Ups and Downs

I've had a couple of sweet surprises recently and I wanted to share them with you. One, I was a raffle winner in the recent RVSK Raffle for two local families. I won a lovely Schacht drop spindle and some amazing Sakina roving. Here's the spindle.




My second surprise was this beauty. She arrived in the mail Saturday morning from Noolie. Noolie's note read, to paraphrase, "Haven't heard much about spinning from you..." and I had to laugh. Noolie has taken off with her spinning while I'm still the complete slacker. Between the raffle prize and this beautiful fiber, I'm going to have to get serious. Thank you so much for this Noolie; it's beautiful and I'm going to fun with it very, very soon!

Saturday morning, Linda, Dianne, Jessi & I hit the road to Roanoke. Together we attended the NoSoKnit that was organized by two women, Rae & Tere. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's a day of knitting. Cost of admission? A knitted item (of your choice) for charity. There were three great vendors present, ISeeSpots Farm, Orchardside Yarn Shop and Mosaic Yarn Shop. All three had a wonderful selection of beautiful things. I had a blast! It was fun to put faces to Ravelry names, e.g. Catinblack, and to see friends again. Picture 115 knitters sitting down together and doing what they love.

Each participant was given a goodie bag of assorted knitting items and each of us also won a door prize. Many yarn shops and farms like Knitters Knook, Misty Mountain, On the Lamb and others outdid themselves with donated door prizes. My prize was from Fran Stafford, an individual whom I don't yet know. It's a sock bag, complete with a row counter, a millefiori stitch marker, Clover size 2 dpns (I needed these badly!) and two skeins of Knit Picks Essential Tweed. This prize was pure karma...all of you know I luuuuvvvv tweed and ironically, I had been eyeing the ISeeSpots needles for size 2 dpns. Thank you Fran; it was a wonderful donation. :)

Rae and Tere - - y'all are great and thank you for organizing it again (this was the 11th year).

Dianne, thank you for driving us all around town!

While at the NoSo, I worked on my Button Tab Hat. (I finished it later at home).


The one blemish on an otherwise perfect day was to learn that Becky is closing her doors at the end of November. She's going to be travelling to China with her husband and cannot, naturally, keep Knitters Knook open. The four of us left NoSo and went down to the Knook. I'm happy for Becky - - I really am - - but I'm sad for me. On Ravelry this morning, there was talk of an actual "Pity Party" and if it comes to pass, I'll be there with a bottle in hand. :)


All I bought at NoSo were some stitch markers from ISeeSpots. Once we decided to visit Becky, I knew what I wanted to do and purchased the below.
Pinwheel Blanket No. 2: (Mission Falls 1824 Cotton)


and Baby Surprise Jacket No. 2: (Cascade Luna "Pink")


My sister, Denise, recently had a special ?sonogram/ultrasound? at Johns Hopkins due to her age. Denise said that the baby was waving its arms as if to say "Hello World!" and had its legs perfectly crossed during the entire procedure. The doctor said that he thinks it's a girl, but until the amnio comes back, no one can be 100% certain. Me? I thought to myself, "It's a girl and she's teasing Andie." Andie and Denise share a special relationship and when Andie found out that Denise is pregnant, the first words out of her mouth were, "It'd better be a boy." LOL

Last, but not least, I had some visitors Sunday morning. I had washed the Button Tab Hat and the Pinwheel Blanket and hung them over the deck to dry. A mom deer came walking up, staring at the blanket swaying the breeze. She and I were maybe ten feet apart and her twin fawns were right behind her. It's the closest I've ever been to a deer and when I reached for my camera, she ran away a little and from that angle, these photos were taken:


So, that was my weekend. I hope that yours was good.

NOON UPDATE: It's a girl! :D

Bullet Post

-Finished Pinwheel Blanket (though not yet blocked)





-Button Tab Hat, 100% Alpaca. (It's like holding a cloud in your hand).


-Baby Surprise Jacket (Cast on last night). P.S. Jan at Yarn Theory has both the book, The Opinionated Knitter, and the lone paper copies of the pattern from Schoolhouse Press. She's finishing up two BEAUTIFUL BSJs' of her own right now. Thank you so much Jan for holding a copy of the pattern for me!



