Avenant or Bete or Ardent?

I had a hard time falling asleep lat night (the fact that it was 4 in the morning is beside the point) I kept wondering if I had put in the correct dates for my vacation request. Were they going to expect me in today instead of next Monday?

**

I went into the city today to pick up some loose leaf tea as well as see if it would be possible to purchase the series from a real time vendor. I tried ordering on line but for some reason they refused to believe that m method of payment was really what I said it was. Makes you think doesn't it? Just because our card calls itself AmerigoQuick*** or DominantCard or Freedom doesn't mean it is. It's really just a clever disguise. It's a Credit Card Carnival Masquerade!

Stupid on-line ordering monopolies

So I went to the mega-shop where I found out that yes I could order it from them but only three volumes as the others are discontinued (?!) and it would take 3 - 6 weeks and I would have to leave a deposit which would be refunded to be used as a credit for a purchase with that particular store.

okaaaay. I said, "I need to think about it."  

I browsed instead. Found a copy of Stardust and A Hard Days Night on sale then wandered looking for Amelie. Didn't find it. But I found the Criterion section. Oooo a section to buy criteria who'd have thought! Wonder what a criteria looks like when it's not being scientific? 

Turns out it's a label for a selection of films that are supposed to be the criteria of filmmaking. Yeah but whose? I don't think it's the criteria of all film makers everywhere cause some of them... it ranged from Pandora's Box to Brazil to the 400 Blows to Samurai Trilogy to Slackers, Time bandits....

BUT they did have La Belle et la Bete and the aforementioned Pandora's Box.

Guess what I watched tonight as I continued to knit the forever flare? :)

***

Since I was doing the public commute I also started the Sky Sock from Cat Bordhi's book. Finished one cuff and I'm on the second of three repeats for the leg. I like the fact that she has baby sox as first experiments before starting with an adult sock. Not only do I get an idea of what I'm letting myself in for but, since one of my team members is expecting and two staff recently got married. I can start a prezzie stash ;)

****CV

Dandelion

I couldn't stand it anymore so I bought Blood Roses by Francesca Lia Block this afternoon. Finished it too. Not that it's a long book. 

Aaaah. I feel better.

**

Watched Vampyr and Tampopo tonight. Vampyr is a 1930's german film. I think suffocating a demon with fresh flour is pretty original. Tampopo was just as fun as I remembered it being.

***

I've restarted the knit skirt I was making a month ago. Since it is worked from the waist down the rounds take longer and longer the closer I come to finishing. I have one pattern repeat (20 rounds) to go before I can start the flare: at the soonest. If I want the skirt to be longer than knee length I'll need to do more repeats before the flare. 

I've also started working with Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters. Made my first Sky sock.

****CV 

Alphaville

A sam spade secret agent visits a town operated by a computer. All the women are numbered and some citizens are encouraged to suicide if they cannot adapt  and if incapable of either are executed. Something like nazi germany meets Bladerunner and hal is president.

the Sea Hawk

Errol Flynn. Need I say more? Okay Alan Hale is there too and Claude Rains. But really Flynn should be enough. To quote Elizabeth about "Flash": 'I've got such a crush on him'. Well who else could have been the original Man In Black??

**

Melmoth has put me off my reading. Only 200 more pages to go. I think I can I think I can. The fact that Balzac has written a conclusion to this book is the only thing keeping me at it. I've been dabbling in non fiction: Yoga Morality by Georg Fuerstein (about the yamas essentially), and The Disciplined Mind by Howard Gardner (he of the Multiple Intelligences theory).

***

Other films watched include: 

the Triplets of Belleville

Robin Hood (Douglas Fairbanks)

Roxanne (Steve Martin)

Thanks to the DVDs I've actually been knitting again. I've completed one felted bag, finished a

noro fan and feather scarf and just need to make the handles and lining for two intarsia bags.

****

So I really enjoyed watching the Black Adders and I'm considering owning the set. With that thought in mind I perused the offerings. I'm tempted to present what I found as a lesson in consumerism for some of my class, viz:

You have the opportunity to own a complete set of films which you know you will enjoy. The set is 100 dollars. Do you get it? Perhaps you want to now what is meant by a complete set? Thus a complete set is 5 DVDs. So that is roughly 20 dollars per. Well you know you will like it ad watch it so do you get it? Perhaps you are curious how much each costs if purchased individually? Okay they are 15 dollars individually.

