A new class starts tonight! It’s a six-week class. I was going to make them all make hats, but I know several students want to make sweaters and some want to make hats. So I’m going to let the students choose. I’m going to tell them that if they want to make a sweater, they need to do a lot of work at home.

I was feeling really bad after class on Tuesday. I had to make myself knit a row of the giraffe blanket. I’m glad that I did because I didn’t just knit one row, I knit four rows! I think I may just make the one year birthday for the baby that the blanket is for.

I keep forgetting to mention I also have a new niece to knit for. She was born two days before our wedding, she’s Bryan’s sister’s daughter. Paige Madison. What a cute name. We’ll see her this weekend. I was hoping that I would have something knit for her, but this blanket has taken me a while and I have myself so booked in the evenings that my knitting time is really limited. I hope that I can get something knit for Paige by Christmas. I found a baby bib pattern online that I might try. I would like to make her a blanket, but considering how long it’s taken me to knit the giraffe blanket, I think I should reconsider making a blanket. I’m so excited to have a little girl in the family to knit for. :)

I’ll let you know how tonight’s class goes.

I hope everyone was able to see the lunar eclipse last night. I kept going outside about every 20 minutes to see it. Bryan went out with me several times. I had never seen a lunar eclipse. It was so amazing! It was really cool to watch it move into the Earth’s path. If you missed it, I’m really sorry. 2007 is the next one.

I just joined the Master Knitting webring and then lost the code, so I’ll post taht soon. I’ve been working on Level 2 for more than a year. I should work on it more. I stopped after about four swatches when it seemed to get a bit complicated. I’m sure if I sat down with the directions, I would do fine. Two things that will probably take me a while are the argyle sock and the vest, at least I don’t have to design the vest. The book reports will also probably take me a while too. Maybe I’ll finish it by the time I’m 35, that gives me four years and one month. :)

Another knitting class is completed. Evaluations are always hard to read because you focus on the bad ones when you may have all really good ones except one or two. My evaluations for my class that just ended last night were generally good, a lot of 5’s on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the highest. But there was one where I received a 2 for enthusiasm. A challenging class can sometimes really test your enthusiasm. I have realized that I really need to focus on teaching the stitches and not completing a project. And to emphasize the importance of homework!

So I start teaching a six-week class tomorrow night and then another four-week class on Tuesday. They are both beginning classes. I was going to see if I could get my six-week class started on sweaters, but I really think that I should stick to doing a hat in a six-week class and a scarf for the four-week class. I guess I’m a bit more ambitious for them than they are for themselves. I know full and well that a six-week class could start simple sweaters but I don’t want to push them too hard. Especially if there are a few who are struggling.

My motivation for everything is going through its usual autumnal downturn. I know exactly what happens to me in late October, I just wish that I could change it right now. I’m working full-time, teaching these two classes (thank goodness one of the classes was canceled or I would have had three classes), teaching a class with a Girl Scout troop on November 5, and trying to get my library grad school application completed. Overwhelmed?? Just a bit. :) I don’t have any motivation to do any stamping, even though I have a stamping class on November 11 at the local library. I will survive! :)

I hope everyone gets to see the lunar eclipse tonight! If it clears up, we’ll see it here! :)

There must be something in the air. First I notice Kat with all of her quiz results, then there is Amie and her quiz results, then I find mzundercover with her quiz results. So I have to do this one too.
So here are my results:

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting
and do it all the time. While finishing a piece
is the plan, you still love the process, and
can’t imagine a day going by without giving
some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation
involves leaving ample space for the stash and
supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn
ends and you begin.
http://marniemaclean.com

What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Okay, so I had to take it twice. I had two answers on some of the questions, so I guess I’m a Knitting Guru with a Knitting Purist streak. :)

You appear to be a Knitting Purist.
You are an accomplished knitter producing beautiful
pieces with a classic feel. You sometimes
lament losing half of your local yarn shop to
garish novelty yarns. Perhaps you consider fun
fur scarves the bane of knitting society and
prefer to steer new knitters towards the wool
and cotton blends. Some might call you a bit of
an elitist but you know that you’ve been doing
this craft long enough to respect the history
behind it and honor it with beautiful piece
that can last a lifetime.
http://marniemaclean.com

What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Oh, what to write? I should write something. I’m tired, it’s grey outside and I want to be home curled up on the couch reading. After three days of no headaches, I have a headache starting. This is so annoying! The whole row of us at work (three of us) have all had headaches for the last 10 days. It could be the weather and it just turning cold or it could be other things. I wouldn’t be surprised if the air in the building has something to do with it. I didn’t want to take any Excedrin today but looks like I might have to.

