TaTa April

I had another pupil Saturday and this time we made the class three hours.  It was three hours last time but I only got paid for two.  Her name was Melissa and it was her 63rd birthday.  She treated herself to the class in celebration, her husband bought her this Ashford Flip Loom some time ago, and since she wants to retire in two years, she decided to see if this is a hobby for her.  Over beating is such a temptation but by the time we wrapped up, she was starting to get it and I think she did great.  I just hope she'll work on it again and relax a bit. 

I can't imagine teaching a large class.  One pupil exhausts me.  I spent a good part of Sunday sewing.  About 4:00 I decided it was time to take my book and knitting basket onto the deck, put up my feet and enjoy what was left of the afternoon, when two nekkid sheep wandered into my view, looking confused and bewildered.  I know I was.  This is Mickey Mouth and he's talking to me.

I came back in and asked Ian if he knew that Devon was coming and that he had been here.  Is he still here?  Well now, that was a very good question.  I hadn't thought of that, and yes he was.  Our guys are so small and used to him that he easily does it by himself.  He was just putting his stuff away so I offered him a beer and we kibitzed on the deck for a while and then he was off to the next stop.  He's like the scriptural wind - he blows whither he will.

 This is what I sewed.  It's the Schoolhouse Tunic by Sew Liberated.  The fabric is from Jimmy Beans and it washes up like a dream.  It's the second one I've made and plan to use it for when I'm a substitute librarian.  Two of them are two outfits in my wardrobe that I didn't have before.

Speaking of wardrobe, I recently purchased The Wardrobe Wakeup: Your guide to looking fabulous at any age."  I know - odd thing to buy in retirement, but I've thinned down my closet a lot and was looking for some tips to make everything count.  My favorite tip so far is to sort all clothes by color.  I can't believe how effective that is - I found a lot of things I had forgotten I had.  Man, do I have a lot of black tops. 

I finally finished my sweater.  I decided I wouldn't start the new sweater from Diane Soucy's pattern until I knitted this one from her stash sale about 15 years ago.  I'm glad I went back and reknit the tops and fixed the problems.  I like the look of the black line separating the two colors.  I haven't decided about the collar.  It's kinda high and I have a feeling won't be comfortable.  So it's still not totally done.  I'm pondering for a day or two.

I had to drive in this morning to deliver some soap.  I sold a couple dozen bars to a potter I know who wants to put them on soap dishes and sell them together at his open studio show this weekend.  We ended up chatting way too long - we always seem to do that.  I wanted to get up to the storage unit where DS Matty, girlfriend Julia and middle-school friend Dave were loading up a U-haul.

When I got there they were down to trying to fit in the last weird pieces.  Out of my purse came the trusty tape measure that Amy gave me years ago.  They hammed it up with their dirty hands, but tomorrow is the big day.  They'll be on the road, Matt towing his truck behind this rig and Julia driving her car with their pets.  They've made the decision to relocate to Bend, Oregon where his brother already lives.  I'll miss them but I know that Bend is a very good place to build their future.  Sigh.

To get my mind on something else after I came home, I decided to card up some mixed batts.  I brought down a lot of miscellaneous stuff last week and have been looking at it for days. 

Here are the first batts and I'll start spinning them in the morning - merino, llama, silk and Angelina.  I omitted the Angelia so had to go back, add it and card a second time.  These are over blended for my taste, but this is only 2 ounces of fiber.  I'm just getting started.  Now I just need to perfect my art yarn spinning techniques.  I'm signed up to learned that at the conference next month but I want to know now.

Books Read in April:

The Night Circus,  Erin Morganstern
The Messenger, Daniel Silva
When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead (Newbery Award)
Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (Newbery Award)

Teaching

I only had one student for the first ever rigid heddle loom weaving workshop at Jimmy Beans Wool.  They've just started carrying Schacht products.  Sandy is a yarn rep and purchased her Cricket last year at TNNA.

