It's incredible how much you find when you clean everything out--and I'm only 24 and have lived in this apartment for 2 years!

I love my apartment complex: it's close to everything and it's quiet. My apartment is the perfect size. However, this year some neighbors moved upstairs and didn't take the time to report two leaks: one in their bathroom and one in their kitchen. I did though! right after the leak started raining in my kitchen and bathroom. That was strike one. It happened again a month later, strike two. Then I started to get picky. There's a space between my door and the frame, so leaves and bugs get inside. Not the best. We also live right across from my boyfriend's friend, but I don't like that guy and I was not looking forward to seeing him weekly starting in August.

So, with my dad's help, I went to talk to the manager. In our same complex, there was an upstairs apartment with a view of my favorite mountains. Same size, same price, no bugs, no irresponsible upstairs neighbors, etc. The only catch was that I would have to move out by myself and there's a lot of big furniture. Well, I decided to hire some people to do the work for me. There, stress gone. Yes, I'll still move the little stuff, basically any one object under 40 pounds, but that's much easier. Another issue is that I'm going to Spain in seven days! As soon as I get back, I have to start moving. Did I mention that I'm working 8-3:30 every day?

This afternoon I started cleaning and organizing. I moved everything that I wanted to keep and consolidated it. I went through my drawers, got rid of some stuff, and organized the rest (I have much less clothes than I thought!). I cleaned out the bathroom, basically putting everything in bags in the bathroom closet, which I am in the process of organizing. I am moving from one side of the apartment to the other. Anything I'm not taking to Spain will go in a bag. Hopefully I'll be done by Saturday and can concentrate on packing on Sunday/Monday evening.

Going through closets, I found PJs from six years ago when I started college. There was the clothing that I kept in the hopes that I might fit into it one day. I found toiletries that I haven't used in two years, some shower gels that had definitely gone bad, and a whole bunch of make-up that I could use, but I just don't. It's amazing how much I've accumulated since I've left my parents' house! And it's amazing how much I don't use. I use about 1/3 of what I have.

 On the down side, I learned this lesson two years late. On the upside, I now know that I don't need anything and I have more than enough. Although I was never much of a consumer, I will now consume even less and really use everything I have before I go and buy something I either already have or don't need.

Charities, here I come!

Your Own Purse Making Guide

Here's a picture of my seeded rib scarf:

I use knitpicks.com crayon boucle yarn to knit this because it's such a soft yarn! It's the type of yarn that you just want to wrap yourself in! I have two variations on this scarf. For more of a summer scarf, cast on 23 stitches. This one is a wider scarf; I cast on 30 stitches.

I will be making more of this scarf in a navy blue, a teal, a yellow, and a lavender. Let me know if you'd be interested in having one.

Happy knitting!

Fr. John is going to a different parish next year, so I knit him a scarf:

Here's the pattern:

CO 30 stitches
Row 1: *K3, P3 repeat from * to end. Knit the knits and purl the purls until the scarf measures about 5'2". Then add fringe. I use a deck of cards. Use 3 pieces of yarn to make one piece of fringe.

Happy knitting!

I learned to knit from my grandmother when I was 8 years old. She taught me to hold the yarn in my right hand and to "throw" it over the right needle. That's the English/American way of knitting. Pretty much all "throwers" do it the same way; the only variation is how they hold the tension in their right hands.

Yesterday I officially learned the Continental/German way of knitting. The stitches are all the same, but the yarn is held in the left hand. Again, there is variation in how one can hold the tension, but usually it goes around the back of the left pointer finger. This method "picks" the stitches, so everything is much closer: you knit on the tips of the needles and you only have about an inch of yarn in play. There's a lot of variation in how people "pick" the stitches. I found http://www.knittinghelp.com/ very helpful for learning ways to "pick" the stitches and to learn the Continental method.

Continental knitting is supposed to be more ergonomic because the wrist is in a more neutral position. The teacher gave us some great stretching strategies and how to prevent knitting injuries from repeated movements. She also suggested switching between Continental and English methods to prevent injuries and to keep your mind more engaged.

I was a quick learner yesterday at the class because I've watched the videos about 15 times until I understood the coordination. I will be attending an Entrelac class June 1, and I'm a little worried because I've never done it at all. We'll see...