See my confusion? Why if I want the whole set does it cost more for one package then if I buy each of them indivdually?

***CV

Tip-Toe through the.....

Taxes are done!

Yesterday when I went out for my final day of spring break I found out what the bulbs were that line my walkway. My walkway is abundently supplied with oxalis (sour grass) wild onion, pretty flowers that are weeds in camoflauge, roses, lilies and a jade tree. Mixed in with this are these large bulb leaves which I have been presuming are failed tulips.

But no. They are irises! And one is setting buds and it is five feet tall.

Dear lord!
**
So Saturday (before the blooming iris) I participated in a class to make a skirt. It's a knit skirt and so far it seems to be coming along fairly well. The pattern is called Belle Curve and is part of the 2007 winter Knitty collection. I'm using a beautiful shade of brown called chocolate (Cascade 220).I'm hoping it turns out well. The plain star stitch is a bit of a tease but I realised that if I knit the row before the pattern row less tightly, then the plain stars are less work.
***
I started Jane Austen's, a History of England yesterday but have not made much progress****CV

And the mome wraths.......

I finished the baby surprise sweater. Of course it didn't really fit as I was following the original pattern and the "baby" I was making it for just turned one. S'okay. It ws a fun adventure knitting origami and now that I have done it once I think it will go quicker and better next time.
*
I apologise for the surreality of my most recent posts. Something about writing reports when I have to tell all about each child without judgement ( because I not only have to think about the person now but the person of the future who will reread these reports much as we all look at old report cards) requires intense mental gymnastics and this blog was my outlet.
**
I am currently reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, and this afternoon I made a few book purchases for my most welcome week of Spring Break:

Persuasion, Jane Austen

Perdido Street Station, Chia Mieville

Dingo, Charles de Lint

***
Has anyone ever read a book called, The Chalice and the Blade? I recently attended a conference where the author was a keynote speaker and I'm curious about the response readers of her work have had. I know how I responded and apparently I'm in rapport with most of my workmates in this reagrd. So if any who reads this post has read any of Riane Einsler's work: what was your reaction? ****CV

Roll the Stone Away!

Hello?

Anyone there?

*cough*

I am still in the cave that is progress reports. However, as this weekend would imply, there shall be a recovery. I see a crack of light and with only 9 more to go (see I kinda had to re-do them starting yesterday but I seriously buckled down today and 20 are as complete as I'm going to do them) I have hopes of some free time tomorrow.
**
Meanwhile I started making a baby surprise sweater (I simply cannot report progress on my commute) but had to rip it because one decrease side had 25 stitiches while the other had 21 and symmetry seemed kinda important. My stitch count is still (albeit symmetrically) wacky though. Hmmmm***CV

two ringy dingies

I spent most of my weekend reviewing my lessons journal and transferring all the lessons from one notebook to another. Then I transfered those into an online system. Finally, I figured out how the online sytem enables lesson planning and did that too.

Found out today we may not be using this sytem at all.

*sigh*

Anyway when I arrived bright and early today I saw the first spring Robin! That sight kept me in spirits all through findng out that not one but two team members were out sick and a third arrived barely able to stand. So it was me and one other allll day with 40 children. I say 40 cause I consider two of the parents in that category what with their calls and emails and general tantrums of: serve me now!
**
But I am home and I had fun today. I got to parse poetry with a good sized group and they all have various moon poems to work with. So fun!

Currently we're reading four books(yes 4: as the opener I read one about Jesse Owens; for morning group I read Harriet Tubman; and then there is the fiction group with Watership Down and the History group with Gods, Graves, and Scholars).
***
I'm almost done with my Shale stole. About half a full colour repeat in the skein left***CV

There and Back

The trip was amazing. Death Valley is a place every one should visit at least once.

It was about nine hours to get there and that was after changing buses because the first bus developed engine problems before we had left the city (better then though than on the way). During the ride down the children kept htemselves occupied taking pictures, reading, following the trip on a map, and doing activity books. (No movies were shown, no music was played. Yes it is possible to do). As we entered the park a full moon was rising and so we only had the barest sense of what the landscape would be like.