- And last, but certainly not least, meet Gabrielle Elizabeth, born September 23, 2008. (I'd like to claim her as one of my accomplishments, but that wouldn't be honest). LOL Gabrielle is the daughter of two great friends of mine. She should be home from the hospital tomorrow and if I get rid of the sniffles I have right now, she'll be in my arms this weekend. :D



Have a great one everyone! :)

Knitting & Other Fun

Andie recently had an opportunity to go riding at a friend's house and suffice it to say, she enjoyed herself enormously.


Andie & Millie


The following day, Andie & I went to the Sedalia Country Fair where we met up with this wonderful lady.

(Linda is such a serene spinner).





And on the knitting front, I finished the Elvish Leaves for my sister and...



I'm now only a cast off away from finishing the Pinwheel Blanket. (A couple more skeins were added to the blanket after this photo was taken).



Have a wonderful week everyone.

Here She Comes to Save the Day....

I love color, however I can never pick out the right colors when knitting something important. Yes, I am that annoying person who spends an hour in front of the shelf you want to get to, studying the colors and trying different combinations, never making up her mind and frustrating everyone in the process. :)

Becky of Knitters Knook rescued me (again) from my dilemna.



I found this sweater pattern on Ravelry called "Baby Yoda" and it instantly grabbed me. I'm going to knit it for my new niece or nephew and it'll be my first sweater ever (do you hear my knees knocking?). With Becky's help, I picked out Cascade Luna yarn.



It's a wonderful shade of green, but my camera is slowly dying so it looks sort of gray here.



I'm also making this Pinwheel Blanket for the new little one...




...and again, Becky picked out the colors for me. :) Aren't they wonderful?


Suffice it to say, I had a GREAT couple of hours at the Knook. Becky, thank you soooooo much! :)

Newbies

At the very end of August, I finally made my way to the Sereknity of Roanoke's 50% off sale and came home with a few treats. I purchased my first set of ebony needles. Aren't they pretty? If you hold up just one, it looks like a wand from the Harry Potter movies. I really like them and best of all, they were only $6! Serenknity, by the way, was very nice and I enjoyed myself there. I love the fact that Brenda has a "lending library" set up in the store; check out the books and take them home.

Beneath the needles is a new dishcloth for Denise. I'm making her several as housewarming gifts and I'm using a different pattern for each cloth. This is from Ravelry and it's the Waffle Stitch Washcloth. The next one, also a Ravelry pattern, will be Elvish Leaves.

I also bought myself this little tin bank. The fine print reads, " Is wool your dirty little secret, too? Anytime someone says, "Mom, will you take me to Roanoke?" or "Can Kirsten, Ciara, Mackenzie et al spend the night?", I rattle the bank. ;)

When Lara and Linda visited Serenknity (before I got to go), they picked up these goodies for me.

And finally, meet my latest addiction - Stephenie Meyer. My cousins, Kim & Sherri, told me to try out Meyers' books so I ordered them through an online club. They arrived on Saturday morning, Labor Day weekend. I finished all four, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, by Monday night. Tuesday morning, tired and grainy-eyed, I sent the cousins an e-mail that started out with, "Good morning Cows," and explained to them that my fatigue was their fault. :) Twilight, the movie, comes out in November.

HAPPY!

I'm putting SRHS to bed this weekend and am going to revel in my excitement! :)

Two Announcements:

1) I'm going to be an aunt again! My sister, Denise, is having a baby in February.

Different baby projects have been dancing through my head and one that I definitely want to tackle is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. I'm thrilled! Denise? She's nervous and happy. Denise stated [to paraphrase], "When this baby's 16 years old and learning to drive, I'll be 52!"


Denise, this photo's for you: (ROTFLMAO)

2.) The Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival is May 16, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Freeman Exchange

And Mr. Stump replied to my last message with the following:

QUOTE

Please contact my secretary to set up an appointment. I feel that all your questions can be answered in a much more adequate manner in a face to face meeting. Thank you for your concern.

