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!

Sweater Weather

 I will admit to being a fan of the Upper Midwest. I've spent most of my life here, but I also lived in Pittsburgh and Annapolis. I did like both of those places -- especially Pittsburgh -- but I'm a Wisconsin girl. And if there is one time of year that this is a glorious place to live, it's early October, when the colors are changing, the temperature is mild, and the mosquitos are gone.

I've been biking a lot and just enjoying our lovely tree-line streets:

It's also the perfect time to start a sweater. I put a lot of thought into this one as I've knit a few that were too small. I avoided raglan-sleeves because they don't work well with my broad shoulders. I landed on the Adult Modular Cardigan and went up a size. It's a layering piece, so I'm OK with it being on the big side.

It starts with the back: a simple garter-stitch rectangle and a huge mitered square. So far, it's going well.

Something that's not going so well in Wisconsin is the virus:

That big dark blob encompasses Green Bay and Door County. Madison is in a less-terrible color -- but still pretty bad. I've heard that Door County became jammed with tourists who didn't believe in masks. So Vicki, please be careful!

The upside to lots of Covid is that I expect to be able to continue teaching virtually. I hate teaching virtually (who doesn't?) but it is far better than dying. However, things in Madison are quite discouraging. A few weeks after teachers signed their 2020-21-year contracts in June, which included small raises, the school board cut our raises. I'm pretty sure that's illegal and that we will eventually get our tiny raises, but it is quite disheartening to have our pay cut (and the amount we pay toward our health insurance doubled!) when teaching is harder than ever.

If you were able to retire before Covid, thank your lucky stars!