Too Early for Christmas?

This past Christmas (you know, the one just a couple weeks ago), my dad got one of those mini trees. They seem to sell them everywhere. They are lit with fiber optic cables.

My dad requested ornaments for it. So, what better time to knit ornaments for a Christmas tree than in January?

I showed off the full-sized ornaments I'd knit, but this tree would require something a bit smaller. I managed to find styrofoam balls in small sizes (.9 inch, 1.4 inch, and 1.9 inch diameters). Then it was just a matter of working out how many stitches I'd need.

Using odds and ends of yarn I already had...

I've got about four more to do to have a complete set. And then I might just put away my Christmas knitting. But then again, now's the perfect time to start my knitting for next year. (Nah...)

The smallest styrofoam balls got me thinking. Earrings. (We'll see...)

Random Polls

It was two days before their winter break. I had an 8th grade English class (with Blaine!). And they were... well... kind of how you'd expect.

The period started. I had just gotten them settled enough to explain the assignment. As I began explaining about the story they were about to hear, a voice from the side of the classroom announced:

"How many of you like Kool-Aid?"

Half the class raised their hands.

I glared at the boy. Abraham. Why? Where had that...?

I just about got them settled again when Abraham asked another question.

I growled at him. That's when I noticed he wasn't in his assigned seat.

First I told him to get to his proper seat. Then I had to explain the inappropriateness of shouting out non-sequitur questions while I was trying to get class started.

8th graders. *shakes head*

Found It

The class was advanced ELD (English Language Development). 9th graders. I had them for two periods.

During the first period, they were to read chapter six of The Outsiders and answer some questions. Almost everybody pulled out a book. All but one.

"I forgot my book."

After exhausting a couple other options, I hit upon a solution. He could do the assignment for the second hour first, then he could borrow another student's book to do the reading during the second hour. Perfect, right?

"Let me check again..."

Lo and behold, he "found" the book at the bottom of his backpack.

Freshmen. *shakes head*

Too Cold for School

Since everyone in the blogosphere kind of took the end of the year off, I saved my subbing stories from the last week before winter break for this week. I have no idea what the weather is going to be like when this posts, but before the break, we had a bit of a cold snap (for us). 

We southern Californians don't do cold well. And what we consider cold...

It was Monday of the last week before winter break. And it was cold. For us. With gusting winds. I believe our high this day was 61°, but this incident took place before we reached our temperature peak.

The heater in the classroom was broken. The teacher had set up two space heaters to compensate. When I arrived in class, the thermostat read 56°. By the time this incident happened, we were up to about 64°.

Carrol walked in.

Carrol... We've had dealings in the past. She's loud. Obnoxious. Rude. On a good day.

She was cold.

We were all cold. I wore a sweater to school. I don't normally wear a sweater, but I knew this room would be cold. The sweater kept me comfortable.

Carrol, who comes to this same class every day and knows that the heater is broken, complained about the cold. She took the space heater that sat in the front of the classroom and put it on her desk. She shivered.

"It's too cold for school."

Carrol then took out her cell phone and texted her mother. (Arguing with her about having her cell phone out would have been fruitless.) Carrol wanted permission to leave for the day. Because it was too cold.

She then asked for permission to go to the office. (Her asking for permission was considerate for her.) She explained that she's done this sort of thing before. She just needed to get her mother on the phone with the people in charge. I didn't really follow the logic.

If it had been anybody else, I would have tried to talk her out of leaving. It was getting warmer in the room. She had work to do. But I've learned that arguing with Carrol turns into a big, ugly mess.  So, I let her go.

A half hour later, Carrol was still on campus. (She appeared just as I was telling the teacher, who dropped by for something out of her classroom, all about this.)

The Spy Among Us

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements ;)

What if you discovered your spouse (or significant other) was a spy?

Have I done this one before? I think I've done this one before. Or some minor variation thereof. Ah well...

On Second Thought

A couple weeks ago I mentioned my failure to reproduce this...

...in knitting. But a funny thing happened last week...

I was perusing Ravelry for no good reason. Like I do sometimes, I decided to check out the pattern page for my first eReader pillow pattern. I like to see all the different variations people have tried. 

As I went through, I came across jennerf27's iPad stand/prop pillow. She didn't use the pattern. It was more of a jumping off point to design something new. And she did something rather interesting. To keep the device standing she didn't use bobbles or an I-cord. She used a pocket. 

And my mind went whirling. 

Because I thought a pocket might just work on my little knitted scroll. And it did. Sort of. 

It's not exactly what I envisioned. I wanted more of a scroll. And the angle is a bit off. But it works. 

I'll tinker with it a bit more. This was just a proof of concept anyway. Still, I'm excited that it wasn't a complete failure. 

(This weekend I saw Tim's Vermeer, and I'm just grateful that this little idea didn't take me five years to complete.)

2015 Pop Culture IQ

Well, I had to do a year-end something quiz. This one is pop culture. I got 9. Out of 14. Not too bad, considering that I don't watch some of these shows.

I'll let you try and see how you do...

Pop Culture IQ 2015

And how have your holidays been thus far?