Catching up...

I know, I know!! I haven't updated in a while!!! It's been a busy summer full of teaching ESY (extended school year - that's summer school for special ed), having family visit, taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class, and of course knitting!!!

ESY was great and the extra money was nice to have :) I had a great group of kids this summer of who I may end up teaching next school year when they move up to middle school.

I ended up not able to go down to Florida to visit my mom, but even better, she came to visit me along with my sister from Chicago! We celebrated Mom's 50th birthday at the aquarium and a great dinner in Buckhead called Kyma - it's a Greek seafood place with excellent food...not your usual Greek restaurant with dancing, plate breaking and a whole lot of "Opa!", but classy. It was a great weekend to end my summer before school started back up.

I started back to work for the new school year realizing the awful truth of the times we are in...because of budget cuts from the state trickling down to our school system, we will be subjected to pay cuts and furloughs. I'm used to furloughs because Jon has one every month. Learning what we did at the Dave Ramsey FPU class, we'll do our best with our budgets and do what we can to cut unnecessary expences.

And to knitting....

With the summer in full swing, I had several opportunities to expand my knitting skills and experiences. At the beginning of my summer vacation, I took a 2 day workshop and felt empowered to take my knitting with me. I was going to knit in public!! OH MY!!! How adventurous of me!!!! I thought about taking my sock out a few times during the workshop, but was a little embarrassed and thought the other would think I was rude for doing so. Well, during one of our many breaks, I pulled out my my knitting and another teacher came up to me and was thrilled to see another knitter at the workshop! She and another teacher behind me were knitting away the entire time! How empowering!!!! I never would have thought of the benefits of knitting in public during presentations and lectures...but darn it, I was going to try! I actually concentrated more on what was being said by having my hands moving! The other knitters and I talked during our breaks and I learned that they were part of a yahoo group for knitters and handspinners. There were several meetings during the week to accommodate different schedules and I decided to join. I started going to meetings on Monday nights and some Saturday afternoons and quickly met new knitters...most of them are work as teachers, parapros and secretaries in my school district. When the school year started back up, I learned that it was easier for me to go Monday nights since Saturday afternoons were reserved for mommy and toddler time while Jon is working.

I also worked on a winter hat for my son....

In August, I attended a class at my LYS on how to knit 2 toe up socks on 2 circs. It was fabulous! I learned the cast on for the toes and the toe increases during the 1st class and then needed to knit up to my ankles to be ready for the 2nd class. The big mistake I made that I could have caught at this stage and re-done was that my socks were way too loose. I didn't listen to the instructor to stop increasing once I got to the top of my little toe when I tried them on. I ended up realizing how loose they were when I was in the middle of working the foot. I compensated by decreasing the necessary amount of stitches at my arches to give me a better fit at this point. Hopefully when I block, they'll draw up a little bit and fit just right... I didn't have quite enough and spent the entire class getting caught up. During the 3rd class, I learned the Sherman heel technique...it eliminates the need for a gusset and I like it a lot! I'm pretty sure I like it better since it saves time and once you are done with the heel, you're ready for the leg and cuff. Right now I'm working on the ribbing for the cuff. I don't have an updated picture, but here's what I had when I worked on the toes. You can see how they are already a little loose fitting.

Being at my LYS for my class has really been terrible for me. I was seduced by all the yarn and temptation! I found some gorgeous Ultra Alpaca yarn by Berroco that I want to use to knit my first sweater for myself.

I also found a bunch of Noro yarn on display where the sale shelf was...that's right!! DISCOUNTED YARN ROCKS!!!!!! So I bought my first Noro yarn...to be specific, Kureyon Sock yarn!

Aaaahhhhhh....Summer was fabulous....

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podcast and sock mania

My knitting has taken on new heights with the motivation of Kelley Petkun's KnitPicks podcast. I started listening to her podcasts a few weeks ago and I'm pumped and newly inspired about all the possibilities:)

I finished my first cable project (Irish Hiking Scarf) a few weeks ago - a bit late for the cold weather...or shall I say, early for next winter?

I'm working on my first pair of socks! I've turned my heel and I'm on the gusset stitches...not without difficulty, though - this is my 5th attempt!!!!! Well, technically, I've knitted a sock (not a pair), but that was just practice on worsted yarn and size 5 dpns to get used to the process. This pair I'm on now is like "knitting hair on toothpicks!"* I'm using real sock yarn (Araucania Ronco - Mauve) and size 1 dpns.

*My friend Susan, who taught me how to knit, calls sock knitting this:)

It's been a while!

Well, a lot has happened since January!!!

As an update to my last post, I'll let you know about my family life...

Unfortunately, Pappou passed away on February 8th. He spent the last couple weeks of his life in a nursing home where he was taken care of by wonderful nurses. His health deteriorated very quickly on top of his dementia. It was sad that I didn't get to see him one last time, but I'm glad my last memory of him was when he visited a month after Harrison was born and he got to meet his first great-grandchild! The picture above is that first meeting...That was a happy memory!!! He is now at peace with Yiayia and Uncle George:)

Getting a couple things off my chest...

Ok so this isn't about knitting...

Going through some stuff right now that I have to get off my chest:

My Pappou is here in the states from Greece and he's not doing well. At first he stayed with my mom in FL, but things got so bad that he ended up moving up to NJ to stay with my aunt. We think he has Alzheimers and now that the honeymoon period is over, he's starting to act up again. I'm really hoping for a diagnosis real soon so that reality can set in for him and he can take some meds that could help him get better. This has taken a toll on my mom and not being able to physically be there to HELP them is a bit frustrating. Having my ear open helps, but I still wish there was more I could do.

On top of that, I'm getting mixed messages about some things and I'm a little confused. If only dh will be a little better in communicating to me what he REALLY wants, it will make things a lot easier. I'm not a mind reader and I refuse to try to be one. I've learned to not expect him to be a mind reader and I have to be blunt with him sometimes. I just wish it worked both ways.