A Trip out West

I'm currently writing this from Davis, California.  I'm here for an Advisory Board meeting that rotates through the member cities.  I hosted the August Meeting in Asheville, so it's nice to travel to see other campuses and organizations.  UC Davis is a large campus with 33,000 students.  It started as the Agricultural college for Berkeley and continues its heritage with a vet school, equestrian center, actual cows and experimental and demonstration gardens and vineyards.  The picture to the left is the Arboretum walkway that follows the creek that runs down the east (I think) side of the campus.  The redbuds are in bloom, the stand of California Redwoods is remarkable and the whole trail is just lovely.  As we walked along we saw 2 sweet baby horsies (foals I believe they are called) nursing on their mamas.  The first day we were here was lovely, students cycling around (no cars on campus), spring in full bloom.  Then the storms moved in and the rains began, but it was still quite nice as long as you don't mind getting wet.  We even walked into town for dinner last night.  Wonderful food, both American and Thai.


Before I came here to the Valley, I spent a couple of days in Portland, visiting with family and had an opportunity to go snowshoeing on Mt. Hood.  More fun in wind and snow, walking through the woods with my sister and her Springer spaniel.

All this travel means knitting time in the hotel rooms and airports and on planes.  I started the Jujuba top using Seduce yarn, the yarn it was designed for.  I'm not sure I like it, but I'll continue on, as I think I might like the top once it is finished and washed. The yarn is a bit stiff and snags on any rough places, including the wood needle and my cuticles!  With about 6 hours of knitting time today, I should get a good bit done.  The top has a very interesting construction - from the cuffs up, sleeves are knit in the round, then the side 'seams' then in toward the center.  I took the approach I often use with socks:  first both sleeves, then the sides to the neck decreases, then both fronts, then both backs.  Eventually I'll join both halves with a 3 needle bind off, front and back.   I sure hope I like it!

Saturday, I'll be teaching a dyeing class at Asheville's Friends and Fiberworks.  It should be lots of fun - join us if you can

Leap Day!

Isn't it interesting that every 4 years we have a bonus day.  Seems like I should do something special, though I'm not sure what it is.  Oh, wait - I'm blogging!  Later I'll go to yoga and then it's spinning night at Friends & Fiberworks, so I guess that doing some of my favorite (though perfectly normal) things is a fine way to spend the day.  Since one of the things I'm doing at work is some interesting graphic design work, that counts too.  I am just so happy that I love my life enough that I don't have to look for extra things to make it special.

Last week was slammin' - - one of those weeks where there is something to do every evening - - workshops to teach, meetings to attend, contradances to call.  I also went to a wind symphony concert here at the college in which several of my students were playing.  Each of the events were delightful, in its own way, but this week it's nice to be home most evenings-  cooking, dyeing, putting my house to rights as the dining room table was stacked with mail and the coffee table was smothered in knitting detritus.

Yesterday, my Etsy shop was featured on the Phat Fiber blog, as I participated in the February sampler box with two hand dyed samples from my 'Skin Tones' multi-pack.  I enjoy participating in the box and am so impressed with the work that other fiber artists are doing.  If you read this post in the next day or so, and then go on over to the Phat Fiber blog you can get in on the drawing.  There are always nice prizes  - donated my fiber artist as a promotion for their shop.  Don't blame me if you decide to support these fine people.  I have found some lovely yarns and fibers this way!


 How are you spending your Leap Day?

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. 

Still Knitting

This is the time of year when I knit a lot of hats.  Although I try to knit throughout the year, it seems that it catches up with me about now.  Shops want hats, matching hat & scarf sets and this year, fingerless mitts.  I set a goal of 50 hats in 50 days but I slid a bit behind this week.  I shifted to a couple pair of fingerless mitts (aka texting mitts) that took longer to make than hats, but they are selling nicely at one of my customer-galleries, so I promised a few more pair.

My studio is a total disaster.  This is the view from the wide end of the ironing board.  Lots of yarns, grouped by color.  Some a re little bits and pieces; others are full (or nearly full) skeins.  As I get yarns matched up, they go into bags and the bags go into a tub.  Then I can grab a bag without thinking too much and knit a hat.  By the time I get to the bottom of the tub, I have forgotten what I put in and there are always a few nice surprises.

But this is the view from the other end of the ironing board.  It's a nice stack of hats in red, orange, pink, purple, and a wee touch of green.  There are even some naturals in there.  I made my hat tracking system even easier this year by using Google docs instead of Excel.  I can get to my spreadsheet from any computer and although it isn't totally fabulous, there is nothing that I wanted to do that I wasn't able to accomplish.

In the first 30 days of the challenge, I knit 36 hats and 2 pair of texting mitts.  Though not a world record by any means, (and I just admitted to slacking off), still this is acceptable progress.  I'll be calling a contra dance tonight, so I'll take a bit of knitting.  I have a preference for hats, mostly because circular knitting is easy and mindless.  I have one on the needles at about the 1/2 way point, but as it has a slightly fussy stitch pattern, I think I may need to cast on something simpler.  I'm talking about you, Windy City!