I would just let myself down if I didn't post on the last day of November, wouldn't I? Especially when I actually have a FO, for the first time in over a month...
Pattern:Tudora, on Knitty Yarn: Jade Sapphire 6-ply cashmere....mmmmm Needle: 4mm Options Mods: None, although I had plenty of yarn leftover and wish I'd made it a couple of rows taller. I suppose it can't be too tall to be a neck cuff, though. I haven't blocked it, either. I like the cables to look a little rustic.
This is for Mother Hand for Christmas. She requested a cream and red scarf, in the same vein as the one I made her last year, but I was way ahead of her and picked up this yarn at Loop when I visited Sib in October, along with the button, from the Button Queen. I have a similar shade of yarn and two more buttons, with which to make handwarmers, but I am not sure whether there will be enough time to sort that out for Christmas. We'll see.
In other knitting news, I am chipping along quite nicely with Versatility, although the Azapa sheds over everything it comes near to (including C's black trousers on the plane back from Malaysia, blush blush); and tonight I cast on for another star-crossed slouchy beret. I knitted one as part of my Big Hat Project last year; this morning, as I ran from house to car in driving rain without a hat for the umpteenth time this term, I bemoaned the fact that I have 30 odd hats on my projects page and not a single one left for wearing in the rain. So I wasted no time in casting on this evening in some delightful jade green Andean Silk I had lying around.
I'd have finished too, if I didn't have pesky work to do. Pesky work, tsk. I expect I will be able to finish it when the dentist makes me wait 45 minutes for my appointment tomorrow afternoon.
In work news....Ofsted are most definitely circling. They've reached the next town over. Some colleagues think next week. I am torn between wanting them in before Christmas so I can relax, and wanting them to come later when the behaviour is better. There are other reasons why later would be better, which are far too dull for me to go into.
Meh. I'll just make sure my G&T action chronology is up to date and keep marking everything I can see. Don't be surprised if I post pictures of the mitten with red tick marks on her tail next week.
I finally got my computer switched on (having been relying on Mr Z's SuperMac all week) so I am currently uploading all my hundreds of pics to Flickr, and thought I would add a couple of videos here.
Firstly - here are the mooing frogs I wrote about on my first day -
Obviously, this is just a sound-based video. There's not a lot of voiceover from me, because there were some Malaysian kids nearby and I didn't want to seem like a total weirdo. I expect mooing frogs are totally normal if you live in Malaysia. The principal and his wife actually seemed quite embarrassed about it. Here's one of the beasts in close up -
Positively rabid, I tell you. This is the same one that tried creeping up on me when I was blogging at the fake Christmas party.
...and secondly, here is a video of the Petronas Towers at night, which I took as we were leaving the spectacular shopping centre in the base of them.
They really were worth seeing, in spite of the traffic horrors preceding the visit. Here's a picture of me pointing at them.
(My gappy tooth is not really as gappy as it looks here, I promise). I took pictures like this all over the place. I had to stop people from taking the camera off me to take a picture, by explaining it was the theme to my pictures. Benny's out, I'm afraid - pointing is in. Pointing is the new Benny.
Don't tell him that, though - bison can sulk like nobody's business.
1. Kelly's hat on DWTS It's a big slouchy beret with a buckled leather strap. Here's a handy screenshot -
As I suspected, by the time I cottoned onto this beauty there was already a thread or two about it on Ravelry, and somebody managed to track down the source - the hats are made by Galadriel Mattei out of recycled cashmere sweaters and watch straps. They also cost $160. I have a better idea....and it involves those blue art deco buckles I bought last month.
(Incidentally, I have been adoring DWTS this season. It's not quite the same as Strictly, but it's a very fun, with the little skits, and Bruno is positively rabid. I am watching the finale now, having managed to avoid spoilers all week - which is why googling for Kelly's hat was the closest I got to living on the edge today. I loved Kelly's Balmain-shouldered showdance outfit, and electrowatt grin, Donny's showdance, and Mya's paso. And great music choices. Still, Shawn Johnson's cha cha from last season is my favourite DWTS dance ever.)
2. Random History Facts Which May Not Be True Like, members of Mussolini's nickname was the Phenomenal Rabbit (this is out of a textbook, so hopefully true). And Saddam Hussein made it law that everybody had to make a cake on his birthday (I cannot find any evidence to substantiate this but I wish it to be true - evil dictator forces cake on everyone).
3. Wispa Gold I hope it's back for good. Delicious.
4. Make-do-and-mend cooking I made a banana and chocolate cake for work today, using the 4 brown bananas leftover from before my trip, and the leftover chocolate coins from the Murder Mystery in March. I haven't shopped for so long that we've almost completely run out of fresh food, so it's been some interesting eating lately.
(DWTS update: I can't believe Karrieann just broke down when she was talking to Kelly Osborne. It has made me well up! I don't think Kelly is going to win but she has been marvellously entertaining. And I bet they had to take that dress in a lot from the first week.)
5. Duvet Duck Slippers I am not a slipper-wearer but I bought a pair of these a couple of years ago and they're so snug and warm, I couldn't resist buying another pair this winter, since the old pair were leaving feathers all over the house, thanks to a sizeable rip in the bottom. The new pair are even better because they are turquoise, with fluffy clouds all over, and they have a furry lining. Yum. (Though, I bought mine on ebay and now I've found this link to them I wish I'd gone for the black pair - they wouldn't get grubby as quickly).
