Pathetic amount of knitting

Precious little that is not school related how gone on in my life recently; I had to run an errand into Ikelenge last Monday, and that meant I didn't have any time to do anything other than plan and work. About all I've managed are these two dishcloths (one of which saved me from blowing a gasket during a staff meeting),

and two more little stars. I wanted to use every little bit of this white up, and I had just a smidge of green left, and it turns out it was a good idea to combine the two things.

I also finished the box pleat hat and remembered I had a nice button I could use on the top. I'm not wild about this hat, but all I need it to do is to keep me from freezing in Germany for a week, and it will do that. I wonder if I tried to do this again with a little tighter fit of the body if I'd like it more.

I have a few knitting goals for myself before I leave, so we'll see how that goes with the other great tasks of packing up my house, classroom, finishing a term, and putting on a show!

I've done a bit of cooking this fall; the last weekend I was off I tried the Smitten Kitchen sour cream and pumpkin puddings; I liked not having to make the crust, and the way the sour cream went with it.

I also made some pumpkin soup,

and tried making pizza bread which didn't go super well. Lessons learned!

Parting shot: My little Java cat!

The Things We Knit When Life is Crazy...

No sign of the star fever drying up around here! These have been made at various times over the last two-three weeks (I'm loosing count). I made two as Christmas gifts and tried out a Halloween one,

and have plans for a few others before I have pretty much used up the yarn I have here that I feel like knitting stars with.

I knit some tentacles while I was off last weekend for the Cthulhu mask. I have kind of an idea of how many I want/need, but I think I'll need to start pinning them to the mask to get a better idea. The things we knit for love!

I got some more work down on my 'Coraline' squarcles, mostly while watching Logan which is just as good a movie as I remembered. A little hard to watch, but SO GOOD!

These will probably be in hibernation for awhile because I realized something. I have no hat or gloves to take with me to Germany! Where it will be cold! And it would be super embarrassing if a knitter had to by accessories! So, I started a simple hat, and am swatching for my attempt to copy some fingerless gloves I like but don't want to pay for.

Lastly, I finally finished my Trillian! This will probably not end up being mine, but it made good meeting knitting!

Here's hoping for a bit more knitting time this week...HA!

Sunshine

I am usually 99% not interested in vampire books, but I saw the top of a blurb about this one that made me pause. And then as I paused, I saw that Neil Gaiman liked it, and I read the rest of the blurb. I checked to see if it was in my library's digital collection, and it was. A few minutes later I was reading it, and then I could hardly put it down for the week when I could agonizingly only read it in half hour gulps at night.

I've read a few of Robin McKinley's other books, but haven't found one that really grabbed me until this one. I think one of the things that got me was the juxtaposition of an awesome baker and a vampire teaming up to defeat a great evil. I liked that the world felt believable, and was all the better for not being 100% fleshed out. And, I loved that the vampires were not what they so often are in popular literature, basically humans who now have a nasty blood habit, but they were very alien. They thought differently, acted differently, had different values, and processed reality differently. Though you totally fall in love with Constantine, you never once forget that he and Rae can not be together because of what he is, even though Constantine is a good vampire. I'm never going to be a vampire fic fan, but this book was one of the most gripping reads of my year so far, and I just wish there was a sequel!

Pathetic, but something

It was a crazy week, and while I got lots of great things done over the weekend, many of them were NOT knitting. I did finish the main part of the ski mask, and after trying it on will begin to knit tentacles for it, but other than that I basically

1) Knit three more stars, seen here first as the first two (the third one has a Halloween color scheme and is still blocking) stars,

and here is the whole handful minus the latest one. Why yes, I'm milking this for all it's worth!

I also finished a dishcloth that has been my 'reading' knitting for the last bit. It's weirdly textured fingering weight cotton I found somewhere out here and have decided to knit up. It also smells really dusty, so I'm debating giving it a bath before gifting it to someone here in parting.

