Going Analog

Although the blog is quiet, the world headquarters of Smoky Mountain Fibers has been a flurry of color.  I dyed lots of fiber for a felting class and even more fiber for my retail business.  I am a contributing member of a local yarn shop here in Asheville (NC), Friends & Fiberworks (aka FFW).  As one of the friends, I work at the shop several hours a month and they carry an array of my patterns and fibers.  The shop participates in a number of fiber festivals and knitting and crochet shows, so my fiber travels in the booth.  If you were at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival in March or Stitches South in Atlanta a few weeks ago, you may have seen my work.  They'll be at the Kentucky Sheep &Fiber Festival in May, so my fiber will be a large part of the shop's display.

So in the interest of all this retail business, I've been keeping the dyepots warm.  I try to dye around the spectrum, so this weekend I concentrated on the reds.  Rosy golds, rusty oranges, fiery reds.  Last week it was all about the greens - blue-greens, olives, froggy, grassy, emerald, chartreuse, every green I can make - even one that was a rather poisonous neon green seldom found in nature.

But with all this dyeing, why am I ignoring my Etsy shop (and my blog)?  I say that it's my lack of a decent camera.  I tell myself that it is the time factor.  I am right on both counts.  I don't have a decent camera, though I could buy one.  The camera built into my phone is better than any stand-alone camera that I own.  Not bad as you can see here.  Not fabulous, but not bad.  I think that researching the perfect camera (and they keep changing) is standing in the way.  My essential cheapness is an issue too.  The perfect camera is scary expensive. 

The time factor is more telling.  Even though I have a demanding day job that requires considerable travel,  I work most Saturdays and an evening every week in the yarn shop.  I design workshops and teach classes as part of my day job, but I also write patterns and knit samples for the yarn shop and it's fun! I've also taught a number of classes and hosted a knit-along or two.  I'm also doing a good bit of knitting for myself.  This winter I completed 5 sweaters, although 3 were in timeout since the previous spring.  (I couldn't help it.  Spring came in February, 2012.  Who wants to knit on a wool sweater when it's 70 degrees out? I have another one on the needles, but need to figure out what I want to do for the closures, so that will likely marinate until next fall.  Hmmm...maybe a zipper?   I've already started a cotton top.  See what I mean?). 

I think the real 'problem' is that I'm involved in a strong, lively, in-person fiber community, so the pull of digital is not so strong.  I get positive feedback from my colleagues at the yarn shop, for my customers in the shop and the felting teachers who purchase my fibers.  I'm teaching knitting and dyeing classes.  People seek out my help with knitting problems, they want my advice in choosing yarns for projects.  Cyberspace is a wonderful place to visit and indeed I go there everyday, but it is not my main sense of community. 

As I make choices about how I spend my time, I am liking the present time and space.  Yesterday I spent my time doing what I love to do:  I took a walk. I cooked.  I dyed fiber. I worked played in the garden.  I even packaged fiber for the upcoming KY show, but I didn't post a one of those luscious rovings to my Etsy shop!

This doesn't mean I'm going offline - not at all.  I'm getting ready to host an online knit-along on the FFW Ravelry group & Facebook page.  I'm back on the blog.  Watch for some new patterns!  But I'm living in the real world as well as the digital.  They're both good. 

Still knitting and teaching and dyeing...Oh my!

Well, it's been a month since I posted - a month of a new semester with a good bit of course development work.  Last term when I taught Going to College 101, the freshman kept me on my toes and I pretty much ignored my regular class.  I can't do that too often - I have to get it back up to speed.  I'm also teaching knitting in the Art Ed class.  I think  my students are a bit confused when they see me in the computer lab and I show up waxing eloquently about the glories of wool and other fibers!

Additionally I have begun working at a friend's knitting shop on the weekends and usually an evening or 2 per week.  I have to say that I really enjoy working at the yarn shop.  Friends & Fiberworks is an amazing place.  It's a yarn shop with LOTS of yarn and spinning fiber and there are classes offered several times per month.  They also host a Winter and a Summer Fiber Retreat with lots of different workshops taught by awesome instructors and a number of vendors.   Lisa, the shop owner invited me to put my dyed fiber, patterns and hats in the shop and I agreed to work a modest number of hours per month.  Turns out I really like it!  Helping people with their projects, teaching classes, just hanging out with like minded people is a very nice way to spend a Saturday.

