I’d Rather Be…

• Knitting.

• Stroking the yarn I just bought at Stitches West and dreaming about what I’ll make of it. (Photos and comments to come—Melissa and I simply didn’t have time for pictures this past weekend.)

• Stroking the yarn I haven’t used yet from last year’s Stitches West and reviewing the plans I’d made for it. In particular, I’m thinking now about a slip-stitch something for the two skeins of camel-hair yarn I bought (on the right).

• Starting work on this throw.

Yes, I already have lots of projects going, but wouldn’t these hexagons be great for toting along to meetings or on trips? I’ve got quite a few skeins of Lion’s Cotton-Ease in terra cotta, maize, and lime that I could use as core colors with “maverick” hexagons worked up in some of my ball-ends.

• Writing up the lacy shrug pattern in my head and seeing about knitting a model in one of the gorgeous yarns from Curious Creek.

• Writing up the other shrug pattern in my head and knitting a model out of the yummy marled alpaca (Peruvian Tweed) I bought a month or two ago at The Golden Fleece. One skein (600 yards per skein!) is more black than white. The other is more white than black. I’m imagining something Chanel-like with lots of moss stitch and contrast-color edgings.

• Clearing off my sewing table so I can dig into my stash of 1930s reproduction fabrics to make one of the aprons I’ve just bought patterns for.

That’s Simplicity 3544 on the left and Simplicity 5201 on the right, in case you’re interested.

• Reading another chapter in Paul Byrne’s wonderful biography of Mary Robinson, Perdita.

Alas, all this must wait.

Instead, I will be a good little cog in the great machinery of the capitalist system and continue doing the work I’m paid for, which at this moment means marking student essays and fine-tuning arrangements for UC Santa Cruz’s next writing placement exam.