Weekly Check-in

The Endpaper mitts were finished in plenty of time for show and tell, blocking, and drying, and they are now happily living with Beth. Black makes a MUCH better seam stitch than does light pink, and this pair only took 38 grams, so my 34 grams of green (yes, that's a heathery mossy green) was plenty. I like these mitts, and wouldn't be averse to making more.

But first, I'm going to be teaching two knitting classes in a month, my First Knitting Classes Ever, and I need to prepare. So, no Endpaper mitts at the moment. One of the classes is for a Two-Color Twisted Hat, and since neither my husband or mother are willing to give up their favorite hats in the middle of a Minnesota winter, so it can be stuck up on the wall of the LYS, well, I had to knit another one.

It's so cute! In retrospect, I should have put a black line above the first set of rectangles, but it's still cute. I've gotten the outline of my class materials written down, so for that class, I just need to encourage my pattern tester (Filia) to make one for her American Girl doll, and put together illustrations and written explanations of the technique, plus a chart or two with sample motifs.

Next week is my week to put together materials for my other class, on Latvian mittens.

In the meanwhile, I'm working away on a stash-gobbling baby blanket. It did such a good job eating up the two hanks I had alloted it (a third hank went to the edging, lurking in Filia's room) that I had to order two more hanks. After I finish the yarn on hand (tomorrow is my guess), I'm going to use some yarn from my grandmother's stash (Bernat Pringle, anyone? 79 cents for a 1 oz skein? No gauge, yardage, needle size, or washing instructions mentioned?) to make a Twisted Mitten in one color. And depending on how much yarn it uses, I may even make two mittens! I've got 3 ounces, and it looks to be fingering weight. It could be close.

The Swallowtail shawl is finished, but I haven't unpinned it from the carpeting yet. The final pinned-out size is a bit smaller than the pattern stats, which means it is VERY small. Still, it's a lovely little purple thing, and I am sure it will find a home. The nupps weren't a problem for me at all. Must be the Boye Needlemaster tips.

Reading in The Mystery of Providence is proceeding apace, but with much less delight than The Bruised Reed. Reading of Beverly Lewis' books in the Annie's People and Abram's Daughters series has been going along as well (and much faster). The Scarlet Pimpernel, our readaloud, has finally gotten to a point of exceptional interest, and that's about it for my current reading. If you ignore knitting books, that is.

Our switch from Saxon Algebra I to Singapore NEM 2 has gone very well. The struggling child is struggling no longer, and the child who doesn't like to write things down now has material sufficiently complex that doing it in the head isn't remotely feasible. "If 3/4 of one of the acute angles of a right-angled triangle is 15 1/4 degrees larger than 1/6 of the other, find the acute angles."

Just two days ago, Filius was wondering where the word problems had gone. Upon request, they appeared!