Rejection

Hello all my comforting people,

It is official, I have been rejected. I received the letter today, and I have been questioning whether or not to share my feelings with you. Since I have declared my blog representing my life as well as my crafts, and I have shared up to this point. So here is me in my life, right now in this moment of rejection.
    I was not enough; good enough, qualified enough, passionate enough, whatever enough. I have failed. I have failed to meet the standards and expectations of others as well as myself. My heart is broken and my stomach hurts. I am sad. I need a moment to myself. I need a moment with someone who will just listen and understand. I need a good cry before I can pick myself up and move forward.
   I am afraid of forward. What does that even mean? Forward. It is moving to plan B, the back-up idea. The thing that will allow me to continue on the path I have set for myself. Do I want to continue on that path? yes. no. maybe. yes.
    Yes. It is just hard right now. Especially since plan B is less than perfect and plan C is difficult to pin down. I know there will be a lot of other moments. Some may actually break me for a time. This one has been more difficult than expected, of course you never know how you are going to react to something until it happens. I will be okay. We will see how plan B works (plan C has to do with crafts, but you are not allowed to root for that one)
It is not a perfect post. There are a lot of ideas and thoughts I wanted to add. But I am done writing now and, honestly, I do not have the energy to say anything else.
Thanks for listening,
XO Lue Lue Ellabee

February part II

Hello again my sweets,

As promised, here is the re-cap of what I was up to the second half of February. (by the way, I think February is the worst spelled month ever! I mean really, Feb-r-ua-ry? Every one pronounces it Feb-u-ary. Sorry, I have spelling issues, and February and Wednesday [pronounced: Wen-s-day] get me every time.) Anyway, back to the re-cap. 

First, on the Master/Credential front, I have officially been wait listed. I received an e-mail a couple weeks ago stating that they had sent out their first round of acceptance letters. When I called to see where I might be on said wait list, I was essentially (although, very kindly) told that it was probably not going to happen this time. After the initial sting of rejection, I took stalk of what this meant. Those of you who have been following along know that my plan B is to apply for my substitute teaching licence and sub for the next year couple of years. I will wait until 2017 before reapplying, by then I should have some quality classroom time under my belt.

Second: the lady and I had a mommy-daughter weekend while the men went to visit family. The lady had a Saturday birthday party that could not be missed. Unfortunately, once the birthday party was over, our 1987 pick-up decided it had no interest in starting (later found out that the new battery had not been secured properly and it now starts fine). We had to take Uber home. That Sunday it decided to rain (pour), and without a car we were stuck in the house. We used the opportunity to dye some wool! 

 

 

  I feel that the pictures

speak for themselves. We dyed 3 skeins of 2oz hand spun and 4 oz of roving.

Of course, as soon as the roving dried I had to spin it up:

They turned out so pretty! It was at this point I realized that my current spools and flyer were to small to ply more that 3oz total. Fortunately Stitches West was the 19-22 of February, and my friend and I had already made arrangements with our loves to go!

I will say this about Stitches: It Is FABULOUS! So much yarn and knitting and spinning and everything in between in one place. If you ever get a chance to go to a Stitches event, go. But make sure you have a list of necessities and a good size budget. My list consisted of a larger flyer, 2 large spools, wool, interchangeable circular needles, and yarn for the lady to learn how to knit with.
This is what I came home with:

*sigh* I love this picture ;D.

And now that I have the bigger flyer and spools, I have plied:

  Although, not evenly. That small skein on top of the spool in the second picture is the left over single. Despite the extra, I still love the end result, about 3.75 oz of sock weight.

Well, that covers February (with the exception of the class project, but that might be a post all on it's own)

Thanks for checking in,
XO Lue Lue Ellabee

February part I

Hello my treasures!

Well another month has past between my posts. I have thought about posting several times, unfortunately I kept getting distracted by small children and projects. Between new babies, Valentines Day, Stitches West, and a class art project for my daughter's school auction; I feel like I have been all crafting all the time. Because there are so many things to show you, and  I have spent the last 3 days trying to write this post, I have decided to do February in (hopefully) 2 parts. Things I did/ worked on up to Valentines day:
 You might remember this sweater from my last post:   
It is the sweater I was making for my friend that just had her second baby (Baby E). I finished it, and I love it so!

.   The hot pink hearts are my favorite bit. I think they make the sweater. Of course, baby E has a big sister. And I could not ship something to Mama and baby without making sure big sister had something fun to open too. So, I went through my fabric stash and found enough snoopy valentine fabric for my favorite skirt pattern, the one I made my lady's plaid skirt from back in October:

   

I am not positive on sister's exact size, so I used some of that elastic with the buttonholes and made it adjustable. 

I made one for my lady too: 

Also from my stash ;D.

Babies and children are not the only ones I have been making for. My oldest sister, MC, has a February birthday. And I had promised her some fingerless mitts to go with the shawl I knit for her two Christmases ago. 

