It's Freestylin' Friday!

At least, that's what my freshmen announced to me this morning. They quickly followed it up with a request that I rap, whereupon I pointed at my pasty skin and replied that I would be doing no such thing. Being a teacher is hilarious.

As I am apparently following trends of Stuff White People Like today, I poured myself a glass of Wine Cube Cabernet/Shiraz and decided to post on my knitting blog.

Two bottles of wine in one 6" cube; 100% effective. 

It was a total impulse buy from Target when I went to get gardening tools earlier this week, and since I cracked it open I've learned an important lesson: it doesn't feel like you're refilling your wine glass if you're getting it from a spigot on your counter. Also, you don't know how much is left because the container is obviously opaque, being made of cardboard. For people (like me) who tend to judge when they should stop by how much wine is left in the bottle (half-ish when you have to get up in the morning), this is very. dangerous. Teenagers can smell a hangover from a mile away.

Oh, what's that? You saw the reference to gardening tools? Ahhh, internets, if you only knew. My mother is a consummate gardener - I may have mentioned this before - and this year since I have a back "yard" I broke down and asked her to help me plant a few things.

You see, since I moved to California I've spent my summers subsisting mainly on Caprese Salad and beer, and tomatoes ain't cheap. Mom promised to help me plant a few tomatoes of my own this year, along with some basil:

L-R: Sun Sugars, Sweet 100's, and 4th of Julys

We calculated that I needed 3 types: the Sun Sugars are now a family tradition and often don't make it out of the garden; the Sweet 100's are for the salad; and the 4th of July's are for when tiny tomatoes just won't do. It was a herculean effort not to get more plants; after all, they're so small and I love homegrown tomatoes so much! But I restrained myself with a mental picture of every other blackened, shriveled plant I've ever tried to grow.

Peppermint, basil, lemon thyme. oregano, Greek thyme, and an asparagus fern for inside

Once we got into the herb aisle, it was all over. I absolutely LOVE fresh thyme, and I figured I'd need the peppermint at some point for tea. So where I had no plants I now have 9, and Mother Nature promptly put me in my place by sending a 3-day hail storm. To Sacramento. In MAY. But my plants and I weathered it, and now the tomatoes are edging their way past the second round of the cages. I'm cautiously hoping that my prodigious Black Thumb will begin to turn green around the edges.

Also there has been knitting! The blogging today represents a break from said knitting; I'm on repeat #54 (of 77) of the edging of my Rock Island Shawl; I might even finish the edging this evening. AND my blocking boards came in the mail this week! I am super-stoked about them; they're each 2' square and 1/2" thick, and I have 9 of them which is more than enough to block pretty much anything I can imagine. I tested them out last night:

YES.

I recommend this company and set up without reservation. Each tile cost me $3.96, which is 99 cents/square foot, and they use solar energy! Definite bonus.. (In comparison, Knit Picks charges $20 for 9 square feet in 1' tiles.) It turns out that blocking boards are, while not absolutely essential, a much appreciated resource when one lives in an apartment with all wooden floors. I pulled it off the mats today and tried to photograph the scarf, but I ran into a bit of difficulty:

He insisted upon laying on the scarf for a few minutes, then when he was sure he'd won, we negotiated a truce.

Aria Scarf, Madeline Tosh Merino Light in Composition Book Grey. 420 yds.

I added the yardage to my 11-Mile Quest total back when the actual knitting was completed, but I DO get to take the progress bar for this one off the side of the blog, and I'm chuffed to pieces with my restored ability to pin stuff out. Next up on the blocking boards: the Hera Shawl! And maybe at some point even the Honeybee Shawl that I finished almost 2 years ago...

Triskaidekaphobia

The pile of Finished Objects to block is getting bigger!

Yes, that is an unwoven end. It's not blocked yet so I don't have to! 

Sometime in March I left the following note on my Hera's project page in Ravelry:

This has been languishing because I am apparently crap at figures. Argh.

Hah! It's true. Do you remember when your math teachers used to assure you in that oh-so-superior tone that you'd better learn this while you can because you're going to need it later in life? Well, it goes double for knitters. That's twice as much.

But I also remembered another little quote from the costume design teacher at Colorado State University:

If they can't see it on a galloping horse from 20 yards away, stop worrying about it.

Again, I say Hah! Knitting is also an exercise in making decisions about whether to fix the problem and move on or scrap everything and start over. The more knitting I do, the more inclined I am to do the former unless something is Completely Dire - 3 extra stitches, it turns out, definitely does not fit into that category, so I increased here and decreased there and voila! Numbers that match.

This shawl is big. Not huge - that descriptor is reserved for the great 6-foot square Shetland productions a la Sharon Miller and our Dearly Departed Knitters of Yore. But nevertheless, it is big.  These fence posts are 4" wide:

Tess Designer Yarns Super Socks & Baby, 1760 yards

And since it's largely in garter stitch it's also squooshy and pleasantly stretchy. It'll make an excellent California wintertime shawl, and I'm very pleased! And in case you didn't notice that number in the photo caption, it clocks in at 1759.5 yards. We round up here are Chez Unrepeatable - a girl deserves SOME sort of a break, after all! - so that's 1760 yards, or exactly one mile. Hurrah!

