Thursday 10 May 2007

A quick update on life on the hill

I have blocked & worn my Cherry Leaf shawl! Blocking is magic but the dog thought I had finally cracked, crawling around the spare room floor pinning my knitting to a towel & the carpet! I am pleased that I did it a little larger than the pattern (3 more repeats I think). I have nearly completed one toe up sock. They are for Mr J & he appreciates been able to try them on as I go. I have got used to the pulling & pushing.

The KSH will have to be increased in quantity as I have decided not to do the 'Melon' shawl as it felt too narrow after I had worked a few rows. I am about 10cm into the leaf & trellis large rectangle. The pattern is begining to form & make sense but will require 1200yds not 750 yds of yarn. Pictures will follow at the weekend. I took the bold step last weekend to frog an unworn jacket that I knitted before Christmas. It is in a novelty Wendy yarn & is lovely but unwearable. The jacket had a wrap over front & was so heavy it fell open & off my shoulders when not fastened. I decided too much cash had parted company to scrap it so with my Mum's help I started to unravel it. That was the easy bit! It had been such as ***** to sew up, getting the pieces to part company was the all together more difficult. Still, nearly done. I plan to knit something sweater shaped, probably seamless with the rescued yarn!

The teaching business is as ever! Its Year 9 Key Stage 3 SATS this week & then its AS levels, GCSE's & A2's! I do the 'front of house' stuff with exams, telling the kids about the various routines & making sure they get to the door in order and things (300 at a time!) but apparently our glorious leaders saw fit to test the youth of the nation with Kafka plus a piece on the teenage brain in their English Reading test today! Kafka... at 13 & some of these students have Special Educational Needs & a reading age 3 years below their chronological age! But it was printed in biggish text, on really good quality coloured paper so that's OK I guess!

1 comment:

sarah said...

Kafka? They're mad. Not only as regards comprehension, but in terms of encouraging people to read for pleasure. I vote for Pratchett. I started one lad reading Conan the Barbarian -- he liked it enough to borrow similar books from the library, so it's a start.

I'm ashamed: I have two incipient sweaters that have waited to be unravelled for the last 10 years. Without even the excuse that I'd put a lot of work into knitting them (neither is anywhere near finished).