So the election is almost over! Yeah! I usually enjoy the election season, but this year it’s really getting to me. I can’t stand hearing about the polls and they say it’s so close, which makes me very nervous. My mom has said if this Bush Administration has been bad, what will they do when they don’t have to worry about running for re-election. Our country could be in shambles financially, environmentally and whatever else they can mess up. Today on NPR they mentioned dealing with Cuba and I said to Bryan, “Are we invading Cuba next?” What is the Administration going to do, invade every country that disagrees with our policies? How about negotiating, it’s worked for hundreds of years and war is NOT the answer!

I’m reading a really interesting book right now, The Secret History by Donna Tartt. At first, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. It’s about a college student and he becomes part of an exclusive group of students who all study Greek and the Greek classics with just one instructor. It’s really interesting to get to know the characters, but I’ve just been along for the ride thinking it’s a book without a lot of action and more about the narrator’s development as a person. I could tell there was something boiling below the surface but wasn’t sure what. The book kept me interested to the point that it kept pulling me back, “like you know something is going to happen, you just don’t know when, so you should read more.” Then in the 70 pages that I read yesterday, I realized that there is a lot going on under the surface. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, but now it’s getting really good. At first, it seemed like it was taking me a long time to read a few pages because the pages are long (lengthwise) and the type is small but in the last several days as I’ve really gotten into it, it seems to be taking less time to read a page. This is Donna Tartt’s first book, it came out in 1992, I think. I found it in a BookBrowse interview with Audrey Niffenegger, the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife, one of my absolutely favorite books! By far my favorite book that I’ve read in the last year! So when The Secret History was one of her top ten books, I figured I had to read it. :) I’m tracking my reading of The Secret History on my Recent Reads page. It’s a new page that I created to record what I’ve read and am reading. I figured, I have my current listening page, why not a current reading page. :)

I’m starting to work on my application for Library Science grad school. I sent out my requests for transcripts yesterday and will be sending the forms to the people writing my letters of reference tomorrow. Next week, I’ll be interviewing a library director for one of my essays. We’re supposed to interview a library professional to talk about issues related to the library and information services. It should be very interesting. So things are really gearing up. I hope to have my application sent in before the end of December! Then it’s just a matter of waiting for three months to find out if I get in.

I knit about 6 rows of the giraffe blanket on Monday night. Our place has stayed pretty clean since we had Meredith and her friend, Dan, over on Friday night. I wanted to just relax on Monday night, so before I ate dinner, I knitted six rows. I felt really good about getting more of the blanket finished. I am about half way through the fourth row of squares and there are a total of six rows of squares. I’m almost 2/3 of the way finished with the blanket. Thank goodness it’s getting cooler and I’m in a nesting mood.

Challenging. That’s the way I have to describe my class last night. I have nights where I start to question my ability as a teacher. Last night was one of those nights. Because several of them are struggling, I haven’t taught about half of what I had planned to teach them. I haven’t taught them ribbing, which is essential. I started them on hats and now I’m focused on getting them to finish the hats, but other things have fallen by the wayside, such as fixing mistakes and ribbing. It’s difficult for me to keep them on schedule because a few of them are still struggling with basic stitches. Oh well, I guess that’s just how things work sometimes. At least, I got my gauge lecture in. :) I’m a stickler for gauge and gauge swatches! Next week is the last week of class and then I not only start a new four-week class at the park district but I also start six-week classes at two high school continuing ed programs.

I taught a private papermaking lesson last night. I wasn’t very clear when I gave my instructions for materials for the papermaking class, so my student had a pour papermaking mould instead of a mould and deckle for the dip method. The mould and deckle for the dip method are like two frames held together. One of the frames has a screen on it to trap the fibers to make the sheet of paper. I learned the dip method in my Japanese papermaking class when I was in college nine years ago. So last night, I had to figure out how to use the pour method really quickly. In the materials my student had made it sound like the poru method is so much easier but I think it’s actually harder than using the dip method because there is a large mould that you have to unstrap each time you make a sheet, as opposed to just taking the top frame off.

After class, I went home and watched the rest of the debate with Bryan. Bush sounds like such a broken record. He doesn’t even answer the questions. While we were watching the debate, I worked on sewing a couple of the seams to a sweater that I finished knitting almost a year ago.

