Finished, finally...

Well, I finished the Sockotta socks today! I have nearly a whole sock's worth of yarn left over, so I'll make a kerchief thing out of it. And I think I may have figured out a new way of grafting toes without yarn needles...maybe.

I've been up since 6 AM on a Saturday morning!

Well, the contest went pretty well. It was a little scary being in a room full of middle and high schoolers. One student is advancing to state - go J! The piano I played sounded very different from our piano at home - much darker and cloudier, if that makes any sense.

After the contest, I went to the library sale. I found Kathy Dalmeny's World of Knitted Toys, Paintbox Knits (might go back tomorrow to get this one), boxes full of vintage knitting and crochet magazines (I got one with 101 sweater patterns!), America's Knitting Book, by Gertrude Taylor (this one has lots of information about modifying patterns), With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, The Floating Admiral by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G. K. Chesterton, and "Certain other members of the Detection Club," and two books about buying a house. I also got the most beautiful antique book I've ever seen: The Book of Wild Flowers for Young Readers, by F. Schuyler Mathews.

There's an outlet store for a ridiculously expensive clothing store that's opened within the past year. I got $673 worth of clothes for $45. The dressing rooms are downright creepy, though - it's just a big room with a lot of mirrors and clothing racks. So you get really comfortable with your body really fast. Yikes.

And to top it all off, I got Last-Minute Knitted Gifts from the library! I'm trying to decide whether to cast on for the hourglass sweater tonight or wait until tomorrow...that's such a pretty pattern. I'd buy the book, but it's not a cheap one.

Now I'm pretty doggone worn out. I think a hot bath is in order.

Oh, and if you've never listened to Schickele Mix or Weekend Radio on NPR, your life is woefully humor-deprived.

Pre-Saturday morning blues

I have to be AT the school at 7:15 tomorrow morning. Bleargh. At least it'll be over by 11 or so. Starbucks gift card, I'll be needing you in the morning. At least the library book sale is tomorrow! Yay! I'll be bringing home way more books than I'll ever need. With any luck, there'll be some neat knitting books. I'm still in awe of finding an Elizabeth Zimmermann book and a Barbara Walker stitch treasury for $2 each at that LYS that closed. I still wish I'd bought more needles. I really need to get over that.

And I need to find something to knit for my cousin's baby! I want to make something really special for her - it's the first grandbaby on either side of the family. How exciting - my cousins are becoming parents!

The top secret plans for the yarn...bwahaha!

My yarn stash has magically expanded again. Five balls of leaf-green Patons Classic Merino followed me home Saturday night after a bead-hunting expedition with DS. (Side note for those of you who don't know me in the flesh, which is probably most of you: DS = dear sister; DB = dear brother. I know I have a pretty poor memory, but it seems like marriage, pregnancy, and
childbirth would be fairly difficult to forget.) DS took one look at the yarn and said, "Don't you already have a wall full of yarn?" Poor non-knitters just don't get it, do they? I should have asked her if she already had a jewelry box full of necklaces. But hey, it's for a specific project (Cable Down Raglan from the Spring IK), and it was on sale for $4 per ball! You can't beat that!

