This and that

* Still working on the second sleeve for Augusta. (The decreases take longer than I remember). I will be glad to have this done and blocking; I might work on it more tonight. After I block it I will have to sew it up and then do the front/neck band (with buttonholes).

I have some really *excellent* buttons for this, and I know right where they are.

* Worked more on Harvest during the exam yesterday, will bring it to work on during the exam I give tomorrow.

Harvest has a VERY clever construction - it's almost entirely seamless, worked from the neckband down, the front bands are knit on as you work. (I think I am going to take the buttonhole option that exists and get a big rustic button to close it with. I like being able to close cardigans if need be, and things like "sticks" to close them tend to get lost).

It's a fun knit, though, and I can now see how it will work up. (I couldn't from just reading the pattern, but now that I've started it, it makes sense.

* I ordered more yarn. (I had a coupon, though). I had been wanting some "Provinical Tweed" for a while and I was looking at it today and realized that the "Jam" color (the bright, pinky-purple second from left in the top row there in the "group shot") was the color I wanted. And I also realized: I could do a second "Pocketses" vest out of that. (And yes, it amuses me to do a Hobbit-themed vest out of a color of yarn called "Jam")

Vests are a good winter clothing item for me because they help me stay warm without adding too much bulk - I can still move my arms around comfortably (long sleeved shirt) but keep my "core" warm.

* Am still enjoying the heck out of reading "Miss Mackenzie." Yes, there are points where I go "DON'T DO IT, MARGARET!" (she is too easily pressured by her family to give up things - but isn't that always the way with single women? How dare we enjoy our money when there are relatives who have kids who need it for their kids? How dare we have some measure of material comfort when we could marry our widowered first cousin and help raise his family*)

(*Marrying one's first cousin seems to be a British aristocratic thing. I look around at my first cousins and shudder a bit, even if the consanguinity thing weren't quite such a big thing in Americans' minds. Then again, I'm at the point where I'd not be producing an heir...but still, my remaining single male cousins....nope, can't see it, not in a million years.)

But yes. I'm still holding out hope that the "right man" comes along for Miss Mackenzie. There are a couple of not-quite-right ones in the offing, and one I suspect is Rather Wrong. (But: she's got three more strings to her bow, or perhaps three more beaux on a string, than I have at this point)

* I should just go home early today; I had to cancel the field lab because a chilly rain started up JUST as I was walking out to my car to go get the field vehicle. (Doing herbaceous sampling in the rain is miserable, the data sheets get wet and ruined and are hard to read even if everyone has the presence of mind to write in pencil and not pen, and I already have several students who are borderline-ill and it's probably better to not risk getting them wet and chilled.

Or me, for that matter: I'm still slightly achy and I think tonight I am going to take a warm bath now that I won't need to wash my hair (washed it last night; I usually wash it after fieldwork to get pollen out of it, but I don't like to wash it daily because it gets brittle. And I'm already starting to lose hair, I think - a menopause thing - at any rate, I've noticed my part seems more "obvious" than it once did)

* I could run by Pruett's if I leave early (before the local public school across the street from it lets out and traffic gets snarled). I kind of want pizza for dinner but am unsure how best to make that happen. In the old days, before I was cursed with  a sodium sensitivity and fragile teeth, I'd just call up Romas, or, if I didn't even feel like going out, Marco's, and get one made for me. But now I have to be more careful....I do have a dough mix on the shelf and I THINK a can of the Muir Glen sauce I like....I'd just have to get cheese and if I forced myself to do it, veggies to go on top of it (I really *prefer* plain cheese...heck, I *prefer* pepperoni but that won't happen, not given its sodium level).

Another option would be looking at the flatbreads I think they sell and getting one and just glopping some sauce and cheese on that. Or even looking at the "healthy" frozen ones and see if there's a tolerable one. There is something to be said for not having to do a lot of work. (Not that the crust-mix is a lot of work, though)

If they have a reduced-fat version of the Fairlife milk I might get a carton to fill in until I can get out to do bigger shopping on Saturday (probably just locally, though, this is a busy weekend with some work stuff). 

Probably better go do that now....I think the school let-out time starts around 3:15....