NOOOOOOO! The Sound of a Thousand Stitches Felting

This is why I prefer superwash, despite the million and one horrible chemicals needed to process the wool:

My Zoknis are now toddler-sized after an unfortunate meeting with hot water.

I'll just have to make more time to knit and replace them. They were a pretty fun knit, so I may actually reknit the same pattern. Or not. So many patterns... and thanks to school, so little time to knit.

I was leaving school Thursday when my academic director asked me to "help her out" preparing for Winter Camp (beginning 31 December). Well, since I'll be doing Jazz hands for a month if there is nothing planned, um, I guess I might as well help.

Help. To me that means, assisting. You know, supplementing someone else's efforts. I have clearly been operating under false assumptions.

The only thing "prepared" are the classes that use textbooks (IE no non-teacher prep required). So, by tomorrow (Monday), I am to have packets prepared for film discussion, writing, social studies, and a project class for each academic level. Hahahahaha. One might think that Winter Camp didn't happen at the same time each year.

I have decided that teachers can decide what their students don't need/ are not capable of doing (and can then remove from their packets). In other words, I'm basically going to prepare one packet for each subject. That's what you get with 72 hours notice. Sorry. I've got 16 hours of not-at-all-voluntary overtime (including Saturday, which is NOT a workday, nor is it being compensated at a higher rate than the rest) this week, which hasn't put me in a mood to kill myself working at home.

Merry Christmas to me.

Answer: Pfffffff-fff-ffff-fffffff-fft

Question: What sound do you not want to hear in an elevator?

You know, whenever my students tell me they go to etiquette hagwon, I always have a sarcastic chuckle to myself:

• Lesson 1- Sidewalk spitting
• Lesson 2- Properly blocking both subway doors when not actually exiting
• Lesson 3- Advanced elbowing
• Lesson 4- Supermarket bumper carts

I always assume that there is a limit to what Westerners consider rude, but Koreans consider normal. That line gets pushed farther back the longer I am here, but I always assume it's there, lurking in the shadows somewhere.

However, I got on the elevator the other day and what did I here? Not Jingle Bells! As soon as the doors closed, this guy, who had quietly (fart-lessly) been waiting at the elevator, let one rip that lasted several floors. It was all I could to not to turn around to see if he was leaning into it for added leverage.

Did he think I wouldn't know what was happening because he was behind me?

Santa Claus Came to Town

Okay, it was really my dad, but I think we already knew his true identity.

I got a great package from my dad and stepmother: a knitting book from Nicky Epstein, a retro Barbie to go with the book (unfortunately they gift wrapped it, so customs sliced the box with a box cutter to check under the wrapping), some KnitPicks yarn, size 9 needles, and cash! I have to say, getting cash makes me feel like a kid again. ;-)

It came at the perfect time-- I've been sick for about 10 days. Last week, I had a headache that would not go away no matter how many painkillers I took. This week, the headache has been replaced with a head cold and no voice.

Now, for some long overdue FO shots:

This is a Noro hat that I knit top down using a Feather and Fan stitch pattern over 72 stitches. I used an entire skein of Noro Kureyon (uhhh...153?159?), when it got close to to the end, I knit 10 rows of k2p2 rib. It only took a couple of hours.

My sister goes to LSU, so I knit her an LSU Tychus. This is from the yarn I got from the yarn and fiber company (free international shipping!) a couple of months ago. I could link back to that post, but that would take too much effort. Another quick, fun knit.

I finally knit up the MCY Eternity I got this summer and have been swatching with extreme regularity ever since. There was a mini-skein, thanks to a knot, that looks quite raveled and worn, but it all turned out all right. I used a scroll pattern, like the one used in various sock patterns, but I only wanted to have patterned legs. These were knit toe-up, of course. They are pretty tall, but I've got a lot of yarn left over. They are very pretty. The colors don't show up well in the photo, but there are all shades of blues from teal to periwinkle.

Since I finished the Eternity socks and was drooling over their perfect lack of flashing and pooling, I quickly balled up the other yarn I had ordered at the same time. NOT HAPPY.

You may notice that there are three balls in the photo. That is because the yarn came in three pieces. No knots, pieces. Still, the eternity socks are beautiful, so I cast on, undeterred. I got about two inches in and realized that I will have to alternate skeins (handily, I have pre-divided yarn), because the color repeats are too short and one side has no yellow. So, know I'm contemplating frogging and starting over, or living with a toe that will not match its mate.

If you know me, and most of you do, you know that I can live with a lot if it means the difference between starting over and carrying on. Toes stay in shoes, anyway...