Sometimes

I don't really know what to say today.

I found out last tuesday that one of my uncles had passed away the morning before. He had been sick for a long time - so long that nobody really expected him to give in. He was given six months to live almost ten years ago, and for the past six years two of my other uncles had been taking care of him like a baby. He had a genetic disorder, I've never been sure which one; he donated his body to science so that maybe other people with the same problems won't have to suffer like he did. He didn't want a funeral or a memorial service, but my mom did a small one at her home anyway. Neither of the uncles who'd been taking care of him showed up. My mom isn't speaking to one of them anyway, and hasn't been for as long as I've been alive. I didn't even know he was living in town.

I don't really know what to do right now. I still have homework. I still have things to do. I feel sad that I never knew Uncle M. while he was healthy, and haven't really seen him since I went to college. He wasn't well enough to attend Granny's funeral two years ago; his son is still living in Oklahoma, and I haven't seen him in years either. I'd like to do something for him, but I don't know what. "Sorry to hear about your dad, here's a hat" seems kinda crass.

I made sholeh-zard for the dinner; TwinSister and PrimaryBrother thought it was great, LittlerBrother wouldn't try it and mom says she's lost the taste for persian food. I have to wonder if there's an allegory in there somewhere.

I Heart Saffron!

I've decided that Saffron is my favorite spice ever. I'm making the sholeh-zard (using this awesome recipe, which has more detail than others I've found) and I just added the rosewater and saffron and oil. THIS SMELLS SO GOOD.

I know that I'm supposed to be bringing this for everyone in the library, but I'm seriously considering keeping this batch for Sweetie and I (and friends, you know I love to feed friends) and making a second batch tomorrow for all and sundry. Hell, it's what I'm doing with the zoolbia, why not!

In other news, I recently got in the Dragonfly and Water Lillies pattern from Needle Beetle. I have to say, this is the most awesome, inspiring piece of knitwork I've seen in a long time. Back in the day when I first learned to knit I came across her stuff, and saved pictures of this pattern to my "maybe one day" files. I of course then forgot where it had come from entirely, but would continue to spend hours sighing and wanting, wanting and sighing. When I came across her site again earlier this month, I was so excited! Any pattern that can captivate you solely on basis of thumbnails for over two years is a pattern both worth buying and worth making. Me, I'm thinking to pick up some Colourmart 100% Silk in Sea Jade for this one. I'm thinking it pretty hard, matter of fact. *checks out*

Wheeeeeee!

Not a lot of new info today. Finished Sue-from-work's hat. About a third of the way through some nice little headphone sleeves. More yarn came in >.> I'm thinking of discontinuing Hastur's challenge. It's not that I don't love the spirit of the thing, it's just that I realized the other day that I fully intend to keep buying yarn, so I'd never actually do anything like finish. It's moderately dissapointing that I can't keep going, but I've decided that the only thing I don't like about knitting is obligations placed on my knitting. Will I still look for free patterns over purchasable ones? Hell yes. Will I still attempt to knit with what I have, rediscovering my love for the yarns in my stash? Of course. My love is flighty but true (except maybe in the case of that nubby silk yarn; I'm trying, though). I figure why fight it? Hastur herself has said (laughingly, we were having drinks, it was good times) that I'm the poster child for bad-at-the-challenge, and that's true. This happened to be while I was showing off my new copy of Victorian Lace Today (which is an excellent book and I have no regrets. If A Gathering of Lace had been in stock I'd have come home with that too), a nice hefty purchase from the LYS. What Hastur didn't see, of course, was the copy of Fibertrend's Sheep Shawl tucked into my pattern binder. I'm going to continue to add money to the charity counter for each ball of yarn I finish, but not patterns; I was excited this week because I got to buy new face wash. I know there are probably things I can do without (like yarn and patterns), but right now I'm going to be selfish. I'm just so tired.

In other news, the crazy homework I was doing all week? Extended by another week. So now I get to double the work I've done so far. The professor's given us a 15-page upper limit, and I figure mine will hit somewhere upwards of 8 pages. Not a novel by any means, but a lot of reading to do, especially this weekend. I'm still up for Henna-and-Deliciousness-Night, I'll just have a lot of reading to do before and after.

In other other news, it's bedtime. I'm out.

Persian Pastries

So, there's going to be this cultural luncheon thing at work next week, and Sweetie's going to be out of town (he's got an interview, isn't that great?) so I might spend the whole weekend baking! I really want to make some chickpea cookies and these things - I don't know what they're called - imagine if you made a funnel cake, but used honey instead of batter? They're like that. Good stuff.

Posting some recipe links, I'll let you know which ones I end up trying:

http://www.farhangsara.com/yakh-dar-behesht.html (ice-in-heaven, I don't think I've had this!)
http://www.persianmirror.com/cuisine/desserts/desserts.cfm#zard (I think this is what my cousin would make for me)
http://www.iranchamber.com/recipes/dessert/zoolbia_baamieh.php (THIS is the funnel cake stuff!)
http://www.ashpazbashi.com/iranian-food-2/Naan-Berenji.htm (delicious cookies)
http://www.farhangsara.com/nan-nokhodchi.html (chickpea cookies, good stuff!)

I figure, hey, if I'm gonna get fat, at least I'll be a good cook to boot.

Minor Tweaking

So, I pronted up the Galveston pattern and cast on for it (in the pretty silk, if you must know, and I regret not a stitch of it) and as it turns out I've had to make a few little adjustments. Nothing major, just moving the beginning of the round over a stitch or two. So I get halfway through the second chart (this thing has like, 6 charts and an edging, should I be concerned?) and realize something.