I've been knitting up a storm.  I recently finished the above top-down cardigan made from Peace Fleece yarn in a tweedy grey-green, and am nearly finished with a purple eyelet yoke sweater.  Quite lovely, both.  I have since started a dark red jacket, based loosely on Maureen's Cardigan, but I added cables up the front to break the monotony.  I'm knitting this with Christopher Sheep Co. yarn that I bought several years ago, but never quite got around to knitting up.  So not only am I knitting a warm and cozy sweater, I am virtuously knitting down the stash!  Now this is my kind of knitting: bottom up in one piece and it will be divided  for the armholes.  Sleeve will be knit from the shoulders down.  I'm currently about 10 inches into it after only about a week, so I should be wearing it sometime in the spring. 

This weekend I'm leading an English Country dance, teaching a dyeing class and I'm sure I'll be knitting on my red sweater.  I have a wonderful life!

Happy Fibery New Year

The new year has gotten of to a roaring start, in my fiber world, work world and personal world as well.  This upcoming weekend is the Winter Fiber Retreat hosted by Friends & Fiberworks, a yarn shop here in Asheville.  I'll be teaching a few classes along with some of the big names in fiber, including Kathleen Taylor and Chad Alice Hagen.  All my classes have people signed up, plus last year there were quite a few on-site registrations so it looks like I'll be teaching dyeing and knitting.

In preparation for the event, 2 cool things have been underway.  To help promote the Fiber Retreat, I appeared on the local midday news's Craft Corner. Click here watch the video, preceded by one of the most annoying commercials ever!  Now granted, I had all of about 3 minutes on camera, but it was LIVE and I got to sit in the studio while they filmed the broadcast.  It was a fairly slow news day, so I got to simply enjoy the technical crew and on-air talent as they did their thing.  I knit almost the whole sleeve of the Eloise sweater while I was watching, giving me something to do while keeping calm until the last 5 minutes of the program.  It was lots of fun, the crew was super nice and I had so much fun!  I dyed a roving similar to the one shown here, but a bit more blended since I immediately put the crock pot in my car, drove 25 miles and let the dyeing finish in the sunny car.

In addition to my close up, I now have my dyed fiber, yarns, hats and patterns in its own section at FFW.  In exchange for getting 100% of my sales, I'll work a few hours a week at the shop.  During the spring and summer this should not be difficult, though during the fall it could be a crunch.  I did my first shift last Saturday and will go in after work this evening to fill in the rest of the display. 

After a lovely break from work that included a trip to Portland, Oregon, I'm back in gear.  With only 2 sections of the same class to teach, I'm going to think I'm on sabbatical.  But I love my job and am feeling very refreshed and happy to work with students and teachers again.

Some changes on a personal note:: The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater came true.  My partner of 6 years and I have broken up.  We both realized that although we like and respect each other very much, we are better suited to being friends that lovers.  It's all very pleasant and civilized -after all Asheville is basically a small town and we are likely to see each other around town.  

Note that this is a Happy New Year post without resolutions - knitting or otherwise.  How about being happy, healthy and creative?  Is that enough?  I hope so.

Putting the Term to Bed

My Christmas Card

Warning:  Limited fiber content!  Scroll down to skip the day job related blather.

When one works in education, the year is measured in semesters. Yes, there are months and weeks, but there are mid terms and summer sessions and other ways to mark the passing of time:  Registration, Drop/Add, Last Day to Withdraw. This term has been quite a challenge as I took on a Freshman seminar.  Many schools have this course:  A wide-ranging introduction to college and (in our case) the liberal arts, discussion of the summer reading assignment, etc. plus whatever content the instructor chooses.  Most professors use their area of expertise:  sociology, world religions, American history.  Others focus on study skills and time management.  The goal is the same:  to ensure that first year students make the transition from high school to college and know what support services are available to them.  They get out of their dorm rooms and become part of the college community:  taking classes, actually studying, going to different events on campus.

