Yes, I've noticed that I'm going through a ruffle phase....
Pattern: "A Little Ruffle," by Jennifer Lang, available free here
Yarn: Locally handspun yarn from The Old Oaks Ranch Fiber Arts Center in Wimberley, Texas - 100% fingering weight 2-ply alpaca
Plus: I wish I had a macro lens on my camera so I could highlight the buttery texture of this thing. It's pretty heavenly in its simplicity and gracefulness. A very close friend requested a silvery-gray accessory of some sort for her mother, a striking Cuban with an adorable salt-and-pepper bob. Around the same time, my mother-in-law visited this ranch in just outside of Austin and picked up this very special and GIGANTIC skein for me. It took me awhile to find just the right pattern, particularly one that would use tons and tons of fingering weight, but once I pulled this one up, I knew it was a slam dunk. Similar to the Clapotis, this scarf/shawl thingy works well draped in a number of different ways and styles. Got to love that.
Delta: If I could do it again, I would rewrite the p-wise slip stitch followed by a yarn over, because when purling back that way on the wrong side, it's pretty much impossible to purl those stitches gracefully. I ended up knitting that yarn-over through the back loop, an action which tightened up the hole and made it more difficult to see what I was doing as I picked up those million stitches along the edge. Speaking of, this is a major time commitment, and a mindless knit. Sometimes you really need one of those, and sometimes they make you hate knitting. Choose wisely.
I GOT A JOB! I'm teaching at an alternative school (read: kids who have been kicked out of their public school for behavior or truancy) which has adopted some really progressive and exciting approaches to dealing with kids who don't fit well within the traditional school model. I'll be teaching 9-12 grade, thought not all at once, and I've already been having a ball, planning curriculum and trolling the used bookstores for appropriate resources. Weee! It feels so good to know what I'll be doing (and earning) once we make this big move. The hardest part of the move left is saying goodbye to my amazing group of friends here....or figuring out how to stuff them into the moving van.
The never-ending Watts afghan part 26 of 36:
7.04.2010
Shawrf
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First: this looks sooo soft. Did she go to Hill Country Weavers? I keep forgetting you're in Texas...makes me homesick.
ReplyDeleteSecondd:Congratulations on your new job! That sounds really awesome and you should be proud to be contributing and helping kids in such positions. I was one of those kids and I had some teachers that saved my life. Did I miss where the job is? Do you have to move far?
It's actually the little store on the Old Oak Farms Ranch. Hill Country Weavers is pretty great, though, from what I hear. I have a friend who travels to Austin regularly and picks up special orders on my behalf! ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs for the job location, we were already planning on moving to Lexington, Virginia so Jake could attend law school. The only question left was, how in the world was I going to support us there?!