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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Almost there!


I have finally finished crocheting all the pieces for the child's sweater I am making for my course.  It is now ready for blocking and assembly!  The blocking will wait until tonight, as I have a class this evening, and then I hope to get it assembled over the weekend.  After that, it's just a matter of tidying up my notes for the written portion, printing it all off, then mailing the whole thing to my instructor.
It will feel so good to mail it all away! 

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Yarn Bowl


Finally made it to a Wandering Woolies Meet Up.  One of the members brought her yarn bowl along.  What a fantastic idea!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

My first head


Today I took my older daughter to a store specializing in retail fixtures, so she could get supplies for her booth.  We had found the place by looking up gridwall accessories, so we were expecting a lot of shelving and the like.

When we got there, the first thing we could see where a whole bunch of bare mannequin butts in the window.  This place carries all sorts of stuff!  So while she was able to get the gridwall supplies she needed, I got a head.  Now I no longer have to make the girls pose for me when I take pictures of the hats I make.

I got the male head, as it is a 12 inch size. The female heads where all 10 inches, and had creepy half-formed faces.

My next purchase there is going to be a torso.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Yarn Nights coming soon

For the Edmontonions: Just added something new to my calendar at Micheals, Clareview location -  $5 Yarn Nights.  Bring along any projects or patterns you are working on where you need a bit of help, sit for a spell and enjoy some time chatting with other crocheters.  We don't have a knitting instructor right now, so it's crochet project only.

My first Yarn Night is August 18, and they will be on the third Saturday of each month for the rest of the year.  Start time is 1pm, and for now they're booked for 2 hours, though we have the option to run longer if needed.  You can register at Micheals/Clareview ahead of time, though I believe there will also a drop in option. 

Hope to see you there!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

New Yarn Bomb


Yarn Bomb

A mixed knit and crochet yarn bomb on the West side of Churchill Square in Edmonton.  It was put up in honor of National Yarn Bomb Day earlier this month.


Thursday, June 14, 2012

Oops!


So, I am working on the front panel of the child's sweater I an making for my final protect in my course.  It is a very basic V neck pattern that is about 40 years old, so the way the pattern is written is different. No too difficult to figure out; just the phrasing is a little confusing at times.
I reach the point where the first armhole shaping and half the V neck are shaped.  All is going well until I notice something odd about the pattern.
There is no other half.
There isn't even mention of the other half.  The instructions go straight to working the sleeves.
Which means I an going to have to wing it and mirror the first half.
Maybe it will count for extra in my evaluation. :-/

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Argh!


So I have finally decided on a project for the last lesson in my course, a child size sweater. Working on my first row, I feel an odd tugging on my yarn. I look down and see our younger cat sitting between my feet, yarn dangling from his mouth, chewing!  He had already chewed completely through the yarn. The yarn I am using has graduated colours and, this early in the project, it's better to start over then join the ends.
*sigh*

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Classes discount

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/543674_168931013237772_162214574_n.jpg 

 For those interested in checking out some of the Michaels classes, June 9 - 23 is the time to do it.

Submitted!

Ah, finally.  I just submitted my teaching hours for certification.  I was afraid I wouldn't have enough; I thought I needed 30 hours for Level I in my course, then another 30 hours for Level II.  Turns out I only need 15 and 15, and I just submitted 32.5. :-D  Logging the hours was the last thing needed for my instructor certification, and I had to write to the CYC to find out where I could submit them.  Apparently, I've got a sheet to do that with my course work somewhere, but I'm glad I can do it online, instead.  Much faster that way.

I'm almost finished Level II; still need to write up some patterns and type up my notes from the lessons.  The final project is a garment that needs to be blocked after assembly.  I'm going to be doing a child sized garment so I can finish it faster. I don't have to come up with my own pattern, so I'm on the lookout for an appropriate commercial pattern.  Turns out not very many of them require blocking.

I'm quite happy with how my hairpin lace scarf turned out - I'll take some photos of the finished scarf to post later.  I made a short scarf for the sample, but I like it enough I might look into making a much longer one for actual use.  Not any time soon, though.  Too many other projects waiting to be worked on as soon as the course is finished.  The samples are small and quick to make, but some lessons require completed projects that can take a fair bit longer.  Writing out the pattern and a lesson plan to teach said project takes longer. 

The question that bugs me the most is when I'm asked to describe how I would teach a technique, list common problems and suggestions to avoid them.  How the heck do you answer that?  Students can be so very different; what one finds difficult, another might find easy.  I've also encountered challenges I simply would never have thought of until I got a student that had to deal with it.  I don't think "fly by the seat of your pants" counts as an acceptable answer in my course, but sometimes, that's exactly what I find I have to do!  Half the fun of teaching is getting to know the individual student and figuring out what works best for them.  Sure, some things are a more common challenge then others - like how to hold the working end of the yarn - but even that is often a problem for very different reasons.  It can take a bit of detective work to figure out exactly why each individual is having the issues they are, sometimes with surprising conclusions. 

Not the sort of thing that's easy to describe succinctly in my lesson, though.  I'm not too worried about it, though.  My instructor is pretty awesome. I haven't had to write to her often to clarify things for me, but the few times I've had, she's been a great help in getting me to understand exactly what they need from me.

Oh, what's that sound coming from outside?  Our co-op's accessible garden beds are being built.  Time for me to head outside and get some more photos and see how things are progressing!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Assembly


Working on a hairpin lace scarf project for my course.  The strips are ready for joining.  I'm going to call it the Voice of Fire scarf.  It might not get me millions in taxpayer dollars, but it will keep someone's neck warm. ;-)