It’s been a crazy few weeks but things are starting to settle.
A week and a half ago, I received my MSLIS (Master in Library and Information Science). Graduation was an exciting day but also a day of saying goodbye to some very good friends. I miss them all so much but I know we’ll see them again.
The day after graduation we moved the rest of our stuff from the apartment in Illinois to our house in Kansas. It was probably the least stressful move I’ve ever experienced. (I’ve only moved six times in the last 13 years.) We’ve begun to settle into the house with some boxes still remaining in the downstairs. The upstairs attic (future craft area and spare bedroom) is still full of boxes and needs some serious work. One of the challenges of moving into this house has been going through my aunt’s belongings and making room for our own.
Two days after our move, I started my new job as the Teen/Youth Coordinator at one of the local libraries. I love my new job and it still doesn’t seem real that I’m an honest to goodness librarian. I’ve been planning activities to go along with our summer reading program which has been a lot of fun. Today literally flew by.
Over Memorial Day weekend, I worked a lot in the garden. It’s now 95% planted with peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, peas, butternut squash, onions, herbs and we’ll soon be adding peanuts. We also put in two raspberry bushes in the backyard with one more to add later this week. The gardening has been so fulfilling and I can’t wait to find out how plentiful our harvest will be. I think we’ll probably have lettuce in the next couple of weeks.
April 5, 2009 at 8:04 pm
· Filed under library, school
Wow, 500 posts. It’s hard to believe this ol’ blog has been a part of my life for almost seven years. (April 18 will mark exactly seven years.)
This weekend was the Fairy Tale Ball at one of the local libraries. I volunteered to read stories and several friends and classmates volunteered to do other things at the Ball. It was a lot of fun and the fortune teller, who I happen to know was fabulous.
I’d spent a good part of Spring Break wondering if I would find a dress that was perfect. The first store my mom and I walked into and the second dress I tried on was perfect. I didn’t even need to hem it.
Friday afternoon, I whipped together my head garland in about an hour. I bought several stems of “silk” daisies and leaves at Hobby Lobby and twisted them around a bridal headband that I bought. It truly turned out better than I expected.
A couple of classmates said we should wear our Fairy Tale outfits more often. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a plan to wear them to one of our upcoming classes. Oh the joys of being a future children’s librarian! Now to just get the degree and a job.
This weekend I also started peppers, tomato, herbs, dahlia and echinacea seeds for our future garden. It’s a small portion of what we have planned for the garden. Bryan is working on getting the garden prepared for planting. We’ve found out that soil in Kansas City has a lot of heavy clay in it. Poor Bryan found that out the hard way yesterday after trying to pull up the sod. Looks like we’ll be paying someone to till up the soil for us.
pattern: Martha from Rowan Magazine 28
yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed, Crush (color 144)
started: January 8, 2007
completed: April 11, 2008
This month at the library I work at we’re doing a Pedometer Challenge. There are different teams around the library competing for the highest weekly average. My average last week wasn’t great but this week is definitely going to be better. Biking can be converted to steps, so we dusted off our bikes this weekend. I’ve already biked over nine miles these last two days. My new walking shoes will be a huge help in motivating me to continue walking to work on those days that my seat is too sore to ride my bike.
pattern modified from Tweedy Vest by Mona Schmidt from Knitscene, Fall/Winter 2005
yarn: Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed, color: 20008
started: November 22, 2007
completed: February 10, 2008
The semester is winding down and there is still so much to be done. I’m looking forward to summer and growing vegetables again. Today I noticed the hostas we planted last year are coming up. They’re in a pot that we buried in the ground that we can dig up and put on our front porch. I just hope the apartment people don’t come by and chop them off thinking that they are weeds. My summer schedule is going to be a bit less crazy than this semester. I have two classes – Non-Fiction for Children and Adult Popular Literature. There will be a lot of reading but I loved reading for my Children’s Lit class last semester.
pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann from The Knitting Workshop
yarn: Berocco Cotton 100 in Blue (9198) and Lime (9225)
started: March 18, 2008
finished: March 28, 2008
Lately, I’ve been knitting washcloths. I’m nearly finished with my third in as many weeks. Maybe it’s spring fever, maybe it’s finally finishing the Martha sweater, maybe it’s feeling too pressed for time.
Six years ago on April 18, 2002 I started my lowly little blog. Last year, I noted all of the projects I’d worked on since April 2002. It’s been sort of a slow knitting year for me with school and all of the sewing that I did last summer. Since last April: I’ve started Library School, knitted two baby sweaters, finished the pair of Go with the Flow socks, completed a pair of Anniversary socks, and knitted one Waving Lace sock. I also finished the Moderne Baby Blanket. For myself, the Tweedy vest was knitted in a matter of a few months and the biggest accomplishment was finishing the Martha sweater. In the sewing department, I made six skirts for myself, several bags, two adorable bunnies, made my first quilt and started another quilt (which is a surprise).