END QUOTE


Not wanting to be deterred, I e-mailed Ken Freeman Ministries:

Messsage No. 4:

Hi Dana,

Pastor Rick was my contact (senior pastor) or Morgans Baptist Church :)

Thanks!
Blessings:)Deondra

Message No. 3:

On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 3:20 PM, <clansoltan@aol.com> wrote:
Hello Deondra,
Thank you for your message. If I may inquire, who is your contact at Morgan's Baptist? Again, thank you!
Dana Soltani

Reply No. 2:

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Freeman Ministries <booking@kenfreeman.com>
To: clansoltan@aol.com
Sent: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 4:14 pm
Subject: Re: Not Sure

Hi Dana,
Sorry for any confusion. My name is Deondra and I do Ken's booking events. I have only been in contact with Morgan Baptist Church. The contact that I have from Morgan Baptist Church was able to get Ken into the high school. I wasn't familiar with the name of that high school, but am familiar with Morgan Baptist Church, because that has been my contact. My apologies for the miscommunication:) Have a wonderful day! Blessings:) Deondra

Message No. 2:

On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 2:57 PM, clansoltan@aol.com wrote:
Good afternoon,
You spoke at SRHS of Moneta, VA on Monday, August 25th (three days ago). Again, you cannot recall the name of the person who invited you to the school? The school, itself, did not appear on your calendar of events so I would assume that sometime, recently, during your tenure with Morgan Baptist Church, you were invited to appear at SRHS. Thank you,Dana Soltani

Reply No.1:

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Freeman Ministries booking@kenfreeman.com
To: clansoltan@aol.com
Sent: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 2:28 pm
Subject: Not Sure
Hi Dana,
I'm not sure where this high school or whom specifically requested a speaking date at this school. Thanks!


Message No. 1:
Name: Dana Soltani
Email: clansoltan@aol.com
Message: When you have an opportunity, would you please give me the name of the individual who invited you to Staunton River High School? Thank you.


***Yesterday evening, I e-mailed Pastor Rick at the church asking the name of the "inviter" (assuming that's a word).*** Nothing yet.

More Dialogue

Dear Mr. Stump,

Personally, I feel it is of the utmost importance to know exactly what was said during Mr. Freeman's speech. Bearing that in mind and if I may ask, who, precisely, invited Mr. Freeman to SRHS? Secondly, would that individual be able to ask Mr. Freeman for a copy of his speech? Was Mr. Freeman's speech reviewed by anyone prior to the assembly? Approximately how many times did Mr. Freeman reference is web site, www.KenFreeman.com in his speech to the best of your recollection?

Dana Soltani

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Stump <rstump@bedford.k12.va.us>
To: clansoltan@aol.com
Sent: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 9:39 am
Subject: RE: Re:

I am sorry to say that we did not have it taped nor did we take official notes but at no time was religion interjected into this presentation. He did make the statement that he not only spoke at high schools but also prisons, camps and that on the next 3 days he would be speaking at a local church. He stated that he had to have faith and believe in himself to make it through what he did as a child. I would like to welcome you to set up an appointment with my secretary to meet if you wish. Thanks you for your comments and your concern.

Let the Dialogue Begin...

Good morning Mr. Stump,

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this inappropriate speech with you. Sweeping the subject of religion to the side, I do not like the fact that Mr. Freeman's speech addressed, rape, pedophilia and alcoholism. Would you you feel comfortable if a total stranger approached your child and introduced the topics of sodomy or drug addiction without your prior knowledge or consent? Of course not. I feel that the trust I placed in SRHS has been betrayed.

The best way for me to be fully informed is to see or read the speech myself. Was it videotaped? Do you have a copy of the text? If so, may I have a one? I do understand that the principal topic of discussion was "choices." However, when I read the following comment by SRHS teacher, Danielle Plomaritas, on Mr. Freeman's guestbook, I was left with the impression that faith played a role too. QUOTE:

Ken, I heard you speak at Staunton River High School today. The Lord touched me and the kids. Thank you so much for coming. Your message was exactly what we needed to start our year. I cannot convey how moving your testimony was and how the Lord is using you. Please keep doing what you are doing, the Lord is saving lives through your ministry! END QUOTE

I look forward to your reply,
Dana Soltani

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Stump rstump@bedford.k12.va.us
To: clansoltan@aol.comSent: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 7:57 am
Subject: RE:

I am sorry that you were misinformed about our guest speaker. He is simply Ken Freeman. He spoke about choices and how they change your life. He did not speak about religion in anyway. This meesage relates to our "Be an 11". The idea that you are repnsible for your actions and that if the appropriate choices are made then the consequences will not be present. I am sorry that you do not feel that this presenter was appropriate and would be happy to speak to you at your convenience.

