Sunday, October 22, 2006

Rosedale's beginnings and saving my sanity

Enjoying a gorgeous Saturday, and dealing with my horrible, chaotic mess of school supplies and teaching materials, purging, organizing and trying to figure out what should go to school, w/o loading down the already messy classroom. I finished my Parent-Teacher conferences, and was very pleased to entertain many parental complaints about how Kindergarten is working out for their children. These conferences would have slain me, had I been a new teacher, but in my current position, that of very experienced teacher, stepping into a program I have my own doubts and questions about, I was okay. I listened to their concerns, brought up a few of my own and will make some changes in the classroom and schedule to meet the needs of these kids. But damn, last week was intense, made worse by the occasional foray into insomnia-land. I haven't been trying very hard to sleep, and so suddenly, being sleep-deprived sneaked up on me. I think I'll sleep better, next week. I feel okay about work, these days, surprisingly. There are some people I need to avoid, and I'm seriously considering divorcing the teacher's lounge for a few weeks, just to clear my head and listen to something besides the incessant nattering of one or two particular teachers, whose negativity threatens my sanity. I've also made a few friends at work, one of whom reminded me that I needed to remember that I had this whole other life going on, and of the importance of not obsessing over work. So I'll take her advice, and enjoy the other side of my days on the other side of the Pali.

There's been some knitting going on. Pink Clapotette is waiting to be finished, with just a few more rounds to go. I finished another washcloth, and am trying to decide whether to keep it or give it to Marie, who is in need of a cheering up. Perhaps I should go with the karmic goodness of continuing to give away some of my FO's, yeah?

And I cast on for Rosedale in this candy colorway. It's Kureyon #131, stashed away for awhile. This color reminds me of the sunset, but also Hawaii in general, it's so pinky-orangy-happy-happy-happy. Rosedale's corrugated ribbing is a challenge. I started doing it with my knitsters on Thursday night, and their good nature and amusing commentary helped buoy my spirits immensely. I worked some more on it today, and am actually making progress. I have to plow through 3 inches of this knitting k2p1 ribbing with 2 different balls of yarn (you knit with one ball and purl with the other) by my drop-dead date of November 3, which is when the Aloha Knitters are planning their night of cocktailing and frolic. I can't be knitting complicated stuff while consuming alcohol, so I've gotta be on the stockinette part of the sweater by then. Intarsia looks easy enough, so I think I can manage through the martinis on that, anyway. No pix of my progress, as I've done so little. I'll get a shot of it after I make some more headway on the ribbing. I'm kinda pleased with myself, knitting from stash, and actually stopped myself from ordering yarn the other day.

Flying back from DC, the other week, the airline offered me, in lieu of a bad movie, 3 back-to-back episodes of the medical drama "House". I watched it, and have become addicted. I came home, looked for it on tv, and it's not on, til the new season starts on October 31. I'm itchy and fretting to take this quirky show on, and marvel that I didn't really watch it last year. Is Hugh Laurie my new media boyfriend? I watch relatively little tv, so I don't begrudge myself the occasional obsession with a show.

6 comments:

Acornbud said...

"divorcing the teacher's lounge"...a new catch phrase! Next time work sucks me in, I'll just divorce the teacher's lounge!
Love that candy Rosedale, but hey, no pressure. From me anyway, but now Michelle....?
Leias up on my blog. Hope you don't mind but let me know if you do.

Chelsea said...

I think that's a great colorway for Rosedale. I've been stuck on the intarsia in Anouk's pockets all weekend; the knitting Gods are not smiling on me right now, it seems. So I went out and got the Interweave Knits Holiday issue, and am soothing myself with dreams of projects that will like me better...

kbrow said...

Chelsea, Maybe I'm overestimating my ability to do intarsia. I've always avoided colorwork like the plague, in my knitting life, Rosedale's shaped jackety silhouette and use of fun Kureyon yarn sucked me in, but maybe the intarsia will paralyze me, too. I think Anouk is adorable, btw.

Acornbud, I have no problem with our silliness with Leia being posted! You are a very clever knitter!

Opal said...

I look forward to seeing your progress on Rosedale in that great colourway. I'm an avid watcher of House myself. The new season actually started in September and is simply on hiatus due to baseball post-season coverage.

Chelsea said...

I suspect you won't have any trouble with the intarsia. I wouldn't hate it so much myself, except for all the color changes in such a tiny space on the pockets. When I gave up on it tonight, there were eight bits of yarn I was switching between every 1-4 stitches, and I hadn't even gotten past the stem yet. Blah. Duplicate stitch for me! But I can see how the method would be good for larger blocks.

Reya Mellicker said...

You were in DC and I didn't get to meet you? Dang, man. When you come back, will you let me know? Please?