the first time in my knitting career, I used lifelines.  A lifeline is what you create when you run thin yarn or thick thread through a row of stitches.  I used quilt thread and ran it through the live stitches on my needle after I finished each chart.  Thank heavens because there were a few times when I had to tink back to fix mistakes, and because the yarn was so thin, stitches dropped.  Fortunately, the lifeline caught the dropped stitches, so I could put them back on my needle easily.

I finally got to the bind off row and got stuck.  I wanted to do the crochet bind off but wasn’t sure how, despite visiting YouTube.  I contacted a sweet friend, and she invited me to her home on her day off.  We spent a wonderful hour and a half together while she helped me figure out the instructions.  Note to anyone doing this pattern…TRUST THE INSTRUCTIONS.  They work out in the end.  In other words, don’t overthink them (ahem).

I began the cast off the next day.  It took me over NINE HOURS to finish.

I kid you not.

I had 652 stitches on the needle and was freaked out that the stitch count wouldn’t come out right.

I had created a chart to keep track of what I was supposed to do…

Fortunately (and surprisingly), I reached the end right on track with the pattern.  God had mercy on me!!!  😀

It took me a couple of hours to block it (pin it out).  I ran my blocking wires through the decrease stitches, making points in the process.

Here’s what it looked like when I took it off of the wires…

Here are close-ups…

On Sunday, the Mr. acquiesced to my request for photography assistance.  It was simply too humid to be running back and forth between the tripod and self-timer on the camera, which is how I usually take my knitting pictures.

I’m quite proud of this shawl, so please forgive my crazy number of pictures.

I’m not sure if I’m going to propose an OWL for the Fall term.  The beginning of school is crazy-busy, and I don’t want to stress myself needlessly.  However, I do like the challenge of a larger project.  I also think that an OWL would help me take time out for myself…something I feel guilty about doing because of my teaching responsibilities.  Guess I’ll just have to pray about it.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed the photos!  Thanks for allowing me to brag a bit.  😀

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: , , , | 6 Comments »

Things That Have Kept Me From Blogging

Posted on June 28, 2014 by auburnchick

It would seem as though, despite having much more time to blog, I have chosen, instead, to do other things.

A pictorial explanation follows…

Did someone say World Cup?

Shout-out to my main soccer squeeze for helping the U.S. advance to the round of 16!

My OWL (three-month project)…halfway finished…

A return to the gym…

Zombiesrun.com – GREAT way to keep my Zombies Run C25K app synched (that’s the playlist I used one day this week)

Best workout app ever (former iFitness)!!!! Sure beats carrying around a notebook, which I used to do to keep track of my reps!

Sixteen cans of tomatoes…for about thirty cents each after BOGO and a $1.00 off of four coupon (shout-out to Coupon Queen for sending me extra coupons!!)

Infinity Cowl

Two of my loves…

Southwestern Socks – A quick, five-day project!

Southwestern Socks

Online Shopping…courtesy of shophopes.com

Another shophopes.com dress! Please excuse the hair (freshly washed and, obviously, unfixed) and the background (must invest in a full-length, over-the-door mirror)

Teacher Training

Tweeting with one of my favorite authors…and feeling star-struck when she followed me…

Chatting it up with one of my favorite shows (please note that THEY tagged ME in this conversation!)

What’s kept you busy of late?

Filed under: Knitting, Saving Money, This-n-That | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Spring Break Shenanigans

Posted on March 25, 2014 by auburnchick

Let’s do some math, folks.

What do you get when you add together one teacher plus Spring Break plus a beautiful day?

I realize I’m only a Reading teacher, but even I can tell you that the things listed above equal out to M-I-S-C-H-I-E-F.

Although I’d stayed up until 3:30am watching the last few episodes of Prison Break (anyone remember this WONDERFUL series)?

Yeah.

I cried.

Then I discovered that there was one other episode I’d never seen.

Seriously.

The two-hour finale.

How in the heck?

I’d boo hooed so badly over what now appears to have been the second-to-last episode that I guess I’d assumed the series ended on that note.

The last episode was two hours long.

I think I already said that.

Michael Scofield, I will always love you.  Four seasons just wasn’t enough.

But I digress.

Ok…so I wasn’t sure if I’d be doing anything except for sleeping on the couch.

The beautiful day beckoned me, though, and I gladly heeded its call.

I jumped in the car and began driving…

As a reminder, I live a few miles from the beach, and today’s drive was a long one.  The sand dunes were everywhere the condos weren’t…

I make this drive a couple of times a year and never tire of the views…

My first destination was Yarn Store #1, where I found an empty parking spot waiting for me.  Guess they’re into telepathy.  An hour later, I walked out with these goodies in tow…

The purple is Malabrigo Sock, the two round piles in the middle are Mini Mochi, and the aqua green on the right is 100% silk.

Lovely.

I continued driving, reaching Yarn Store #2…my favorite…a bit later.

There’s just something wonderful about yarn shopping.  I’ve shared my musings before, but they bear repeating.

When a crafter walks into a yarn store, the door shuts out the rest of the world, and the senses go into hyper-drive.

All of the worries (except for how much one can get away with spending) temporarily disappear as the colors and textures take over.

I had one particular project in mind and hunted Ravelry for others to use for yarn I spied in the store…trying to justify the ogling I was doing.

An hour or more later, I walked out with these goodies…

The top three cake patties are Cascade Alpaca Lace, which I will use for my Harry Potter OWL next term…a rather large and detailed project, which you know I’ll post about eventually.