This year I was recruited late to teach this course - about a week before school started.  The students who registered for Section 21 were late registrants as well, for a number of reasons.  About 1/2 dozen lived far from campus and didn't attend any of the early registration events held during the summer.  Other students were recruited late to play on different sports teams; still others decided in August to go to college.  All in all, a very diverse group:  African-American & white, 3 times for men than women, about half from North Carolina, plus students from Florida, Pennsylvania, British Columbia, Oregon and a few more states.  Most students play a sport:  I had students athletes who swim, play soccer, football and baseball, run track. 

When I was deciding whether to take on this course, my colleagues gave me this advice:  It's a huge amount of work, but it is the most rewarding thing that you can do.  Well, they were right on both counts.  It was a colossal amount of work.  I had to pull together a new course with very little prep time.  I made my content analyzing primary sources - - it is my actual job. I was absolutely terrified of the advising component - I could ruin their lives! It is the busiest time of year for my 'real' job - in-school workshops for teachers as well as high season for Smoky Mountain Fibers.

Turns out, I loved the kids.  They were charming, energetic, bright, passionate about that they like.  Except for a few exceptions, they also had terrible study and time management skills, hated to read, were addicted to their phones.  In other words, they were 18 year olds, most away from home for the first time.  Again, with exceptions - they were excellent at factual recall, not so good with synthesizing what they learned.  Most of them got through high school without ever cracking a book.  They also found out the hard way that that wasn't going to cut it any more.  But the semester is over and the grades are in.  There were a few D's and a few F's and one young man whose wake up call came too late - so it's academic probation for him.

Will I teach it next year?  I doubt they'll ask me - I feel I made a mess of it.  On the other hand, I'll be at least a year smarter and would certainly benefit from this year's experience.  My colleagues insist that I'll be asked to do it again.  Warm body and all.  We shall see...

Requisite Fiber Content:   I am one hat and 4 days away from 50 Hats in 50 Days.  Actually since I have 2 hats and a pair of fingerless gloves on the needles, I'm about there.  I'll finish at least #50 this evening - a dark brown tweedy hand spun in my Trailside pattern.  I am looking forward to 2 weeks off to knit a few gifts, then stuff for me.  I'll also take a little trip, get some exercise, read some good books (or trash!), card wool for spinning, put the studio back together, and get a bit ahead on my Etsy shop that I have been letting run itself (see Freshman class above).  The list is making itself!

My relationship of the last 6 years ended amicably of late, so I am regaining some space in my house.  Although I'm a tiny bit lonely and the gourmet meals are no longer coming out of the kitchen, I'm enjoying cleaning out closets and dressers drawers.  My waistline will benefit from lighter and earlier dinners as well. My independent spirit is happy to be single again!

Getting Close

1. Almost to the end of 50 Hats in 50 Days.  Last evening I completed hat #44, an olive green Windy City.
2. It's Friday afternoon and the weekend dyeing will be the many shades we call green:  bright, pale, grassy, mossy, turquoise, loden, chartreuse, and a few multi-tonals.
3. The semester is coming to an end.  Though there are still some finals to give and grade and a few portfolios to review and a student video to tinker with and grant work to complete, I am putting this one to bed.
4. It's nearly Christmas and that means I'll travel to Portland, OR to see my sister and her family whom I totally love.  I don't see them often enough so we hardly stop talking except to eat!  The kids will be bigger and the voices deeper.  Scary!
5. I changed my Facebook page from 'In a relationship' to 'Single,' but then hid it. 

Sad End of a Project and Art Ed Knitting

Before the tragedy befell my Mossy Cardi

The blog has been a bit quiet for a number of reason - mostly day job related.  But I hit something of a rough patch in my knitting too.  I pulled out the Mossy Cardi to take up my knitting where I left off in early fall.  I was knitting along, dividing for armholes, decreasing for neckline shaping and I picked up my sweater to admire it and found a great big honking mistake.  Actually a hole - perhaps even a moth hole.  Of course it is in a truly obnoxious place - center lower back - as though I am sprouting a tail and need a place for it to come through.  I have not seen any other evidence of same, but I am up against a decision.

