A Little Catching Up!!

I had to go back to see what was happening the last time I posted all the way back in August. That's not really a long time considering some of the blogs I follow have not been updated anywhere from several months to a year. That doesn't mean lives are busy and things aren't happening (laugh).

I've been offline for several weeks. Honestly, as much as I love being online with my various groups and friends, when it comes to bills, the intenet bill falls a bit low on the list. I'm sure many of you understand that. I mean if it comes to, say, paying for a field trip (we chaperones have to pay too!), well the field trip wins hands down. But I'm back. Can't keep me away too long.

I've been blessed with a housing voucher (formerly known as Section 8). I applied for it almost 3 years ago when Section 8 was once again made available. What a wonderful surprise that I received it, let alone being in the first grouping of numbers for which folks would be contacted within 3 years. The last group of numbers included folks that would have to wait as long as 8 years (from 2007) to be notified that they'd received it! So I will be moving in a few weeks. I am in the beginning stages of packing boxes. This comes at a good time since my Mom, at age 91, has been in Arkansas for the month of October visiting her brother. By the time she gets back I plan to be in our new place. As you know I am my Mom's primary/only caregiver so her visit has given us a nice little respite from each other. Keep in mind that I have 4 generations under my roof, the top 3 consisting of 3 women, ages 91, 59, & 29 . . . need I say more (lol). My daughter has her own apartment and I've encouraged her to spend more time there--not maliciously of course. But she is a grown woman with her own lifestyle and needs for her own privacy. And spending more time at her own home is what she wants. So this is a win-win situation for us all. So in the midst of preparing to move, I am still knitting, being a Boy Scout leader (of the Wolf Den that Khalil belongs to), taking the two oldest boys (Khalil, age 7 & Aiden, age 3) to Sunday School and church, etc., etc., etc. Life is good!

Finished!!!!

I finally finished my Travelling Woman Shawl. During the course of the project I actually communicated with the designer Liz via email. I finished this before the deadline that our KAL leader gave us. But not without some angst!!!!! Several times before I neared the end I made and corrected a few minor mistakes. Lifelines and markers played a prominent role in my not getting totally frustrated and/or giving up. It was near the end, I mean literally the end during the bind off (you really have to stay focused doing the P2TOG bindoff)--even the lifeline a few rows above couldn't save me from the mess I made. I'm glad it happened--my bindoff was too tight anyway. But after I had finished the bindoff, was pulling the lifeline out, something unravelled---aaarrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! I knew this wasn't something I was going to be able to fix myself. So I took it to Loopy Yarns. CONGRATS ON THE 5TH ANNIVERSARY LOOPY!!!! Of course the wonderful staff will help you, but they also help you to help yourself--you will learn from your mistakes. I managed to rip back, and didn't do too shabby of a job putting stitches back on the needle before they unravelled any further. Anyhoo, a bit gun-shy, I waited a day or two before tackling the TW again. This time, I said the heck to any lifeline! I did use my markers. Used a size larger needle to do the P2TOG bindoff. This time success. Blocked it & voila. I'm hooked on shawls, lace shawls to be exact and the fear factor of tackling lace is gone!!!! I didn't bother with the points. This is only the scarf size.

Progress Update!

Briefly, I am making such wonderful progress on my Travelling Woman shawl!!!! Deceptively simple pattern to have such beautiful design/detail. Markers and lifelines takes the stress out of this. I just completed Row 1 of my 2nd Chart A repeat. I will make the Sept. 27 deadline set by the leader of our KAL (knit along). For non-knitters, KALs are when several knitters work on the same project at the same time. We cheer each other on, answer questions when we get stuck, encourage and motivate each other to finish, etc.

The Challenge Begins

We started the KAL for the Travelling Woman Shawl yesterday, Sunday, August 22. My plans totally fell through to connect with one of the ladies, at Stitches Midwest, that I was going to get to help me get started. While I understood/could intllectualize the initial set-up row, I still wasn't getting it. I'm not one to beat my head against the wall. I eased on over to Loopy Yarn where a lovely, talented young woman named Erica, that Vicki has added to her staff, helped me with the set up row--actually showing me a better, easier way of doing it. Then like several of the other ladies, I had to rip back until I got my YOs right. How often have we had to YO before a purl stitch. Not often. I viewed a couple of YouTube videos to refresh my memory of YO techniques. I will be using lifelines along the way; a wise thing to do, I think, in lace knitting! I'm going to stick with my Addis though the fingering yarn is slippery. I would use a wooden needle but I can't bear the thought of the stitches getting caught as I attempt to slide them on to the needle. I can't afford to go buy any wooden Addis right now. But I am at a comfortable spot in this challenge. It helps that my 7-year-old grandson started school today. Though today is not a full day, my mornings will once again be mine, to knit my happy little heart out. We complete this KAL on September 27th. I mean the world is not going to blow up if we don't. The main thing is no undue stress and this is for fun. But something in me wants to live up to this challenge. I will post a photo of my beginnings as soon as I get some batteries for my camera!

Nothing New, But . . .

I don't really have anything terribly insightful to blog about, maybe a few new goings on. I mean if you wake up each morning, life IS going on so there is something to blog about! I just don't want there to be great gaps in between blogs.

I am proud to report that my Khalil is going on to 2nd grade. There was never any real concern on my part (I taught 1st grade for 4 years) that he shouldn't go on. But his 1st grade teacher thought there might be. This teacher was the teacher of the current kindergarten teacher. While that kindergarten teacher is not as old as I am (I don't think she is.), she is no spring chicken. All that to say, as good as the 1st grade teacher is, the woman is tired! Some of her teaching strategies gave me pause; such as introducing writing and 2 & 3 addition/subtraction problems with and without regrouping, so late in the year without the necessary foundations. For instance, a child must understand what a paragraph is and atleast two basic rules for writing paragraphs; for instance, have a grasp of place value. Well, I was told that summer school was mandatory for Khalil in order for him to go to summer school. I told them I didn't have the money for summer school tuition. Having been a teacher, I was allowed to provide home summer-schooling. The one-on-one was more valuable than Khalil being in a hot, distracting classroom one week after the regular school year ended. He was able to have "unstructured" structured time, utilize unrushed time on online sites for math and reading at my computer, etc., etc. Needless to say he did very very well. Yesterday, as planned, he was assessed by the 2nd grade teacher. He did very well on his assessments. Mrs. King said (what I already knew) that she saw no reason whatsoever for him not to move on to 2nd grade. Not only because of her assessment, just talking to her about her methodologies, etc., I look forward to this young woman becoming Khalil's teacher. I believe children should continue some kind of education to bridge the time between and the beginning of each school year. Khalil is still a boy! A BOY! They jump, run, flip, play, love Bakugan & Power Rangers & Transformers more than sitting and focusing on academics. By all means getting him to sit still and focus when he gets back into school will be a priority. But as folks dream of what they want and expect their kids, grandkids, nephews, neices to become, we have to realize they are still kids, not rocket scientists; at least not yet. I look forward to Khalil having Mrs. King as a teacher this year. Until I am (if at all) proven wrong, I think Mrs. King will be the teacher he remembers. Funny, the teacher I remember the most (and have run into in my adult life some years ago) was my 1st Grade teacher, Mrs. King!