Where have we been?

This is what we have been up to...

First the kids went back to school.



See how I look happy. I was, but there were hidden tears too. For the first time in 11 years we have no one in daycare. No more babies. This sadness and nostalgia has not created any need to have more though.



Sergie was pleased as punch...He thought I was crazy, but that is not unusual.



The girls deserted us. They were not sad at all minus a couple of tearful minutes before the bell rang.



Serge also had a Birthday. The kids and I made him a chocolate torte, which he promptly informed was not as good as his mom's. Thank you Serge:)



We also went to an apple orchard and bought pumpkins. Serge manned the camera and the one picture we got of him was wonky.



We also made carmel apples...Sadly, that picture was the best I could do. The kids were intent on working on their apples and would not turn around.



And mom knit two baby sweaters for friends. I am currently working on a large circular shawl out of raw, unspun wool. Serge has named it whale condom. It gets cold in our house what can I say.

Yup! We are in Tuzla.

We made it over to Serge's home town Tuzla, Bosnia. I can't get over how much it has changed in 5 years. Last time I was here the town and the people were still pretty war torn. Now everything and everybody are rebuilding. The faces are not nearly as sad.

The kids are having a blast with grandpa (Deda) and Grandma (Buba). Serge is having some fun, though, not as much as he would wish because sadly he is working here. We will see some of his cousins tonight so hopefully he will cheer up a bit. The poor guy, he does not get to come home much. We are doing the best we can to keep his free time free so he can do what he wants to do.

I have also gotten some work done. I managed to finish an article and got it send out to my advisor/cowriter. Yeah!!! Something off my plate:)

Chase has become quite the soccer fanatic here. He has made friends with a group of boys from the community and spends most of his time with them or with his cousins. He is so independent. I forget sometimes that he is 11 and not a baby anymore.

Here are some picture we took while we were in Korcula, Croatia. A nice little village that is known as the home of Marco Polo. Chase thought that was pretty cool. We got a new camera before we left, so our pictures are much more clear. Yeah again. I think it is a Canon Rebel EOS Xti. We were looking at a Nikon, but then decided on the Canon so we can interchange lenses with our film camera.

Here is Chase looking into a Cannon and me and the girls.



Here is Serge and the kids with the same cannon. Serge is apparently trying to pull the cord. Cannons and Serge. Scary, Scary combination.



Here is Marco Polos house.

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Originally uploaded by noshrinkingviolet

Hi, I am in Orebic, Croatia visiting my in laws for a month. We are having fun. I started the February Baby sweater and had to rip it out due to gauge. I did not have time to create a gauge swatch what with packing and all. Oh well it is so fun to make that I don't mind. My husband is calling me so 'nuff said.

Backwards

A few years ago, I went to a chiropractor who had a great deal of holistic training. He told me that I wear all of my energies backwards. Basically, I hold myself back from succeeding at things, or at the very least I make things much harder to achieve. Clearly, I have been able to do some things. But, I think, if it wasn't for my tendency to be anxious and my lack of self confidence it would have been easier.

Well, these issues have rear their ugly head again. As I was reading Knitting Around, I discovered that not only do I purl backward, but I also knit backward. Crap and right in the middle of a sweater too. So these are my musings. First of all, I have been knitting backwards for a great deal of time. Second, it seems to create a firm and well shaped fabric. It is a pretty fabric. So, I will finish this sweater and then revise my technique. I am excited to relearn. I get bored with monotony anyway.

Okay Now What

So all of my life I knew that I was going to be the one in the family that went on to get an advanced education. I was talked to about this from the time I was 4 on. Well, one grandmother was convinced I would be a nun, but I think my adolescent antics unconvinced her of that. So, I went to grad school and got my Ph.D. Now that I am done and I am teaching at a University, I am sitting here wondering if there was a bit of a flaw in my plan. It reminds me a bit of the South Park episode with the underpants gnomes. Stage 1 get doctorate. Stage 2 ???????, Stage 3 retire. I think I missed an integral part of my life planning. Well really I missed about 35 years of the plan. Has anyone else had this experience.

I am sorry to all those with good grammar.

I am sorry if you have good grammar and you are reading this. It is the end of the semester and I have lost the ability to write. Okay. I am seriously excited in this moment. It may be partially due to the life water I have drank or it could be becuase the semester is over and I can start writing. (Check out my grammatically incorrect run on sentence.) Yeah. I am free to write articles. Does anyone else notice the odd paradoxical idea here.

The sadness I am having is that I just got the Elizabeth Zimmerman book Knitting without Tears. As I am reading along and enjoying the way she uses her words, I notice a picture that threw me for a loop. I have been knitting for awhile. I thought I was doing pretty well. Guess what! I have been purling wrong since I learned. I am a continental knitter and the way I pick up the thread creates backwards knitting. So I tried to knit the way she says and my Purl gauge goes way off in comparison to my knitting gauge. Crap I have to relearn how to purl and do a few swatches to get it down. Double crap. Oh well I need coasters any way and since the semester is over I have more time. I can make the swatches while I am taking breaks from writing. Again that thought is just so wrong.

Who am I?

Apparently I am Elinor Dashwood. See.

Take the Quiz here!

