Cooking & Knitting

 To make up for two nights of parent-teacher conferences, I have the day off, so I am alternating between cooking and knitting. 

I'm doing a socially distant potluck with friends. We are each going to make a couple dishes and package them up for the six participating households. Then we'll meet at the Arboretum, exchange food, take a walk, and regather later via Zoom to eat. I think it will be fun. 

I started a pair of mittens for my daughter, but the cuff turned out horribly large. I should have read the Ravelry comments first because there are some issues with the pattern. Besides, I don't enjoy doing corrugated rib. I'm very slow at it.

So I frogged the mitten and chose a simple slip-stitch pattern. Now I'm flying along.

This very warm and squishy, so I think it'll work.

As always, Kola keeps us smiling. Apparently she wants to quilt:

Wishing you all the happiest and safest of Thanksgivings!

All About Knitting

 I am not going to whine about my job in this post (though, I certainly have enough material to do so!). This week, I had a knitting victory: I finished a sweater that actually fits me! All my previous attempts were on the small side.

It's on the big side, but it works for this layering piece. I also think I'm going to add buttons so it hangs more evenly. It has i-cord edging, which was easy to do, but very hard to join in pattern. This is the first seamed sweater I've knit, and I have to admit that the first side I seamed is a bit wonky.

The yarn is buttery soft Shepherd's Wool. It is 100% wool and 0% itch. However, like most soft yarns, it pills. I'm OK with that, since I can't tolerate most wools. I only take it off to sleep because I am so in love with it!

The pattern is the Adult Modular Cardigan. I'm linking the pattern here because it's really hard to find on Ravelry: Adult Modular Cardigan Jacket.

I've already picked out my next sweater: Porto, made with Berroco Medina, which has no wool.

The stashing could get pretty bad around here. Sunset Yarn just opened its doors a half mile from my house. It is in the cutest building:

It is absolutely adorable inside, too, but it's not like I can really hang out in there at this point. It's Madison's only yarn shop at the moment, so I hope she makes it through the pandemic. Plus, the owner is super nice.

Fortunately, I needed yarn. My daughter wants a pair of gray mittens, and I didn't have anything appropriate in my stash, so I picked up some Rowan worsted

Moving from Miami to Denver is a big change. I know her hands get cold, so I'm making her stranded mittens. 

Sadly, I will be working much of the weekend. But I do need to find some time for those mittens!

It's All About Covid These Days

 Let's get the complaining out of the way first. This has to be the worst time in history to be a special ed teacher. Betsy DeVos waived requirements for regular ed, but not special ed. As a result, the federal and state bureaucrats have developed mountains of extra paperwork. It's truly overwhelming and accounts for my blogging lapse. At least I have company in the "office."

A sane person would cut back the time she spends with students, but I just can't do that. Half my caseload is freshmen this year, and they need support! I even worked this morning -- and I never work on the weekends.

Wisconsin is Ground Zero for Covid, so we are sheltering place, even though the state legislature and courts won't let the governor issue an order. That means lots of knitting time. The next time you see this, it will be a sweater:

I seamed the sides -- my first seaming project -- during a Zoom bat mitzvah yesterday. They are not perfect. I don't care. The sweater fits me and is cozy. It just needs an icord edging now.

We do go the grocery store. I've been going to a Mexican grocery that is owned by parents of one of my students. It's the only way we can communicate, given my Spanish and their English. Along the way, I've developed a passion for Mexican junk food:

Bubu Lubu may be a silly name, but they are addictive! And the Emperador cookies are pretty darn good, too!

I expect November to be my most challenging month for work because I have 5 IEP meetings (with all the paperwork that goes with them!), so I won't be checking in with all of you as much as I'd like. Oh, and then there's the A-bomb of paperwork which was dumped on us Wednesday. But this too will pass!