To celebrate, I wound up some yarn I got at the CommuKnity closing sale back in February of 2009:

Jade Sapphire Fibers Cashmere-Silk in Blueblood Red

At the time I thought I'd overdye it, but the color has grown on me and perhaps I'll keep it as it is. Either way, this will grow up to be a Rock Island Shawl, which will also be my entre back into the World of Lace from where I've been hiding in Garter Stitch Land. It's a bottom-up shawl, meaning that it starts with working the (interminable) edging sideways, then picking up and knitting ever-shorter rows until you bind off at the center of the neck. The pattern calls for ~600 yards and I have 800, so I've increased the width of the shawl a bit. Or I will once I get that far into the edging. Two repeats down and 75 to go...

The Hold List

Well, it's May and I didn't finish 2 of the 3 projects I had anticipated finishing this month. I'm close to being done with the Hera Mountain Ridge Shawl, and have 1/2 of the seaming done for my Sacred Tempest Sweater. I've sewn on the right sleeve, and the sleeve cap is kinda tight, so I'm going to have to regroup a little and figure out some sleeve vents that will match the stripe pattern. Argh.

So instead of knitting, I will distract you with the contents of my Library Hold Shelf! Raych posted today about how strangely gratifying it is to watch your hold number creeeeeeeeeep up the list. I totally agree, so here's what I anticipate reading soon(ish):

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: 104 of 167 holds. I tried the audiobook of this and it was AWful, so I'm in the queue for the text version like the rest of the world. I'm also doing a hold time dance with books 2 and 3 of the trilogy; neither is as requested as book 1 - which seems strange, doesn't it? - so I'm waiting until I'm closer to reading the first book before I request the other 2.

Lincoln's Dreams by Connie Willis: 1 of 3 holds. Connie Willis currently owns my soul. Blackout/All Clear are up for the Hugo Award this year, and I am desperately rooting for them.

Percy Jackson - Sea of Monsters and The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan: 2 of 2 and 1 of 1 holds, respectively. I enjoyed the first Percy Jackson novel more than I thought I would, so I figured I'd give the rest of them a shot.

Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente: 3 of 3 holds. The parts of my soul not owned by Connie Willis are in thrall to Valente even though it bugs the CRAP out of me that she's younger than I am and is a successful writer. Do I want to be a writer? No. My brain, it is a mysterious place.

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente: 2 of 2 holds. For whatever reason, I forget about authors from time to time. This has a secret benefit when I re-discover them because they have often turned out books in the meantime. Hooray!

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente: 1 of 1 holds. Thanks for reminding me about this author, Raych! I will now overdose on her work, if such a thing is possible.

Bossypants by Tina Fey: 176 of 176 holds. I also sometimes forget that I can borrow books relatively close to when they come out from the library by putting them on hold! And while I generally shy away from non-fiction, I've heard such good things about this book from People Whose Opinions I Value that I'm actually excited to read it.

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson: 1 of 1 holds. The second book just came out, but my library doesn't have it yet. I love Johnson's blog but haven't ever read any of her writing.

Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later by "Francine Pascal": 29 of 29 holds. I'm willing to bet that all 28 holds before me are women around my own age who are DYING to know whether Elizabeth ended up with some lame-ass Perfect Husband and Jessica failed out of college and became a stripper.

You may notice that much of my list matches Raych's. This is because I was looking at her list when I went a bit crazy at my own library's website. What books have you read lately that you really like? What's on your Hold List?

We Did It!

The Rivalry between Jet City and Sacred City has been fierce over the last few years. At Regionals in September, we nearly had the win until five of our girls fouled out at the end of the game and handed it to Jet, who won by a mere 14 points. 

Photography by D.E.sign

That win secured them the #7 spot in the Western Region WFTDA rankings, and put us at #8.

Photography by D.E.sign

Saturday night, Sacred City's Sacrificers triumphed over Jet City's Bombers, 108-72. Welcome to #7, ladies! Doesn't it feel good up here?

Photography by D.E.sign

What Are You Doing Tonight?

I'll be here:

And in preparation, I'm spending my last free hour-and-a-half listening to the Derby Deeds Podcast and seaming up my Sacred Sweater. Will it be done in time? It's not looking good; I blame my monkey arms.

Seaming seems to take forever.

Seeekrit Reveal!

My favorite part of making Seekrit Stuffs is the waiting for them to arrive.

I sent it on Monday!

In the mean time, this is my friend Dinah's blog. I met her through my equally cool (if much farther away) friend Kate, who is now in Prague. I am jealous. And this is her (Dinah's) also cool husband Mac's blog. Together, they are the kind of people I would like to be if I weren't, y'know, ME.

They have a pair of dogs named Miss Moneypenny and Captain Awesome, turned their back porch into a Tiki bar, listen to amazing music, have forgotten more about pop culture than you or I will ever know, and host an annual Oscars party that makes the actual Oscars look boooring.