School Daze

Dear Superintendent Blevins, Principal Stump et al,


Last year, Staunton River High School made headline news throughout the United States due to the unfortunate MRSA-related death of one of its own, Ashton Bonds. I, like many other parents and county residents, was stricken by the loss and hoped for an infinitely less painful school year in 2009.

You have already disappointed me. My son came home from his first day in high school describing a guest speaker, Minister Ken Freeman. In his speech, Freeman addressed a variety of topics to include the rape of his then five year old sister and his mother's alcoholism. How is this school appropriate? What is a minister doing in a public school?

Let me make this point crystal clear. You keep a clean, germ-free, non-MRSA infected school. I and I alone will watch out for my son's soul.

Shame on you!

Dana Soltani

[End Note: I cc'ed the ACLU, CNN, the Washington Post, and others on that message].

Bits & Pieces

Bits & Pieces....that's what I've been up to lately as there's been a variety of things going on.

• School. My son, Skander, is entering high school and my daughter, Andie, is going into the eighth grade. There's supplies, clothing, haircuts, new glasses and assorted crises to include, "OH MY GOD, I don't want Ms. So-n-So for gym. Mom, you have to change my schedule right now."

• Knitting Projects. I finished Larry's felted slippers and I loved the fiber I used, Wool Pak of New Zealand. What I don't love is that I forgot to put a second, knitted sole on one of the slippers. Arrrrghhhh. In a nutshell, I have two different slippers; one has a thick, squishy sole and the other has a thin sole. Needless to say, I have to redo a slipper and will be picking up another skein of Wool Pak at Knitters Knook this weekend.
  
  
• Needle Project. Have you seen the "The Circular Solution" before? I've always thought that the idea was brilliant, but I didn't care much for its looks. Their idea was to use a regular hanger and hang your needles in the closet. See the below.....

• I wanted a needle hanger that I could hang where I knit. Something a little prettier than the original. With the help of my neighbor, who's a retired Saks Fifth Avenue [from the actual Saks store on Fifth Avenue in NY] seamstress, I got this.....
  

I bought some heart-shaped mini quilt dowels, some tapestry-like, heavy fabric and Muriyea did the sewing. In exchange for the sewing, I'm knitting a baby blanket for her first grandchild (once we know the gender) and teaching her to knit too. We're "trading skills" as it were.

• Stash Project. The stash has moved out of the laundry basket and onto shelving. I've got this little "knit center/corner" thing going on in the living room.
  

The focus and flash aren't working well on my camera anymore. I need to ship it off and get it fixed (festival season will be starting soon).

"Shear Spirit" was a birthday gift from Dianne. It's a "yarn pilgrimage" book and pictures are amazing. I love it & thank you so much Dianne!

Lara brought me this sweet sheep from her Maine vacation and it's now the centerpiece of the coffee table. Thank you Lara! :)

Yes, little by little, the family is being run out of the living room and the knitting is taking over. Muhahahaha.

Vacation Knits

My vacation was wonderful! I spent a whole week just relaxing and visiting with my sister, her two sons and my father. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures (I was too "into the moment" to even think of it).

We swam at the lake, went out to dinner, played miniature golf and simply "hung out" together. Quantity & quality time at its best. :D

I did get a bit of knitting done during my time off. I finished Austin's second square for the RVSpinKnit blanket that's being made for him. If case you didn't know, Austin was badly burned in an accident and is now in the Shriner's Hospital of Ohio. His mother, Christina, is in the RVSpinKnit group.

(P.S. Many thanks to Becky at Knitters Knook for the Mission Falls!)

I worked on my Dragon Scales a little bit and...

knitted up a new pair of slippers/clogs!



