A Long Unawaited Post

Well! Good thing I don't have faithful readers to disappoint or anything. I've not been posting for almost two months, but luckily, the earth hasn't been thrown off of its axis or anything. Keeps things in perspective, I'd say.

What I've been up to:
--teaching 4th, 5th, and 6th graders
--parenting a couple kids
--trying to take care of my household as a single parent

-- and knitting/sewing!

Pictures of what's been accomplished: The socks for SA! When I gave them to her, I gave her specific washing instructions, and according to the grapevine, she's been very concerned about wearing them only at special times. That'll wear off in time, I hope. I personally think that handknit socks should be worn EVERY DAY.

Speaking of which, today both kids had on handknit socks. GF was wearing some new ones that I knit for her just recently, and DL had on some quite old ones that are too small for him. He said, "Look! We both have Mommy made socks on!" I was so happy. Here's the ones that GF was wearing.


I knit them up in just a few days. Pink and light teal blue? Yeah, those colors scream Georgia all the way.








Onward -- I did some cross stitch for a Christmas gift (no picture, as it IS a gift that I haven't given yet). And then....one of my lovely fifth-graders, Victoria, left for Africa. For ten months, no less. Yes, that's right. She's 11 and going to Africa for longer than all of my vacations put together so far in my whole damn life. I'm not entirely jealous. Part of me is quite happy for her. And we will ALL miss her...she's such an important part of the class. As a goodbye gift, we all helped to sew her a little creature, which is half falcon and half flying pig (in my class this is called an Ub). The Ub has a short and complex history. It was created in the fall as a brainchild by one of our highly intelligent sixth years. The Ub is mostly pig but does have the capacity to fly. When our class chose names for the two groups that go to Art at different times, they chose the Unexpected Ubs and the Fierce Falcons. So the sewn creature is half and half. And the eccentricity of the creature, which is probably making you giggle, is exactly what we wanted to come across. Our class is eccentric, and creative, and crazy, and giggly, and interested in the world around us. And I adore them for all of those reasons.
Also.....I've knit some socks for a new baby to enter my life -- my friend's little redheaded wonder. I've only hung out with him twice but can reliably say that he is gorgeous and perfect and well-behaved and a wonderful little addition to this world.


If there were a penny next to these you'd realize how tiny they are. I cast on for them when my friend went into labor -- over 4 weeks early. I was under the impression at that point that I was knitting for a preemie. Little did I know that he was coming out at over seven pounds!! And long, long feet. I have to pull out the toes and redo them. No big deal. I also have some booties in the works that I'm afraid that I'm running out of yarn for. He's so fun to knit for.


Also, I finished the quite large socks for a friend of mine that I work with. They are beautiful. They did not fit my foot when I finished them, which bummed me out, but she IS a size 10, and so I held on to a bit of faith that they might fit. And they did!! She commented on how perfect they were. Can't ask for better than that.


The yarn was very nice....Araucania makes it; it was some sort of sock yarn by them that is not too soft but not scratchy either. On sale at Webs!!

I also finished GF's purple sweater that's been in the works for awhile. How can I say this without crying about it? Not sure...but the truth is, she won't wear it. Lovely little child, that one.














In the past month I have also become MUCH more familiar with the ins and outs of embroidery and sewing machines than ever before. Or, as my mom would probably be quick to point out, I used a sewing machine for the first time. My students all embroidered these beautiful squares with African-inspired geometric patterns and I sewed them together (yes, with some guidance from the quilting store and from my mom) into even more beautiful pillows. Next step: quilting.

Next pair of student socks in the works is for MA, who is a complex character in the class who I have a lot to say about. More on him (and a work-in-progress photo that will make you want to sing the national anthem) next time.