In which trek would rather knot

Last night, I pulled out the left front panel of the cardigan to show Number Guy. He was suitably impressed with how the ribs now flow into the cables instead of abruptly stopping and picking up again someplace else. While I was admiring my handiwork, I was also describing to Number Guy how on the first go around that I thought that I might have made a mistake because the cables didn't seem to be crossing exactly as a Celtic knot does. Then I gasped.

The cables in the current cardigan construction do not comply with the credo of the Celtic knots.

I pulled out the charts and started carefully examining them. I also called up the project pages over on Ravelry to examine other knitters' work.

Fortunately for my sanity, I am following the charts correctly. It turns out that this pattern does not precisely follow the rules of the Celtic knots. Instead, it rather, sort of approximates them.

My inner knitter is currently coping by stroking the ruffled feathers of my Celtic genetics and assuring my inner Celt that it is okay to allow some strands to participate in an unholy unorthodox under-over-over pattern occasionally.

We are experiencing an uneasy truce here, but I am supporting my inner knitter on this one since the only other alternative would be to rework each and every bit of the main chart and, at the moment, I'd rather knot.

# # #

In completely unrelated news, I checked my college email account this afternoon and turned up a real winner...

To: professor trek
From: Student With Comprehension Issues
========================================

For the ethics research paper we pretty much just write about anything about the subject?

# # #

Oh, yeah, sure. Write about anything you like. It isn't like I expected you to follow the directions I provided at great length and in excruciating detail during the very first class meeting.

# # #

To: SWCI
From: prof trek
========================================

No. You look up your topic on the syllabus. Topics are defined in the grid on the last page of the syllabus and topics are assigned corresponding to the first letter of your last name. The information you need to start your term paper research is in the textbook.

Any student who turns in a term paper on the wrong subject automatically earns a zero.

# # #

Yes, I did feel it necessary to add that last sentence as a warning shot across the bow: I have had at least one student a semester so far turn in a term paper which was off-topic in one way or another..

# # #

Butterscotch

Some days, when you are a parent, you find the darnedest things in the darnedest places. Like a full water bottle in a bedroom closet, the child to whom it belongs having no memory of leaving there. Or crayons under the couch.

Or Butterscotch in the pantry cupboard.

Butterscotch in handknit stole.
Use #85 for spring clips.
Who knew?

WNBP-AWE

Welcome to Wednesday Night Bullet Posting - Ash Wednesday Edition.

• I've not read a lot of new titles yet this year.



• The library's not been terribly forthcoming with new stuff.
  
  
• I am re-reading The Dresden Files, though.



• The next book comes out soon.



• On Friday of last week, I received an email from one of my student's parents regarding said student's performance in my class. Parent of Struggling Student first thanked me for the "heads up" regarding the situation.



• Please keep in mind that these are college students and therefore the warning notices go directly to them not to their parents.



• PoSS expressed distress over SS's struggles and wanted to know just how much difficulty SS is actually experiencing.



• PoSS went on to inform me that there would be heck to pay if SS fails this class because there are two computer savvy people at whom who are (apparently) willing to help SS.



• PoSS didn't use the work heck, actually.



• I'm quite certain that you know exactly which word was really used.



• I did not answer this email. In fact, I have no intention of ever answering this email or any others like it.



• I refuse to respond to helicopter parents.



• See previous clicky on college students.



• I told SS that I will not acknowledge PoSS's email. SS seemed a bit embarrassed at PoSS contacting a professor.



• SS, by the way, has been studying and scored top marks on today's exam.



• Let's all hope that SS studies as hard for next week's test.



• Four students commented on how taking the practice test really helped them to do well on today's exam.



• You think?



• Since we had the test in class today, class finished up a wee bit early. I took advantage of this early dismissal to take a nice little walk before Neatnik's arrival by school bus.



• It is still winter and the temperature was only 37°F but that's why I own gloves.



• I have noticed that you cannot knit while wearing gloves.



• After school, Neatnik was up for some walking so we adjourned to the local mall. Each "lap" of the mall is a mile.



• We walked two laps.



• Two laps of the mall is a full sock's worth of gusset decreases.



• Gloves are unnecessary inside the mall.



• I created a spreadsheet to track my walking mileage.



• There are cells for miles walked each day, weather conditions, and also for a running total.



• There's even a little table containing several possible routes and their mileage and descriptions.



• I think I am going to like this system.

I guess that's about it for tonight, except to day thanks to the folks who mailed us Box Tops for Education. I'm going to count them up tomorrow night and send them to school with the Neatnik on Friday morning.

Modifications

It's a good thing that I like to knit. Otherwise, I might be unreasonably annoyed a wee bit upset this morning. I'm not complaining or anything, mind you, but certain things really should be brought right out into the bright light of day for all (knitters) to see.

After ripping out nearly eleven rows of cables plus the increase row on the left front panel of the cardigan yesterday, I pulled out pencil and paper and attempted to determine which M1 increases should be done knit-style and which should be done purl-style. I created a mapping between the existing k3, p3 ribbing and the stitches as they would be worked in the first row of the two charts. Armed with the mapping, I worked the increase row and then the first two rows of the charts. Then I looked at what I had and I still wasn't pleased. As it turned out, it was the same as I had done the first time.

