Knitting meme

I have never done a meme, nor have I even wanted to do one until I saw this on Knitters Review. This made me feel really good about what I have done!

Bold for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you're not planning on doing.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-upMittens: Top-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting (?)
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Knit lefty style (backwards)
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies, coasters...)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars
Olympic knitting!
Knitting with someone else's handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching (it's happend once or twice, not often)
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting
Purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair (all the time, but not on purpose)
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Knitting Retreat Project Finished!

I finally finished the alpaca hand warmers. We started these at the Gourmet Yarn knitting retreat. I had to learn tubular cast on, Magic Loop and tubular bind off.

I really love Magic Loop, and I'm now looking for a size 2 circular needle, so I can try socks using Magic Loop. Tubular cast on/bind off didn't impress me that much.

Cat Socks

No, not socks for the cat, but socks in a colorway that matches the cat.

He wasn't happy about posing, and you can't see his bright blue eyes very well, but I bought this yarn because it matches "Kittyboy".

This is a Socks That Rock line named Lucy, I saw the yarn on another blog, although the colorway in those socks made a sort of flame pattern - the mysteries of gauge!

I have been knitting as fast as I can to get these done, so I can have the needles for the cruise - we leave in less than a week. I want to start a new pair on the trip, so I will have Alaska socks.

No Knitting - Just a Brag

If you don't live in Texas, this may not make sense to you.

My school got our TAKS results Thursday. I teach 8th grade English and my students' percentage was - 98% passing!!!!

And, I had 60% make Commended for Reading!!!

This is justification for me because I absolutely refuse to focus on TAKS through the year. My philosophy is, if I am teaching what I should, then students should do well on the test. I do not use TAKS materials and try not to even mention TAKS through the year. I usually use a PreAP curriculum for both PreAP and my on-level classes and just use different readings for the on-level classes. I have the reputation of being a hard teacher, and I do have high expectations.

This has been a difficult year. I have had a rough class - lots of cheating, lots of defiance, lots of disinterest in school. We have had conflict in our building.

So, this is a great way to end my year. Yay for my kids!!

My First Knitting Retreat

How exciting to finally get to go to a knitting retreat. You guys who have local yarn stores and who have knitting gatherings might not be able to understand how nice it is to be in a group of people with the same interests and skills, to be with people who know KnitPicks and Jo Sharp and Noro, to have someone understand when I say things like yarn over and felted.

A colleague and I drove 4 hours to Oklahoma City, shopped for awhile, and then drove east again to get to the conference center for the retreat. It was certainly worth the effort - what a wonderful group of people. We learned several new skills such as Magic Loop and tubular cast on, had some alpaca to play with and, best of all, made some new knitting friends. The setting was beautiful, the food was good, and we had a great time. I have one completed wrist warmer, about a third of a lace face cloth and many great memories

We even met another Texan - the star of the wrist warmers section - Dawn was the first to finish!

I also met someone I had known previously through blogs and Knitters Review. Blogland is great for finding new yarns and patterns - thanks Kay for giving me more to look at!

Thank you Margaret for putting this together - I'm sorry you weren't able to stay. Thanks Melissa and Nancy for all the help and encouragement and instruction. Thanks to Linda for a lot of information and advice. Thanks to Nina and Lillian and Anita for all the great book talk. To all the others whose names I can't quite remember - thanks for all the fun.