So exhausted from XMAS...and it hasn't started yet.

I'll just post a few photos of my completed afghan, and see if I can link them up with ravelry. This was about nine months of work, done simultaneously with other projects.




This is 90 octagons and 72 connecting diamonds. I was finally able to get these photos up because I replaced my six year old digital camera with a Sony Panasonic Lumix. It has a 25mm wide angle Leica lens, and was $199.00 at Best Buy. Very good deal, very nice camera for the price.














Went to a little cookie swap at Eleganza Yarn yesterday. I've been so busy with the side gig that I didn't even get a chance to bake for it. It was a small turn-out - other folks were feeling overscheduled as well, I have a feeling. Still, it was really nice. Here are the photos.

The lady below is wearing a beautiful orange shawl, and we all ooohhhed and ahhhhed over it. On my list of things to knit this year is to tackle a shawl project - I already have a beautiful purple yarn with silver sparkles that I bought online - I just have to find the right pattern at Kristi's shop (Eleganza Yarns in Frederick, MD).

13 Days Until The Christmas Carols Start Playing On The Radio

Finished crocheting my 90 octagon afghan, and it is gorgeous. What I didn’t expect was how tension on the sock weight yarn would cause it to pop – this is what happens in a heavy blanket. I am now stuck sewing a center circle back up as invisibly as possible every time it pops. Every day for a week now, I’m noticing damage that occurred during the night before when the afghan was in use. I couldn’t have extended this afghan past 90 octagons even if I had wanted to – the heavier it gets, the more stress is placed on the weakest, thinnest yarn. It fits well on a queen-size bed. My original dream of having a king-size afghan to fit a king-size bed that I have always wanted is not going to happen.

Substitute teaching is a lot more stressful this year than it was last year. Wednesdays in Fairfax County are turning into a highly stressful experience, because the switchboard is staffed with people who are far less professional than the ones working on it last year. They refuse to answer the phones as early as 6:15 am, citing the need to manage an orientation that doesn’t begin until 8:00 am. It’s an utter disaster.

Other than this, I love Fairfax County, which has so far proved to be my favorite county as far as teaching in the Washington DC area goes.

The problem on Wednesdays was a big part of my motivation to enroll in some other counties to substitute teach. I decided on Frederick County, but my feelings on that end are pretty mixed. It’s nice to have a back-up, but Frederick County doesn’t have jobs every day, and it doesn’t have a switchboard (which is a virtual guarantee that the early-rising substitute teacher will get the worm, except at the very end of the year). My first and only job so far up in Frederick County was a total disaster – the school deleted me, I had to deal with a reproving phone call from the head of HR, Nancy Dietz, and my opinion of the school is…there is no nice way to put this…that the place is another Columbine waiting to happen. I say this in spite of the fact that there are a lot of wonderful, well-motivated students at this school who are eager to learn, and who do not deserve such a smear on their reputations. I can only hope that my experience at other Frederick County schools turns out better.

I got through much of the paperwork and an all-day orientation at Alexandria City – this was supposed to be my other back-up. Unfortunately, as we are now heading into the holiday season, my budget is so tight that I simply do not have room for another $44.00 fingerprint fee, and another lost day of work to go in there and do the fingerprints. They are the only school system I have ever encountered that does not do fingerprinting at the time of orientation – in fact, the hiring process at Alexandria City is the most distinctly un-streamlined I have ever experienced, and I can’t help but wonder if this doesn’t help justify certain jobs.

I’m hoping to do an Ohio Christmas this year – I haven’t seen my little god-daughter since she was four months old, and she’s two now. The thing is that travelling for the holidays involves so much advance planning and extra organization that I start stressing early. Everything has to turn a dime with substitute teaching, and nothing can go wrong. No days can be “lost” because it puts a lot of stress on the budget when one is planning a trip on top of ordinary expenses. November was my low point in earnings this year for a variety of factors, and this puts on even more pressure. No wonder I rarely blog anymore.

I hope and pray its going to be a good Christmas/Yule, for me and others I care about. As we near the end of the year, I'm trying not to think about all the things I hoped I would accomplish this year, and didn't. It hasn't been an easy year. May there be a little hidden sweetness toward the end of it...that's all I ask.

Franzen at Lisner Auditorium...

I really enjoyed it. Even though he did his "withholding" thing with the audience - Franzen really didn't want to give anything away. When asked directly, "What is this story about?", he wouldn't answer the question. But it didn't annoy me - his talk was free. An author can play any game he pleases when I'm not paying to hear him speak. They only get my wrath when they keep that game up after I've paid to hear them.

He said his favorite character was a Republican. From that, we were supposed to infer Joey. Well sure, a young Republican with a sex slave for a wife who makes a fortune off the Gulf War while still in college. What guy wouldn't love a character like that?

But hey, this is anything but a feminist age. Can you blame Franzen for tapping the backlash with some great writing and making money off it?

Methinks he enjoyed toying with the audience a wee bit too much - they schlepped in 90 degree heat to hear him read. In his defense, he was exhausted. He was on the last day of a three week book tour, he said. And at least the questions weren't as bad as the ones he encountered the night before in Philadelphia.

There was a lot more of this sly humor. Call it "cynical" only if you're in a bad mood. When accused, Frazen pointed out that "cynical" is something that folks love to call OTHER PEOPLE. If you're in a good mood, that's a witty guy.

What I've Been Reading Lately...

Why is there a bird on the cover of the literature?, September 18, 2010




This review is from: Freedom: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) (Hardcover)
Freedom is very easy on the brain. From the beginning, the reader can sit back and enjoy the cynicism, and the unexpected passages that shock without warning. It's easy to get into the story, and it flows fast without obstacles. Franzen does a great portrait of a discontented, bored suburbanite in his protagonist, Patty Berglund.

What I liked was Franzen's choice of a theme that we don't see too much of in recent literature - the exploration of a relationship that I would call "blood brothers" - two men who are not related, and not homosexual, but whose personalities are so meshed that they are closer than actual brothers. He does a good job of showing how both men benefit from competing with each other as much as they love each other...and really shows us the envy underlying the love. The author also shows us how the "blood brother" relationship can destroy the life of a woman trapped in the middle of it, while also making Patty fully responsible for her own problems. If anything, "Freedom" is a potent argument against poly-amory.

The character who really fascinates me isn't Patty, however. It's Connie. She is absolutely driven by a single goal in life, to get married to a guy that she identifies as a "winner", one whom she has formed a soul-mate relationship with by the time she is ten, and one who she will convince to love her in return, no matter what the cost or how many years it takes.

