Croak!

Frog it I did. Thank you Roxanne Richardson for suggesting that I do the math using my swatches and measurements to more accurately calculate the ratio for picking up stitches. I told my husband the math teacher that, if his students ever question why they are learning math and how they will ever really use it in the real world, he should tell them that they will need it if they ever want to design sweaters that fit!

My sock yarn (Sock It To Me) arrived yesterday from Elann. I can't wait to start swatching and see what cool patterns develop.

I have another kid-bit (as my cousin Terry describes them) to share. This one falls into the 'might as well give it a shot' category. I have two deaf students in my class, both in grade 3. One has had a cochlear implant (inside the head, very fascinating) and can hear me through a broadcast system that also sends my voice right inside his head. My mike is the same kind that the Secret Service wear when guarding the president. I sometimes have an overwhelming urge to mutter into my mike things like "Jelly Belly to Ugly Swan. Code Sister. I repeat, Code Sister..." but I digress. The other child has limited hearing but wears hearing aids to help him. Both boys know some sign language but the goal is to help stop them from relying on sign and to increase their receptive language and communication skills.

Kids being kids, these two boys have developed a special bond and will often sign to each other in a pigeon mix of sign language and their own invented signs. We have them seated across the room from each other in class as they get silly together and have a hard time staying on task. During a recent spelling dictation, my teaching partner noticed that one of the boys kept turning around and looking at the other. When she casually walked around so that she could see what he was doing, she saw that he was surreptitiously signing the letters of each word to his buddy. Hey, worth a shot, right? From a teacher's point-of-view, this is not something that was covered in those education classes at the University.

We have been studying Heritage in Social Studies for the last few weeks and have been discussing how the pioneers made their own clothes. I told the kids that if anyone wanted to learn to knit I would help them during afternoon recesses. I sent notes home on Tuesday asking their parents to provide a pair of 6mm needles and a skein of worsted weight yarn. I had two kids bring their supplies yesterday already so we started. By the end of the recess I was wondering what I had done to myself! The kids were all thumbs and it seemed like this was a serious mistake. However, I called them over to me when they were done their work at the end of the afternoon and sat with them for another few minutes and they both caught on and were knitting! I don't know who was more thrilled - me or them! They both excitedly took their knitting home to continue practicing. I suspect that the other interested kids (10 of them or so) watched this happen and will show up with their knitting supplies today. How I'm going to get that many of them started at once I have no idea. But we'll have fun anyway.

And, ending on a sad note, condolences to my sister and her family on the loss of their Bichon buddy Meemo in the wee hours of this morning. His health had been failing and he just couldn't go on any more so was helped to a more peaceful place to join his Bichon friends, my Murphy and Ceilidh. Rest well, dear old dogs.