The Mario Scarf Blog

Why hello, there. I’m trying to play catch up in several aspects of my life, including my blog. I think I’ve gotten up to speed with school, but several things still nag me and I figured I’d go ahead and tackle this one before I get too guilt.

On Monday, February 8, my boyfriend’s father, Jim Fletcher, passed away in Columbus, Georgia.. We received the call sometime after 9 PM, and while his father had battled heart disease for decades, this call was still a surprise. We took off in the middle of the night from Atlanta and reached Columbus around 2 AM. I left without taking any schoolwork so I got really behind. Things went as well as they could during the week of the funeral- we were surround by family and friends the whole time. My boyfriend’s father taught high school English & Humanities for over 25 years, and also taught at two local universities. All week long I heard stories about how much his teaching inspired his students- this was a man who was dedicated to changing the lives of teenagers through literature, music, and art. He invited his students to his home on many occasions to watch interesting movies and listen to his extensive classical music collection. He took field trips to Atlanta, and even to a monastery in Conyers! Needless to say, he touched many lives and there was a good representation of Hardaway High School alums and faculty during the week.

As for me, I try not to get too sad, but I considered Jim to be not only practically a father-in-law, but also a teaching mentor. He has given me many books, and we had planned to get together while I finish grad school to talk about lesson plans and teaching literature. I do get sad when I think that I won’t share my graduation with him next Spring. I think of other things I wanted him to be at in my future, but I will have to settle for keeping him in my heart instead.

As for life after all of that… it’s messy, literally. I’m almost caught up in my grad work, but I still feel like I’m a day behind on planning for student teaching. I also started choreographing for a show choir (what?!) so there are worksheets, CDs, dance shoes, flashcards, and tons of yarn all over the place. Nothing gets put away and nothing really has a place right now.

As you can see, the Yarn Monster has taken over my work table. Underneath the yarn are some half-buried flashcards I made for my students. I had high hopes about getting more items in my Etsy shop and finishing my cardigan before March. HA!

Oh yeah, we canceled our trip to San Francisco. In the wake of Jim’s death, there’s just to much to take care of involving my boyfriend’s inheritance. So yeah, Stay-Cation in Columbus, Georgia. I have promised myself that I WILL NOT get mopey about it and that we’ll have fun- going to local museums, eating tons of BBQ, and maybe a mini trip to a farm in Alabama.

I just had to put this out, mostly for my own peace of mind. I’m still working on some posts about knitting/yarn apps, and I’ll have some progress photos of my cardi soon, too.

Stay well!

I’ve had the idea in my head for awhile to review some knitting apps for the iPhone & iPod Touch. Currently, I’ve only used a stitch/row counting app, but haven’t been convinced that knitting apps are necessary. Knitting is so pen and paper to me anyway (aside from the thousands of electronic knitting patterns out there, of course!).

Before I delve into my reviews, I wanted to hear from you. Do you use any knitting apps? Have you used any knitting apps in the past? What did you like/dislike about them? Please send me an email at themarioscarf@gmail.com if you want to contribute! I’d love to hear from you.

Wow, my knitting queue is huge right now! Everyone wants some knitwear these days. I have about 5 active projects on needles right now and another one to start. I just wanted to share my three coolest ones really quick.

This is my Cranberry Sauce Hat! It’s the Mushy Peas hat pattern, except I screwed up some increase rows, and ended up with a bucket-style hat. I actually really like it this way. Nugget could not look less amused with me! I used some beautiful merino worsted yarn from Squoosh- her yarn & fiber always dresses to impress. I always enjoy what I order from her shop.

I’ve also started on the February Lady Sweater in a very soft blue in Malabrigo worsted merino.

The color of the blue is actually much softer than this picture shows. And oh my word is this lush. I’m on a total merino worsted kick right now. The goal is to finish this cardigan by the time we leave for San Francisco on March 6. I have to get buttons sewn on, ends woven in, and block the darn thing, so I’m hoping that’s all enough motivation to get it done.

Other projects in my queue include the Totoro mittens for Jason (!) and a cute raspberry stitch cowl in soft moss green for my Etsy shop.

In other life news- I started tutoring in a 6th grade math class this week for grad school and it’s going surprisingly well. I didn’t think I’d be able to handle it or enjoy it, but after just one week I’m kinda into it. We’ll see how long that enthusiasm lasts!

I also recently finished reading Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres. Very intense, and very good!

Gosh, I wish I had more to update about. Life just seems to get in the way! But things are going well, and I can’t complain.

I don’t know how I’ve failed to mention this before, but I’m on Twitter as @cassinator. Feel free to add me!

Yikes. It looks kinda excessive all piled up like this, but I have big plans for all this yarn! I made a 2010 commitment to myself to make something nice for myself this year, and that starts with the Blue Sky Alpacas Lacy Wrap Sweater for my spring break trip to San Francisco in March.

