mad world, outlive me.

stuck on repeat this week. wish i could focus on something a little more upbeat, but i'm just in that kind of mood lately.

from bobbin to yarn.

i took this the other day as i was spinning up some stash fiber that i have always thought was lovely, but not particularly exciting. i'm crazy for rovings and tops that seem like they'll have unexpected results when spun. this ... it seemed one-note to me, so i let it languish in my "to spin" basket.

knowing that i could get in both fine spinning and navajo plying practice before starting a project that i don't want to mess up, i pulled out the 8oz braid of this unnamed fiber and split it in half. i figured i'd do 4oz of practice now, and either save the rest for later or list it on etsy or whatever if i didn't like the way it came out.

so i had only that much of the bobbin filled when i felt compelled to take a picture, because the shimmer of the seacell really enhanced the soft, gradual color shifts, and actually ...? i was starting to like it!

i'm always such a poo-poo doubter. what can i say? at least i will readily admit when i was totally wrong about something, and that i am, in fact, impressed. like right now. ready for the finished yarn?

i admit it! i was soooo wrong about this fiber, and am a total jackass. it turned out beautiful!!

i'm also not one to toot my own horn, but how can i not right now? when i first started spinning, i never thought that i would be able to achieve such a level of spinning proficiency. but my evenness, consistency, balance, and navajo ply have become something to write home (or blog?) about. i'm pretty good! and pretty proud of myself. thumbs up, self.

enjoy one more photo of this gorgeous yarn. 70/30 merino/seacell. navajo plied, 240 yards, 13wpi.

finished yarn from yesterday.

this is the finished yarn from yesterday! isn't it amazing?

while i was spinning it, i was sitting there worrying that it was going to be uneven the whole time. i was trying really hard to spin a little thicker than i have been, but that didn't happen for me. usually i kind of just settle into whatever the fiber feels like it wants, and this merino/seacell blend always feels to me like it wants to be thin, so i was trying to break away from that for once. not this time! but anyway, there were several weird chunky, neppy kinds of spots in the roving that were causing all of these slubs. it was my fault for not pulling them out beforehand, because i came across them while i (uncharacteristically) pre-drafted before i started spinning. they totally looked like they would smooth out, but like 90% of them wouldn't, ugh! so it was kind of annoying but i got it all under control while spinning the singles, and when it came time to ply, it was easy going.

the finished yarn ended up being 4oz/294 yards, 2-ply, 14wpi. i love it!

also, what's the deal with my phone taking such great photos? it's like phone cameras suddenly had this exponential improvement in quality over the past couple of years. i might get lazy and start taking my etsy pics with my phone camera on this nice table in the dining room... at least i won't have to wait until a special 2 hour window of time when the sun is on the correct side of the house, like i do when i shoot in my office!

more finished yarn.

so i don't remember if i mentioned last time, but i was making room on my bobbins for that amazing yarnwench merino (which i cannot decide if i am going to 2-ply or 3-ply!), but i also wanted to get in a little practice before spinning it since i haven't spun in quite a while, so i am just spinning up all of this old stash i've had sitting around forever. first, i spun up this huge bobbin of rusty/gold/orange merino/seacell that i later intend to navajo ply. i wanted to regain my feel for consistency.

next, i chose a big ball of fiber that i had navajo plied half of a year or so ago, which ended up looking like this:

i felt kind of meh about the fiber at the time, so i used it for navajo practice, but the finished yarn came out really nice! so i figured i would 2-ply the other half to see what happened with the colors. watching that transformation from fiber to yarn is so delightful to me!

since i needed some practice spinning an even 2-ply after being a little rusty, i went back to that fiber since seacell/merino is my all-time favorite blend. honestly, when i first saw the full bobbins, i was feeling REALLY meh.

 

i don't know, i just wasn't feeling it. i couldn't see the vision. until ...

ah! as it spun up, the colors started mixing in interesting ways and actually ended up producing a really beautiful hank of yarn. here it is finished, on the niddy:

 

and the finale:

beautiful, right? like a subtle rainbow. 294 yards! i was really surprised by this one. i'll post some more photos once it has dried and bloomed. i'm especially excited to see the 2-ply and the navajo next to each other. 

ok bye!

a dream, some handspun.

i had a dream about the new floor of the house again. this time, it was partially furnished and i was actively working on it and putting things in it. i was super excited about it, too, but it was cut short. too bad i slept like crap! i woke up multiple times in the middle of the night with an achey stomach, then finally settled in for a solid 4 hours of sleep after D left at 3am. i wish i could remember more about it!

i also often have dreams set in a kind of really nice high school/university setting (it changes). i was here a little bit as well, but since my sleep was so choppy i can't remember if i was in both places in the same dream, or if one was when i first went to bed and the other later on. i will keep on top of this one. it's so interesting!

okay, on to some stuff i have made this week.


first, we have some thick and thin 2ply, spun from my very own handpainted superwash merino called "man wool." i was pretty surprised to see how the finished yarn turned out, because the fiber had some really deep blacks and teal spots, but as it fluffed and stretched it lightened up and took on an overall pebbly tone. i like it much more spun up than i did in fiber form! it sat occupying two of my bobbins for over a year because once i started spinning up the singles, i felt very "meh." but once the plying began, i really started appreciating it.


THIS. "hnnnghhh" is how i feel about this. i made up 8 oz of these batts called "oh my goth!" like ... years ago. i sold 4oz of them almost immediately, and kept this other 4oz for myself with the idea that once i was very proficient at spinning thinly and plying navajo, i would spin it cobweb thin and navajo ply it. so, i started on this bobbin over a year ago, spinning it sewing thread thin easily 40wpi, hating absolutely every second of it. i only filled about a quarter of the bobbin before i was like, "F this, i'll return to it later" and then totally never did.
finally the other night i couldn't stand it anymore - i needed all of these bobbins for other things!! so i sat down with this, spinning it slightly thicker than the first time, and powered through it in two nights. i love it. i think it's beautiful! and totally worth it. but man i am so glad to be done with it. 
the batts were about 4.1oz of merino, mohair, silk, and angelina sparkle, and the finished yarn came out to be about 19-20wpi, 108 yards. 
and finally,

this amazing yarnwench merino! no photo has really been able to do justice to the luscious blend of colors. there are these spots where the fuchsia/berry color blends into the lighter green that are just magical. i can't wait to spin it, which is why i immediately got that other stuff off of my bobbins!  okay! now i'm off to make myself a nice cup of tea, find a delightful film on netflix, and start spinning :)

i just don't think i'll ever get over you; growth, change.

so beautiful. i can't stop listening to it. i think that most people know this feeling, whether it's for someone we have known, someone we wish we had known, or someone who got away. we all have our stories. it's a little ache that you don't feel all the time that just exists inside you, only occasionally reminding you that it's there - of course, when you least expect it. 

i wish the mixtape/cd hadn't gone out of style. there's something quite less ... intimate, perhaps? about handing off your USB stick to someone so they can copy your files, or saying like, "hey listen to my spotify playlist!" there was nothing like receiving a tape or cd from someone, all wrapped up and decorated, with the tracks handwritten on the outside. it was great to receive something so thoughtful, so personal. i'd take a mixtape over a store-bought gift any day.

now, to switch gears before i get all wistful and weepy.