Whenever Connie is reintroduced to the narrative, it picks up tempo. The psychic bondage and domination in the relationship between Connie and Joey is the perfect counter-weight to the feminism of an earlier era that Patty benefits from and Walter promises to uphold. At the end of the story, when Patty says that her overachieving daughter Jessica is a working dog to Joey's show dog, we have no doubt by how much the submissive, underachieving Connie has left Jessica behind in the dust by marrying the "show dog". Tolstoy was no feminist, and in this story, Franzen isn't much of one either.

Patty says there is something "not right" about Connie that makes her hair stand on end, and this reaction is shared by the reader. Yet I knew a few "Connies" when I lived in the Midwest - the straight-A students who followed their boyfriends from high school to college. They had the grades to go anywhere after college, but they made sure to get accepted to the grad school where the boyfriend was, and then dropped out as soon as the boyfriend graduated. A year or so after grad school they got the prize, after committing more than a decade of their lives without a "solid guarantee". Of course, it helps that this Connie had a $50,000 trust fund to seal the deal, but even without it, Franzen captures a particular type of Midwestern girl perfectly. He also shows how her mother Carol colludes with Connie's ambition - another true-to-life scenario based on my own experience.

Surprisingly, the argument about "Freedom" is a conservative one. Franzen may mock the evil of mountaintop removal, and indulge repeatedly in his pet liberal passions of zero population growth and "bad" outdoor cats vs. helpless birds, but he really seems to be criticizing the freedom with which we so easily follow our emotions if it feels good. Anyone who doubts that this is the heart of the conservative argument should check out the essay on Jane Austen in "10 Books Every Conservative Must Read" by Benjamin Wiker.

Sometimes the author's craft is a little weak. It is obvious Walter sold his morals out long before he got involved with Vin Haven and the Cerulean Mountain Trust, but the reader doesn't get to see this happen. There is no sense of real dollar amounts underlying what is otherwise a realistic story - the author has Patty starting over on her own with a job that doesn't pay the rent and a $75,000 inheritance that wouldn't last more than two years, yet wants us to believe that she "holds out" against Walter without one word for six years. Franzen is no Balzac either.

Yet the wonderfully subversive quality of this story is what makes it a winner, as well as the good writing. Does the story advocate for what is precious to liberals? Does it show the ultimate failure of feminism? Does it show how conservatives misuse freedom to do whatever they want, or does it show how liberals do the same damn thing? You be the judge. Why is there a bird on the cover of the literature? When Walter tells us, the subversive laughter lets the reader "have cake and eat it too".

***

The other thing I really liked didn't make it into the above amazon.com review. Franzen captured the ambivalence of partially Jewish characters perfectly. Patty is the daughter of a Jewish mother, but otherwise unobservant. Her son Joey is half-Jewish and skeptical about whether our involvement in Iraq is justified if it benefits Israel (something I can relate to). Joey isn't aware of his Jewish heritage because he knows almost nothing about his Jewish family (something I can also relate to). Here's a wonderful conversation between Joey and his mother, when he questions why she never shared her heritage with him.

“A house full of Jews! How interesting for you.”

You’re a Jew yourself. And that makes me a Jew, too.”

“No, that’s only if you’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid…I think, when it comes to religion, you’re only what you say you are. No one else can say it for you.”

“But you don’t have any religion.”

“Exactly my point….Although apparently my sister disagrees with me…”

“Which sister?”

“Your aunt Abigail. She’s apparently deep into the Kabbalah and rediscovering her Jewish roots, such as they are…”

“I don’t even know what the Kabbalah is.”

“Oh, I’m sure she’d be happy to tell you about it, if you ever want to be in touch with her. It’s very Important and Mystical – I think Madonna’s into it, which pretty much tells you all you need to know right there.”

“Madonna’s Jewish?”

“Yah, Joey, hence her name.” His mother laughed at him.

***
Franzen “gets” the ambivalence of his partially Jewish characters. (I totally enjoyed the above dialogue.) Unfortunately, his portrait of Jonathan’s fully Jewish, hawk-on-Iraq father got a little ugly. A scene with an Orthodox Jewish jewelry store owner was inaccurate. If Franzen doesn’t get the Pulitzer for this book, the backlash may have something to do with it…which is a shame, because the writing is worth the Pulitzer. I wish Franzen hadn’t shot himself in the foot this way.

The Waitress...

AUTHOR’S NOTE:
It’s been so long since I’ve done any creative writing, and I was just itching to create a character in under a thousand words. Here they are…both of them.

She’s a pretty blonde in a vague way, with a compact body, small-built, a sweet, round face with tastefully chosen light-colored eye shadow and a light shade of pink lipstick. So many girls who waitress look the same – pretty blondes who aren’t gorgeous, and who don’t stand out in a crowd, but the customers think they’re cute, and not just the male customers. They have nice bodies in their form-fitting white blouses and tight black pants, but you can tell they’ll get fat as soon as they’ve had their second kid. This girl looked just like that.

She’s smart – she wants to go to Berkeley Law School when she’s finished with college – I heard her on the phone while she was getting a cigarette in. She attends a local college, and just got back from the beach where she had money to spend on a condo, groceries, and parties with older guys who are now doctors and lawyers. Dumped her boyfriend while she was at the beach – he had to stay home and work, and he accused her of being unfaithful while she was there. She couldn’t take the jealousy. He came to the restaurant and cried, so now everyone at work knows, and he went to her house and told her mom that the female friend she went to the beach with was a bad influence. Now she is on the phone to a guy she hasn’t seen in months, actively trying to make a lunch date between classes this week, because she needs a new boyfriend – she’s the type who can’t be without one. First, she tells him about getting promoted from hostess to server, and how much extra money this means for her, and then she says she hasn’t seen him in ages, and then informs him that she has just broken up with her boyfriend.

She talks about her job. She is making so much money now - $100 in tips for working a Friday lunch, $180 for working a Saturday lunch – she is the type that always gets hired for the well-paid jobs in the cliquey restaurants. She makes $3.25 an hour in wages, but it all just goes to taxes. She makes $450 a week just working weekends and one weekday, and she doesn’t even get the dinner shifts yet.

Just got back from the beach, but she is going to Pennsylvania next month, heading to New York with a girlfriend in October, and going back out to California in November. Waitressing pays for all of it – she certainly doesn’t have to pay her school tuition with her hard-earned money. And she’s on the five year plan, so there will be fewer classes to take each semester, with a more flexible schedule for waitressing. Once she gets the evening shifts, she’ll make more money each week than I make as a nurse.

It takes some work. The guy on the other end of the line keeps making excuses for why he can’t fit her into his class schedule. Then there is her class and work schedule to maneuver around. But by the end of the conversation she has got a tentative breakfast date on campus, and in another week or so, if all goes well, she’ll be able to say she has a new boyfriend.