I made bagels, ginerbread cake, and pizza this weekend, cleaned my floors, did my laundry, got rid of three boxes out of my house, took some good naps, talked for a few hours with Ruthie, got to watch a little of Once Upon a Time Season 3 (not a huge fan) and welcomed fall with a hoarded pumpkin spice latte Via and pumpkin spice candle. Last week was...rough...and I'm hoping that this one is better. Especially as I'm in for another crazy weekend on next week!

In Search of Stars and Speckles

Oddly enough, teaching once again has massively sabotaged my creative endeavors. Minutes in the evening are mine, but I have been working on setting a BOUNDARY--at 10pm I will no longer work on school things unless it is an emergency situation. I started to tell a co-worker yesterday that I felt that was reasonable, realized I was saying working from 7am to 10pm was reasonable (it's crazy town actually!), but for my life it is a new little line of reason, so we're going with that!

I have been loving Hunter Hammerson's new star pattern, Scintillation, and have been blissfully off in little star land since the pattern came out right before term started. The sad thing is that I have a whole box of odds and ends I'd love to be 'starring' right now, but alas, they are in Texas. So, I'm making do with the few bits of fingering I have left. Interestingly enough, they are my bits for HP house stockings, so naturally I ended up deciding to do two-color house stars too! In case you haven't been following my Instagram, here are most of my stars-

The other creative thing I did since I was doing Kool-aid dying with my handwork girls anyway, was to play around with making some speckled yarn using Kool-aid. I found ChemKnits very helpful tutorial, and got started. I wanted to do a warm and a cool colored yarn, so first I did my green-blue-purple,

then the red-orange-yellow. I found the 'jelly rolls' ridiculously charming, and walked them over the Admin for a nuking.

While not what I was anticipating, I'm pretty happy with the results!

I realized that I had put down too much dye, so I tried again and got a much more subdued skein.

Much more the speckled look I was going for, but not as vivid as I was hoping. This is worth further investigation when I'm near some undyed yarn again. I think if I let the yarn dry out more after soaking it, the speckles won't spread as much. Also, I've been wondering about splatter painting it instead of using a fork. Next year!

Parting shot: My spare room once again became a yarn drying station!

Let me sum up...

Obviously I choose living over blogging for all of last month, but now I’m back in Zambia and can’t go to Starbucks, stream Netflix, or hang out with my friends or siblings, so, I’m back!

First of all for anyone worried, I finished my Stash Dash 2018 goal of 3,000 meters! First, all the projects I cast off at the beginning of May,

Then all the things I finished during term 2 and while I was home-

Among the things I accomplished while I was home was three skiens of lumpy green handspun that I named Jurrasic Yarn because I was in a dinosaur mood. I need to work on better consistency, and I put a bit much twist into this at times, but it will make a cozy cowl or hat.

I plied it on my drop spindle which worked much better than fighting my wheel. Now I need to attempt a true three ply… I need to figure out what kind of wheel I want to save up for so I can get the corresponding Lazy Kate.

I made Mercy three dishcloths and didn’t get a picture of a finished one.

I finished the Nurmilintu scarf/shawlette I made using the cotton-alpaca blend a friend brought me from her trip to the Orkneys. I also failed to take a picture of the whole finished and blocked item.

I got two Hufflepuff stockings done, one to fill out my house stocking set, and one as a gift to the friend who made my wand. Cuteness!

And, in my biggest fail, I have no good pictures of my amazing Trondra hat in which I made a HUGE colorwork breakthrough. So, I plan to write a post talking about said breakthrough, but even though I am well in to the lining color, I have no good pictures of the lovely right side of my project.

Lastly, I am heading down the foot of my second travel knitting sock. I've shelved that project again for now, because now that I'm back at Sakeji I have a new project I need to tackle, a hat, a baby blanket, a few other small projects to finish. So, that pretty much sums up my summer crafting.

Harry Potter, some knitting, and a new spinning project!

