Really? You are kidding, right?

My house was burgled last night, while we were totally home. Thief came in the back door and stole a laptop out of one of my children’s rooms, while we were making dinner in the front.

I am torn between all manner of emotions. Anger – I’m f*cking furious that someone would enter my home and steal from us. This person went into my child’s bedroom that she had just exited not ten minutes previously. Fear – what if they come back? Relief – at least my child was not in the room. At least they didn’t steal anything else. At least the cats did not get out through the door that was left open. Anger again – if I’ve said it to the kids once, I’ve said it a thousand times, lock the back door!!!

My daughter is now dealing with the loss of her entire culinary school portfolio, all her music, all her pictures, everything. She no longer has a computer for school, and is starting a block of academics that require writing every night and logging in to do assignments on the school website. We can’t afford to buy her a new one and we don’t have renter’s insurance. To make matters worse? The kids went in and out that door a few times after the burglary before I realized it and told them NOT to touch anything, so the crime scene person could not get any prints this morning. There went our hope of catching the thief/retrieving the laptop.

This is one of those, “we were lucky, it could have been so much worse.” issues and I’m well aware of it. So much so that I feel a little guilty for feeling so angry. But, I’m still really mad!

everyone wants TOAST

Another pair of “Toast” mitts, these in Funky Carolina handspun merino dyed up in the “Dollie” colorway that I spun earlier this summer. Some mods included a purled heart motif, cute flower buttons, and ribbing to keep the edges from curling.

I’ve done a couple more hats in the meantime as well, and this one is my favorite so far:

It reminds me of a wheel or a mandala and might be my favorite hat ever, not just of the most recent finished goodies. Knit up in handspun (also Funky C) merino/silk, in the “Greensleeves” colorway.

School continues to eat my brain. Which is probably better than zombies. If it were zombies, I’d be complaining.

I didn’t forget a musical shiny, it’s Tuesday after all!

I’m a little blue today, probably because I’m sick, so this seems appropriate:

It’s from the movie Sita Sings The Blues. You can find the whole thing on Youtube or if you google it in other places on the web. One of my favorite animated films, take an hour out of your life and watch it you’ll be so glad you did… The opening credits (below) is one of the best openers I’ve ever seen!

the hats, they just keep a’ coming…

Ysolda’s Icing Swirl slouch, knit up in a bulky thick n thin handspun art yarn that was gifted to me by Ms. Funky Carolina. Don’t know the name of the colorway, but I sure do love it!

I also knit up a quick snood in some handspun (also a Funky Carolina blend of bamboo and merino fiber – the colorway is “Daze” and I spun it up earlier this year) that was quickly appropriated by Daughter #1. Daughter #2 is modeling it.

There’s 3″ of a lace slouch in more Funky C handspun on the needles. Don’t know why I’m on such a knitting kick, probably something to do with the change of seasons and my desire for more variety in headwear. I have something on my head anytime I’m out of the house, and I do get tired of scarves. Some cute winter hats are exciting!

No, I didn’t forget the musical shiny… it is, after all, Tuesday…

the days, they just fly by…

I am so squeeful about it being cooler weather, there really aren’t words. It is comfortable to knit, comfortable to spin, fun to work with fiber again! Suddenly, things are getting finished and bumped off the Ravelry queue. Yep, feels like knittin’ season again…

I finished a hat! Here modeled by the gorgeous #2 offspring:

The hat itself is made of some handspun that miss Funky C herself spun me – some kind of mystery wool, perhaps ultrafine merino (it is just that soft), with a brim of Beaverslide Dry Goods worsted (doubled). The pattern is Knitty’s Foliage.

I tried to be clever and knit it as a slouch, but was defeated by two things. 1, I ran out of handspun. 2, I didn’t decrease enough at the brim. That’s okay though, it looks fantastic and I’m happy it’s a little big because it slips right over the Jew-fro with no pouf, but still sits snug enough to stay put. That’s a valuable attribute in a hat, trust me.

We are on our second round of illness in less than two weeks. Last week a virulent norovirus, this week people are waking up with no voices, throats raw and sore, sneezing and coughing. WTF, I think, and am starting to rethink my stance on getting everybody the flu shot this year. I think maybe we’ll all go in for the regular seasonal shot and the H1N1 vaccine. We had a pretty good winter last year, moving out of Casa de Slumlord really helped us all stay healthy, but there seem to be badder than usual bugs floating around this term. Plus I’m in classes and everyone is coming to school sick, swine flu is in full swing at my happy college campus, so short of going to lab in a hazmat suit, I think the shots are a wise idea. Now if I can just get us all healthy at the same time, so we can drive to the Dr. for our jabs… due to missing lectures and illness, I got my first B in Anatomy class, which was horrifying and disappointing, but I am still carrying an A average in the class and I will wrestle it back up before the end of term. Algebra continues to get positively surreal at times. Today, we visited the Island of Dr. Moreau, and did a little genetics 101. My math teacher was trying to explain relations and functions and how they operate with their own kind.