She’s good at manipulating, but she’s still a team-player who is good with the customers – you can tell. These girls are all alike. Aggressive, ambitious, and hard-working – they get hired in the right restaurant by the time they’re 19 and they’ll be making $50,000 a year mostly under the table by the time they’re 21. They’ve got plenty of friends, plus a steady stream of boyfriends while they look for “The One”, a search that takes years. Most of them end up in law school; some of them get MBA’s.

I was never like her - neither as confident, superficial, or articulate. For me, love actually meant something special, and I couldn’t get it easily if I lost it – there was no way I could go from boyfriend to boyfriend at the drop of a hat. I was a waitress, too, but I couldn’t get hired at the cliquey restaurants because I didn’t have the right look.

Yet watching her, I felt amused instead of threatened. She’s cute, I thought, and fun to eavesdrop on. I am so much older than she is now that I no longer have to compete with her and her clones in any category that matters. So I guess I have reached my angle of repose, from which I can recline and watch the aggressive, smart-talkers who are destined to become so much more successful than I ever will be.

Thoughts On Cross-Stitch...

God, what an old-fashioned art this is. While knitting has kept up with the times, with new-fangled needles and super-pricey yarns, cross-stitch has really gone out of style among younger women. This is a problem, because older women who wear bifocals claim it is too difficult to do. They’re right – the holes in the fabric are tiny, the holes in embroidery needles are tiny, and the fanciest stitches (like the French Knot) are so delicate that you need a magnifier to see them properly. This means that the art has to be passed to women still young enough to master it. No wonder cross-stitch is dying out.

When I was a kid, I did a cross-stitch that was specially designed for kids. It had a pre-stamped fabric, and larger holes, so I could just follow along as if I was doing a paint-by-numbers, with a larger needle that a child could handle. These kits aren’t sold in the craft stores anymore – there is no market for them. They may be available online – I haven’t researched it.

The thread is cheap. It frays frequently. It is hard to separate without knotting it up. And I’m still very much a beginner. I spend more time putting a knot in the base of a new thread, threading the tiny needle, and doing ten trial-by-error stabs through the fabric as I just try to pinpoint the correct tiny hole than I actually do sewing.

Still, there is something incredibly meditative about cross-stitch. It can be the yoga of needlecraft. It’s a great way to waste hours at a time, and you can throw away a week on a small 5x7 picture without even thinking about it. The tale of Ichabod Crane comes to mind. Cross-stitch is a rabbit hole straight into Sleepy Hollow if there ever was one.

The wonderful thing about cross-stitch, though, is that it can be personalized in a way that few other crafts can be, once you get the hang of the lettering. Some one I know has a simple one hanging by her front door that depicts a woman with a broom and reads, “You think this place looks bad now? You should have seen it BEFORE I cleaned it up!” Who wouldn’t want a unique, framed piece like that? Framed cross-stitch pieces from kits end up in yard sales all the time, particularly in the Midwest, but I have noticed that these highly personalized pieces almost never get tossed at a public sale.

A lot of old-fashioned things are coming back in this recession era, from DIY gardens to hand-cut pasta, but cross-stitch conflicts with a need for daily exercise. It is an invitation to sit for hours at a time and get fat, and we already have computers for that. So I’m not predicting a renaissance…I’m just a stubborn hold-out who wonders if I can train a little pair of hands before she gets old enough to dump me and the needlework for a treadmill and a future smart phone that texts when you think at it.

UPDATE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2010
Cross-stitch was not as meditative as I hoped it would be. The end result is still beautiful, don't get me wrong. But I got so tired of the thread knotting up or fraying for no reason - the thread that comes with the kits is very cheap. The thread is constantly dropping out of the needle so that the needle needs to be re-threaded, which is a challenge when the needle has a tiny eye. And then, I swear, the needle seems to want to stab my finger without warning or reason.

After working on this project for a week, I switched back to knitting and was amazed at how much easier and less stressful it is to knit.

Beads and Quilts For The Bored, Cross-Stitch For the Poor

This is the signature piece of one of my favorite “quilt” artists, Judy Wickersham Schauerman






GOD, WHAT A LONG SLOW SUMMER...
It’s amazing what a broken foot won’t do (yeah, there’s a pun). It ruins a summer. I keep trying to think of different, more positive ways to look at it. Mixed feelings about how well that is working.

WHAT'S THE HARDEST THING ABOUT THIS SUMMER?
Between the sprained knee this past winter, and the broken foot this summer, I have put on so much weight...

Here I am at Wonder Books in Frederick, MD, where I have just spent $3.29 for a copy of Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H.R. Ellis Davidson, originally published in 1964.

I never even realized the author was a woman – that name is deliberately deceptive. And given the fact that the quote on the header photo of this blog is from one of the Scandinavian sagas, you would think I would have read this classic in the field before now, but somehow I never got around to it. It was wonderful, BTW. I ate this book up.


WHAT SHOULD HAVE I BEEN DOING?
I should have been studying chemistry…so that I’ll know it if I get a chance to teach it. Well, I have done a little of that.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING TOO MUCH OF?
Sitting on my butt. More than halfway through a summer afghan that I really didn't need to finish for another couple of summers.

LOOKED INTO QUILTING…


I went to the library and Borders and looked at quilt books. In a book called, “Once Upon a Quilt: A Scrapbook of Quilting Past and Present”, I found a Japanese lantern quilt made in Pennsylvania around 1920, 25 cotton blocks, (sorry, no photo available). Simple white background, rich blue calico diamonds bordered b y solid red stripes for the lantern, red embroidery thread (I’m guessing) for the lantern handle, and the blocks are all set in a grid of solid lavender pieces, with a thin red border around the outside of the quilt. Perfect quilt for a beginner with some sewing knowledge…

But it will be years before I tackle something like this. Quilting classes are pricey, and necessary for a beginner, unless your female relatives still remember how to do it and can help you. Buying enough quilting fabric for a large quilt is ridiculously expensive now…you don’t save any money making a first quilt – in fact, an experienced quilter with access to wholesale fabric can probably make it for half of what it costs the beginning hobbyist. Quilt kits are popular for a reason…but then you can’t innovate as you go. And then there’s the time factor – no craft genre is more time-consuming than quilting. It’s a dream of mine to hang one beautiful display quilt at home someday, and be able to say that I made it. The fact remains that I will need to pay myself a six-month sabbatical to be able to do it.

Let me grow lovely,
growing old
So many fine things to do;
Knitting lace, darning holes, and forging gold.

LOOKED INTO BEADING…
This was interesting. Looked at all the books, got a feel for designs that I like, looked at the magazines, noticed ads for the bead shows and the big Bead Fest in Philadelphia in August. There’s a small shop in Frederick that has a necklace on display that I just loved – the designer who taught a class on how to make it is “on travel” all summer, so I may try to catch her in the fall.