If you look through Mac's previous posts, it becomes obvious that they not only made a baby, but that said baby might be the World-Dominating Overlord that only two such cool people could create. Therefore I felt it to be my knitterly duty to provide said Overlord with the proper accoutrements for the required lessons in Fort Creation, Cape Wearing (incl. Swooshing/Over-the-Shoulder Tossing), and Parent Snuggling:

Spider-man Blanket
1738 yds.

Yesterday, the Future arrived, and so did the welcome package - although both Dinah and Mac were a bit busy at the hospital to be home to receive it. Congratulations, you guys! There's love and good wishes in every stitch.


And all you knitters out there can thank me when he's old enough to take over.

Oh HELL no.

From: A Certain Website

Subject: Your Order Has Shipped

Date: April 8, 2011 11:56:38 AM PDT

A Certain Website has sent you a shipment via UPS

The tracking number is: [redacted]

You have GOT to be kidding me!

ETA: But wait, there's more. Presented mostly without comment:

From: Tika Sent: Friday, April 08, 2011 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: Your Order Has Shipped

This is absolutely unacceptable behavior on the part of your company.  I sent two emails on March 28 to cancel my order as the terms of the sale were unfulfilled and received a "gift certificate" instead of any type of answer. I will be issuing a chargeback on my Visa card immediately and will never order from you again; I will also actively dissuade anyone I know from purchasing from you. 

Tikabelle

__________

Hi Tika and thanks for your email.  We apologize that we did not receive your emails dated March 28^th, as we would have gladly cancelled the remainder of your order.  If you would be so kind as to refuse the shipment that we just sent out to you when it is delivered, we will gladly credit your account for the amount that was charged.  Again, we apologize for the Malabrigo situation as well as for not receiving your cancellation email, and would love the opportunity to make things right.  If there’s anything we can do, please let us know. 

Thanks,

A Certain Website

__________

From: Tika 

Sent: Friday, April 08, 2011 4:45 PM

Subject: Re: Your Order Has Shipped

If I am at home when UPS arrives I will certainly refuse shipment. Otherwise I will be contacting you for a return shipping label. 

I must say that I find it difficult to believe in the coincidence that I sent my cancellation email on 3/28 at 3:13pm and received your "gift certificate" at 3:35pm, but that no one received either the cancellation or the email I sent responding to the certificate itself. Considering the customer service I have experienced with your company, I will not be ordering again and will be actively dissuading people from visiting your site. The most useful thing you could do at this point would be to remove me from any mailing list you have and delete my customer information from your database.

Tikabelle

 _________

 Unfortunately it was the gift certificate that we did send out that caused the problems we had with our email server, not just on the 28^th but for days afterwards.  I actually have emails I could forward to you showing you that my IT guy was working on the problem for days.  Regardless, we understand your frustration and will be happy to issue a call tag for your shipment if you happen not to be home when it arrives. 

Regarding removing you from any mailing lists, we are unable to do that from our end.  You can easily unsubscribe however simply by clicking the link at the bottom of any future emails you might receive. 

Again, we sincerely apologize for your frustration.

_________

Just wanted to forward to you an email that my IT guy sent to the person who was causing the problem with our email server.  Thought it might help explain the reason we didn’t receive your emails on the 28^th.

_________

Thank you for the explanation; I appreciate it. 

In future, after such problems are fixed, allow me to suggest that a blanket email to everyone on your list asking them to send any correspondence a second time would alleviate the problem we are now facing.

Tika

_________


I  am honestly baffled by the finger-pointing that this business thinks is acceptable. It's our supplier's fault that we didn't send your yarn! You all ordered too much yarn so it took too long and now we're losing business! It's the Internet's fault that we didn't get your cancellation email! And yet, not a single "holy crap, update!" email to be seen.


It's not as if communicating with customers costs extra these days. Email should come free with your ISP, and if it doesn't, you need a new ISP.




TL,DR version: Don't buy anything from these people, ever, no matter what the wool-shaped Mmmmmalabrigo demon on your shoulder tells you. 

A Promise to Myself

Lately every time I log into Ravelry I have visions of gigantic lace shawls dancing in my head. I've added so many of them to my queue that I may have achieved the coveted QABLE* status, especially considering that my current knitting capacity pretty much consists of garter and stockinette stitch. Right now I have three big projects that qualify as "almost finished."

One is seeeekrit and currently being bound off.

One needs seaming/buttonbands and, while it has moved locations, is still in the same state as the last photo. Sigh.

And one challenged me mathematically, but I figured it out so now I can get back into the groove once the other two are finished.

I will complete all three of these projects 1) before the end of April and 2) before I start on a lacy something. I don't know what yet, but it will be big, probably by Sharon Miller, and awesome.





*Queue Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy. I am definitely on the young side of knitters, so this is a feat in and of itself.

What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate

Dear Friends,

Let me take you waaaaaaay back to December 24, 2010. Can you remember back that far? I know, it's tough for me, too.