I went back to Ravelry to look a little more closely at the pictures there and then I made my way over to the project pages and that's when I realized that I had been working the pattern exactly right from the beginning. The featured photograph against which I had been comparing my work was not knit according to the pattern.

Yup. And not only was it not worked according to the pattern's directions, the knitter hadn't mentioned modifications in the Ravelry write up. Surprise!

I asked Number Guy to take a look at a couple of the pictures. At first, he said that it's knitting and he couldn't help. I insisted that he could since all I was asking him to do was simple pattern recognition. He agreed.

I showed him some of the pictures, explaining what I thought I was seeing. He affirmed my impressions. Then he made a suggestion.

It was a good suggestion. It was a suggestion that was already whirling around in my head. And not on the back burner, either. It was a suggestion that I really didn't want to follow but I think I must.

Number Guy pointed out that if I continue from where I am right now, I won't be happy with the finished product. He also pointed out that ripping out a total of three inches or so of knitting is far better than ripping out the entire front panel on some future date.

When he's right, he's right.

I really need to rip the whole thing and cast on anew. My plan is not to have an increase row at all and not to work k3, p3 ribbing on the front panels at all. Instead, I'm going to cast on the number of stitches of the full width of the panel, work my ribbing on the smaller needles, and make those ribs morph directly into the the strands of the cables.

This is going to be better than the ribbing specified in the pattern. There will be more continuity.

I only wish that I'd "seen" this sooner. Or that the knitter whose sweater I was viewing had noted the modifications employed.

Forgiveness

It's been rather a while since I've taken on a large project with lots of cables. Yeah, sure, I kicked around a couple of cast-ons for a Rogue Hoodie, but they ended up going nowhere. The two different yarns I swatched up for the Rogue ended up becoming the Stóra Dimun shawl and the 4-S.

The last adult-sized cabled sweater I knit was a Kepler back around Christmas of 2005. Given this rather largish gap in cable sweater production, I think I can be forgiven for a few things.

Things such as:

• Forgetting that working cables with really dark yarn requires patience.


Yes, I sort of failed to remember this little detail. Failure to remember this minor peccadillo of the dark yarns resulted in having to recross a cable on the fly two rows later last Friday. And a bit of language unbecoming a knitter.

Fortunately, I was alone here at chez trek at the time except for Little Feet and only the Almighty could have heard what I said.

I have since apologized to Him and I think we are okay on the foul, scatological language front at the moment. This is, of course, subject to change if the knitting goes south.

I need to work on that.


• Not realizing that since cabling without a cable needle is a more recently acquired technique, I should not take it for granted.


I have to periodically remind myself that I only recently started cabling without the assistance of the little bent aluminum twig called a cable needle. Sometimes, I get so impressed with my cabling without a safety net that a stitch threatens revolt.

So far, I've been able to nip this sort of stitch anarchy in the bud - but it's been close a time or two.


• Thinking that knitting a flat piece on circular needles is no different than on straight needles except for the fact that you can't accidentally drop an empty needle.


I really, really deserve some slack on this one. I'm knitting a flat, left front panel. No one in the entire universe will be able to tell that I am using a 32" circular needle instead of a couple of long straight needles.

But is just isn't the same.

When you are knitting on straights and a stitch (or four) tries to go AWOL during the Texas two-step which is cabling without a needle, you can just prop the needle on your knee and slide the stitches more firmly onto the needle.

Not so much with the circular needle.

Some additional care is required. And occasional forays into warping the space-time continuum. But that's another issue entirely. One with which I have had less than stellar success in manipulating.


• Over-thinking (or under-thinking?) the pattern directions.


There I was, having completed the first seven rows of the left front panel. The pattern then instructed me to "work 10 sts, [M1, work 5 sts] 6 times, work to end".

Silly me. I thought, "Gee, if I am working ribbing and I need to do these increases, I should do them as the stitches are presenting themselves. I should work M1 as purl when I've got a purl stitch and as knit when I've got myself a knit stitch."

I was very proud of myself for thinking of this.

Until this morning.

When I was nearly finished with the eleventh row on Charts A and B and I looked at the bases of the cables in Chart B. Something looked a wee bit, well, off.

I looked at the picture that came with the pattern. It looked a little different from mine. Perhaps I should have checked the charts before deciding which stitch should be made the purl way and which should be made the knit way? I quickly surfed over to Ravelry to inspect the pictures there. Yup. Same thing.

Looks like I shall be ripping
out 10¾ rows of cables today.

No, this really wasn't the kind of blog post I planned for today, however, we work our fodder as it presents itself.

Thinking

Neatnik had a late night last night. It was World Thinking Day and her Daisy troop was participating locally. The theme had something to do with disease prevention and treatment, which we discovered upon arrival. Mostly, though, the troops focused on foods native to various countries.

Neatnik's troop was representing Sweden. Their foods were meatballs, lingonberry jam, and chocolate.

I really liked the decorations in "China":

I love blue and white pottery.

See the fortune cookies?

We were less than excited about "Mexico's" display, but what perfect blog fodder, eh?

They even had an ad for the pink stuff!

There wasn't an opportunity to knit while we were there, but Neatnik had a wonderful time.

I tried to make up for the lack of Friday evening knitting this morning by casting on the back of the cardigan. I managed just nine rows amidst the usual Saturday errands.

