Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving*!! Hope everyone had a wonderful day with friends and family.  This year was the first Thanksgiving without my mom, so it was super sad. And it was my first Thanksgiving in the US since the early/mid 90's. Ana, Aaron and I went over to Penny's house where we were 3 of 18 people.  It turned out wonderful with lots of happy laughing moments.

I found out early in the week that the night before Thanksgiving is the busiest night of the year at bars and clubs. It didn't say why, so I just thought that because everyone was home, seeing family, that they needed alcohol to deal.  But apparently it is because people are in their hometowns and want to catch up with friends.... I like my theory much better. It makes sense, I thought about drinking yesterday.

This year I am thankful for my parents, my brothers, my Picasso and Mickey, and my family in general.  I am also thankful for the ability to go to grad school and get an advanced degree when there are places in this world where girls aren't even taught to read.




*I like to call this day Happy Dead Bird Day, Happy Animal Carcass Day and others of such nature.

Knitpicks wishlist

Because Christmas is just around the corner.
http://www.knitpicks.com/cfCart/viewWishlist.cfm?wishlistid=9476B694-BD9B-3829-B713314F273A52C5&media=WLBL

Wilton's Dye

My next try at dying was with Wilton's icing gel coloring. I started with a wool/alpaca blend, water, vinegar, and dye. And got this. 

Not nearly dark enough again, but it was my first try with Wilton's and didn't want to go over board. 

Dyeing Roving with Kool-Aid

Yes, I dyed wool roving with different colors of Kool-Aid. I used Blue Raspberry and Grape the first time, and decided that the color wasn't anywhere near dark enough. So I re-dyed parts of the roving Ice Blue, more grape, and Cherry.

This is what I started with. 

My different Kool-Aid concentrations. 

First color mixes put on the roving. 

After about 40 minutes in the oven and then left to cool overnight.  Even though this is still partially wet you can see how light it is.  

This is after re-dying it.  This doesn't show all the dark purple parts, but shows that it is somewhat darker. 

Class

Yes, I would like to take part in an expedition to another planet.  I think that it would be a great learning experience to explore new lands and meet new life forms.  I really like to travel around the world, so I think that the next step would to be to travel into space.  My grandfather always used to joke that if my dad was offered a job on the moon, we would move there.  And I say why not? There is only one life and we need to explore. It would be like a real version of Star Trek.

Hey Party People!!

Yeah!! Birthday!!!

Plans for today. Celebrate. Make French Toast. Dye roving. Celebrate. Get a head start on homework and finals. Knit. Talk on the phone. Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate. Can you tell I'm going to be celebrating a whole bunch? So much so that it will continue into tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

I'll be officially 25 years old at 10:13am CST tomorrow. A quarter of a century old. AHHHH!!
Some things I'm thinking about right now.

Birthday : OMG, I'm 25. I'm mid-20's. Holy Pooh! I remember crying over being 20 because I was 20-something, this is sooo much worse.  It doesn't help that my students look stunned that I am that I'm in my 20's.  Well, I can't really blame a bunch of kindergartners for not being freaked out, they're only 5.

Halloween : Super excited for Halloween to happen. Big party going down next Saturday.  It will be great, very spooky and hopefully, fun. Now I just need to get the invitations printed. I'm using this as the front.

Christmas :  The family's going to be here. I can't wait. So much to do.

Holy Cow, I'm 25.

Knitting : This week I am going to dye some roving with Kool-Aid. Prepare yourself, it will be amazing. (I hope.) Also, I am running a KAL right now, and the color my recipient picked out is totally fabulous. (Yes, I know its October and I am really behind on Christmas presents, keep walking.) I completely forgot about Socktober Fest and didn't make any socks this month, and I have no time to make any before the month is up. Oh well, next year.

Let's put 25 in perspective. When my mom turned 25 she was pregnant with me, about to finish her Master's and totally super accomplished.  Not that I'm terribly far behind. I'm working on my Master's, I'm a Presidential Award winner for Service Learning and will be presenting at a conference in May.  Still not as awesome as Mama, and while everyone I know seems to be on the baby-making bandwagon, (please don't misunderstand, I am SO happy for everyone I know that is pregnant or just given birth),  I really don't think I could handle anything more than what I already do, especially a kid.  But  I still feel not as grown up as I think my mom did.  Will have to have a chat about this with her.

PS. Take that Mayo Clinic doctor!