I figure San Francisco weather in early March will be kinda chilly, and what’s better to combat chilly than with a cute wrap sweater in Malabrigo worsted? This is the first big garment I’ve ever made for myself so I’m really hoping I don’t screw it up too bad. I decided to go with Malabrigo worsted in light blue (Stone Blue 99) because a.) Malabrigo worsted is probably my favorite wool yarn in the whole world, and b.) I LOVE light blue. I’m a rather curvaceous gal and quite short to boot which means this sweater will be challenging, but I have faith in my skills. I’m looking forward to the lace as I’ve not done any patterned lace in a really long time.

The other yarns are Lion Brand and Patons yarn bought with a gift card to Michaels. I plan to use all of these yarns to make items for my shop. I decided this morning that I want to get serious about making a few standard items to sell. I played around with my shop for the past two years and I want to give it a real go this Spring to see if I can make this a part of my life.

I picked up some of Lion Brand’s Nature’s Choice Organic Cotton yarn in ‘Pecan,’ ‘Strawberry,’ and ‘Pistachio.’ I’m really looking forward to using this as it appears and feels to be very similar to Cascade’s Luna line. I usually don’t like a loose ‘boucle’ spun yarn, but I guess there’s something about this style in cotton that works well. I like the colors I got in Organic Cotton, but I hope Lion Brand expands the line because with the quite comparable price of Luna online, I may just stick with Cascade in the future. But I’ll give Organic Cotton a chance before I start professing any brand loyalty.

Ah, what a beautiful day it’s been in Atlanta. It’s so nice to come to the evening and finish the day with lots of winding to do!

Just a little round-up of fun links I found today.

+ Simple crochet circle garland from Quilt While You’re Ahead: I feel confident enough in my crochet skills to try this and use up some of my scrap yarn.

+ Totoro mittens!: Available as a free download on Ravelry (link goes to Ravelry page).

+ Zora cardigan on Knitty.com: Perfect for a Spring Break trip to San Francisco in early March.

+ “Knit Rodeo” cards by LocalGringos on Etsy: The cowgirl kinda looks like Patsy Cline.

And if you’re able to give, please consider donating to the International Red Cross to help Haiti. The Yarn Harlot posted the “Knit-Signal” and I am, too. If you knit (or crochet), please consider posting the Knit-Signal and encourage other knitters to donate. As a grad student I can’t offer much, but the minimum donation on this site is $25, but I figure: a.) I’ll have a roof over my head tonight. 2.) I’ll have clean, running water today. 3.) I can forgo groceries or eating out tonight with the assurance that I’ll be able to get food tomorrow.  4.) I won’t NEED $25 today.

Even for me, $25 isn’t an amount of money I throw around lightly. There are other sties where the minimum donating is $15 or $10. I just hope that you are able to do something to help.  And please, pass on the Knit Signal. Correction: You CAN donate a minimum of $15 at the icrc.org website- just enter 15 in the “different amount” box.

It’s a beautiful day here in Atlanta, and I’m all the more thankful for it! I hope things are well where you are.

Oh what a tricky winter it’s been! Around Thanksgiving I mentioned that my grandmother (my only living grandparent since my other grandmother passed away over ten years ago) had a massive stroke. On Christmas Day I flew to St. Louis & waited 8 hours for a little propeller plane to take me to the Marion, Illinois airport to see my grandmother, uncle, and my parents who’d driven up from Atlanta. I sat waiting for this tiny plane all day without food because the airline told us a plane could be ready at any moment and we were so far away from the main terminal that I was too scared to leave. By the time I made it to Marion I was hungry, tired, and seriously grouchy. We visited my grandmother in her nursing home, but she was really out of it. In the morning she’d had pancakes with my dad, was talking to people, and generally doing very well. As the day wore on, she started drifting in out of consciousness and finally my mom decided to have my grandmother admitted to the ER. The next morning I learned she’d had another stroke. My mom and uncle were exhausted from staying up in the ICU with her so my brother and I took turns all weekend in her hospital room and amazingly she was able to talk for awhile, knew who we were, and wanted to listen to music. It was such a miracle that she had the ability to speak and read- she kept reading the calendar and white board on the wall with the nurses’ names. At the end of my short visit, my grandmother was trying to drink from a straw and was sitting up in a chair again. It was amazing!

I hate to put all of my personal issues out there on this blog, but I haven’t been able to think about much besides my family and work over my break from school. I made an attempt to take a few days to relax (all this snow & ice in Atlanta helped- we couldn’t leave the house for two days!), but I found myself working more in my three week break than I did over the semester.

I want to post more in 2010. I decided not to make any resolutions this year about blogging or knitting (I don’t want to be disappointed!), but I have already started to make a conscious effort to put out more positive energy into the world. I plan to knit more this year and try more service projects that involve knitting.

All this to say- I’m here! I’m breathing! Despite being snowed in all weekend, I’m feeling great and ready to work hard at school and my life in 2010!

Soaring above the clouds in the tiny Cessna between St. Louis & Marion. Exhilarating!

Our tiny two-prop plane.

My seat was directly behind the pilot’s seat- I could’ve reached up and flown the plane! (But I don’t think our pilot would’ve appreciated that.)

