brainylady

Distracted

I've got the pre-end-of-term blahs. I find myself wanting to play hooky from school and schoolwork all the time! Yesterday on my way to school I found myself drifting into the Value Village, where I found a Fame T-shirt, an LP of Dolly Parton's greatest hits (love that album art!), and two good books. Score! Then when I got to campus the parking lot was full, so of course... I just left. I went to a bookstore and picked up the latest issue of Bust. Then I got a veggie burger. Then I got a ridiculous amount of pleasure listening to Spiderbait's version of "Black Betty" really loud in my car. (If bush parties and classic rock were as instrumental in your formative years as they were in mine, I'd highly recommend this.) Then I finally went to school, but I really just wanted to go back home and knit my Sunrise Circle Jacket.

I have been knitting for a while each night, since I've been staying up late and watching continuous reruns of CSI on TV. Actually, last night I watched ANTM, which turned out to be analogous to crack: I'm addicted after just one time, and I'm now fantasizing about getting my hair cut just like Mollie Sue's. Anyway, I'm just about to turn the hem of the left front, and I think I'm going to do the body hems in brown. I like the idea of just having the pink surprise strips inside the sleeves. (After all that, I know.) As I've been knitting I've been marvelling at Kate's genius in designing this pattern. How on earth did she figure out how to place all those increases in a way that turns out looking so smooth? Brilliant. I'm very happy with how the Briggs & Little looks, too. The fabric is firm, which is good for this design, but I do want it to soften up a bit. I seem to recall that JoVE recommended a vinegar bath to soften itchy wool. (Is this true, Jo? Is there any risk that when I wear the finished jacket I'll smell like a pickle? I'll e-mail you.) I'm going to block this piece before continuing, as I made a size smaller than I really am to account for my row-gauge discrepancy (24 instead of 28 sts./4 inches).

I need to get my head back into my schoolwork pronto, as the term is winding down and I have a twenty-page paper to write on top of my thesis, plus as of tomorrow night I'll have forty-five essays to mark. I'm going to try to submit my thesis at the end of May. I've written about half of it, I guess. I've got to get the chug back. Chug chug chug.

And when I do finish, I'm going to treat myself to a rare thing -- a brand new T-shirt: either this one or this one. And this one makes me laugh, but I'd rather have the CBC's exploding pizza logo. Maybe I should just buy it now and then hang it on the wall above my computer with a calendar pinned to it, with May 31 circled...

chug chug chug