Owls & Pumpkins

I blocked the Hokie scarf Saturday. Actually, I put it in to soak, forgot about it, spent eight hours in a graduate class, came home, and freaked out when I saw how much dye had leached into the water. But luckily, there's not a noticeable color loss in the finished scarf. Whew! I'm really glad I washed it before I gifted it; can you imagine wearing it, sweating a little, and finding your neck and whatever else you had on being covered with red dye??

I started an Owl Baby Vest for an upcoming baby shower, out of yarn I already owned (yay!). I'm using Rowan Wool Cotton in cream for the body and Rowan PureLife in a tweedy cream and brown color for the ribbing. I think it will look so sweet when it's finished.

It's for a little baby boy (apparently that's the only gender the faculty at my school produces) and Steve thinks it's appropriately "boy-like". I started it Saturday morning, knitted some during class, and worked on it last night and now I'm almost done with the owl cable section, so it's working up fairly quickly. Plus, Steve and I bought the book Owl Babies (one of the sweetest books ever) to go with it, which should make an adorable gift. It may even be my new go-to baby boy gift combo. (Truly, the book is so beautiful; I used to tear up every time I read it to my girls, it's that sweet.)

Speaking of the graduate class, even though there are things about being in class that are annoying (the person who has to have everything repeated, the people who never shut up, etc.) I actually enjoy much about the process. It would have been easier if it hadn't been such a beautiful day I was missing, but it really was a good experience. I have four more Saturdays to give up for this class, then three more classes to take in order to add another endorsement to my teaching license. I'm lucky in that my school district is still able to pay for continuing education, and my kids aren't at home anyway, so I figured I'd take advantage of the opportunity. Each class has an $800 price tag, and that's nothing to sneeze at, is it? Plus it's a good thing for teachers to remember what it's like to be a student once in a while.

I lost another 2.4 pounds this week, bringing the total to 26. More "new" clothes out of the attic and in the closet!! No money spent, either!! Since today begins College Week at my school, I made Steve take a photograph of me this morning in some of my "new" clothes.