Lots and lots has been going on, but not a lot of picture have been taken, as it's hard to take pictures when your hands are as full as mine have been for the last few days! When I got back to the States I found some delightful swag awaiting me-my Harry Potter Chickenboots bag! This picture shows the cute owl lining of my magical artifacts notions bag. I LOVE it, and when you realize how much you need a bag with clear vinyl involved, please consider Chickenboots. Great quality, and OUTSTANDING customer service.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I also got my custom wand that I won from Euphoric Alley. I know the gifted carver behind this Etsy shop, and I LOVE my wand. From the packaging, to all the details in the crafting of the wand, it's a work of art that I will cherish!

Because it was July there was a visit to my LYS (one of their two sale months). I didn't buy a lot, but I'm particularly excited about the pom pom. I think it will go well with the red hat I'm working on.

There hasn't been a lot of time for knitting, but between wedding stuff I've managed to finish the pair of baby booties,

and while watching Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom today I got this far on a dishcloth for my sister that I finished this evening.

After an emergency run to Atlanta, TX yesterday to bring my sister some things she forgot, I got a spinning project started. How I love being back with my wheel! I'm still trying to decide whether to make this a two or three ply; I know I'm going to be plying it on my drop spindle as my wheel struggles to ply for some reason.

Parting shot: The delightful 1920's farmhouse we stayed the night in for my sister's bachelorette party. I loved the decor, and the great job they did restoring it.

I escaped!

After four long days of travel, I'm safely back home again for a few weeks! I enjoyed this lovey coffee shop at a new mall in Lusaka,

chased the sunrise over the Arabian peninsula,

slept and enjoyed a swim and sunbath around this lovely pool, and enjoyed my first chai latte of civilization.

On the way home from the airport we stopped at Bucee's and at the Hungarian restaurant for a delicious pork paprikash.

I've been working on pulling out the highest priority items from the eve space where I have them stored, getting a few necessities for my time at home, opening all my packages and mail that came while I was away (so much fun, and more surprises than is probably a good reflection on my state of mind!), and on pitching in with wedding planning. Mary and I went shopping today to make a start, and I'm sure there will be several other trips and much more coffee. Y'all, it's so good to be home...

Packing, Sports Day, very little knitting

This last week has been full of mostly A) packing, b) marking, c) teaching, and D) report card comments. Half-term was Monday and Tuesday, so I had actually watched TWO movies over the weekend, and got to knit. Wednesday I took about an hour out of my evening to celebrate the 4th with Ruthie and Anna; here was our little American second supper/dessert-

Saturday was sports day, so as usual I worked on a sock (the second Coraline) in between handing out ribbons, answer questions, and keeping track of the scores.

I only have three and a half more days at Sakeji, so it's going to be pretty wild with tying up loose ends, handing over my class and duties (have fun with *that* sub!), and finishing my packing which is more than packing, it's stage 3 of 4 in my move back to the States. So, don't expect to hear too much from me till I've slept off the worst of the jet leg next week! I'm so excited about traveling, being home, seeing my family, and welcoming a new brother to the clan. I'm excited about being in Dubai for a day, the first Starbucks, having time to knit and breath, and going to some movies. This year is 2/3 done--I'm in the home stretch!

A little knitting thanks to a weekend off and half-term

I have been uber busy these last days weeks years, okay, my life here is pretty much out of control, but I only have to not die for a week and a half longer before I get to BLOW THIS JOINT and head home for the relaxing business of helping with and being in a family wedding. I almost have my report cards finished (as much as possible), I started packing and will continue to do so for the massive endorphin rush it gives me as well as the fact that it needs to get done. Moving overseas in stages while working full-tilt would not be my choice again…

I finished the Beloved bonnet for a friend who is expecting this fall and have started some booties to use up the last of the yarn. I enjoyed this pattern; it was written for DK, but I just made a bigger size with fingering as that is what I had in baby appropriate yarn. I don’t see making the adult size, but it was a fun baby knit.