On Wednesday we visited Salt Creek where some of the chldren managed to see a kit fox up close and personal, which the rangers said had not happened for fifteeen years. The rest of the time was spent studying animal tracks, learning about the plant life and water quality that made salt creek what it is. No one tried the pickleweed but apparently desert holly is edible. Aferwards we went to Salt flats which is 282feet below sea level. The location is also known as Bad Water, so named by a prospector who found the water but when he brought his mule to drink it it refused to do so . (Bad Water is actually a habitat for a rare mollusk). Because of the anount of salts that have been deposited there it is possible to walk out onto a sheet of salt which resembles a marble mosaic tile floor. The sheet curves in varying directions so if one imagines the yellow brick road only instead of bricks it is irregular polygons of salt then you have a good image of it.

The following day we visited Scotty's Castle and went back in time to take a tour. The castle is a living history museum so all the tour guides are dressed in period clothing (ours had seamed stockings, a fabulous cinch waist flared skirt coat and a snood) and speak in the present tense of 1939. While there we alos saw two young coyotes who do not know how to hunt. They are very cute and therefore are fed by the tourists despite Rangers' requests not to do so. During the summer the pups will be captured and released into an area where they will be able to hunt or if they cannot provede food for themselves they will be recaptured and put down. While this affected many of the children they (I think ) understood that it was far kinder to do this then to have the coyotes starve to death during the non tourist season.

From there we went to Ubehebe Crater which is also called Coyote's Burden basket and is where the Shoshone believe they first emerged. Then we went to one of the original borax mines and that children were confused by the treatment of the laborers of the time.

I should mention that it snowed early Thursday morning so we got to see a white Death Valley. And on the trip back we stopped and the children built a snowman.
**
No reading done on the trio but I have started Northanger Abby today (and Carrie I am loving it). Instead I started a lace stole in the Old Shale pattern and I have 2/3's of it done.

toasty toes

Oh my goodness! Warm warm wooly red socks. Yummmy!

I have been kniting socks, lots o socks the past year or so but not necessarily wearing said socks. I wore my tall tall red pippi knee highs today and was not cold at all. I could get use to this. Whilst wearing said comfiness I also realised what will help make my knee highs stay high ( as one was knit a little taller than the other) and now I am wondering whether I should order that Kilt Hose book I saw at Schoolhouse last night or wait?

Decisions decisions. I do want to start the bog jacket.
**
No reading as I have been busy the past two days laying down the law. Perhaps I can read this weekend***CV

I think I prefer Lupin.......

Fantomas, Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvstre (295pp) According to the introduction this series of tales based upon the crime spree of a madman was made into silent films and was a source of inspiration to the originators of the surrealist movement. (Goodness mayhap this goes someway towards explaing my preference for magic realism, yes?) I can see where this would be appealing to the silent serial making filmster. I love the scene where the female hotel securities clerk after being hit upon by pseudo sherlockian Inspector Juve goes to the home of a wealthy entrepeneur for aid and is revealed to be his (the entrepeneur's) son - who, in an earlier chapter was proven to be not only dead but a murderer, because, you know, his mother is insane. Take that for serial twist of plot you would be soap opera buff!

But the ending?! What an ending. No I certainly couldn't have seen that one coming. Should I spoil it? But you might read it so I won't. Let's just say that madame guillotine does not always get her man.
**
On another note I think that wool skeins are really hibernating tribbles. How else to explain the 26 I found this afternoon? ****CV

Don't You Knock?!

One should be careful of what one speaks. I mentioned more frequent animal visitors and who should I surprise in the house staring at Chai but Lola*. To say Chai was chagrinned would be a bit of an understatement. Ah well.
**
My plans for the park did not occur but I was good and did student study at a cafe and I am now up to date with those children I have records for. This would not be the 11 new ones but 18 is better than none.
***
Last night I printed out some sock patterns. I'm looking forward to starting them :) They were all from MagKnits, which seems to be having fewer and fewer patterns lately. I copied Snicket, Snowflake lace ... and, oops, sorry only two; the other was from a sockalong. Pardon me. ****CV

* Lola is a tuxedo kitty like Chai only slimmer and with more black. I didn't realise thatuntil tonight.

We (may) have cottage!

Knock on wood. Deposits and such still need to be made.
**
Hmmm do you think I should order my madder, indigo, some weld and marigold now? This is because, if the cottage comes through then, there is a private garden that is attached and I could you know try and grow stuff in it. I know I want lavender. And I would love to grow dye plants. Instead of, you know, growing dying plants (I so do not have a green thumb, but I think if it was my plot and I was the one learning from it it would be okay. I was responsible for a garden that was in the back of my former Primary and, ummmm, the lavender did real well as did the poppies; not so much everything else.)
***
I am a third of the way through The Three Musketeers. D'artagnan had a much bigger part than I remembered. Perhaps this is because Athos, Porthos and Aramis were played by such good character actors they seemed more main characterish then they actually were.
****
I almost have the leg of my second scarlett sock complete (reading and stst are a good combination) and I finished one of the amber knee highs last night*****CV

NB Good thing I didn't mention woad. Apparently it's a noxious weed in CA, as is the wild marigold.

