Misc.

I’ve been writing and doing write-y things lately (like prepping for NaNoWriMo).  So, it will be no surprise that I have run across a 30-day writer’s prompt challenge.  I’m totally excited about Day #4!

I found some Dansko Mary Jane’s on clearance yesterday and they were too cute to let go.  It felt like shoe shopping when I was a kid:  there was an actual shoe store clerk to help with fitting (a dying breed).  And there I was with one pair of excellent shoes to go back to school in!  However, I’m already back to school…but, hey, it’s Labor Day weekend so I am calling it the same thing.  [School starts too early anymore…!]

I’m debating on whether or not to purchase some yarn for a sweater.  I’ve never knitted a sweater before and it’s a LOT of yarn to get at one shot (you need the same dye lot).  And what if I don’t like it when it’s done?  Then I’ve spent wads of cash on all this wool yarn that I will have to frog out and it will just sit there in the basket making me feel awful…

Where have you been hiding?

It has been a while, hasn’t it?

To be honest, there isn’t really any excuse at all.  I haven’t been doing a lot of reading.  I haven’t been writing.  I taught a few classes.  But mostly  I just took a very long mental vacation!

Oh, and I got these:

Elvira. Love sponge and all around good egg. Mule-headed. Built like the Great Wall of China.

Agatha. Outgoing and independent. Will carry off anything not nailed down. Secret ambition: to be a beaver.

Tallulah. Sweet and smart. Looks like a swarthy Greek dude with all the tan top and dark hairy chest. The instigator of trouble.

So that has been my summer.  How was yours?

What to do today…?

I’m pretty sure what I’ll be doing today.  It involves a lot of grumbling and procrastination and small fits; I’ll be grading rough drafts of papers.

Why today and not tomorrow?  Because if I get all the misery done tonight my whole weekend is FREE!  No running errands.  No meetings.  No major housework.  I can do as I please for a whole 48 hours…

And what will I be doing?  Reading and playing with art stuff and knitting.

I finished up Book 1 (The Eye of the World) of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series last night and started Book 2 (The Great Hunt).  But what I really need to do is finish The Hobbit and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea!  I swear I will finish at least one of those this weekend or declare I am failing my Classics Club list!

The harumph and the happy

I don’t know what to do with myself.  I can read or listen to anything other than what is on my list!

I just started the heel flap for the second sock of this pair.  I had first sock syndrome and it took me forever to finish the first one.  However, now I decided to actually get the second one done in two weeks so I can wear the pair!  Unfortunately, I also realized that my heel flap needs to be frogged back and recounted.  I am four stitches off what it should be!

Tonight I had a lovely conversation with some of my students about their upcoming final paper and how much they loved the class (even if it was difficult).  Yay!  +10 on the good feelings-o-meter!

Ah, Interwebs. You have brought me the awesome.

I was hopping around on the web this morning and ended up on Project Gutenberg.  One of the “new” books listed was Dave Fearless and the Cave of Mystery–written in 1918 by Roy Rockwood.  This is one in a series of Dave Fearless books “for boys” because, obviously, girls would never be interested in this sort of thing…

Thoughts passing through my head:

#1.  I’m a girl and I will prove you wrong.

#2.  The whole title of the book is Dave Fearless and the Cave of Mystery, or Adrift on the Pacific.  What a mouthful!

#3.  It fits my adventure theme this month.  [This dovetails nicely with today’s paper-grading procrastination.]

#4.  The writing!  Seriously.

We have been tricked, robbed! After all our trouble, hardship, and peril, I fear that the golden reward we counted on so grandly has slipped from our grasp. (Chapter 1)

[I laughed so hard because it sounds like much of the writing I see from my students.  I am a mean teacher…]

#5.  How can I pass up a character named Dave Fearless?

Yep.

I am definitely reading this today.

Back to the grindstone…

Today is the day where I officially begin having tons of work again–break is over.  How I wish it could go on forever…

ice on trees

But, that said, it is a perfectly lovely day for hot cocoa!  Yesterday evening began with freezing rain that turned to snow.  Aren’t I lucky to work from home?  No braving that mess for me.

 

What have I been doing?

my adaptation of the snowflake pattern

I’ve been knitting and altering the knitting pattern I am following. I really like these socks but I like socks that knit from the toe up rather than the cuff down.  So, beyond altering the pattern to be knit toe-up, I tweaked the snowflake pattern slightly from a 22×20 stitch size to a 22×22 stitch which changed the spike in the overlapping diamond between the snowflakes to an even checkerboard.  I really am a stickler for symmetry and things that don’t evenly line up drive me nuts.

all the wibbly mess

I also changed the toe pattern to stripes because the sole of the foot is checkerboard and wrapping that pattern all around the toe is too much for me.  Heaven knows I am a slow knitter, but as my first foray into a colorwork pattern I thought I should tackle something that keeps my brain as occupied as my hands!  And, I also am taking a stab at doing these two socks at the same time on two circular needles.  [Do you have any idea how often I have to unravel the strands?  I swear it might be helpful to use a lazy susan to keep them straight!]

I should be reading.  Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Hobbit do not read themselves!  Unfortunately, I do not have brain capacity or hands enough to both keep track of my knitting and read (or flip pages).  I have been ignoring my reading which is something I wish to conquer.  But likely as not I will get sick of knitting in a bit and go on a reading kick.

A present to myself!

Hooray!  My Knit Picks box came today.  I’m so excited…

Yarn:

Stroll Sock Yarn–Sport–Cobblestone Heather and Hollyberry

Wool of the Andes Tweed–Worsted–Prussian Heather

Needles:

(2) 24″ Harmony Wood circulars–size 3 (3.25 mm)

Miscellaneous Whatnots:

Split ring stitch markers

Two different yarn stranding guides–just in case…

Wool wash for all my wooly hand-washables.

Guess what I’ll be doing this afternoon?

Random distractions while reading…

My participation in this readathon was not meant to be.  I can’t seem to sit still for more than a half hour at a time and even those are far apart.  And, since dinner…well, let’s just say I am procrastinating!

However, I did hatch a thought while looking through some of the CC comments and blogs…

Since my January reading plans are geared toward adventure books, why not tack on The Hobbit?  After all, Bilbo went on an adventure.  And, that logically means that I can classify Lord of the Rings in my February reading plans because, technically, Frodo and company do a lot of travelling!

What did I do instead of shuffling off to read more Verne?  I downloaded a copy of The Hobbit for my Kindle.  [I’ve already got LOTR.]

All I have to say in my defense:  at least I am thinking about books!

//

I love the Girls With Slingshots webcomic!

Danielle Corsetto is amazing.  This thread in the comic is making me laugh hysterically and I can’t wait for it to continue…

Spy. Be amused!

Hulu developed this little gem:  a clueless divorced dad stumbles into a job as a spy while having to deal with a snarky (but very smart) son.  It is currently on its second season and I love it.  You can find the series here.

It all starts with this one: