a little treat

So I survived three days of meetings, including the discombobulating CRASE training and the usual round of dour predictions that we will all either be teaching everything online or out of a job in five years (that was this afternoon's meeting). And the suggestions of "Maybe you could..." for improvements in how campus runs, where the "you" is faculty and staff, who are already kind of overloaded. And the fighting of websites to make them give up what they are supposed to yield easily considering what each of our students will be paying for the privilege of using them.

And, and, and.

And having my backside slightly handed to me because I can't figure out some of the tech. And realizing some of the stuff in the new textbook for one class is technical beyond what I already knew, so I'm gonna probably have to read each page of it to make sure I'm up on terminology and stuff.

And that brings me to the issue of a new project. My butt stays in the seat working a LOT better if I have a simple knitting project to work on - but it has to be simple: almost no shaping, either garter, stockinette, or, at an extreme, ribbing. (And yeah, I know: I probably could do more watch caps and maybe will at some point, but I feel like I need something FOR ME, something selfish). So I put out a call in the CPAAG knitting and crochet: suggest a dead-simple pattern for me?

(I had forgot, I have a pullover pattern and enough golden-yellow Hawthorne for it, but maybe that's for later).

A friend of mine on there actually SENT me a gift pattern, for a simple moss stitch shawl. (And I also found a worsted-weight pullover I want to do some time, from someone else's suggestion - the pullover was a freebee, it's called Flax). The shawl is the Sloane Shawl. (I know not whether that's for Sloane Rangers - do they still exist? I remember reading about them in the 80s, when the preppie look was all the rage HERE. Or if it's for Ferris Bueller's girlfriend). But I think it might make an ideal knit-and-read project for starting tonight.

AND I think I'm going to run down to the local quilting-cum-yarn shop and see if they have anything that calls to me. I'm thinking of a brown, tan, or golden shade. If I can find something, I might start it tonight and spend the evening reading the first few chapters in more detail than I have up 'til now.

I PROBABLY could find something in stash that would work but I admit I like the idea of just getting something new. And I can't remember having the "right" color in an "unaffiliated" yarn - I have lots of things that already have projects planned for them. If I CAN'T find anything I like, I might do a quick stash-dig, but hopefully I can find something nice and new and full of promise and a treat for me.