Wow, I didn't realize it had been THAT long since I posted, but I've been busy. Work and school have kind of kept me busy. It's done, though, finally! I took the final for the second literacy class tonight, and I'm done! For now...

In order to get a state teaching certificate, I have two choices: non-traditional licensure, or a Master of Arts in teaching. If I go NTLP, I probably have to find a new job, because my school doesn't meet their accreditation standards. I found out today from a co-worker who's in the MAT program at UALR that if I go that route, what I thought would be an advantage is actually very much a drawback. It would cost significantly more money, significantly more interference with my life, since probably 3-4 nights a week, I'd get home at 9 or 10, not to mention homework. The major advantage (I thought) would be that I'd get to stay where I am, but I wouldn't, and in the semester I'd be interning, I wouldn't be paid. With NTLP, it's two 3-week summer sessions and 7 Saturday workshops, one a month from September to April. I know there's homework, but at least I'd have the evenings to do it. Plus, I'd be working full-time at a starting teacher's salary, and qualify for benefits. So now, I think I'm going to hold off on more school. Maybe in a few years, I'll decide I want to go to school and add a certification, be a counselor, or a reading specialist, or something.

So, crafty stuff, I'm almost finished with the February Lady Sweater. The body is finished, I'm working on the first sleeve. That took about 3 tries. and I'm still not sure I got it right. The biggest problem was that I was doing what you normally do knitting stockinette stitch in the round, I knitted the even rows. Well, that was twisting the yarn-overs in such a way that instead of making a hole, the yarn pulled across the hole filled the space, and you couldn't see them. So now I know, when knitting lace in stockinette stitch in the round, knit all the stitches on the even rows, but PURL the yarn-overs.

I've also started another quilt. It's for my grandfather for Christmas. It's very simple. There's this silly old song he used to sing all the time when I was little. The center of the quilt is a plain navy square, and I'm quilting the words on it in white thread. The border is big squares of several different fabrics. It's basically navy, tan, green, and a dark red. Lots of earth tones and, oddly, a couple of butterfly prints, but very naturalistic, not cutesy. I found this great fabric, it's a maroon with a pattern of white dots that looks like Japanese sashiko. I'm trying really hard to finish the center by hand, but, depending on how long it takes to do the middle, I'm quite likely to finish it on the machine. After the middle is done, the rest is going to be very simple quilting on the border, either quilting in the ditch, or an off-set grid, so I'm basically sewing through the middle of each square, but in the ditch would probably be better. Then, I just finish trimming the batting, roll the edge of the backing over the front, and sew it down. That, my knitting, and a new outfit for Candlelight Camp are the big projects I've got lined up. I have some wool flannel, and I want to make a slightly looser cotehardie to wear over a dark red kirtle. I cut out a dark green kirtle a few months ago, and I should probably finish sewing that one first. So, there you go.