So much done in so little time

Hello my loves,

Happy Holidays for those of you who celebrate this time of year. And for those of you who don't, I hope life is treating you well and your projects are behaving. 

I know it has been a while, 16 days to be exact. So I will start off with my happy news. I took the final section of the CSET last Friday (in case you have forgotten the CSET is one of the entrance exams for Teaching Credential Programs here in California). And I feel really good about it. I also received my score for the Math and Science section Friday evening. I PASSED!!! I honestly thought I had failed and would need to take it again-- I even singed-up to retake it in January, just in case. I must say, it is a wonderful feeling proving myself smarter than I think I am, and now I do not have to study for a while. Plus, even if I did not pass this final section (which I highly doubt, but I always have a back-up plan) I can take more time to study and re-apply to the program I want next year. What I am saying is, that for the moment I no longer feel the huge amount of pressure that comes with exam deadlines.

And on that note I present to you the never-ending scarf: 

 I managed to finish it last Monday and sent it off to my father for Christmas. I must admit that I cut my initial pattern short do to the fact that I had run out of, not one but three of the colors. Also, Wednesday was the last day I could sent it and have it get to my parents in time. The yarn is Berroco Vintage Chunky knit on size 10 1/2 (U.S. size) needles. There are a total of 7 different colors. It is 8 1/2 feet long without blocking. Now that it is done I love it so much. I wish I could be there when my dad opens it.

We are spending Christmas with my in-laws in Utah.

As you can see, they were ready for us when we drove up. We chose to road trip it out here because:

1: We can take a lot more with us, and with all the gifts and snow stuff we needed the room. 

2: It is way more flexible than flying and that alone makes it more relaxing.

3: I LOVE road trips. I love how there is so much quantity time you can't help but have some quality time in there. (and since I am not the one driving, there are hours and hours of knitting time.

With all that extra knitting time I finished this:

It is for one of my sisters, I was hoping to get it off to her for Christmas, but I have not been able to block it. I have decided to block it at home and send it to her for her birthday in a few months. The pattern is The Elder Tree Shawl by Softsweater. I used size 9 needles (U.S.). The yarn is 2 skeins of Fiber Company Road to China Light. It is amazing! 

I also managed to make this little scarf with left over yarn from my dad's scarf. It is for one of my nephews. He complimented the befriending scarf and asked if I could make him one in the blue. I was hoping that by combining it with the yellow it would be long enough, but I think I will rip it back and either get another skein of blue or use up all the leftovers from the other one. Fortunately, he is of the temperament that no mater what I make, he will love it. I see a lot more hand knits in his future.


Well, I must get back to the festivities, and the UFOs I brought for the trip (I have both the quilt and the sweater).

Thanks for checking in,
XO
Lue Lue Ellabee

A good day for a hedgehog

Hello my sweets,

I have a new motto "Some days you just need to knit a hedgehog."
I also have a new study companion:

I love him so much!!! 

Unfortunately, he is not really mine to keep. He is a Christmas present for my mom. She loves hedgehogs. As a kid, we even had a pet hedgehog (Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle of course). And when I discovered Purl Soho's pattern, I e-mailed it to my sister and we quickly agreed that we both needed to make her one. 

While I was visiting for Thanksgiving, and my sister and I were showing each other our projects, she pulled out her mostly finished hedgehog. I knew there was no backing out now, especially since they were my idea. So I started him Thursday and finished him Friday. And, other than a few fiddly bits (I gave up on the double points right at the start and magic looped the whole thing) he was an adorably quick knit. I already have a list of ten other people I could make these for, including myself.

Thanks for checking in, 

XO LueLue Ellabee

P.S. Wednesday night I turned in the application for the teacher credential/ Master's program I have been talking about. So that is one less thing I need to worry about. But, I still have at least one more exam to pass before I have a chance of being accepted. Wish me luck.

This may actually work

Hello my fabulous people,
First: Happy turkey day, a few days late, to all of my fellow Americans. I am currently visiting my family in the mid-west. I come from a large family, I am the seventh of eight children. Five of my siblings and their families (this includes all 19 of my nieces and nephews) rained down on my parents' house on Thursday. They still live in the house I grew up in, this means plenty of space for grand kids to run around.