1. Duplicate stitch over said hole, unravel excess yarn  & carry on.  Hope mend doesn't show.

2. Unravel sweater to hole & reknit, watching carefully for 'evidence.'

3. Unravel entire sweater, watching carefully for 'evidence,' wash all yarn and decide which sweater I want to knit. 

4. Glare at the offending sweater and wish it would get better by itself.  This has so far been my ploy.  Sadly, it is not working.

On a more positive note, I will be joining my colleague Barbara in her Art Ed class as we teach a dozen or so future elementary teachers (and a couple of future art teachers) to knit.  We are using a super simple hand warmers pattern, First Fingerless Mitts [Rav link].  All you really do is knit a rectangle and sew it up, leaving a thumbhole.  But for a begininng knitting project, it's about right.  I prefer to knit a wee thumb, but this time it's not really about me.

Last evening, Barbara and I went to a chain crafts shop to purchase yarn.  We got a nice mix of colors in a collection of tweeds & soloids.  I bought myself some Lion Brand Amazing as my class samples.  'Amazing' is Lion Brand's wool-acrylic color change yarn.  I don't have the ball band with me, so I can't tell you the color name and number, but it is a lovely orange-copper-red-gold combination that I like very much.  I've knit about 2 inches of garter stitch and it looks lovely.  I like the fact that they won't be 'matchy-matchy' though I'm not sure our students will appreciate it nearly as much.  After my short lecture on the history of knitting and looking at a few samples, casting on begins tomorrow.   

Winter Fiber Retreat Recap

I had great fun participating in the winter Fiber Retreat held last weekend here in Asheville & hosted by Friends and Fiberworks, a local yarn shop and fiber community center.  Lisa and a corps of dedicated fiber enthusiasts have taken a lease on a large store in a mall that has been 'asleep' for the past few years.  I'm not sure why, but this shopping mall has never done well.  It has a good location, the space is attractive, but it's sort of ...well...quiet.

But last weekend it was the site of the Winter Fiber Retreat, a gathering of knitters, spinners, felt makers, dyers, animal enthusiasts of all stripes.  There were great vendors, amazing classes, and cool people all around.  From Chad Alice Hagen to Jazz Turtle Esther Rogers, Kimberly Nicdao Reynolds from Knittters Magazine, we had wonderful instructors.  Wild Hare Fibers, Earth Guild, Creatively Dyed, Hooked on Felt - those were just a few of the very tempting vendors.  

My classes went very well.  Crockpot dyeing (all 3  sessions) was a hit and all my talented students made beautiful multicolored roving.  The 2 knitting classes were a pleasure.  Although small, each student got started knitting a lovely hat and has the confidence to knit on.  I really enjoyed teaching and am preparing a proposal for SAFF as well as the Summer Retreat.

I didn't take a lot of pictures.  I just forgot.  But if you go to Friends& Fiberwork Facebook page, you'll see plenty more, including the vendors, the fashion show, the Saturday night band (Buncombe Turnpike) and lots of fun and sillyness.

There were a few hiccups.  The weather the preceding week was awful - cold and about a foot of snow and that hurt attendance.  The fleece to shawl event didn't happen.  A late start and a warping error meant that already busy and stressed people just couldn't pull it off.  Oh well, lesson learned.  The live animals in the mall were quite a shock for the mall management, particularly when the llamas ...um...fell in love.  I missed it, but I heard it drew quite a crowd.

But it was a lot of fun and the whole event had a very positive vibe.  So much so that a Summer Retreat is already in the planning stages.  And I can't wait!

Autumn Colors are all the Rage!

My colorway 'Mars' roving was selected to be in a lovely Etsy Treasury this week. I'm wearing a very pretty shirt this morning in a deep coral shade, so I match it pretty well too. I love the red/orange colors - to dye, to wear, in flowers, in my home. paired with olive or forest green, they are among my favorite combos.

School is back in session and I am glad. I love to see the students back on campus, reconnecting with one another, smiling happily, mostly glad to be back. All my sections look good, challenging in a good way. I have changed my course significantly and the evening session (a short semester that starts and ends early) is rising to the challenge. I am impressed with the work that they are doing - creating blogs as they do their research - and most were somewhat reluctant to get started.

