knit night comes through again.

Just when I thought my knitting life was becoming a long chain of blogless ripping of knitted items, knit night comes through.

I could blog about the guy in "my seat" at knit night. Undaunted, as he was surrounded by no less than nine knitters, he held his ground and became an audience member to the knit night play for nearly two hours.



There's knitnightMarc's crocheted amigurumi (is that redundant?) bear. On any other night, it would probably get top billing. It's adorable and I know I will be trying this once all knitting hope is lost (we're getting close to that-just saying)



Or I could blog about the joy that a ukelele/ipad combination brought to KnitnightJustine. Would that the camera had been ready when the uke first appeared.

She suggested that I wouldn't be getting either back that evening. I told her I could part with the uke for a day or two but it would be a deathmatch for the iPad. KnitnightMarc said "somewhere Steve Jobs is smiling." And I said "and Tiny Tim is twitching a little." where but here can you have Steve Jobs AND Tiny Tim referenced in the same blog post?



Also blogworthy is the result of Ceramic Thursday. I am pleased with my bowl. Mr. Sophanne, though he hadn't seen his yet, instructed me to purchase mini-reese cups and york peppermint patties so that he could show off his work at the train station today. So, while he might not want to do it again, there was some pride in the finished product. I'll share that once he brings it home.



Or, I could just snap one picture and say "figure it out."

Knit night field trip

Last night knit night had a field trip. We went to Fired Up in Canonsburg. Mr. Sopanne and Mr. KnitnightGina joined us. Mr. Sophanne and I painted ceramic bowls for ice cream or cereal.

Mr. Sophanne painted his so that it inadvertently looked like Chim Chim's hat. (the monkey from the Speed Racer cartoon) He believes that he could slip it into and archeological dig in Australia and it would be identified as traditional aboriginal art.



Mine is blue gray with swirly gwirlies on it. I forgot to take pictures.

Of course the excitement of the evening was the fact that the Mr.'s came. Now there are faces to put to names in the story.

The interesting part to me was observing and learning about men. I know how women make friends. I know how men and women make friends. I had never really seen two men meet and make friends for the first time. I can't decide if Mr. Sophanne was making conversation or cockadoodledooing. It felt like a little of both.

I'm sure that part of it was that he was immersed in a "less than masculine" (in his mind) activity and had more women than men around him. On the way there he told me that his brother suggested that he "tell her you're going to make an ashtray and start smoking if she makes you go."

It was fun to take a little step into the unknown. Our bowls will hopefully be done by knit night next week which will make for a much more exciting post. And our field trip catalyst (KnitnightTara) is already planning our next adventure which may or may not be a 2 hour archery class. Everyone should have a KnitnightTara in their lives. She's the one who says "someday we should....", and once everyone agrees in principle, says "let's do it on Thursday next week."

Maybe the blog can help.

Do you remember my teacher friend I made a video for? She's back in the hospital. I want to make another video that has teachers reading one line of a poem/inspirational something. They will agree to do it if I supply the material.It can have many lines, then individual teachers will read different lines and I'll put them all together for a video. I don't have anything jumping in my mind, story book, prose, hang in there sort of words. Maybe you do?

A new event.

I sit in a corner by the window seat at knit night. The window offers the illusion of space that my larger than normal need for personal space requires. Ironically, this window/corner seat usually leaves me boxed in by other knitters gathered around.

I had to get up to pee, stretch and realized while it was perfect timing for me- I had just finished a row- its likely that it might not have been such good timing for knitnightGina who had to move for me to continue. Thus came my newest invention. Synchronized Knitting. I can't believe no one's tried it yet. In fact, I'm going to guess that after I post this, my blog will be the top hit if you google "synchronized knitting."

I'm not exactly sure of the details as to how it would work but I am certain that we would hire knitnightRuth as our coach. We'll let her be the taskmaster, pounding the drum and shouting "Knit" and occasionally "Purl" while we follow her directions and chant the Volga Boatman's song.

I can imagine S.K festivals (or at least booths at fiber festivals) where knitters in themed costumes are judged based on project choice, musical selection, variety of routine, accuracy etc.

Other suggestions-or expanding thoughts?

10 days! Wow, I missed me.

Ten days and 2 holidays have passed and I have not blogged. What's up with that. All is well. Just living life these days. I like a blog with pictures so I collected my favorites of Mr. Sophanne- an homage of sorts. I wonder if an homage on a blog is called a blomage.

Mr. Sophanne was not supposed to do the Valentine thing- every day is Valentine's day with him and I'm not just paying lip service. He makes my lunch for me every day for crying out loud!