One of these days, I will actually sit down and figure out what to knit with each and every ball of yarn in my stash. Here goes a shot in the dark (I'm currently at work and can't see it, so that counts as dark, right?):
1. Mounds of TLC Amore: multiple-strand crocheted dog bed for my Corgi, who is officially getting too old to jump up on the bed. *sniff* Maybe one for the shedding machine pup as well.
2. Cream and pink Greek wool from gigantic sweaters: something felted. It's probably too itchy to wear next to skin.
3. Super-pretty blue heathered laceweight - I WILL KNIT A LACE SHAWL. (someday) Or socks - how many socks can I make from a size M sweater?
4. Yellow laceweight that's falling apart - I dunno. That's probably my least favorite at the moment, mainly due to its fallingapartness.
5. Navy blue worsted wool from a Hagrid-sized sweater - Tubey from Knitty.
6. Nearly-bulky black wool (also from a Hagrid-sized sweater - my, Molly Weasley has been busy, hasn't she?) - a vest.
7. MOUNTAINS of Homespun in Seaspray - a blanket of some kind. I've got to unravel the monstrosity I started a few years ago with stockinette blocks. Urgh.
8. Sock yarn! I have Plymouth Sockotta in a primary color stripe (faux Fair Isle would be fun!) and a purply mix and Lion Brand Magic Stripes in brown, regatta, and purple stripe. I'll have to check out the SKS book for ideas.
9. Light blue lambswool - It's not enough for a sweater that would be as long as I would like, so we'll have to figure out something else...maybe that Bonsai tunic from Spring IK.
10. Lavender sportweight/DK cashmere - I look horrid in lavender, as does DS (who doesn't like knitted garments anyways, so never mind). Maybe Mum would like a lace wrap...there's an idea.
11. Off-white wool - I've got to try dyeing some honest-to-goodness wool. I bet I could come up with some great color combinations! (WalMart's KoolAid knockoff is 10 cents per package instead of KoolAid's 20 cents, so I got some lemonade, cherry, and grape. We'll see...)
12. Carrot-colored (formerly radioactive yellow) WoolEase sportweight - that would make a nice pullover, since it's lightweight.

And when will I find time to make all of this? Hmm...that's a good question.

On the upside, I did get the heel flap done, the heel turned, and the gusset started on the second Sockotta sock. I was knitting away while the Sparkies were at store/game time, and when they came back, one boy asked what I was knitting! Bless you, M, for knowing what I was doing! One little girl said, "She's sewing somethin'!" That's okay, A dear, you couldn't have known. Then M said, "I'd like to learn to knit if someone would show me how." *thud* What lovely children I work with. (They really are sweet most of the time, as long as you keep the markers away from D. No, D, we do not put markers in our mouths, or anywhere else on our bodies, for that matter.)

I found out today that I made a 96% on my first grad school test! It really wasn't hard. (Actually, aside from 2 questions, it was the exact same test as the one they gave us to study.) I'm starting to think that full-time graduate-student-hood might not be quite as terrifying as I once thought.

The United States of America will temporarily shut down this evening...

...because a bunch of guys are going to be running around with a pointy-ended ball.

Meanwhile, psammeadred will be working on her many UFO's and maybe watching a movie.

When you think about it, sports will make people lots of money, but if you're stranded in an ice storm, would you rather be stranded with someone who can play football or someone who can knit you a sweater and some cozy socks?

Knit-ins are fun for everyone!

Whee! Just got back from a knit-in at my LYS ! (Check it out if you're ever in Oklahoma.) I worked on my Pi shawl for a bit (and discovered that I'm way too easily distracted to knit lace around people) and my Sockotta sock #2. It's so much fun to knit with lots of other people. I got two skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky in Seafoam (a gorgeous blue-green), a back issue of Interweave Knits (Fall 06), and the new Interweave Knits spring issue. (Interweave Knits - so many beautiful things, so little time and money...) The Lamb's Pride is going to be a cabled scarf for me (maybe).

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, er, my house. Class is still going well, aside from a little tiff with the bursar, who somehow was charging me both in-state and out-of-state tuition, but what's the deal with people surfing the Web and IMing during class?! I don't get that at all. I really enjoy the class, though. It's so amazing to see God's fingerprints on His creation. "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." Ps 19:1


For our entertainment at the knit-in, there was a duet of the new unofficial state song:

SNOW-klahoma,
where the cold fronts sweepin' down the plain;
And the piles of sleet beneath your feet
Follow right behind the freezing rain.

SNOW-klahoma,
Ev'ry night my honey lamb and I
Travel home from work and hope some jerk
Doesn't wreck our car in passing by.

