Procrastination!

The title of this post is to be sung to the tune of "Anticipation" by Carly Simon -- at least by those of us who remember that 1970s hit!

I have finished two shawl/scarves, Brickless and Perhaps, Perhaps, and now I need to do some serious blocking. Actually, I finished them both last weekend, but haven't begun to block.

Brickless in Wowza by Miss Babs

Am I the only one who hates blocking? At least these two projects don't need to be pinned or strung on wires. Both of these have lace or netting, so I know that I will be pleased with the results. Still, there is something tedious about blocking.

Perhaps, Perhaps, in gray and black from MadTosh and green from Sun Valley

Both of these are going to be gifts. Go me! Two holiday gifts done before March 1.  I now have a hankering for some selfish knitting.

And speaking of procrastination, I am not keeping up on the embroidery piece I'm calling "My Grandfather," which I'm doing as part of the Jewish Artists Lab. I like my idea, and I like some of the execution. But the embroidery is not fun for me to do.

See all those lines? They all have to be embroidered. And they are all in browns and black. I am a color girl. I love bright, rich, deep colors. This is the last time I'll lock myself into such a brown color scheme.  I know that all my knitting pals out there will understand. Isn't color part of what we love about yarn?

I am still feeling under the weather, and I'm finding that many others have had colds/flus that last for weeks. So tedious! I did see two movies this weekend. On Friday night another teacher and I went to see Rock Dog with two students. It was quite entertaining, and I'd highly recommend it as a family film.

Keith and I saw Moonlight last night. Mistake! It's almost as depressing as Manchester-by-the-Sea. Both are beautifully written and acted -- but SO sad. I think I'm going to get serious about avoiding depressing movies. Life in Trump's America is sad enough!

I read on Mere's blog that some Republicans want to make cuts to the school lunch program. What??? If they had to face these kids every day, they'd see it differently. There are two kids who I feed every day -- and others that I feed from time to time.  You have to have a very low income to qualify for free hot lunch; these are genuinely hungry kids! And hungry kids can't learn, which will make it harder for them to become functioning adults.

These are hard times for many Americans. Working with many poor students and immigrant students helps me realize how lucky I am.

Snow Day: The Good and the Bad Yarn Along

My phone rang at 6:10 this morning -- usually not a good thing. I always think something happened to my parents. But this was a robo-call from the school district informing me that the schools are closed! I would have gone back to sleep except a very hungry cat was licking my face.

So here's the good and the bad:

A snow day is a good thing. Shoveling is not. Keith is skiing all week in British Columbia, so the pleasure is all mine. I generally enjoy doing the sidewalks, but this is very wet and heavy snow. Oh well. I need the exercise! (He arranged for service to plow the driveway -- thank goodness!)

I finished my quilt 10 minutes before last night's meeting, so I was able to deliver it. I'm looking forward to making some progress on my Brickless:

And I need to prepare for the Sun Valley January Thaw, which is coming up tomorrow night!  What is more fun than packing knitting? Not much!

I'm having trouble finding a book that will hold my attention, so I'm taking a chance on Mischling by Affinity Konar.

I don't usually read Holocaust fiction because I often feel that the quality of the fiction doesn't live up to the seriousness of the topic. This has gotten very good reviews and was on the new-books shelf at the library. It's about twin girls (fictional) who are plucked out of the masses at Auschwitz to be "treated" by Dr. Mengele. It might be too painful to read, but I'll give it a try.

On this snowy day, I'll be linking up with Ginny to Yarn Along.

A Winner and a UFO

Let's get to the exciting part first: who won the Think Summer Give-Away? The random number generator (also known as my dear daughter) chose number 7, which would be Gracie Saylor! Congratulations! If you can send your address to deborah.kades@gmail.com, I'll get your package into the mail!

Instead of indulging myself in casting on yesterday, I pulled this out of my closet:

It's a Brickless scarf that I started last year with Miss Babs Yowsa. Isn't the color gorgeous?  I don't know why I dropped the ball on this, so to speak. It is a great pattern -- and a useful one for Wisconsin weather!