Looking forward to the weekend, after 2 weekends of contra dancing at camps, I'll be calling a dance in the Chapel Hill area. Sadly, my left knee is giving me a spot of trouble, so I have to be gentle with it. Vitamin I helps too.

I Skipped the ChooChoo

I went to Chattanooga last week and I can tell you what I did not do. I took a workshop that should make me a more effective teacher.

I did not ride, look at or sleep in the Chattanooga ChooChoo.

I did visit both Genuine Purl and R&M Yarns. Genuine Purl (located near the Bluff View Arts district) is a lovely yarn store with a great mark down bin and an excellent selection of lovely yarns. Did my part for the economy there & purchased several skeins of Needful Yarns Joy - a cool self striping yarn that makes interesting hats, as I know for a fact. R&M, located in nearby Cleveland, TN is mostly an online store for weavers, but they have a nice retail area, classroom area and another nice markdown bin. I was a bit more restrained there, but since I'm on their mailing list, I will take advantage of other opportunities!

I ate neither a Moon Pie nor a Krystal burger.

I ate dull Thai food in a downtown restaurant & excellent Chinese food in a neighborhood dive where I wouldn't have walked alone at night. The fact that I was the only 'round-eyes' in the place was a good giveaway.

I did not tour the Tennessee Aquarium nor take a riverboat cruise.

I did walk along the riverfront park, including the area that was a gathering place for the Native American people during the Trail of Tears.

I didn't even see Rock City.

I did see a very cool city with a rich and varied history that I would like to visit again when I am not focused on learning what I was there to learn. The natural beauty of the river and cliffs along it was interesting as well as the human history of the city. I promise I'll be back.

Chaos Theory

Of late I have been prepping for and then teaching a nearly week-long Professional Development workshop. We concluded today. My office is full of tote boxes that do not contain fiber (except paper), stacks of books, a couple of color printers, leftover snacks & serving dishes and various and sundry supplies that are the detritus of post-workshop stuff. File folders & construction paper in colors nobody liked, extension cords, printer cartridges to be recycled, etc. Lots of etc.

Happily there is also a handy stack of evaluations, all of which came in positive - some over the top!

So I am staying at the office an extra hour or so to tidy up, put the stuff in a bit of order, make a list for Monday and get out of here to go home and relax. For now, I'm going to make a cup of tea, put on music (the Dixie Chicks, I think) , and put this chaos in some kind of order.

Tomorrow: Dye fiber, card fiber, go to lunch with a colleague, read for fun!

Slammed: Pesky Day Job!

Several interesting things that are very likely blog fodder have been happening lately. Unfortunately my actual workload has been getting in the way of my updating this blog. I am facilitating a workshop next week for area teachers. It's all about the contributions of children in history, including Child Labor, Hence the lewis Hine photo of the young spinner. I'm just slammed getting ready for it and loving every minute. Reading, researching, writing, building the online part of the course, but it does not leave any time for the SmokyMountainFibers blog. I've thought about it, done a wee bit of interesting knitting, even taken pictures, but it just doesn't put itself up.

In a nutshell...

• I got my totally cool Phat Fiber box - great fibers!
• I won a contest and got a very cool prize.
• I'm spinning nifty yarn
• I'm knitting LOTS of hats (works well with the reading).
• Last night was Fiber Group night.
• The Etsy shop is Hoppin'
• I got featured in 2 Treasuries.
• The garden is growing every single day!
• I called a way fun dance with one of my favorite bands, House Red.

Wait, no wonder I don't have time to write about it!

Monday's Yarn - and not too much of it!

It's not really cheating. I did spin last night for about 15 minutes. Plain vanilla wool yarn from roving - Maybe an ounce. About as little as you can do and still say, 'I spun today.'

Granted, I worked from about 9am until 9 pm. Between getting ready to teach my regular Tuesday classes (and finishing the unit on the course management system) I had a Creating your Own Primary Sources workshop for the student teachers. They are doing a fine job - very interesting projects across the curriculum.