We know we belong to the land
But it could use more salt and more sand!

And when we say
Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!
We're only sayin' you're slick as snot,
SNOW-klahoma!
SNOW-klahoma, Oy Vey!

(The formatting on here is driving me up the wall, by the way...)

Monday update

Well, I don't think my class will be very hard. It's interesting, though.

I signed up to be a Stashie on knittinghelp.com - I knit only from my stash so far. I've got plenty of yarn and not so much money, so this is a good thing. Oh, and I finished the Yarn Girl washcloth from Whimsical Knitting! It was fun - and the washcloth is HUGE. I'll take pics later. I'm really sleepy right now. Must drink tea...and eat honey-chip biscuits...mmm...

Finally, a finished object!!!

I finished Calorimetry from Knitty! It's a quick and easy knit. I adjusted the pattern a bit:
- used Patons SWS in Natural Earth (this colorway is GORGEOUS!)
- cast on 80 stitches instead of 120 (the pattern must have been written for someone with a REALLY large head!)
- repeated the short rows 10 times instead of 14

Oh, and the really big news - I got to see Baby J today! I cannot believe how tiny he is. His mom asked if I wanted to hold him, and I would've loved to hold him, but my dad was waiting for me outside in the slushy ice. I'm looking forward to getting to know the newest addition to our group. May God bless him and keep him safe, happy, and healthy, and may he always know he is loved by his mom and dad and his Creator.

Speaking of our group - oops. We had a fellowship night tonight. I forgot...

I had my first graduate school class on Wednesday! It was...interesting. For one thing, I decided to dress very professionally (and by very professionally, I mean black slacks, blue striped button-down blouse, and black sweater), because there was a big kafuffle a few years ago about professional students not dressing professionally. I was the only student not wearing jeans! Oh well. The students seemed friendly enough, but I felt really out-of-place, since I'm the only grad student there. I think it'll be a good class (despite the rumors of a 200-page syllabus of DOOM...).

Storm's over...

Now it's time to shovel!

I think we were up to 1165 or so closings on Sunday. The whole city was shut down! Oh, and incidentally, that white stuff you see in the pics below is NOT SNOW. That's ice. Yes, three to four inches of solid-packed, "slicker than snot on a glass doorknob" ice. It's no good for sledding, as DS and DB found out when they rode DB's face down the "hill" behind our house - about a 5 degree angle. All it's good for is messing travel plans up, keeping everything really cold, and keeping people from seeing babies they've been looking forward to...yes, my friend had her baby on January 15th! Baby J and mum and dad are doing very well, praise God! I can't wait to see their new little guy.

I start my first graduate class tomorrow! I can't wait, although I keep having this fear that I'll sleep through my alarm and forget to go. Apparently there's a 200-page syllabus for this class. Yikes. But the book doesn't look too intimidating so far. Yeah, and all that studying I was going to do this weekend? *whistles*

Update: Ice storm pics

Well, we're up to 804 closings now. In other words, the city is pretty much shut down. It'll be like having four Saturdays in a row, since I didn't go to work Friday and I have Monday off.

These are from the green belt outside my house.

When I was younger, my brother and I found this one particular spot in the green belt that we called "Narnia," because it reminded us of the scene in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe where Lucy meets Tumnus (excepting the lamp-post, of course!).

Ice Storm 2007 Update

Well, we're up to 630 closings and delays due to the ice storm so far; one of the closings was my church. So it looks like I'll be going to church with Mum and Dad tomorrow, since their church has one combined service tomorrow.

Why do I go to a different church than my parents? It's a little hard to explain. First, let me say that I have the highest regard for my parents' church. Their pastor is a Godly man who teaches straight from the Word every Sunday. The people there are great - what you see with them is what you get. Sure, there are a few issues now and then, but it's nothing major, and love and truth win out in the end.