Tika 2010 is sitting at her family's table after Christmas Eve dinner, a few glasses of wine in and poring over the IK Winter 2010 issue when she gets an email: Today is the last day for a 25% off bags of Malabrigo sale at a Certain Website! Visions of a gorgeous Thandie Funnel Sweater begin to dance in her head, and soon her cart is full of bags of delicious Mmmmmmalabrigo lace and Rios and worsted. She trims the cart as much as she can bear (25% off!) and places her last yarn order of 2010. 'This is it,' she thinks to herself, 'the Yarn Diet starts... tomorrow!'

Trip forward with me just 48 hours when, curious as to when her card will be charged for enough wool to smother a small Arctic village, Tika 2010 receives the following "confirmation" email for her order:

On Dec 26, 2010, at 9:05 PM, A Certain Website wrote:

Hi Tika,

We'd like to update you on the status of your order #26306 placed on 2010-12-24 13:06:02.0.

Your order #26306 is being processed and is expected to leave our shipping location within the time specified on our website.  Your "ships within" time-frame is located on each product page of the item(s) you ordered.  Did you overlook the "ships within" time-frame for your order?  No problem -- a "ships within" time-frame chart is attached to this email for your convenience.  Please remember to add 3 - 5 transit days to the "ships within" time-frame.

A Certain Website makes every effort to ensure that the products available for order on this site are current and available from the manufacturer.  There are times however when a manufacturer discontinues or backorders an item without immediate notification.

Once your order has shipped you will receive an email with your tracking information.  If you do not receive your tracking information, please be sure to check any SPAM folders you may be using.

If you require additional information regarding the status of your order, please feel free to respond to this email.

Thank you for ordering from A Certain Website.  We appreciate your business!

Customer Support

How very timely, if not very polite. And yes, Tika 2010 had overlooked the "ships within" timeframe on the website in a haze of projected wool fumes - otherwise the order may not have taken place, as the "ships within" time frame mentioned was 4-6 weeks. 'No matter!' she cried, 'I have plenty of wool to keep me busy until then!' And so it was.

Four to six weeks later, having been curious but not of the chewing-on-knuckles kind, Tika 2011 receives her next communication from A Certain Website:

Hello Tika,

We are happy to inform you that the order with Order ID - 26306 which you ordered on 24 Dec 2010 has been shipped out. It was shipped out on 04 Feb 2011 using UPS -- UPS Ground.
If you have further enquiries about your order, please email us anytime. Thank you for ordering from us and have a great day.

Well, that was six weeks to the day after the order, so hurrah! The yarn is coming! And yet the amount charged on the card is not right; some significant portion of the purchase price is missing. Worried that A Certain Website may be shorting itself, Tika 2011 sends an email asking about the discrepancy and receives the following reply:

Hi Tika,

Thank you for your email.  The Malabrigo that has not yet been shipped is:  Malabrigo Rios 69 and Malabrigo Lace 32. 

Thank you,

Joe

A Certain Website.com

Well, that explains it! Surely the missing yarn will show up both on the credit card and on the doorstep shortly. Meanwhile, some of you may recall this little Yarn Incident. What Yarn Diet?

And now I bring you forward in time once again to only 2 weeks ago. Tika 2011, in medium dudgeon about the lack of Thandie Funnel Sweater she is capable of making with only half of her yarn order still present - after all, one cannot brioche with only one yarn, can one? - sends the following email to A Certain Website:

Dear Customer Support,

On December 24, 2010, I placed the order mentioned in the confirmation email below. 

On February 4, 2011, I got an email stating that my order had shipped, but there was a discrepancy between the original amountand the amount charged on my Visa I emailed your sales department to ask why there was a difference and on February 7th was informed that two bags of yarn had not yet shipped: 

[Joe's Email here]

I understood from the phrase "not yet" in Joe's email that the yarn would be shipped close to within the 4-6 week timeframe listed on your website, which should have been immediately after the first shipment, February 4th being 6 weeks to the day after I placed my order. However, this was not the case, and since then I have heard nothing from your company. I logged in to my account today to find that my entire order is marked as "shipped," but as I have 1) not been charged and 2) not received the missing bags of yarn, that cannot possibly be the case. 

I would like someone to contact me immediately with information on when I can expect your company to fulfill my order. I am highly disappointed by the customer service I have received and look forward to an explanation as to what went wrong. 

Sincerely,

Tika

Order #26306

Forceful and slightly annoyed, but certainly not the cruelest or most vitriolic of letters. I have been in customer service, after all. This is the response:

Hi Tika,

Thank you for your email.  Due to the overwhelming success of the Malabrigo sale we ran in December, our supplier became somewhat backlogged.  Per our supplier, the remaining portion of your order is still being processed at this time.  We will have the rest of your order shipped to you the same day it arrives at our shipping location.

Your patience is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Joe

What a great cut and paste job you've done, Joe! Clearly you've gotten a lot of emails about this issue, but did your company bother to use the mailing list to explain the situation in one simple step? Apparently not. Tika 2011 is losing her patience.

