Omorka's Lair

Two of my students in my 4B class can't see well. Earlier in the year, the girl had lost/damaged (not sure which) her glasses and so she had in an old pair of contacts that didn't quite work right, so she had to sit up really close and kept complaining that I needed to roll things up on the overhead. Then the guy managed to break his glasses at about the same time she got an eye infection. Now she has new contacts, so she moved to the back of the room so that he could sit up really close and squint. He just got his glasses replaced, but wanted a couple of days to "re-focus" since the prescription is slightly different, so as of yesterday she was still at the back of the room.

Yesterday, I was in the middle of explaining one of the homework problems when Chatterbox turned around to say something to the girl, and instead yelled "what is THAT?" I started to make my way back there to check out the situation, and she started explaining "It's just something I'm doing to keep my hands busy so I can stay awake in class." I arrived and found her with a skein of the grossest Crayola-crayon yellow acrylic worsted yarn - coarser than Red Heart SuperSaver, if that's possible - and what looked like a stainless-steel crochet hook, size unmarked, without the flat spot in the middle to grip it. I'm guessing it was probably a size F or E, which means it was probably too small for the yarn. She had a base chain about a foot and a half long.

I picked it up, tried to hold it straight without the flat grip (which I found really difficult), looked for the size marking (to no avail), and poked at the chain. She sort of shrank in her chair and said "I'm just learning." I nodded and handed it back to her. Chatterbox announced to the class, "Ooh, I bet Ms. [Omorka] has some expertise with this!"

I walked back to my desk, picked up the beret I'd made to match the black-and-white Homespun poncho, straightened it, and plopped it on my head. It took Chatterbox a second to realize what I was demonstrating, and then half the girls in the class laughed and said, "Oh, cool!"

I told them that I'd be happy to teach them how to crochet if they came by during tutorials . . .

--

In other news, Republic of Tea's "Comfort and Joy" blend (a) tastes suspiciously like their "Harvest Moon" herbal blend, but (b) totally rocks!

I finished something! Go, me!

( Okay, it's just a crocheted poncho. )

I think I've decided that Homespun is a decent yarn for crochet, but terrible for knitting. Of course, I still have one more knit project with it on needles, but I think that'll be it.

So, ( Still in Progress: )

I did get a waterproof box to bring a couple of projects to the campout with. So I'll see what I can pack . . .

Currently in Progress:

Knit -
Baby blanket for E&M's extremely immanent sprog, off the needles and currently being edged in single crochet. I think I will stop with the one round of single crochet rather than add a round of double, as I am dangerously close to the end of this skein and I don't have another. Will post pictures when it's finished.

Lattice lace sampler scarf, about half finished. Irked because the garter stitch border wants to fold over onto the back of the scarf, which is not unexpected behavior but still irksome. It's a really simple lace pattern, to be sure, but since the only lace pattern I've ever done before is feather-and-fan, I figured I wanted some practice at various lace patterns before I started Cobweb. This scarf will be the first of three that I'm doing for practice before I brave the shawl.

Linda poncho, barely started. I find this yarn (Berocco's Suede) to be a pain and a half to work with - no stretch to speak of, and it sticks to the needles something awful. I'm contemplating switching it from the Boye aluminum circulars I currently have it on to a long strand of the Denise needles, to see if it sticks to the plastic less than the metal.

A vest to use up the extra Homespun yarn, since I've decided when I re-do the feather-and-fan shawl I'm going to do it in better yarn (I think a wool/linen blend would be truly groovy, but I don't know if I can find one that isn't beau-coup $$$). About two inches' worth done so far.

( The rest behind the cut, for space )

Projects currently being worked on:

Knit - baby blanket for E&M's imminent sprog, about 2/3 finished
scarf that's an excuse to practice a lace pattern, 1/8 finished

Crochet - Mushroom Hat, about 1/10 finished



Projects on long-term hiatus:

Knit - None
Crochet - baby blanket for BW, which it's far too late to give him
the Pentacle Shawl, which I think I will just finish as a single layer instead of two



Projects I have the yarn for but have not yet started:

Knit - the Cobweb shawl
the Linda poncho (in Maverick instead of Tonto)

Crochet - None



Other stuff on the various burners:
- a simple one-strand necklace with the champagne-colored freshwater pearls
- the Fall Leaves necklace
- a couple of very long seed-bead-and-gemstone necklaces

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.)