some happier stuff

I'm already planning on break-books and projects.

I have a stack of the vintage British mystery reprints I've been saving up, and also a new-ish biography of Churchill (longtime readers may remember: I am a somewhat-distant relative on my mom's side, something like a fifth cousin). I may dig around and see if there's another "more serious" novel I want to take and read - I think I bought a copy of "Felix Holt, the Radical" some time back (I love George Eliot) and I might carry that along and start it.

For projects, I think I'm going to take Celestarium and try to make some good progress on it (it has been in a stall for months). If there's room, Augusta cardigan, too. And I have two socks ongoing - a pair of Rosa Rubiginosa socks that won't take long to finish (this is from one of the Hunter Hammersen books) and a pair of just-simple socks from a self-striping yarn ("Coeur de Pomme" - heart of the apple, a Biscotte and Cie. colorway). Probably will take some additional sock yarn "in case" - I certainly have a great deal ahead.

And some new things to start (these are all Ravelry links but I THINK non-members can see the patterns without signing up).

Fun new mitt pattern from a fairly-new designer: Matane. I was tickled by the suggestion of a crochet hook as a "facultative" tool; this amuses me both because it's a very Francophone phrasing (in fact, the designer commented - when I e-mailed her congratulating her on the pattern - that she had quickly translated from French Candian) but also because it works, in a biological sense: "Facultative" is something that is not necessary but helpful. (e.g., in some contexts, mycorrhizal fungi are facultative: the plant won't die without them, but it might grow better if they were present). I am leaning towards using some self-striping (I have two, actually: a KnitPicks one and a String Theory Colorworks one, I will have to pick) inspired by the Fourth Doctor's impossibly-long scarf. (Gonna go with the String Theory on this one; the colors are more pleasing to me and are truer to the scarf. Maybe I also drag along my copy of the "Scraptastic Hat" pattern in case I have enough left over... I bet I would)

Mmmmmaybe another pair of Weasley Homestead socks. I just like this pattern and it works well with many yarns. (Also, it's been republished in one of the free-extra fliers that came with one of my Brit-Knit magazines, so I have a more-permanent copy.

Edited to add: I might use the green-and-pink, "Marian and Robin" I bought on a good sale at Quixotic Fibers for this. Or maybe a purple Hedgehog Fibers yarn I have....will probably skein up both.

And a tiny crochet unicorn - I found the kit and pattern yesterday, I was going to make it over the summer but never did.

And an crocheted okapi. I had wanted a toy okapi for a while, to the point of contemplating the plush ones on Amazon, but I think it will be more fun to make my own.

And another pattern by the same author, but more fanciful: Hippocampus. But maybe in different colors? (algae greens, perhaps?) And I plan to do My Little Pony style big-applique eyes instead of the little lock-washer ones. (More expressive, and sometimes the lock-washer eyes fall out of crocheted or knitted toys....)

I might dig around in my library/books and see if there are any other toys I really want to make; Christmas is a good time to do it (I have time, it feels "right" to be making toys then, and the yarn can be gotten local-to-where-I-will-be (there is a Michael's not too far from my parents and of the big-box craft stores, they seem to be superior in yarn selection))

That might be quite enough, I don't know, though I also bought Paddington's Garden some months back and recently bought a skein of Wollmeise Pure (574 yards, so it will be enough) in the color "suß" (which means "sweet," both in the sense of "tastes sweet like sugar" and "is sweet in the metaphorical sense" but can also mean "cute"), which is a v. pale pink. I need to wind that yarn off some time and also any of the sock yarn I want to take that's not already skeined up....Again, a lot of it will come down to "do I have room" (which is why the Augusta cardigan might get left as a next-semester project).

I do also have a long cream-colored glittery scarf I could drag along and finish....

Clothes? Yeah, I'll get around to that after I do the laundry...