Yes, Tchem, the funky faux plaid (I was thinking of it as faux argyle) was a surprise with the yarn. (But I've decided it's a feature, not a bug.) I kind of like the argyleyness - I think it does save the scarf a little bit from being a total "Look! I can knit! Even if I can't purl!" kind of novelty-fur-throw-up scarf.

I'm about to join on the second ball (which will probably be the last - I've decided that long, long scarves that I have to wind multiple times around the neck to keep from dragging the ground are just too much effort*) and I'm being very careful to match the color repeat so that hopefully the faux plaid/argyle will continue.

I might make a toque with the rest of the yarn. But again, I might not.

(*K., if you're reading this - remember the huge ugly faux Dr. Who scarf I had in high school, in black and white? Ha ha ha ha ha. What a poseur I could be sometimes! I can still picture myself striding across campus wearing that and my deerstalker hat [dear God, yes, I had and wore a deerstalker hat in high school. That makes me squirm in humiliated embarrassment now]. I actually think I still have both of them - I know I saw the scarf at my parents' house over Christmas).

Spent part of the afternoon digging around in my storage closet and finding all kinds of stuff - a moebius style neckwrap out of the algae-colored Landscapes that I started last year and it's nearly done and I really should finish it when I finish the funky faux argyle scarf. And I found my stash of "Portrait." And some yarn I bought to make those simple bunny-from-a-square toys.

And I stacked up a bunch of quilt fabric into piles - and I planned out a couple new quilt tops.

I want to do one out of the new line of poppy fabric that's out right now. I have several of the prints, and several nicely coordinating batiks or prints. I want to use this pattern; I've ordered black fabric for the "lines" (after thinking for a long time about what color would look best, deciding that yellow or that tomato red would blend too closely, white or cream would look washed out, but black would be dramatic).

And I want to finally use my "Quiltmaker's Gift" fabrics with the bears and dancing cats and all that on it - probably in a simple four-patch alternating with plain solid colored blocks, maybe muslin. Or maybe make the four-patches, take them somewhere that has a lot of solids on sale (I don't own many solid fabrics), and seeing what works best with them.

And I'm going to do the cover quilt - just plain squares with wide white sashing - from this month's "American Patchwork and Quilting", but with the State Bird fabrics instead of the indigoes.

I'm super excited about making stuff right now - I want to start a million projects, but I also want to work on the stuff I have going. I almost feel like I want to blow through all the unfinished projects I have and then start fresh with new stuff. I think part of this wanting to start new stuff is that a lot of the energy I have that's normally drained off - either by committeework, or by the sort of endless grind of stuff that happens when you're teaching more classes (I'm essentially half-time in the summer: two classes instead of four, but I'm still considered full time), or leading AAUW, or running the youth program (we're on summer hiatus), is now energy I can devote to myself. And it's kind of wonderful. It's nice to get home in the afternoon and not be so totally beaten down by the day that you can't imagine sitting down at the sewing machine. And it's nice to have a couple of extra hours a day to just create, and to not have all the hanging-over-the-head responsibilities of the school year.

the summer is going by too fast. I think I'll feel kind of whipped once all my responsibilities ramp up again.