Hi Joe,

Do you have any idea when that might be? I - and I'm sure your other customers as well - have been waiting for over 3 months for yarn I expected to have within half that time. If I had known it would take this long, I would have ordered from somewhere else; now half of the yarn I need for my project is here and the other half is stuck in the backlog somewhere.  I recognize that you are a small business, but an email explaining the situation back within your original timeframe of 4-6 weeks would have been welcome. 

-Tika

 Hi Tika,

We do not have an ETA.  We have tried contacting our supplier every week asking for an ETA, and none yet.  If we had known the special sale we ran was going to take this long, we would have either forewarned our customers or not have run it at all.  We sincerely apologize for this, and understand your frustration as we are also very frustrated – and losing business. 

We are hoping it is not going to be much longer.  We will let you know as soon as your order has shipped or as soon as we find out an ETA.

Again, we apologize for this delay.

Thank you,

Joe

Aaaaand there you have it: the "poor us, we're losing business" excuse. Now, I have no doubt that they are indeed losing business, but not for the reason they think. No indeed; the reason they are losing business is because they did not bother to contact their customers over the course of three months to tell them that the product they ordered wasn't, in fact, available in anything like the (ridiculous) time frame given.
I replied that if I had not heard from them in two weeks, I would be contacting them to cancel the rest of the order. That's today, and just look what was in my inbox when I came home from work!

A Certain Website has sent you a shipment via USPS
The tracking number is: [redacted]

 Surely not! Can it be? The timing is, to say the least, suspicious. And having played this game once before, I checked my credit card. Sure enough, only one of the two missing items was charged; in my account on the website the whole order shows as shipped, and there is no information in the email as to the one lingering bag of Rios that was missing - the CPH That Wasn't, if you will. /sadface

Dear A Certain Website,

Thank you for the update on my order. As it has been over 3 months since I placed the original, please cancel any remaining parts of the order that have not shipped. As I understand it, that would be the bag of Malabrigo Rios. Please cancel the remainder of this order immediately.

Two weeks ago I corresponded with Joe, who explained your company's situation in regards to the Malabrigo sale from December. While I understand the dilemma and I am sorry that you are losing business, I want you to know that the reason I am canceling my order and will not be buying from you again is NOT because of your difficulty in getting the yarn from the supplier. If I had received any sort of communication from your company explaining the situation and giving me any kind of update whatsoever, I would have been happy to remain a customer. Even this email today did not contain the information that only one of the remaining two bags of yarn had shipped and neither did my account on your website; I had to check my bank statement in order to discover that both bags were not on their way to me. 

I do not expect you to take any recommendation I might have into consideration since I will no longer be a customer after today, but I do urge you to consider being more clear in your communications with your clientele. A simple proactive email would have ensured my loyalty and patience.

Sincerely,

Tika

Order #26306

 So I hope I made myself clear to you, dear reader, if not to whomever reads the website's emails. Annoyed Tika 2011 is annoyed! But wait! What should appear in my inbox but the following:

Hello Tika,

You have received a gift certificate from A Certain Website. You can use the gift certificate whenever you are shopping at our store within the duration specified. You are entitled to a reduction of $  10.00 with any $100.00 purchase (excluding shipping) at our store when you use this gift certificate.

Below are the details of your gift certificate :-

gift certificate ID : FE9AC0D3-00EB-9ACC-1FC857B98EADB3E6
Validity of the discount coupon : FROM 28 Mar 2011 UNTIL 04 Apr 2011 with any $100.00 purchase (excluding shipping).
Discount Value :$  10.00
Gift certificates used on any purchase less than $100.00 will not be honored.

It is easy to use your gift certificate. Just enter the gift certificate ID listed above when adding items to your shopping cart and your discount will be applied automatically.

So, what are you waiting for? Go on over to A Certain Website now and start shopping and saving immediately!

I... I don't even... WHAT AM I WAITING FOR?!?

You might well ask, Sumptuous Yarn Sale dot com. You might well ask.

101 in 1001 Part Deux-over Update: Part 1

Since my 101 in 1001 Part Deux-over is about 1/2 done, I figured I should revisit the idea a little and allow myself to tweak the list. Slightly shy of 3 years is a long time, and a lot of things can change. SO! Here is the first part of my list: the Lifestyle Section.

Lifestyle

1. Walk for 30 minutes 50 times (0/50)
2. Design and find someone to start new tattoo
3. Donate blood 8 times (0/8)
4. Find a new form of exercise that I enjoy and engage in it 2x/week for 6 months (see #13, may extend beyond end of 1001 days)
5. Lose 15 pounds and maintain that healthier weight
6. Make a list of 100+ things that make me happy.
7. Make a new 101 in 1001 list by July 1, 2012
8. Take a multi-vitamin and vitamin C daily through one bottle of each
9. Try 5 types/nationalities of food I have never tried before (0/5)
10. Create an outside play area for the cat
11. Donate 500 items to charity (0/500)
12. Get geneology from mom
13. Get health insurance
14. Go to a museum once per month (0/30)
15. Go to the dentist Summer 2010
16. Leave someone a 100% tip (on a bill of $15 or more)
3-15-2011
17. Rip big book of CD’s into iTunes
18. Try 100 fruits/vegetables (3/100)
19. Try 100 more fruits/vegetables
20. Try 100 MORE fruits/vegetables
21. Try 100 new recipes (5/100)
22. Try 100 more new recipes
23. Try 100 MORE new recipes
24. Try 50 new foods (fruits/vegetables don’t count) (4/50)
25. Try 50 more new foods (fruits/vegetables don’t count)

Ooooh jeez. Let's see, I guess I should start with... 