(yes, i know i need a trim)

so i think it's been 1 year and 4 months now since my last relaxer! the road was bumpy with this hair, let me tell you. to anyone who's had chemically straightened hair their entire life who thinks they're going to go natural - do your research! be prepared for a looooot of trial and error! i hope you're patient! all of those exclamation points are for a reason!!! seriously. i am where i would like to be as far as texture and manageability go, but health and strength and length leave quite a bit to be desired at this point. i need to keep a much closer eye on my nutrition and supplements - really, my health in general (stress = death, or to be less dramatic, hair loss). your hair can only as healthy as the rest of your body, right?

my most recent discovery is this new garnier fructis moroccan oil treatment. it was super cheap at target so i figured i'd try it out, and it works great! not only does it smell lovely, but my hair is softer, shinier, less tangly, and doesn't frizz out the second i walk into a steamy bathroom or pass by a pot of boiling water. i used a little just before my blowout (along with some silk drops) and couldn't believe how much more easily i could press it afterwards. good stuff. next i'm going to try their intensely smooth leave in conditioning cream. some of the reviewers complained that it made their hair greasy, so it's probably just the thing for me since my hair is so dry i'm a wildfire risk.

now that i've got my products mostly under control (still searching for a hardcore anti-humidity solution though), i'm excited to trim the damage, eat well, and see how much growth the new year brings me!

recurring dreams.

i don't dream as much as i used to anymore because i don't really sleep very well these days. my problem used to be that i could never fall asleep, but now instead i fall asleep easily, waking up all throughout the night.

i used to keep a dream journal, and i suppose i could say that i still keep it if it doesn't matter that i haven't written in it in 3 years. most of my dreams are too fragmented, too impressionistic and fleeting for me to record, so i just let them go. but there have been a couple that pop up frequently enough that i am able to remember the impression at least, and i think they are interesting and worth remembering at this time in my life.

the first one is a setting that i often find myself in - sometimes it is the main setting, and sometimes it is only a stop or destination in my dream journey. a very high end beachfront home. i am always inside or just in the doorway or under the awning of this amazing house that sometimes belongs to my parents, sometimes me, or sometimes a particular one my friends. it's cool and the weather is perfect, and i am always in the shade. after a few times that i dreamed of this place, i started to remember the very distinct presence of deep shade, high sand dunes visible from the windows, whitewashed wood. cornflower blue and yellow decor.

this second one comes up the most, and is always the main setting of the dream. i am in a house that is very much like my own house, but isn't quite the same. i know that i live there, because in the dream i am content with my existing living space, yet when i start to explore my house i am very excited to find a previously undiscovered floor that is nearly identical to one of the other floors of my home. it's old, out of date, dusty, and clearly unused but overall not in bad shape, and will require little work to make it livable. mostly cleaning and cosmetic changes. one of the things i always notice is the little 70's kitchenette that seems strangely situated given the floor plan, but i am delighted to have the extra space. every time i discover this floor in my dreams i am excited and inspired to use it, and think to myself that i don't even need the space, but having it will really be wonderful and an opportunity for me to have a little spot away from everything else.

this one is so interesting to me. i looked it up and found a comment thread in which many other people had the exact same type of dream and reaction to it, but no real explanation yet. i wonder what my subconscious is trying to say?

one site suggests that these rooms may symbolize some kind of emerging hidden potential, growth, or development. maybe a big change approaching in life. this other site suggests that one think of the house as the soul, and its rooms as different facets of personality, or perhaps experiences of the dreamer. i thought this was relevant:

investigating the house can signal a beginning selfdiscovery by which the dreaming develops new sides in himself - particularly if the house was known, but had different rooms. The discovery of a new space in own house can mean the exposure of a new side of the personality or predict quick changes.

 hmm! of what am i on the cusp? i will investigate this further.

let's talk about pies.

sister in law (SO weird saying that) sent me the recipe for this dark chocolate salted caramel oreo pie recently, like hey check this out, but of course i had to make it immediately. not only did it sound incredibly easy, but what's not to like? oreos, homemade caramel, dark chocolate ganache, and a sprinkling of sea salt. aww yiss.

it sounded magical, and it was. it was also just as quick and easy as promised, and i only ran into a couple of snags. i didn't have a tart pan nor a pie pan with straight sides, so i ended up using a glass slope-sided pie plate and ended up with a slightly thicker outer crust than i would have liked, but that was obviously my error. seeing as i was also cooking while slightly inebriated (it was the weekend, whatever), i totally undercooked my caramel as well. but ultimately, that didn't turn out to be a problem. everything still tastes great - there is just some caramel leakage from the cut sides while it's in storage.

