Happy Year of the Snake!

As Sunday was Chinese New Year, I thought I would light up two Chinese lanterns in all their dangerous REAL LIT CANDLE glory. I found candles that fit the oddly shaped holders inside, and very carefully closed them up and hang them from a coat hanger (those things give off a lot of heat through the top!). I had never tried anything other than the suitably non-dangerous sort, so I was tickled to see how much light the candle gave off compared to the fake LED candles I had tried in my other lanterns the other night. I was amazed at how well the lantern sheltered the flame (meaning from the angle I was sitting at to get the pictures I had a hard time blowing out the candles!), and at how well designed they were. It would take some real stupidity or high winds to set the lantern on fire; not what you would expect when you talk about putting a candle into a paper ball! Makes me want some sesame chicken… Only two more months till I touch down in Texas!

So I've been playing with a fun little knitting project--origami style purses! These are really easy to make, and even though I am 'special' and managed to sew one side on wrong, it still works quite well! Here is is all folded up:

And this is what it looks like when it's open. As you can see, I had to use my Soak bottle to get it to stay up--that blocking really convinced it to lie flat!

To former students: Your past does not have to rule your future, or be dwelt on negatively.

To the school: The past which we were not a part of does not have to be apologized for, or seen as the ultimate evil that if it can only be avoid will guarantee that we are a good school.

Half-term Triolet

I'm always trying to come up with a 'creative' way for the kids to write about term events, so for this half-term I dug in my rhyming dictionary, and found a form that looks easy enough for my kids. So, this morning I scribbled my own triolet as an example, and thought I would inflict it on you!

Gliding down the river

In sunlight and cold water,

The drops make me shiver

Gliding down the river.

Dragonflies a-quiver

My dog I'm glad I brought her

Gliding down the river

In sunlight and cold water.

Roman Reading

During the term my reading tends to follow what my kids are learning about, with some ‘escape from school’ reading on the side. This term, as we are studying ancient Rome, there are lots of things to interest me and help me have a deeper sense of the material I’m going to be teaching the children. So, here are three books that I’ve read quite recently that have been amusing and helpful in my study of ancient Rome.

The Ides of April by Mary Ray combines a murder mystery in ancient Rome with a compassionate look into the life and lot of a slave, as well as a gentle hint at the spread of Christianity. The senator is dead, and it’s up to his son in law and secretary to find out who did it and save the household slaves from execution. I’m currently reading this to my kids as their historical fiction novel for the term.

The Flames of Rome by Paul Maier was a book that greatly exceeded my expectations. I have very high standards for historical fiction, and this book met them all. There were great references to Paul, Pricilla and Aquila, and Peter, that didn’t spout a chapter or two of Acts at you. Nero was made totally real in his odiousness, and the main character, the ‘mayor’ or Rome did not get saved in a gushing scene at the end, but as an afterthought we are informed that he too did eventually believe after all the things he had seen and read. The ‘ick’ of ancient Rome is dealt with in a tasteful manner, and you leave wishing the book hadn’t ended!

Trunk Road for Hannibal by John Hoyte has been a interesting way to look at Hannibal—in the summer of 1959 a team of people crossed the Alps from France to Italy with an elephant to test out some theories about the route taken by Hannibal, and the reliability of the ancient record. Quite an interesting read, and leaves you wanting to procure a pachyderm and wander over the Alps yourself! We think this person might have been a relative of the Hoyte family of missionary fame, but aren’t quite sure how he is related. While out of print, this was well worth the read!

Bits n' bobs

We're studying The Phantom Tollbooth in literature this term, so I decided that I would finally get around to making those roll-out cookies I had wanted to try, and allow my kids to 'eat their words.' My first idea was to cut out their initials and put them on a large cookie, but that quickly became impractical. So, I just stamped the letters, and worked better than I thought it would. The larger cookie I chose as the background? Texas of course!

My poor cat is recovering from being spayed--yesterday she looked so pitiful! She's doing better today though; much more like herself. I'm having to giver her liquid anitbiotics three times a day, and Java is appreciating it less and less. At least it won't be for long...

I've been thinking a lot about what I'll be telling people back home about life here; there are so many little oddities that I just take for granted now! This made me smile this morning:

Why yes, those ARE ketchup and mustard bottles in my shower!

You can't get travel bottles here, so this was the best solution to the huge bottles I had been sent on the container.

By the way, Paula Dean's sugar cookie recipe is pretty good!

Update!

I’m taking some time to update things this lovely Saturday OFF, so here are a few more pictures I finally downloaded of my activities during the holidays. I tried out a cool recipe for pumpkin brownies—they were very nice, but rather heavy. More tweaking is required, but I have to say that chocolate and pumpkin are quite nice together! Here are the two batters ready to swirl together,

And here is the finished product.