It’s been a while since I posted. I’m still alive and am very busy with school, my practicum at the local public library and my assistantship. I started on Sunday but it didn’t feel appropriate to lead off with but you can read it here (by clicking the “View the rest of this entry…”), if you so desire. I was having an extremely analytical evening the other night and that’s when I wrote it. While I’ve been busy with classes, I’ve managed to finish my tweedy vest (photos to come soon). One of my assignments for my Media Literacy class this week was to find a favorite YouTube video. I have several and have managed to somehow while away an hour here and there browsing through YouTube videos. Here’s my favorite and I thought you’d all enjoy it. You thought that library school was all about learning about library service and library theory, obviously there’s more to it.
My friend Dorie, who is an amazing quilter has three quilts that are part of an exhibit in New York. They are so adorable and so inspiring. I truly admire her work.
I receive Knitting Daily as an email and usually feel inspired by them. Then this post “The Year of Knitting Fearlessly” appeared in my email last week. I’ve been thinking about it all week and the idea of knitting fearlessly seems to fit so well into my established goals this year. Will this be the year that I finally tackle my fear of knitting an entire cabled sweater (don’t ask me why it’s taken so long)? Or knit my first fair-isle sweater? I’ve always wanted to make the little yoke sweater on the cover of Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmermann. This may be my year.
Another project that has been sitting for several years that I’ve been fearful of but am still truly in love with but have always been afraid of even starting is the Garter Stitch Jacket. First it has nine bazillion colors and each color only lasts about two rows meaning that it will be a real pain to deal with all of the ends. For right now, I’m focused on finishing up Martha and the Tweedy vest.
Is this going to be a fearless knitting year for you? What are you planning on trying this year that’s new for you?
Yesterday was a big day around town with a new local library opening. We were in line about fifteen minutes before the library opened and by 1pm the line was really long. I’ve never seen so many people in a library. Very exciting for two librarians! There were long lines to check out materials. It was so exciting to be in the library on opening day. It’s beautiful and just a welcoming space. I’m sure I’ll be spending a lot of time there studying in the coming semester. To top it all off, we watched the local news coverage of the library opening last night and for a split second, Bryan was shown walking into the new library.
December 2, 2007 at 12:59 pm
· Filed under library, school
While I’m working away on assignments that are due this last week of my first semester of library school. I thought you might enjoy seeing just how much students have changed.
Update December 3
- One major project down with a few minor adjustments. The presentation for the project is done!
- One more paper to finish, my last of the make-up assignments I missed in October.
- Another major project due on Thursday, which is coming along nicely. Yesterday I had my doubts but after class today I’m feeling a lot more confident about it.
Looking forward to Friday for several reasons. I hope to have my paper and project done by Thursday evening so I have Friday free. It’s my birthday and I’m determined NOT to do homework that day.
I love these moments I’ve been having lately. They’re moments where I get off the bus, I’m walking through campus and it dawns on me, “I’m in grad school.” Yes, I’ve been in school for about five weeks but these moments are interesting. For years I’ve thought about going back to school and wondered what would it be like. This morning as I was walking to the library, an image of what I’d thought grad school would be like immediately flashed in my head and everything seemed so right. Do you ever have moments where you suddenly feel, “this is exactly where I’m supposed to be”? In my mind, I didn’t expect to be married while in grad school but I’m very happy that I have Bryan to keep me sane.
This past weekend was a busy one of readings, papers and a tiny bit of knitting. My first grad school paper was due on Monday and I handed it in early on Sunday night. (We post our papers online, which saves some headaches and the panic of getting to campus without my paper.) Wednesday, my second paper was due and next week I have two more papers. These first two papers were a bit challenging, just getting words on the page can be so daunting. Now I feel like I can get the next two done without any problems. The paper due this coming Monday is really interesting. I have to research an organization for my intellectual freedom class and discuss how they would be an ally in a book challenge situation. I’m researching the American Booksellers Association, an association of independent booksellers, which has been really interesting. The entire intellectual freedom class has really made me more aware of books that are currently being challenged and what it means for librarians. There are two challenges in the news now in Maine and Alabama.
Onto other news, I finally sent off the quilt to its rightful owners, baby (born in June) and mother received the blanket on Monday, I can show it off here now. It’s my first quilt and I’m quite proud of it. I’m working on my second quilt and it’s another secret project. I’m hoping to get some serious work done on it this Saturday during my Saturday Sew-over with S.
Last week, I also started another baby project in Rowan Demin, which is going quite quickly. The baby was born in May so I’m hoping to get it to the mother soon. There are so many babies being born this year that’s it’s been quite difficult to keep up.
Another project that has been sitting for several years that I’ve been fearful of but am still truly in love with but have always been afraid of even starting is the Garter Stitch Jacket. First it has nine bazillion colors and each color only lasts about two rows meaning that it will be a real pain to deal with all of the ends. For right now, I’m focused on finishing up Martha and the Tweedy vest. 