oh and i almost forgot! i felt kind of meh about the sea salt being only on top, so i made my caramel filling slightly more salted (salted butter, pinch of kosher at the end). i was very happy with the sweet/salty contrast in the final product. i see myself making this again whenever i need a serious dose of chocolate, or the next time i need to seduce someone with a sexy dessert! 

i'd also like to further develop this with some other ideas: green tea caramel filling? PB caramel? chocolate caramel (that's probably too much)? hmmm.

moonlight, night.

i think a lot about 10-12 years ago, so many nights spent in the backs of cars on moonlit nights, dead of winter.

i remember always trying to find a gas station that was open late, then getting gas and coffee, driving into the country, into the woods, down long winding roads. we were never going anywhere. so often neither of us saying anything at all for miles and miles. i remember being bundled up in my coat, my nose freezing as i looked up through the open moon roof. no worries, just stars.

Venus and cresent moon-25 by Darren Forde, on Flickr

i loved driving in the summer, too - my clothes whipping up with the wind, hair flying everywhere, crickets and cicadas singing in the fields around us. but there was nothing like the intimacy of the winter, closed up and pleasantly claustrophobic inside the car. we'd sit parked at the edge of a field with foggy rolled up windows, looking at the moon through the bare skeletons of trees, sometimes sneaking kisses in the dark, but mostly contemplating our lives. talking about what ifs and would you evers, radio down low. i really miss that.

DSC_0244_HayWagonsInTheMoonlight by jackdtonoavail, on Flickr

i don't miss that person, but i miss that feeling. i miss the company of an introvert. sometimes i need to just be, to sit in the dark in the middle of nowhere under the moon and listen to the sound of the trees. being with an extrovert, silence is a language i miss speaking. it's always kinetic energy, noise and hustle. i don't just want to slow down, i want to sit still. i need a limitless night of some whispered, some wordless hours. a night of nowhere to be. just ... getting away for a while, until my cup of chai goes cold and my eyelids grow heavy.  

i want to take my time, i want to take in the universe before us and watch the world turn. talk about our past and future lives, fears, hopes and dreams.

give me one beautiful, selfish night. to remember who i am.

soap test photos.

for me, the hardest part of making anything for sale is the photography part. i love taking pictures, but what i find aesthetically pleasing is not everyone else's cup of tea, and i'm always worried that i pick the weirdest shots of my stuff. i love the above shot, though. it reminds me of some kind of abstract modern art.

i always insist upon taking my photos in direct sunlight even though the universe seemed to agree at some point that it is ill-advised. i just love the bright whites and the deep shadows, and in the case of these "clear" soaps, the beautiful stained glass effect! (foreground to background: strawberry with strawberry seeds, watermelon, blood orange.)

while i was taking my photos, old lady came in to assist. she had been sleeping all day in my bed, which is in the back of the house, away from the sun. to wake herself up, she looked at me hatefully, then stretched her old tabby boots. she needs a little work before she'll be as great of an assistant as nick was, but she seems to enjoy the job.

back to my roots: a short history of my soaping adventures.

i started making soap again. i used to make and sell melt and pour a long time ago, and it was super fun and easy, but i stopped for whatever reason and never really picked it up again until very recently. it may not look like it, but i have the WORST skin!! so for the past 5-7 years probably, i've been going to this small soap shop about an hour or so from my house that sells really nice cold process soap in tons of different scents. their soap was great for me - nice, gentle, and creamy - but it was kind of annoying to have to drive down there to the shop all the time and spend a lot of money on something i was sure i could make for myself if i tried. so ... i did.

