Little H

I have this 9yo who is quite clever, but has not really enjoyed school so far. In prep he had a teacher who seemed to never smile. In grade one, his teacher taught him to love books and to focus better, but Byron was always worried about getting growled at. In grade 2 he had two teachers, and he felt that one of them picked on him.

Teachers have the hardest job! I'm a nurse who frequently watches people die of cancer, and I know I couldn't be a teacher. All of Byron's teachers have had different good and positive influences on him and his busy brain, whether he thinks so or not, but I've never appreciated one of them as much as I have this year.

Miss H is his favorite teacher; he's told me so quite a lot. She makes school fun. He wants to go to school so much that he has hidden the fact he feels sick so we wouldn't keep him home. Sometimes, instead of schoolwork, "we play games!" he said to me once, quietly, as if he was worried about getting her into trouble. (Turned out to be maths games... lol.)

So when Miss H was leaving to have her baby, Byron wanted to give her a present. I wasn't sure when this maternity leave was starting; turned out to be Friday the 12th. I thought I'd make her a toy elephant, getting Byron to dye the wool for its jumper as a contribution, and Byron wanted me to make matching hats for Miss H and little H.

Of course, I coudn't knit for no Points in the HP game, so I organised a NEWT to include two hats, an elephant, and all the fleece I wanted to wash up.

The jumper was supposed to be "rainbow", which is apparently what she said when B asked her what her favorite color was. But we made the red and the blue too dark, so the green, orange and purple got a bit obliterated. Elijah is still a cute little thing, though. The ears!

And this pattern is a worsted weight version of the hat Hermione wears in the last HP movie. It's just nice simple cables and eyelets.

And so Byron has been to his first baby shower :)

NEWT 9

This last NEWT was a focus on Astronomy (in the HP game) with a bit of Arithmancy. For Arithmancy, I had to make at least 10 things, so I made 10 hats for the ten biggest moons. Then, for the other Astronomy part, I spun up a kilo of N4ply, most of which I'll use for a top in the next NEWT :)

All that N4ply, except for the reddish one (which I don't like much) is going towards a nice flowy Rosa for next term's NEWT. It's about DK-worsted weight, and I've already started knitting it. Loving  the colors.

Bendigo:

Bit disappointed in Bendigo this year. It seemed to me that more and more people were selling knitted things, and there were lots of shops that were just part of the usual market, I think, nothing to do with wool crafts at all. Of the fibre, it seemed to be all merino, which is kind of dull, or alpaca. So I spent almost all my money at Moseley Park, who at least had some nice colors and interesting mixes, like Rose and Bamboo. Also got two lots of fleece (and I could hardly find any; also disappointing!)

I was so disappointed, in fact, that I don't think I'll go back next year.


Finished some socks for Zachary

And spun just under 5000m for the Tour de Fleece.

And now I'm working on NEWT 10! It's a History of Magic one, where I make things to represent people/ places/ events in the Harry Potter world. The second subject is Potions, so I can wash and card the fleece I bought (only way to get points for fleece prep). I've already done the two small projects, actually, because there was a deadline, but I'll tell you that story next time ;)

Hehe