See, just a we bit and, I can assure you, it is just as refreshing as it looks. As a matter of fact, I'm feeling refreshed just after a few sips. Now the surroundings are a bit different since I am at a training this weekend at the beach. I must be a chosen one because I got a room with this view.
It's almost like being bumped up to first class on a six hour flight except that I have to provide my own booze. Oh and I also get to bring two of my babies.
Okay, I have to digress for a moment. This morning, I'm out with the dogs, who were off leash for the moment because I'm trying to coax them to pee, when this older gentleman was walking down the walk you see in the picture above. Of course, my white one goes over to get some pets and I call her back. I truly get that some people don't like dogs. Toni dutifully comes back without having bothered the man and he says to me, "There is a leash law here." To which I replied, "Thank you." Seriously, you are going to tell me this at the Beach! This is dog paradise. Every dog is off leash. If I ever become this grumpy and nasty, just take me out back and shoot me.
Schwoo, I feel better already. Okay, now that that's off my chest, I'll continue with my update.
It's always fun traveling with poodles. First, people stop and stare. Second, people ALWAYS want to pet them and they are always surprised at how soft they are. Of course, this is pretty rough for the poodle because the majority of poodles really don't want to be bothered with pets or people other than their human. Well, except for my white one, Toni. She's pretty much a slut for pets. However, even she is done with it. The two of them have attention overload and are passed out.
Now, school has been quite interesting. Remember my little kid Jake who was naming all of his pencils? Well, he has been very busy.
It seems that there are certain pencils that are also chosen ones. These pencils get to be dressed up. If you refer to my last blog post, and review Jake's list of pencils, you will notice that one of them is named Miss America. First, I did not really pay attention to Jake's list; so, I was amazed that he actually had a pencil named Miss America. Next, I was surprised that he knew about Miss America because I thought that this had died out long ago. This is just another glaring example of how I'm a loser Mo. However, I'm sure that Jake will be a much better Mo than me because he knows about Miss America and also knows that Miss America should look like this.
As you can see, Miss America is wearing the equivalent of a Pencil Tiara. Isn't she beautiful? I'm just curious how she looked in the swim suit competition.
Anyway, since I took these pictures, the pencil drama has escalated a bit. It seems that Jake has lost a few members of his pencil family and would like to have them returned. Now, if you are not familiar with middle school children, they lose EVERYTHING. When they leave your classroom there is often a vast amount of debris that they have shed from their persons. Included in this debris are coats, water bottles, lunch boxes, pencils, pens, notebooks, textbooks, backpacks, instruments and many other items. What's even more interesting is that they never realize that they have shed these items. Let me digress for a moment and tell you a story.
Two years ago, one of my seventh graders left their Sock Monkey hat in my classroom. I put it at the front of my room over a box on the drafting table that I teach from. So, in essence, this hat was right next to me the entire time that I taught class. It was pretty much at my elbow every time I was lecturing. Now, you would think that this would spark something in some student to say, "Hey, what's my hat doing up there with Mr. Hunnicutt?" However, it did not. That hat stayed up there for two weeks. I finally decided that I was going to wear the damn thing. So, one day I took it home and wore it out of the house the next day. Of course, when I got to school, the kids were thrilled that I was wearing a Sock Monkey hat. This only fueled my middle school self. Anyway, I was prancing around my seventh grade class in my new hat when the kids asked me where I had gotten it. I told them that some student had left it for me and that had placed it up front for someone to claim for two weeks but now one had; so, now it was mine. It was then, and only then, that this kid says, "Hey, that's my hat."
Now, I know that most of you are saying "WTF! That hat was up there for two weeks and you are now just realizing that it's yours?" Trust me, it's a normal response, however, this is how they are. They leave gobs of stuff and never realize that it's theirs even when their names are on them. We teachers just shake our heads and hug parents because we truly understand.
Okay, back to the pencil drama. Now, Jake is different in that he has realized that he lost his pencils. So much so that he has started a campaign to have them returned. Here is one of his "MISSING" posters.
Okay, I guess that's enough about my life with the seventh graders; so, let's turn to my life with Ms. Walker.
This week we are on page 17 of A Treasury of Knitting Patterns.
So, let's dive in. First, I ran out of that Baby Ull; so, now I'm using Ella Rae Classic Worsted. Since I'm a loose knitter, I used US 5 rather than the recommended US 7.
The bottom band is Basketweave. As much as the process of knitting wasn't that interesting, I have to say that I like this pattern. There is just something very classic about it. I'm not sure what I would use it for but I still like it.
The middle band is basket rib. Out of the three, I like this on the best. This I can see as an allover pattern or even in bands for a gansey. Again, the knitting isn't that interesting but the final product is quite nice.
Now for Basket Welt. Out of the three, this is my least favourite. I'm not sure what I would use it for. In my opinion, it looks like messy knitting; sorta like you didn't quite get the right translation of the Basketweave pattern but kept knitting anyway. This might be one of those patterns that needs to go into the Historic/ Why Bother chapters
Now, here is the swatch's backside. You can make your own decisions about this but I think that you could get away with a reversible garment using any of these three patterns.
Again, my favourite is Basket Rib. I like how the reverse side is a series of wavy lines. I'm thinking that in a finer yarn, say DK or Sport, this would create some interesting textural effects. It's somewhat similar to Waving Rib but tighter.
Well, that's all I have for now. The other teachers here are calling me to go to dinner. Let me know what you think about these patterns or if anyone has actually used Basket Rib in a reversible garment.
Next week, Page 18!
