do i have soup in my hair?

[pensnest]

Not a question one often has cause to ask, but I was reheating the slow-cooked lentil and vegetable soup for today's tea, and it gets awfully volcanic. I wonder if it's the induction hob, which means the heat is all transmitted into the saucepan at the bottom, instead of also around the sides the way a gas hob would. I thought the eruptions had approximately a metre's diameter, but it turned out there were splotches of soup about five feet away (on the floor) and it spat so high I got some on my hair. Exciting times.

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BIL is visiting this week, for Beast's birthday (on Friday). He is a very easy house guest. Sable cannot decide whether to flee his presence or tolerate him, but, to be fair, she's that way about Beast and Me as often as not.

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Although I have two knitting projects on the go, a Christmas sweater of great tastefulness, and another Bambara wrap in smoke and lavender, I have taken to producing sensory muffs in the last couple of days. They use up some of the endless supply of part-balls in my stash, plus are a great deal more mindless, because although the Bambara lace pattern is really easy, it still requires a modicum of attention, and I am at the yoke-reducing stage of the sweater, and there are snowflakes. It is all too mind-taxing.

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Now, then. Instagram. How does it work, and do I need one?

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There are hints of autumn colour here and there in the world—I noticed some when I went to Sainsburys (where they have moved everything around, so thoughtful when one is doing one's best to shop quickly)—but mostly things are still green and it is raining a great deal. I like chill, bright October days with magnificent trees, but I suppose it must be a bit early. The beech has a few flecks of yellow. The sweet chestnuts have been dispensing their spiked cannonballs in great heaps, and their leaves are turning brown. Not much sycamore colour yet. :-(

Comments

[yarnofariadne]

Ooh smoke and lavender sounds lovely. I really want to learn to knit!

Honestly I wouldn't recommend Instagram anymore these days but I recognise I'm just a bitter old lady about it. It's been steadily downhill since Facebook bought it and now the feed is having the exact same problems that led to me deleting my Facebook. It won't show me my friends' posts, they disappear in a flash and get replaced with adverts and now my feed is NOTHING but adverts.

I haven't been outside in months so I couldn't say if the trees here are getting autumnal but I miss that so much ♥ Hopefully they come in near you soon!

[pensnest]

I strongly recommend knitting! And these days there are so many YouTube videos which can help you with *everything*. I mean, the best way is to have a real person there to show you, teach you, and tell you what went wrong, but at the moment that likely isn't possible. YouTube!

I don't *think* I need any more social media in my life, so I'm definitely not wedded to the idea of Instagram. Thanks for letting me know what you think of it!

[dine]

I have no opinion on Instagram, but feel for you and your soupy hair. can't say I've ever had *that* in my hair, but various other cooking substances have accidentally ended up there, and it's just such an odd thing.

[pensnest]

It is very weird. I would never have thought it could get so high as to descend onto my head!

[frausorge]

I hadn't heard of sensory muffs before, but now that I've looked them up they sound like a very cool thing to create, and indeed a good way to streamline the stash! The Bambara wrap sounds beautiful, but I can well believe it would require a certain amount of concentration.

Lentil and vegetable soup rinse for smooth and lustrous locks!

[pensnest]

Ahaha! The soup is perhaps a little too textured for regular use. I noted on Tuesday when I served some for my newly-arrived BIL that it was a pile of soup rather than any more, hmm, liquid description.

I've known for a while about sensory muffs being used for people with dementia, but more recently found out that they can be helpful for people with autism, too. So definitely a good cause.

Awesome icon!

[wenchpixie]

I enjoy instagram a lot, but I browse my feed on my computer with and ad blocker in place which does definitely make it more pleasant because the ads can be pervasive.

The facebook induced out of order feed is still annoying, and it will devalue posters with whom you don't interact who do not already have a lot of followers (so, I need to like/comment my mum's posts to keep them appearing, but bbc nature - which is wonderful - will always appear) so it's worth being aware of that, but otherwise I enjoy seeing what's going on in friends lives, in a way that I don't see elsewhere. I am PICKY about who I folloe though, and do my best to avoid those with fakery in their posts. .

[pensnest]

I'm really only thinking of getting my own Instagram in order to be able to look at one celeb's posts there. It may not be worth my while! Thanks for your thoughts.

[turlough]

Your cooking adventures are very entertaining to read about but I'm very grateful they're happening to you instead of me ;-D

A slightly too-early happy birthday to Beast! Give him a hug from me.

Smoke and lavender sounds like a lovely colour combination for a wrap. And so does the sweater, snowflakes are always so pretty. Good luck with both of them and also with the mindless muffs!

We also have lots of green still but autumn is definitely here. We actually had frost in the morning for a couple of days early this week!

[pensnest]

Roast pork today, for Beast's birthday... I discovered that the oven light is not working (yesterday, while making a cake), but I will use the other oven today. Fingers crossed!

I am looking forward to having knitted the wrap and the sweater. Hmm.

[rikes]

Happy birthday to Beast! ♥

I think Instagram is fun, super easy to learn/use and doesn't take up too much time. I don't post a lot myself, but I like seeing what people are up to. Provided that you follow a reasonable number of people! I only follow ~30 accounts, and most of them aren't super active. So I spend maybe 5min per day on Instagram, tops. Which is great for me - I can see what my friends are up to, but I don't need another online timesucker in my life.

I mostly follow my closest friends (=people I also interact with outside of instagram) and very few celebrities (actually I think Kevin might be the only famous person I follow atm). But most people I know follow 150-300 accounts, so that's a different story. (Of course you can also choose not to even try to catch up with your "friendslist", but I've never been able to do that).

Yes, the thing that other people also mentioned with your feed not displaying in chronological order is a bit annoying, it's the same problem with every single social media service these days.

I think you should get an account and follow me! :D And everyone else you know from fandom. But if you only want to follow one single person, getting an account yourself doesn't add much value to the experience IMO. You can just go straight to their page.

[pensnest]

I have just got pensnest an Instagram account. Who are you on there?

[rikes]

I just added you! And if you look at my followers you might find a few familiar names. ;)

[turps]

Happy belated birthday to Beast!

I really enjoy Insta, mostly because it's so easy to dip in and out of. Yeah, the out of order posting annoying but it's a good and quick way to keep up with my friends and celebs I enjoy. Plus, I enjoy all the pretty photos.

[ephemera]

smoke and lavender sounds like a fabulous colour combination, but "sensory muffs" also sound delightful!

The trees in my two closest parks are definitely embracing autumnal blaze-of-glory, but, weirdly, the park-with-the-pond, where I went today, is still mostly green-leafed, except for the alders in the pond itself.

I hope you (plural) have been enjoying the additional company, and Beast passed a good birthday!