He says: “So you have a hippo. Which is like a function. Well that hippo can operate with other hippos. They can have a candlelight dinner and a little while later, there will be one baby hippo that is unique in all the world. A relation is a giraffe, a hippo cannot operate with a giraffe.” and he goes on to write some stuff out on the board, f of x, p of x, f(x), p(x), p times x, and, stuff.

me: “Well you wrote one problem p(x) and the other f(x) and those are not the same, can they have a candlelight dinner?”

prof: “Those are still both hippos. One is just wearing a different outfit.”

me: “But… f… looks different… it is not p….”

prof: “p(x) is a hippo, because it is written p(x), like f(x) so it is the same. Unless it is p times x, in which case it is a giraffe. No dinner.”

me: “What if it is a very flexible giraffe?”

prof: “No.”

me: “In fabulous platform sho-”

prof: *interrupting* “NO.”

me: *sulking* “That’s speciesism.”

prof: “ABOUT those functions.”

me: “So you’re saying a hippo can only go out with other hippos.”

prof: **longsufferingsigh** “Yes.”

at which point one of my classmates goes, “But… wait. p(x) and f(x) look totally different.”

prof: “Right. But they’re both hippos. functions. Hippos. FUNCTIONS, people.”

classmate: “So they can have a candlelight dinner and operate with each other?”

prof: *sigh* “I regret ever starting this. Right.”

Me: *helpfully chiming in* “But not with any giraffes, not even flexible ones.”

**math teacher almost chokes to death**

Clock: “time to leave”

Everyone: “Thank god.”

Math teacher: *stands there looking at the board like he’s not sure what just happened*

Sometimes I feel bad for my poor math teacher. But then I think that maybe that’s why he says we’re his favorite class. I tipped my desk over during a test yesterday, while I was still in it. Twice. That was maybe not my favorite math moment ever. And then my phone went off. He says I have to bring donuts for everyone. I should ask him if he wants me to bring extras for the hippos.

#1 Daughter continues to enchant and amaze with inspired creations:

That’s sugar. She heated it up to over 300 degrees and twisted it into shapes before it cooled off.

I can’t wait to see what she’s doing in a few years, with a little fine tuning and experience under her belt. I think she will be doing some very pretty things.

It’s alchemy, really.

The joy of fiber is that you start with a wad of unspun fluff. Apply twist. Ply needles. Et viola. Magic.

What Light…

…becomes Toasty.

Yes, it is the annual “Oh hell, the holidays are coming, time to use up the handspun I did last spring…” panic of trying to find a quick and easy but fun project to inflict, er, give to my loved ones over the winter gift giving holidays, the one where half finished handspun projects litter the living room and my family makes helpful suggestions like, “You know, you could totally just buy Grandma a pair of mittens at Target for like, five bucks, right?”

February Lady and Tuesday shiny

here she is, unblocked and without buttons!

She has since been blocked and buttons added, but, we don’t have pictures of that yet.

And in honor of the precipitation we are supposed to get tomorrow (which hopefully won’t bring the burned parts of the San Gabriels down upon us…)

Tuesday Musical Shinies

And yes… there might be a theme here. It’s been an interesting couple of weeks, for some senses of the word. If you’re using interesting in the curse sense, anyway.

I like the idea of a blog series. Even if you haven’t got something profound to say, there’s always something to share… So I’m going to do a Tuesday blog series of musical shiny things I like, until I get bored or until I run out of shiny things to share.

what a long, weird month it’s been

I just realized that it is exactly one month since my last post, one month since the hills above our cottage were on fire, one month in which a lot of stuff has happened.

The Station Fire is over, but the hills and mountains above us still resemble a lunar landscape. Not much up there survived and the winter rains will bring mud and slides – the Forest Service is hard at work getting ready for that, of course, but locals are a little worried all the same. Every time I drive up our hill, I feel sad all over again, seeing the earth laid bare like that. It will take some years for it all to recover.

I found some time in the past few weeks and finished my February Lady Sweater, the one I knit in DiC Classy “In Vino Veritas”. Buttons must still be acquired and blocking still has to take place, but it fits nicely all the same. I wore it out to a knitting party this afternoon and it got many compliments. Pictures forthcoming after I find where my offspring hid the card reader it is done blocking. I’m quite pleased with it. The sleeves are a bit shorter than the sweater pictured on the pattern site, but I tend to shove my sleeves up and so I just ended them right below the elbow. That’s the olecranon process for you anatomy students.

Of course, I immediately cast on for Mr. Greenjeans, using the BMFA Twisted in “Tlingit” that I bought last Christmas. It may take me a year to finish, but I’m really excited about it, it is great yarn and a super cute cardigan.

I’m about 2/3 of the way done with the second handspun sock, so hopefully pics of that will be forthcoming as well.

Knit blogs are boring as hell without pictures, aren’t they? Well I’ll do my best to locate the card reader and remedy the situation. In the meantime, I’m alive, we’re all still breathing here at Casa Way Too Many Tuxedo Cats (and a Holstein Cat and a Beige Cat and one timid dog.)