Final Evaluation

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I loved being able to put all my favorites in del.icio.us... it's great to be able to access all my "stuff" wherever I am! It was really fun amazing my husband with things he didn't know about.


How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? I was exposed to things that I would not have discovered any other way, thanks so much for introducing me to all this wonderful technology and a special thanks to those of you who had to hold my hand through learning most of it.


Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? Probably the realization that I could "organize" myself on the computer in ways that I didn't even know existed before this class.


What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I thought it was great the way you presented it, even though some of the week's I felt a little overwhelmed... I'm pretty sure that was just me, thankfully there was always someone willing to get me kick started and back on track. Sometimes it seemed to go too quickly to really absorb all that I was learning, it caused me to stretch myself further each week. However, I think I could start at the beginning right now and learn a bunch more the second time through.


And last but not least… If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate? I will if you'll have me!

Exploring Overdrive

I've downloaded a few books in the past and love being able to "read" anywhere I am, even when I don't have my hands free, like when I'm knitting :D I like mysteries and the one that caught my eye was... "Beneath A Southern Sky" a Natalie Camfield Series, Book 1, by Deborah Raney. I already finished it and enjoyed it very much!

Podcasts on Everything Under the Sun!

I explored all the different links to podcasts and I found the most that were of interest to me on podcastalley.com. It referred me to Podshow where I set up an account and saved the seven podcasts that I subscribed to. I found them on various subjects... Health (Mayo Clinic), Read through the Bible in a year, Inspirational thoughts by Max Lucado, Knitting tips, Praise Music, Bible study and Healing Music. Now I just have to find the time to listen to them. I figured with seven I could listen to one each day of the week or something like that.

Look what I found on YouTube!

I found this to be incredibly uplifting. This little girl not only knows all the words to the song but she has amazing pitch and expression in her singing. My mom used to sing at weddings, she was a wonderful soprano and this was a song she often did. There are other songs on YouTube done by this same little one, you might want to check out 5 little ducks and Amazing Grace... she also has some songs she sings in Mandarin, what an amazing little girl!

Wiki Wiki

I posted to 3 categories on hdplplay2learn. It was interesting to see the diversity in favorites. I’ll have to keep an eye on that favorite restaurant section, yum yum.... maybe I’ll discover some new places that could become additional favorites for myself.

Wikipedia Search

My first search took me to many places and topics from Genealogy to Medicine... and finally to my favorite knitter. Elizabeth Zimmerman a British born knitter who pioneered many innovative methods in knitting. She popularized circular knitting in America, a method that eliminates many seams in garments that are basically knit all in one piece as opposed to knitting all the components of a sweater (front, back, sleeves, collar etc.) and then sewing them together, which in my opinion is the most tedious part of a project. A beautifully knit garment can be ruined by an inexperienced or haphazard way of putting it all together. Elizabeth also advocated "continental knitting" one of the fastest ways to knit, that sadly I have never been able to master. She developed EPS "Elizabeth's Percentage System" which is an ingenuous mathematical formula to predetermine how many stitches to create a particular size garment. Elizabeth died in 1999 at the age of 89, and I believe she probably had needles and yarn in hand at the time. She wrote many helpful books Knitting without Tears, Knitting Workshop and the Opinionated Knitter to name a few. For all the knitters out there, if you ever decide to tackle one of her wonderful patterns, please call me if you get stuck. Her motto that lives on is "Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises".

I know, I know, Teacher please call on me!

The term wiki refers to either the Web site or the software used to create the site. Wiki wiki means “quick” in Hawaiian. The first wiki was created by Ward Cunnigham in 1995.

The Future of our Libraries

After reading the recommended articles for this week my head is spinning. There are advances being made daily to allow patrons to access from their home computers info that was previously only available to librarians and therefore only accessible through them. It would be very sad indeed if the traditional library (bricks and mortar) as I've known and loved it for my whole life could be outdated or at any rate "downsized." However, I believe there are still plenty of us who want a good ole fashioned "hands on" book to curl up with. Reading a book on the computer monitor just doesn't do it for me, although I do have to admit that I've gone a bit over to the audio books camp... great for in the car, background for doing housework or while clicking along with my knitting projects.

Technorati is getting more appetizing

Well, after I did some more exploring and actually listened to the tutorial... I joined. I did a search for knitting and got LOTS of results so I figured it couldn't be so bad after all. The only problem is I haven't figured out how to surf and knit at the same time. So much yarn... so little time ;o(

Technoralti was not Del.icio.us to me

I spent some time this morning exploring the first part of the week 6 assignment. Technoralti was way over my head, however I successfully created a Del.icio.us user account. Not to sure where my button went but I'll explore that more at home on my own computer. I listened to the 8 minute tutorial and that helped me to understand the mind blowing potential of this site. As Kathleen Gilroy stated in the tutorial we have to find the "magic middle" or the time we spend exploring these sites could be overwhelming. I also found another interesting site that I added to my feeds. Lifehack.org... they had a post "32 Hacks for sticking to your budget" and last but not least #32 stated "Borrow books from your library, don’t purchase them. This puts an imperative on you to actually read your books (how often do the ones your purchase just sit on the bookshelf?) and saves huge amounts of money if you read a decent amount." Never hurts to get a plug in for the library!