I don't think much more progress is in the cards for today, either: though normally, a Neatnik nap should be good for some knitting, my left arm is currently being held hostage by the sleeping unit. And I haven't yet mastered knitting without it.

In which trek sews (more) table linens

Some days, you just need a quick little project. Today's quickie project was a set of napkins and placements for Neatnik to use for school lunches.

Four napkins and two placemats

The first napkin and placemat have turned under hems and mitered corners (like on the right in the photograph below). I decided that I wasn't entirely happy with these because they have quite a bit of bulk at the edges and especially in the corners.

For the remaining items, I pinned the fabric pieces right sides together and sewed a seam very close to the edge, around three and a half sides. Next, I turned the fabric right side out and ironed the edges of the gap towards the inside. Then I top stitched all the way around the four sides (like on the left).

Clicky for a better image

So that's how Neatnik and I spent our afternoon. Now, we are off to a scout program where the girls will all get to taste samples of ethnic dishes from all over the world. Sort of Daisies do Epcot but without the airfare.

Recently...

A flu report was recently released...

Why, yes, I *do* have a sore throat today. Is it the flu or the goo?
Lots of stuff is transmitted via these here Interwebs, you know.

A local house was recently resided...

Hey, Chris, this one's for you,

A cardigan was recently cast on...

but this one's for me!
(Ravelry link)

I decided to go with the size small. In the worst case, I'll have to frog and reknit the medium but according to the evil gauge swatch, the small is the correct size. By the way, this is a deep, dark, bittersweet chocolate brown cardigan, not a black one.

Now, I am craving a nice, smooth, creamy, decadently rich, dark chocolate truffle.

Planning skills

When I started teaching at the local community college, it was with the understanding that I was working part-time. In fact, the college has a policy which states that an adjunct may teach a maximum of eight credit hours in a full length semester.

My course load this semester is exactly eight credit hours. I teach for four hours on Monday afternoons at the main campus and four hours on Wednesday mornings at the learning center on the far side of the county.

Of course, this is the amount of time I spend actually in class. I just finished up a full day of ancillary work. A very full day. Twelve hours of fullness.

Naturally, a day in which I am completely and utterly submerged in teaching responsibilities is the day where something else just has to work out counter to plan.

My wristwatch has an alarm feature. I really like this little feature because its one of those alarms which you can set to Daily, Weekdays Only, or Weekends Only. My watch beeps at 2:30, Monday through Friday to remind me that whatever it is I am doing, I need to wrap it up so that I can wait by the front door for Neatnik's school bus.

Yes, it also doubles as the Last Chance to Hit the Head alarm, too, since you asked.

Today, the alarm beeped and I wrapped up a few loose ends. Then I posted myself near the front door, to keep my solitary vigil. And then, I waited. And waited. And waited.

I never saw Neatnik's school bus. Fifteen minutes past her normal arrival time, I called the bus company. They, in turn, radioed the driver. I was told that Neatnik did not get on the bus this afternoon.

?!

I immediately called the school. Luckily, today is CCD day: there was someone in the office. I was assured that Neatnik was in fact at school and that she had placed herself in the After School Program Line instead of the Going Home on the School Bus Line.

I don't think I broke any speed limits en route to the school this afternoon, but I probably came close.

When I got to the school and collected the Neatnik I asked her what day today is. She promptly replied, "Tuesday."

Now, this child was home yesterday with Daddy all afternoon while I taught. She knows that I teach on Monday afternoons, not Tuesday afternoons. Still, Neatnik claimed that she thought that she was supposed to stay after school today.

We had a little chat on the walk to the minivan, during which I asked the child if she had noticed that I hadn't sent her with an after school snack. She admitted that, yes, she had noticed that little detail and so she had saved a little bit of her peanut butter sandwich from lunch to eat after school. Oh, and her pineapple chunks, too.

Knowing that my child is a slow-eater of the sometimes small appetite variety, who doesn't always finish all of her lunch, I said, "You mean you weren't hungry enough to finish all of your lunch at lunchtime, right?"

"No, Mommy, I saved it because I knew that there wasn't another snack for after school."

I take comfort in her planning skills: they'll come in handy when she's picking out my nursing home. Or sanitarium.

Birthday edition

I received a strange email today. It was so strange, I knew that I had to share it with the blog. So, let us begin tonight's Monday Night Bullet Post with that email, shall we?

• It was a Freecycle offer:

  Offered: Large stock pot. Not sure how may gallons/quarts it holds. Definitely large enough to cook a small child or at least a puppy (but please do not do this).



• This, then, begs the question: what breed of puppy? I could do up a nice little Chihuahua chutney in almost any of the pots I already own but can this stock pot you are offering accommodate an Irish Wolfhound stew?



• And just what sort of sick person suggests the capability to simmer a small child or percolate a puppy as a size estimator for a stock pot anyway?



• What if the person who picks up this stock pot disregards their fellow Freecycler's directive not to cook up a puppy? Can the person offering the stock pot still be held legally responsible? Could a lawyer successfully argue that their client would never have thought of boiling a beagle if it had not been suggested by the previous owner of the stock pot in question?



• You have to think about these things these days. Don't you remember the little old lady who sued for damages because her coffee cup didn't explicitly say that the contents were hot?



• If I ordered a cup of hot tea, I would assume that it was hot. I would only complain if I discovered that the contents of my cup were not hot.



• Just saying.



