I am soooo sick. I actually stayed home from school today. Do you have any idea how much work it is to stay home when you're a teacher? Fortunately, the feline nursing staff was on full duty. If only they'd share the bed.

Never, Ever, Ever...

...watch a presidential inauguration with second graders without explaining what a 21 gun salute is. It's not pretty when they think the new president's been shot. It puts a damper on the moment.

On the other paw, it's great to be able to show young kids what the peaceful transfer of power is. It's also cool to teach them about segregation, and have them not believe that it's possible for that to happen. It's cool that they don't see what the color of the president has to do with anything. I guess we should teach them about 21 gun salutes, and they should teach us what really matters about the president.

Although, if you ask them, they'll tell you Barak Obama should be president because he has a daughter just their age. :)

I Didn't Even Knit!

Today an amazing thing happened. Don and I went to a Providence Bruins hockey game. I got him the tickets for Christmas. Don watches sports of almost every kind on TV, and while he watches, I sort of follow a little, but mostly I knit. The combination of being neither athletic nor competetive, doesn't make me a good sports fan. Before we left for the game today, I made sure I had some knitting tucked into my bag. But shock of all shocks! The "in person" game was so interesting, I didn't even knit! I have to admit I didn't much care that we lost, but the skating was unbelievable to watch. Who would have thunk?

http://www.providencebruins.com

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens

Yesterday I had I truly horrible migraine. I get them every so often, although I've been able to discover some of the triggers, and thereby eliminate many of them. Migraines always make me feel depressed. To cheer myself up, I posted a thread on my favorite Ravelry board (Reclaiming the Home aka my mothership). The thread was based on the song "My Favorite Things" from the movie The Sound of Music. In the movie, the VonTrapp children were frightened by a thunderstorm, and Maria tells, well sings, them to think about their favorite things. This cheers the children up, and it worked for me too! So, here are some of my favorite things:

-a pile of cats on a chair

-clean sheets on the bed

-digging in my yarn stash and finding yarn I forgot I had

-coffee early in the morning

-second graders playing with stuffed animals

-my husband saying you'll feel better if you buy some yarn

-turning off the alarm on Friday so it won't go off on Saturday

-binding off the last stitch

-rubbing Wally's belly

I could go on and on, but now it's your turn. What are your favorite things?

Yarn Wind'ear and Swift

I was so pleased when my husband got me this swift and the yarn winder that goes with if for Christmas a year ago. I've gotten a ton of use out of it, and it's saved me a whole lot of time. It's also useful for entertaining Scottish Folds.

Possibilities

There's nothing like a fresh, uncut piece of fabric. All those possibilities dance before my eyes. Well, if I can see the fabric.

A Tail of Two Icarus Shawls

My friend Kim sent me the book "The Best of Interweave Knits" for a gift last March. She wanted me to knit the famed Icarus Shawl by Miriam Felton, which she was also working on. Kim knits a lot faster than I do, but I'm almost as obsessed as she is with knitting, so I gave it a whirl. It was definately harder than she said, but it was also more addictive than she bothered to mention.

This first shawl, I made for Ev out of Suri Elegance. Only one problem. I ran out of yarn! Thankfully, the ladies at my LYS dug through the shop and found this nice complimentary silvery gray. I can't remember what yarn it is, but I'm eternally thankful to the ladies of Fresh Purls.

Having succeeded in saving the first Icarus shawl, I had the crazy thought that my sister Lisa could use one to keep her warm in her freezing school nurse's office. (Strange place to not heat.) So I set out to make her one in Rowan Kidsilk Night. Not having learned my lesson, I ran out of yarn again! I did manage to find another skein on E-bay, and it even turned out to be the right dye lot. Another shawl saved!

What are the odds I'll buy enough yarn for the next one? Maybe I should try a different pattern.

Welcome to My New Blog

Welcome to my new blog! Having my own blog hadn't occured to me, until my friend and coworker Keri, suggested it. Well, I did it, Keri!


Of course, the first order of buisness here must be the cats. My husband and I have four beautiful Scottish Fold cats. Actually, they have us! Scottish Folds' are known for their folded ears, big round eyes, and a friendly disposition.

This is Wally, my very special black and white boy. He runs the show around here, that's for sure.

Here's DK. DK stands for Don's Kitty, and Don's he is! My husband is DK's favorite person in the whole world.















This is Mikey. Take a good look at his eyes, they're rarely this open! Mikey is a sleep-aholic!















This is our youngest cat, Duncan. He's grown since this picture, but he still a total cutie!











I'm out of time here, but in my next post, I'll talk about another favorite thing, knitting!