Big Huge Labs & Library Thing

I struggled with Big Huge Labs for several days, so I guess I need HELP!! I was actually able to create a mosaic, but couldn't get it to upload to my blog. Joan tried and didn't have any success either. I'm not a quiter so I won't give up, but for now I'll go on to the next segment of our homework.... Library Thing Now I had some fun here. I had known about this in the past but didn't pursue it until now. I'll have to get some of my millions of books posted. I also joined the Early Reviewers... this gives you an opportunity to receive advanced copies (free) in exchange for writing a review. I picked a couple that looked interesting, but it seems there are many more requests than available copies so I'm not sure how that works. The ones I requested were: Food 2.0 Secrets from the Chef who Fed Google and Larryism's... I'll keep you posted they are supposed to let the "winners" know by March 12th.

Oh my gosh! I did it (with Joy's help)

My RSS feeds are mostly knitting, investing or reader type blogs. Here's what I found and subscribed to:

• About Contemporary Literature
• The Blue Blog (knitting)
• The Keyboard Biologist Knits
• Librarians Internet Index
• NYT Book Review
• The Shifted Librarian
• USATODAY.com Books - Top Stories
• Woolflowers (knitting)
• Washington Post Book reviews
• Wendy Knits
• Yarn Harlot
• Option Addict (investing)
• Word of the Day (Dictionary)
• FELMAR'S MISSIONARY JOURNEY

What I'd like to know is if I keep up with all of these, when am I going to sleep?

Finally I made it through this week's assignment!

The technology article that I found was about the "virtual fence" used to help control illegal immigrants. It was very interesting check it out here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/22/border.fence.ap/index.html
Sorry you'll have to copy and paste I couldn't figure out how to make a link. I'd much rather be knitting or scrapbooking!!
Sue

Part 2 of Week 3 Assignment

This has been a real challenge for me, since I really don't understand all the terms that are used. So much of it is like a foreign language to me! I did manage to go to Big HugeLabs and explore the Top Cameras list... A ranked listing of the top 100 digital camera makes and models, updated weekly. This was very interesting as the features on the new cameras are so awesome and they change rapidly... every time I investigate new cameras there seems to be a whole new breed. I've taken almost 5000 pictures with my current digital camera and I'm not sure when it will give up and say ENOUGH ALREADY!! So it never hurts to be looking for the next camera in my life.
Well, back to snapping pictures of my knitting projects.
Sue

Better.

Better.
Originally uploaded by yarntherapy88

Found this on Flickr when I was exploring other people's photos, I love it and will have to try to make one.

2nd February Baby Sweater Day 2

2nd February Baby Sweater Day 2
Originally uploaded by knitcrazy

This is coming out bigger that I expected, I accidentally grabbed the wrong size needles when we left for our weekend getaway, so I went with what I had. It will probably be more of a toddler size than for an infant. I decided to do the yoke in a slightly darker shade of peach, I may also do the bottom band and the sleeve cuffs in the darker shade, if I have enough.

First February Baby Sweater

First February Baby Sweater
Originally uploaded by knitcrazy

Finished Quickie Baby Sweater

Finished Quickie Baby Sweater
Originally uploaded by knitcrazy

What came off my needles this week

I just finished a mint green version of Elizabeth Zimmerman's "February Baby Sweater" how appropriate and that wasn't even planned! Not sure who this will be for as it looks a little too frilly for a boy and my niece just had a baby boy "Bennett Arthur MacGregor".... so I put the finishing touches on another sweater (Quickie Baby Sweater with Hood) that I had done recently, it's very boyish and blue to boot. I'll post pictures later of both sweaters.

Bill and I went away for a quiet weekend to celebrate our 25th anniversary, so of course I took my knitting. I started another February baby sweater, this one in 2 shades of peach. I'm going to make a few additional embellishments on this one, as well as adjust the directions a bit. As anyone who has done any of Elizabeth Zimmerman's patterns would know, they are a bit vague and you have to sort of fly by the seat of your pants to get through them.... they good news is that once you master one they make a lot of sense and I usually end up making several versions of each. Her Baby Surprise Jacket is a real adventure I've made 2 of these and then went on to make one in stockinette stitch which is a bit different in the final measurements of the jacket. I believe she even has an adult version of this pattern.

Well, back to my needles!
Sue

Baby Girl Schowalter

Baby Girl Schowalter
Originally uploaded by knitcrazy

I made this a few years back and had been saving it for a special little girl, so when my niece Alexis had her "miracle baby" she got it.

Knitting can be KRAZY

Hi Everyone!
This is my first post on my new knitting blog, I'm excited to share with you some of my projects, along with some of the trials and tribulations that come with the craft.... ie: patterns that are NOT correct, yarn that doesn't look how you invisioned it when the item is completed, not having the right size needles available when you need them AND airlines that don't let you bring your knitting on board! My next challenge with be posting some pictures so you can see what I've done lately. Well, I've got to get back to my knitting... have a happy productive day.
Knitcrazy