I make a snail and find myself in a hat place

Several of my students and I are locked in a battle of wills. Their will to do no schoolwork versus my will that oh yes they shall. Oddly enough, this battle takes a lot of time and energy from their teacher, so in order to combat the urge to organize a firing squad and do humanity a solid, I turned knit a snail.

This pattern showed up on my Facebook feed, and I realized that here was the answer to a) glaring personal defects in immature persons and b) my naked tea pot that I have been meaning to cloth for quite some time. So, shoving pipecleaners up icord is harder than I had thought. I was so excited about putting on the eyes that I forgot to block it so it's not as even as I would like, but oh well. Too late now! I also probably should have doubled them like I originally planned, but my little critter is DONE, and I'm charmed!

Other than being gripped by a great need to knit a snail, I'm weirdly in a hat place right now. I have one going full steam ahead, one waiting for when I finish my current mindless project, and a brioche baby hat that I can hardly wait to cast on. Here is my third Sausalito hat; I added a repeat after the band; not sure it will actually make any difference (it certainly won't make it slouchy like I was sort of hoping but I might try again...) but here we are.

My other accomplishment for this week was finishing the French knit hot pad I was making as an example for my handwork class. Boy did that take me back to my childhood... I had this massive piece of spool knitting that we were sewing into a hot pad, but never actually finished. This wasn't as big as I was expecting it to be, but the yarn finished and I was ready to stop working on it. Both good reasons, right?

This weekend I decided to try cooking my potatoes that were quickly reaching their expiration date in my slow cooker. It was a new idea for me, but apparently (at least according to the internet) a fairly common practice. I forgot to prick the potatoes first, but it worked beautifully! When propane is as expensive as it is out here, having a house with enough power to run a slow cooker is a HUGE blessing!

Well, that's all I have at the moment. I plan to make something seasonal this week, and I can't wait to try brioche again. I haven't worked up to a two color project yet--partially because I'm not sure I have enough yarn that would go together, but it's definitely on the knitting bucket list! That and steaking are two knitting skills I most want to encounter. There is another tea cozy that might be a good introduction...