BOO!

Hey- THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all of the entries in my Halloween Costume Contest.

And the winner is Angela from Larksongknits

I really enjoyed all of the pictures and the costume descriptions.

I love blogland.

Mice are to Mr. Sophanne as Moths are to Wool-lovers. I think it has something to do with his Brooklyn background and knowledge of rats.

Last night we heard the skittleskuttle of teeny mice feet on our ceiling tiles. This happens every time the weather gets a little chilly. Annabelle the cat usually takes care of them while they're outside.

Mr. Sophanne overheard them and decided that he needed to put some mice-killing-stuff in the ceiling tiles. He dutifully banged on the tiles to let the mices know that he was coming.

Apparently there were a couple of deaf mice- or maybe they're sound sleepers. A squeak and a scream (not so much from me) later we had a pile-o- mice killing stuff all over the floor and Mr. Sophanne endured a mouse falling on his head.

There's a mouse in the basement-living room now. With the cat and the dog that we have I don't imagine the little feller will last long. I am not sure, however, how long it will take Mr. Sophanne to come back downstairs and enjoy the new furniture.

Exposure therapy may be the answer. More than once last night (and by more than once I mean about seventyleven times) he said "A Mouse fell on my Head. It wasn't as bad as I thought."

We did do a thorough job of cleaning up the mice killing stuff after the fact. By we, I mean I.

If you plan on doing that Halloween contest post for some scout's swag you've got til tomorrow to get it posted!"

eta- Mr. Sophanne just came downstairs, asked if I'd seen the mouse, beat his chair thoroughly and asked where the cat was.

the cutest pets ever

These rare moments happened during row six of the fifth panel of Oleva's Afghan.

keeping busy

This baby fern scarf by Jill Smith is an unassuming adorable little knit. I'm using Rowan Tapestry and it's my new favorite thing.

Sunday?

Sunday was the last post?

I've got nothing. Guess that's what happens when you're comfort knitting.

Waiting for some more traveling scarves to finish this KAL.

Fiddling with some mittens and scarves but nothing solid yet.

Waiting to give away some scout's swag cash on the Halloween contest.

Waiting for the election to happen.

That's all.

Oleva's Afghan

Lest you think there hasn't been any knitting- here's a fix for you.



Also there have been a couple of mittens in the marle yarn. I've come out of denial and realized- with the help of my friends- that the yarn is too busy for cables. Looking for a hat pattern that will complement the mittens from one-skein wonders.

This afghan is a testament to beauty in simplicity.

completely unrelated

I wanted to title this post "non sequitur" but really struggled with the spelling and didn't want to look stupid until the actual post.

Above is another Mr. Sophanne shot from working on the railroad.

On the other hand (the unrelated part) there's my job. At my school I see some kids twice a week. I see other kids 4 times every 3 weeks. There is one little glitch in the schedule that allows all 15 classes in the building cycle through my room and extra class every 6 days. While I have a guess, there is never any real certainty as to which class will be cycling in on a given day (complicated by the fact that I teach there 4 full days a week and the cycle goes over every day of the week).

We call this class "exploratory." I use the time to do things I might not otherwise have time to do. Over the past 2 months we've been making cool water/oil waves in water bottles to go with the water theme that's part of music class this year (my decision)

Having finished most of the waves I was faced with the next thing to explore. We've been exploring the microphone. If you want to crack a lacka yourself up and a half, slowly lead young children to a microphone. They will be afraid at first. In fact if you just start teaching school by talking into a microphone, they listen a little closer. I'm sure there's an entire sociological study based on this phenomena. BUT... once they get a taste of it and realize that it's not going to implode in their hands their imaginations start to go.

It started with "it's raining cats.." (they were being weather forecasters- possibly connecting to the water theme- forgetting the dogs.) Then it rained shoes. Then I was interviewed about what I was going to do when it started raining shoes. (duh.) Then it rained bombs. Maybe I should have not let this happen but you know, they see enough about war in their lives (it's been going on for nearly their whole lives). I was interviewed about what I was going to do then. I said, "Eat some ice cream."

I was also asked what I would do if King Kong came to life and if Godzilla came and wanted to battle him followed by a pterodactyl that scientists would recreate who would want to eat all of them. I let the interviewee know that K.K. and G were now good friends- they just vacationed together in Hawaii and that there was no way the pterodactyls were coming back.

Later we were told by another forecaster that it was raining cauliflower and we all better hurry up and start eating caulifuckers really fast. Fortunately I was the only one who heard what I was hearing. O.k. I might not have the scenery- but I've got some laughs now and again.

Mr. Sophanne



At Work.


I believe he and I have what are called opposite jobs.

What I learned yesterday

I can knit cables without a cable needle- being careful not to twist didn't work out like I had planned but no biggie- I was going to steek anyway


Crochet up the sides of steeking area.


Make sure you can see the ladders in the middle of the stitch to be cut.


Have at it. No biggie.


This giant swatch is in some water to be blocked and then I'll decide if the yarn is too busy for a cabley-jackety sort of thing with a zipper.

the tweed

That's what his friends call him. Not really.

All about the EPS. Yoke confusion clarified. Considering texture (cables) as a design element possibility. A steek with crocheted edges made easy.

The quote of the day from Mr. Flood himself. He said, "I like to knit." I said, "me too."

Costumes

As I was looking through pictures in search of a favorite costume, it occurred to me that I've worn some sort of costume all of my life. I don't think it has to be Halloween just to call it a costume. I was too lazy to scan and had to do some creative "light" editing to make these photos palatble.

This first picture is the only actual "Halloween" picture. circa 1975, Batesville Mississippi, I was a bum. You could change the channels on the t.v. behind me by shaking up a bunch of pennies.


Just after college at my first job, I often dressed up as a band director


Once I became a general music teacher I got to go to conferences where banquets were "costumed." I made these medieval "digs" with help from the Claw when it was time to insert the grommets in the vest.


Most recently I pretended I was hip new yorker in a photo taken by Mr. Sophanne


I didn't post any pictures of the groupie costume or the maid of honor costume. I was just too skinny then. It depresses me to look at them too long.

Maybe after Saturday I'll have a picture of me in my trendy knitting costume with Brooklyn Tweed

well-developed socks

So named because they were knit only during staff development sessions. It's Online something something that I bought in a destash from The A.D.D. Knitter quite some many months ago. (if you have never seen her stash, it's well worth the trip to Ravelry) The pattern the standard Sensational socks k3,p3 then k1p1. Knit on size #1's -60 stitches and a lovely little fit. The Dog- Liza Jane.