Been a long time comin'

Contrary to what our blog might suggest, we are open for business at Casa de Fred! We closed for a bit while we enjoyed a great vakay to Minnesota for a lot of family and a ton more more. Upon returning, I went through a whirlwind of writing new papers, revising old ones, and preparing for my first day of teaching. Now that the semester is well under way, I feel like I have a little more time to think and post.

Here are just a few pics from our lovely visit to Duluth and Brainerd! Wish I could post them all.










































Yup...you read that correctly...Bri is teaching!!! One of the best features of my graduate program is that they provide us the opportunity to teach our own course. So, I am responsible for molding and educating the young minds of 40 UMD students as we delve into understanding development across the lifespan. It's a lot more work than I ever thought it would be, but it's also invigorating. In the three lectures I have done thus far I have learned just a few things:

1) The same student will ALWAYS be 5 minutes late to class
2) Wearing heels is just a bad idea
3) I can teach a whole lot in 75 minutes, but not as much as I would like

Amongst all the prepping and practicing of my lectures, I have found a bit of time to work on my knitting projects. I still have my Aran blanket to finish. I managed to get a ton completed on it as flew to Minnesota and drove all around the state. It's to the point now that I have to just decide when to stop knitting...but when is a blanket big enough for a baby? I keep dreaming that it would be great if he/she would also be able to use it as a toddler blanket, so I keep on knitting. What do you think??
I have also started my very first sweater!! My knitting guru and I are both delving into A Cardigan for Arwen. It's a whole lot of stockinette stitch, which can be mind-numbingly boring, but it is so exciting to know that soon I'll have my very own hand-knitted cardigan! Plus, the yarn I bought for it...I have decided to call it my "butta yarn" because it knits up as soft and smooth as butter.

Stay tuned for additional photos as I learn about short rows for sleeves, backwards cast-on method, and so much more.