Happy knitting!

As many of you unfortunately know, "Jersey Shore" is a show that is extremely popular among preteens and teenagers. In a nutshell, you find average Americans in their early 20s, the ones who passed notes in class rather than listen to anything, give them alcohol, put them in a luxurious house and watch how they create disturbing love triangles and waste money. They don't even try to act and make even the most mundane human interactions overly dramatic. Their Jersey accents are supposed to make them sound exotic (I suppose) to the majority of Americans, when really it only makes them sound like young and ignorant Americans; in short, the people on "Jersey Shore" completely embody the American stereotype that is held around the world. Absolutely pathetic. But enough about my rant on the TV show.

Last Friday, my 8th graders were promoted to high school. I remembered that: I felt a little sad that a phase of my life was over, like I ought to cry, but I was too excited for summer and high school to feel much remorse. I was mostly concerned about being gutsy enough to ask my crush to dance (I did, he said yes, but I asked so late into the song that we danced for 30 seconds). My 8th graders were ready to leave middle school, very ready. They could hardly listen so that they would know what to do come promotion night.

My school has a tradition of making a human tunnel for the 8th graders to go through at the end of their last day. I expected a stampede of ecstatic students. I got a dribble of students, boys and girls crying. I kept telling them that they would be back in a few hours for promotion and that they would be dancing together later that night. It didn't seem to make a difference. I suppose I'm a little cynical because I kept thinking of "The Wizard of Oz:" "Lions, and tigers, and bears--oh my!" except I changed it to, "Girls and hormones and tears--oh my!" I had thought that the 8th graders hated middle school, but after Friday, I now think that they are just great actors who aren't ready to take the big step to high school.

The promotion mass went beautifully. I didn't see anyone cry, but I was up in the choir loft. The dance went very well, too. For the most part, 7th and 8th graders danced in this bear-hug huddle. Right as the last song was being played, the first 8th grader started crying. Minutes later, she was bawling. For 15 minutes after the dance, the 8th graders wouldn't leave: about 90% of the class was crying and the other 10% felt like crying, but couldn't. Even one of my tough male students was crying. What was I doing? Cracking jokes to lighten the mood. I reminded them that they could skype, facebook, and that they would probably text each other before they even made it home. Really, all of the crying was a gross exaggeration.

Which brings me to my point. I told my boyfriend about all that had happened and he summarized it succinctly: they are Generation Snookie: everything is overly dramatic. He added some other Snookie characteristics that made his argument all the better, but I'll have to ask him to go over it again.

As a teacher and future parent, I will do my best to prevent these "Snookie" characteristics.

After organizing the yarn I bought into projects, I finally made a document that lists all of my projects. I have a list of 21 different knitting tasks, with about 30 items to knit. That doesn't include two sweaters (one for my dad, one for my boyfriend), a shawl for my boyfriend's mother, and a shawl for a seminarian. How will I be able to complete all of this in one year? My goal is to knit through one box of yarn by August. I will not allow myself to buy anymore yarn until I have less than five projects.

Meanwhile, I just bought 3 pairs of wooden needles to bring to Spain this summer. In a month, I'm hoping to churn out about four scarves (let's keep our fingers crossed for that one!). I'll have 30 hours of flight time, plus two additional, short, round-trips within Europe. I can do that, right?

I've also signed up for three knitting classes at my local yarn shop. This Tuesday I will learn Continental style knitting. June 1, Entrelac, which I'm REALLY excited about. I'll learn how to pick up stitches and work with different colors, two techniques that I need to learn. When I come back from Spain in July, I will take a class about how to fix mistakes. I want to take a class about how to read one's knitting, but that's being offered while I'm in Spain. Oh well.

So while I won't be buying yarn for a while, my needles will be moving constantly.

Happy knitting!

Star Wars Knitting Patterns

Last night kind of sucked for me. I gained a pound, so I spent my last few hours awake hungry. I've been exercising for a few months and I thought that I would have been able to lose ten pounds by now, but no such luck. So before falling asleep, my boyfriend pointed out all of the benefits from exercising, like toning and fitting into my clothes better. He also challenged me to write all of the good things I do for people and try to focus less on the bad.