These slippers are for Larry. Larry, too, was injured in a recent fire and is the spouse of another RVSpinKnit member, Diana. I understand from one of Diana's posts that Larry had a pair of felted slippers and actually wore a hole through them. At the time of this photo, I had only finished one, but now, both clogs are done and I'll be felting them tonight.

I bought the yarn at Knitters Knook and it's wonderful. It's "Wool Pak" in the "Bracken" colorway.

FYI: Nikki & Pam have organized a raffle to benefit both Austin & Larry. The details (and the wonderful prizes) can be found on Ravelry/R.V.S.K. Raffle.

Invasion/Vacation

My father arrived last night and my sister and her children will be arriving tomorrow for a week here at the lake. It's a clan vacation! :)

Knitting & Reading

It's been a busy two weeks since I last posted. I've been knitting furiously (but enjoyably), reading voraciously and running the kids around constantly. Quiet, relaxing summer? I think not. :)

Andie had been saying for a while that she wanted a "serious" haircut - - something along the lines of "much shorter." Her father and I were pretty dubious, thinking she might regret it after the fact, but we were wrong. This past Saturday, Andie and I were cruising Roanoke, getting some things done, while Skander was busy with his card tournament. While at the mall, we went into a local salon and Andie got a great haircut & styling. (Then we had to buy a flat iron so that she could do it herself at home).



So much hair was cut, in fact, that we were able to donate the ponytail to Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for children in need. (Yes, her hair is naturally that curly).



Finally, some knitting content. My Bev Galeskas "Pure & Simple" baby blanket is 90% done. It's huge, but it'll keep Gabrielle warm when she arrives in September. Once I finish this, I'll be back on my Dragon Scales shawl.



And finally, I found these napkins at a friend's house and laughed hysterically. I've been running across Dorothy Parker quotes a lot lately, so I finally visited the library and checked out "The Portable Dorothy Parker" and have been enjoying that enormously.

Have a great week everyone!

Pictures & Presents

Look at what arrived in the mail! Julie sent me a beautiful alpaca mug (which Andie tried, unsuccessfully, to commandeer). It's adorable and thank you so much Julie!

Yesterday, I hit the Knitters Knook 40% off sale. I was in the parking lot, waiting & knitting, when Becky pulled up to open the shop. We sat, talked, laughed and carried on for two wonderful hours; it was a ball and I had such a great time. Thank you Becky!

I also squeezed in a couple of purchases (imagine that!) and here's what I bought:

Cascade Yarns EcoWool (Here's my avalanche hat yarn Julie).

And five skeins of Encore Colors. This is going to be a baby blanket for Gabrielle (my friends, Jen & Mark's, little girl due in September).

Here's my last Sedalia souvenir. This is a Nana Sadie Rose knitting tote, the "Mavis", to be specific. When I went to the Sedalia Fiber Festival, I said that if I bought only one thing for myself, it would be one of Nana Sadie Rose's bags. I picked it up Sunday at Becky's and I love it!

Here's the inside of the bag. See the big blue pocket on the left? That's the pattern pocket! There are pockets galore and so much space. I think I just found a new fetish. LOL :)

Punk Knitting & WWKIP

I read this article on Angie's blog and had to pirate it and bring it here.

Funny? Absurd? Offensive? You decide.

Start Article:

Punk knitting: Has youth culture gone mad?

Steven Wells reports on how alternative culture has ditched rebellion for cross-stitch patterns and bobble hats

Saturday June 14, 2008
guardian.co.uk


So this is how punk ends - not with a bang but with a jumper. Today, all over the world, thousands of punks, goths, emos and other ferociously tattooed, face-pierced miscreant bastard folk-devil scum will take to the streets to protest their disgust with war, oppression and bourgeois conformity by crocheting hideous green twat-hats with stupid ear flaps.
I'm talking about World Wide Knit in Public Day. Which, by its very name, suggests that knitting is a sordid and disgusting practice best done behind locked doors and drawn curtains. Which it is.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On at least four continents muscular youths possessed of the sort of surly disposition and fashionable facial disfigurements that persuade old folks to cross the street, muttering under their mint-humbugged breath about the return of national service, will be sat in parks and on street corners, cheerfully nattering to one another and churning out skull-festooned jumpers that proclaim the need for anarchy. The sickening truth is that knitting is hip - and Western youth culture is knitting its own death shroud.
This decade's mods and rockers don't cluster at Brighton and Hastings for fisticuffs. Instead they mail each other patterns for socks. Which in some ways is obviously an improvement, granted. But, blow me, nobody's going to be making a movie about it in 20 years time. They even have their own knitting Woodstock, called (oh God oh God oh God) Woolfest.