One of the patterns I used is called "Mermaid's Mesh". Properly executed, it makes zigzaggy lines. Goes something like this:



This assumes, of course, that you're starting at the bottom and working your way up. Starting from the center and working your way down, of course, makes the points point in exactly the wrong direction. I need to turn this stitch pattern upside down and redo my increases. More math for me!

Galveston Shawl Pattern Finished! (I Hope)

So, me and some graph paper sat down for a serious talk, and I think the pattern for Galveston is now completely finished. I'm writing it up in Excel as we speak, and from there it'll be screenshots into the graphics program to clean up the charts. I'm very excited. I've already got plans for a mini-shawl-swatch-thing just to make sure all my stitch patterns fit. Do you think it would prevent me from getting the pattern published if I took a picture of that?

Maybe I Spoke Too Soon?

So, it looks like I may be able to get a new job after all; they're desperate for cashiers at one of the cafeterias on campus, and for two dollars more an hour I'm willing to do it. Luckily, I've just about finished updating all the notes for what I do, plus I'm at the end of a very big project. Now is a good time to go. Food service still sucks, but it sucks for 1.5 times the pay and 0.6 the hours, so I'm down with it.

In other news, found a flea on the cat today, so into the tub he went! He doesn't struggle too bad, but he cries like, well... a drowning cat. In two inches of water. But ain't nothing funnier than a previously overweight wet cat. Seriously. His pot belly flaps when he walks!

And finally, Galveston begins today. I had lost some of my notes, but sat down with some graph paper and figured it all out again. This is going to be such an awesome shawl. The only thing is? Now that I've seen (admittedly, in my head) how awesome the pattern is, I want to use a better yarn. And I happen to have some naturally-colored Tussal silk laceweight that's begging for use. Just not ... enough. About a third, maybe half of what I need, I have.

So what's a poor college girl to do? Make the pattern in the yarn originally planned, and spend no money, or in the superior-quality yarn, spend some money that I really shouldn't but could probably make work, and maybe increase the possibility of the pattern selling 'cause of the nice pretty yarn? Comments are open. I could use the advice.

GOD DAMNIT.

Here's something we can add to that list.

7. Explain to my mother that when I say, "I'm filing my taxes independantly," what I mean is "Claiming me will screw me out $400, please don't claim me." This can also be translated as "We had this conversation last year," "I literally can't get more hours in at work (even if I stop sleeping entirely)" and "I don't have the money to spare, I'm moving in three months".

Anyone want to buy a kidney?

Things To Do Before I Die:

1. Knit a wedding ring shawl.
2. Spin and knit a wedding ring shawl.
3. Spin, design and knit a wedding ring shawl.
4. Knit a bohus sweater.
5. Knit a bohus sweater that doesn't look like a sweat shirt from the yoke down.
6. Knit a bohus sweater that has a flattering neckline and doesn't look like a sweat shirt from the yoke down.
6. Learn to cook.



That is all.

I'm Tired.

So, over spring break Hastur and I are going to fly to california, pick up her new car, spend a few days having crazy adventures, then Thelma-and-Louise it back to Texas. With plan to hit the Grand Canyon, plus every yarn shop along the way. The owner of my LYS says to be sure and not miss Taos (by which I'm sure she means La Lana Wools), which leads me to reflect that here in Aggieland, we've got a good thing going. I mean, I love my local yarn shop, and its owner. She doesn't always have what I want, but is understanding about my 'playing the field', as it were, but she's always willing to help you learn a new skill (usually for free, though if you really need an in-depth look at something comopletely new to you she might suggest a class), she's got an enormous reference library inside her head, and (perhaps my favorite traits) she's willing to set things aside for you that you can't quite afford at the moment, and she doesn't mind helping you with projects made with yarn you got somewhere else. So right now there's a copy of Victorian Lace Today and three hanks of Ultra Alpaca sitting in her back room with my name on them. And you know what? While I might go for a better deal on something as transient (for me, anyway) as yarn, I do make a point of getting my knitting books and tools from her, which I view as more of an investment.

In other news, we did a lot of house cleaning tonight. We're planning to make some beer bread and chili tomorrow, and hopefully they'll both be delicious, since we're having people over (which, incidentally, is the motivation for all the cleaning). We haven't entertained over here in a while - a LONG while - and I miss it. It's kinda hard to have people over at our place, since we don't have a lot of seating in the living room, and the dining room was basically storage, though I've prettied it up today so I'm not ashamed to have folks over :) I keep telling Sweetie we need to get a nice dining room set, but he doesn't want to get more big furniture before we move. Which would be fine, except that we're not moving until May, and I'd enjoy having a table now. Maybe I can build something. Who knows? I could be a master carpenter waiting to happen. The chairs would be a bit difficult, I think.

Getting to a more or less roundabout point, things are looking up. Yes, this semester is going to suck scholastically (in the sense of tons of homework - I, of course, will do swimmingly), and yes, my job still sucks, and it's looking less and less likely that I'll actually get a new one before the move ("Hi, I'd like to work for you for four months!" doesn't exactly sell well in interviews), but I'm able to get in more hours than I had been, so now I "get" to work 30 hours a week and go to school full time. It's putting a major crunch on the knitting time, but hey. That's what lecture's for. As long as I'm making a valuable contribution to the discussion (and I always do, what with me being so smart and wonderful and all) my professors don't mind.

So tonight, cleaning. And tomorrow, homework and beer bread. Monday, regular work and maybe a little dancing? Then class. And knitting in class. Have I mentioned I'm starting another sweater? This one's actually gonna be for me, but more details on that later. For now, back to vacuuming!