MY “FIRST” IMPRESSION OF BEADING
There’s an awful lot of ugly jewelry out there, and you really have to sift the slush-pile for classic designs. Once you find what you like, the reasonably priced classes are out in the sticks (in Maryland -Frederick and beyond). There are a lot of techniques to learn – it takes a lot longer to become proficient in jewelry making than it does in say, knitting or crocheting.

You buy a lot of tools in the beginning. You take classes on things that you can learn for free at a knitting circle or from a friendly knit shop owner – beading is A LOT MORE of a business. Every stay-at-home mommy and their mother is doing jewelry shows out of their house, it seems. People who are attracted to beading want an opportunity to MAKE SOME CASH ON THE SIDE.

This is a big contrast to knitting, where the community has a long-standing tradition of knitting things and just giving them away. With knitting, there is constant pressure to be knitting something for somebody else. Nobody EVER asks a beader, “So, who are you beading that for?”

The other thing I've noticed is that the beading crowd has more than its fair share of folks with more money to spend than taste. I'm not sure if this is because a lot of techniques need to be learned before you can make something pretty (meaning that beginners get "stuck" making ugly jewelry in order to learn to the ropes). But I don't think that's it. I've seen some very simple jewelry look elegant, and it looks like "beginner jewelry" to me.

LOOKED INTO CROSS-STITCH EMBROIDERY KITS…
I kid you not. This is how bored I am. I haven’t done one of these since I was a very young child, and I had my mom and grandma helping me back then.
This is one of the cheapest crafts you can get started on – I found this little kit in the half-price bin at Michael’s for $4.25.

You need an embroidery hoop, and a couple of extra embroidery needles, and you probably need more thread than the kit is going to give you. But the whole project costs $25.00 tops, excluding the cost of framing it when you’re done.

This is important to me, because I'll be lucky if I pull in $1000.00 this month.

Let me be honest and say that I’m not sure when I’m actually going to start this project – I have all the pieces for a lace blouse and a retro black dress cut out and sitting in the trunk of my car – it’s been there over a year now. Plus, this is a grown-up embroidery kit – the pattern isn’t stamped directly on the fabric – and that’s the only kind I did as a kid. So this is going to be more of a challenge.

But I just love the theme “It’s All About The Journey”, and it’s 5 X 7 inches, so it’s totally portable. Portability is a big factor for me on crafts - this is why so many of my projects end up in my car. I knit at lunch. I crochet at teachers’ meetings when I can get away with it. If I can’t take it with me, I think twice about investing money on it.

WILL I MAKE IT THROUGH ANOTHER MONTH OF THIS?
I ask myself this all the time now. I'm off to half-price happy hour to get my mind off it.

Long Summer Days

Derain, Andre Arbres-a-Collioure 1905

This painting is what summer means to me.

I was in a lot of pain the first three weeks after I fell and broke my foot – chronic, low-grade pain that never went away except when I slept. About a week ago, that pain finally dried up, and I immediately gave up the crutches the moment I could. Now I am limping everywhere, with my foot in a surgical shoe, but no ace bandage (God, is that thing hot in one hundred degree heat). I’m keeping my fingers crossed for August 20 (the six week mark) but I’m mentally trying to prepare for Sept 6 (I’m a slow healer.)

A month after I fell and broke my foot, I’m still trying to decide whether I was better off having this happen. There’s a lot of confusion in my mind over whether this was a blessing in disguise, or a total pain-in-the-ass misfortune - the real meaning of Jupiter/Chiron/Neptune on my MC in this year’s Solar Return, I suppose.

I had planned to work this summer, put some money in savings, upgrade my museum-piece cell phone, replace the digital camera that has been broken now for nine months, and pay off some bills. That didn’t happen. The economy is such a disaster here that it is impossible to find a job just for the summer that will accommodate the disability – I decided I would be better off reviewing chemistry, so that I can get ready to apply to public school teaching fellowships in the fall as a chemistry teacher. Still, there is a part of me that would really like a job, a part-time job, just to help me stay focused. But it’s a full time job to find a part-time job, so…maybe after I’ve gotten some other things done.

There’s been oodles of time on my hands this summer. Time to read – Maile Meloy’s short story collection, “Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It”, which was wonderful. Time to read “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert - she’s a good writer, and it was an interesting book. She is also an annoying, one-hit-wonder kind of writer. She trashed Bali for everyone who has to go there after she did – Lonely Planet Bali even did a boxed inset titled, “That Damn Book”, in their section on Ubud.

She appears to have done the same thing with “Committed”, the book she published after her blockbuster. “Committed” is 250+ pages of her trashing marriage after she just got remarried herself. (Let me be the one to admit that I only skimmed it briefly, and didn’t want to devote the time to read it.) But at least I had the time to read whatever “struck me fancy” while hanging out at the Border Books in Frederick, MD (where I have spent an inordinate amount of time since breaking my foot). Like that would have happened if I had been working this summer.

There’s been time to daydream. I liked the section on Italy in Elizabeth Gilbert’s book a lot. If I can get the job I want in the Emirates a couple of years from now, and if the dollar stays reasonably strong against the Euro,I could totally see myself spending a month or more in Italy during my first free summer. I’ll have the money to do it – it’s a short, convenient flight from the Emirates. I started reading guidebooks, and planning a grown-up vacation (in fact, my first real grown-up vacation someplace outside the U.S.), instead of the backpacker kind I did the last time I was in Italy as a college student twenty years ago, (and I was only there for a week, nowhere near enough time for Italy).

Of course, July and August are high season in Italy, and the place would be overrun with tourists. I’d have to reserve everything far in advance. I’d have to put up with a lot of aggravation. And while I would hop flights from northern to southern Italy to save time (something I could not afford when I was younger), I would still be using trains to get around, because I don’t want to have to drive there – it’s the parking nightmare that boils my blood pressure, and not the steep, twisty roads.

I’ve always dreamed of going to Sicily – my grandmother’s parents were from there. The guidebooks inform me that Sicily will be a tourist madhouse in July or August, and the heat could be about as bad as it is in the Emirates.So maybe I could swing it, and maybe I couldn’t. But at least I could get as far south as Naples, with its amazing pizza and gelato, and not have to worry about my weight at all – I can eat whatever I want with a net loss when I ditch the car for a month or so. And maybe I could just relax on some of those little islands off the coast of Naples if I didn’t have the energy to make it all the way to Sicily.