I woke up this morning, late. Somehow I didn't hear my alarm clock (I must have been really tired), so I only had about 15 minutes to get ready; you know, put on my thick skin before dealing with middle school students. As I'm rushing through my morning routine, I find all of these post its around the apartment with lovely sentiments and notes that my boyfriend loves me.

I can think of no better way to start my day!

As some of you may know, being a first-year teacher is a rough job. Teaching six different classes one's first year is even harder. However, I made it through with great help from supportive faculty and staff. Still, the sixty-hour work week was rough on my relationships with pretty much everyone. My relationship with yarn and knitting was basically the only thing that I could do daily to relieve some stress.

In late April, I was offered a job teaching Spanish at my old middle school. I will only teach two different classes and I will be placed in the state pension fund (let's hope my state still has one when I do retire!). I was relieved, knowing that I would have more time for myself, my boyfriend, and my family and friends this coming year. Still, I was nervous to quit my current job.

After teaching 6 different classes for a year, I resigned today. It went really well and my principal understood completely. Additionally, it will help one of my coworkers, who will teach fewer classes and be in my old room and out of her portable.

I learned a lot this year, about teaching and life. I think my most important lesson is to not ever sacrifice friendships and to make time for people daily, even if it's only for a quick cup of coffee.

Shortly after my last email, I decided to cough up the $30 and join the Knitting Guild of America. $20 goes toward the Cast On Magazine, which teaches techniques in addition to providing information about yarns, care, etc. I figured that I would try it for a bit and see how I like it. I also have the goal of attending at least one knitting workshop this year, hopefully one that teaches color changes. Once I do that and if everything goes well, I think I will try the Knitting Masters Program. If I succeed in completing all three levels, I should be able to design almost anything and do intricate color changes and patterns. I will also know a bunch more about the history of knitting and basically everything else that there is to know. Lots to think about! My boyfriend is wonderful: he listened to me go on and on about knitting yesterday and when I had finished blabbing he simply said, "I love you."

I've been trying to finish a scarf this weekend, but no such luck. After knitting probably 10 hours since Friday, my right elbow started to burn a little bit. This time I was smart and stopped knitting. I will try again today.

Happy knitting!

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Well, this week has been especially busy at school with student concerts and a May Crowning, professional development, etc. Still, I was able to finish my openwork shawl and start another seeded rib scarf. I altered the seeded rib scarf: instead of 23 stitches wide, it's 31 stitches wide. It's thicker, so it's about normal scarf width, but I think it could still be used as a decorative scarf since the yarn is not that thick.

I may be switching apartments this summer, so I won't be buying more yarn (which will be difficult) and I'll be knitting and trying to sell some pieces. I'll be posting those items for sale here!

Happy knitting!

There are many opportunities to knit for charity. Most people already know about them:

--The Prayer Shawl Ministry: knit prayer shawls and donate them to your local hospice.
--Premature baby hats/blankets to donate to the hospital. Preemie Projects
--Linus Blanket: for kids who are very sick or traumatized.

However, there are other ways to donate projects.

Firefighters encounter scared children. Therefore, they  have stuffed animals and blankets on their trucks. We can knit blankets and little stuffed toys for them.

Dishcloths for Japan: don't forget! Japan is still struggling greatly with the aftermath of the earthquake and the nuclear plants have not yet settled down. You can donate projects to World Care or to the Red Cross. In order to donate to the Red Cross, I think it's easiest to sell your projects on ebay with the proceeds going towards the organization.

You can donate to your local children's shelter. They are regularly looking for blankets, socks, and hats. Casa de los Ninos is a great one in my area.

Any other charities that you like to donate to? Please add them in the comments section.

Happy knitting!

I just discovered another great website: Ravelry. You have to register to enter the site, but then you have access to tons of great patterns (many free ones), yarn, a forum, etc. It's a great community for knitters!

Happy knitting!

Internet Abbreviations for Yarncrafters | Lion Brand Notebook

The Post-Bin Laden World - NYTimes.com

Who Is Bin Laden? - A Biography Of Osama Bin Laden | Hunting Bin Laden | FRONTLINE | PBS

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead; President Tells Nation 'Justice Has Been Done' : The Two-Way : NPR