Third time lucky

In leiu of completing my chapter book prep and progress reports, I dyed the second batch of that crap baby blue yarn. WTF? I did the same thing that did not work the first time, because it was ever so slightly mottled and I wanted the effect to be similar in case I end up using the yarn for one project. This time, using the same methods and materials just with purple dye, it totally worked. Even though a crap load of dye washed out, the end that was stuck in the dye is deep purple, the other end (which NO dye siphoned up into) is very pale lavendar, because I briefly put it in the dye. I'll post pics when it's dry.

Remember that first batch of yarn I dyed? Scroll down to see the beginning of a project. Well, I finished it and submitted it to Magknits. REJECTED. Yes, I'm a loser. I may try Knitty before I post it as a free pattern. Speaking of which, I haven't forgotten that I'm supposed to post that sock pattern. However, I am having trouble posting the chart, so I'm going to have to type it out. But I digress, I'm trying, in my female way, to disect and analyze every word from the editor of Magknits. She said it was creative, but she already had commissioned several wristwarmers. so now I must determine if she is damning me with faint praise or not.

Fortunately, I haven't been a total slacker the past few days. I've knocked out about forty progress reports, so I'm knee deep in faint-praise damnation ("your child's youthful exuberance keeps me on my toes" = "Ritalin. Seriously. Heard of it?"). I'm just kidding about the ritalin, of course, so don't start with the lecture about non-parents telling parents how to raise their kids. I rarely take an aspirin, so I would be unlikely to pump the fruits of my womb with catatonia-inducing pharms. However, I would be likely to send them outside to run, bike, rollerblade, something, anything which help burn off some of that youthful exuberance.

My little students don't have time for physical pursuits, though. Most of them don't get home from after-school school until well after dark, anyway. I'm not going to tell parents how to raise thier kids, but do they really think their child is actively learning for fourteen, fifteen hours a day? Some of my students go to classes on Sundays now. At least some of the lucky ones go to classes like craft school (formerly called "playing with mom time" or "Scouts") and science experiment school. The majority go to the usual suspects, plus memorization school (to get the most out of the other schools, of course). Secretly, I think most of the schools could be any subject, because they are really "get out of the house" school. To which I would simply like to point out that the park is, technically speaking, out of the house. Okay, now I just have to find a way to work that into a progress report. I've got about a quadrillion more to write, so I'll keep working on my phrasing.

In other news, as a result of my newfound love of dying yarn, I ordered 12 balls from Knitpicks for my mom to smuggle over for me. Is 12 balls enough to need to pay duty? Hahaha. I've lived in Korea since 1998. In probably 20 trips into the country, how many times have I seen a customs agent at his post? One. On that momentous occassion, as soon as he was free, the next passerby was sent to him. Everyone else? Waved through. Wouldn't want to create a line. Every now and then the paper prints stories about foreigners smuggling in drugs. Shocking, what with the ace security and all.