When I was in Rome twenty years ago, I arrived on New Year’s Eve, and had everything stolen on the platform as soon as I got off the train (Rome was awful on crime twenty years ago – I understand things have really changed). My money was in a money belt underneath my padded plaid jacket, but I had nothing else left. I made my way to the American embassy, only to find out that it would be closed for several days over New Year’s. Outside the embassy, I remember standing there and crying, and this priest who spoke good English came along and felt sorry for me. He let me stay for free in his monastery some place near the church with the statue of St. Teresa of Avila for the long weekend – twenty years later, the only thing I remember is that he took me to see St. Teresa of Avila, and I stood there, like, forever - absolutely bowled over by it. [Just googled it, it is the Bernini statue and the church is Santa Maria della Vittoria - wish I could remember the monastery, it was right nearby].

But I digress…ah yes, Italy is on the brain. I’ve been multi-tasking as I write this blog, and checking out the agricultural B&B’s online at the same time. This is the one I really like,Casa del Grivio . It is in Friuli, that forgotten northeast corner of Italy on the border of Austria and Slovenia. The owners have a sweet, non-native way of expressing themselves in English that is charming (or else I’m a sucker for it). They seem like really nice people. I’m going to remember this one, particularly since tourists don't bother much with Friuli.

I came to Border’s to do chemistry today. But I haven’t spoken with the mother of my god-daughter in awhile, so maybe today would be a good day to call her. I still have to learn that short rows technique for the sweater I am trying to finish, which means I should call Christy and find a convenient time to go hang out in her shop a little while. Man, I love summer, and I love having it to myself without having to work an extra job. There’s no way I would be a teacher if I didn’t get my two months of summer vacation – I’ve got no problem admitting it either.

Summer Solstice 2010

So, it’s the Summer Solstice, the first official day of summer, as if we haven’t been having a vicious heat wave in this area now for over a month.
Still, I love this time of year. You can feel the summer peaking in energy, and I love to go out and pour wine on the growing corn, and give thanks, and just soak up the beauty of the season.

The painting above is from a mural at a Fairfax County school in Falls Church, VA where I worked during this past school year. It has a summer-paradise feel to it, and I loved the snake in the tree.

HERE’S THE PLAN FOR THE SUMMER:
I need to get some sort of temp job in July. In August, I’m hoping to take part of the month off and study for the chemistry Praxis exam which I will take some time in September or October. I’m doing it in high school chemistry because it is one of the few areas where the demand for inner city teaching gigs still exists. The economy is so bad right now that it’s nearly impossible to get a spot in these teaching residencies these days. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that chemistry is going to open a door.

It’s inorganic chemistry, which I haven’t done in years, but I should be able to get it all down in August. These Praxis exams are a joke compared to the pre-med curriculum that I first learned chemistry in.

Then I’ll start another round of applying to teaching residency programs in the fall (Baltimore Teaching Residency, Prince George’s County if their program is open, Teach for America). If I can get one of them to pick me up for the 2011-2012 school year, I’m set.

Detail from a different mural at the same school as the one above.

Note the silhouette map of Africa and the Middle East, the gold key, and the peace symbols(often associated with Peace Corps).

WHAT ELSE AM I DOING THIS SUMMER?

The only thing I can afford to do is my Master Gardener certification. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years, and this would be a really good summer to do it since I am going to have August off, hopefully. Frederick County has offered the only summer certification course in Maryland in previous years – I’m hoping they’re doing it again this year, and that there will still be open spaces in the program. It will be very last-minute if I do sign up for it. Typically, the class starts right after the 4th of July.

I’M SO GLAD THE SCHOOL YEAR IS OVER ON WEDNESDAY

Substitute teaching was a mixed blessing this year. Doing it in Montgomery County was a losing proposition – I lost more money than I made (for reasons that were partially my own fault and partially weather-related), and I feel like the whole thing was an exercise in charity. Plus some of the schools that I worked in were way too demanding, considering what I was getting paid to be there every day.

Fairfax County is a lot easier in some ways. Substitute teaching at the middle school and high school level there is no where near as demanding as it is in Montgomery County. Much of Fairfax County is a truly suburban system, and the students are simply easier to deal with. Montgomery County Public Schools tend to have jaded students in the wealthier part of the county, and large numbers of ghetto and semi-ghetto students in Gaithersburg, upper Montgomery County, and along the P.G. border. You work harder as a substitute teacher in this environment, and get no thanks for it.

Fairfax County elementary schools are roughly comparable to Montgomery County – I didn’t see a real difference there. The more I worked in elementary schools this year, though, the less I had the patience for it. Too much of it was babysitting, and I just didn’t care for it. Also, elementary school teachers and administrators create a hencoop dynamic a little too easily for my taste unless the school is well-run by a competent principal. In an elementary school where the principal is part of the problem rather than at the center of the solution, things go downhill very fast.

Ultimately, I look forward to working in Fairfax County again next year, but I'm going to stick to middle schools and high schools as much as I can.

Maryland Sheep & Wool - May 1, 2010

Maryland Sheep & Wool was sweaty hot and totally crowded, but I was a good girl and I didn’t spend any money. Next year, though, I think I’m going to go back and do some damage.

Actually, I was more interested in buying hand-made baskets than I was in buying yarn. Baskets used to be ridiculously priced a few years ago. The better ones still aren’t cheap, but a creative, well-made small-to-medium sized basket can now be had for $55.00 to $60.00.

Maryland Sheep & Wool is a Maryland institution. It is held at the Howard County Fairground every May 1st over both days of a weekend, and it brings in people from all over the country.It is the largest sheep & wool festival in the United States.
Hand-made brooms and potted plants are also big sellers.

There was plenty of beautiful yarn there, don’t get me wrong. But the crowds are overwhelming by 10:30 am on Saturday. If you are going, go early and get there at 8:00 am. The Boy Scouts and their leaders do a great job of getting everyone parked. There are great lamb dogs and shish kabobs and basically any kind of lamb product you could want for lunch. The homemade soda merchant is on hand for an old-fashioned soda (although they were sold out of sasparilla by the time I got to the head of the queue). There is a line for EVERYTHING by 10:30 am on Saturday, be warned.

The girl on the left is my friend Cinnamon. The lady in the center is holding a bag of just sheared wool. It was full of lanolin, and very oily to the touch. Folks in the sheep industry euphemistically refer to this as a “buttery” texture – yeah, its buttery all right.



The sheep motif is used on everything sold at the festival – it is overdone and gets annoying, but there are some very cute things available, like these beeswax candles made to look like a flock of sheep.





This is a view of the entrance around 8:00 am, before it starts to get crazy. You’ll see some women wearing old-fashioned dresses here. The whole vibe is very Slow Foods, until it gets going, at which time it shifts to a vibe more like WalMart on Black Friday.





This prize-winning afghan caught my eye because the whole thing is patchwork pieces -much like the summer octagon afghan I am working on. The level of skill is far more sophisticated on this piece, but I was able to learn a few things by looking at it.

Frederick Wine Trail

Cameo view of Black Ankle Vineyard on a chilly spring day.

