Finished!

Yes, I'm finished - in more ways than one:

The bad: my respiratory system - 2nd cold in 3 months, which is very unlike my usual illness cycle. I'm taking tomorrow off from work and hibernating.

The good:
Finished a baby blanket:

Luca baby blanket
Yarn: Plymouth Jeanne in light green and white. The stripes are each exactly one skein wide, with the top and bottom border the only exception.
Needle: US Size 9 (5.5 mm)
Size: 24" x 32" (but very stretchy)


Almost finished a scarf for my secret pal:

Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf
Yarn: Baby Twist (alpaca with a twist) in a steel blue color
Needle: size 7 dpn
Size: about 4" wide, projected to be 60" long
Pictures tomorrow.

I "finished" off one of my former students, who is currently in 8th grade (my campus only goes up to 5th grade). She comes to hang out in the library while waiting for her younger sister. Two days in a row, she tells me I have to read a YA novel called Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. Haven't had a chance to get to the bookstore yet... Then she sees a ceramic pitcher I have on my desk with a picture of Babar on it. "Who's Babar?"

"What, you don't know who Babar is? You have to read about Babar!"
"No, it's a kid's book!"
"Okay, let's make a deal - you read Babar, and I'll read Tunnels."
"Deal!"

So she starts to read Babar, and I get an idea. There is another book called Tunnels, by Gail Gibbons, non-fiction easy reader, about the process of building tunnels for transportation.

"I'm done with Babar - not bad."
"I'm done with Tunnels too!"
"Hey!!"

Her mother, sister and I had a great laugh over the one I pulled on K. And yes, I now have a copy of the real book she wants me to read.

Off to hibernate...

Very Random Posting...

As Loopie Chick said "I'm not dead yet." And by the way, has anyone seen the month of March? I seem to have completely missed it this year!

Well, it's coming on the end of Spring Break, and I'm not ready for the end! There's way too much to do - especially knitting.

What has happened over the last month:

Made a few cards (and spent more money doing so - thanks Emy!) :









Went to Monterey Aquarium and got not very good pictures of lots of things - which I will not subject anyone to! The Dork took his really good DSLR camera with him and got very picky about framing his shots, with the result that not much was useful. But the day really was gorgeous!








Went to SoCal to visit family last weekend. Lots of stuff got sorted out - a good time was had by most people, most of the time. Got a couple pics of the cute nephews: Baby I is 9 months old and his big brother N just turned 3. (Sorry, these are pics from my cell phone.)










While down there, went to a book presentation (spur of the moment with my parents) by Jennifer 8 Lee (yes, her middle name is the number 8) about her book The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. It's a fascinating look at how non-Chinese a lot of Chinese food really is. The link is to her blog - she took pictures of the audience just like the Yarn Harlot does (without the sock, though), and I had to laugh at that. [However, I did finish one Midsummer sock for Hubby and warded off SSS by starting the mate while enjoying her presentation]. I'd like to spend a little more time at Nixon Library and explore a little more of the history. When you're living it as a kid, you don't really understand much about what's happening! We just didn't have enough time that afternoon, as Mom and I rushed off to my aunt's house right after the talk was over. Dad, however, stayed to get several copies and have her sign them.

Then there were the old coins hidden in various places, including a hideous plastic lion bank from when we were kids, and the safety deposit box. The librarian in me kicked in and I decided that we needed to know what we have. So I started inventorying and photographing them! I have no knowledge of coin values and many were not in great shape, but I do know that we had some coins that from the 1800s and early 1900s (buffalo head nickels and Mercury dimes, and silver dollars when they were really had silver content).

In other knitting news - there's not a whole lot, really! I'm excited to finally be on the last part of the second sleeve to my Twist. I was cautiously optimistic that I could get it done this week, but that hasn't happened (doing "work" stuff on vacation time - 4th grade research begins on Monday). The Blue Jay Shawl is also more finished than a month ago, but not quite done yet. Sigh! Pictures later when a) I'm more coherent; and b) there is sunshine for me to take them.

Wish us luck this weekend - I'm taking the Dork up to Chico on Saturday AND to San Rafael on Sunday for two different fencing competitions.