i toyed around with hot and cold process soapmaking this time last year and found a really great recipe for a nice, moisturizing bar full of cocoa and shea butter. a super moisturizing bar like that made in the cold process tends to be soft (melts quickly in the shower), so you have to wait forever for it to harden up suitably. life started happening to me then, so i put aside my soaping stuff to deal with it, accidentally boxing up and putting away my curing bars with the rest of my supplies. when i came back to soaping THIS year, i found that those forgotten bars were amazing! i swear, after using that soap for only 4 days i felt more of a textural difference in my skin than i had in a lifetime of buying expensive bath products. i knew i had to make more: some for myself, and the rest for my shop. other people really need to try this soap!

but oops ... forgot it takes friggin months for it to cure! shit. i felt totally pumped that the soap came out so nicely, but wanted something to fill my need for immediate gratification. that's when i remembered melt and pour! you make it and it's done and ready to package and use about 8 hours later. i liked that.

i thought since the cold process bars were so creamy and dense, it would be a neat contrast to make the melt and pour bars clear and light. the melt and pour base i chose was a clear one that performs like cold process. originally, i wanted to use the ultra clear base so that the bars would have glasslike quality, but i ended up choosing the one that performs like cold process for several reasons: one, the bars should last longer, two, reviews stated that this soap is creamier, softer, and more moisturizing than the ultra clear base, and three (most important of all, in my opinion), the ingredients in this base are simple and few. if a customer asked me what exactly the ingredients in the ultra clear base were, i didn't feel confident that i could explain what they were or if/why/how they would benefit their skin.

my cold process soaps are all bakery scented, so when i was choosing my fragrances for the melt and pour soaps, i picked scents that were more ... bright and refreshing. how did i choose which fragrances exactly i wanted to use? well, i love color. and then of course, the soap had to smell delicious! so i picked a rainbow of the freshest, brightest smelling fruit fragrances (for the most part) and clear soap dyes and got to work.

soap fragrances, by row:

strawberry, watermelon, blood orange

meyer lemon, pineapple cilantro, spring mix (smells like lettuce!)

bamboo teak, raspberry lemonade, grape soda

mid summer's night, coconut, dirt

about two weeks later, after everything is done, cured, and wrapped, here are my final melt and pour bars! most of them are already wrapped up and boxed, waiting for labels. these are just the ones i kept out to be cut into samples, for personal use, and for etsy photos. i'm pretty excited about them! some of the bars aren't fruit scents because when i ordered, i received some free fragrance samples that i ended up loving so much i just included them in the lineup. 

yay! now i'm off to design my wrappers and maybe spin some yarn. 

what's going on in my yarn life ...

IMG_1151
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic

i dyed a ton of fiber on sunday, then finished up the last batches last night. i like to do two of each, because if i dye something i love, i have a hard time putting it up for sale. this way, i know that there's at least one left for me :-)

i wish i had more time. i really want to spin, but i have so much school stuff to worry about that i'm having a hard time scheduling it in. i DO have a 3 day weekend this week, though, so i guess i'll take advantage of it.

anyway, those ridiculous pink/purple/orange batts are made from some of that fiber that holly sent me a while ago. 75% wool and 25% alpaca. i love love love the way it spins. so hairy and wonderful, like romney. the hard-to-see lime/purple/teal batts underneath those are 50/50 wool/alpaca. i'm excited to work on those!

i need a longer dayyyyyyyy. oh, and more money. because i don't have ANY.

aha!

100_2172
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

on a lighter note, here's the yarn that came from my dyed batts. there was absolutely no problem spinning them except for a few spots that weren't carded as smoothly as i'd liked, but other than that, this yarn came out fabulous. nice and super thin, and i haven't yet measured the yardage yet, but i know that it's at least 500 yards - probably a good 550.

the color isn't quite what i had expected, even though i still like it a lot. i expected it to be a lot lighter, but it was so thin that it darkened up quite a bit. also, since i was spinning from a batt, i tended to start spinning from the fold because it's quicker and easier and requires less concentration, but that made really weird color blends that weren't so great.

the third thing for next time is to make smaller skeins. this took forever from start to finish, just like pink elephant did. next time i'll either spin two smaller skeins or just sell one set of the batts, or something. i was literally in pain after finishing plying this beast. NEVER AGAIN!

the other photos are on flickr but there's no info yet. i'll do that later. sometime i'll post a little process post, because i know some people are interested in/curious about the whole batt dyeing thing.

