Not my day.

Bah.

It's the sort of day where I wondered while drying my hair briefly after my shower after spin class if I'd remembered to rinse out the conditioner. I think I did.. but can't quite remember and my hair felt unusually slick for lack of a better word, so I might not have.

I arrived in my office to discover that our building is still without water. Something happened - not sure what - Tuesday that caused them to turn off all water service to the building. They stripped a router bit trying to clear out the main sewer pipe, which would seem to indicate that they hit something concrete or metal. Not a good sign. Rather than do something logical like close the building, though, we're all just expected to hike to either the student center or the technology building next door to use the restroom. Never mind that there's no access to water in the building so if you want a drink you'd better bring it in yourself. Need to rinse a coffee or tea mug? Sorry; out of luck. (Fortunately, I do usually bring some water in with me from home and have been doing so this week; it's still annoying, though.)

Then, after overfilling my teacup twice, I realized that the reason the tea leaves were getting stuck in the drain and keeping it open was because the little screen that was in my ingenuiTEA teapot yesterday was no longer there. I can only assume that it fell out yesterday when I dumped the leaves from my last cup of tea. I had checked it earlier when I first got it and it seemed like the screen was in there more or less permanently, so I didn't think to check for it after dumping out the leaves. I guess I was wrong. *sigh* (Yes, I've emailed Adagio already asking if I can order a replacement for it; I've grown quite attached to my little ingenuiTEA in the last few days..)

Edited to add: And we just had a last minute staff meeting where our Provost (who I report to directly) announced that she has accepted a position at another institution. Yeah. Not a great day.

Teapots, part three!

It came!



It's bigger than I expected (the pictures below help with scale), which is neat. And holy "samples" man! The little box on the right contains four not-so-sample-sized tins of flavored tea - oriental spice, vanilla, mango, and strawberry. There's pr'bly enough for 10-12 cups of each flavor in the tins! Having been on a chai kick lately, I decided to try the oriental spice first.



It took me a few minutes to figure out how it works because I thought the little video on the website showed a lever that you slide to make it pour, but you just set it on the cup to make it pour (there's a little piece that slips down to block the water from pouring, but the edge of the cup pushes it up out of the way).



And I was almost stymied in my quest to try it Right. Now. because the sewer pipe for my building has apparently decided to back up which means not only do we all have to trek out to another building to go to the bathroom, but also that we aren't allowed to run any water or pour anything down the drain. Fortunately, I bring in water every day from home (the water here has a chemical/cholorine taste), so I just needed to decide it would be okay if I drank tea out of my unwashed cup from yesterday.

MMmmm.. I need to learn more about how much tea is enough - the oriental spice was tasty, but not quite strong enough.. or something. Maybe it just needed a little milk. I guess I'll have to make another cup and try that out. *grin*

In other news, do you know about the DeStash blog?! Evil thing. I've added it to my blogroll just in case something irresistable comes up (because, you know, between several pairs of socks, at least three sweaters for myself, and at least one more bucket hat, I don't have enough projects).

Speaking of projects, though, I finished the second sleeve for Peek a boo in the car this morning (all but the last cast off because I think this one ended up a row shorter than the other and I want them to match; the other sleeve is at home so I'll have to check tonight). I'll try to get the pieces blocked tonight, but I have a planning meeting with the Board officers for HCWR from 6 until about 8, so I may be wiped out by the time I get home.

So that means I need to figure out a commuting project to start tomorrow. I need to make another bucket hat, but since I'm stubborn and didn't want to buy a 16 inch circular when I could make five dpns work just as well, it's not really a good project to toss in a bag until it gets past the brim part. I have yarn for Celtic Icon (but not the yarn used in this picture; I have Knit One Crochet Too Angora Soft in Light Moss & Moss from Webs) from Inspired Cable Knits, a sweater kit from Blackberry Ridge, and the Easy Lace Jacket kit (which I was a bit surprised to find included Cascade 220 for the yarn) from White Lies Designs, all for me. I feel sort of obligated to do the Blackberry Ridge kit first, both since it's the oldest of them but also because it's going to quickly be too warm to wear it comfortably. But the Lace Jacket is whispering things like "but I'll be quicker", so I'm a little torn.

Teapots, part two.

As promised, here's a picture of my other teapot:



This one is a bit more conventional - but rather uneven. The knob on the top isn't properly centered, the ridge is a little crooked. It's also somewhat considerably smaller:



(The tea bag steeping is actual a variety of Chai, not the Lipton Green Tea, but I left in the Lipton package to show scale a little better.)

