Again, More Tidbits About My Life...

...than you probably want to know. But hey - it keeps the old blog interesting, eh?

Bag update:

They are now "lightly blocked" and by tomorrow they'll be dry enough to crochet together. Karen, no need to stay away from the pattern - 28 triangles equals 56 ends to weave in. It only took half an hour! ;) I will say that it's kind of finicky to sew together - making sure you have the top of the stitch showing around all sides.

Wanda mentioned SWS shedding and she's right! I definitely wouldn't wear my contacts while working with this stuff. Leisel talked about breaks in the yarn and I thought I'd chime in. I had one ball with 4 knots in it which is about one knot for every 27 yds. That's pretty bad. On the other hand, the other two balls I've used have had no breaks at all. So I'm thinking it's probably the luck of the draw as to whether you get a "bad ball." So to speak. ::wink::

I fulfilled a knitting resolution yesterday - I wore a vest to work! I actually did have Doug take a picture of me to prove it, but the picture was too wonky to post. (We used the night vision on the camera since it was pretty early in the morning and it didn't turn out well.) I wore Cul-De-Sac and actually liked it. I found a really neat paisley stretch shirt to wear underneath (and hanging out from the bottom of the vest!) and it looked fine. :) I also washed the vest & blocked it out a bit to make it hang better.

Which brings me to a small rant: Once again, I have to complain about how badly Lavold's Cotton Patine fades. After just one washing the vest looks 10 years old. The brown faded to gray in some places and truly looks BAD. Sigh. I had to throw out an entire cardi when something like this happened before. I'm just saying that for the amount of $$ charged, the yarn should hold up better...MUCH better! I'm not throwing this vest because as bad as the yarn looks, the knitting is good enough to save it.

Here are some brief life bullets:

• After last week's easy peasy substituting, this week is turning out to be HARD. No preps, no free rides. Yesterday a substitute (a little old lady, nonetheless) had extreme problems with a class. She had to call a neighboring teacher over to pull a kid out & write him a referral. So when I get home yesterday, I see that (lo and behold!) my half day job was canceled and I'm put in that class for today. I've decided that the attitude of "let's get Bron to do it, she can handle it" really gets old after awhile. My ego's had enough stroking - let me have the normal stuff again!
• I really get pissed at kids who would treat elderly people so badly. Some of the subs who work are well into their seventies and certainly don't deserve the disrespect and attitude that the kids think is so cool.
• I really get tired of parents saying, "Well, MY kids wouldn't to anything like that!" Frankly, you know your kid at home. You don't know your kid when he or she is at school and awash in the pack mentality. Some kids do a total 180 when confronted with peer pressure. Just sayin'. I've seen it happen, these parents haven't.
• Then again, I was braced for the classes from hell yesterday and they all turned out to be fine. We watched "Stand and Deliver" each period and the movie managed to hold their attention pretty well. Aside from making a few kids put iPods away & telling them to be quiet quite a bit, everything went well. Just no knitting time!
• Our renters still haven't paid this month's rent; they still haven't cleared out several truckloads of trash than needs to be hauled to the dump; we found out yesterday that the water is going to be shut off in 3 days because they canceled it and never told us; the renters think that offering us a Chihuahua from their next litter is enough to make everything alright.
• Doug got called up for jury duty starting Feb. 14th. At least it's Metro Court & not Federal! What a pain!
• We have a Comcast guy coming out between 4 & 6 today. Ever since they put in high speed Internet, it's gone funky once in awhile. We have to reset the modem, unplug, etc. and even then it won't connect at times. It will be fine for a couple of months, then the signal goes wonky again. I finally had enough & called 'em in. Hopefully they can find something other than ghosts in the Ethernet!

There - that's enough kvetching for one post, eh? I may or may not be skipping tomorrow - I have a feeling I won't have much progress on anything to show you since I have a pretty full day today. :)

Ah - life's little stresses.....

Comments

[Wanda]

I'm so happy that you found a shirt to wear a vest with. Now that you say that, I just bought a couple more long-sleeved shirts that I could actually wear a vest with. I'm glad that you were able to wear one. That's really too bad about the yarn fading so badly. That's good to know. I'll be sure to not buy any of that yarn.
You're right about the kids and how they act in the pack mentality and their reactions to peer pressure. My 13 yo stepson is great at home, but in peer pressure, he does make stupid decisions and is not always an angel at school, so I completely agree with you. Good luck with your assignment today.

[Karen Carter]

I think your purse is turning out beautifully! Fifty six ends...well you go girl :)

[Wendy]

The school stuff just sounds like a big headache at times. The triangles look really awesome and fun, but I don't know about all of those ends.

[Cindy]

I love the way the triangles look. Very nice.

Sorry to see you are still having problems with your tenants.

Cindy

[Carrie K]

That's horrid about the yarn. I hope her Silky Wool doesn't behave like that.

Sheesh. Students. But then I'm from back in the day when if you got in trouble at school, you got in trouble at home. Nowadays it's the school's fault somehow.

Next week should be easy-peasy to compensate, right?

[Willa Jean]

I'm definitley looking for that magazine and checking around the net for some yarn. (No yarn stores anywhere near.) I can make that purse, I'll bet.

I WANT A PICTURE OF YOU IN THAT VEST!!! I'll bet you look great.

I used to sub those classes almost exclusively, and for the same reason: the front office knew I could do it and wouldn't be likely to call in the cavalry. Then when I got my credential I ended up teaching "those kids" full time in special classes. I really loved it. If somebody had just given me permission to shoot a few choice adults, I'd still be teaching. I'm kidding. Mostly.

Now the serious question. Really serious. How do you knit while watching Battlestar Gallactica. I can knit through 24, or Medium, or Ghost Whisperer. But not Gallactica. My hands just stop moving, and I think maybe my mouth falls open, but I can't be sure.

Stand And Deliver is a great movie the first 20 or 30 times.

[Bron]

Wanda - Even the very best of kids can screw up when they get with other teens. After all, their brains aren't even fully developed yet. At least the part that makes good/bad decisions. I just wish more parents would acknowledge that. Sigh.

Glad to hear someone else is taking the vest plunge!

Wendy & Karen - Yeah, thinking of those ends almost stopped me, but I just ignored that little voice! LOL

And yes - the school stuff IS a big headache. I'm just glad I'm not a regular teacher!

Cindy - Very soon they'll be out for good & we can sell the house and get on with our lives!

Carrie - An easy-peasy time next week? From your mouth to the school gods ears!

Willa Jean - You can totally make that purse. It's really easy once you get the hang of it. :) And I'll try to get a pic of my & my new/old vest!

Sometimes the attitude gets to me so much - I just want to smack these kids! They don't even have special ed. as an excuse. Just non-caring parents. One girl told me yesterday that history would never help her in her life so she "just doesn't do it." The same for science. The teacher had told the class they'd be learning college level science so she shrugged & said, "Whatever" and is currently flunking because she says the work is too hard so she doesn't care.

You know - Battlestar Gallactica (the new one) is a show I never really got into. (Yeah, I know - sacrilege!) I watched the first season off & on and part of the second but dropped it. But there are plenty of other shows on that I can't take my eyes from! LOL So I know what you mean. :)

[sally powell]

I think your triangle purse is beautiful. I have been trying to get the pattern to no avail. I hope I can get the pattern. thank you very much for your time s powell

[sally powell]

Hi I am hoping to find the triangle purse pattern instructions to make it for a very dear friend If you have it I would love to make it. thank you for your time sally