When The Going Gets Tough

The Tough Go Shopping!

I've been a bit stressed lately. The end of the school year is always hectic. I should know better to think that getting rid of achivement tests would help slow things down. Now I'm making sure everyone has their schedule made for 9th grade. AND, in the past 3 weeks, with only 6 weeks of school left, we've had nearly a dozen new kids move into our building. Who in the world does that?? How can moving not wait until June? Buddy Bill and I are gearing up for the annual trip to Washington DC with the seventh graders... shirts, emergency forms, payments, etc. AND... Like last year, I'm packing up my office. Again. I'm moving buildings again; this time to the high school. Unlike last year, however, it's my choice to transfer this time.

In a few days, I will be spending some time at the high school, learning the ropes a little bit. After 18 years in junior high, 15 years as a counselor in junior high, The Big House will be quite different. The upside is that I'll be in a counseling center with 5 other people, instead of on my own. The downside? I'm pretty used to working on my own.

Mayhem's softball schedule is a bit stressful, but mostly because the price of gas is getting so high. Today it hit $3.99, an all time high here. I managed to gas up for $3.73 before all the stations jumped, but never in my life did I imagine that $3.73 a gallon would be a bargain! We are running here and there and everywhere for games.

Knitting is keeping me sort of sane, and I'm doing more of it. Mostly I'm working on completing UFO's like my Log Cabin afghan, and incomplete pairs of socks. At softball games, I knit the entire time, and the other moms still look at me like an alien. Moms on both sides of the field, not just Mayhem's team. I mean, here we are with two hours of time twice a week (and that's just games!) where we are seated, with idle hands. Perfect knitting time. But not one single one of them brings anything else to do. Zip. Nada. Zilch. One of the dads was impressed that I could follow the game and continue to knit (hey, it was just garter stitch), but no one else has even done more than give me funny looks.

When some people are stressed, they sleep. Some overeat. Me? I shop. To keep myself honest, and hopefully keep myself from getting out of control, I'll share here.

OK, so here we have Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock in Blue Smoke and two different yarns from Lotus Yarns on Etsy. The blue is Catch Hell Blues and the green is Blitzkrieg Bop.

And here, well, the first is another indie dyer from Etsy - Damselfly Yarns. This is our June yarn for Sock of the Month at the LYS and it's called "Got Mud?" in honor of The Toledo MudHens.

Last, but not least, is the Sock Monkey Kit. Yes, THE Sock Monkey Kit. The one that's all over Ravelry. The one The Yarn Harlot knit at sock camp. Scroll down to April 17. I have the pattern and the yarn for my own Sock Monkey!
Bwahahahahaha!

Now the softball moms can really look at me like an alien!! I'll knit a psychedelic sock monkey at the games!

Storage Solutions and Other Stuff

First of all, thanks for the birthday wishes for my Absent Minded Professor yesterday. He is enjoying his Nintendo DS which he thought he wouldn't get. It was the only thing he asked for, though.

Not knitting is making me a bit crazy. I have spent my self-imposed rest time thinking about knitting, looking at knitting online, and managing my stash here at home. Saturday I have plans to knit with friends and I WILL knit on the plane on the way to Arizona on Tuesday.

Just because I'm not knitting doesn't mean I don't have anything to share with you. You should know better than that by now! First up, I've been meaning to find a way to showcase my "collection" of Claudia Handpainted yarns. An large, leftover, plastic pretzel jar from a bulk warehouse store is just the thing! (Chocolate dog nose not included.)


While at Michael's one day, I found this for less than $4. I fell in love with the container. Vacation in Italy...Pisa, Firenze, Campania... What's in this? Wine?

Can you guess what's inside?

Tuck this in a corner, on a shelf, somplace out of the way. You can still get to your needles, but they aren't scattered around, and there's an attractive canister decorating a little spot somewhere. Go ahead, steal the idea. You know you wanna.

Threadless has lured me once again to their site and I purchased another shirt. This one is sooooooo me. Introducing "Insomnia." Funny thing is, I gave up counting sheep years ago.

I have a couple of gifties to report. (Yay!) Gifties from Fiber Friends are the best!

Knit 1 Magazine and sweater pattern are from Johari. Somehow she ended up with an extra magazine and the pattern calls for using linen. It's not a tough pattern, so maybe next spring I will make it. The yellow/orange homespun in the photo is homespun yarn dyed with onion skins. Last week Sarah Lou was out of town watching her nephews and she took them to Hale Farm, a living history experience. This yarn was spun and dyed there. Thanks, girlfriends! You rock!

Next time I'll tell you what I'm taking to knit on the plane - patterns and yarn. And for the record, Vintage Lace Socks have kicked my butt for the second time. They are going in the "on hold" pile.