Saturday 21 March 2009

Long time, no blog

March has been crazy for me. The start of the month was hectic. I was busy with work, lots of things to organise, I went to a family party, Ezzie's mum went into hospital. Not much knitting has been done.

Last Friday things went into overdrive when Ofsted announced they would be coming to school. I have worked like a demon for a week. I was in school at 8am Saturday and Sunday making sure everything was ship shape. I've been staying at work until 8pm and getting up in a morning at 4.30am. I feel exhausted. They were with us Wednesday and Thursday and everyone was nervous and stressed. I put everything I had into the inspection and was interviewed by them twice.

Yet, did they come and see one of my excellent lessons? No! I feel completely dejected and flat. Other members of staff are saying it's better not to be observed, but I really don't feel like that. I feel like I wanted to make a contribution. I feel all the hours were pointless. The kids were brilliant, I wanted to show them off.

Yesterday at work I couldn't be bothered. I just feel so drained. Also, we were told by the doctor looking after Ezzie's mum to meet him on Friday at 5pm. Basically, he thinks she has cancer of the pancreas. He can't be sure because there is no reliable test, apart from operating which he doesn't think is a good idea. If she has, then she has two years to live. I just cannot believe we have all the hospital stuff to expect again. Ezzie feels that his small family is shrinking at a terrible rate. We both really hoped 2009 was going to be a better year, yet it's already not turning out that way.

Sunday 1 March 2009

Anything but marking

I managed to survive the first week back at school. It wasn't without incident. A child seriously provoked me and I was fuming with her, but I'm calmer now. The week flew by and now the weekend is doing the same. I need to do a whole load of marking, but I can't face it so blogging is a form of procrastination.

Only one project to show today. These are some basic socks. The yarn is something I spied at The Wool Baa and just had to buy it. My days of stashbusting are long gone. It's Fortissima Socka Mexiko in colourway 8076. To keep more of the yarn for a later project I made the cuffs, heels and toes in black yarn. I think the black is perhaps a little harsh, but overall I'm pleased with these socks. The yarn is lovely to work with. It has a lovely softness.


Yesterday I had a nice surprise. I ordered some knitting books on the net and was told they would not arrive until May. The website said they were in stock so the possibility of them arriving in May was disappointing. Yesterday there was a knock at the door and two of my books had arrived! It was most exciting.



Mara had shown me her copy of the sock book and I'd wanted it ever since. There are some gorgeous socks in there. I'm on the second Nutkin sock at the moment, but after that I'll be knitting something from the book. Every single pattern is gorgeous and it suggest suitable yarns for the patterns, which is a great help as well. This book is probably going to contribute to my lack of marking this weekend.