• Actually, the fact that many restaurants seem to try to steep tea at significantly less than 210°F is most of the reason why I do not often order tea with a meal.



• Discriminating tea drinkers will agree with me that 140°F is just not hot enough to macerate the tea leaves.



• You guys probably don't order tea out often, either.



• I didn't get my regular afternoon pot of tea today. I was teaching. On a federal holiday. While Number Guy was off from work and Neatnik was off from school. On my birthday.



• That was so not right.



• I'm not saying that everyone should get their birthday off from work. What I am saying is that, if your birthday should happen to fall on a federal holiday, you should not have to go to work.



• But I'm not bitter.



• We'll just go out for dinner on another night.



• It prolongs the birthday experience.



• And at least this birthday didn't involve a visit to the emergency room followed by major surgery.



• And Number Guy did almost all the laundry so that I didn't have to go anywhere near the basement stairs.

So, I guess that's it for tonight. Happy Presidents Day to my fellow Americans - whether or not you had to work today.

What kind of pony?

This afternoon, we took a bit of a drive. There were a few things which we needed from the Kitchen and Bathroom Store but then it was a really sunny but very cold day and we didn't feel like going home to just hang around. Eventually, we drove by a little bakery on a side street and Number Guy and I both laughed out loud. He reached for his camera phone but I had my big digital camera behind the driver's seat.

You would have laughed, too, since
it is only a few towns south of Asbury Park

# # #

The other day, I wound some yarn. Here is a picture of the yarn I have planned for a pair of felted clogs.

The heathered pink is for the uppers,
while the charcoal grey is for the soles and trim

I took the picture with this Portable Photo Studio setup. The photo equipment was my birthday present from Number Guy. From the web site, I thought I was going to absolutely adore it and that I would get awesome blog pictures using it but after today's inaugural shoot, I'm not quite feeling the love. What do you guys think? How does the picture look on your monitor? Should I give it another trial or two?

# # #

Neatnik asked me to remind everyone to mail their Box Tops for Education this week so that we can mount them on the collecting sheets and she can bring them to school. Anyone who still needs a snail mail address, please leave a comment or email me. Thanks.

In which trek researches

Number Guy and I decided that we would like to go out tonight. Actually, we decided this a couple of days ago which was pretty good timing because trying to get a babysitter on the day that you want their services is almost guaranteed to mean you are staying home that night and ordering pizza.

But I digress.

We would like to go somewhere for dinner tonight but we have a few restrictive criteria which must be satisfied. We want a restaurant which is not a tchotchke type chain and which is more couple-friendly than kid-friendly and which offers more than just seafood on the menu and which is nice but not too nice.

I started asking people around me for recommendations on Wednesday. A couple of them I was able to dismiss quickly, others required further investigation.

This morning, I spent over two hours online researching the restaurants suggested over the past two days. You can't very well Google nice, but not too nice, non-chain restaurants in my area which have less than half of the menu dedicated to creatures formerly living in the oceans and rivers but I did my best.

I discovered a restaurant a bit north of us that inhabits a former church, a restaurant opened by a fellow who originally planned to open a bed and breakfast, and several places which have recently changed hands and are under new management.

Eventually, I was able to narrow the list of just a couple of choices and consult Number Guy for some additional input. I think we've settled on a restaurant which was highly touted by the mother of one of Neatnik's classmates. The local newspaper listed it as best in the county for Mexican cuisine.

Olé!

Updated at 6:55pm: Babysitter bailed. Valentine's Day dining shall be rescheduled for a later date.

Oy vey!

Following up

Just a quick update as I had early classes to teach today and I am up to my neck in homework papers to be graded and I volunteered to cover another adjunct's classes after I finish up lunch duty at Neatnik's school tomorrow...

I finally got in touch with the vendor of the broken pizza stone. I called them this afternoon and their automated system set up a call back for this evening.

The nice lady who fielded my call asked a few questions during which interrogation conversation I admitted that I did not have a sales receipt nor a sales rep's name because I received my stone as a gift. Despite my lack of a receipt, she promised to send me a replacement if I send back a chunk of the fractured stoneware. I promptly agreed.

The smallest chunk of cookware debris is all wrapped up in a padded mailer and addressed and ready to go to the post office.

They will send a replacement as soon as they receive my shard.

Time to return to the grading responsibilities.

Whoa, dude!

There is a theme here today. It revolves around the phrase, whoa, dude! Allow me to clarify.

Incident the First

I was thinking about our DSL subscription this morning. You see, my technologically challenged mother emailed me that her homepage wasn't set to the high-speed broadband server's homepage. I tried to Google up the page she wanted. In the process, I discovered that our service provider had a rate posted that was two bucks a month cheaper than we are currently paying.

Now, two dollars all by their lonesome aren't all that much, I have to admit. Suppose, however, that you gather up a pair of Washingtons each month for the first eleven months of the year. When you reach December, you have collected almost enough to cover December's DSL bill.

I called our provider.

At first, the billing department service rep said that we couldn't have the lower rate. So, I politely requested a supervisor. It was well worth asking. I somehow got routed over to a supervisor in the cancellations department.

The nice lady in cancellations lowered our DSL service by, not two, but five dollars a month and locked it in: guaranteed no increase for a full year.

Whoa, dude!

