Neato is Completo!!

I finished this beautiful shawl this morning and immediately fell in love. Serious, heartfelt love.

Since it's in stockinette for 98% of the pattern, it definitely needed a soak and a good block.

Here's it is all stretched out and 7 feet long.

I've been stalking it most of the day waiting for it to dry, but it's humid in Cleveland so I'll have to wait another day.  I'm secretly hoping for a cold front so I can wear it this week!!!!  And I've picked out a pink yarn to make myself another one! 😍☺️

Summer is Here

Summer means extra time for all the things I didn't get to while I was busy working.  So, I've been reading a lot, sleeping a lot, cleaning a little, and knitting.

I'm doing stash dash again this year as I mentioned before.  My current total is 555 yards.

These socks brought me up to 454 yards this morning.

The firefly sock I just finished brings me to 555 yards.

Today I cast on another Kroy sock and tomorrow I'm casting on my Lollipop yarns socks.  I know I won't reach my goal, but I'm putting a serious dent in my sock yarn and my sock bin is FULL.  I'm up to sock number 25 for the year and 15 pairs total for all time.  Can't wait to get through this stash so I can buy more!!

A few nights ago I attended graduation for my seniors.  As I was leaving a Public Auditorium I looked up and realized that Cleveland is truly beautiful up close.  Gonna try to get downtown more often this Summer and take advantage of the open spaces to knit and read!

I Smell Summer

One of the best parts of teaching is (obviously) summer vacation. On Friday, I will be released into the wild for 9 weeks.  I usually have a plan in place, but this year I'm in limbo.  I am not doing camp loopy this year because it was aggravating last year.  And expensive.  So this year, I'm only doing the Stash Dash 5K. 5468 yards knitted in 10 weeks.  That works out to 22 pairs of socks.  I better get moving!!

Here's my Yarnbox yarn for May. It is from Cherry Tree Hill and it is called Cider House.  820 yards of loveliness.  I may need a shawl out of this....

Here's my latest pair of socks half finished.  These came together pretty quick.  Probably because I love rainbows and skinny stripes.

And here is my first pair of cabled socks coming along quite nicely.  They are called Firefly and the pattern is from the book Knitters Book of Socks. I originally used a pair of needles that were sharp.  I thought that would be good for this pattern. But I found I hated working on them because my fingertips hurt.  Friday, I got a new pair of Addi Turbos and since then these socks have been flying!  I turned the heel tonight and have a good portion of the foot going.  These are going to look awesome!!

And as an added bonus, Netflix released season 2 of Longmire yesterday so I've been enjoying some one on one time with Walt.  😍

May Madness

In the past, May has always been the month I feel I lose control of everything and just hang on until the last day of school.  This year, it's been crazy, but in a much better way.  First of all, I'm not freaking out trying to finish a million reports and get tons of signatures on paperwork.  

So, here's a little of how the past week shaped up.

I found this awesome series on netflix called "Longmire."  Man is he a hunk.

I taught Imari and Danejah how to knit today.

I watched my student who is on house arrest completely freak out over rubber band bracelets.

I've continued to knit socks

I am doing cabled socks that are a pain in the butt.

And I'm getting ready to enter the Stash Dash 5K.  5468 yards of yarn knit in 10 weeks.  These socks will be my first entry at 207 yards when I sew the toe closed in the morning.  Technically, not cheating, but still cheating.  Stash Dash runs from May 23rd to some day in August.  You knit entirely from your stash.  If I wanted to just knit socks, I will have to make 22 pairs of socks.  Crazy, right?  I'm still going to give it a go.  I failed last year when that damn Color Affection ruined my life.  (LOL)

And luckily, these four beauties arrived on Tuesday so they count for Stash Dash!!

11 Days

11 school days left.  Eleven. 11. E-LEVEN.  I'm pretty happy.😜

So on May 31, I'll be free to do whatever I want--within reason.

As for now, I'm working on 2 more pairs of socks.  The ones below are another pair of Paton's Kroy Socks in Mean Green Stripes.  Compared to the last pair I did, this yarn is so soft.  I'm loving working on them.

This pair is out of Madelinetosh Sock in Kelp.  The pattern is Firefly in the Knitter's Book of Socks.  Some cable action going on in these.  I'm wondering if I should have picked a lighter color yarn so the cables would show more.  Perhaps the farther I get, the better they'll look.

And most importantly it was 91 degrees today and I had no air conditioning in my classroom.  And no windows to open.  And kids with coats on complaining about how hot they were. (Eye roll) And I have a painful rash under each eye 😳 from the heat and humidity that I can't get any relief from for the 8 hours I'm working. Let's just say I'm glad to be home with the air on and my clothes off (not completely, but I sure couldn't wear this outfit to work).  

And I turn 42 Friday.  (Sigh)

Fiber Overload Leads to Knitting Meltdown, Film at 11.

Wednesday, this loveliness arrived from mom.  I resisted it until today.  

Then I opened my yarnbox subscription that arrived today (from Andrew).  It silk and comes from Switzerland and is so incredibly lovely. Siitegarde yarn, yummmm.

And then I opened the much awaited package from Reno/JimmyBeansWool with 2 skwpeins of madelinetosh Vintage is Technicolor Dreamcoat (also from mom.)

And then, I just sat down and did nothing.  I couldn't knit or read or craft or even watch tv.  Resisting yarn for 3 months and then ending up with 6 skeins in 48 hours caused my brain to misfire.  Heck, I even worked all day on my Moondance sock so I could finish it tonight and I just walked away from it.  See?  This is the picture of it on my desk at worki did 6 stripes and was so excited!  Bah!

Tomorrow will be different.  I put all of the new yarn away so I could reclaim my zen.  I had no idea I was this excitable!