I was also getting ready for a snow day, that didn't happen. These chilly tulips are in front of the education building here in Mars Hill. After blowing snow all evening, we had NO accumulation, at least in Asheville. That nice warm earth just melted it away. It's still chilly and we may still get more snow, but I think I'll make it through. I didn't cover any of my flowers. You've got to be tough to come up early. The first of the lilacs are out, the day lilies are up and the dogwoods are getting ready to bloom. They may get zapped, but I am not too worried, as it is supposed to be 50 tomorrow. Like I said, you gotta be tough!

Spring Break

Spring break has been great and I accomplished quite a bit; though not all that I intended. We'll start with the positives.

1. Dyed fiber - lots and lots of fiber! Roving for my Etsy shop, Bronze Green roving for the PhatFiber April box, fiber for my own spinning, sock yarn in blue and rose.

2. Delivered work to the B&M accounts, particularly Asheville Home Crafts, who have been selling handspun natural yarn, sock yarn and roving.

3. Knitted 7 hats - off season, I know, but it's time to build stock for next year. Two are new designs with my color change yarns.

4. Updated the SAFF website - or at least tried to. Since most of my work requires input from others, at least I think I know what I need to do.

5. Worked in the garden, cutting back perrennials, pruning and weeding the roses (mostly pulled the evil Bermuda grass), cutting the grass. I also monitored the progress of the sugar snap peas, onions, and kale as wellas the rhubarb, coming back strong.

6. Went to the Sun Assembly's English Dance Weekend, with was lovely. Robin Hayden was the leader while Atossa Kramer played piano and clarinet with the house band, Gollard Greene (is that a great name or what?!).

7. Called the Advanced Dance at River Falls with Curious George - excellent music, workable program, fine dancing. I called some tricky dances and lots of no-walk-thru contras with a very nice medley.

8. Graded projects & tests; posted grades for the ACCESS class.

9. Exercised - Walking daily including a lovely walk in the Botanical Gardens.

What I didn't get done...
1. My Taxes - not due yet, though I did sort the paperwork, so I'm ready.
2. Blog every day - oh well, too busy doing that writing about it.
3. Post hat pattern to Ravelry.
3. Clean the studio - though it's hard to clean when you are using it.

Coming up - Back to work - ready to finish out the semester; gotta get started on my summer vacation.

Next weekend - Playford Ball in Nasheville, TN!

New Planets in my Personal Solar System

I've continued om my dyeing journey through the solar system, as I name colors after the planets - I call the series, Andromeda Shades. It's a very interesting way to interpret knowledge and concepts as colors. Today I posted Neptune in my Etsy shop - It's a watery turquoise blue and bright green that makes me think of King Neptune with his trident and big fishy tail rising from the deep. Only in this case it is wool roving.

No picture yet, but I am currently spinning yarn from Uranus. I love this roving. It's SmokyMountainFibers Fawn as a base, overdyed with rust and gold, I love the way the colors are beep and rich; plus this roving spins like a dream. I spun about 3 ounces last evening. I'll ply it this evening and have it ready to photograph very soon.

Last night was my last evening Ed Tech class. It was a fine group of 14 diverse learners. The evaluations were very positive. One guy asked for less snow(!), most everyone liked the PowerPoint project in which they had to research and report on a different technology. Nothing left but the grading now.

Learning to Purl

Today I will return to Art Ed to see the (mostly completed) embarrassingly easy handwarmers that the students have completed. It's time to learn to purl. As a studious practitioner of purl avoidance, this should be fun. To prep, I have a couple of pair of socks to demonstrate purl for fit (i.e. ribbing) and my great big Aran sweater to demo purl as art. I'll also have my hedgerow socks that nicely fit both categories.

I finally photographed them this morning and got them up on Ravelry. They have been my slow knitting. I've knit a few gull lace hats, dyed a good bit of fiber and sock yarn and spun several bobbins of yarn since I began these. Mostly they live at the office for lunch hour and meeting knitting and 'knit-while-reading' knitting. Hence slow knitting - kind of like slow food. I do like them even though I have to think a wee bit too much. There are a couple of booboos, but nothing worth pulling out. In truth I think the pattern is totally lost in the striping and I would be better off going back to my old favorite throw-back waffle socks pattern, but I have no intention of pulling them out.