Incident the Second

Back in December of last year, we decided to change our satellite package to one which was a lot less expensive since we really don't watch all that much television around here. We gained a couple of interesting channels including one that we really didn't want. On the other hand, we lost a couple of channels that we liked.

Number Guy and I decided that we would give the new programming at least a one month trial.

It is now more than two months later and we kind of missed a couple of the channels from our old programming. We also didn't think that whole channels devoted to serial killers and guns was particularly "family friendly".

I surfed over to our satellite provider's web site and I saw that they were running some promotions which were less expensive than our current plan. The old plans had been revamped but the promos on the package comparable to what we used to have also looked manageable. For added ammunition insurance, I also navigated over to their competitor's site.

Then I called our provider.

I could barely understand the first line service rep. Eventually, I was able to communicate to him that I was interested in potentially changing our plan but that I wanted to know what the best rate they could offer would be. He said that the promo on the web site was only for new customers and that I couldn't have it but then he offered to "see what he could do".

Apparently, he was authorized to offer to knock five dollars off our monthly rate. This was nice and I did appreciate it, but the plans' rates have increased since we made changes back in December and the competitor's rates were more attractive.

He poked around some more and then offered to transfer me over to a supervisor who might be able to give us a better deal. Okie-day!

The supervisor and I had a rather poor connection but she offered to call me on another line and things sounded better the second time around. I had to re-explain that I was considering upping our service but that their competitor was offering a less expensive rate than her service rep was able to offer me and could she be, well, more competitive.

She could: by the time we hung up, this supervisor arranged for us to receive the next higher tier of service but with no increase in what we are paying now and locked in the rate for a full two years.

Whoa, dude!

Incident the Third

Lest the entire blogosphere think that this phrase can only be used when unexpected good things bend towards chez trek, I must offer up a third incident from my Tuesday.

Number Guy and I like Alton Brown's Good Eats. Recently, Number Guy watched the Tort(illa) Reform. Alton was making corn tortillas but his point was applicable to flour ones as well: you can make them for really, really cheap at home any old time you like and they won't have preservatives or anything in the and you can make small batches that won't go bad before you finish them.

While Neatnik did her homework, I put together the ingredients. After sufficient kneading, I sectioned the dough into eight pieces, rolled each piece into a cute little ball, and set the balls on the counter to rest under a kitchen towel.

Twenty minutes later, I started rolling out the balls. I flattened one ball and put the floppy circle on my pizza stone in a 450°F oven. Okay, the first one was a little crispier than I'd like, so I reduced the baking time for the remaining circlets of flour.

Everything went really well for tortillas #2 through 7. Disaster did not strike until I was getting ready to take tortilla #8 out of the oven. I opened the oven door, looked inside, and was stunned: my pizza stone had suffered loss of atomic union. Where I previously had had one large round stone, I now had three, irregularly shaped pieces of stoneware in varying sizes.
Whoa, dude!

# # #

We are very pleased with the reduction in our monthly billings for both the high-speed Internet and for the satellite services. I am still not quite sure whether I should call today an instance of "ask and ye shall receive" or "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" but the negotiations were successful and it all turned out well - and with even greater savings than I anticipated. With respect to the pizza stone, well, it's a good thing it happened on tortilla #8 and not, say tortilla #3.

I am still on hold waiting to speak with a customer service rep regarding the fracturing of the stone.

In which trek shoots an eighteen

A Monday during which the thought processes are a little, shall we say, inconsistent and hard to follow, is surely a candidate for a Monday Night Bullet Post, if I ever met one.

• Yesterday was unseasonably warm here. Think upper-50°s to low-60°s. Quite a departure from the past couple of months, wherein we have been enduring enjoying lower than normal temperatures. It was also a blindingly sunny day.



• Neatnik and I took advantage of the sun and warmth by taking a nice, long walk. Did I mention that it was brilliantly sunny yesterday? We felt as though we were the ones emerging from the underground den.



• It was so nice that I didn't merely walk, I kwitted.



• Neatnik's sock now has completed gussets and the beginnings of a foot. That's a fair bit of kwitting, I'd say. Wouldn't you agree?



• After the walk, I had some parental volunteer duties at the school. I was very glad that I'd taken the walk earlier because by the time we finished, the sun was on it's way to bed.



• My students continue to amaze me. Today, I wrote on the board that we *do* have class next Monday, despite the fact that it is Presidents Day. I used a black, broad tipped marker and wrote in very big, bold letters. They demonstrated shock and amazement and asked if I realized that next Monday is Presidents Day.



• I told them that Neatnik and Number Guy both have the day off and it's my birthday and I don't get the day off.



• I advised the students that this means that I am probably just as thrilled with the schedule as they are.



• One student suggested that maybe we should postpone the exam, in honor of my birthday. Another proposed canceling class entirely in my honor.



• I do not have the authority to cancel class. Since I have to be there, we might just as well have the exam: it means I will not have to lecture that day. I still have to teach the tutorials, but at least I won't have to do the hour long lecture segment.



• The Hellgate: London game servers went offline forever on January 31st. This means that there is no more multi-player action. One can still play in single-player mode on one's own personal computer, however, the excitement of the multi-player adventuring party is lost.



• We were considering taking bets on whether or not some enterprising game programmer might be currently working on a game hack to enable players to play the game in a networked LAN party mode.



• No, I've never programmed games. Stock trading and other kinds of financial software but no games in my past.