I can not tell how happy this makes me. I love my family!

Second: I have calmed down and taken things into perspective since my last post. I have come to terms with the fact that I may need to take the math and science section over. Of course, it helped that I found out my score on the literature and history section. Which I PASSED!! And I didn't just pass, I passed with flying colors! Which makes me feel more confident about the whole thing.

Third: I have moved my next exam back two weeks in order to have time to focus on my personal statement and my statement of purpose. Both need to be done by Tuesday so that I will be able to submit my application on Wednesday. They only need to be about two pages single space. I have them both written up and, after a couple more revisions, should be ready to go. I have a really good feeling about both essays, and I am starting to feel like this whole plan may actually work :D.

Finally, I have come to the conclusion that mostly what my little boy needs is some help understanding that preschool and home have some very different rules. I am hoping that coming to class to help keep him in-line, will go a long way in his understand appropriate behavior in a school setting.

Of course I cannot leave off with out updating you on my UFOs. The quilt is still waiting to be tied, so no pictures of that. I have most of one sleeve done on the sweater:

I have added a couple of feet to the scarf, it is now longer than I am tall.

And I made my self a little something for the cold weather. I love fingerless mits! And I will give you the pattern as soon as I get home.

That is all for now.

Thanks for checking in,

XO Lue Lue Ellabee

Where things get a little personal.

Hello all my loving sympathetic people,
I must admit that this week has been exceptionally difficult for me. Starting with Tuesday's exam which did not go nearly as well as I had hoped. First of all I did not feel as prepared as I should have been. Despite the 30+ hours I spent studding over the last 2 1/2 weeks, I felt like I kept getting stuck on questions that should have been easy (read: boiling and freezing points of water in Fahrenheit and Celsius, multiple choice--and I think I got it wrong). I also made the mistake of leaving the constructed response questions until the end and was cut off mid sentence on the last one, which was both frustrating and disappointing. All in all, I think there is about a 50% chance I passed.
On top of that my son's pre-school teacher has asked me to come into class and help contain him. Little man is an exuberant, precocious, sensitive 4 year old who disrupts class all day, every day. After 3 months of trying to figure out how to get him to stop throwing things, or climbing things, or wrestling everyone, or terrorizing the littler kids by pretending to be a monster; teacher is down to two final strategies: have me come in and help and not letting him come to school the day after he has been particularly difficult. All of this is extremely distressing to me -- as it is and would be for any parent. It lends itself to a plethora of unanswerable questions like: who is to blame? me? him? them?; What if nothing works? I want him to do well in school, but how can he if he can't follow group instruction and is continually disruptive?; Do I really want to force him fit a mold that doesn't fit him?; Is this whole thing going to scar him for life?
It only gets crazier from there and I need to remind myself that we need to take it one day at a time. He is, after all, only a 4 year old boy who will happily give you a hug and kiss if you just ask.

Thanks for checking in,
XO Lue Lue Ellabee

Pythagorean Theorem, quilts, and a never ending scarf

Hello all my brilliant people,

I would like to show you my "new" sewing desk (a neighbor is moving and gave it to me for free :D). 

Unfortunately, it has been usurped by my study materials. For the last couple of weeks I have been re-acquainting myself with algebra, geometry, statistics, biology, ecology, meteorology, pretty much all of the ologys that are taught from kindergarten through eighth grade here in the US. There is something uniquely disheartening about believing you have a pretty good grasp of a subject, only to review it and realize that about 99% of it is no where in your brain. I mean not even a shadow of a memory of learning this stuff. Fortunately, I was smart enough to order a some 6-8th grade workbooks that cover most of this stuff (they are designed for kids that are home schooled). If nothing else I have the math and most of biology down. The exam is Tuesday. Wish me luck.

Back to the desk, although it is not currently being used for sewing, I can tell you it is way better than the old folding table I had my machine on. For one, it doesn't shake when I try to sew really fast. Second, it is a little wider and about half as deep, making my work space more effective. And before my study materials took over I was able to finish putting the binding on my quilt:

I think it turned out perfect. Now to find the time to tie it. 

