Tuesday, June 7, 2011

It's June WHAT?!

Honestly.  How does this happen?

Well, I guess I know some of the answer to that.  You'd think that the end of the semester would bring some kind of calm and order to my world, but it rarely works that way.  The only differences, I've found, between summer and not-summer, are that a) I don't have the order of my classes to help me keep track of what day and week it is, and b) I don't get paid to do all the work I do during the summer.  Like packing my entire office up to move to a new building.  (Which is not all bad, of course - new buildings do have some nice features - but in this case, it also means that I will have less than half the amount of filing space I have now, and about 2/3 of the shelf space; you can imagine the flurry of panic and pitching this is causing among the faculty.)

But there are other good things going on.  My parents came down for a visit last week, which was wonderful, and the reason they came was even more wonderful.  Check this out:
That's Older Daughter, in her middle school promotion ceremony.  What does that mean?  That means that my daughter is going to be (already is, she says) a high school freshman.  When did that happen?
She was pretty happy with herself, and with good reason - she graduated with Honors (and only missed High Honors by, I kid you not, 1/100 of a point).  Go, girl!

I have been knitting, too, and while I don't have any good pictures of it, I wore my new tank top in to the office today.
Not too bad for summer, right?  It's cotton, and therefore machine-washable and cool, and it fits beautifully (which you really can't see there, but it does).  I even had to learn to crochet a little bit to get the edging done (and I think I might go back and put an edging around the bottom in the white color, just to help keep it from rolling up).  I can't remember all of the project details right now, but I'll get them into Ravelry.

And I've been spinning out a lot.  My first spindling class is this Thursday, and I have been working on a (brief) handout, as well as a little mini-syllabus (complete with student learning outcomes) to keep me on track.  With only two hours to get folks spinning (the second two-hour class is focused on plying), there's a lot of ground to cover!  Of course, spending this much time spindling means that I have the perfect excuse justification legitimate reason to spend some money on spinning (right?).  For example, minutes after Erica posted her pictures of this, I snagged it.  My pictures of it don't compare to hers, so it's worth checking it out.  It's at my house now, calling my name, but I really want to make sure I get it right, which means contemplating exactly what "right" means in this case.  I have a few thoughts, and I'll get to it soon, I hope.

I also headed over to my LYS today, at my friend the owner's request (it turns out she wanted me to ply her yarn for her, and, me being the sucker that I am, I did - note to self: resist blandishments), and as I was there (plying her yarn, have I mentioned?), a box of books arrived, containing her new order of The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook.  I got one, of course.  Bedtime reading, here I come!

13 comments:

Lynne said...

Firstly, congratulations to Older Daughter. Well done on the Honurs - a great achievement.

At the end of the 2010 academic year I brought all my paperwork home and tossed most of it! I have an electronic copy (and back up) of everything and have found that I rarely use worksheets as is, I always modify something. So now my one filing cabinet drawer (at work) contains a hole punch, a dictionary and a pencil case with pens, pencils, whitboard markers, etc!

I don't spin but DD thinks that four hour class is jam-packed: learn to spin in two hours to learn to ply in the other two!

I hope you get some (more) time to do things you enjoy this summer.

FUZZARELLY said...

I was wondering how you were doing; missed hearing from you.

Do you use a top-whorl spindle to teach with? The old spin and park between the thighs? If not, I'd be interested in your technique.

EGunn said...

Congratulations to Older Daughter! Time does fly, doesn't it? She looks so grown up in that picture!

I'm sure your students are really going to appreciate all the planning you're putting into this class (I had to laugh at the learning outcomes part...can't take the professor out of the teacher, huh?

You know, I /still/ have boxes of teaching materials for classes that I haven't taught in 4 years. I know, because I just moved them (again) this weekend. Why is it so important to hang onto some things, anyway?

Wanderingcatstudio said...

the year is flying by isn't it!
Congrats to your daughter!

Jane said...

Congratulations to your daughter.
I love your top, perfect for summer

Nana Sadie said...

Happy Congrats to Older Daughter! Everyone looks tickled pink in that family photo...
;)
And, I'm not surprised you picked up that book...nor am I surprised at the manner of your preparation for your spinning classes.
*wink*

Carrie#K said...

High School! Congratulations on the promotion. I'm sure the next four years will speed by.

More work,less pay, that's what summer is for! Your spindling class sounds uber-organized and fun.

AlisonH said...

Congratulations!

And cool on the book--I have so got to buy that one.

twinsetellen said...

Wow - your daughter has grown up so much in the few years I've been reading the blog. She is a lovely young woman!

Your tank is a lovely tank, too. I like the slight crossover neckline and the fit is just smashing. I think I'll go knit a bit on the one I've had going for 2 years now...

(Erica's blog has gotten downright dangerous for me to read.)

Alwen said...

Man, I know it! I finally got my four o'clock roots in the ground - June 8th alREADY?

Helen said...

And your daughter's taller than you, when did that happen? You all look so happy, obviously a wonderful day, congratulations.

Frauntene McLarney said...

ha ha! THIS was the day I last saw you!!! And your tank is LOVELY!! And the book is LOVELY, Tim was distressed at how I was studying it and commenting on the cute faces of rare sheep breeds;-) I'll be back here on the regular!!

RobinH said...

The tank is awesome! And you've inspired me to haul out my own summer top in the hope I might actually finish it one of these years. :)