• I miss my Blademaster character.



• sigh



• The library finally came through with some books I had requested. I read the first four Kitty Norville books in only a couple of days and I'm in the library's queue for book #5.



• Note to self: reading urban fantasy novels right before bedtime can result in dreaming of vampires and other creatures of the night. These creatures may be significantly more frightening when one is unconscious than they are during the daylight hours when one's eyes are wide open. Just saying.



• We are continuing to collect Box Tops for Education. I have to turn them in to the school on February 28th. If you are generously sending some my way, please email me so that I can make sure you have the correct snail mail address. Thanks again!!!

I hope everyone has enjoyed this little jaunt through my stream of consciousness and didn't get too confused or too lost on the way.

In which trek initiates Plan B

It's pretty quiet here at chez trek. Perhaps that is because both Neatnik and Number Guy are taking naps. She's up on my bed and he's sacked out on the couch. An odd arrangement, I'll grant you that.

Is it bothering me? No, not particularly. The nappage is giving me a nice little window of opportunity for posting the current state of my sock in progress and the amount of Koigu yarn remaining.

Take a good look at the sock in the picture. Notice anything a little "off" about it?

Other than that the sock is not
"off" the needles, that is.

Yeah, I thought you would. The toe isn't quite finished and there's only that wee, tiny little tail of yarn left. This is where the sock and I ended up last night. I am in the middle of a decreasing round. I shifted all of the live stitches to a couple of holding needles and weighed the yarn used here and the yarn from the second hank of Koigu.

Said second hank was slightly beefier than the first hank. By weighing the yarn balls ahead of time, I knew that I was starting the first sock with the (slightly) lighter hank. This was a really good thing, in retrospect: the second hank weighs about 1.4 grams more than this sock currently does. That translates to just shy of 5 yards or 15 feet more yarn.

Look at the sock again. Do you think that seven more feet of yarn would be enough to finish the toe?

It could be, right?

I have been forced to adopt Plan B. In case anyone else out there finds themselves in a similar Koigu-induced situation, it might help.

In any event, here is Plan B:

• Place sock #1 in a holding pattern.
• Work on sock #2.
• Knit sock #2 until it reaches the same dimensions as sock #1.
• Weigh the remaining yarn. Let's call this the yarn cache.
• Finish sock #2.
• Weigh the remaining yarn.
  • If the remaining yarn weighs at least half of what was previously in the yarn cache, there is enough yarn to finish sock #1.
    • Finish sock #1.
    • Celebrate.
  • If the remaining yarn weighs less than half of what was previously defined as the yarn cache, there is not enough yarn to finish sock #1.
    • Locate a contrasting sock yarn in the stash.
    • Rip sock #2 back to the same spot as sock #1 (above).
    • Reknit the toe of sock #2 with the contrasting yarn.
    • Knit the toe of sock #1 with the contrasting yarn.
    • Celebrate.
• Make a mental note that Koigu comes in teeny-weeny smallish hanks and plan accordingly for any future Koigu socks.

I should go now. If I do, I might have an opportunity to work on Plan B while the rest of the clan here is placing no other demands on my time.

In which Alice needs a new hobby

Last night, as I prepared myself for bed, I realized that something was a little "not right". I wasn't exactly sure what it was that wasn't quite "right", but then I crawled into bed and laid my head upon mine pillow and then it hit me - literally.

Alice had arrived. As big as life and twice as loud.

Not having the energy to do anything about her unwanted unanticipated presence, I told her to hush and tried to fall asleep.

This technique worked pretty well until about four o'clock this morning when Number Guy got tangled in the blankets and tossed around a fair bit untwisting himself. That's when Alice awoke me, complaining that this inn should have twenty-four hour room service. Despite trying to be a pleasant and courteous host, complaining, uninvited guests before dawn all receive the same treatment: a rather unwelcoming, unintelligible, gutteral growling.

Unfortunately, Alice herself does a fairly good impersonation of a Doberman Pinscher security dog. We entertained each other for the next two hours, until the alarm clock sounded.

What can one accomplish on a day when Alice is in town? Well, I can tell you one thing you cannot: you cannot go to a grammar school to serve lunch to nearly three hundred kids who cannot go outside for recess due to the continuing inclement weather conditions.

Yeah, I called out.

Instead of facing the minors, I graded papers for, and answered emails from, my students, each of whom has attained their majority, if not their maturity...

# # #

To: professor trek
From: Student With File Editing Issues
========================================
For homework assignment #2, I got the document to open up but can't figure out how to edit it. I don't know if I am missing a step or if i did something wrong.

# # #

Should I mention that the file in question is a Word document and that simply double-clicking on it in a Windows Explorer will open it up and that once it is open, all you have to do to edit it is to follow the instructions on page sixty-five of the textbook?

# # #

To: SWFEI
From: prof trek
========================================
What do you mean by "I can't figure out how to edit it"?
Did you open it in Word 2007?

# # #

To: prof trek
From: SWFEI
========================================
OK, that was my problem. Thank you.

# # #

I am left wondering which program she was using to try to open the file initially. Perhaps I am better off not knowing. Yeah, ignorance is bliss.

# # #

To: professor trek
From: Student With Textbook Issues
========================================
Hey profeesor trek,

I'm a little confused on the homework. Did the board say Capstone Example page 65? Because if it did, I don't know what Capstone is. Is that a book we're supposed to have because neither one of the two books I purchased say Capstone on it. If you could e-mail me back that would be great.