I’ve been knitting and finishing things, so here are some pictures of the pretties. First—the larger version of the shawlette I made for Hannah-

Why yes I had fun ‘posing’ it—why do you ask?

I also made this fingerless gloves that look really silly unless they are on my hands—an interpretation of Fetching.

I also made a baby sweater for my first friend to be blessed with a little one—little John isn’t here yet, but he will have something from an excited auntie to welcome him!

Getting Ready for Christmas!

I haven’t done a lot yet to get ready for one of my favorite holidays, because I’ve been in town for the last week, but I did managed to get a few things taken care of before I went. I had fun playing with some extras from the Christmas ornament kits I bought for my handwork group. Nothing like a springy Christmas tree

and beaded candy canes!

I finished some Christmas knitting with ours to spare—a hat for my TA which I need a picture of, and this little shawlette for Hannah-

I had a lot of fun knitting it, and was very pleased with how it turned out! I also had some time to get my tree up—I love the lights!

I tried something new today—candied pineapple. I’m getting ready to make my grandmother’s famous fruit cake, and I had a bit of candied pineapple, but not enough for the large batch of cake that I want to make. So, I cut up two fresh pineapples, squeezed some juice out of the one I didn’t need, and started the long process of cooking it down in lots of sugar and juice. I was pretty pleased by how it came out—it looks like it just might have been worth all the effort and propane! Now it’s just drying before I get down to some serious cake making.

One of the highlights of my town trip was getting to enjoy a latte at one of my favorite Zambian restaurants, Barcellos. As you can see, I took my knitting along. This will be a birthday present for someone here on station. Ah—coffee and knitting. Life dosen’t get much better!

Christmas is coming!

Reformation Day

I am coming more and more to an acceptance of the fact that my family is terminally weird. As in, absolutely bonkers in the best sense of the term. We do strange things like fly foreign flags in the front of our house, own more books that we do movies, read said books, own a bucket full of swords and other pointy objects, discuss history, politics, literature, and random trivia at the supper table, have a private vocabulary of words coined over the years by various family members, and enjoy a range of hobbies from making chain mail to writing full blown novels. One of the more visible oddities of my family is that we love to dress up given half an excuse. Ever since we were little, pretty much any occasion was made better by the addition of interesting costuming and accessories. Cloaks are fully functional garments worn frequently by most members of my family, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising to find one of us randomly deciding to wear an interesting hat, boots, or pair of gauntlets around all day.

Halloween, or Reformation Day as it has become in our family, is the one day a year when people don’t give us puzzled glances, comments, and outright stares of surprise that people over 8 still enjoy dressing up. We have a long history of creative costuming choices that range from historical, to literary, to classic. Ninjas, to colors, to Jacobites—it’s been done! We scorn scary, gross, or ghoulish costumes, instead choosing the unorthodox and quirky. It’s occasions like that, full of memories, that I miss my siblings most. What I wouldn’t give to have been home to join in the fun! Oh well—some day I’ll get a chance to express my ‘wild’ side again!

I might be getting a little obsessed...

What's on my Needles:

I am having a lot of fun making some Christmas presents that are a) very small, and b) lots of fun. I'll post some 'hint' pictures of those later, but I am also so proud of my first big colorwork accomplishment that I had to post a sneak peek here:

I'm starting to think about Christmas crafting with the kids--here are the bags we made at the start of term.

I can't wait for the holidays so I can do some more creative things!

What's on my Needles:

Well, here at long last are the blue socks of very cool pattern that I was working on at the beginning of term. I love the funky pattern, but am not that wild about the weird toes.

Christmas knitting continues; I'm on my last siblings gift and well on the way to finishing the numerous small things that are needed for another project. I also feel some cross stitching coming on--too bad teaching gets in the way of my crafting!

In which my kitchen smells like vinegar and wet wool

I’ve been working on my Christmas knitting, and as one project finished I realized that I was not happy enough with it to send it across the ocean to the intended recipient—one of the colors was not right. So, as there is no LYS to visit out in the bush, I dug out my Easter egg dye, found some vinegar, and got to work. After soaking my yarn thoroughly I dumped it in a pot and added dye till I had a nice vibrant orange. After letting it cool, rinsing and giving it a bath with some Soak, I hung it out on the line this morning to dry and to let the smell blow out. I’m quite pleased with the result, and will be casting on take two this evening. Here’s the finished product after I wound it up:

The next afternoon I decided to play some more with dye, and set about attempting a two-tone kettle dye. I didn’t want to hand-paint the yarn, and I have been mulling over some ideas of how to get the results I want. I soaked the yarn a bit while heating it up, mixed up some blue and green dye, and then carefully poured the two colors on different sides of the pot. I knew that the yarn on top would be fine, it was just the mixing of the colors beneath and to the sides that I wasn’t sure about. Because I used a smaller pot, I managed to keep the colors fairly separate, and I’m pretty happy with the results. I had more dye in the pot, so I put another skein I had been soaking on top of the first one and added a bit more color. There was still a bit more dye left, so I put some roving in, poured the rest of the dye on top in stripes, and then put a smaller skein of wool (unsoaked) in the middle to take up the now mixed color. I was pretty happy with how the yarn turned out, but I’ll have to wait to take the roving out of the nylon to see how it dyed up. I’ll have to try handpainting again sometime—first I need get some more vinegar though!

