Five papers left. Can I make it? I don't know.

I'm finding myself surfing in between grading...thinking about things to make...thinking about starting new stuff.

I'm getting the desire to once again start a Vintage-style crocheted blanket. To use up the oddments of worsted weight in my stash, and also to clear out some of the wool-ease that I over-optimistically bought when I was first making socks, before I (a) discovered the goodness that is socks knit out of fingering weight and (b) moved to a climate where it's almost always too warm for heavier socks.

I don't know. It's one of those things that I cherish the IDEA of as much as the actual object...the basket of different yarns next to the sofa, ready for when I want to do a little crocheting, making a few stitches here and there when I have just five minutes or so to work (or when I'm too tired for something more complex). And the picture of the finished blanket, up on Bella Dia, just makes me happy.

Again, I think it's that 30s/granny/farmhouse/shabby-chic style thing that I'm into - the bright colors, the not-needing-to-have-everything-matchy-poo, the comfort and happiness of handmade stuff.

I'm thinking of summer again. Last night I was compiling a summer reading list in my head (as if I have that much free time...) I want to read Cold Comfort Farm, and Gulliver's Travels, and the first volume of the Dance to the Music of Time seris, and The Eagle of the Ninth (yes, that last is technically a kid's book, but I've heard that it's very very good).

And I think of myself sitting in my cool dim family room (I keep the house dim when it's hot out; the air conditioning doesn't have to work as hard and it also SEEMS cooler with the curtains drawn), crocheting on my blanket or reading one of my new books and that makes me happy.

(Realistically? I probably will get around to reading ONE of those volumes. And I may never start on the blanket. But I like being able to visualize that.

I don't know. Maybe that's one way I'm a little nutso. But I have these mental images of myself doing things I would like to be doing - I can also imagine myself going out antiquing - and it's kind of a way of braking free from the frustration of the day).