Miss Babbs doesn't call this yarn Yowsa for nothing. In addition to being beautiful, it comes with an enormous yardage: 560 yards of worsted weight. Has anyone make a Brickless out of Yowza? If so, did you use the entire skein? I'm afraid I could end up with a scarf that is too long -- if there is such a thing.

It's back to school on Wednesday, so I'm savoring these last few days!

Looks Can Be Deceiving

This photo makes it look as though I have done no knitting on Brickless since last week. But that is hardly the case.

I realized last week that I wasn't following the directions closely and I had made huge issues on where to bind off, meaning that Brickless would not work out at all. So, I frogged and started all over again. Sigh. You would think I'd know enough to read the directions carefully. Will I ever learn?

So I'm now just a little past the point I was at last week. Also, the yarn is a tomato red, not the pink it keeps showing up as. I've tried taking photos at different times of day, but I can't capture the color accurately!

As for reading, I finished Between the World and Me and I think us white folks need to read this to begin to understand what it means to live in black skin in this society. He makes you feel both the fragility of the body and the joy of the culture. Most of my students are African-American, so it was a really important book for me.

I'm also finding Ghettoside to be insightful. This book centers around the murder of a L.A. Police Department detective's son. The author, an LA Times reporter, goes into the culture of both South Central Los Angeles and the police department. It is both fascinating and heartbreaking.

And I need to get going on My Brilliant Friend. I've just been so taken with the other two books, especially in the aftermath of the murder of my former student in Chicago. Two 16-year-olds have been arrested in his murder -- making the story even sadder. If you want, you can read the story here.

I'll be checking in at Yarn Along. See you there!

Of Babbs and Books

I've heard about Miss Babbs for years; how smooshy it is, how beautiful it is. I can now say that it is all true. I am loving knitting Brickless with this skein I got from a destasher on Ravelry. Knitting this is heaven!

  And I can see why they call this stuff Wowza! I don't know if you can tell, but this skein is huge! My ball winder could not handle 560 yards so I had to finish the cake by hand.

I'm well into Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It was slow going at first, but now I'm hooked. It is very intense and very revealing. One of his themes is the price African-American men have paid with their bodies through U.S. history. I am finding this especially poignant in the wake of my former student's death last week.

 

 I red the first few pages of the literary sensation My Brilliant Friend by Elana Ferrante, and the writing is just beautiful. I'm hoping the plot will be as gripping.

Don't forget to Yarn Along with Ginny today.

Some Stash Enhancement

What is it about acquiring yarn that is so irresistible? Just a few weeks ago, I went through my stash and culled out quite a bit of yarn. Yet, I've already added a few more skeins. I seem to have a problem. (I'd like to point out that it is healthier to be a yarn addict than a heroin addict.)

First up is a shmooshy skein of Miss Babbs Yowza. I have to point out that I didn't pay retail for this one; nope, I shopped stashes on Ravelry and saved a few bucks by ordering from a Raveler.

I do try to only buy yarn that is intended for a specific project. This is going become a Brickless, a pattern that I learned about from a friend a few weeks ago at the Sun Valley retreat. I think it was designed for this yarn, as the pattern calls for 560 yards -- the exact amount in Yowza! I expect to start this one pretty soon.

I've been jonesing for some Arne and Carlos Regia Sock Yarn. It came out a year or two ago, and it was impossible to get then. People just snapped it up. So when I saw a display at a LYS, I grabbed this skein:

Do you know Arne and Carlos? They are a Norway-based couple, both personally and in business, who design all sorts of things, including knitwear. I own their book on knitted dolls and I will (I swear) actually use it one of these days.

I know what this will become: socks! (Duh.) It may be a while before I get it on the needles, but that's OK. It will get used!

BTW, there's a reason that heroin was on my mind; last night, Keith and I watched a documentary on Amy Winehouse on Netflix. Such an amazing musician; such a sad person. A tortured soul. I used to think her song about refusing to go to rehab was funny. It doesn't seem so funny now.

Have you "enhanced" your stash lately?