# # #

Um, right.

# # #

To: SWTI
From: prof trek
========================================
The Capstone Exercises are on grey pages in the Office 2007 textbook. Just
turn to page 65 and you will see the heading at the top of the page.

# # #

You know, like I told the whole class Monday afternoon...

# # #

Sock it to me

I had finished the leg, turned the heel, and completed the gussets of my very first Koigu sock when I accidentally knocked the sock bag off my desk. The yarn ball popped out of its bag and when I picked it up, ready to push it back inside where it belonged, I realized that it looked a bit, well, small. Out came my trusty digital gram scale. I figured that I was more than halfway finished so if I had close to half of the yarn with which I started...

I don't.

The finished part of the sock weighed approximately 33 grams. I say approximately because it is on the needles and I had to subtract the weight of the needles and each needle isn't exactly the same weight as its fellows.

The remaining not-yet-knit yarn weighed in at just over 15 grams. Do you see the problem here people? I have knit something more than fifty percent of a sock but said sock sucked up over two-thirds of my available yarn!

I have only knit five rounds of the foot. That's like nothing in comparison to a completed foot. I still have inches to go. Inches plural: about seven of them! And then there is the pesky little detail of having to make a toe and sew it all shut.

I dug out one of the hank labels and stared at it in rim fascination, as if it were one of the Walking Shambling Dead. How come none of you Koigu fanatics out there saw fit to inform me that Koigu comes in excruciatingly tiny pathetically minuscule little 175 yard hanks? Hmm??

# # #

On the heels of such sock frustration, I have to provide some student email.

My Wednesday classes are scheduled as follows. At 8am, I teach an hour and a half lab session. I teach the same lab material to a second set of students starting at 10:30. In the time between lab sections, all of my Wednesday students come together for a one hour lecture.

Attendance is taken separately for lab and lecture. After all, a student could come to lab but skip out on lecture. Credit given for attending lab but taken away for cutting lecture. We have two class meetings scheduled per week for the one course. Really, this is no different from having a one hour class which meets from 10-11 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Today, the college called for an inclement weather induced delayed opening. All classes beginning before 9:30 were canceled. All classes 9:30 and later to be held as scheduled.

Around six o'clock this morning, the emails began to arrive...

To: professor trek
From: Student #1 Not Understanding Class Schedule
========================================
I was wondering, since the delay starts at 9:30 and lecture is at 9:30, do we still come in for lecture even though the class really starts at 8:00? Thank you.

# # #

Well, no, the delay *ends* at 9:30...

# # #

To: SNUCS#1
From: prof trek
========================================
Yes, you do. Lecture at 9:30.

# # #

To: professor trek
From: Student #2 Not Understanding Class Schedule
========================================
I have contacted a few others in the class and we all came to the conclusion that both the lab and lecture are cancelled for us. Are we correct or should we show up at 9:30? Since technically the class starts at 8? I understand if you're unable to get back to me before 9.

# # #

So sad to bust your bubble: college class meetings and cancellations are NOT decided by democratic vote.

# # #

To: SNUCS#2
From: prof trek
========================================
We are having lecture today at 9:30, as scheduled.

# # #

We are already a week behind from last week's missed classes due to the *wintry mix*, kids!

# # #

To: Broadcast Message To All Early Morning Students
From: professor trek
========================================
You do have lecture today.

# # #

I seriously think I need some Koigu therapy.

Anyone have Koigu PPPM-436 leftovers laying around their stash? Just in case?

In which trek hyperventilates

     "Look! There, in the kitchen!"

     "Is it a weather vane?"

     "Is it a sundial?"

No, it is a Brittany Birch dpn

It looks much worse than it is, though. See, as soon as I reached into the sock bag to retrieve the project and realized that I had a casualty on my hands, I surfed over to file an insurance claim. They have a really good health plan for their needles.

All-righty, then. I was feeling rather good about yarn socks and the knitting in general, so I decided to mosey on over to Ravelry to check out a couple of things. While there, I took a gander at some of my old projects and patterns and as I looked at a particular sock photograph, a horrible, icy sensation shivered down my spine and my mind was flooded with just one thought: When was the last time I saw that pair of socks?! These were yarn socks, for knit sake. These were knit from Socks That Rock colorway Jailhouse Rock - a colorway no longer in production. These were my very first pair of toe-up socks with a tubular cast off. They were old friends!

Quick, someone call 9-1-1! Get some detectives over here immediately! Or, better yet, the FBI: a pair of yarn socks is MIA! It is a socknapping! A socknapping, I tell you! They are gone, gone without a trace! Could it be the beginning of the dreaded Zombie Apocalypse? Call Sheepie!

::sob::

Don't any of you even *think* about mentioning rationality, nor perspective, nor level-headedness at this juncture. Imagine instead that a pair of your yarn socks was missing and how you would feel.

See?

If it happened at your house/condo/apartment, the place would be swarming with black-suited dudes sporting Ray-Bans, dusting every horizontal surface for the culprit's prints.

I checked the yarn sock drawer. -Nope.

I pulled out the yarn sock drawer to look behind it. -Nada.

I looked in the gym sock drawer. -Nuttin'.

