Happy weekend, everybody. My grading is done so I can go home now.

And a couple replies to comments:

Jennifer: I remember the giddy joy I felt when other knitbloggers first linked to me. It's a good feeling.

Kir: I remember that too, hah. I had a good friend in grad school who was a MASSIVE Neruda fan (I think I found a book of his poems in a used-book store and gave it to her for her birthday one year), and that's what I mostly associate him with.

But you know? I kind of like his definition of "who gets a soul." Funny how much of my understanding of philosophy comes from The Simpsons.

(I always also liked to think it was "when someone loves you" that it's evidence that you have a soul - and I mean, not just the romantic love that's so ickily pushed this month but ANY kind of love - mother-love, or the love of a good friend, or fraternal love, or the agape-type of love. Because, by that argument, I could then be able to claim that pets had souls, countering the old dogmatic* argument that they do not.)

(*and no, that was in no way intended to be a pun; if I knew another word that meant roughly "dogmatic" I'd use it there in order to avoid being accused of making a cheap pun in that situation)

I also have to admit that I ordered myself a birthday present - this being the Month of 38 for me. (it's on the 27th, in case you're curious). I finally broke down and ordered the Kidsilk for the Grecian Pullover from that back-issue of Interweave Knits. This is something I've been thinking of buying for over a year.

I got the color called (on Jimmy Bean's site at least) "Crush Velvet" (Which irks me. It SHOULD be "crushed velvet." "Crush velvet" sounds like a command you'd issue to some kind of anti-fashion robot.) It is a midrange burgundy red, which is a good color for me and is one that I like. I plan to leave off the chiffon bits on the cuffs and hem as I think it would be hard to find coordinating chiffon, and also, I don't think chiffon cuffs and hem would work so well with my lifestyle - using chalk on a regular basis, or cooking-while-wearing-a-sweater, and even sometimes having to deal with soil or lab-chemicals in a sweater. (I've not had chemicals "eat" any of my wool sweaters yet; I've been at least that careful).