Today, after church and also doing some schoolwork (writing an exam, putting comments/suggestions on my students' research ideas, re-reading "The Tragedy of the Commons" and making notes of some questions/points for discussion in case the students don't just take right off with a discussion on Tuesday), I got more done on the sleeve - I'm to the point of doing the increases.
This one is a lot easier because I wrote out on a 3 x 5 card the order of the increases, and also how much more I have to knit once those are done, and the shaping for the cap, and since the sleeves are identical, I can just follow my notes for this one:
I am considering blocking the fronts and the backs while I work on that second sleeve, so then I have room on the boards to block the sleeves side by side when they're done.
After this, what remains is the sewing up and the front/neck bands, and sewing on the buttons. (I already have the buttons. They are Fancy. I bought them shortly after starting the sweater because they were so nice I couldn't resist them.
***
I feel happier this evening. Part of it, I am sure, was getting out to church and hanging around people I care about:
- getting a hug from Mike and also from Dana.
- passing the socket-wrench set back to Dana, thanking her, telling her it made fixing my stove possible. And I passed the books for her granddaughter on to her. Her daughter caught me during meet and greet and told me how nice I was for loaning them but really it feels like not a big deal at all, I am not using them
- the woman whose mother died a couple weeks ago - I had sent her a card, but I was worried because it was a "plain" card (not a specific sympathy card) and it had a jewelly butterfly on the front and I was afraid it was a bit gaudy for the purpose, but at that point (a day or two after my dad went into the hospital), I kind of lacked the energy to go out and buy another card, so I sent it with a nice note inside, on the grounds that "a slightly gaudy card that gets sent is better than the perfect one that doesn't get sent." Well, the woman was back in church today (her husband had been ill, too - she has had a lot to deal with) and she hugged me and told me the card was "wonderful" so I guess I did the right thing there.
I also had one of the rare moments of complete peace I have in my life. Standing in the back of the church, my arms folded behind me, waiting for it to be time to walk up to the table (I was eldering today) and just sort of bobbing my head slowly in rhythm with the communion hymn (familiar tune, unfamiliar words, so I couldn't sing along without the hymnal) and just feeling like I was in the right place and was doing what I was supposed to do in that moment, and also the odd feeling that if that moment lasted an eternity, I could be happy with it and not get bored or tired or restless. (All too often, with other things I do, I get restless or I get a feeling of "oh man how much longer 'til I can get out of here" - sometimes in lab I hit a wall like that about halfway through and just have to do my best to keep going until the end)
(The hymn was Jesus, thou divine companion, which SHOULD have been familiar to me, being an old Henry van Dyke poem, but I don't think I'd heard it before. The tune - sometimes called Pleading Savior - *was* familiar though, it's a nice, graceful tune, not meant to be played too fast. The recording there is about the speed our pianist played it...)
And then I came home and did the dvd workout. I do notice (dangit) my mood is lower on days when I don't get exercise, so I guess I am just sort of condemned to nearly always keeping up with it, especially during stressful times. I think what it does is it reduces some of the anxiety I have. And I'd rather work out (even if it means getting up at sparrowfart to do it) than taking yet another medication to manage the anxiety. (At least tomorrow I can sleep in: no class, and I think I am going to mow the lawn first thing and count that as my exercise; the lawn needs it).
My mom called tonight; my dad continues to improve, especially in terms of being able to move easily around. I don't know how much longer he'll be stuck at the rehab place but the plan is to eventually get him home. I'm hoping before Thankgiving? I have no idea how these things progress. (Thank goodness they have good insurance, and that he has enough retirement income to cover this. And yes, last year I decided to bite the bullet and invest in long-term care insurance for myself, on the grounds that there's no one I can really saddle with me if I get to the point where I can't live independently.)
I also pretty much avoided news today; while writing my exam I had re-runs of "The Incredible Dr. Pol" on, and I watched a couple episodes of "Bob's Burgers" and a couple of "Jane and the Dragon" and that kind of escape helps me a lot. I feel like it's good to know what's going on in the world, but knowing too much isn't good, it seems.
I'm also thinking about what to do tomorrow with my time. I did pre-shrink the Wonder Woman fabric so maybe I try to at least run up those shorts. But I also have the Barbie sundress I want to make, and I'm debating: follow the instructions as written and do it lined and sewn on the machine, or do it single-layer and carefully do hand-rolled hems on the neck, armholes, and the back opening? I'm leaning towards the thought of just handsewing the whole thing, as tiny as it is (also it would mean not having to fill a bobbin with an odd-colored thread: I don't have many bobbins so having to fill one with a color I seldom use isn't great). If this turns out well I might make more - or, I have a few other patterns I've found online. Or even play around and design my own a little, I could probably figure that out.
I also want to start the Not Okay Bot that I blogged about a while back (I feel a desire to crochet something again) and I also broke down and bought the "paid and easily downloadable and formatted to print" version of the Spin A Yarn hammerhead shark pattern and I plan to make that out of stash yarn (probably worsted instead of the "light weight" the pattern calls for, but it will just be a bigger shark). I have some grey and I also think I have some various shades of blue if I want to make a not-entirely-realistic shark.
Of course I won't have time to do all that but it will be nice to feel the freedom to do something of what I want, and to have a slightly-shorter week in the coming week.
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