It is just about the right size for a single cup, which works well at work because I can heat water in a mug and in the teapot at the same time, steep a tea bag in both and have one cup ready made in my mug and a second already steeped when I'm finished with the first. It's also a useful vessel for heating water for other uses - like instant oatmeal or those noodle cup things - because it's easier to pour out of than a coffee mug.

Not as exciting as the other, but still suits its purpose rather well. I'm hoping that by tomorrow I'll be able to round out my little teapots series with my latest acquisition (thanks again to Sara for pointing this one out)!

I made more progress on the Peek a boo sleeve last night and this morning in the car and I've only got a couple inches left to go.

Today is just flying by, though, pr'bly because I had a dentist appointment this morning to get the permanent crown I lost a couple weeks ago replaced permanently. Despite past dental trauma (yes, even for somthing as "easy" as placing a permanent crown), this morning's appointment was a cinch, so I'm in a much better mood than I expected I would be!

Teapots, part one

I've had a cold that seems determined to stay squarely in my throat for the past couple of weeks. While this is all sorts of annoying, especially the first week when it made my throat so sore I could hardly swallow (yes, I was cultured, no it wasn't strep), it has forced me to reacquaint myself with tea.

I am generally a coffee drinker, but I can't drink coffee - usually not even decaf - after noon or I don't sleep well. With this cold, I needed something hot to drink in the afternoons that wasn't cocoa, which is usually far too sweet. I am what could only be described as an occassional tea drinker, but I do appreciate good teas. What's more, I'm also an occassional potter and as such, have made a couple of teapots on my time, some as gifts, but two that I've kept.

This is the larger of the two and one of the pieces I'm proudest of.



A couple of general comments on teapot construction to start with. First, teapots are generally heavy and somewhat thicker than other pieces. This is so that they hold in the heat a little longer. A tea cozy will also help with this, but I've never been motivated to make one.

Second, they're typically thrown on a wheel in three pieces - the main body, the spout, and the lid - with a pulled handle attached at the leatherhard stage. Putting together the pieces can be tricky, so usually when throwing a teapot, it's recommended that you throw at least one main body and matching lid, but two or three potential spouts. When you put the teapot together, you identify where you want to attach the spout to the main body and then cut the appropriate slant out of the spout so that it matches the point of the body where it needs to attach. This is not necessarily as easy as it sounds, which is why you usually throw more than one spout. When you have the spout ready, you outline it on the main body and then carve holes out of the main body where the inside of the spout will be so the tea will pour through. You can just carve out the whole spout area, but I usually carve out smaller drain holes so that I can leave the tea bag in the pot and not worry about it getting stuck in the spout.

Third, it's important to remember physics. Because the spout and the body of the teapot are essentially one vessel, the water/tea level will be equal in both parts when you fill it. In other words, you can only fill the teapot to a level equal or lower than the bottom of the opening of the spout. You'll notice in the above teapot that this means that the actual capacity of the teapot does not include the tall neck. Even with this limitation, this teapot holds at least two decent cups of tea.

However, the reason this particular teapot is one of my favorite pieces is because I was somewhat clever in designing it. The lid is also a tea cup, you see.



So, I can make tea in the teapot, leaving the lid on while it steeps and then just flip the lid over and have my tea cup ready to go. The steam from the steeping tea warms the cup so the tea in the cup stays warmer a little longer. As an added bonus, the lid fits over the top of the teapot "upside down" as well - which allows the tea in the pot to stay warmer longer, and keeps the tea cup warm at the same time.



So, while this is one of my favorite pieces, it hasn't been used much until this past week when I found myself craving a warm beverage I could drink at any time. The larger capacity makes it ideal for home when I'm unlikely to be too distracted by other things to finish the pot while it's still warm.

My other teapot has migrated to work in the last week, and I'll try to remember to take pictures of it and talk about it tomorrow. It's not nearly as clever, but it's better suited for use in the office.

And lest you think I've been a complete slacker since finishing the stockings last week, here's a picture of the Peek a boo sleeves in process:



The first sleeve is finished and the second is a little more than half complete. Because the sides of both sleeves are all reverse stockinette, they roll in pretty terribly; the finished sleeve is much wider than it appears in this picture. As this is a gift, it has a deadline of later this month, which I don't think I'll have trouble meeting. I'll need to block each of the pieces separately before seaming, which will take a couple of days, but if I get it seamed next weekend that's still plenty of time to get it off to the recipient.

Then I need to decide what to start next..!