However, there are only a few people at that church who are my age (and by my age, I mean within 5 years either way) who are serious about their faith. After high school graduation, it seems like everyone bails on their faith. Hopefully the new youth pastor will help change this, but that's the way it has been for the past few years.

I was brought up in a Christian home and was homeschooled or went to Christian schools until I graduated from college. My work environment is the first non-Christian environment I've ever experienced. I had no idea how challenging it would be to live for Christ all by myself - the only other Christians where I work are, shall we say, rather harsh in their dealings with others. I really needed some brothers and sisters in Christ who I could connect with at church. At my parents' church, I didn't have anyone like that.

So I've been going to another church for the past two years. It's a church that was planted by my parents' church, so there's a good deal of "flow" between the two. Since it's near several colleges, there are lots more people my age. I've gotten to be good friends with them, encouraging and being encouraged by them. Christian fellowship really is an experience that is like nothing else on earth. After all, we can't fulfill God's command to bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2) unless we share them with others.

Finally, a shout out to a brother in Christ, James Jordan at http://pointsoflight.blogspot.com/ for his comment, the first on my blog! Check out his photography - it's very impressive.

The Ice Storm of 2007, dyeing wool, white sweaters, my boring life, church-hoppers, and Verdun

Ice storm today! I was headed to work, but I got to about 63rd and Portland before I turned around and came back home. We've got about 1/2 inch of sleet on top of the ice. According to Channel 5, it won't get above freezing until next Thursday. Looks like I'll be doing a good bit of knitting and reading this weekend. It'll be nice to have a 4-day weekend. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some studying in for my grad class that starts next week.

I tried dyeing some of the nasty yellow WoolEase Sportweight this afternoon. I used red, green, and blue food dyes. The green and blue looked just alike - a yucky greyish-green. The red turned out possibly okay, though. It's kind of a coral-peach color. I'll have to try it with real dye to tell, but it looked better at first. Stinking acrylic...why do I keep buying this stuff when I have such nice recycled wool in my stash?

I'm still trying to decide what to do with my white wool. Maybe a cardigan would be nice. But it will have to have some cables or something to keep my interest, because I'm not about to knit a square yard of stockinette.

I have such a boring life. I get up, go to work, come home, hang out a bit, knit a bit, then go to bed. My life is almost exactly what it was five years ago. Years ago, I saw myself as the married with 2.6 kids type, but the life I've been given is anything but housewife-y. I don't even know any single guys, let alone have a boyfriend. Oh well. I suppose I should do the best I have with what I've got. But is this the way the rest of my life is going to be?

The other night, our church get-together was a few couples...and me. Now, the couples are great people and great friends, but there's still an awkwardness that is inevitable in certain combinations of people. I've thought about changing churches, but I don't want to. My pastor is an incredible Bible teacher, and I've made some great friends there. Besides, that's not what church is about. I don't want to become another church-skipper looking for my "other half."

My dad's just been reading about World War I. At the Battle of Verdun, over half a million people died. I can't imagine it. And we think 3,000 fatalities in a three-year war is too heavy. Not to minimize the loss of any family who lost a son or daughter - I lost a cousin last March - but we really need to look at this in a historical perspective.

Boy, I'm long-winded tonight...

Time to wake up, people.

I volunteer at my church's Wednesday night kid's ministry - AWANA. For those who may not know, it's a ministry that emphasizes Bible memory. I work with the kindergarten kids, and we average about 16 kids per night and 4 or so adults, so that's about 4:1 kids:adult. If you've been around masses of 5- and 6-year-olds, you know that's about as much as one person can handle. And when you're listening to kids say verses, it's important to have the room pretty much under control.

But next door, in the first grade room, one adult volunteer got to deal with 11 or so kids - all by herself.

What is the deal?! Our volunteer rate is dropping faster than the temperature will be this weekend. Don't people realize that if we don't have enough volunteers, we can't give the kids the attention they deserve? It's like the parents treat this as a free babysitting service every Wednesday. One week, we had only two adults for 12 or so kids, and there were parents standing in the middle of my classroom talking! Hello! Wake up and smell the Play-Dough! We need your help!