#1. I loathe walking. And really, the outdoors in general. I know that makes me a loser, but there it is. Perhaps I should revisit this idea, or just force myself to do it once the weather is nicer? Restructure it is!  

#2: I found the tattoo I want, so now I just have to find a good place to go. I like Wild Bill's where I got my wrist pieces done, but with the wealth of tattooed people in derby, I really should ask around. I'll get on that at tomorrow's practice.

#3: Donating blood is an issue for me; I don't get all woozy or anything, but I do have tiny, deeply buried little veins (to go inside my tiny little wrists and elbows), so going to the Blood Truck doesn't work. I have to go to the actual Red Cross place, and we all know how likely THAT is. Nevertheless, I looked it up and apparently there are no donation centers near here? That seems weird. 

#4: Derby. Started keeping track the first week of March. NEXT!

#5:  Derby may actually interfere with this - my shape is changing, but my weight is staying the same. I'll give it a bit more time and see what happens.

#6: I should work on this. It's now a .doc file on my desktop.

#7: Yeah yeah, not till next July. NEXT!

#8: Talk about annoying. And yet, chewable vitamin C is on my list for my next Trader Joe's run. 

#9: I love food and this goal is totally achievable if I don't slack on it. Mental note.

#10: A little chicken wire, some zip ties, and a new screen door should do the trick. Thank you to Saturday's storm for ruining my current screen door - it didn't stay in its track anyway.

#11: This one I can totally do. In fact, I cleaned out 3 of my drawers on Monday and took a big box of stuff to the Sacred warehouse for their annual rummage sale! I'll have to count how many pieces there were before practice tomorrow; I hope it's at least 25!

#12: I have this, I think? Hmm. Maybe I should ask.

#13: AHHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA next.

#14: Jeez, ambitious much? Made a date to go with Jen either this Friday or next week sometime. 

#15: DONE this summer! Who waited 12 years between dentist visits and has no cavities? This girl. 

#16: DONE!

#17: What. is. this? They're in a book! Why would I mess with this? Stupid. Revisit.

#18-25: Argh. These definitely need restructuring. I like new food, I like messing about with recipes, and I agree that some of the 101 in 1001 should be a challenge (otherwise why do it?). But holy experimentation with my gut, Robin! Revisit and make achievable. 

Well, that's it so far. 25 of the 101, considered! Several are on their way, and two are verifiably finished. Now I just have to come up with new or altered ideas for the stuff that's unreasonable. Yikes.

Once Upon A Time...

.. I became a joiner.

It's a reading challenge, you see. And there are several choices regarding participation, but the one I've chosen to challenge myself (As Raych points out, there is no good synonym for "challenge!") is

Read 5 books that fit into the Once Upon a Time criteria, which are: fantasy, folklore, fairy tales, or mythology.

 The quest ends June 20th.

In related news, I got a copy of The Looking Glass Wars from my dear friend Sioux yesterday in the celebration of our new holiday: I'm Thinking of You And Got You This Because of It Day, whcih is celebrated any old time we please. I can't think why Hallmark hasn't picked up on this extremely marketably named holiday, but they've sent me a letter asking me to stop trying to pitch it to their holiday department. Jerks.

I'm looking forward to curling up with my new book just as soon as I finish reading the pile of library and school novels by my bed. And speaking of which, it's Friday, so I'mma go make a dent in Mr. Horatio Hornblower, Midshipman now. I do love historical fiction.

Tika: 1, Impetuosity: 0

On Sunday, I had an overwhelming desire to learn to make paper. Think of all the things I could make! With paper! And paper slurry! Look how I looked up the appropriate words; clearly I shall be a papermaker!! I could make the buttons for my Sacred Tempest Cardi (sitting on my desk gathering Darcy fur on the topmost piece, awaiting seaming...) out of paper! It would be fun and I could use up all those annoying ads I get in the mail and the 250-lb phonebook that I'm currently using as a doorstop (for real) and the plethora of Netflix extra paper from the mailing envelopes and and and

and then I forced myself to stop. I went into my bedroom and opened my closet, which currently houses literally thousands of dollars worth of wool in varying degrees of spun-ness. There is exactly 18 inches of space for hanging items, and only because the closet does a weird little juke thing that means I can't get more tubs of yarn into it. Then I forced myself to pick up an unfinished-due-to-slacking knitting project (helloooo, Hera Mountain Shawl!), plug into an audiobook, and ignore my papermaking cravings.