O casa mio

Thank you everyone who responded to my SOS. I did contact the owners and they are going to put together some pics today and tomorrow and send them to me. I'm really looking forward to seeing them.
**
In other news: Hope I went and got the second in that series you sent me. Bad Hope. ;) I've also been picking up a few, no really, a FEW other reads:

Difficult Loves, Italo Calvino (short stories)

Inferno, Dante

The Rainbow Beneath My Feet, A. Bessette (mushroom dyeing)

Cast in Courtlight, Michele Sagaro

***

The Hester/Wills I'm working on are a pair of to-the-knee scarlet socks. I actualy turned the heel on one today but didn't like the heel and then I noticed in the leg that a stitch had split when knit. It was barely hanging on. So I ripped back about 6 inches and I'm now to the heel flap again. The yarn is Shibui, Chinese Red. It looks like scarlet velvet :) ***CV

fin semana

I finally got around to visiting the bookshop across the street. I thought it was a local division of a specific publisher. But as I was on my way to grocery shop I decided to just pop in and at least see the place before I left. Imagine my surpise to find it to be a new and used (primarily used) collectors book shop. It's somewhat hidden behind a local bakery and in fact is filled with the yeasty scent of freshbaked bread. The shop itself is called Daedalus Books, named I presume, after the greek guy who tried to fly to the sun when his wings were only attached by wax. Now there's someone who needed a lesson on the three states of matter.

I picked up a copy of Fielding's Shamela and Joseph Andrews as well as a Penguin edition of Menicus.
**
Before going there though I attended a workshop given by Paul Grilley, the main instructor of Yin yoga. I was fortunate to attend a mini-workshop of his years ago so this time I only attended the part about meridians and chakras. (The other parts are excellant. Only I had already participated and did not feel like spending critical moving funds on a repeat performance.)
***
Meanwhile I have a pair of socks promised to a friend (a promise I made last year) so I cast on for those last Friday and have 4 more inhes to do before I reach the heel. And I saw the new Knitty and the unmentionables are so cute I want to knit a pair in black for my date night. Hmmmm. ***CV

tit-willow tit-willow tit-willow

Yesterday was the last day. As usual, we only had class in the morning and then those families that could came and we spent the rest of the afternoon in a nearby park. Very fun. One of the children said, as they were leaving, "Bye. See you next fall." He looked puzzled when his mom said, "No you won't. She's moving to California." Funny, no matter how many times you say something, in a group with everyone present and everyone saying I understand; some still don't realise how true what you're telling them is.
**
Last night the Yarn Harlot was in town and I got to Powell's more than an hour and a half ahead of time. I looked through pattern books as I had just aquired a brand new skein of yarn and was looking for something to work on. I found a pattern for Peacock Plumes which is really fun to make.

Some friends showed up about an hour later and we sat and chatted until Stephanie arrived. How fun she is. One lady in front of me was actually writing Stephanie's talk as she was giving it. I would imagine that over an hour of stenography could prove more painful to hands than the equivalent time spent knitting.

There was quite a turnout which was to be expected: the audience not only filled all the preset seating (which was twice as much as had been put out the last time Stephanie came to town: Burnside edition) but the aisles and the foyer as well.
***
I found out yesterday that one of the children's parents is performing as part of a Ruddigore production. I've only ever seen two Gilbert and Sullivan musicals: the Mikado and Pirates of Penzance. Here's another one :) ***CV

