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.

Can't Stop the Pink

When I decided to knit Perhaps, Perhaps, I knew the stripes would be gray and black. I wanted to use pink for the lace, but I always use pink. Come on, I prodded myself, venture outside your comfort zone! And then I saw this great green Sun Valley Fibers yarn and knew it would look great.

And it does look great ... but I still want it in pink. I pulled out this skein of pink (destined for a different project) and, yes, I want PINK! So, this first Perhaps, Perhaps will be a gift. Fortunately, it's a pretty quick knit. Sun Valley will be at the Madison Knitters Guild Knit In in March, so I'll pick out a pink then.

The Vegetarian was on just about every best-book list I saw for 2016. The writing is beautiful, but the story is so dark and twisted and I didn't feel that the book said enough to justify that level of despair.

So now I've moved onto Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here, a 1935 novel about a fictional president who brings totalitarianism to the United States. I know I said I was going to read something more cheerful, but I was just too curious to pass up this one. Like 1984, this book is enjoying a resurgence in sales. It isn't at all depressing at the beginning, but clearly the mood is headed downward. I've always liked Lewis's books (Babbitt, Main Street), and I'm liking this one so far.

It's evening here, but I'm still going to hop over to Yarn Along with Ginny.

Yarn Along: Fast and Slow

My Perhaps, Perhaps shawl is just zipping along. It's amazing how much faster you go with dk weight yarn than fingering. As you can see from all the stitch markers, I have found I need to be very careful during the lace portions.

Reading is going very slowly. The Vegetarian is a strange and twisted story of a woman who not only becomes vegetarian but also is struggling with inner demons. It's very dark.

Dark Money, which is about the billionaires funding the Far Right, like the Koch brothers, is just so depressing. I can only read a little  bit at a time. I felt the same way when I was reading Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine, which I never did finish.

My next book is going to be less depressing than these two!