I’ve also been working on the Barristan Beanie with the reclaimed Gloss Fingering from a shawl I frogged. I like the cable, but I really dislike not having a chart to work from. I find reading the directions fiddly (i.e. bad TV knitting), and I don’t like not having a clue what the pattern is supposed to look like. I might keep this for myself to use when I hopefully visit my family in Germany in December, of it might end up a gift. Either way, it’s fun to be cabling again!

And that's pretty much my knitting. I need to get a sock toe finished and the second sock cast on to be ready for Sports day on Saturday, but other than that my main project is PACKING because I only have 3 MORE MONTHS AND A WEEK OR SO in Zambia total, so there is a lot of keep sorting through. Burning things continues to be cathartic, as is the knowledge that I can leave a lot more behind easily than I had once thought. Onwards and upwards I must press, yes, yes!

It's nice to have several big projects to start Stash Dash with...

Note: This accidentally never got finished and sat in my drafts folder. So, here is an entry from early June. Enjoy!

I have been rather madly scrambling these last two weeks to recover from spending 5 days without doing any marking while I was chaperoning a school trip to the Copper Belt. Very little was accomplished other than lots of pictures taken, lots of good conversations, and lots of picking up and keeping tabs on kids items. It was a bit of a stretching experience for me, but I'm glad I went. I had a lot of wrong ideas about the school we visited; if I had known how seriously it took itself as a school, despite the heavy sports bent, I might have been tempted a few years back...

Right before my birthday, Stash Dash 2018 kicked off, and I cast off a several items. Hitofude--done! Rainbow chevron cowl--done! Chevron blanket--done! Rainbow hats--done! Sockhead hat--done!

Since that glorious start, I have basically only got any work done on the Baristan hat I've had my eye on for awhile now. It has a folded brim, so I decided to do a provisional cast on instead of sewing it down (I hate that kind of tedious process more than the tedious process of knitting the two edges together). I had to re-start it as I am a boob and miscounted by two; I thought I could fudge it, but the more I knit, the clearer it became that I was not going to be able to live with the results. So...take two! This is Knitpicks Gloss being re-knit for the second time; it's holding up nicely. Knitter, know theyself. I realized that I really didn't want a red shawl--not this almost orangey red anyway, so as I am getting desperately low on yarn to knit, it seemed like a good re-purpose.

Hat+Blanket+Sinus Explosion

Well, between the beginning of term and being knocked over by a cold and then flattened by a sinus infection, I haven’t had a lot of time to knit lately! I had a lovely, relaxing weekend off, so I have had a chance to do some in the last few days, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to fit a bit more in this week and especially this weekend. I might try and start something special on Sunday, and of course Stash Dash starts on Friday, so I’ll have some things to bind off!

Thanks in part to the long staff meeting on Tuesday, I was able to finish off the first of the rainbow baby brioche hats. I could have done it all with the Felici, but I for some reason thought I had a lot less so I started it with the white. That just means I’ll have two mostly rainbow hats; I cast on the second one yesterday.

I got two more stripes done on my second chevron blanket! While I still love the pattern, boy am I ready to do it in something other than cotton… Interesting fact, that lilac yarn for the end is actually scented. I bought some several years ago and just haven’t got around to using it. I’m using the same colors as I did on the first one (since I found all the other yarn I treated a week ago!), but am using the purple to help stretch the blue. I think it won’t look too weird?

I’ve been working to get over a sinus infection this weekend; irrigating my nasal cavity with a small teapot has not been the highlight of my adult life, but seems to be effective treatment in addition to all the supplements and rest. Hopefully I’ll be over this in time to enjoy my birthday weekend despite being on duty. Plus, having a sinus infection sucks the energy out of you like you wouldn’t believe! I should have a lot more to show for myself next week after I finish the things I’ve been hoarding.

Parting shot: Part of my therapy this weekend was to spend some time out under the pine trees on the edge of the soccer field. This Piney Woods gal sometimes craves the music of wind through the pine boughs!