Troll Toll

Harrowing the Dragon, Patricia McKillip (308pp) A collection of short stories some of which have been printed in other anthologies. For the most part I enjoyed these shorts and had a pleasant revist with a variant on the Snow Queen. There is a short based on Romeo and Juliet told from the point of view of an investigating soldier after the suicides have been disovered; there is a Baba Yaga tale which was cute and a few stories such as The Stranger which I found forced but then there was The Witches of Junkett and a Troll and Two Roses (Troll Toll!) which made up for the weak spots. I could see Troll (with a little editing at the end) being performed as a monologue so easily.
**
Mortal Love, Elizabeth Hand (364pp) If you can imagine Algernon Swineburne as a hero, well, then you are halfway there with this book. Absinthe, crazed artists with a seriously surreal streak, more absinthe, Bloewdd, The Owl Service, lots of green, and why it might be better not to go home with someone you just met 'cause they might, you know, be an immortal primary source or an escapee from he local mad house down the moor are all present. The narrative style reminded me of Possession but more disjointed and less landscape oriented.
***
Snow-Walker, Catherine Fisher (505pp) I don't know why but I do seem to be reading an awful lot of Snow Queen stories lately. Snow-Walker which for some reason I had thought was set in Russia is in fact set in Norway. The America edition is actually the collected three volume series originally published in England and this explains why there seemed to be an inordinate amount of recapitualtion and a slight disjointedness in the narrative. However that minor hiccup aside each of the tales is a good read and reflects a different source: volume one The Snow Queen, volume two Beowolf, volume three East of the Sun and West of the Moon. They are based lightly on these tales and are definitely evolving quest stories. Snow-walker is the "youngest" feeling tale I have read so far of Ms. Fisher's work and I am curious how The Oracle Betrayed will be. I did like that Raven Wraiths. I wonder what would happen if they and the Crow Girls met?
****
One of the children learned today why rolling a skein of yarn into a ball is best done after carefully placing the skein around something before winding first. After an hour and a half he still had a tangle to sort out. At least it smelled pleasantly of oranges, as it had been dyed with Koolaid the previous week for our school auction :)
****
Oh and Angel Sanctuary, GodChild and Cain Saga (all the latest volumes are at the Powell's watrehouse! So I'm going to order them to have something to read on my way to Prom! If you're on the plane I'll be the one reading the book about angels being mean to each other and Gothic Lolitas loose in Victorian England poisoning people***CV

Desert Aslan

I have decided to make part of my prom outfit: the wrap portion. Last night Chris was kind enough to send me some links to look through in my quest for the perfect "oh my god it's 98 degrees at 6pm" shawl.

Did I mention the Prom is in AZ? Yeah, and me with that lovely could be whiter than snow white complexion. Plus the notorious habit of hot states overcompensating for the external temps by creating an indoor ice polar twin. A shawl is in order.

I have less than a month. I thought I should be realistic. I've decided on the Handsome Triangle from Victorian Lace Today in Helen's Lace colourway 'Aslan'.

I sense that reality and I may be drifting apart.***CV

Pieces and Bits

I saw the most amazing table today. It was a round table with a clear glass top about 3 feet in diameter and the support were these metal tubes that had been twisted together to represent a leafless tree. A friend and I sat at it this afternoon while working on Eunny's entrelac sock pattern. I figured out how to cast on for the toe, now I just need to work it for another 3 rounds or so and then I'll begin the tiering.

I want that table.
**
I intensely dislike Paypal. I attempted to pay for a purchase and it kept telling me to retype the spam code. Bleh. Not case sensitive my foot.
***
A trip to Powell's is in order. Hikaru no Go and Cain Saga are in the warehouse so I need to go and ask them to get it shipped to the store so I can buy them. I also want to see if they have the Pillowbook Man in stock.

I think I'll finish Ambergate tonight.****CV

Knitting Netsuke

I started the Green Glass Sea today. I hope to have a synopsis or review tomorrow.

Of course the leafing through pictures of cute knitted figures may hamper said goal. And yes a tiny sheep was sacrificed after being rescued first from a curious feline. Oooo look! I can make my own knitted Unicorn. I sense a Peter S. Beagle tribute in the making here. Let me see if there are any harpies or red bulls ... perhaps a chattering skull ...... Or the cast of Watership Down. Bunnies!

Thank you Chris: Your beryl will be on its way soon :)***CV

sabado

Stranded knitting. Not so easy. Even more challenging when one is a left handed continental knitter being taught the two handed right dominant approach. But you know, life goes on.
**
I keep looking various teaching opportunities and there is one that really appeals to me but then I look at where it is and I think: I can't afford to live there. I suppose I can still send out an inquiry.

I am also makng an effort at the one day at a time approach and not thinking too much about packing, shipping, moving vans, house hunting. I remind myself that this is about the same time a few years ago when I was seeking a position and preparing for practical exams.
***
Meanwhile the Knitoff has begun.****CV