At least until I finish this shawl.


P.S. - the thunder is rolling again. I have Taken Precautions: Form of FIRE (and iPod Charge!) this time, so worry not, my puddle ducklings!

Brief Update

Yesterday I wove in the ends of my Sacred Tempest Sweater while I waited for the Rat City Intraleague Bouts to start on the Derby News Network. The DNN boutcast was voiced by my friend Jake, which was a charming surprise! Now there's just the seaming/button bands/buttons on the sweater to go, and I might indeed finish the darn thing by April 16!

I also watched the first 5 and a half episodes of the amazing Jekyll, written by Stephen Moffat and starring James Nesbitt.

Those who have seen this will especially sympathize when I tell you that with 1/2 hour to go, the power went out, leaving me with only my phone screen to light the apartment and freaking out on the inside that Hyde was coming to keeeeellll me. Do you see that crazy Joker grin? Eeek!

I realized while I was sitting that having candles but no matches is a clear indicator that I buy candles for their smell and not their ambiance, apparently, and also that I should think a little more about disaster preparedness if I'm going to live alone. Ahem. So I chilled in the dark, listening to the storm, until I heard my neighbors talking outside and managed to bum a lighter - something I haven't done since just after high school! The ability to Make Fire is still as relevant as it was pre-electricity, it turns out.

Anyway, I'm off to finish the last 1/2 hour of Jekyll.

Anglophile, out.

Oh, it's ON.

Let me tell you, Internet, that teaching is some Hard and Time Consuming Work! And I'm only teaching 3 classes! When I have six you will hear the rending of the garments from wherever you are in the wide, wide world. The more I hear people bitching about how teachers get all this time off in the summer, the more I want to drop them behind my desk and see how long it takes for them to start longing for those three months off. And don't even get me started on how "three months off" isn't even true. 180-day work year, my right toe!

But it turns out that I really enjoy it. There is of course a daily struggle with some of the kids, and for various reasons - today I came to loggerheads with 1) a smart-but-lazy kid and 2) a smart but drug-addicted kid. The first one I won (he did, in fact, Sit. Back. Down.), but the second one I fear is an un-winable battle. In addition, today alone I had at least three pleasant surprises, three "are you KIDDING ME?!?" moments, and two compliments from other teachers at how my kids seem to be "getting it," so I'm feeling very self-satisfied. And all in a unit I've made up myself, from scratch! Reinventing the wheel, that's me.

And there has been progress on a lot of fronts. First, before I forget, I crossed off #16 of my 101 in 1001 list! And my timing was perfect, too; happy birthday to that bartender. I've started keeping track of #4 as of the beginning of March - yet another reason to make it to 2 practices every week!  It also goes along with #5; that one, I'm not sure about - I feel lighter and I'm a different shape than I was this time last year, but I suspect that I weigh the same. Wow, I haven't revisited the 101 list in a long time; it definitely needs an update, an overhaul, and probably its own post! But in the meantime, I've discovered my local library and have been reading more than ever (Education #7). Hooray, books!

Speaking of derby (because I was), I went to my first roller derby tournament this month! It was a boat (& ho) load of fun. Pictures of the Wild West Showdown are here, and here, and probably other places too. MY photos are on Facebook, but they all require explanation. Turns out that derby is a very you-had-to-be-there kind of sport.  To whit: 

That's right, diapers. On the outside. And shirts that say the F-word on them.

and this:

I have embraced the classiness of derby.

And perhaps requiring less explanation than I'd think:

A refreshing post-bout beverage.

Ahhh, it was a great weekend! Even if my awesome Sacred Tempest sweater is suspiciously absent. I managed to finish the knitting, block the pieces, and sew in the ends on everything but one sleeve before the tournament. I should have no problems finishing it in time for the double-header bout on April 16th, though:

Famous last words...

I've also finished the knitting portion of the Aria Delicato scarf. One of these days I'll get some blocking  mats since I don't have a carpet to pin anything to anymore! 

I like this yarn. It does not, however, smell like freshly-sharpened pencils no matter how much I think it should.
Madelinetosh Merino Light, "Composition Book Grey," 420 yds.

I get the yards for this one since I don't know when I'm going to get to block it. One of my master teachers is a composition book fiend, so this may end up being her thank-you-for-teaching-me/please-write-my-letter-of-rec gift. That does mean, however, that I have to make things for my other 2 teachers. This requires more thought...

And finally, I've been knitting away on this, which is discolored in the photo and deliberately dark because it's SEEEEKRIT! For a little while, at least:

No peeking! Or guessing! 

Once this and my Sacred Tempest are done, I should have a hefty chunk of knitting to add to my 11-Mile Quest. A girl can dream!

Evening at Home

Five weeks into this teaching thing and I've found my shine, although it's not quite as glisten-y and well-rested as I'm used to. At least I'm not falling into bed the moment I get home from classes anymore, although I did have to leave a concert at 10pm last night in order to sleep. I felt simultaneously decrepit and responsible.

