Yes, it's true that I lived through "worse" stock-market crashes. But (without being one of those annoying sorts who reminds anyone older of her not-so-extreme-any-more youth), when Black Monday happened, I was more worried about whether there was some way I could get the cute guy in my Inorganic Chem I discussion section to notice me, and how I was going to manage to read 300 pages of Plato in a week for Great Books.

Also, what money I had was doled out by parents, so watching the stock market drop when you have an allowance is different than watching it drop when you have an IRA.

****

And, once again, Little Dee is directly relevant to me. I've not chopped much wood in my life, but I have had the precise thing that happened to Ted happen to me.

****

But whatever.

Happiness is starting a new sweater.

I cast on for - and did the first couple rounds of - the Cobblestone Pullover last night. I'm using Araucania Nature Wool in color 50 - a reddish-purple, almost a magenta. Apparently it's a color not that far off of royal or Tyrian purple (The color on Justinian's cloak there), if my monitor is accurate. (I'd probably be more prone to call it "Murex purple," because it was made from a Murex mollusc - which is why it was so expensive; people had to dive for the molluscs and then extract the ink from them.)

I believe it's the same purple that Lydia is remembered as a seller-of-the-dye-of. No, not this Lydia (though perhaps she's named for the original one).

I also find, going through my archives, that this is a color that's not brand new to me:

There's the Hourglass pullover:



And there's the Greek pullover, though I'd say that's closer to burgundy than purple:



And the Tilling the Soil vest:



I admit I'm a little disappointed to realize the color isn't a new, unique, and breaking-out-of-the-box choice. Oh well. I like it, and I guess that's what's important.