Grading Papers & Quizzes

Note: Actual fiber content follows.

About one-third of the way into the semester (and 3/4 of the way through the accelerated classes), I find myself covered up with assignments to grade; quizzes to make, administer and grade; portfolios to review; students to encourage (sounds better than nag!) and all those things that make teaching an administrative challenge.

I have spent the last 3 days grading when I would rather be updating handouts for an evening presentation for my professional development work. A colleague says, 'I'll teach for free, but you have to pay me to grade papers.' Now I could give fewer assignments, totally objective self-grading exams. Instead I think my students benefit from small, frequent assignments and quizzes where I expect them to construct answers. I am writing this post while my students take their quiz!

The upside is that I am hitting the endgame in the evening classes, so I have prepped and field-tested all my material for the full term courses. I have a great group of students this semester, particularly in the evening session. They are an interesting mix of career changers, teacher assistants finishing their degrees and traditional day students closed out of the on-campus classes. One man is from Guatemala, a Spanish teacher in a small private school getting certified to teach in North Carolina -he's brilliant! Another is a 40ish former graphic designer and mom who is going through a divorce and taking advantage of her life-change to go back to school to do what she always wanted to do - be a teacher. The teacher assistants add real-world experience to my group and I appreciate them immensely. One of the day students dropped by my office to tell me how much he enjoyed the evening class. He told me that he didn't expect to like it, but he too appreciates the diversity of the adult program.

Actual Fiber Content: I have knit another Gull Lace Cap as I test the pattern for improved knittability or errors. I've only made a small change since I got it back from the testers. I knit a sapmle for Asheville HomeCrafts in Baby Alpaca Grande (sweet!) and will knit another in Brown Sheep Bulky for the shop. Tonight is a teaching night (only 3 more!) so I won't get back to the pattern today. I am knitting a charming pair of Hedgerow socks (see picture above, though it's not mine - just a close up of the knit pattern) though the stitch pattern is getting lost in the stripes of my Knit Picks Felici.

I've also been spinning again. I like to spin very much and my shops are OUT! Can't let that happen! More fiber to come in the next post.

More Fun that Knitting?

Why teaching others to knit, of course! A few years ago, I was regularly teaching knitting classes in my dining room and through an 'open university' that no longer exists in the community. I've taught at SAFF and led a group at my workplace. But graduate school (and employee turnover) put a stop to those activities. I missed teaching knitting, but I was very busy with my studies and then launching my new carreer that I didn't have time to miss it.

But this semester it was time for the fiber unit in Art Ed (ED324, Art in Elementary Schools) that my friend Barbara teaches. In the last few years we have focused on felt making, making beads and snakes and flat felt. This year the students really wanted to learn to knit. So I have been pressed into service helping the fledgling knitters.

My motto came right back to me - 'Just keep knitting.' 'Ms. Walter, This stitch is weird.' Ms Walter, my knitting looks awful.' The answer is almost always the same, 'Just keep knitting.' With only one previous knitter and a crocheter with some transition issues, they are having a hard time being inexperienced knitters. 'It will get better', I tell them. 'See, your third row is already better than the first! Just keep knitting.'

Since I taught most of these students in CS200 (Computer Applications for Education), I know then and like them and they kept telling me how much better art was than computer class. Uh, yeah! On Tuesday, I raced over to the ArtEd room as soon as I could possibly justify it. Yes, Knitting is much better than computing!

After their practice piece, they will make hand warmers as per Tangle's free pattern, what I call Embarrassingly Easy Fingerless Mitts. A simple square, knit in Garter stitch, folded over and seamed from both ends. I think they will get there!

Over a Hurdle

Sometimes I wish that I could play with fiber all the time; that I could be a full-time artist craftsperson. Other times I am very happy to have a day job that is creative and satisfying MOST of the time, a but frustrating at other times.

Without going into gory details, the non-profit agency who had funded my work (facilitating professional development for k-12 teachers) has ceased to exist. So as the old program died a slow death over the course of two years (during which time the college gave me PLENTY to do), we were picked up by a similar program an d we are now funded through a federal grant. So as of October I have new responsibilities ramping up the new program, while still expected to continue my part time teaching load.

The first quarter with its qualitative and quantitative program reports and somewhat complicated (oe at least different) financial reports is finally behind me. I have to revise the series of linked spreadsheets, change line items and budget codes, create quarterly rather than monthly reports, etc. Ever see Office Space? Where our protagonist has some difficulty with his TPS reports? That has been me!

But it is behind me - The spreadsheets are clean and happy and the formulas match from one set of budget codes to the next. The papers are filed. The reports have been mailed both physically anad electronically.My desk is tidier than it has been for a month, as there are no more unfinished reports in file folders. Still more than enough to do, but I can happily say the TPS reports are completed.

Now back to our usual fiber content. I love this picture. Later this term I will be assisting my colleague as she teaches her fiber unit in Art Education. I demo spinning, talk about color and we will teach the students to knit. Only one knitter in the class and it's a young man I had last semester in my Ed Tech class. Sounds like fun!

Seaside Waffle Socks - Finished

Nearly a year in the making (although several months were spent on the marination chamber), the Seaside Waffle socks are finally done! I finished the toes last night after frogging Sock #2 after I had knit it on the wrong size needle. I love them and am planning on giving them to my friend Karin. We have worked together on a number of projects over the years and I trust her judgment implicitly. Sadly, the soft money nature of our work has rendered her 'redundant' as the Brits say. Since she will be working from home soon on doing contract work for a number of agencies that we have collaborated with in the past, cozy socks are in her future.

Another New Years Resolution: I HAVE to get caught up on my work reading. In order to do that, I intend to keep sock knitting at work to knit on while I read the 2 shelves of books required: both Appalachian History and Educational Technology as well as the journals that come every month. A few rows at lunch won't be a bad idea either. Might slow me down! Starting today, I am now knitting a pair of selfstriping sock in a shade of red-orange that seemed to leap out of the store's basket and into my hands the other day. What? I don't have enough sock yarn at home? I think it was the 1/2 price sale that did it! No pictures yet - 1/2 inch of ribbing is not much to look at!

Back to Work!

After a wonderful 2 1/2 weeks off filled with knitting, travel, family, music and dance, I was actually ready to return to my day job -developing professional development in a grant-funded program that serves teachers in western North Carolina. In real life, I am the assistant director of the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS), an educational outreach program of the Library of Congress. I got the semester off to a fine start by starting to plan the summer workshop, the TPS integration activities that we use here at Mars Hill College throughout the teacher education program, as well as the administrative parts of the job - reporting numbers. Happily I keep up with that through the semester, so it is never too difficult a process.

Since the other hat that I wear is adjunct instructor of a technology integration course that all education majors and minors must take, and my first class is tomorrow, I am also putting the final touches on my class. At the end of last semester, my evaluations came in that the students loved the course - it was fun and easy! Not the best reviews - methinks I must pump up the rigor a wee bit. But because the students are mere sophomores and have almost no education theory, I have to get them started thinking like teachers. So I have been on the prowl for articles that are current, engaging and somewhat challenging. I was dissatisfied with my earlier choice, but today I found what I hope will be on the mark between the student experience level and intriguing new ways that teachers and schools are integrating technology.

On the fiber front, I FINALLY finished a pair of cotton socks I started last spring and made serious headway on another pair that I started at about the same time. I just didn't like the cotton yarn, but I do like the first socks I knit with it so I slogged through the 2nd skein and now I have two pair! Although this shows a VERY early version, trust me, they're done!

The other pair - soft and lovely in ColorJoy's Cushy ColorSport Creamy Seaside (with lavender heels) are now marching toward completion. I purposely knitted them in a different size needles for the cuff and the foot. When I started the 2nd sock, I picked up a size 1 instead of size 2 - ending up with a fat sock and narrow sock. After a bit of time in the marination chamber, sock #2 took a dip in the frog pond. But with the gusset newly completed, I will soon have nearly matching socks for my (or someone's) nearly matching feet. Hey - I am merely human!

Next fiber activity: plying dyed singles for a series of headbands.
Next dance to call: Bristol, VA - January 9th - Mostly contras, beginner crowd.