I miss knitting. I will have time to post again and knit again later in the year. I'm getting married on March 22 and preparations are taking up a lot of time. Not to mention lesson plans, master's classes, and being the person who creates our school's yearbook....ARG! I promise I'll return. Pray for my sanity.

PS-I made a baby 'boggin for some friends of ours and the other day the kid was playing with it and it ended up in the street run over by traffic. These people called to ask me if I would make them another one because they loved it so much. How awesome is that?! Most people would just go "oh well" and buy one at Wal-Mart, but these people know homemade quality when they see it! :)

Before I get too busy...

I just wanted to share the first item I've ever worked on for myself....a lovely scarf made from the yarn I bought at the Southern Christmas Show (the creme colored). I'm super excited AND I'm trying an actual pattern. I'm in the pull-ups phase of knitting soon to be on to big girl panties.And this is just a little "pumpkin" hat I made for another "youngin'" I thought it was super cute (and yes, the bear is mine). I'm also working on a baby blanket for both my old teammate and current teammate, both pregnant (well, one's wife anyway). Wish me luck!

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I've been told that blog-readers enjoy looking at pictures, so in light of this news I went a little picture crazy this afternoon. I was sitting on the couch, watching Two Weeks Notice with Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock when I looked around at my half-knitting projects and nifty knitting baggery and thought I should share it all. This is my new knitting container. As of right now it holds all of my knitting goodies. It zips and velcros AND has my name embroidered on the top. It makes me happy.

Next in line we have my Vera Bradley bags that were never meant to hold knitting supplies, but that do it surprisingly well. The travel bag holds all my needles and larger supplies with ease.

It zips 3/4 of the way around and has a netted zip at the top where I keep my circulars and smaller straights (in a seperate case). You see my larger needles at the bottom with other tools too big for tiny spaces, but too small to float around the big tote. There is also a handle on this bag, so toss in a few balls of yarn and it's on the go with you. I keep my smaller straight needles zipped with the circulars in this (which is made to hold curling irons, but does a great job with the needles).

The last Vera item is this tiny case meant to hold jewelry.It's super small, so easy to throw into a purse. There's small pockets throughout and a pull-out section with 3 zipped sections. My point covers, needles, stitch markers, and other small items hang out in this bag. It's the most versatile of my collection. Now on to what has happened to that "interesting" yarn I purchased. Below you fill find it laid out on the fabric I bought to line the purse (that's what it is) for my sister (left). The one on the right is my purse, or hat as the mood strikes me.

This last piece is seen drying on the counter of my kitchen being shaped by a cake pan. It's my mother-in-law's Christmas gift...my first felted item (a purse). Picture it with sewn on leather straps and a magnetic close. I'm proud! Now, back to my laundry and paper grading on this "lazy" Sunday afternoon.

Are you sure you haven't seen Johnny?

That's me at the NC Zoo...on a field trip with my class...and I'm knitting. I can assure you that no children were lost or injured due to my knitting while under the guise of "chaperone." There were cries of "those are some big needles" and my knitting addicts stared and gawked like I was putting on a show. I should have danced, too. The addiction continues...

The Southern Christmas Show

I have still not made it to a real yarn store yet. I will admit that I am a bit intimidated. I know that I am still a baby knitter and live in a paranoid fear that those who are more experienced than I will laugh at my attempts. I am learning that that attitude is not typical of any knitter I have yet to meet, but it's still a little scary to enter the world of knitting without a tour guid. Well, I went to the Southern Christmas Show in Charlotte, NC yesterday. I was hoping for yarnage of some sort since it's a crafty type thing, but I wasn't expecting any. Well, there was yarn. I was so excited. I spent LOTS of money on my first skein of 100% merino wool




and two skeins of wool, mohair, silk blend.



















My little sister picked out some of the random stuff below for her Christmas present (I'm making her a purse). I'm working on it right now with some awesome size 19 circular needles and the project is flying by. If you are interested in the stuff check out http://www.thebaggirl.com/.

Can you help?

Let me begin by saying that we are a poor school, and all the supplies currently used by the knitting club were purchased by me. That being said, if you know anyone or any business that might be able to donate some knitting supplies to us, please let me know. The jewelry club has supporters and are being sent all kinds of things every day. I'd love to have the supplies to be used with my students. If you know anyone who can help, or if you can send us goodies, email me at faithdellinger@gmail.com for my school's address. I will not ask for money because I know people don't trust that, but needles, markers, point covers, yarn..we'll take anything you can spare. Pass the word! I'm attracting more knitters every day! Our club is now the largest in the school! Help us continue to be the Shiz-knit!

It's rubbing off...

My students are addicted to knitting, and I'm loving it. We meet for knitting club once a week at the beginning of the school day. I have about 14 kids in there (2 boys). Last week, we attempted to cable cast on. I decided to start there because I have issues getting the twirly cast on to stay tight. Plus, if they can cable cast on they can practically knit anyway. Well, most of them about cried attempting to do this and I'm only one person, so needless to say not everyone had it when they left my room. Now, I teach 99% of the knitting club anyway, so as the week progressed I began to assist my students when they would ask for help. Within 2 days a student needed me to teach her to bind off because she knitting herself a bracelet. That same day another student showed me the 3 potholders he'd already made and binded off in his own, special, didn't read the instructions way. I began to get complaints that my students were causing a stir because they would knit in class...any class. They'd put down their knitting to write or work, but lecture time was knitting time to them. I taught one gentleman how to change colors two days ago and his multi-color scarf is going great (I saw it when he pulled it out to work on it when he finished his quiz). Another girl has a nifty bag from Michael's hooked to her backpack full of her current project and other supplies. The teacher that's helping me has already bought extra yarn and asks every day for some more assistance (she's addicted too). And, I'm about to infect one more...tomorrow I will teach Courtney how to knit. She mentioned that she'd love for me to teach her last weekend. So, I bought her a bag, the Stich and Bitch book (which is still helpful to me) yarn, needles, and a starter kit with measuring tape, stich markers, point covers, tapestry needles, etc. I spent tons of money on her and all she said was "I would love for you to teach me to knit the next time we're together." Well, tomorrow's the day and I'm all prepared.

Knitting is spreading around my school like wildfire. We've even started an after school meeting every Wednesday to just sit and knit. The students have taken to calling themselves "The Shiz-knit" and I let them. Honestly, we are.