Some random stuff:

This time of the year, I get the urge to make soft, wide scarves in interesting textured patterns. I particularly like this scarf idea, both for the name (and yes, the cable crosses do look sort of like stacks of chromosomes, at least the way they're stereotypically depicted in biology texts) and for its dimensions. And its scrunchy look- it looks like it would be a very cozy scarf.

That may be an over-Christmas-break project.

That said - I'm kind of itching to start something new. But I think it needs to be something simple, a knit-and-read kind of project.

I think I'm going to begin another Clapotis because once I get the basic foundation down, it's kind of automatic. And I need to do some research-reading, in preparation for doing some research-rewriting over break (I have two papers I'd like to polish up and get submitted somewhere - one is a paper I wrote several years ago, had rejected, and back-burnered. The other is one I've not tried submitting anywhere because I need to refocus the topic, make a huge topic narrower and more manageable).

And knitting and reading is good.

I'm also itching to get back to doing more research-oriented stuff.

Time devoted to rational thought is the hallmark of a scholar; yet, in a world geared toward agile responses to daily challenges, time for thoughtful consideration is an increasingly rare luxury. The urgent is ever the enemy of the reflective. --James P. Collins, 2002. BioScience 52:75-83.

And I've been feeling that. I feel like I'm not exercising my brain quite enough; I'm not keeping up with journals the way I did in the past. The full-tilt boogie of the past several weeks (grading, prepping exams, dealing with students who were sick and needed make-ups) has eaten too much of my think-time and I do feel the little grey cells calling out for something meaty to work on.

(I also started reading "The Pickwick Papers" last night as my bedtime book; I think I've read too many "simple" mysteries of late and I need something more complex and novelish to work on).

So - I'm thinking this evening I might either start a new Clapotis, or pull out the front of Kenobi I was most recently working on (though there are different stitch-patterns, it's simple enough to follow as I've placed markers) and read some articles and knit and think about where I'm going to go with the paper rewrite.

I also want to start a new Clapotis to use some of the lovely yarn I bought at Ewe Knit over Thanksgiving break; she was having a good sale and I kind of went crazy - bought up some of her (clearance) Rowan (some kid silk haze in a deep brown for a shawl and also some dk weight in a lovely burnished-brass color), some sock yarn, and about 900 yards of a really lovely yarn, one I've been tempted by every time I was in there - Cleckheaton Country Silk 8-ply. (It is a nice soft wool blended with silk. I bought color 7.) I love the color, I love the way it feels, I love picturing a big Clapotis made out of it wrapped around me.

And I have to say, that's one of the things I love about knitting - the anticipation, the planning the project, the lovely imagining of what it will be like to knit on it.

Knitting, really, is very sensual (no, I don't mean that in the nasty, debased sense that it was used in Animal House). There's a lot of sensory pleasure in it - the colors of the yarn that delight the eye, the way the yarn feels in your hands when you're working on it or the feel of the finished fabric, whether it's crisp or soft or drapey. Even the smell of the yarn (and yes, some yarns have a pleasant scent. The faint whisper of residual lanolin is pleasant. The warm, dusty-attic smell of some cotton yarns is pleasant).

The promise of knitting - that I will be able to work on this or that project, or start something new - is sometimes one of the things that gets me through a bad day. ("Only five more hours and then you can go home and knit." or "Get this grading done and then you can work on the sweater." or "Once you're sure everyone's processed through your office that you'll need to deal with today, you can go home and read and knit.")

The Cleckheaton yarn has been calling to me ever since I bought it, asking to be cast on and knit with. Tonight, I may give in to that desire.
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I also mentioned buying some dk-weight Rowan. I don't remember the specific name of the yarn (and I never remember the goofy color-names Rowan uses; the color of this one puts me in mind of either tarnished brass or certain species of lichens - it's sort of an old gold, to give it a more prosy name). I bought it for a scarf.

(Yes, I knit a lot of scarves. No, I do not wear scarves all that much. It is an extension of Calvin's comment about "not the having but the getting" - they are more about making for me, and if I wear them a few times, that's great. I do give away a lot of the scarves I knit because I like to make them but don't have that much of a need to wear them).

I was thinking about what stitch pattern to use - because a plain smoothish yarn in a nice color calls out for some kind of clever stitch pattern. At first I thought I'd use one of those reversible patterns, like the one that makes the little triangly pleats on the scarf. But now, having looked at a couple patterns using Barbara Walker's Dragon Skin pattern, I've decided that that's the right one for this yarn.

(Yes, it's a non-reversible pattern - so the back might look funny. I don't particularly care. I'm also going to do it with a large needle relative to the size usually required by the yarn to make the pattern looser and drapier).

It gives me great pleasure to plan new projects.

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A free patterns link: Crochet Toy Box. It's a huge catalog of links to free online crochet toy patterns. You know, if you like making toys. Or if you're afraid that if you buy a toy for your kid for this Christmas, you'll wind up inadvertently getting Reclaimed Electronics Waste Barbie or Lead-Paint Dora.

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Just another reminder - if you want to participate in the "Pay it Forward" gift exchange, there's still room. (Diann, I can't tell from your comment if you wanted to take part or if you just thought it was a good idea).

I have to admit I'll feel a wee bit sad if no one takes me up on the offer....