On the knitting front, here is the scarf. I have not worked on it as much as I would like. And, to be honest, I am already getting tired of it. I think it is because there is a deadline and that always puts me off of projects.

Finally, I have my next quilt all lined up:

  That's right! A Christmas quilt! Originally, I was going to do my usual turning 20 style (it is my go to quilt pattern for fat quarters) but then I found a bunch of (make that 72) pre-cut 2 1/2" Christmas themed squares I bought last year. I have decided to use them and make a full size quilt instead of a twin. I am still figuring out the exact pattern, but just looking at the fabric makes me happy.

Thanks for checking in,
XO Lue Lue Ellabee

p.s. As far as the spinning wheel, it has been hard but I have managed to stay strong and only taken it out of the box twice to look at it. And, maybe push on the peddles.

In which I am a dirty, dirty, cheat...

Good morning my wonderfully non-judgmental people,

How are you? I hope everything is going well. I have a confession to make. I am a dirty, dirty, cheat. I made promises and plans, and I meant every word. But, then in a moment of extreme temptation, I caved. You may be wondering what I am talking about. I am talking about this:

Do you see this? This is mine. It is sitting in my house, in it's box (yes, I made myself put it back after taking the picture). It is an Ashford Joy. I saw it the other day (still in its box) at one of my LYSes. This particular LYS is closing its doors at the end of next month. So everything is on sale, and this puppy was right in my price range. I know, I was supposed to wait. I have projects that need to not only be completed, but started and completed. I had a list and everything. But, the temptation was too strong.
      I had only run in for a longer set of size 7 circular needles (the double points on the sweater sleeves is just not doing it for me), and maybe some yarn. When I saw it sitting there, high on the shelf, still in its box, where it had been waiting for years (Ashford has a newer version of this model, the Joy 2, so this one is kind of discontinued). It was fate, it fit all my spinning wheel criteria; small, folding, used(ish), good condition, and on the less expensive end (those of you who know spinning wheels, know they are not cheap).
So, now I must practice real self-control. I am still going to make myself finish all of those projects before putting it together. In addition to all of that I must pass all of my exams. Well, I must get back to studding, this one is math and science (algebra and periodic table of elements, here I come).

Wish me luck and thanks for checking in,
XO Lue Lue Ellabee

The thing about persimmons...

Good morning all,
Before I update you on the progress of my projects, I would like to say a few words about persimmons.

 You see these? These are persimmons, not tomatoes. To be more specific, these are fuyu persimmons (the best kind!). And they came from our tree.
Our super happy, very well established tree.

When love and I moved to this house 6 years ago, we had no idea what a persimmon was, let alone what to do with them. Our first fall I received a lovely surprise when all of the fruit ripened, I literally had buckets of persimmons, and I was scrambling trying to figure out what to do with them. Now, for the most part, we give them away; to friends, family, random people on the street. Most years we have given away around 4 grocery bags full. This year we have already given away 5 and the tree does not look any different.

 The small percentage that we keep usually ends up being canned for use in recipes  later on. Yesterday I took 20 persimmons cored them; peeled them; chopped them; added some lemon juice, water, and cinnamon;

cooked it until everything was nice and mushy; then pureed and canned them. It made 11 cups of persimmon mash. I have plans to do another batch today.
 Here is hoping we can find enough people to share these with.

On the UFO front. I am almost done binding the quilt, today is the third day of trying to get together enough time to work on it.
 
 And, the scarf for my dad is coming along okay. I have figured out that if I knit between 20 and 40 rows a day (that is 40-80 minutes of knitting time) I can finish it before Thanksgiving (Nov. 27th). Then I can start on the stuff for my sister and her family (I might just give the kids gift cards).

 I wanted to show you what the scarf looks like in person and on paper. I have done a few more rows since I took this picture.

Well, thanks for checking in. I hope your holiday projects are doing better than mine
XO Lue Lue Ellabee