So many things...

Yesterday was a long day, but a good one. (It was long, because I decided to stop at the Kroger's on my way through Sherman and get the spaghetti stuff last night, rather than making a separate trip today - it saved gas, and also saved me a lot of time. I can buckle down and get the last of my grading done and finish writing my exam today, and STILL have time to relax).

I didn't buy as much yarn as I sometimes do...I'm so well-ahead on sweater yarn, and had not seen any sweater patterns lately screaming "Knit me!," so I only got yarn for a couple small projects. (Photo will come later). A couple skeins of a Kaffe Fasset sockyarn in shades of purple*, two skeins of a lovely pewter-colored merino-tencel blend for what is called the "3% scarf" (it's a thin pie-wedge shape, analogous to a 3% segment of a pie chart), and yarn for Mochimochiland's "Gobbledyghost" pattern.

(*Does anyone else "of a certain age" remember the jokes made on the Donny and Marie show about Donny's purple socks? Maybe I remember it specifically because I would have found the kind of teasing he got agonizing as a child. But I often think of that when I knit purple socks...which I do quite often, as I like purple. Though I suppose it's different because (a) I'm a woman and (b) it's not the 1970s anymore.)

(I also, later, at the Michael's, got a ball of black Classic Wool for an amigurumi Jiji I found a pattern for, and a couple balls of the Paton's sock yarn).

I also bought a nice whack of books...the Books a Million in Longview is TWICE the size of the one near me, and may also have a different buyer, because I always find good stuff there. A couple of history books, a new-to-me Hercule Poirot, a couple toy books (one knitting, one crochet) and the new Interweave Knitscene.

There's something about being able to go in-person to a bookstore (or a yarn shop) and browse the shelves. Internet ordering is very nice - I don't know what I'd do here without Amazon and places like Loopy Ewe or Jimmy Bean's Wool - but it's also nice to be able to BROWSE, with nothing specific in mind, and have the serendipity of finding something you realize you want, but you didn't know existed.

***

And before I get back to writing that exam, I have to share this - Charles posted it on his Twitter stream with a note that I might appreciate it, and I find it quite wonderful:

apparently R. Lee Ermey knits.

I'm laughing my head off imagining what he must say when he drops a stitch.

And don't EVER insinuate that knitting isn't a sufficiently manly pastime around him.