Hatt, Baby!

[omorka]

The crown of the hat is finished! Now I just have to do the brim, which should be a couple of hours' work.

It's a bit big. I may need to move down to an F-hook for the other two in this yarn. Either that, or tighten up the stitches on the first few rows. If it's an issue with wearing this one, I'll put a braid around the base of the crown and tighten it up a bit.

I've gotten a couple of inches done on the shawl, but nothing to rejoice over. I'm seriously thinking of bringing it to all our start-of-school meetings, so they're not an utter waste of time, but I don't want to seem blatantly insubordinate on the first day.

HWAGNF IMed me to ask what classes he should sign up for. I gave him some fairly generic advice - whatever his required English class is, College Algebra, a history, probably a biology or chemistry class (he wants to be a pre-med), and something random that he thinks would be fun. It's a little odd that I'm doing things for them that a counselor should have done somewhere along the line, but given the state of the school's counseling staff . . . :rolleyes:

The kids are telling me that the head of the AP Department, who is also the AP English IV teacher, has left over her differences with the Coordinating Principal. I haven't verified this yet (sad that I'm relying on student gossip, ne?), but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. I know who will inherit AP English IV, and while I'm not great friends with her I have no doubt in her ability to do a good job teaching the material. I have no idea who will inherit the department-headship for the AP department, though. (Hopefully not me, although I see myself volunteering grumpily if not one else will take on the extra work.) Hel, I don't even know if the Math department still has the same department head; SD was trying to find a principal position outside of the district, and I can't imagine any district that would turn him down. His only downside is lack of experience (he became a teacher the same year I did).

Damn. I just looked up our vacancy list - they're looking for teachers in "all content areas." Granted, that's all four schools combined in one listing, but still, that means there are still unfilled vacancies. (And, of course, they're recruiting subs.)

We're givin' it all she's got, Captain, but we need more time! (And more dilithium crystals probably wouldn't hurt, either. No, my beads haven't arrived yet; I'm a little grumpy, even though I'm really not expecting them until Friday.)

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

The first two years I was in college, my "academic adviser" was in Sociology! Talk about worse than useless for someone planning a math major... so I talked to other professors I trusted instead. After I declared my major, I had an advisor worth the name, and it was much easier.

Which is to say, be flattered that your students consider you trustworthy enough to fill in for the inept counselors.

[next-bold-move.livejournal.com]

I've been sort of lazy about it, but I bought a book about teaching myself to crochet. Are you knitting your hat, or crocheting? Where did you learn?

[omorka.livejournal.com]

That hat is crocheted. The shawl is being knit. (Yes, for those of you out there who are partisans, I do both. I weave, too. I've even been known to spin. I am a general fibercrafter, a student of Grandmother Spider, and not faithful to a specific technique. So nyeah.)

My mother taught me how to knit at about age 8, in that she showed me how to cast on and then handed me a copy of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears, which is the most awesome knitting book I've ever seen. I taught myself how to crochet on my fingers somewhat later, and then with a hook at about age 11; I bought a book, now long out of print, called New Designs in Crochet which was mostly about using wire, plastic tape, and other odd materials to create crocheted sculptures but had the basic instructions at the beginning. I wouldn't recommend that one for learning on, FWIW, even though it worked for me.

I was looking around the apartment last night as was surprised by how many crocheted projects I'd actually finished. Most of my knit ones are still at my parents' place - doll clothes and the like.

[next-bold-move.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about taking a class. To date, all I've managed is long chains of the basic crochet-links. Though, to be fair, I've not worked on in in 18 months or so.