I feel a case of ‘startitis’ coming on, and I’m trying to show self control in the urge to cast on more projects that I have already set myself and start a few cross stitch kits on the side. I have a lot to do before December when I’m going to be sending my X-mas gifts home with another missionary, so I’m going to have to stay on target and resist those wool fumes.

Nerdy Knitting and an abandoned project

Well, I’ve been doing quite a bit of knitting of different kinds of the last few days, and a bit of cross stitching too. I haven’t gotten around to taking pictures of it all, but I hope to do that this weekend. Back in the land of sketchy internet, it’s a bit harder to get things uploaded!

I’m in the home stretch on my wedge socks—they sure have gotten around this term break! Down to Lusaka, all over the city in my purse, they even were worked on at the US embassy! To the dorm while I watched and babied the washing machines, and through many movies. I’ll be almost sorry to see them done—they have been good friends! I’m trying to get them done so I can focus on another stealth Christmas project.

Among the many cool things that arrived on the container, were three little Christmas cross stitch kits from Regina, so I’ve been working on one of them. I had forgotten how much I hate ¾ stitches on 18 count… I’m continuing to think and plan for handwork this term, and adding to my stock of Christmas crafts.

A package from home also brought the yarn for my brother’s stealth knitting projects. I’m well into Flynn’s now, and I have to say that it’s a little scary how much I’m enjoying this project! Garter stitch with a dash of clever shaping is proving very therapeutic right now, and the fun behind the pattern is providing much amusement. I can’t believe that I’m setting such world records for Christmas knitting!

You know how sometimes you get so excited about a pattern that you start to think about staying up all night just to see how things turn out? I was looking through Elizabeth Zimmerman’s knitting almanac, and for some reason the woven squares blanket caught my eye. I had a few energetic rummages through my yarn stash looking for something suitable in a large enough quantity (the drawbacks of knitting from your stash when you have been a poor college student who loves nice yarn and only bought a skein or two of it at a time). I ended up using some sport weight wool-ease, and happily sitting down to puzzle out the cast on. After finally getting that bit and working through those horribly awkward first few rows, my ardor began to cool, and I decided that I didn’t like how it was knitting up. Part of that change of heart might also be related to the arrival of the wool for the brother’s projects, but I think it was also the part of me that realizes that I DON’T KNIT BLANKETS. Plus, despite my fevered reasoning that a ball and a half in sport weight is a lot, I would totally have run out of wool and ended up with a hot pad. Perhaps it’s all for the best—no offense EZ.

Cross Stitch

Well, not much to show in the creative department as I'm in Lusaka right now and still in progress with a sock, but here is the cross stitch that I've been working on.

I've been making my own pair of wedge socks because a) socks make GREAT travel knitting, b) I love the color, and c), that pattern is fast, easy, and fun. I find knitting is also an essential for traveling as it allows me to endure annoying situations and people! I got a good bit done while waiting at the embassy yesterday--they took all my electronics away, but apparently don't have ladies showing up with knitting that often! Also, I don't think terrorists knit...

I've been doing a variety of craft project including some 'stealth' knitting for Christmas gifts, but the work I've been doing to get ready for handwork I can show you, so here goes. To my shame, I must admit, that I 'committed' some plastic canvass.

These snowflakes are going to be one of my first handwork projects with the girls. I've cut out all the plastic since I just can't see 15 girls, scissors, counting, and limited materials going well; I just need to go find some yarn for them. It is a sad truth--plastic canvass + yarn = TACKY. Want proof?

I had the bright idea of putting one of my little LED votive in here, but the ends were much smaller than anticipated, and I didn't want to wast a perfectly good votive on something so ugly. I'm so sorry world! I don't know what came over me!

Want some sneak peaks of 'stealth' knitting?

I can't wait till the recipients get to see them!

Poetry

The more I teach, the more convinced I become that children should be exposed to poetry from a young age, and that they should be exposed to good poetry. Yes, in the grand scheme of things poetry isn’t as important as say math, science, or learning how to write. But someone who has been taught to appreciate poetry has certain music in their heart that comes out in their writing, and there is a richness of soul that develops over time.