The bottom skeins are Madelinetosh Worsted in Maple Pecan.  Perfect for the South, eh?  I’ve got a project lined up for this yarn too.

I drove toward home with a huge smile on my face and quite a few dollars lighter.  I had nine new skeins of yarn…

I still had one more errand to run.

I’d purchased a lovely blue dress a few days ago and needed a white sweater to wear over it to make it appropriate for school.

I found one, online through Facebook, at a friend’s boutique.

While there, I tried on a few other things and found a strapless dress that fit me perfectly.  The sales lady suggested I pair it with a shawl.

I chuckled.

You know me and my shawls.

Here’s what I bought at the boutique.

It had been a fine day of shopping, and this girl was T-I-R-E-D.

I’m making the most of my Spring Break.  There’s still more fun to go.

I’m going to enjoy every single second of it!

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Baby Gifts for Maegan – The Great Reveal!

Posted on March 21, 2014 by auburnchick

I am so excited because I can finally share some projects I’ve been working on for the last three months!

First, the back story.

My friend, Maegan, who I teach with, found out she was expecting a baby last August.  She’d been wanting a baby ever since she got married.

In January, I began knitting for the little boy she found out she is carrying.

First off the needles was a Baby Cabled Hat, knit with the Martha Steward Wool Blend…

This was a super-fast knit, and the yarn was very soft and easy to work with.

The next pattern, Sneaker Booties, was made was with the same yarn…so she’d have a matching set…

These were deceptively easy to knit.  I think I made both booties in one evening’s sitting.

The next thing I knit was the Tail a Wagging baby bib.  I used Lily Sugar’n Cream.  It, too, was a quick knit!

The last item, and the one I’m probably most proud of, is the Soothing Ripples blanket.  I began knitting it in January and probably could have finished it that month.  However, I paced myself, knit whenever I could, and finished last weekend.

The fringe added the perfect finishing touch!

I loved knitting this blanket.  It was, basically, the same two rows…over, and over, and over.

I used Caron Simply Soft for the blanket.  The drape is beautiful!

I’ll share one funny story before I end this post.

During her shower, I sat beside her, writing down the names of the people who had brought gifts so she could write thank you notes later.

When she got to my present, she unwrapped the smaller box.

Here’s the box she saw (not the bottles)…

https://i0.wp.com/www.masterspersonaltraining.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/juice-plus-order1.jpg

She smiled and started to set the box down…

WITHOUT OPENING IT.

I casually asked, “Aren’t you going to open it?”

“Oh,” she said.  “I figured you gave me a juicer for the baby.”

HA HA HA HA HA!

My vegan reputation precedes me, I fear!

I’m glad she opened everything, and I’m thrilled that I could do something nice for her.  She’s become a good friend…listened to me cry my first year I worked at the school I’m at (it was my second year of teaching…first year teaching reading…and I was overwhelmed)…gone on escapades with me.

I love her to bits and cannot wait to welcome her little guy into the world when he makes his appearance next month.

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Lucky 4-Leaf Afghan Block

Posted on March 3, 2014 by auburnchick

Last week, I finished a quick little project for my Harry Potter fiber community.

This is the Lucky 4-Leaf Afghan Block, a free pattern you can find on Ravelry…

The class prompt required students to choose one of the flags of a country participating in the Olympics and knit a project with all of that flag’s colors in it.

I selected Canada’s flag because I was, after all, born in Newfoundland and am a naturalized American citizen.

I used red and white Sugar’n Cream cotton yarn on size 5 needles.  It only took me an evening and a half to knit this.  I could have done it in one sitting, but by the time I started one night, it was already late.

I love this pattern because it’s knit from the center outward…in the round.  It was much more interesting than knitting flat.  If you’re a knitter or crocheter, you’ll understand what I mean.

I’m going to donate this block to charity because it’s nearly 12″ square, and I can’t see using it as a dishcloth.  It would be lovely, if put together with a number of similar squares, as a blanket.

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

A Sweater for Gambit

Posted on February 23, 2014 by auburnchick

As you know, I’m a member of a Harry Potter Knit/Crochet forum on Ravelry.  It’s a fun way to craft items and compete against others for points.

One of the fun Ravelry traditions involves a spinoff of the Olympics.  Ravelry’s version is called Ravellenics.  The more items you knit that fit in various categories, the more medals you earn.

I challenged myself by setting a goal of knitting three projects worth a total of 750 yards to get maximum Quidditch points for the Harry Potter forum and Ravellenics medals for that section of Ravelry.

The first project was my pair of socks, which I blogged about a few days ago.

My second project was a sweater for Gambit.  He was in desperate need because all he had was a Christmas sweater, which fits him perfectly, and a Disney one that isn’t really the correct size.

I found a free pattern on Ravelry, took some of Gambit’s measurements (that was real interesting, let me tell you), and got to work.

I used size 5 needles and Caron Simply Soft yarn.

We had several fitting sessions, and being the easy-going dog that he is, he acquiesced my requests…

My gauge swatch lied to me, and when I checked while working on the sweater, I noticed that I was getting more stitches per inch.  I had to adjust a bit but didn’t start over.

I wound up finishing the sweater Saturday afternoon.  It fits fairly well, but when I make another one, I’ll make the belly a lot longer and keep the back wider when I begin the shaping.

He seems to like it though!

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Filed under: Knitting, Pets | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

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