diff --git a/janet/recursive.janet b/janet/recursive.janet
index a99dbef..c1c8161 100644
--- a/janet/recursive.janet
+++ b/janet/recursive.janet
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 ### A recursive descent parser for Ludus
 
+### We still need to scan some things
+(os/cd "janet") # when in repl to do relative imports
+(import ./scanner :as s)
 
 ### First, some mutual recursion helpers
 (defn unreachable 
@@ -171,6 +174,76 @@
  (advance parser)
  {:type :string :data (curr :literal) :token curr})
 
+# interpolated strings, which are a whole other scene
+(defn- scan-interpolations [data]
+ (print "scanning interpolation: " data)
+ (when (buffer? data) (break data))
+ (pp data)
+ (def to-scan (data :to-scan))
+ (def {:tokens tokens :errors errors} (s/scan to-scan))
+ (pp tokens)
+ (print "there are " (length tokens) " tokens")
+ (def first-token (first tokens))
+ (cond
+  (first errors) (first errors)
+  (empty? tokens) 
+   {:type :error :msg "string interpolations/patterns must be single words"}
+  (< 3 (length tokens)) 
+   {:type :error :msg "string interpolations/patterns must be single words"}
+  (= :word (first-token :type)) 
+   {:type :word :data (first-token :lexeme) :token first-token}
+  :else {:type :error :msg "string interpolations/patterns must be single words"}))
+
+(def foo [{:foo :bar}])
+(-> foo first (get :foo))
+
+(defn- is-error? [data]
+ (cond
+  (buffer? data) false
+  (= :error (data :type)) true
+  false))
+
+(defn- interpolated [parser]
+ (expect parser :interpolated)
+ (def origin (current parser))
+ (def source (origin :literal))
+ (def data @[])
+ (var curr @"")
+ (var interp? false)
+ (var escape? false)
+ (each code source
+  (def char (string/from-bytes code))
+  (cond
+   (= char "\\") (set escape? true)
+   escape? (if (= char "{")
+            (do 
+             (buffer/push curr "{")
+             (set escape? false))
+            (do
+             (buffer/push curr "\\")
+             (buffer/push curr char)
+             (set escape? false)))
+   (= char "{") (do
+                  (set interp? true)
+                  (array/push data curr)
+                  (set curr @""))
+   (= char "}") (if interp? (do
+                  (set interp? false)
+                  (array/push data {:to-scan curr})
+                  (set curr @""))
+                 (buffer/push curr char))
+   :else (buffer/push curr char)))
+   (array/push data curr)
+   (def interpolated (map scan-interpolations data))
+   (advance parser)
+   (def ast {:type :interpolated :data interpolated :token origin})
+   (if (some is-error? interpolated) 
+    (do 
+     (def err {:type :error :msg "bad interpolated string" :data ast :token origin})
+     (array/push (parser :errors) err)
+     err)
+    ast))
+
 # words & synthetic expressions
 (def separates [:break :newline :comma])
 
@@ -338,7 +411,7 @@
   :true (bool parser)
   :false (bool parser)
   :keyword (kw parser)
-  :number (number parser)
+  :number (num parser)
   :string (str parser)
   :word (word-pattern parser)
   :placeholder (placeholder parser)
@@ -434,6 +507,7 @@
   :number (num parser)
   :keyword (kw parser)
   :string (str parser)
+  :interpolated (interpolated parser)
   :lparen (tup parser)
   :lbracket (list parser)
   :startdict (dict parser)
@@ -516,7 +590,7 @@
 )
 
 (defrec toplevel [parser]
- (def when (current parser))
+ (def curr (current parser))
  (case (type curr)
   :pkg (unreachable)
   :ns (unreachable)
@@ -547,16 +621,12 @@
  )
 )
 
-(os/cd "janet") # when repl to do relative imports
-(import ./scanner :as s)
 (do
 #(comment
-(def source `"foo {bar} \{baz"`)
+(def source `"foo { bar } baz \{quux} {fuzz}"`)
 (def scanned (s/scan source))
-# (def a-parser (new-parser scanned))
-# (def parsed (whenn a-parser))
-# (-> parsed)
-(first (scanned :tokens))
+(def a-parser (new-parser scanned))
+(def parsed (simple a-parser))
+(-> parsed)
 )
 
-