You don’t have to be an avid poetry fan or a poet to write well, but the echoes of harmony read in their lines translates into more moving sentences. People who can understand poetry can think more creatively, and they increase their ability to think abstractly. I think God approves of poetry—otherwise why is Psalms part of His word? Our ability to use language is a gift of the Lord, and our ability to use it well is both an imitation of our creator, and a good stewardship of the talents He has given us.

Therefore, I will continue to incorporate poetry into my literature and history lessons where I can, and I will continue to require that my students learn two poems a term. I will continue to use a poetry anthology for my 7th graders comprehension questions, and I will continue to stand in my little corner of the world and fight for the classics. So there!

Dragon

A late birthday present for my mother--inspired by a poem my kids had to read for comprehension, and after thinking about how we were encouraged to imagine and dream as children.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On the brink of morning

Found

A shred of faerie spilled into my world

Dragon

Squamous coils and gilded scales

Green

Was it really there or just a dream?

Phantom

My day was the richer for the visit

Inspiring

And the stretching of my mind beyond my eyes

Imagine.

Java Verde

I've decided to start using this again as a sort of creative journal; I was thinking the other day that I wanted to be more creative and feel more creative so I guess keeping a blog limping along might be a good way to start.

Last term break I was working on finishing the Java Verde socks, and I've been enjoying them in my fight against the chilly floors this term. I wish I had made the cuffs a bit longer, and am actually toying with the idea of picking up stitches and adding on, but such thoughts are madness, and I'm not quite ready to engage in that level or madness yet! I love the way the colors worked between the two of them--the swoosh across the top is so awesome! I also liked the patterned gusset and thought I'm not a major fan of the star toe, it does so some interesting things to the lines of the sock. All in all, a good companion for my two trips down to Luasaka.

Java Socks Pattern

This has been a rough month--actually a rough four weeks for me. One of the things that has kept me sane and not killing people (other than the normal knitting!) has been these:

I was reading some very negitive reviews of these on-line while searching for pictures, but I thought they were WONDERFUL.

After all, some genius combined two of my all time favorite things in the world--Chai and chocolate. If only there was a way to get yarn in there without the fibers...

I would encourage you to at least give these a try for yourself if you like Chai, and if not, then send them to me!

I know, I know, I fell off the world. Lets just say its been a stressful month so far, and as of now is brought to you by excessive listening to this 60's group. Sad but true... I'll try to do better!

I went to the my LYS (local yarn store) today to take advantage of the second to last day of the July yarn sale, and I picked up a few luxury items. First, I bought another Lantern Moon silk taffeta. Our LYS only carries the red and pink ones and since I already have a pink one (somewhere...) I bought a red one.

The red is SO much more shinny and beautiful than the picture shows--I'll try and take an actual picture for Saturday's post.

I also bought a full bottle of Soak for use when blocking my lace or washing handknit socks. Soak currently comes in four scents and is a nice smelling way to care for delicate hand knits.

The yarn store has little sample sized packets--I want to get some of the newest scent, Evening Garden, to see how I like it. Of the other three, I liked Flora the best (that's the one I got today).

So, if you want to pamper your handwork, drool over the Lantern Moon Bags and Soak Woolwash to take your crafting to a whole new level of enjoyment!

I was searching for something a few months ago, and I came across the song "My Love Was Like the Moon" from the album "Thirteen," clicked the preview out of curiosity, and fell instantly in love. I then spent an evening tracking it down over the internet and listening to some of the other sample tracks on the CD, and ended up buying not only the track that first drew me to Vixi and Tony, but "Mal's Song" as well (yes, it is a Firefly fan song and an AMAZING one at that!).

On Vixy and Tony's Website you can hear at least clips of most of the tracks as well as getting a peak behind the scenes of the songs. I was not familiar with the term "filk" until I started hunting up this album, but I realized that the "musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction/fantasy fandom" (according to Wikipedia) was something I already enjoyed through the Bard's songs, and something I wanted to hear more of. I haven't bought the whole album yet, but I was intrigued by the skill of the musicians as well as the the nerdoms represented. At the very least listen to "My Love Was Like the Moon" and see if you can resist the haunting melody. Do any of you listen to/have an suggestions of some good filk?

P.S. Sorry I skipped Saturday--there really wasn't anything to show and I was exhaused since I'd had a busy week. I'll try and make it up this week!

For those of you who don't know, there is a fabulous FREE on-line knitting magazine that comes out quarterly with a great variety of patterns all designed by fellow fiber fanatics. Check out Knitty and see the fun summer knitting ideas they've collected for us.

Bonus link! Here is an excellent source of knitting patterns--Knitting Pattern Central has all the knitting patterns in their indexes as well as about anything you would ever want to knit. Do you crochet? Check out the sister site, Crochet Pattern Central to take care of all your crochet needs.