31 October 2007

Boo! Scary!




Witness a woman tempted beyond her ability to say no.

Witness a woman who needs to have her head examined.

Witness a leap into the experiment of writing daily.

Because you know, I'm just not disciplined enough or busy enough or engaged enough in things one might consider creative.

Or, clearly, bright enough to avoid the distraction of a shiny new pretty thing.


EEK.

30 October 2007

Need more day in my day.

Or maybe I need less day in my day.

More time for important things just becomes more time for things and things and things and OH am I behind with my work.

I did knit for 15 minutes, though.

We do what we can, hey?

21 October 2007

Knitting, I swear it!

I've cheated on my sweaters in progress and begun a quick and dirty alpaca chunky jacket. Remember that article a million years ago in the back of Interweave Knits - or no, maybe it was threads - and was it someone whose book writing is the stuff of legendary book tours? I think it was. At any rate, this she of whom I speak wrote in tawdry terms about cheating on her knitting. I'm SOOOOO guilty of it. And the back is nearly half done. Did I mention quick?

And on a recent road trip I knit three hasty little bowls that I hastily ran through the washing machine when I returned. They sit in a fuzzy nested spot on the computer, and they've caused all sorts of office chaos since they've arrived. "ooh, look" "how cool" "I have to knit." I was given the yarn as a gift last year, so it's now visibly in use and the gift-giver oohed, too. Suitable for dispensing October sweets or for pulling names out of a container.

One yarrow sock done, one three inches in. Elfine is awaiting my attention, but she'll keep safely. I need ribbon I like better for the bagstopper. I know I should work on the Equinox, but now that I know I have enough yarn in the right dyelot, I wonder if I didn't skimp on length before the armscye shaping. I'll have to spend a little quality time with that, and right now I'm all for the repetitive project with little thinking.

I'm knitting. I'm cheating, but I'm knitting.
And I'm here too late after going to a choir performance. What the heck? I should go home. There are papers to grade, and I can knit that repetitive alpaca while I read papers. Okay. Not. But I could grade for 30 minutes, knit for 15, rinse, repeat.

No pictures, but there's been knitting. I swear it.

18 October 2007

Representative Thrift

I gave away a GREAT representative bag of thrift stuff:

One was a sweater I made. Hard to give away things we make, isn't it?
I GAVE IT AWAY AND LIVED.

One was a jacket a friend loaned me for a trip abroad. It was perfect and packable. It looked good on me. She made me keep it, in one of HER purges. I INHERITED SOMEONE ELSE'S STUFF AND I GAVE IT AWAY.

One was a denim jumper/dress I purchased in an inappropriately impossible size. I let myself miss the return deadline and then convinced myself I'd remake it. I GAVE UP THE DREAM AND THE WORK AND I GAVE IT AWAY.

Final items were a pair of ice skates. My mother had become the default keeper of them and had recently returned them. I'd not gotten them out of the trunk of the car. I went to a college reunion recently and drove past the park which served as the ice skating rink nearest the campus. That was it. I decided the skates had to stay in that community. Did I mention I'm not that size mumble-something years later? I GAVE AWAY MY FAVORITE OLD SKATES.

Those are the kinds of things that are hard to give away. I left them miles away, out of state. It's rather freeing. I recommend it.