17,000 asses.

aw, shit. kurt vonnegut died.

my favorite quote ever, from Timequake, on the topic of evolution: "No matter what is doing the creating, I have to say that the giraffe and the rhinoceros are ridiculous."

found on LJ

1. Go to google.com.

2. Click on Maps.

3. Click on Get Directions.

4. From: New York, New York.

5. To: Paris, France.

6. Then, read line #23.

7. Laugh.

8. Repost.

i thought i posted this!

100_2089
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

my neighbors just had a really scary screaming fight, then someone slammed the door, and like LEAPT in the car and SCREECHED away. wtf?

anyway, now for the project. i'm glad that it's like 60 degrees outside again, so there's hardly any use for them, but i made these (the other one is not pictured because it was on my hand) for jessica because she wouldn't stop hinting that she wanted fingerless gloves. i think fingerless gloves are stupid and pointless, but i CAN see the use of a convertible mitten. therefore, that's what she got.

the yarn was noro shinano, the needles were size 6 DPNs, and i used JUST over one ball of the noro on both mittens! like seriously, one ball and 1.5 yards. if i'd saved the tail from the cast on of the first mitten, i would have had enough.

i borrowed from a few patterns to make these, but really had to do a lot of math to get them to work with the yarn. i used a few lines from the peekaboo mittens in the newest magknits to do the opening for the fingers, and the "afterthought" thumb from knitty's fetching because i didn't feel like placing all those markers for a gussetted thumb. i hate a really baggy mitten, which is what the peekaboo mitten sorta looked like. i need to be able to reach and grab and do things. so i popped a little loop on the top of this one, sewed a button on the back so it wouldn't go getting snagged on anything, and there ya go. the loop is simply a knotted circle of yarn that comes out the top of the mitten, so if it rips or something from over use, it's easy to replace. and ... yeah.

100_2095
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

these were a REALLY quick knit - i got them done in a night, AFTER i finished all of my research. as you may or may not know, i don't really knit a whole lot, so i was sorta lost when it came to a lot of the techniques. but i mean, it's not really rocket science, and you'll never know unless you try. now i can make a set of these babies without a pattern. they're that easy.

if you're interested in making them, i can post the pattern i came up with. they're surprisingly self-explanatory!

sometimes i outdo myself.

100_1834
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

this thing took me forever. it's just shy of 600 yards of merino, merino/silk, mohair top, and angelina. it was brutal and exhausting, but it might beat the bed of roses yarn as my favorite yarn ever. would you like to go on a yarn adventure? please join me.

i began with the aforementioned fibers. i carded them together to produce these 6 batts. they were a LOT more dense than they appear.



so then i went ahead and split them in half and proceeded to spin them onto two bobbins. this is bobbin #1, all finished.



i thought it looked like a lot more on one bobbin than when i usually ply, so i decided to go ahead and fire up the bulky bobbin for this job. and as it turns out, i needed it like whoa.

  

i've only ever filled this thing up when i was working with super fluffy coiled yarns. i knew the yardage was going to blow my pants off. here it is in all its finished glory, taking over my little table on the porch.

playing hard to get:

a dime for scale:



this thing took me about 10-12 hours from carding to finished hank. i still don't know if i'm going to sell it because of the price i will be forced to charge. i was considering splitting it into two separate skeins of 300ish yards each, but i'm not sure yet. what i do know is that i'm going to swatch it because i can't live without knowing how it will look knitted up.

and now it's time to do stuff.

makes your eyes go OOOH!

here's something nice to look at for once instead of a bunch of school blather!