Frederick Wine Trail – its so close to DC, and so unknown.

I did four of their vineyards today, and the whole thing cost $50.00 (and this includes one purchase of a $20 bottle). This is up-and-coming wine. It isn’t as established as Virginia wine country, and there isn’t as much to choose from. But I’m all about supporting a local industry. Let’s hope all this wine is good for my heart! Look on frederickwinetrail.com for descriptions and directions.

BERRYWINE Plantation/LINGANOIRE Cellar

This is the granddaddy of the bunch. Its pretty close to Frederick, and its been around the longest . This is the only place where the wine tastings are free. I paid $8.00 to have them pair it up with Irish cheeses and desserts. The estate bottled Chambourcin was very good, and a good value at $20.00. I bought a bottle.

This is THE place to try and buy weird exotics, like dandelion wine (wonderful toasted nutty aftertaste) and Ethiopian tej (a mead with a very strong olive aftertaste – I’ve never tried anything quite like this. Definitely for the adventurous wine drinker, and a bit of an acquired taste for anyone else.)

LOEW’S VINEYARDS

Very small, total mom-and-pop operation. $2 to taste half a dozen wines. This is the only under-capitalized vineyard in the whole bunch, and I always make a point to support the underdog. I didn’t find anything to buy here, but that’s okay.

BLACK ANKLE VINEYARDS
Chickens who think they own the road with the Black Ankle Vineyard Tasting Room tucked away in the background.

California chic meets Maryland farm county. Overpriced wine, but people who like Napa wines are going to like this place. They are the newest on the trail, having just opened in 2008. This place is all about faux redwood and thick adobe-like walls in the bathrooms. The prettiest vineyard of the bunch.

$10.00 to taste six wines (three regular wines and three reserve wines) Even California vineyards typically taste eight wines for $10.00, but none of these vineyards can yet produce what a California vineyard can in terms of volume, so consider it a donation… The reserve wines are very good, but they are running $45.00 a bottle. Out of my price range – I didn’t bite.

There is a cozy little tasting room, and the view from the private events room is stunning. The owners live in Silver Spring, and commute out here. This is the only vineyard on the Frederick Wine Trail that grows and bottles everything they sell on the estate. Purists will love this pedigree.

ELK RUN VINEYARDS
The vines are empty on Palm Sunday at Elk Run Vineyard in Mt. Airy, MD.

There is some very good Cab Sauvignon and Cab Franc being made here. The owners were sitting around the table drinking when I walked in - I felt like I had to apologize in person when I didn’t buy anything (I was really trying to stick to a $50.00 budget, otherwise I would have.)

They had a Cold Friday Vineyard Reserve merlot that was yummy, but they weren’t tasting the Liberty Tavern Vineyard Cab Sauvignon that I really had my eye on (just as well, it was $50.00 a pop). I paid $8.00 to taste six wines of my choice, and the wine chief threw in an extra because I was curious. Not bad.

SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN

This is the closest vineyard to Washington, DC, and the only one on the trail that I didn’t get to, but I have tasted the acclaimed 2006 Comus. It’s a very nice wine that runs $30.00 a bottle. Wine isn’t cheap anymore. I remember when a very fancy bottle cost $25.00 to $30.00, and fancy bottles start at $50.00 these days. Oh well, prices go up, and then you die. What are you gonna do?

***
You get to drive some very pretty Maryland countryside as you go from vineyard to vineyard. My new GPS took care of me out here. Sometimes you’ll see a house with sleeping porches, or a true Appalachian style house with a two story front porch, and there aren't that many of these left. I went on Palm Sunday, when it was rainy and miserable. Not too crowded – I loved it.

More of the Stacy Pullover, and a New Project in the Works

CABLE KNITTING


This pattern is the Stacy Pullover from the book, Big Girl Knits.

Well, I guess I can see the attraction of cable knitting after all. Its kind of cool to watch the cable grow row by row. Honeycomb is easy, because you're only doing the cable one row out of four. But this hasn't stopped me from screwing it up. There has been er...um...a rather steep learning curve, to say the least.

I'm about halfway up the back, and the right side looks like a honeycomb, while the left side looks like a diamond lattice. I can't decide which one I like better yet, but this isn't the point. I thought I was following the C3B, C3F to a "T", but clearly I wasn't.

I updated Ravelry.com with this sweater today. My name on there is "aishamonique". It is necessary to be a member to follow posts on there. Membership is usually granted a couple of days after you apply.

NEW CROCHET PROJECT - ONE BIG GRANNY AFGHAN COMING UP

I've always wanted a big colorful octogon granny square afghan that would cover a queen-size or a king-size bed. A classic pattern for a "rainbow" afghan was recently published in Crochet Today magazine. I went to Moore's, and bought just enough yarn to get started today.

I bought a mix of Bernat Softee Baby yarn, and a little of the yarn the pattern uses, Red Heart Designer Sport. Red Heart has the colors, but I don't care for the texture of this yarn. Bernat is much softer, but I'm probably not going to find all my colors in one season unless I purchase on-line. All the stores are carrying spring pastels in sport weight yarn now, and that's about it.

I probably won't start this project until next month. I have to brush up on the crochet hook - I haven't crocheted in years. But this afghan should be fast, cheap, and easy - it doesn't get any better than that in the yarn world.

So pretty soon, I'll have one knitting and one crocheting project going. Get tired of one, and I'll be able to switch to another one. This should be enough to keep me busy for this year. Two projects is plenty, and three's a crowd...so I better not get tempted to add a third one.

ONE MORE THING

I love it that the Sabian Symbol for the new Moon (today) is Pisces 26: A New Moon Reveals That It's Time For People To Go Ahead With Their Different Projects.

My New Sweater (and Curses of the Cable Knitter!)

This is the sleeve of the navy blue sweater I am currently knitting. I used little bits of scrap yarn to create the multi-colored tweed, since good quality tweed yarn now runs about $20.00 a skein, a price I can't afford.

Knitting the ribbed sleeves and the bottom of both the front and back pieces was super easy. I blew through it!

Yesterday, however, I went over to Eleganza Yarns in Frederick, MD, to get my first lesson in cable knitting from my wonderful friend and teacher, Kristy. The first thing she did was point out that I didn't know the difference between "kfb" (knit front/back, a method for increasing stitches) and "tbl" (through the back loop, which creates a different look but does not increase stitches). This meant I had 13 fewer stitches at the base of the honeycomb than I was supposed to have.

She made me take the whole thing out, and got a tremendous amount of joy out of laughing at my misfortune (never underestimate the power of schadenfreude among ladies who knit together). But don't get me wrong - she was kind enough to give me a free lesson - I've got nothing to complain about.