Last night Jason and I went shopping for some gingerbread ingredients after I saw this AMAZING post about gingerbread houses that sit on mugs from notmartha.org, and while we were at the Farmer’s Market, Jason realized that last night would be really our only night together until December 29. I have so many babysitting arrangements coming up that we just won’t be able to have any Christmas fun. So while we were at Target, we ran back to look at their trees, found one for under $30 in clearance, and came home to decorate.

I started by making some puff pastry cookies. I wanted to make pie crust cookies, but all I found at the tiny Kroger in Decatur was some ready-made puff pastry sheets. Not a bad thing, though!

They turned out so crispy, puffy, yummy-delicious! I sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar, and was seriously debating pouring milk over them for breakfast.

I used some bite-sized cookie cutters which made them easy to pop on each trip past their resting spot on the stove. Jason almost had to duct tape their container closed.

I also made gingerbread dough for the little gingerbread houses. We used blackstrap molasses, which, along with all the other spices made the dough taste really, really, REALLY strong. The dark molasses also gave the dough a dark brown color that, as I piled up the dough on plastic wrap to rest in the fridge, looked like poo!

We also decorated the tree, but by the time we finished it was 2:00 AM, so there aren’t any pics of the finished tree yet. I did get a lot of pictures of the cats checking it out, though.

Nugget and Fat Stinky are celebrating their first Christmas.

What a fun night!

First off, many thanks to San (www.san-smith.com) who gave me her pass to the Neil Gaiman reading at Agnes Scott. I totally fudged myself by not bringing either of my two Neil Gaiman books to be signed, but I really enjoyed the reading. And I got to see an Internet pal Jessi (www.casual-dread.blogspot.com) and thanks to Jessi for letting me sit with her and getting a great view of Neil Gaiman! We had to wait a good long while to meet Neil (he signed books for every person in the chapel- maybe 400 people!), but when we did get up to him, I said I was an English teacher (ok, little white lie, but I am in school to be one!) and that I was impressed by how his books get reluctant readers to pick up a book (which is quite true!). He hadn’t looked up to speak to nearly anyone before us, but he looked up and responded along the lines that he’d heard that a lot and was glad to encourage young readers.

So yay! That was very exciting and I’m sad that San couldn’t go, but feeling very fortunate that I got to meet him and get a picture with him. I have pictures of Jessi and her friends on Flickr, and she has a picture of us with Neil. Weird camera acrobatics last night.

Anyway. The other thing I wanted to post about today was Lion Brand patterns. I was flipping through some blogs and someone posted a few photos of the wonderful crochet patterns Lion Brand has for FREE on their website. I’m still very biased towards knitting, but the winds may be a-changing now that I’ve seen the fantastic patterns on their site.

I LOVE this granny square scarf. It’s featured with a soft mohair yarn which makes it look cute and modern. Granny squares have a tendency to come off kinda clunky and old-fashioned (or maybe I just always picture the afghans my Nana made in the 70s), but I really like how bright and fun this scarf looks. The picture links to the pattern, but you need to be signed into the Lion Brand site in order to view it.

I also really liked this scalloped, lacy scarf.

Last summer I made a cute knitted dress for a girl I’d babysat with a light linen yarn. This pattern is similar to the dress I made, but I’m really digging the new handpainted yarn from Lion Brand that looks like a Noro colorway.

What a cute little outfit for the winter? I want to make this as a Christmas gift for the little one I’m sitting for now. She could wear a long-sleeve onesie and leggings or tights under it. With a soft wool it would be perfect for winter wear.

I’m hoping to add a few more items to my Etsy shop this afternoon before I go out to babysit for the evening. I’m thinking it may be a much later update, but debating between adding handspun yarn and knitting up some of my handspun. I think there are so many established and popular handspun yarn sellers on Etsy that I may be wasting my time listing just plain yarn. I’ve had a raspberry colored yarn with over 250 yards (!) sitting in my shop since March. I’ve always wondered if I shouldn’t just knit up and see how that goes. I don’t know. Are there more knitters on Etsy or people who want already-knitted items?

One of the yarns I will probably list is a beauty I’ve been holding onto for a long time thinking I would ply it. But I really like it as a single.

It’s a little over-wound in a few spots, but I plan on soaking it and giving it a good WHACK and stretch before listing it. I spun this in January and didn’t intend at all for this to be listed so close to Christmas. It reminds me more of roses and leaves than Christmas. But oh well. Now’s the time.

I better get on with my real life chores today. Have a lovely day!

Finals are OVER and I’m happy to report that I received another 4.0 this semester. I am making up big time for my undergraduate GPA. Also, my professor wants me to submit one of my final exam essays to a peer-reviewed education journal. Cool!

And I gotta tell ya, there is nothing better than coming home on a freezing cold, rainy day to a package. Especially when inside the package you find:

A hand-crocheted Jayne hat! OMG WHEEE! Thank you so much, Julia! This totally made my day.

I will be adding a few new items to my Etsy shop this week. I lowered my prices to make holiday shopping a touch more affordable, and I’m willing to (reasonably) negotiate on what’s still in there. I’ll be adding at least two other scarves and some handspun yarn. http://cassinator.etsy.com

Have a lovely weekend!