Back to Basketweave

I ran a bunch of errands yesterday (some of them things I'd been putting off: trip to the pharmacy for more of the special body wash that seems to make my dry skin better, trip to the bank, trip out to the tax place with the 1099 that JUST came). But yesterday evening I was mostly free, so I decided to pull out a long-stalled project - the Basketweave Sweater from the "Best of Interweave Knits" book.

I have the front, back, and one sleeve done. I stalled out on the second sleeve. But you know? It's not that hard and not that slow to knit - I added a couple repeats of the pattern (and a couple of increases) last night. Now I'm setting a possible goal for Spring Break of finishing this - once the second sleeve is done, I just have to sew it up and do the collar and zipper band (and, ugh, put in the zipper, which I will probably do by hand because it will be less stiff than machine stitching it in would be).

Because then I can consider starting a new sweater. (Yes, I know, I'm still working on Hagrid, but I like to have a more-simple and a more-complex sweater going at the same time).

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I do have to go out in the field this afternoon and get soil-invertebrate samples. (It's too chilly right now, and I've been having issues with the muscles in my neck again, so I don't want to go out until it's warmed at least 15 more degrees than what it is now). But at least the additional work once I get them is minimal for now (I can't begin "sorting" until next week, and I can fit that in the interstices between classes).

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My computer is supposed to be in "by the end of next week at the latest." Apparently the issue was that the processor in this particular model wasn't living up to what it should do or something, and the shop sent the last batch back. So I'm getting a computer with an upgraded processor at no additional cost (and the shop isn't eating the cost either; Dell is). I've heard from other people that Dell has been having some issues lately. Unfortunately, that's the only brand this shop carries. (I might have gone with a Toshiba otherwise, but that would have meant going to Best Buy or somewhere and dealing with their very spotty customer service)

Still, I'll be glad to have a computer at home again. I really hope it comes faster so I can get it set up this week when I have more free time.

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Looking at information on Davis, I see that that's where the Bedre Chocolate Factory is. (For some reason, I thought it was in Paul's Valley). Okay. Now I have another reason for wanting to go. (There are a couple of antique shops listed on the website, but also the chocolate factory - which does tours. And of course, I suppose they have samples.)

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Okay, I've been hired, so I guess I can say that it's Oxford who hired me to evaluate a textbook for them. Six hundred dollars of OUP books, wow! I'm going to start on that later on this week; I have until the end of April (until Easter Monday, actually) to do it.

The other thing is that it makes me feel good that Oxford wants little old me - at my tiny little university - to review one of their books. (No idea how they got my name). And it definitely will be something to put on my "I did this last year" write-up. (Those matter less once one is a full professor, except if you do NOTHING AT ALL and are stinking at teaching, you can technically be dismissed. I've never known it to happen but I'm definitely not going to test it out! And at any rate, I think I enjoy what I do too much to want to be bad at it.)

Heh. Now I'm wondering if OUP has any "history of craft" or "history of knitting" books. I was thinking of indulging in a big flora if they had one, but I realize now I can also let my side interests out to play in the order.