Stopping By....

Nothing earth shattering to share. I finished a book:

As usual, I am reading something waaay past the time it was popular. It was pretty good. I find that there is so much children's fiction out there that really just attempts to ride Harry Potter's coattails. So much just feels like imitations of Harry. This one isn't exactly like that, but it has some of the same elements. I still liked it though. Enough to read the second one...which has started out a little better than the first. I've also been inspired to read this:

I really have such big gaps in my knowledge. :-(

Year of Projects Update #5

The List:

1. Seekrit knitting 
2. Goldenrod Grocer
3. Lace scarf (WIP)
4. Foreign Correspondent Scarf (WIP)
5. Traveler Socks
6. Tantric Top
7. Drape-front Gilet FAIL
8. Corrugated Cloth
9. Bamboo Vest
10. Sleepy Hollow Socks
11. Mesh Raglan

I have finished the Traveler Socks!! And they are a win!!!



I continue to plug along on the Sleepy Hollow socks. I was a little nervous about the gusset/heel, but really it is not difficult. We'll see what happens when it's time to turn the heel and decrease back down.

I've also cast on a new Tantric using some KnitPicks DK weight CotLin. Instead of two longs strips, I have cast on a number of stitches that will equal 24 inches across. After 12 inches, I will split the piece in two and knit on until it's time to join the strips again. It's my attempt at making the piece seamless.

For the rest of the week I plan to work on the Sleepy Hollow socks and maybe pick the Foreign Correspondent back up.

N is for New

New School Year
Officially, I report back to work on the 16th, but I have an Open House on Thursday at 6:30. I thought I might take a few moments to remind folks what the blog is like from September through April-ish.

• The posts are sporadic. More like non-existent. (Friday Fill-Ins usually get done.)
• The pictures are crappier--if there are pictures at all.
• I comment less on your blogs. Please don't take it personally. I'm reading, I just don't comment that much.
• I usually end up reporting more books read than projects completed. I hope that's a little different this year, but I make no guarantees.

New Project
I cast on a new pair of socks last night. It was a reward for finishing one of my Year of Projects project. I'll share pics of the new socks and the YoP project soon.

New Strategy
I wonder if part of my mojo woes has to do with boredom. For the rest of the week I'm going to work on slightly more challenging projects. (The new socks I cast on are on DPNs.)

Congrats, Offspring!

You're a college grad (summa cum laude!!!)

Friday Fill-In 8/5/11

No FOs this week. Maybe soon?

1. How can I get my mojo back?

2. Sometimes you have to  weed the garden of life.

3. My hair annoys me.

4. I do not care about a high school reunion at all.

5. My favorite summer fruits are...all of them.

6. Whoa...what was that?

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to knitting and my new telenovela, tomorrow my plans include watching Offspring graduate from college and Sunday, I want to knit a little more!

M is for Mojo (YoP Update #4)

I know it's not Monday, but I thought I would continue the "ABC Along" theme. Peppermint Mocha Mama wrote a great post about Motivation and I was inspired by her.

I am still waiting for some mojo. I've spent the Summer making things, but I've not gotten a lot of enjoyment out of the finished product. That can really mess with my mojo. Nothing has struck my fancy lately...or something will and I quickly lose interest.  It's been kind of a roller coaster of  "ooo! I want to finish!" and "meh. whatever"

I have no finishes this week, but I am pleased with my progress. I have finished one of the traveler socks and I'm working on the second. No pictures, but maybe soon. ("Meh" is code for lazy.) I've cast on the Sleepy Hollow socks twice. The first time I used DPNs because I have this ridiculous idea that to have knitting street cred a person has to be able to knit with DPNs. I can; I just hate it. After a repeat and a half of the leg, I frogged it and started over using the Magic Loop method. I am much happier now.



I used a lace cast on (you will need to scroll down a bit as the instructions are near the end.) It makes the cuff appear a bit sloppy, but I needed the stretch.

I kind of feel like I've knitted this before since the stitch pattern is so similar to my Green Leafies, but I'm most interested in the gusset/heel construction. It's knit in the round without having to pick up stitches. Hopefully that will hold my attention/stoke the flames of mojo.

I'm starting to think maybe I don't understand anything about knitting socks. If I am knitting a sock on my own without a pattern, I can use no more than 54-ish stitches on size 1 needles. I can get away with 56 on size 0. Then I see patterns that call for size 2 needles and casting on 70+ stitches. What the heck? Do I knit that loosely? Even if I dropped down to size 0 the sock would be too big. This sock is worked over 64 stitches and I'm using size 0 needles. I hope they fit.

M is for Managing My Time

This will probably be a short post since I have no idea how to manage my time.

Obviously, during the school year about 8 hours of my day is spent at school. I manage that time pretty well. When you teach, you learn pretty quickly that you need to plan to have too much to do. Then you need a plan B in case plan A doesn't pan out. So as lesson planning goes, I do ok. I use my planning periods pretty well, too. I get three planning periods a week: 1 is 50 minutes, the other two are 103 minutes each. On paper it looks like enough, but believe me when I tell you that teaching for 8 hours with only a 25 minute lunch break...in which you are technically on duty...sucks. Bad. At least it's only twice a week I have to deal with that. I manage to keep from having to take work home most of the time. Call be a bad teacher, but if my husband doesn't bring home work then I won't either. Believe me when I say he gets paid more than I and I REFUSE to bring home work for what I get paid.

Anyway, back to managing my time (heck, I can't even manage the topic of this post!) Here's what I want to balance:

• Work
• Reading
• Knitting/Crochet
• Internet

To be honest I don't have to get on the Internet, but I like to. The problem is, I waste too much time while I'm there. For every hour I spend knitting, I've probably wasted 2 or 3 on the Internet. Imagine the kind of productivity rate I would have it I stayed off the computer!

 Frankly I think the Internet makes my mind race, too. I've always got a squillion windows open and I will interrupt one task to go check Google+ or Ravelry forums. (I totally interrupted writing this post to go post something on Ravelry.) I'm seriously considering writing a "To-do" list before I turn on my computer and then not deviating from it. It probably wouldn't hurt to turn off the computer completely one or two days a week, either.

So how do you find balance?