Finally, we got to the first row of the cable. Now, everyone in my knitting circle keeps telling me how easy cable knitting is "once you get the hang of it". And I can tell you all right now how miserable it is "until you get the hang of it". I've entirely lost the rhythm and momentum of knitting and purling, I can barely handle the stitches once they are on the cable hook, and I have to count constantly because I don't even know if I'm on a front cable or a back cable half the time. The synapses in my brain feel as if they are on strike. I hope to God this is going to get easier or I'm going to stab the next person who gets on my nerves with a crochet hook, or something. And honeycomb is one of the easiest cable stitches out there - can you imagine if I had started with something hard?

Thoughts on Sun, March 7 NYT "Build a Better Teacher"

Just finished reading Elizabeth Green's very interesting article, and I even took notes from it, because it definitely has useful insights for the beginning teacher. But I will say that I also checked the comments posted by other readers (389 posts at the time that I was reading), and the vast majority (300 or so) were very critical. Many of the responders were experienced teachers who pointed out deliberate omissions in the article. Others pointed out that if teachers are to be held totally responsible for their students' performance, parents are also to be considered 100% responsible for their childrens' academic performance, and that anything less smacks of phony entitlement.

Here is the link:

Build a Better Teacher

My own opinion: I have mixed feelings. I think the researchers are turning up some useful techniques for classroom management that can and should be taught to teachers. But I deplore the subtle "witch hunt" strategy that many of these education PhD's or MBA's have apparently championed as the best way to reform education and promote their own careers. The article ran along side an article on Chinese mob justice on the Internet, which the Chinese themselves refer to as "human flesh searching", and the irony behind this does not escape me. Running these two articles side by side was no editorial slip.

Hot Time In A Hotel Tonight...

Its 18 degrees out tonight, but I don't care. I try to treat myself to a hotel once every few weeks, and tonight is the night. $54 for a Super 8 in Hagerstown - heaven!

Now I wish I could just sit in the hot bath and soak my sprained knee, drink some Moscato, and then go straight to bed. But no, when I get a night in a hotel, I have to make it useful. I did an application online that took over an hour, and now I'm soaking the pieces of my sweater in a lanoline solution in the sink (this stuff is like bubble bath for sweaters, but it doesn't smell as pretty). In an hour or so, I'll wring out the pieces, and start pinning the edges to a clean towel (this is called "blocking", and this will be the first time I'm doing it).

Then, after all that, I'll get to watch some TV (TV is what I miss most about living in the car - its so hard to feel part of American culture when you are minus the TV). Food Network - I love watching it to come up with ideas for what I can cook next time I stay in a hostel with a kitchen. Since there are no hostels in this area open until the spring, I take notes in a notebook so I won't forget things. Living in this car, I have more notebooks than I know what to do with.

Daily Life et Autre Choses...

MY BRAND NEW HOUSEOWNING FRIEND, REBECCA, SAYS HOUSE CLEANING IS SO MUCH WORK!

I do remember how much work that was. But you know, my car was so CLEAN during the first year that I lived it in California. I gave it a vacuum cleaning every six weeks, I folded my blanket and sleeping bag neatly on the back seat, I organized my folders and books in front of passenger seat, I put towels on every seat when I went to the beach to keep my car sand-free…I was the world's most organized homeless person!!

But NOW, my poor car will never see those days again. It’s lucky if it gets a vacuum once a season. It always looks like a cyclone just hit it. The faster I empty stuff out, more stuff gets in. Nothing gets folded anymore. I must be perfecting my own style - not true bag-lady, but something more like homeless gourmet (the messy variety).

I’m no longer as concerned what people think about me…this must be part of it. Part of it is also the geographic/cultural shift – there were so many homeless people in California that people would walk by the cars of others and actually say shit like, “It looks like your homeless.” Here in Maryland, people don’t even think that way – they just assume you have a messy car, and that it’s none of their business. But part of it is that the novelty has worn off, and laziness chez moi au voiture is a wonderful thing.

Thoughts on the Baltimore Teaching Residency (and the DC Teaching Residency) Interviews

This is a mural outside BCPS (Baltimore City Public Schools) HQ.

I'm hoping to be selected for an interview on March 20 or March 21, just a few days after I get back from my interview in Atlanta. This would be a great way to get some recent experience other than substitute teaching and get the teaching certificate.

March 8, 2011 UPDATE

Re-did the 2011 application cycle after I was not selected for 2010. I was applying to teach high school chemistry. I was not selected, and I don't think it had anything to do with the interview or 5 minute lesson. I am a strong interviewer, essay writer, and teacher. Although no feedback is given to candidates who are not selected, I am fairly certain that the reason I was not selected is due to the fact that I defaulted on my student loans - this was directly related to job loss during the economic collapse in 2008. There is nothing I can do about this, and I will not be reapplying.

On average, only 5% of applicants are admitted to these competitive teaching programs. However, I was admitted to medical school several years ago (I did not graduate for personal reasons). In my honest opinion, the interview process for a teaching residency is nothing compared to the rigor of interviews for some of the medical schools I applied to, and the Praxis II subject exams and Praxis II Pedagogy are nothing compared to the MCAT or the first level of the medical boards.

Here are some impressions that will hopefully help other applicants:

1. These programs want applicants with an elite image. Substitute teaching is not considered glamorous or high-status, even though it is excellent experience if you do it frequently in a diverse environment. I felt pressure to play up my current "elite" part-time position and my Peace Corps teaching experience, and to downplay the fact that I substitute teach at all. Hypocrisy annoys me.

2. Both DC Teaching Residency and Baltimore Teaching Residency ask the same "litmus test" question: "What percentage of responsibility should a teacher be willing to accept for the success or failure of all of his or her students?" There is only one right answer - 100%.

It doesn't matter what your personal feeling is on this controversial issue. If you answer anything less than 100%, you will not be hired at either program. Many thoughtful teachers feel drawn to answering with some version of a 50/50 balance - the teacher who gives 100% effort in the classroom believes that the students should meet them halfway with 100% willingness to learn. These teachers are not hired. Hypocrisy really annoys me.

3. Don't undermine a polished five minute lesson with a short essay. When an applicant is handed three blank lined pages to write an essay, he or she is expected to answer with a complete essay that reaches the third page. Candidates are interviewed in groups of eight to ten people, and I saw applicants in my group writing one page essays. I wouldn't hire them. I doubt these residency programs did either.

Brrrr, It Was Cold Last Night....

Now, I've been living in my car for a while, so I'm used to the cold at this point, but last night was still kind of miserable. There is nothing better than snuggling up in a warm sleeping bag, with a coat on top, and I've got that. I've also got a car with heat that works, which is a wonderful thing when u wake up cold, and know its going to be that much harder to get back to sleep if you don't get warm. But I sprained my knee three weeks ago, and the cold is hard on my knee, which isn't healing as fast as I hoped.