I can totally see that. In fact, one of my supervisors had me pick a character that I feel I was most like and I chose her. But, you know what, I want to be Marianne. I admire her passion, excitement, and verve. While Marianne is out expressing herself, I am keeping it inside and then pouring the emotion into work or art. I am who I am. I love who I am, but I am jealous of all those beautiful bright Mariannes out there:)

Sleep and FOs

Well, I am tired. I am still in my first year as a professor. It is ever so much more work and stress than I ever thought. I look back and can't figure out how I got my Ph.D. and I am looking forward trying to figure out how I am going to maneuver all of the roles I've got going right now. You know the line up: mom, wife, writer, professor, committee member, caretaker, and soon therapist (again). My dh, my kids, and knitting are what have been getting me through. Knitting = Sanity. I keep telling myself within the next couple of years, I will be able to rid myself of my imposter's syndrome and it will be better. The new mantra, "I did the work to be here, I am good enough, I can do this".

Amongst the recent chaos I have been able to finish several projects. Here are my girls. They decided that they wanted pretty, princess nightgowns. In comes Simplicity pattern 9968. Nora chose a pretty floral pattern on eyelet fabric. Very cool for summer.


Lucia on the other hand decided she needed to have heavy fabric. So she will be very warm this summer. She went for a Hello Kitty motif, of course. Oh and by the way, her instructions for this photo was to do a glamorous pose. Simply stunning.


The girls also believed that it was necessary to have robes. We watched Meet Me in St Louis and well if Margaret O'Brien gets a robe she must surely as well. I used the same pattern and went with their signature colors Pink (Nora) and Purple (Lucia) in warm flannel fabric. Just for background, they have chosen these colors for themselves. I am a self confessed tom boy. Here is Miss Nora looking quite fetching.


Here is Miss Lucia.


I have also been able to finish the Nora's Bella Bunny. She is already well loved. She turned out really cute. But, I am realizing that I am not very good with seaming. I sew with fabric and thread, but seaming with knitting fabric causes my fingers to turn to wood. Here she is though. I love the skirt. The twirliness really makes me happy. I wish I had such a skirt for myself.


Here is Nora loving her up.


I also actually got to start on a project for myself. Yeah! Finally. I am making myself the Flutter Sleeve Sweater from Interweave Knits. I am usually Brown Sheep Company Cotton Fleece in a Prairie Lupine. Its purdy. This project has already seen four airplanes and dozens of meetings. Its well traveled. I am much farther along now than I was in this picture, but at least you can see the pretty color.



As I look at these photos, I know I need a new camera. All in time.

Lula and Lucy

Well I have finally finished Lula. My daughter Lucia is over the moon about here. (Here she is loving Lula up.) I have already had to replace Lula's hair once due to an unfortunate sleeping incident. Of course Nora was immediately jealous, so Bella Bunny was cast on as quickly as possible. As I am writing there was a minor dramatic incident as the older brother (Chase) was playing football with Lula. The crises has been averted and all parties are currently serene.

I really like how Lula turned out. There were very few problems minus learning how to embroider again. It has been a really, really long time since I have done any fine needlework. But she was really fun and fast to put together. I am also nearly done with Bella's body so there should be a new FO post soon.

Here she is....She loves reading.

Phew

I am exhausted. I have graded too many papers today and subjected myself to too much stress. Notice that I take full responsibility for the stress I put myself under. I made the choice to teach 3 classes this semester even though I have a course release to take. I made this decision even though I need to get something at least in submission before September. I also make the choice to assign every assignment that I have to grade. So I really can't complain even though I dearly want to. I also made the decision that I need to be a licensed counselor in Wisconsin so I am looking for places where I can see some clients to gather my remaining hours, fully knowing that if someone does have a place for me. I will have to fit it into my schedule somehow. I have so many issues, but I think these issues are how I got where I am.

In my knitting work I am still working Lula's dress. Lucia is still in love with the doll itself. I am so excited. I will post some pictures soon. I am going to get myself a new digital camera. I think one of the Elph models. That way I can post pretty pictures. I was reading rocketblog today. I identify so much with her busyness and her take it like it is parenting style that is very similar to mine. She is also another dynamic woman who seems to understand that living fully and being who you are means having fears and living them out. (I apologize for my poor sentence structure there.) Thank you Rocketblog!!!

Existing

This semester I am pretty much just existing in work. I am now in the publish or perish stage of my career. So I work most of the time with periodic breaks to see my husband and children. If it was not for my beautiful family and the incredibly supportive people that I work with. I don't know what would happen.

I am also knitting. I am working on the Lula doll by Lucinda Guy right now. My daughter Lucy loves her. She has taken to sleeping with her even though I am not quite done with all of her clothes. Poor Lula is only dressed in an undershirt and underwear right now. Her dress is still on the needles. What is a poor doll to do. I will be posting pictures soon. The kids have also qued up my future projects. Next is Bella Bunny for my Nora. Then I to knit a bird for Sergie for his office. The project after that is Elijah elephant by Ysolda. I will also be working in Henley Perfected for myself somewhere in there. I think it will be for next winter now though. Knitting is my one escape and I love it.

Just Starting.

Hello. I have always wanted to start a blog. It seems to be both fun and also a good cathartic tool. I am also an avid knitter, so I though this would be a great way to meet other knitters. I have read everyone else's blogs for so long. I have now moved from being a voyeur to being able to share. Yeah.