Jeremy's Knit-a-bit

And the walls came tumbling down

This is for Sammi, a post, even though I didn't see her when she was in town. She was at my house thought. I was at work. 

So the district were I teach is building a new elementary school behind the school I have taught at for 8 years. We had to have everything out by 6pm the last day of school, June 12th. On Tuesday, they began to tear down the building starting with the gym I taught in.

They are going at it from both sides.

The front entrance is gone and not much left of the gym.

The wall you now see is the only wall left, the gym basically gone.

And here is our new school. You can't see the gym because it is behind the old building.

I Got My Laptop Back!

So I have four minutes before I have to go so this will be a quick update.
Joy graduated earlier in the month. We had a family party afterwards and invited "Z"'s family

And winds caused this to happen earlier in the month. It wasn't my tree but it was my yard.

Just for Sammi

An Update! Until June 6th I am going to be pretty busy with end of the year school stuff. Not much knitting has been going on so aside from teaching and working at the golf course on Sundays here is what I have been occupied with...

Water Polo. Both Joy and Lily played on the high school teams and were captains. I was one of the team moms again. They played well this season, the JV team improved a lot from the past years and it was great to have a JV coach and more player interest than in the past. One of the parents was able to get some great shots of Lily scoring a goal in her last game.

With her "man" on her she manages to get off a shot.

With three in the goal...

She placed the ball just right. That was one of two goals that night. A great way to end the season.

The paper got a great picture of Joy but they didn't print it even though the headline of the article was about her?? I am not sure if she scored on this shot, she had 3 goals this game to win their first sectional game and move on to the semifinals.

The banquet was last Thursday and both girls won awards. Aside for being honored as captains, Lily received the JV "Brain Trust" award for helping the coach and Joy was varsity MVP for the third year. I know she has enjoyed playing high school water polo but I think she looks forward to playing in college on a team with players who play at her level or better.

Joy with co-captain Lindsey.

Varsity captains and coaches.

In the middle of all of this was Prom. Joy went with her boyfriend "Z". When it was time for him to ask her it was going to be hard for him to surprise her. Someone told me his original plan was to do something at the pool but the timing was bad. Joy thought he was going to do it at Jamba Juice. He ended up decorating her room and hiding with his friend while she was dress shopping. When she got home the jumped out. I don't think she was expecting it.

And here they are at a pre prom party:

And their true personalities:

Then the prom red carpet parade to the coach bus which would take them to the Chicago Marriott.

With those events past I now have report cards and field day to look forward too and keep me busy. Posting will probably be more often once school is out and Joy graduates June 7.

Wee Tiny Sock Post at Last

I feel so bad, this arrived a couple weeks ago. The darling sock and wonderful treats came from Jackie. You should check out the colorful Swallowtail Shawl she
just knit. The pattern is available for a limited time in The Top 5: The Best of Interweave Knits Readers' Choice Awards from Knitting Daily.

Then knitting my own Wee Tiny Sock has inspired me to sock knit again, thus the Cascading Leaves Sock. I am a little further than this picture. The good news is that Lily has a water polo tournament on Saturday which means a lot of knitting time. Here is my progress as of last weekend.

The Beginning - Cascading Leaves

With the yarn chosen, Mountain Colors Bearfoot, it needed to be wound.

On the umbrella swift.

A center pull ball.

Found my Lantern Moon Sox Stix and stitch markers on a sock I decided to frog.

It is all ready to go.

I cast on over two needles as Jeanie suggested.

And I am on my way. I actually did 10 rows of the ribbing last night and am ready to start the pattern if I am not too tired tonight.

Decisions and Strike One

Baseball season has started and I already have strike one! I joined Stashalong 2008 and yesterday I broke one of my rules. I bought yarn that wasn't for a gift. I went to I'd Rather Be Knitting to pick up 10-1/2 dpn's to finish Joy's Bulldog hat. In the ten minutes I was in the store I ended up coming out with this:

First there was the Opal Uni Solid sock yarn in the two colors I had been looking for, blue and gold, our high school colors.

I have been looking for these colors to knit the Go Team socks.

As I was checking out the clerk asked me if I had seen their new sock yarn. To which I replied "no". So she led me to a selection of Misti International Hand Paint Sockyarn(ralvery link). Since I love the Misti alpaca yarns I just had to select a skein. It is 50% alpaca, 30% merino wool, 10% silk, and 10% nylon. Just dreamy.