100_1750
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

this is a fabulous package i received from auto last week. i sent her some brown stuff i didn't want a while back, and she sends me this in return! i feel like i've been over-gifted. a ton of soft merino handdyed in pinks, burgundy, and wine, and then some batts from the "ugly" pile that i think are pretty awesome. (if you look at the larger sizes in my flickr you can really see the sparkles.) as usual i have no idea what i'm going to do with this. i'm torn between sock weight and coily, bubbly sparkles. hmmm. thanks again, ma'am! :-)

100_1754
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

and THIS is another, completely unexpected package from my swap partner from the craftster handspun swap. she felt bad after the swap that i had sent humongous yardage, but it's how much i normally spin because my bobbins hold a lot! she wouldn't have any of that though, so she spun me up another matching skein to go with the original green one she sent me. she also included that ridiculous lollipop with hillbilly teeth, and some glostix. whee!

so happy life! it makes me happy. you know, if you ever want to do a fiber or yarn swap with me, let me know! or don't! it's even more fun when it's a surprise. i will certainly reciprocate.

in other news, i think i've finally got my sleeping schedule figured out. i was having some serious issues, especially last week and the week before. but this week i've been feeling alright, and i'm not exhausted right now, so rock n roll. i had another review today. everything is going positively well! life is good. ♥

it's hard leading a double life.

100_1734
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

it's hard having teaching things to post about and crafty stuff to post about. i would make a whole other journal but if i end up going to grad school after i'm done with this i'm only going to need it for 3 months and that's wasteful. so as i've said before, if you're not logged in viewing LJ posts, you're missing the ones about student teaching. i'll post about that after this one.

so anyway. when i was at NJ sheep and fiber i bought this huge ball of ashland bay brand fiber. i think it's merino and mohair, because it's too coarse and fuzzy to be silk. i really haven't had time to dye, since i've had to go home every weekend for this or that, so i thought it would be nice to have something that would provide instant gratification. what you see above is a wonderful fingering-sport weight yarn which will become winter socks for my tootsies. i kinda like knitting socks a lot. i thought i'd never want to do it, but it's really satisfying to shape them and watch them come together. plus, knitting makes me sleepy, so i do it before bed and sleep happy.

before student teaching started i was thinking to myself, "wow, it would suck to get sick while i'm doing this." and of course, my third week in, i'm sick. the kids are so filthy! they're just sneezing all over the place, not covering their mouths or anything like 5 year olds. gross. so like 50% of the teachers are sick and we've just been passing it around. however, i picked up some airborne because the ladies have been RAVING about it, and sho nuff, it's working. this, decongestants, and theraflu have helped me kick this thing pretty quickly. the grapefruit flavor tastes like straight up ass, but what do you want?

in gaming news, i picked up harvest moon ds the other day, and it's alright. it's exactly like the other versions. it's fun though, and addictive, but it really just made me want to play a wonderful life again. i'm in the 3rd year of that one, i think, and started a new game because i'm doing so well in my original one that i don't want to get really into it until i have adequate time. is anyone else into virtual farming or is it just me?

finally, boon and i went to ihop last weekend. i got this:



oh man. that should be illegal. let's not beat around the bush here. that thing is a donut. it is not french toast. it is a donut stuffed with sweet cream cheese, topped off with strawberries, powdered sugar, and whipped cream. i ate my heart attack and enjoyed every bite. luckily there are only 2 ihops that i know of, and they're both pretty far away.

a guy just pulled up in the parking lot, and when he opened his car door you could hear that he was BLASTING hootie and the blowfish. i think he knew how lame it was because he turned the radio down immediately.

that's all! what's up with YOU?

hmmm

teaching has been interesting. i can't really go into it further. there are so many things to worry about and consider, so many things that make it so hard to do simple things. it's weird how poor a district can be and you don't even realize it.

i spun up this sock yarn last night and it's already dry and so nice, and i want to cast on now but i don't want to have this many UFOs floating around. i have ... 4 or 5 i think? and i know that's not many for a seasoned knitter, but it's too many for me.

  

before and after.

that's all i got! my bedtime's 10:00, you know. i'm late.