I pulled out the gym sock drawer to peer behind it. Nice, but remote from the current point.

I emptied out the box in my closet where the yarn socks hang out awaiting custom spa treatments. -Found some yarn socks there but not the ones in question.

I tossed the entire shelving unit where my shoes are were stacked. -Zip; shoes in a heap.

I went to the basement to peek behind the dryer. -No socks but dust bunnies abound.

I started to hyperventilate. I had to think. Where could a pair of yarn socks go? I mean, sure they have feet but they really are not perambulatory in nature. Nor are these store-bought socks with low-morals. These were yarn socks of high moral fiber and class!

In a spurt of desperation optimism, I yanked out all of our suitcases. Perhaps the yarn socks in question were inadvertently left behind in one of them?

I personally unzipped each and every flap, compartment, and pouch of each and every one of our floral tapestry luggage set. Next, I moved on to the black nylon carry-on bags. We haven't used the garment bag in the past twelve months, but we did use the black roller bag, right? Right? I climbed up the stepladder, pulled down the black bag, unzipped it, reached inside, and struck...

...gold yarn. Yarn socks, that is.

Yep, the missing yarn socks were hiding on the top shelf of the upstairs hall closet, inside the black roller bag.

I was so relieved to locate them that I did not even give those prodigal socks a well-deserved lecture for putting me through all of that stress. They were found and that's all that mattered.

Do you think that ordering take-out pizza is a sufficient celebratory feast? You see, I do not have a fatted calf handy. Nor any sort of calf, really. Except for the anatomical kind. And I'm rather attached to those.

Phil and me

I think I mentioned that my niece picked out the Yarn Harlot's Never Not Knitting calendar for me for Christmas. This morning, I tore off yesterday's sheet and uncovered Stephanie's Groundhog Day entry.

In this entry, Steph proposes that knitters are more accurate than groundhogs and all we really need to do to determine whether or not there spring is upon us or winter is here for a while longer is to examine our sweater knitting.

She says that if you are nowhere near finished with the current sweater, you are in for six more weeks of winter - and without a warm woolly sweater to combat the chill of the elements. On the other hand, if you are really close to finishing your sweater, spring is just around the corner and you will have a lovely warm sweater - which is way too hot to wear during the impending balmy days.

Interesting prediction mechanism, isn't it?

My "current" sweater is currently sitting in a box in the dining room. Four, big, squishy hanks of Cascade Eco Wool which have yet to be wound, thereby representing a "nowhere near finished" sweater.

Don't tell the neighbors it's all my fault, okay?

According to Punxsutawney Phil, we are going to have six more weeks of winter. So, it isn't really my fault.

I'm just supporting Phil's forecast.

Maybe I should start winding that yarn soon anyway...

Search and rescue

A few months ago, we inherited a hamster. A couple of weeks later, Little Feet escaped from her Red Plastic Ball of Freedom (RPBF) and we recovered her in the basement. The next day, Neatnik and I ventured forth to Ye Olde Pet Shoppe where we invested in a brand-spanking-new Blue Plastic Ball of Freedom (BPBF), which has served Little Feet and us very well ever since.


Though the BPBF has not once let us down, there were one or two other Extra Vehicular Activities but Little Feet was quickly recovered and restored to her little rodent palace.

Early yesterday evening, we had another unscheduled EVA here at chez trek. This time, I was on my way through the dining room when I looked over at the hamster house and realized that Little Feet was not up in her penthouse sleeping quarters. This was a little odd since she isn't generally very active in the five o'clock hour. I moved closer, the better to evaluate the situation. That's when I realized the truth: there was no hamster. The cage doors were all securely fastened but the roof to the penthouse was all askew and the occupant was no longer occupying.

     "Number Guy, the hamster escaped again."

Such a simple statement to touch off such massive Search and Rescue efforts. We looked all over the first floor: under and behind furniture, toys, and books.

Nothing.

I searched the basement, crawling along and shining a flashlight under and behind everything not nailed down. I climbed on top of the washer to look up into the gap between the kitchen subfloor and the basement ceiling.

Nothing.

I returned to the kitchen where Number Guy was getting ready to haul out the stove from its standard locale. Once the area was clear, I clambered over the countertops and down behind the stove, flashlight in hand.

Still nothing.

In a last ditch effort, we returned to previously searched areas on the first floor. Before you laugh, consider that we were looking for a hamster, a moving target. Also consider that it worked. Sort of.

I found the hamster underneath the dresser which supports her cage. I reached in slowly to scoop her up from behind, as I have done in past. She must have caught a flicker of movement along the edge of her field of vision, though, because she turned as I was coming in for the capture and the rotten little rat bit me! And peed on me!

I dropped her between my bent knee and the games which I pulled out from under the dresser. She wasn't going anywhere and I needed to evaluate the damage.

Now, a hamster might not be able to muster quite the twenty-four thousand pound per square inch of biting force that their beefier cousins the rats can, but let me tell you that a hamster can put quite a hurting on your knuckle - including tearing the skin but good and causing a profusion of your life's blood to issue forth from the wound.

Number Guy claims that I unceremoniously dumped the vicious beast into her cage on my way to the kitchen sink, where live both the hot water and the antibacterial soap.

I claim that the little rat is alive and unharmed and that she's lucky I didn't put her outside to meet one our neighborhood owls after that stunt.