That comes to decisions. First my original intent was to use my mountain colors bearfoot to knit socks for the April Sockdown from the Sock Knitters Anonymous Group in Ravelry. Aprils challenge was to knit either a pair of socks from one of Jeanie Townsend's patterns or from a pattern without a picture. I chose Jeanie's Cascading Leaves pattern (the pattern is available from the yahoo group). Then came the Opal yarn and I thought I should knit those right away before I was distracted and I really enjoyed the colorwork in Madison's hat. And what about the Misti Alpaca???? So I eliminated the Go Team Socks first since the KAL has a deadline. So know I must decide between these two yarns for my Cascading Leaves:

And the winner is....the Mountain Colors. Selected for it's green colorway along with the leaves pattern.

Joy's Bulldog Hat is almost done. Just a few more rows and a pom-pom.

And here it is being modeled.

I am out of time and I still haven't posted about the Wee Tiny Sock Swap (I received the cutest sock from Jackie) and confessed to the Stashalong 2008. Food for another post I guess.

Back to the Routine Tomorrow

Over my spring break I accomplished:
1. Getting the taxes done which included Carolyn's, Michael's, Joy's and of course mine. Carolyn's actually were the most difficult because she worked out of state and then another employer paid her as a business. It took awhile to figure out but I swear by TurboTax.
2. Got all the ordering done for school which has to be in by April 1.
3. Turned in all my expenses.
4. Did the Jump Rope for Heart and PE central challenge orders.
5. Ordered supplies for my afterschool knitting classes.
6. Got back into blogging.
7. Got back into knitting.
8. Participated in the Wee Tiny Sock Swap.
9. Shifted a lot of the blogs I read from Bloglines to Google Reader.
10. Insert what I have left out here.
For my final pictures (because once I am back to work the light is usually to bad to take pictures until the weekend).

My sock for the Wee Tiny Sock Swap modeled by Liam who needs a new sweater.

I need a good, small, teddy bear sweater pattern.

And I am also working on the Bulldog Hat for Joy.

I will try to post once a week until school is out in early June.

Hoping yesterday's snow was the last

As the snow melts an inventory of outdoors reconfirms that the house needs new gutters.

I took this picture to note the puddle below the leak however what is more noticeable is the green shoots starting to peak. Also obvious is the results of the early snow and the landscaper not doing the fall clean up.

And here is what was discovered under the snow.

Oh, and this too.

I have gotten past the gusset in the Wee Tiny Sock so it will be ready to send this weekend. I am excited to get my swap pal. The yarn I ordered from Knitting-Warehouse arrived today...speedy. It is Paton's Shetland Chunky in Wine and Oxford gray. The color in the picture is a little redder than it actually is. Some of it is for the Madison's Hat I am knitting for Joy, the rest is for a throw which I saw a pattern for on someone's blog the other day. I have to go find it again and add it to my ravelry queue. I am off on the hunt...

And please enjoy all the posts because come Monday they will become sparse again.

Decision Made

JOY IS GOING TO BE A BULLDOG! She decided she would be happiest at Redlands which is most important. She has also decided that along with playing Water Polo she is going to swim at Redlands. I did have to order some yarn in Redlands colors, maroon and grey, so that I could knit her Madison's hat by Wendy Dunlap. I am allowing this purchase with the Stashalong 2008 because it is a gift. With that done Lily is the only one left. It is hard to believe that our family has gone through the college search process three times now. All I can say is each one has been different as I am sure the next one will be also.

I have been knitting the Waves of Blue afghan (semi mindless for TV watching) and working on the Wee Tiny Sock for the swap. I am stuck picking up stitches they are tight and I either split the yarn or drop the stitch. Here is a pic from the other day. Sorry it is not as clear because the auto focus focused elsewhere. It is teeny.

I am alittle further than this picture, I just have to get over the stumbling block.

Happy Birthday Michael

It is hard to believe it has been 21 years. I remember your love of the backhoe and all the construction of the water main and our house. Both projects kept you entertained.

Your life was filled with the many good friends you had while growing up, Sean, Mardeen, Tyler, Jack, and Joey (I probably missed a few). And the sports you loved, baseball, then football. I have fond memories of watching you playing football and at track meets.

I am proud of who you have grown up to be and miss that you are not here often. It was fun to see you last week and meet your friend Derek. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL.