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!

And a Rainbow Too!

Rainbow  - a fine view from the office

It was a lovely and quiet Thanksgiving at the world headquarters of Smoky Mountain Fibers.  I went to a potluck dinner with friends - good food, fine company and decent conversation.  Best thing about a potluck at someone else's house is that you do not have any leftovers that you don't want.  I took home the remainder of my broccoli vinaigrette and a dollop of cranberry compote and that pretty much hit the spot.  I got a bit of exercise every day and contributed to the great pile of hats that is growing and then shrinking as they find their way to stores.  In the first 27 days of November, I have knit 35 hats, with another on the needles.  Sally at the Locally Grown Gallery also sold 2 pair of fingerless mitts and is clamoring more, so I shall shift my focus from hats to mitts.  But since I made the rules, I get to break them.  So a pair of mitts counts as one hat in the 50 Hats in 50 Days Hat-A-Thon.  At least so far.  Seems reasonable.

The best part of the Thanksgiving break was just that - a break.  As much as I love my work, a break is nice to, particularly when it is spent in creative work and goofing off a bit.  I've recently gotten interested in Monarch of the Glen, a BBC series that ended in 2005 but is still available on Netflix. With lovely scenery, charming characters, occasional country dances, sheep and hunky guys in kilts, it's an easy watch while knitting or spinning.

The rainbow that you see here was our reward for coming back to work.  Just a few week before the semester ends, so it's all over but the grading.  Grant work is all planning for next term and taking care of the financial reporting.  Looking forward to the next break!

October Was So Busy I Forgot to Blog

Yes, it's been a long time since last I blogged.  I haven't given up, life has just gotten in the way.  So a few random bits...

SAFF has come and gone in the loveliest way.  With a zillion changes that all kicked in a few weeks before our regional fiber festival, the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair has been put to bed for another year.  While everything wasn't perfect, it was really quite lovely.  The animals were there in full fleece - lots of sheep and llamas, a few angora goats, the charming alpacas.  The people were there too, most friendly, a few crazies, but pretty much everybody smiling and glowing to be with like-minded people and lots of yarn and fiber.  Thanks to everyone who came by my booth - I got to know a few people who I only 'knew' online before. 

I've been spinning and knitting regularly.  Yarn and hats have becoming and I have the trashed studio to prove it.  This morning I needed to find something to wear that did not require ironing as the ironging board is covered with yarn.  I had a booth at the Madison County (NC) Heritage Festival on a very chilly Saturday.

High on last weekend's agenda was to kit up yarn for hats - a very messy process that apparently involves pulling every skein of yarn out of the tub or drawer or basket that it resides in and grouping it with any possible related color, texture or weight, looking at it in several different light sources and then putting 2 or 3 or 4 yarns in a bag to be knit up at a later date.  Then I can just grab a bag and knit at hat.  I take a few to work for lunch hour knitting, so I can not work about thinking too much.

I really can only blame the blog silence on my day job.  Love my day job - I am very lucky to have a job that I like, but both halves of my work-self have been running on overdrive lately.  My grant work has been very busy as I have been working with a school district who has been selected to be a pilot school implementing the new Social Studies standards (for non-educators, I know this sounds like gibberish) in addition to the regular stuff I do.  My undergrad classes have also been kicking my bum.  As everyone who does grant-based work knows, your job is only as secure as your current funding.  Although it hasn't happened yet, I took on an additional class as a bit of job security in case this grant funding is reduced.  I love the classes and my students, but it's a struggle to keep all the balls in the air.  The main balls that have dropped are this blog and the garden.  I did plant some salad greens, but I've let nature take care of the rest.

But as midterm is behind us and most of my workshops are completed, so I can put a bit more energy into the fiber-y part of my life. Back to dyeing, back to the Etsy shop, back to the blog.  And I'm happy to be back!

When the Day's List Starts with '1. Make a List...'

...you know the week is going to be busy!

Last week, I facilitated a Professional Development 'Institute' (the code word for week-long workshop) and this week I am co-facilitating another Professional Development Institute at a university a few hours from here.  So I have exactly one day in the office to prep.  By prep I mean figure out what I have to do, say and take to make myself come off as a knowledgeable professional grownup, instead of a babbling half-wit.  Of course I also have to figure out what knitting I need to bring, as well as SAFF work that stubbornly refuses to do itself.

Between these weeks, I attended the Friends & Fiberworks Summer Fiber Retreat as a teacher, student and general hanger-on.  It was so much fun - Thanks to Lisa and Friends for pulling off another rousing success!

I taught 3 sections of Crock-Pot Dyeing to a total of ten students.  Small classes (like the 2 students here) mean lots of individual attention, but still enough variation in the dyepots that everybody can vicariously experience lots of color-ways. 

A wonderful weekend, but the rest of the list calls!

June Socks - Done

Should I mention that I started the June socks in August. 2010?  They were stalled on the needles for a long time, but were recently taken out of the hibernation chamber and finished.  I dislike the yarn as much as ever.  It is Knit Picks long discontinued 'Dancing' in the colorway 'Jig' - a wool/cotton/lycra blend.   It splits, the pooling looks terrible, but I really do like the way they feel on my feet.  I am wearing their fraternal twins today.  I bought a healthy amount of the yarn when it first came out.  I have knit 3 pair and still have enough to knit another pair, but no time soon.

The blog has been rather quiet and I mostly have the day job to blame.  I have been preparing for 3 summer teacher workshops, and am finishing up workshop #1.  It is going well, but it does take a lot of energy.  But because tonight is spinning night, I'll pump some of it right back in.

I've also been having a fine time in the garden.  It has seldom looked better and we've had good rain lately.  The vegies, fruit and flowers all look good.  I'm still eating peas and blueberries, the summer squash are beginning to come in, the green beans are very tiny but I really need to pick and cook and eat kale.  Yum!

There has been other knitting, spinning and dyeing, but more about that later.

Distracted

Seems I can hardly get started on things these days.  I'd have a hard time finishing if I had anything to finish.

About 2 weeks ago, I frogged the Mossy Cardi & immediately cast on for a new cardigan.  And cast on I did - to knit up a sweater that would have been nearly 50 inches around.  That's 78 cm - making it seem even bigger!  Even on my fattest days, I don't think I am that big.  Because I did not measure until I had knit about 4 inches, I happily frogged that sweater and cast on again.  I have now knit about 1 1/2 rows.

About a week or so my niece gave birth to a baby boy.  I cast on for a tiny sweater.  Now in good faith, I will say that she did not tell anyone the gender ahead of time and I'm not a mint green kind of person, nor is my niece.  So a tiny pale blue sweater is now about  two thirds along.  Here is what it looks like today.  The nicest thing about baby things is they knit up quickly.  I'm knitting this pattern [rav link], but I'm already making mods as it is written with gobs of sewing up later.  I kitchenered the shoulder seams.  Now I am knitting the sleeves from the top down.  notice the stitches on holders rather than cast off.  I think it will be quite cute and very tiny!

After a few sessions of leading the fiber unit in Art Education, I've almost completed my fingerless mitts, just a bit of sewing up to do.  It would take about 10 minutes.  I'm meeting tonight with a yarn shop owner to discuss my making a couple of patterns for her store.  Note that I am adding to my list with actually finishing anything.

I'm on several deadlines at the day job, but they seem more doable.  I make a list, break things down into smaller tasks as need be.  Later I cross them off as I finish them.  I have crossed off lots of things today. Somehow my at-home lists are a bit less pressing that my weekday lists. I think I know why - it has something to do with my distractability.  There are just so many interesting things to do!

Hot Colors on a Cold Day

It's cold and snowy across the south and Western North Carolina is no exception.  Only 25 degrees Fahrenheit, we've had about 6 inches of snow and it's still coming down.  One of the joys of the South is that a single flake of snow can cancel everything, but this kind of snow would give my northern relatives pause.  This is the view from my front door.  I'm seriously considering going out a bit later and clear a path, play in the snow, take a bit of a walk perhaps clean off my car.  But it's cold!

Since it's too snowy to go to work, I've been working from home today: getting ahead on my class that should start on Thursday (tomorrow's classes have already been canceled), I've played around on the new Library of Congress web page (http://www.loc.gov/index.html), even read a couple of journals.

I've been coping with the cold weather over the last few days by dyeing warm colors.  These are the reds and golds that are some of my stock colors in the Etsy shop.  On the left is 'Fire.'  On the right is 'Mars.'  Mars came out just lovely in the Blue Faced Leicester base top.  The last time I dyed it it was a bit dark and murky and I could not photograph it well enough to out it online.  This time it is just cheery and bright.

You might notice that the roving is drying in front of the solar hot water heater.  We will not be making our own hot water today as the solar panels are covered with an insulating blanket of snow.

So here are my choices. Option One: Stay warm and cozy. Drink tea or hot cocoa.
Option Two:  Go outside and play.  Come back in and have a cup of tea.

I'm going for Door #2! 

Take Time for Color

The day job is keeping me busy, but I am finding time to dye a good bit; spin a little and knit a wee bit.  Fall has really kicked in with an increased workload.  My day job is developing and implementing professional development for teachers and all of a sudden my calendar is filling up.  The Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (SAFF) is coming up,so that is keeping me busy too,  I'm not complaining,but it just seems that everything is happening at once. 

But one must take time to play, so for me that's spinning and knitting, contra dance and English Country dance and hiking.  These pictures are the Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) roving that I have been dyeing lately.  I've been dyeing lots of merino for the bast year or so, so it's fun to work with a new fiber.  It's not as fine as merino, but very springy and the roving has a lovey luster.  So far I've only spun up a sample, but I really like it's 'squishyness.'  I'm planning on spinning a bronze green hank of roving this weekend. 

I'll be attending Moon Dance, a contradance weekend in upstate South Carolina.  The music will be great, the company fine, but I am no longer the dance-aholic that I once was.  Last year my knee was in a brace (the 'too much fun' alarm had gone off earlier!) so I brought my wheel and spun to the music.  This year I hope to dance more, but need the fallback of my spinning and knitting to keep me busy and not feeling too out of it! 

By the way, I love my clothesline!  It was part of this year's home improvement plan.  The drying roving looks beautiful and dries fast, the towels are a wee bit scratchy, but the sheets smell great!

Testing, testing...

Testing.  Blogger has been tempting me with new design templates every time I log in lately, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  I think I like the new version, but it does seem awfully green!.  I may tweak it a bit in the coming weeks, so don't be alarmed. 

A colleague was in town this week, so I gave her my best tour of Asheville.  It looks a lot like this, except that it was full of people.  Kids were romping in the fountains and pools.  The grownups were on blankets under the trees.  No special occasion - just a hot day in the city.

The workshop that I am teaching is going well.  Good prep and a terrific group of participants - a fine combination.  We will cut them loose tomorrow after presentations and lunch.  I'll do it again with another group in July.

Back to spinning every day.  Since my house is being reassembled (slowly and somewhat thoughtfully) I have carved out a place to spin.  I am much happier if I take some time to slow down and make a bit of yarn.  I'm also back to dyeing yarn.  I was  in the Asheville HomeCrafts the other day and they are happily selling my sock yarns, particularly greens.  So I have recently dyed an olive color and a teal.  I have a purple soaking now for it's second dye bath.  Looking forward to spending a bit of time at the dyepot tonight, both dyeing and planning for future dyeing.

I have knit hardly a stitch this week. Though I am reading sweater patterns so a swatch cannot be very far away. 

Live from AASL!

This week I am attending the National Conference of the American Association of School Librarians.  On the record, I am not a school librarian, but I do provide professional development (PD) to teachers and school librarians.  My day job is to develop and implement PD using the digtal resources of the Library of Congress.  So today, I'll be attending sessions by the Library both in the exhibit halls and in their official session.  The booth is very nice: quite professional but not too slick.  Apparently the other one is a bit 'high and mighty' and scared people off!

I saw my Library colleagues last night as well as several librarians that I know from the Asheville area.  One of them was knitting in line!

 For the first session, I'm deciding between 'Developing Global Awareness in the 21st Century Learner' and Electronic NoteTaking.  Biggest issue is that I should take my laptop to the Note-Taking session and that will require carrying it about 4 blocks.

As it often happens the 2nd session has ALL the workshops I'd like to take!  But I will attend the LOC session.  At 2:15 I'll attend 'Get Graphic! Visuals for Deep Thinking, Inquiry and Learning' because of my interest inf visual literacy and would love some new strategies for implementation.  So I am off to the conference, laptop in hand! 

Official Fiber Content:  Having knit 1.9 hats last evening, my conference session knitting is a ribbed guy hat using my newly handspun brown yarn - very pretty!

A Nice Treat

The day job has been something of a slam lately, with the multiple witching hours all coming due (strangely) at the end of October.  So as I was completing some qualitative reporting this evening, I got a lovely email from an Etsy jewelry maker and seller, TheLowerEastSide who put my Fawn roving in a treasury that she created.  After kind of an icky day,  getting featured in a treasury is a nice thing to happen.

So now it's time to go home, spin a bit, knit a bit, relax, see my sweetie, eat some dinner.

The Deadlines Are Upon Me!

I hate waking up at 4:00 a.m. in a bit of a panic about all the things I need to do.  But that's what I did on Sunday morning.  I began realizing just how many things were due at the end of October.  Some are on the good side of the work/fun continuum.  SAFF for example.  Even though I have to keep up with a web page or 2.  Dyeing yarn and fiber for my Etsy shop and delivering yarn, fiber and hats to my LYS accounts. Knitting and spinning.  Again, a good kind of work.

But my actual day job is definitely slanted in the other direction.  And even though I love what I do, occassionally all the deadlines kick in at the same time.  So instead of lying in bed worrying, I did what sensible people all over the universe do.  I made a List.

So on this very Monday morning, I have taken said List and begun completing items on it.  This blog post, however is not on the List, so it will be quite short and only mention that...

I have been featured on another blog,

http://jennytheartist.blogspot.com/2009/10/farmville.html.  Thank you Jenny!

My house is newly re-roofed, but now has several giant cracks in the ceilings and walls.  Kind of scary, huh?
This was not in the contract.

In the interest of getting back to the List, I'll be signing off! 

Labor Day - When the Work is Fun!

When Labor Day consists of doing the creative and self-sustaining work that you love, it's more than labor.  It is the good work that makes us know that we are alive and contributing to the universe.

I didn't go to the college today, but I did respond to my student's concerns and questions.  I find that working on Labor Day goes against all that I was taught by my union-card carrying parents.  So I take a vacation day. 

I stopped by both my retail accounts today to say hello and check on my goodies - even chatted with a new needle felter.

I did a bit of drum carding - made some batts that I can't wait to spin.  Dyed roving too.

I spent some quality time in the garden, pulling weeds and tired tomatoes, planted collard greens for fall, harvested lots of green beans, tomatoes, eggplants and the entire potato crop - 7 volunteer spuds!  

After a small get together with friends, I'm off to host the Monday night contra dance.  No dancing on my bum knee, but I'll knit a Trailside hat and chat with friends.