Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Big ball of Wool

It's the end of term holidays here in NZ and the children are delighted. 11 weeks is a long time to remain focused even with a four day Easter Break thrown in. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to change my role so that I can still enjoy teaching but without the stress of all that paperwork, discipline and a timetable.
We have all our days mapped out. If I don't then the days just seem to fritter away and we go back feeling like we didn't really do anything. The weather is still pretty reasonable so we can get outside a fair bit. I am taking this week off and next week I plan to work from home during the evenings so that we can spend some time together as a family during the day.

Yesterday we went to another LYS, not my usual haunt and I found the biggest ball of wool I had ever seen. Clearly I had to buy it and start knitting straightaway. There was a pattern included on the ball band. So off went my needles quick as a flash.



See how busy I was?



Then there was social knitting last night and the chance to show off my finished Elijah. I am not entirely happy with him, I think it's a combination of things, one being the wool I used, perhaps an acrylic would have been a better choice. However I do feel that a lot of his slightly dazed look might just be because Peri became totally fixated on him while he was being made and would ran away with him at every opportunity. This has had an impact on his looks and has left him with a life long fear of Tonkinese cats. Therapy is not an option as no-one else understands him and I am the cat owner so he doesn't trust me to see his perpective. Sorry Elijah. I did try to protect you.



I am also knitting a peplum jacket in a subtle pink colour which I am looking forward to wearing. I feel that this will be the knitting creation I am happy to wear. I took a long time choosing the colour and it will go with lots of things but I haven't worn any of my other knitting creations even though they also went with my other clothes. Definitely This Time. Otherwise Eldest daughter will get another jumper. She doesn't mind. I struggled with the pattern and last week saw me frog the whole thing thinking I had made a mistake. I hadn't, the chart was wrong. It was a bit disheartening.



I had a great day knitting today. I went to a conference held by Tony Ryan on Social Intelligence and Inspiring Classrooms. He is very interesting to listen to and he had several effective strategies to share. I was able to knit my way through several hours, both morning and afternoon. Heaven. I don't care that several people thought it a bit odd, it helps me to stay focussed and to take in the information and we all know that provided the pattern is simple then you can easily listen, knit and watch.
I have just started reading this



Derek Hansen was born in England and raised in New Zealand and now lives in Australia. I haven't read anything by him before but the first few pages have grabbed my attention so I am happy to give him a go. I have left the Principessa half way through, the story isn't really moving forward, there's no conflict and I haven't even grown to like the characters. I must be knitting too much because my reading has dropped back to just half an hour or so a day.
I'll leave you with a question that Tony Ryan presented us with today. What inspires you?
For me it has to be nature, I am constantly inspired by the sheer beauty that we find ourselves surrounded by, whatever the weather, where-ever we are. It simply takes my breath away. What about you?

8 comments:

carolyn said...

Elijah is quite adorable if a little nervous looking.

Tracy said...

Super post with all sort! And I must say, I think that is the most giant skein of wool I've ever seen--LOL! Looks like you're making light work of digging into it though...Happy knitting! ((HUGS))

Unknown said...

Hi! Your creations are lovely! The elephant is so cute! And i cant wait to see the sweater, it looks like it will be darling! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog!

Amy

Sonya said...

That is a huge ball of yarn! And I agree with Carolyn - Elijah is lovely. Being stalked by a cat would make any elephant jittery!

dottycookie said...

That is a seriously huge ball of wool!

The only items of clothing I wear when I knit them are socks and hats. Everything else tkae me so long I am sick of it by the time it's done!

Jane said...

Elijah is very cute even if he was grabbed. That ball of wool is huge! your pink jacket is lovely too. Hope you have a good holiday we are feeling a little stunned and tired now but we've a bank holiday monday on the 5th May and half-term at the end of may! Jane x

Melody said...

I wish I'm able to knit!! It sure sounds fun! :)

Charlotte said...

It's so nice to meet you, Alison. I like to read and knit also although I have not done much knitting in the last few years, I have done a lot of it in the past. I love your huge ball of yarn. It is beautiful. And I think Elijah is very cute. You are the first person in New Zealand that I have communicated with. I hope you will come back to my blog for a visit again. My husband was using the same template for his blog that you use. We could never figure out how to add anything to his sidebar. He recently changed it to a more user friendly template. Looks like you have had no trouble in that area. The little cat is so cute and I like the bookcase.