Because she represents Lopi and has a lot of sample skeins, she chose to weave her first scarf using it.  Lopi is from Iceland, from Icelandic sheep and is generally considered a fiber for outer wear.  It's overdyed, which means the dye is applied to natural colored wools.  It's lovely in appearance but is a bit hairy and not really apt for weaving but her colors are working up beautifully.  Sandy chose a yarn that is "sticky" meaning the fibers interlock and unweaving to fix an error is nearly impossible - what an ambitious yarn for a first project!  She did great.  I told her that we all have one selvedge better than the other and suggested she evaluate what she does on the left side since that's her good side and then try to repeat it on the right side.  The right side was looking much better by the time we left. 

These are the samples I wove over the past month.  I've been busy!  They're remodeling at JBW, making room to display bolts of fabric and in the corner there will be a little shrine, a display area for the Cricket.  If you weren't aware of it already, JBW now carries fabulous cottons.  Check it out here.  I have one pattern already cut out and ready to sew from Kaffe Fassett fabric, but I've been too busy.  I'm retired - I should never utter those words!

At the same time, I'm trying to get the shop loom warped and ready to leave for customers who'd like to throw a few pics.  I'm using the Lamb's Pride yarns that Schacht provided in the kit and it's ironic that they're the same colors that Sandy is weaving.  She chose to stand - it does give more control.  She was pleased with her work and the loom, but said she'd work on trying to do it seated after she takes it home.  I had a great time and I hope I planted a seed in Sandy's fiber journey.

There's an opportunity to participate in an arts event this summer.  I just got the email, but I would need a portable loom.  I think it's time to get serious about finding one, even if I have to drive to bring it home.  If I can't get it in the back of Eleanor, then it's not the loom for me.

I just finished three more days of subbing in a different middle school library.  In this school, the librarian is also responsible for teaching junior great books so I've had a session each day.  Just one session of loud hormonal teens a day is a challenge.  I admire the teachers who do this every day, every week.  It's like herding cats, but then I love cats.  This is a neat age.  Though I do wonder how they managed to turn "why" and "please" into a whine.  It sounded the same at all four middle schools I subbed for this month.  How do they do that?!

In the Monday class, one of the mouthy boys taunted a boy passing through the library, disrupting us all.  When I told him to shoosh, he said - Whaaaat - that's Just Smiles, the crazy guy on Facebook.  He added more but I just wanted him to stop disrupting.  Today my aide in the last period was visiting quietly with a couple of students and I heard Just Smiles in the course on the conversation.  After her friends left, I asked her about it.  She told me that Just Smiles is a student at their school on Facebook who is scary and has been threatening students but no one knows who he is.  He keeps changing his profile picture and she said he has even posted a picture of a dead body.  I asked her if she had spoken to her counselor and she said she hadn't because she's scared.  I put that all into an email and sent it to the librarian who will be back tomorrow. 

We take teachers and school staff for granted because they've always been there and we expect they always will be.  We need to pay them for their dedication and sacrifice.  I've learned in a short course that keeping 24 13-year-olds on task for an hour is no small feat.  People throw the word hero around quite loosely too often it seems to get attached to a sports figure.  I think teachers are heroes.  That's my thought for the day. 

Gotta pack.  We're leaving in the morning for San Francisco - it's Grandparents Day again and we get a weekend with the fantastic Noahsan.  Can't wait!

I Really Don't Know What I'm Doing

I was antici-
pating a delivery of sock loopers so when I left for town and Ian offered to pick up the package from Lynn's ranch (where Jan, our mail lady leaves large packages so we don't have to drive back into town for them), I wholly assumed they had arrived.

I got home after 10:00 from my guild meeting Wed-
nesday.  Thursday morning Ian had gone in early to the union office.  I realized the moment I grabbed the  box that it was heavier than the 10 pounds of loopers I had ordered.  It was this nifty kitchen cart I ordered from the Costco online store and I forgot about.

I loved the cart from the moment I saw it in the Costco Connection magazine and knew it would be perfect for our kitchen -  a relief to the congestion in the cabinet shelves.
.

The loopers arrived and I essentially got what I paid for, factory waste. It will take weeks to get these sorted out but the bathmats will be beautiful.

And on the rigid heddle loom journey,  I got a warp on and experi-
mented with weft.  I want to have educational samples for the class next month.  This was what to do and not to do sample. I hope my next sample is all "what to do"