What really breaks my heart is that almost all the volunteers whose own kids aren't directly involved in AWANA are retirees. Where are the young people? I'm one of the only non-parent volunteers. And you know what? Fifteen years from now, when our kids are in AWANA, the retirees won't be there any more. It's time for us, the Gen-X'ers and (whatever comes after Gen-X) to step up to the plate and do something for God. We're coasting behind the people who are doing the hard work, and it's going to be our turn to do the hard work soon. If we don't, no one will.

At our church, when we have baby dedications, the pastor asks the congregation if they pledge to do their best to help raise that child to know and love the Lord. Of course, everyone agrees. But their actions fall far short of their words. No one takes commitment seriously anymore.

Maybe I'm just missing something...

...but it seems to me as though a PR employee should be good for PR. In contrast, consider an individual I met today. Somehow, flashing one's private parts, failing to make eye contact with a client, and fulfilling their requests with as bad of an attitude as possible don't exactly scream good public relations for an academic institution.

But what would I know?

This is disgraceful...

...it's 8:22 and I can barely keep my eyes open. Need...caffeine...need...more...caffeine. Ever since Christmas break, my internal clock has been set WAY later than it should be, even though I went to bed early last night. Mmm...tea...must now drag my sorry derrière into work.

1-2-07 Random thoughts

I finally saw Eragon today with my aunt. It was...okay. I thought the book was good, but when one cuts one's fantasy teeth on Tolkien and Lewis, the standard is set rather high. When I was reading Eragon, I could hear the author talking. It's hard to lose yourself in a fantasy world when you feel as though have a narrator standing behind you. I was rereading The Silmarillion last night, and the Ainulindalë (Tolkien's mythology of the creation of Middle-Earth) is simply breathtaking. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. (But if you really want the great-grandfathers of all goosebumps, listen to the audio version read by Martin Shaw. Wow.)

I start my first grad school class two weeks from tomorrow! I'm taking Immunology - have the book already and have been studying from it. Rumor has it that people who take time off between finishing undergrad and starting grad school do way better than those who just plow straight through, because the "break-takers" panic and over-study. I have determined that I will do my very best in this class. I don't think it'll be any harder than my undergrad classes with the Professor of Doom, so I'm not terribly worried.

Knitting progress:
Mock cable socks in Plymouth Sockotta: %65 done with sock #1
Pi shawl from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitters Almanac: %40 or so (need to swap out the cable on my circs to accommodate the 288 stitches!)
Baby sweater for little one #3 (not mine personally, but third baby I've knit for): I'd rather not think about that, but I'd better, because he's due in less than a month! Perhaps the baby wrap sweater from Mason-Dixon Knitting would be a good baby gift for this one. I've made a five-hour sweater and Anouk from Knitty so far for the little munchkins that seem to be arriving en masse lately.

The ball-winder I got for Christmas has definitely been put to good use! I wound up eight or so sweaters' worth of wool, glorious wool. At my favorite thrift store, I even found a sportweight cashmere sweater to recycle last week! It's a white/lavender plied yarn that is lovely in a ball, but won't look good on me (o! the pitfalls of being a redhead). Maybe the cashmere is a good practice yarn to try KoolAid dyeing! (well, the cashmere, and the mountains of laceweight yellow wool, and the 5 balls of violently yellow sportweight WoolEase that somehow followed me home against my better judgment...does anyone know how well acrylic accepts dye? I'm guessing that it doesn't, much, but I'd like to try anyways.)

Oh, and for all the Harry Potter fans (specifically Remus/Tonks fans): rt_challenge is up again!!!

I'm here...

So, here it is. Spiffy, eh?

I'll post more later - it's 11:48 pm and I want to go to the early service tomorrow.