In every bookshop in Christendom there are sections dedicated to the nauseating premise that arts and crafts are edgy and alternative. They are ram-packed with punk-chick adorned books with edgy titles like Stitch'n'Bitch and Anticraft (subtitled "Knitting, beading and stitching for the slightly sinister.")

We've gone from screaming for anarchy, rocking against racism, storming the US Embassy and picketing recruiting offices, tuning in and dropping out and rutting like pigs on Viagra to taking up the favourite hobby of senile old grannies everywhere and declaring it radical. Which was hilarious for about five seconds about five years ago.

The knitting craze is the death of both alternative culture and feminism. But it's even worse that that. Scratch a knitter - discover a Knit Nazi. Like the Nazis, alternative knitters have no sense of humour.

The last time I claimed in print that the concept of radical knitting is as absurd as radical dusting or radical toilet cleaning, I received hysterical and barely literate death threats from the ferocious, fanatical, froth-gobbed and swivel-eyed knit Nazi massive. This time I suspect I might not survive.

Nonetheless, the truth must be stated. Germaine Greer didn't articulate her disgust with women's oppression by knitting a lavender and yellow toilet-roll holder. Dr Martin Luther King Jr didn't say: "I have a dream ... set of place mats that I crocheted using a pattern I got from a magazine." Jimi Hendrix didn't take to the stage at Woodstock wearing a nice orange and puce cardigan (with a reindeer on it) that he made using a job-lot of wool he got at a jumble sale. And Sid Vicious didn't crotchet his own stupid mock-Tibetan hippy-dippy ear-flapped bobble hats. And neither should you. If you need a hobby, take up spitting.

End Article.

And then, for a lark, I googled and found these books.

Warning - - BIG BRAGGING ALERT

Check out this e-mail exchange and see why I'm grinning from ear-to-ear:

Message No. 1:

-----Original Message-----
From: Ashley Stultz
To: Alexander Soltani
Sent: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:23 pm
Subject: One more Email

Parents, Guardians, and Students:

Hope your summer is going GREAT so far. I really enjoyed working with you and your child this year. I wish you all the best of luck next year at the high school. On Friday after all of the students left I was informed that Math SOL scores were in. If you would like to know your child's score, please send me an email.

Thanks again for everything!

Ashley Stultz

©º°¨¨°º©©º°¨¨°º©©º°¨¨°º©©º°¨¨°º©©º°¨¨°º©©º°¨¨°º©
Ashley Stultz
Bedford County Public Schools


Message No. 2:

-----Original Message-----
From: clansoltan@aol.com
Sent: 6/10/2008 1:53:00 PM
To: astultz
Cc:
Subject: Re: One more Email

Hi Mrs. Stultz,

I would very much like to know Alex's score when you have the opportunity to e-mail it. Likewise, thank you too for all of your informative e-mails throughout the year; I greatly appreciated them.

Best regards,

Dana Soltani


Message No. 3:

-----Original Message-----
From: Ashley Stultz
To: clansoltan@aol.com
Sent: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:42 pm
Subject: RE: Re: One more Email

Alex scored a 600!! Please congratulate him for me!!

Thanks


Message No. 4: (Yes, I am an ignorant fool.)

-----Original Message-----
From: clansoltan@aol.com
Sent: 6/11/2008 10:01:00 AM
To: astultz
Cc:
Subject: Re: One more Email

Thank you! I will definitely pass your congratulations on to Alex. Now, if you don't mind me asking - - where does a "600" rank? "Pass Advanced" or "Pass Proficient"?

Any scores he made are due to your skills as a teacher, so congratulations to you too!!

Dana

Message No. 5:

A 600 is a perfect score. You cannot score any higher!

Thanks!

End Note: Well, he didn't get it from me. I managed to fail Algebra not once, but twice.