Fighting SSS

Well, I tried, but I just couldn't start on my second insidious sock without doing a little knitting on another project. Seeing how cute little Eliza looked in her jacket, I felt compelled to knit another little girl item. I have appreciated that my "little girl" has shown an interest in knitted apparel lately, but I wanted to knit something "cutesy," complete with flowers and feminine colors, not a teen item. I recently discovered Looking Glass Knits blog. After spending hours poring over her great posts and free patterns, I decided that I needed to knit her baby tulip cardigan. The pattern only goes up to 12 months, but I'm hoping that my niece's little girl, who is a toddler, will still be able to wear it since I went up a needle size and used worsted weight instead of sports weight yarn.

Paige described my color choices as "weird," but she didn't say it a derogatory way. I kind of agree anyway. I had two skeins of  amethyst heather Knit Picks Swish yarn, which I'm hoping will be enough for the body. I have a back-up plan in case I run out since I have a full skein of the green I used for the tulip stems. It's a fun and easy pattern, not quite mindless, but close.

I have, at least, started my second insidious sock. My "vehicle" for getting started was an actual vehicle. I helped take 43 students on a field trip last Thursday, I'm not saying that riding on the bus is the most comfortable knitting situation, but our buses aren't too bad. I spent part of the time looking out the window, being grateful that I don't suffer through Los Angeles traffic everyday, and a portion of it knitting away. Sadly, I had forgotten to take an extra, extra needle for the "insidious cable," which requires two cable needles to complete, so eventually  I deferred to napping.

 

 Where did I go on my field trip? Well, first we went to the Getty Museum in Malibu. My friend, who teaches A.P. history, and I, who teach honors English, split our 43 students, and "guided" them through the "villa." I have told people that this class, (My son, Kai, is standing there in the red sweatshirt) is probably the best class of juniors I've had in nearly 25 years of teaching. They're pretty hard workers, are always respectful to me and usually to each other, and they're just plain fun. On the other hand, they're teenagers at a museum, so it's a little stressful. After we'd made it by the statue of Venus bathing, which has a sign near it that reads "please touch," it was pretty smooth sailing. I tried to Google a picture of Venus so you could see her, but all I could find was a picture with an old man touching her...exactly where I told our kids not to!

Actually, I wasn't too worried about them. A lot of these kids toured Europe last summer with my history teacher friend, and they only giggle a little when viewing naked antiquities, like The Victorious Youth.  Last year, we took them to Hearst Castle, The Getty Center, and Medieval Times (OK, Medieval Times isn't high culture, but it's pretty cool!) This year it was Malibu Getty and The Ronald Reagan Library. For my friends who know my political leanings, No, I never would have chosen it as a destination, and it does kind of make me sick that kids leave the Reagan thinking he was a God since it is one flawlessly produced piece of political propaganda. I did see that Ron Reagan, who I do kind of like, is going to be allowed to have a book signing there next week, ha, ha. I'll bet that made those cute, little, old D.A.R. docents just cringe!