I’m ready for the weekend! Meredith and her friend, Dan, are coming over for Meredith’s belated birthday dinner. Bryan and I are making dinner and we’ll be dining on our new fine china and using our new wine glasses! It should be fun. We just have to do some serious picking up and cleaning tonight. Our house is still a bit messy since we haven’t taken the time to really clean since we got back from our honeymoon. At least all of the gifts have been unpacked. :)

Knitting classes can be so much fun. Last night’s class was fun in a weird way. I didn’t have a chance to stop and think about one thing. Last week, I taught them how to cast-on and purl. So this week I taught them to knit. I thought it would move along a lot quicker, but then I realized I needed to get them started on their hats. So basically all I was able to teach was the knit stitch and, of course, a review of casting on. But they are doing stockinette stitch this week, so I think they will be ready for the lesson next week without any problems. Each class always has one problem that makes it unique. Sometimes it’s dropped stitches and several people have problems with dropped stitches. It’s never several problems, it’s like a little illness that they all catch from each other, it’s kind of funny in a way. This class’ problem is wrapping the yarn counterclockwise. I understand that it seems counterintuitive, but almost all of them want to wrap the yarn clockwise. So I’ve been dealing with a lot of twisted stitches. :) Someone could do a study on the dynamics of knitting classes and attempt to figure out why there is one problem that all of the students seem to deal with in that class. Next week, I’ll teach them to increase and decrease. Then the following week, we’ll sew the hat’s seam. I am now wishing that the class was a six week class so that I didn’t feel so rushed, but I think part of that is just getting back into teaching.

My excitement for knitting is really starting to come back. The weather is really helping! It’s getting cooler and I want to be curled up on the couch with a nice project. Last week, I was dealing with post-wedding withdrawal pretty badly, but this week seems to be better. I’m starting to move into the relief stage. I’m still sad, in a way, that it’s all over but I’m moving to, “Hey, I have time to do other things.” It seems weird not to be planning but I’m enjoying the time to work on knitting. Being married has been great. It feels different but since we lived together for over a year in a way it doesn’t feel different. It’s really hard to explain, it’s different and at the same time it’s not. I’m sure it doesn’t make any sense, except to those people who have done the same thing. Bryan posted a few wedding photos on his website and a few honeymoon photos too. I hope to get several of the photos on a webpage at some point. Finding the time to do it is part of the problem. And knitting wise, if I could just finish the giraffe blanket! :) Just to give you an idea about how excited I am about knitting again, last night after I got home from class. I went to my knitting basket, which has been very neglected in the last year, and pulled out the Lang cardigan. I finished the second button band and now all I have to do is sew it together! So I may have a project to add to my completed list soon!! So it’s only taken me about 26 months to finish but hey, it’s going to get done. While I’m at it, I should sew the side seam of the Joy top. It just needs one side seam, but I’ve copped this attitude that I’m probably not going to wear it soon, so why should I sew that one seam.

Well, I hope you’re all enjoying the fall leaves, if they are changing near you. They were beautiful here this past weekend, but now the trees are starting to look a bit bare. I wish that the trees would take a little longer to change so that we could enjoy them longer, but maybe that’s why we need to pay attention to them because it’s only beautiful for a short moment in time.

I’m applying to library school soon! I need to do an interview with a librarian and then get the information to my references. I’m nervous but I’m really excited. My application is due in mid-January but I want to get it off to U of Illinois before Christmas so that I don’t have to worry about it. For a while, I was afraid that I would have to wait until next summer to find out if I get in, but then I checked the website and they let everyone know in mid-March!

I am teaching a papermaking class tonight. It’s a private lesson because my class at the high school that the woman signed up for was cancelled. It will be interesting. I haven’t taught papermaking as a class before, so I hope it goes well. I’m a bit relieved that the papermaking classes were cancelled because I wasn’t sure how I was going to teach the class. It’s not something that you can just say get these supplies and show up. It’s a bit more complicated than that.

Currently reading: Secret History by Donna Tartt

Bryan has been a very busy husband. :) He not only posted wedding photos yesterday, he posted a few honeymoon photos today. The photos on the Bay of Fundy are great, but obviously not posted yet.

We didn’t stop in any yarn stores, I don’t need any more yarn. I could go through about four very harsh winters where I couldn’t leave my house and have enough yarn to knit with. We did stop in at a store in North Rustico, Prince Edward Island called Rustico Bay Wool Sweater Shop that had all handknit sweaters, hats, mittens and scarves. They had some beautiful stuff. We stopped there because it was very windy and chilly on the north shore of PEI and I didn’t have a proper head attire, so we bought a nice hat. The sweaters were very reasonably priced and the hat, scarf and mitten sets were selling for $75 Canadian. They gave us their website url, but I can’t find it right now.