I made a visit to Aunt of Sophanne and we went to the casino and to lobserfest and it was great fun.

I yelled at some teachers over the intercom and told them they were giving me excuses like their students would give regarding a fire drill kerfluffle. Much to my surprise, we're all still friends. Mr. Sophanne says that probably since I never ever show the slightest bit of irritation that they took it seriously when I did.

I have a student teacher who is competent and teaching almost all of the classes which gives my brain time to breathe.

We've been walking the dog at the river and she has been a happy useless pile of dog in the evenings.

I'm in a bit of a knitting blah moment. I'm not really committed to anything except for laughing with everyone at knit night. Knit night might be taking a pottery painting field trip this Thursday. The boys are invited. Mr. Sophanne has agreed to come and play as long as there is another spouse there. We'll see.

Long Tall Chunky

That's the name of this pattern which ironically is done in fingering/dk weight yarn. I think it's so magical looking that I couldn't wait until it was completed to post it. Best thing still? It fit on the first go-round. No adjusting. Just perfect.



I think it's so delicate and hearty and I love it. The yarn is an Oregon Cormo from StitchJones' Yarnageddon. My oh my how I loves me a good yarn club!

Lunchtime Conversations

Conversation overheard at lunchtime last week- slightly condensed for ease of read.

"So, those horses I pass on the drive here, what kind are they?"

"Those are Clydesdales. In fact, you'll often see Amish people at the farm buying them. They get their horses from that guy but they don't like it that he cuts their tails."

"Oh, my dog has had her tail cut."

Me: Yea, but the horse tails grow back.

"My dog's tail didn't grow back, how can that be?"

I was so dumbfounded, I had no reply.

I told Mr. Sophanne about it and he said, "It's like someone cutting your hair versus someone cutting off your head."

This would be a lot funnier if it had been a conversation that took place between first graders and not between a special ed and a gifted teacher.

How to lower your blood pressure

At the end of the day- within a period of 45 minutes-

In two unrelated incidents I received notes from kids who forged their parents' signatures. I've dealt with one- I have the other to look forward to tomorrow.

I was nearly rear-ended while stopping for a school bus.

My blood pressure was up at the end of the day. (before the near vehicle miss) Teacher friends noticed it in my complexion and way of being. I was taking deep breaths, thinking about our connectedness in the universe and what really matters. It was working minimally.

When I came home, this was on our back porch (we added the finer details after I came home- an exercise that also proved effective)



I've declared it a snow otter pup named Oscar.

A sure way to lower your blood pressure is be married to someone like Mr. Sophanne who clearly has a telepathic ability to know exactly what I need when I need it.

How 'bout this?

Going shopping with "the girls" has never ever in my life been something that I associated with a fun and relaxing activity. For Aunt of Sophanne, it's been a way of life. In the past few years she's tried to induct me into the "going shopping" club as gently as possible. From what I have gleaned, it means looking at the offerings, walking slowly, stopping for a relaxing drink somewhere in the middle, maybe some lunch, not necessarily buying something. About the third time I went with her I noticed that my heart stopped racing with anxiety and that I could saunter if I tried really hard.

Fast forward. Yesterday MountainMama and I met for lunch. I had to pick up my resized ring at the mall and said "we could go shopping." After my errand was complete we were heading toward the shoe store (MM maybe needed some black shoes) when she said "You know how in high school girls sometimes just went shopping? Well, I was never really one of those girls." Relieved I confessed that I wasn't either but that we should try it and see how it goes. In my favor was the fact that while I don't like to shop for clothes per se, I always need a new pair of shoes.

What a relief to find that we shared similar shopping styles. My favorite part of shopping is finding the most absolutely opposite thing for myself or whoever I'm with, holding it up, and saying "How 'bout this?" I don't do this when shopping with Aunt because with 30+ years of fashion (or in my case lack thereof) between us, she might just like my opposite.

Yesterday Mountain Mama picked up a pair of shoes not unlike these (I link because I lifted the photo from this site and maybe you like them.)



I own two pairs of shoes in a given season. A brown pair and a black pair. Though this year, because of constant foot pain I mostly only wear the black pair-even with brown- so sue me. The idea that a person might have a pair of shoes to only match one outfit is foreign to me- and while I'm not judging others- slightly ridiculous.

Oh the joy when I realized I had a friend who shopped the way I did- focusing on the absurd rather than the practical. The first crack me up was the style and the color on my barrel-shaped body. The second crack me up came when I considered what kind of life I might lead if I did indeed dress only in red gingham.

Shopping with friends CAN be fun!