Perhaps I will look into the idea of doing Moomin pillowcases. I can picture them in my mind...though oftentimes the projects I picture in my mind are not quite as satisfactory in actual execution.

I will have to look for line drawings. Not sure if there are any online that would be usable; that's a search for when I have more free time. I know my copies of the books have drawings but they are quite small and would need to be sized up either by photocopier or by redrawing them larger. (I might also consult the nifty reprints of the Moomin comic strip I have to see if there are any good drawings in there).

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I finished one little project this weekend.



This is that granny-square scarf made out of Shire Silk. It's not quite as drapey as I hoped it would be but it still works OK.

Here's a closeup of the scarf. Pretty much standard granny squares:



It took about a ball and a half of each color. If I had had more of the pink I would have made it a bit longer, but I based the number of squares I had on the absolute limits of the pink yarn.

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If you follow the news, you may have heard that someone set fire to the Texas governor's mansion. This was one of the historic mansions - I think the 4th oldest still in use or something like that (and one of the more historic buildings in Texas). The only saving grace is that most of the contents were in storage as it was in the process of being renovated.

I have to say, vandalism (and arson seems a particularly insidious form of vandalism) is one of those things that makes me irrationally angry. To me, it seems so selfish and so pointless - why do it? Does it give the person some kind of sick pleasure to know they've destroyed something, especially something that may not be able to be replaced? Is it that they have a lack of control in their lives, and they feel this is something they can control? Is it a "if I can't have nice things, no one can?" I really don't get it.

Working on a college campus, from time to time I'm confronted with the effects of vandalism - people damaging the gardens and plantings on campus, graffiti, and, once, spectacularly, someone stealing one of the "Gators" that the groundscrew uses, tearing up the lawn with it, and then crashing it in my building's parking lot.

And it's like, that's so stupid. If it was a student - they just basically stole from the college and from themselves, because money will have to be diverted to fix what was done wrong. If it's a resident of the state who pays taxes, it is as if they stole from themselves (because a lot of the funding of the university comes from state taxpayers). Oh, I know - people in the heat of the moment don't think of that but I do and it frustrates me.

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There's a very funny (well, funny to me) buckle-up ad out there - I think it's specific to the state of Texas but those of us in the Red River counties see it too, because most of our tv stations are based on Texas. They're playing a piece of Western Swing ("I saw miles and miles of Texas...." and it ends with "I'll live here 'till I die."). You see all the various stereotypes of bad drivers - the woman putting on makeup and ratting her hair while she drives, the businessman talking on a cell phone, the Tiny Old Man who can't see over the steering wheel of his Cadillac. (In other words: most of them are people I have encountered on the road.). The voice-over makes the comment that, even though YOU may be a very safe driver, not everyone else is, so you need to buckle up.

Heh. Maybe I like that because that's essentially the warning I give to my students when we head out on field trips where I'm driving one of the campus vans: I've never been in an accident (well, other than being rear-ended with it being the other driver's fault) but that doesn't mean the other people on the road are equally good drivers. (I say it that way because I do feel the need to remind them, but I don't want to sound like the mother hen* and say something like "This van isn't moving until you've all clicked it!")

(*Even though I kind of AM.)