Half an hour of DWTS left. Who will prevail? And tomorrow on Strictly - two new dances! And a group dance! Tres jolie. (Poor Mr Z. Even the Simpsons this evening had ballroom dancing on it......and one of my favourite ever Simpsons quote, "Giving people equal parts when they're clearly not equal is called what, children? Communism!")
1. Teach 2. Form coherent sentences 3. Knit (I know....horrifying) 4. Be pleasant and forgiving to your lift-share person when she tells you she can't drive all this week as promised because she has to take her car in for an MOT on Friday, and you've booked your car in to have the scary rattle fixed on Friday 5. Remember when you were told to input the year 8 data/understand why you haven't done it yet 6. Catch up on all the TV that's been recorded (I can't concentrate) 7. Return the phone call to the parent wanting to cancel the ski trip place (I'm sure she's going to argue with me about the money because we warned we wouldn't refund anything paid up to this point, and I just don't have any fighting spirit....I might write a letter instead) 8. Make interesting and witty blog posts 9. Upload holiday pictures to Flickr 10. Remember to put a title for your blog post
I think I should just give up and go to bed. It's very windy outside: just the sort of blustery evening that's best spent in bed, imo. I did sleep very well last night and felt quite with it all day, but then we got stuck in a traffic jam outside Bath because a tractor towing a trailer of 100 pigs was blown over and blocked the road, and by the time I got home I was fit for nowt.
Ramble, ramble....I promise, more effort tomorrow.
I am proud to report I managed not to sleep on the plane home, thanks to plenty of DSI and movies (including the Rock - awesome) in the hopes that this would minimise jet lag. I will report the success of this. I have to be up for work in 10 hours.
1. Coconut In the rice, in the cakes (which are mostly made of sticky rice), in the curries, split open to drink the milk....it's lucky I love coconut, because otherwise I'd be a bit stuffed.
2. Milo This is a bit like Nesquick, but made with water instead of milk. They serve it hot in the canteen here for breakfast, but all the students put ice in it and make it a cold drink. It's also served everywhere else - in juice boxes, cans, in fast food restaurants, and in fact pretty much everywhere I've been.
3. Peanuts So glad none of the students is allergic. They turn up everywhere. They were floating in the breakfast curry this morning. At the feast on Wednesday night, we were served a thick folded pancake-type thing, which was filled with rough ground peanuts, sweetcorn, and plenty of sugar. It was surprisingly pleasant. And the peanut butter in the mornings is smooth (boo) but the freshest I've ever tried.
4. Instant coffee BLERGH. And it's mostly Nescafe, I think. Luckily there is a proper-coffee machine in the teacher lounge here. Yesterday in KL I was served a cold coffee that had already been sweetened, it was a surprise. Not one I'd like to repeat.
5. CAKE! I've never been to a country where they like cake so much, I don't think. And I mean proper cake - obviously Americans are good at doughnuts and the French push a wide variety of pastries; but Malaysians seem to really rate actual cake. I appreciate this. I appreciate Malaysia because of this.
Can't believe the week is over. We're off for a bit of beach action tomorrow so might not get the chance to update now until Monday. Try not to miss me too much!
(I am most annoyed with blogger, because I posted this on Thursday evening and it date stamped it as Wednesday morning, so now it comes chronologically after Wednesday's post. This cannot be borne; therefore I am reposting it now, and deleting the other one. But it means it will look like I skipped a day of posting. BAH.)
I am currently sat in the same spot as Tuesday, listening to Santa Claus is Coming To Town sung in a distinctly Malaysian accent. As if a Christmas party in November weren't bad enough, there is sweat trickling down my back (even though it's after 10pm, it's still about 30 degrees C) and there is a frog hopping across the grass towards me, which stops every time I look at it. Crafty frog. I don't trust it. This entry will not be long.
We've been out all day in Kuala Lumpur, attending leadership seminars and then shopping, an activity which was sadly curtailed due to terrible traffic severely delaying our arrival at KLCC, the shopping centre at the base of the Petronas Towers. We weren't helped by our fantastically rickety bus and frankly halfwitted driver, who at one point tried to take a tunnel that was too short and then BACKED UP THE SLIP ROAD INTO HEAVY TRAFFIC. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, since he earlier drove the wrong way down a one way street and had to take a hair pin bend onto the dual carriageway. And the bus didn't have seatbelts. Helloooooo, risk assessment.
Shooppign was done, and takeaway curry was consumed (lamb massala in a plastic bag, parathas and zucchini oat cake which was one of the most delicious cakes I have ever eaten), and then we rushed back for the Christmas party. C got very tense because we were so late and he didn't think we should have missed any of it, but I think we've been working them very hard and they've been looking forward to shopping all week, so I don't feel bad. Protocol be damned. Nobody seems to mind that we're late.
But I had better go and join in, before the frog gets here. I'd rather go and stand under my cold shower and wash my "going to important corporate HQs" make up off, but oh well.
In between trying to catch up on work and feeling guilty for watching TV and not catching up on work, I like to knit, bake, read, swim in cold water and practise my teacher glare in the mirror.