The Sinister Scribe

When I waved my wand-

mountains swayed on the spot and clocks’ hands spun too fast

When I waved my wand-

photos and pictures sprang to life within their frames

When I waved my wand-

the sun weeped embers from the sky and the moon shined radiantly

All when I waved my wand….

-:<>:-:<>:-:<>:-:<>:-:<>:-:<>:-

Sam wrote this poem and illustrated it all on his own. The basic idea came from Stuff and Nonsense by Pie Corbett. It is a neat book that has a poem on the left side of a spread, and notes to write your own version on the right. There are many different types of poems.

Isn’t it gorgeous? 46+ yards (3.9 ounces) of bulky merino goodness. Can’t you just smell the fiber fumes?!?

I can’t sell it. Beeeccaaaaauuuuzzzzeee, I can’t figure out how much to charge for it!?! Anyone have a formula handy? ‘Coz I am dain bramaged!

Time seems to have sped up since Thanksgiving so briefly, before I run and jump into bed, here’s what I’ve been up to:

1. julienned my thumb with the new mandolin slicer thingy
2. cat nearly died (foam-rubber addiction)
3. fiber order arrived from Spinning Bunny
4. decided to finally knit the bald dog a sweater
5. put Sam on the hook for his electronic time (meet the min daily educational hours or no doing)
6. Saf yeast arrived… can’t wait to bake with it
7. finally got my Ravelry invite

The last one would explain the time warp. Holey moley I could get lost in there! Organizing stash, projects, queue those in the wings, find groups of similar knitters, find more patterns to put in the queue. Oy vey! This is a very bad thing. Very bad.

I would show you some pictures of doggies sweater and fibery bits… but I can’t find the camera cable. It was just here earlier today. So you just get a pic of some gorgeous red fall foliage. (the yarn I’m spinning now is kinda that color, maybe darker)

So I leave you with this great article at Utah’s Daily Herald on homeschooling kids in college. The girl mentioned in the opening is 14. Sam is 10. Ohhhhhh, I need to go lay down now.

G’Nite!

PS. Baroness Boo, I WILL call you! No, really!

Remember the alpaca roving I spun up only 10 days ago…? Well, here it is all knitted up into a cap for my WDH.

Yes, that is a smattering of snow you see! Amazing to think we were outside playing in the nearly 60 degree weather just the other day.

And Happy Thanksgiving.

Our feast today consisted of:

Inari-zushi (like the wasabi tree?)

Chicken-Char-siu-bao

and a Shabu-shabu pot

We are all very full (of thanks) and tomorrow we have a more traditional American Thanksgiving dinner.

To give hand-made or home-made this holiday season …

I wrote a quick note to Susan at the Spinning Bunny about the yarn I had spun from her fiber. Well, she said it looked great put it on her Customer Creations page. I’m the second from the bottom on the left)

Squeeeeee! I feel famous!

Friday was Sam’s 10th birthday party. This is him with the coveted DS game “Shadow the Hedgehog.” Can you tell he was excited?

Instead of cake, I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and impaled the top cookie with 10 candles. This was served with icecream. Everyone seemed content with this deviation from tradition. Sam doesn’t really like cake so why should he have a birthday cake?

(Baroness Boo: Thank you so much for your call! We miss you and will try to call tomorrow evening)

Friday I also received in the mail 8 glorious ounces of merino top, pictured here with some of it spun into a 2-ply yarn. The Spinning Bunny calls this colorway “Sandstone.” By Saturday I had it nearly all spun up.  I plied the last bit with brown crochet cotton. The cotton disappears into the colors and the wool looks like boucle yarn. Kina neat. The two skeins pictured remind me of indian corn. I think I’ve talked myself into starting an Etsy shop to sell hand spun yarn. I’ve looked at several hand spun yarns out there now and I don’t think mine look too bad really. Whaddaya think? Would you buy these skeins?

Today I ventured into the local Asian market. Oh man! I’m glad I didn’t go there sooner. LOL! So many things I’ve been looking at online were there. Including a great mandolin slicer. Wowie! Zowie! I sliced many, many things very, very thin tonight. Don’t know how I’ve done with out one for so long. Best thing is that it was $7 cheaper there than online. Woot!

On a closing note: Today I challenged Sam to run one mile each day (on the dreadmill) for the next 6 days. Wish me luck! I gotta do something to start training for a 5K next year. :O

Been reading another homeschooling blog carnival and found some good (and interesting advise) from Wild About Math: How to get past stupid math mistakes

Under #6: Take Movement Breaks:

“juggling (Sheppard encourages students to learn to juggle as a way to reset their brains. I suspect that the left-right brain integration of juggling is helpful as well.)”

We do take “breaks” of some sort when things get to flustered. Usually go outside or something but the funny thing is that I have actually been considering teaching the kids how to juggle. At first just thought it would be something fun to do together. A quick google search turned up this site with some very helpful animation. Now to make some beanbags…

Monday this week we had a terrific “green hour” at Bear Creek Trail. This picture is of Sam-man. We’d call him green-man but well, the leaf isn’t green and he is… well, Sam.

There were shocking red leaves , several frogs, weird mushrooms, fuzzy plants, soft moss, rough bark, sweet smells and bird sounds. I did my best to point these things out but not dwell on them. Reminding myself that they’re usually listening best when they seem like they’re not listening at all. LOL! The kids ran and played.. shockingly harmoniously. I’m trying to start every morning with some outside time while it is still doable.

Tuesday we went to see a great storyteller at the library. Eth-Noh-Tec, a husband wife team, are actually out of San Francisco. I’m kicking myself for not taking their free workshop at the library on Monday. Robert was an amazing storyteller. I am thinking I might try to start memorizing some stories to tell to the kids. I want to work with Sam on public speaking. Maybe storytelling would be a good way to practice that without knowing it.

The kids have been playing together really well this week. I *think* the change is in Jessie. I could be wrong, but she just seems a little less “three” this week. ‘Course she is nearly four. Gasp! And Sam will be in the double digits next week. Ack!

Ok. Now I need a beer.