Monday, December 31, 2007

Ravelry, Now What?

I've been on Ravelry for about a month now. I'm still not sure how to use it... or what exactly to use it for. I certainly haven't figured out how to post photos.

Joanne said to use Ravelry to find patterns for yarn I own. That could take a while. My stash is HUGE!

Linda is using Ravelry to showcase her designs! Way to go, Linda! I'm just not there yet.

New topic and new project: my second Audrey (from Hot Knits by Melissa Leapman) sweater! It is about 1/2 complete. I am finishing up the fronts (hopefully today or tonight... yes, I do lead the exciting life on New Year's Eve!)

I am attending a hogamanay parade in Portsmouth, and then we'll hang out for a bit of Scottish and maybe some Irish Ceilidah dancing at a friend's house. But I don't plan on staying to ring in the New Year. I want to finish this sweater! I have my priorities straight.

I made the first Audrey sweater from Blue Sky Alpaca's organic cotton. Great colors... much pilling. *Sigh*

The new Audrey is from Merinos Otto. It is beautiful. Great knitting, and no stupid mistakes this time. :) I learned from my mistakes on the first one!!! Amazing how that can work... sometimes.

I guess, I'll break out the camera one of these days and post a few photos. :)

Friday, December 14, 2007

Fall Semester is Officially OVER!

I just finished grading on one of the most work intensive semesters since I first started teaching. I need a new mantra... NO! NO!! NO!!!

Little knitting or reading had been completed since Oct. However, many of the rooms in my house were stripped of icky, old, smoke-stained wallpaper, and the house was painted. Off-white. Yes, I know.... boring. My house is dark, and I wanted it lighter. The painters were... ok, but s-l-o-w.

I bought a HUGE entertainment center... that looked small in the showroom! Now I must move all the cable and computer wiring to the other side of my loooooooong living room. However, this requires, not Cox, as one would expect, but an electrician. I called a guy... who promised to call this week. Isn't it Fri.? I mean come on?!?! Still no guy.

Christmas decorations... are not up... because I am waiting for electrician guy to come over.

I need a break, but instead, I'll be working hard to finish up Christmas gift shopping... forget ALL about Christmas knitting this year... This has been one of my least productive knitting years. Heck... it is probably one of my least productive years.

No knitting photos... though I am on the sleeves of my Audrey sweater. :(

A few items on today's to dos:
1). Call electrician... new guy... tired of waiting on other guy. Maybe I can find electrician girl/gal/woman. Surely a female would understand the need to return a flipping phone call or ten.
2) Call friend who wants to set up a "get together" before she goes to Fla. for Christmas.
3) Pick up new glasses. Why can I see and read the newspaper some mornings and not others? Based on the info. from my optometrist, old age eyes making inroads into my life. Yeah, she said it in a much more pc manner... but the meaning remains the same.
4) Go to VWC to pick up pay stubs. I thought when I opted to have automatic deposit, the stubs would go to an online format as well... NOPE. And I have been cheerfully ignoring all their emails on this subject, thinking: Well, I took care of that! Uh... NO I didn't.
5) Deciding whether or not to call a student who failed the class to explain why she failed... let's see: NO papers were submitted on time, and when they were submitted, there were no citations ... aka plagiarism. 0 + 0 + 0 = heck even this English teacher can add that in her head. She has been calling my office and emailing... Her main claim, "Well I worked hard and I was there almost every class."
6) Meet son shortly after noon to check out the 5.0+ mm wetsuits for Bruce for Christmas. He just broke the zipper in his current. Now you may think this was bad, but it wasn't; unless Bruce buys a new wetsuit in the next 10 days, we will be able to get him a gift he actually will use!
7) Pay bills :(
8) Start the house cleaning process... STUFF is still in odd places from the painters ... so some things must be moved before cleaning.
9) Call Ed. Tech. VP to get info. on an the itunesU proposal I'm working on. This is likely to be a phone tag marathon, which could go into next week.

I'm sure I'm missing a thing or two...

I know I need to do some work on my TCC website, and on the Faculty Senate website, and I need to prepare material for next semester in all my classes... but with the exception of #9 above, I am taking the day off from teaching.