This weekend marks the first Stitches West I've missed since I picked up knitting in earnest back in the fall of 2007. I don't miss the hurt I regularly put on my finances, but I do miss the feel of Stitches: running about with fellow fiber friends, seeing the wealth of color and potential surrounding me, and not needing to explain myself when I make a big deal out of wanting to make something I "could buy at a store" (not really, but what do non-knitters know? Psh.)

Instead, I'm going to be pouring beer at the first Sacred bout of the season.

It should be fun, and I'm seriously looking forward to seeing my team play; I've never been to a Sacred bout!

As for crafty endeavors, I've been plugging along on my Aria Delicato scarf - it looks much like it did here except it's now about 2.5 feet long. I've also done my share of stash enhancing:

Oh, evening photo sessions, you are so yellow!

That's some ridiculous amount of yardage, including some of the yarn from a Christmas spree prompted by a Malabrigo bag sale and the stunning Thandie Funnel Neck sweater from IK's Winter '10 issue. Three bags of worsted weight (2200 yards each) and two of lace (4700 yards each) later, I surfaced for air and have been waiting for them to show up in the mail ever since. Here's a lesson, chiles: don't buy anything from Sumptuous Yarn Sale that you might be in a hurry for! I do like how the bags come with little air holes, though:

Malabrigo yarn bags: helping me anthropomorphize my yarn since 2006. 

That colorway is "Pagoda," by the way. I also discovered The Yarn with which I will recreate my Favorite Sweater. Just in time for spring, I should add, which is not really the optimal time for cables and hooded behemoth sweaters, but should give me plenty of time to count/swatch/knit/etc. the darned thing before next winter. The yarn was inexpensive and feels like a dream:

Plymouth Yarns Superwash Merino

and it's the exact charcoal color I wanted. Score.

But before I start that little project, there are a few other things in line for a February finish. First up is a Tempest Sweater out of Madelinetosh's Tosh Sock in "Molly Ringwald" pink (get it?!?) and overdyed "Oxblood:"

Eye-searing team color awesomeness

I'm finished with the back, the left front, and at the beginning of the right, so about 1/2 done including sleeves? The goal is to finish it before I head to Seattle to watch Sacred compete in the Wild West Showdown in the first weekend of March. Everyone else is going to be so jealous!

The other thing I'm working on is a Gatsby Vest from IK's Summer '03 issue. I haven't gotten as far with this one - which might have to do with the constant mini-cables and chart watching - and I'm pretty sure it won't be done in time for Gatsbyville on March 4th, but I can try!

Crystal Palace Portland Tweed

The color is a bit more stormy blue-grey than this, but without natural light it's difficult to photograph. I got this yarn while on a trip to my mother's because it was on sale (natch) and it's the Crystal Palace version of Rowan's Felted Tweed. So far it seems a bit more sturdy, but otherwise there's not much difference in the feel of the two yarns; they're both a bit sticky, have a small halo, and require some finagling to work with properly. Also, they make a lovely fabric.

Most of my evenings have been spent sitting in front of sundry TV shows on Netflix Instant Watch or listening to 19th century British novels on my iPod and knitting away, so I've been fairly productive lately; good, considering the amount of yardage that just showed up at my door! I'm staying home from derby tonight to grade papers so that I can spend the next 9 days ("President's Week") in relative freedom from school, so I should probably get on that. There are currently sixty essays sitting in my inbox about what role the weather plays in chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby that are waiting for my attention. Tomorrow there will be sixty more discussing Why Gatsby Had to Die. My students hate me right now, so I must be doing my job! 

Not Dead Yet!

I started my student teaching last Tuesday, though, and while it is a hoot (hoooooooot!) I am having a strange time adjusting to the fact that although I am getting up a full 4-5 hours earlier than usual, I actually have less time in the day to Get Crap Done. I hear you say, "huh?"

Here's that breakdown.

Previous schedule:
10am - Rise
12 Noon - Shine (shut up, it takes me awhile!)
9pm - Start Getting Shit DONE
2am - Bed.

Current Schedule:
5:55am - Alarm
6:15 - Rise
7:10 - Leave house
7:45 - Teach 1st period juniors
8:49 - Teach 2nd period freshies
9:54 - Prep, begin to glisten a little (depending on caffeine intake)
11:06 - Teach 4th period juniors
12:10 - Sigh with relief
1pm - Head home
8:30pm - Go to bed

Unless there's derby that night, in which case there is skating from 8-11pm and I finally fall into bed - after showering and eating everything in sight - around 12:15am, only to drag my ass out of bed 5 hours later and nap the next afternoon away. Thus with this schedule change have I lost all 5 of my prime Get Shit DONE hours and much of my shine. I imagine I'll get used to it, but as of right now I tend to wander about my little place losing everything that's not in plain sight and wondering whether it's 8:30 yet.

I did finish some knitting as well as half of my January spinning project. Seeing as today is the 25th, I should pull out the wheel, I suppose! There's chicken soup in the crock pot, Bones on Instant Watch, and clothes in the dryer. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this schedule after all.