* I found a home for the extra copy of Coffeehouse Knits and it's on its way (sorry Mokihana, someone else asked first and I sent it off this afternoon). I needed to send the pillowcases for my niece's birthday, so I was able to use a single trip to the post office for both. It feels good to send a few things out; it makes me feel less disconnected from the world.
* Also a feeling of change: it's thundering here and we're supposed to get rain the rest of this week. After well over a month of no rain, it's a welcome change. My Friday afternoon fieldwork plans may be rained out but that's okay; I could use an afternoon off. I pushed hard today during my 3 hours of office hours (and a couple hours after lunch) to write the biostats exam for next week, and the following week (thank God) is a rare week without any exams to give.
If it's not raining too badly...hmm, I could consider driving to Sherman, except for Friday afternoon traffic.
* While cleaning up in my sewing room (which still needs more work) I did find my copy of "Sherlock Knits" (a small, fan-themed book of patterns by Joanna Johnson). I was afraid I'd lost this, I never made anything out of it yet - I want to do "Mary's Socks" some time, and maybe the cowl, but now my attention focuses on "A Sweater for John" - a simple, man-tailored cardigan with garter stitch trim. It would be a perfect invigilating project and I could use a new one.
I hunted through my stored yarn that was as-yet unassigned to a future project. I found two nice ones - a burgundy Paton's, but I don't think I have enough, and a grey blend in comically large skeins that MIGHT have enough. But I dislike that MIGHT, and I'd have to make the 40" size, and for a cardigan you plan to wear over things....well, it will definitely have negative ease on me, at least through the chest. Then again, knitting stretches - I have a hard time remembering that, because I sewed clothes before I knitted and am used to having to allow ample ease in woven fabric. I still might look a bit more in the other part of my stash; it's possible there's something there I am not thinking of (though I admit I really like the gray, and could use another gray sweater)
No, I don't want to order new yarn if I can at all avoid it. There's also the possibility that I might choose to make it shorter, as it's a man-tailored sweater and might be a bit long anyway, if I knit it even 2-3" shorter, that would make sure to have enough. (Also often when patterns are scaled up - knitters often make them in the smallest size - they are generous in the requirements). Also if I had to, I could leave off the pockets- they are nice to have but not essential, and sometimes they do make the sweater look bulkier. Or I could just do the right-hand pocket.
Unfortunately, very few people seem to have made it so there's little "crowdsourced" information on yarn requirements in the real world.
I'll have to think of another, less-yarn-requiring pattern for that burgundy yarn. I think I have about 1400 yards of it which is usually enough for a pullover for me - I had forgotten how pretty it was. (I tend to prefer cardigans these days - more practical with teaching). It might be enough for a shorter, plainer cardigan.
* I am still working on Incunabula - I'm almost up to the waist decreases, even with my "two more repeats to lengthen" (in this case - I bought extra yarn because I knew I'd be making it longer, so I will have enough). It's a little too attention requiring to be good for invigilating though.
* Still reading on "The Seeing Stone." It's really good. Oh, it has its sad moments - the family loses a child (their sixth child; two sons and a daughter remain) in infancy, Arthur's older brother is mean to him, it's hinted that women are mistreated. But also, you get the feeling Arthur is fundamentally Good in the way that good old YA fantasy-novel characters can be Good - self-sacrificing, and intelligent beyond his years, and kind, and having a strong sense of what's right and wrong, and wanting to choose to do right. There are two more in this series; I intend to read them after I finish this.
* I've also bought a few new books recently, after reading some reviews. I may be disappointed, I may not. But I find I need HOPEFUL books right now - I ordered a copy of "A Psalm for the Wild-Built" after reading about how it was an example of "hopepunk." And I also ordered "Under the Whispering Door" (TJ Klune) after an article on Tor.com praised it. They say it's bittersweet but ultimately hopeful. It's quite different from what I normally read - it's more of a fantasy, and sort of a philosophical-sounding one, about souls moving forward after death - a bit of the Ferryman, a bit, it looks like, of pop-Buddhism or Shintoism. And I ordered Cloud Cuckoo Land, on the strength of Bookshop's recommendation.
Part of it is having stuff come in the mail does give one a thing to look forward to, part of it is, I just need the escape of stories right now.
I also ordered a copy of a book about the history of human perception of bears - there's an idea floating around that "bear" is actually a euphemism (as is wolf) and the "original" human name for it was deemed "too terrible" and also had the sense of "call the devil's name and he shall appear." (Some suggest that Arctos or Ursus - Latin and Greek names for bears - are closer to the original "terrible name," others seem to think that they are themselves euphemisms.) Or maybe it's all bunk, I don't know, but it's an interesting idea and I enjoy those books about "deep" history and speculation about how we thought before we were committing words to paper (or papyrus, or clay tablets).
(I do, though, need to weed through my current books and find homes - if homes can be found; I've heard that far fewer people want paper books now, and they can be hard to unload even as donations- for the ones I'll either never reread or that I bought and realize I probably won't read now).
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