In-Hotel Room Hair High-lighting

It’s lovely in Orlando.  Apparently it’s chilly here, but to me it feels just DANDY!

My first evening here I engaged in my usual, I’m BORED hair lightening event.  It was fun, and the results aren’t bad!

So I was fully prepared and beautiful for my full day of classes on Friday for the Knit or Knot Guild.

I have seldom taught such a fun, hardworking, wonderfully challenging and enjoyable group as I have this weekend!  So far my classes have been really great – I’m pushing folks kind of hard, but they’re all stepping up to the plate and doing really splendid work!

The water heading out the door...

Unfortunately I was a bit late to class today because my toilet sort of exploded (one flush, something within the tank went ‘pop’, and the water just POURED out into the room, onto the carpet and OUT into the hallway!)

I swear I was not flushing watermelons or rubber gloves, but it was a heck of a way to start the day!

I regrouped, changed rooms, & rushed to the classroom where everyone was patiently waiting for me, 10 minutes late.  Dang.

It was a high concept class today – Entrelac/Entrelace class.  There are some REALLY tough techniques in the lesson, but this group got them and asked for more!

I’ve taught a lot of tricks and tips tossed in with my classes so far this weekend, and the Knit or Knot Guild has really stood up to the challenge.

Tomorrow is the Universal Handbag Class, which is a great ending class because it’s fun, not as mentally challenging as some of the other stuff, and there’s a little final product (a small bag) at the end of the class.

One of the guild members set us up at her neighborhood club house, it’s a great teaching location and the built in kitchen made the pot luck lunch today such a nice, homey alternative to going out for a quick bite!

Last night I had dinner with a friend I hadn’t seen in 20 years, I’ll be staying with her on Monday night, more time to catch up!  Tomorrow she’s taking me to one of the Disney parks (she works there in costuming) so I’ll get a bit of tourism fun.  Mostly, though, I’m just trying to rest when I’m not teaching so that I am fit to teach again!

I guess you can tell from the very simple blog post how tired I am – but it’s an extremely happy tired!  One lovely woman made gluten free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for lunch and I took some home to my hotel room.

"Do The Hustle!"

As I walked through the lobby I noticed an unusual amount of flautists tweeting away in corners of the hotel, then I saw this sign:

Either the folks who play flute in Florida are an exceptionally happy lot, or they were just incredibly glad to see each other.  At any rate, being surrounded by so many joyful flutes was enchantingly surreal!

This evening has been a delight of private, in my room online scrabble playing, tea drinking, cookie eating, and now some good bed time with a great book.

The best evening EVER!

I’d give a great deal, though, to have Gerry and the kids here!  I missed Max’s band concert (rumor has it he ROCKED!) and I’ll be home just in time for his birthday on Tuesday.  Slight guilt, but mortgage must be made!

Barbie's Scale set permanently at 110 lbs (image by CarrieBee)

A few years ago there was a Barbie doll who famously cried, “Math class is TOUGH!” as one of her pre-recorded soundbites.

Mattel heard the well-deserved cries of protest and yanked Teen Talk Barbie and chalked the whole thing up to a PR nightmare.

Girls don’t need encouragement to believe that mad math skills are beyond them.

My own math journey wasn’t smooth.  I was in advanced math in Jr. High, but upon transferring to a new school which didn’t believe in ‘advanced’ classes I was given a choice to return to a lower class with my 8th grade peers, or move into the 9th grade (elective) class.

I chose the latter, and the teacher (who wasn’t thrilled with a new girl in class, bringing the total female population in advanced algebra to TWO) dogged every equation I wrote on the board.

“Yes, Annette got the right answer,
but she got it the WRONG way…”

It was my last math class – I ended the year with a “D” after a solid A/B average for the previous 2 years in my old school, and I shied away from math stuff for years.

Then I began designing, and I re-discovered the joy of numbers.  It’s almost poetic when I can get the gauge and stitch repeats to work well together, creating a simplified, universal pattern that can be easily altered.  Here’s an example of a recent trip through math hell.

But for the past year – probably more (I’ve been trying HARD to ignore this) my brain is not dealing with sums as well as it has.  At first I thought it was my imagination, then I thought it was pure laziness

Now I’m forced to admit that when I’m return to a pattern in one of my math worksheets I have no memory of my previous encounters with the same formulas.

The good news is that it’s forced me to label all of my columns (which note body measurements and changes in the pattern) INCREDIBLY clearly so I can jog my memory when I return to the pattern.  Clarity is good.

The bad news is that patterns take longer to write.  Recently I wrote up a pattern for a simple shrug.  I’ll admit that the lace pattern was a bit of a bear (I reworked it 3 times to simplify it without losing the beauty) but still, writing the pattern took me approximately 20 hours when a similar pattern might have taken me 4-5 hours a few years ago.

This is so frustrating.  I know it has a lot to do with the fibromyalgia, and I wonder if – in a warmer, sunnier month my brain might be clicking away in a more efficient manner.  But right now it is what it is.

So, while I’m NOT giving up designing hand knit and crochet patterns, I’m branching out a bit to add a bit more joy in my life – and hopefully diversify my income.

Annie Modesitt Fine Millinery

Bytham Cabbage Rose Hat

I’m making Millinery. Hats. Caps. Dome-pieces. Do-rags. Lids.

And I’m selling them on Etsy!

These pieces won’t be available as knitting patterns, that’s part of the joy for me.  I just need to be able to MAKE stuff without worrying about how to tell others how to make the same thing.

Wisbech Cloche

I sometimes find myself stymied by the difficulty in explaining a complex technique, and I avoid some beautiful details in my work for just this reason.

So the hats will be an escape for me, a bit of joy in a few cold, dark months when math doesn’t come as easily as it might.  I’ll make hay – and patterns – when the sun shines.

Edmondthorpe Cloche

If you know anyone who is looking for a beautiful, unusual, interesting hat for a special occasion, direct them over to my website or etsy store.

I’m happy to do commission work, and with the wealth of yarns out there I can match or complement just about any fabric or trim.

It would be lovely to see more brides wearing fine millinery, and the lacework brims on my hats create a ‘shadow veil’ which is flattering to any face!