This is the Shawl:

The pattern is Silvia Bo Bilvia's All About Love Shawl. Using the half skein of Cascade pure alpaca that I had left over from the shawl, and Fiona Ellis's #40 Lace mitts pattern. I managed to make her these:

 

I think they turned out fabulous! Especially since I had to do some re-adjusting and this was my first time with thumb gussets. The yarn I used is a worsted weight and the pattern calls for a sport weight. I ended up knitting one mitt twice, because I realized that (despite already casting on 8 less than called for) it was going to be way to big once it was blocked. In the end I cast on 32 stitches and the count on the thumb gussets is 12 stitches instead of 15. 

That is about it for the first half of February. I will try to get to the second half soon (and I will show you what I got at Stitches West!).

Thanks for checking in!

XO Lue Lue Ellabee 

January at a glance

Hello my loves,

Wow! has it really been a month since my last post? Well, it has been a full month. I will start with me most exciting news first. I now have two babies to knit and sew for. My sister-in-law and one of my best friends each had a baby. Two girls born a day apart. So, I have been trying to churn out baby stuff for the last 3 weeks. I have a couple of things I like to make for new babies and their mommies. First is a nursing cover:

I used the tutorial offered by See Mommy Doing. It is a really great tutorial and I made pockets on both bottom corners with some terrycloth scraps. This was one of my favorite things I made for myself as a nursing mommy. Of course, not everyone would find this useful so be sure to check mommy's plans/ comfort level.

The other thing I like to make are car seat canopies. They are basically blankets with straps for infant car seats. I used Rachel and Nicholas' tutorial for a guide line.

In addition to these staples I have been working on a quilt, two baby sweaters and a baby hat.

 

I love making things for babies! The purple sweater is for my friend's little one it is the #36 Baby Cardigan. The orange one is The Hoot Cardigan. I made it with some Spud and Chloe from my stash and had plenty left over for a matching hat.

In other news, I have officially passed all of my exams! I am so happy to never have to take those tests again. I was also invited to go in for an interview for the program this past Friday. I think it went okay. I found out they interview 50 applicants for 20 positions. I figure I have about a 50% chance of getting in this time around, and I am okay with that. My plan B is to simply be a substitute teacher for a year before re-applying. And, of course passing the exams was the new requirement for playing with my Ashford Joy. I now have 4 hand spun skeins of yarn:

  I already have plans for a lacy shawl for the two blue skeins. I LOVE my spinning wheel!

Well that is my month in a nutshell. I hope yours was as fulfilling.
Thanks for checking in,
XO Lue Lue Ellabee

A good start for a new year!

Happy New Year my sweets!
I hope your new year is starting off on the right foot.
We are at the tail end of our road trip, and will be heading home Sunday. We were in Utah through the 26th and were lucky enough to enjoy a white Christmas:

 This is my father-in-law's "moat". He dug it himself a few years ago because he wanted a waterfall in his back yard. I think it is 6 feet deep, 5 feet wide, and 9 feet long. Creativity comes in all shapes.

Speaking of creativity, the lady convinced her daddy to build her this for Christmas:

It is a bed for her 18" doll, Molly (a hand-me down from my childhood).

But wait, what is that in the bed? It is not the doll. It is a...Hedgehog!!!
Yup, I made a second one and only decided to give it to the lady after seeing the bed love had made for her. When we get home I will have her pick out fabric for a quilt for the bed. I might even be able to get her to help me tie it.

After Christmas, we made our way to a small family cabin near Lake Tahoe. Love was hoping to snowboard, but the conditions were just not good enough to legitimize spending the money at a ski resort. So we found an okay spot to sled and build a snow cave instead.

Have I mentioned that I do not care for snow. Or the cold for that matter. I was happy to leave early and head to my mother-in-law's for New Years eve. 

Do you remember that big quilt I was working on. The one with the Japanese style ladies and other Asian style fabrics? It is for the bed we use when visiting my mother-in-law, and I finished it in Tahoe. We visit about once a month and have a room on the property that is all ours, and we needed a better blanket for that bed.

  I think it turned out amazing and is exactly what this room needed.
I have also picked up that green and purple sweater for the lady. It is funny how much longer things take when you stop working on them. I know this could be done already, but I had other projects and I want to do something different with the hood.
but the sleeves are done!

As you can see, I have started on the hood, but my count was off and I will need to rip it back. (sigh) I will have to buckle down when I get home. But for now I am choosing to focus on the fabulous bit of surprise:

  This was my Christmas present from mother-in-law and her fiance. Fiance had seen me ogling it a couple months back at a local fair we all went to. This is not wool. It is raw cashmere! It will take some time to pick out all the guard hairs and figure out how much I can use. But, this is one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received.

Well I must get back to the family.
Thanks for checking in,
XO Lue Lue Ellabee

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.