When you live in a car in the winter, you have to think about the freezing point of common items. Not being a natural MacGyver, I didn't do this. This morning I went to do laundry, and the liquid detergent that was sitting in the trunk was congealed. It washed a load just fine, but left suds all over at the end of the cycle. Yuck! I should have thought to bring the detergent into the car last night, where the temperature is probably at least ten degrees warmer than the trunk, but I didn't.

The other thing about living in a car is that it is such a MESS. I used to have such a neatly organized house before losing the ability to pay rent. Now I just look at my car sometimes, and sigh. How am I ever going to find something small in here if I lose it, which happens every week? Every inch of space is full. The front dashboard is a "dryer" for things that should air dry - socks and a blouse are up there right now. The space below the front passenger seat has no less than a gallon water bottle, hair brush, shoes, boots, wipe-up bottle, laptop, laptop cords, inverter, books, day planner, folders for work, substitute teaching folder, knitting bag filled with a sweater that is almost finished, empty cooler, duffle bag with clothes, underwear, and socks...and this is just the space in front of the passenger seat.

Every night all the crap on the back seat migrates forward, so that I have a place to sleep. And every morning, at least half of it gets thrown on the back seat, so that I have a place to sit and drive. And no, I have yet to come up with a better system.

Nothing But Blue Sky From Now On...

This is one of my favorite photos that I took from the rear of the car looking inward last summer. There's that feeling of being on the road to somewhere nice with this picture. The floppy hat is from Target, and I use it as a honing device when I'm trying to pick out my gold Hyundai from every other gold Hyundai in a crowded lot. I got the little Mexican hat when I was down in Mexico three years ago, along with the Mexican blanket which has faded out considerably in the sun.



Here's another favorite that I took last summer. It was a sunning-my-butt-and-eating-green-apples-from-the-tree sort of day.

What Would Life Be Like

What would life be like
without malaria dreams
without the need to remember to burn coils in the dark corners,
What would it be like to leave the household water uncovered without a screen,
to sleep without a mosquito net, can anyone imagine that?

For the lucky, there are simple nets that veil the bed like a cascade,
tied from a single point overhead, and tucked under the mattress at night.
To get in and out of bed at night, one crawls under it, in and out –
air slows and stagnates inside it, with not the slightest hole for the tiniest mosquito, because
a net never really breathes.

For the wealthy, there are giant nets tied along the rafters that swath half a room,
a little world ensconced under a net, a laptop, a writing desk, a lamp, a computer,
a connection to the outside world,
accoucher, as the French say, meaning every possible thing that can be done in a bed,
and in Africa , under the mosquito veil.

For the poor, who have absolutely nothing between their bodies and the cement floor,
not even a prayer mat, there are cheap, unhemmed sheets wrapped tightly all over the body like death shrouds,
to keep the fever and euphoria of breaking fevers at bay,
the difference between a few bites each night and two hundred in a few hours
with certain fever nine days later – have you ever seen a whole group of children shrouded like this on the floor of a single, totally empty room?

Without malaria a million new children would grow to adults in Africa every year,
but life as we know it, life with malaria, would cease to exist.

***

I dug this poem out of my email archive yesterday. I wrote it years ago, just after leaving Guinea, where I was a teacher with Peace Corps. I'm not much of a poet - this may be the only poem I've written in the last decade that I can recall. But I like the way the poem conveys cynicism mixed with longing for a certain way of life. It's a very white, post-colonialist poem, and I know I must apologize for that. But at least it was honest.

Sweater Success

NEW SWEATER

The pink popcorn-stitch sweater with the picot edging turned out really nicely. The sleeves didn’t fit when I set them in, and the puckering really annoyed me, but it is so interesting the way the yarn actually conforms to the shape of your body in sweaters you knit yourself. I would swear this sweater fits better now than it did a few weeks ago when I had just finished it.

This is a nice shot of me wearing the finished sweater.

Knitting my first sweater felt like it took forever - almost ten months. By contrast, I expect my second sweater will only take around four months from start to finish.

A few months ago, this is what it looked like without sleeves. I ended up unraveling the first sleeve because it didn't fit.

So, greatly encouraged with the first flush of success on my grand knitting endeavor, I am now doing my second project – a navy blue, fitted sweater with hourglass shaping and a very simple honeycomb cable knit bodice. I’m using a beautiful, hand-dyed, honey gold yarn for the picot edging, and the contrast is striking. You’ll get to see it as soon as I scrape together my pennies for a new camera. It’s out of a book called “Big Girl Knits”, and the author said to knit it for a close fit without being ashamed, and described this pattern as a “sweater with good intentions”. I just loved that line.

The Big Girl Knits sweater will teach me to do short rows, which is an essential technique for creating shaping around a generous bust. Once I learn how to do this, the front of my sweater will actually hang at the same length as the back, something that didn’t happen on my first sweater because there was no bust allowance. There are no buttons or pockets on this sweater, so there goes two ample opportunities to screw up! I really have high hopes for this one.

COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT AN AWESOME KNITTING TEACHER
Kristy is the owner of Eleganza Yarns in Frederick, MD. Without her regular help, I would never have learned to knit as quickly and easily as I did.

Here's a photo of Kristy, her partner Paul, and me (taken on a "snow day" when I went to her shop to show off my new creation.)

snOMG 2010 and Other Things on my Mind

WELL, FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS, MY OLD BLOG WENT DOWN

It was linked to my astrology blog, and today I discovered that my astrology blog kept coming up every time I tried to edit the personal blog. So I have to start over, because I can't even import the old blog into the new one.

NEXT ORDER OF BUSINESS, MY DIGITAL CAMERA IS BROKEN

This hasn't stopped me from taking pictures on it. There's simply no way to edit those photos or download them to the blog. It will be another month before I can buy a new digital camera.

THE LAST FEW MONTHS HAVE HAD A LOT OF SETBACKS, AND THE 2010 BLIZZARD WAS ONE OF THEM

Our lives came to a stop in the Washington, DC area. School was out for a week. Most substitute teachers didn't teach for two or more weeks, because teachers could not get authorized time off after the blizzard.

The snow was beautiful, so I am trying to forget how much money I lost because of it.

About a week after the blizzard, I had a chance to go out to Worthington Farm, my favorite park in Frederick, MD. Here's a view of the farm.

Scenes like this were a common sight in the DC area when I was a little girl, and this area was getting a lot more snow than it does now. It really brought back memories.

I walked for an hour out at Worthington Park, until my sprained knee started hurting and I knew I would have to stop. I fell and sprained my knee in early December, and although it has mostly healed, I still can't handle the uneven footing of loosely packed snow very well.