still here!!

how awesome is it that i don't have to go to work on friday, and i still get paid? apparently there's some sort of ITED reward trip (and don't get me started on how dumb that is), but they're short on chaperones, so i get to go. and it gets better. i work an hour away from where i live. the field trip is to the mall, 20 minutes from where i live. so instead of driving all the way down to school, getting on a bus with a bunch of asinine teenagers (i should have made a transcription from the last bus trip i took), then passing my house on the way to the field trip, the boss says i can just meet them there. suckers.

oh, yeah, and this was in the news today. call me out of my mind, but i think this reflects really poorly on one of the finest academic institutions in the country. don't they vet their students before they let them in? hey, kids, don't spend too much time on your college apps! turns out you can just make them up, and you might just get away with it for, oh, five years.

i've been going insane on these larger projects i've been doing, so i set about some small ones lately to distract me.

i made this shrug about a year ago out of 2 skeins of Noro Silk Garden (i forget the colorway). not having used a pattern, i thought i was being really clever with the shaping. for instance, i tapered the sleeves so they fit snug all the way through the arm (which worked), then thought, well, i''ll need the most mobility in my shoulders, so i increased again in the shouldes. yeah. that didn't work. so here's my fix:

you can't tell, but i have to admit... it's not really finished. the ribbon isn't sewn in yet... i'll try and get action pictures some other time. cut me a break. i left for work at 7 am yesterday and didn't get home until 10 pm. no exaggeration.
my friend who goes to the yarny shop with me gave me a leftover ball of malabrigo merino, so i made this small coffee cup cozy for her, with a cable pattern i thought up but am pretty sure i did not invent.

yeah, yeah, this one's not quite done yet either. it needs buttons. and a better picture. the flash washes out the cable.

i also got fabric for a yarn saver bag! (a yarn-saver bag is a little drawstring bag to keep your yarn in, so when you're working on something and tugging on your yarn the ball doesn't go rolling across the floor). one of the other girls at the s&b group showed me hers and it had this nifty satin lining so the yarn slips around really easily. now i just need a pattern for a small, lined drawstring bag. i think i've got one drawn up, but i haven't tried it yet. and i couldn't get a decent picture of the fabric either. it has parasols on it. and the lining is bright blue.

and the piece de resistance: my first crochet thread adventure.

p.s. aunt lydia's bamboo crochet thread is not stiff like cotton. it might even be slightly too slippery, but hey, look what i made!!!

it's supposed to be for a swap partner, but i want to keep it. so i probably will. i have other shirts i can send her. the pattern is from the sept/oct 2009 crochet today. the only alteration i did was to sew my blanket stitch at 3/16" instead of a quarter inch.
nothing else witty today. just waiting on my knitpicks order for fingering weight peruvian highland wool! enough to make the lotus cardigan from ravelry, in a lovely eggplant color.

i need more sleep.