Thursday, September 06, 2012

Thursday morning random

* To-do lists work a lot less well (at least, psychologically) when you have to keep adding stuff to them during the day. At one point yesterday my list was over 15 items long. (I managed to dispatch three of the longer items last night, however).

* I'm almost done (despite spending most of my evening grading and exam-writing) with the first sleeve for the Ropes and Picots cardigan - it's down to the little tab of 17 stitches that forms the saddle shoulder.

* One thing that is more settled in my life: apparently the young man (And I'm going to call him that; he's nearly 15 years my junior and looks still younger) who came up from Brite Divinity School to preach on Sunday is willing to serve as a sort of interim minister. We had been limping along with elders in the pulpit (at one point they asked me, but as it was Tuesday afternoon I was asked for the Sunday of that same week, I had absolutely zero ideas at that point, I turned them down. Of course, Saturday afternoon I thought of two possibly good ideas and one idea that might make some people uncomfortable, but of course it was too late to say "Yeah, I'll do it" by then. Then again: my turning them down may have been what pushed them to call the divinity student, so it may have worked out for the best anyway).

* I don't deal well with lots of things feeling unsettled in my life.

* I really want to start a new sweater project but have decreed that I cannot until I finish one of the two sweaters (which will probably be Ropes and Picots, as I have only one sleeve left to do for it, and then the finishing, whereas I have most of the front and both sleeves for the Basketweave Pullover). But I found the old issue of Interweave with the Saddle-seam sweater (it's a man's sweater, but I'm going to do it in a bright forsythia-yellow wool, so I think it will work as a woman's sweater too), and now I want to start that one. (You can see a picture of it here. It's nice that Interweave makes a lot of their older patterns available for sale in case you've lost that issue, or in case you weren't subscribing back then).

* I had a student gripe at me yesterday. In their class there is an exam next Wednesday and they have a short paper (like, 3-5 pages, and they've already had the assignment for a while on that) due on Friday right after. What do you SAY to someone who says "That's so unfair"? There's nothing you CAN say other than "That's life" or "It is what it is." I wasn't very sympathetic because at that point I was looking at a to-do list with fifteen things on it. This is someone I've had in class before so I should be used to their griping, but I never quite get used to it. (I don't think, "Time-management, monkeyfighter, have you heard of it?" would be a helpful thing to say AT ALL but I admit I THINK it sometimes when people gripe at me about all they have to do, or how I don't give enough time for assignments, or whatever)

* I made my first-ever order from Spoonflower (no, not of fabric I designed; both the first and second type of writer's block are too strong for that, coupled with the fact that I don't have good computerized drawing tools). There are "stuffies" on there - toys printed on fabric that you can cut and sew and then stuff. The flat-panel animal toys were a big thing at fabric stores when I was a kid; I had a toy giraffe (Well, technically still have it: it is in "my" bedroom at my parents' house). The giraffe was named George. (That was the name he came with). I also had a blue teddy bear and a red cat named Charlie. (I don't think the teddy bear had a name; I never liked him as well as the other two). So it was a certain amount of nostalgic pleasure that I was able to browse the "Cut and Sew" patterns. I wound up ordering C the Bear. This is one of the simpler designs - just flat, with a front and a back, but there's something appealing about the simplicity and the charcoal-drawing look of the bear. I haven't had time to think of sewing him up yet, though, been too busy. (I have to admit, I've already renamed the bear. "Matt," for Matt Smith, the 11th Doctor. Because of the bowtie, and because the floppy bit of hair reminds me of Smith. Although, as I've said before, as an adult it seems a bit weird to name stuffies the same name as someone you know/knew. There WAS a Matt a while back in my life....(and no, not like I'm still carrying a torch or anything). One of the things I like about the bear is the designer's commentary: "Because adults need some help, too!" (Also, the $18? The bear doesn't cost that - he comes on a fat quarter of fabric which is considerably more reasonably priced)

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