Reading is giving me a real headache; the words always look fuzzy to me, and I have to really concentrate to read them. I hope it's because I haven't been getting as much sleep as I should. Damn if I need to look into some glasses.
Speaking of which, I still need to look into some non-prescription ones for sewing. I've read way too many stories of sewing machine needles breaking and ending up in someone's eye to use my machine without protective eyewear. That would be more than one story I've read of that happening. Yikes.
Of course, I threw caution to the wind a few days ago when I sewed the lining in for my knitting bag, which is completely done now by the way. I finished knitting it up and sewing it together before Spring Break but didn't get around to the lining until last week. I thought I had left all my bobbins at home, but it turns out they were in a bag above my closet. The thing looks real spiffy now with that lining.
Lauren and I spent a good part of yesterday psyching ourselves up for the more expensive apartment at River Mill, since all the plan Cs were taken before we could snag one. We headed over to the River Mill office to get an application, and, like I do every time we go there (for the hell of it, really), I asked them if any plan Cs had opened up. I was met with a "Yes, actually," and all I could do was look at her and go: ". . . what?"
So now Lauren and I have the apartment we've been wanting for the past three months. It's a reasonable price and perfectly located where we can walk to class and work without relying on any bus or car pooler. All of a sudden, my biggest stressor has been lifted off my shoulders, and it's come so fast I don't think I've processed it yet. Whew!
The yoke pullover is coming along beautifully. I knit the yoke just a tad too long, so I'm going to have to rip back a couple of rows and redesign the bottom of it to fit. This pullover's going to be more fitted than the typical yoke pullover or bohus, since I don't wear loose knits very well. The purple against the gold cream, green, and dark brown of the yoke looks so lovely.
Still enchanted by Blackfield's second album. Still waiting on Silverchair's Young Modern (March 30) and Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet (April 24, christ) to get here already. I can hardly take the waiting!
People up north have a huge snowstorm to look forward to, but down here? On and off rain all day. And a tornado watch. But we almost never have tornadoes, so I think we'll be okay. I trudged throught the pouring rain this morning on my way to breakfast, but fortunately the weather spent the rest of its time dumping while I was at work. There was barely a sprinkle by the time I was walking home. It made for some very beautiful pictures.
It's weird to have so much down time this week. I'm in between exams, so I find myself wondering what do do to fill the time when I'm at home. I actually put that time to good use when I tidied up the dorm a bit, but today was quite a bit of vegging. And watching a very strange animated show on TV5 Monde. What better thing to do during a rainy day than knit?
The knitting bag is going well. I've knit the front and back panels and am working my way through the strap. It's already pretty long, but I still have a ways to go; thirteen inches of the strap on each side don't count because they're going to be the sides of the bag, and if I want this strap to go across the body, it'll be pretty long. The five rib cable is nice and mindless, so I don't have to pay too much attention to it while I'm knitting. Of course, it gets old after a while, so I have another project going on to break up the monotony.
Enter the brightest socks I have ever knit. It's Regia 4-ply in Farbe Partie knit in Cookie's sock pattern Monkey. Because of this, I've affectionately named these socks "Pride Monkey." The tiny needles and springy wool are a nice change from the heavy unelastic cotton of the knitting bag.
I've been purusing M's shop and I want every single shirt there. If only I lived in France. Sigh. I also really want to see "Ne le dis à personne" since M wrote the music for it. It also one a few Césars, so it's apparently a good movie all on it's own. Maybe it'll make it to Borders or something soon. Or I might just have to order it.
I found out something very disappointing the other day. It seems that Porcupine Tree have posted all of their US tour dates and, like Blackfield, they're not going anywhere near the southeast. What the hell? They came down here twice in 2005, so why not now? I feel like we were a really good crowd. And I was really looking forward to seeing them in concert again, too. I just hope they'll add more dates to the tour list soon.
I don't usually blog about TV shows, but damn. The Top Chef finale was on tonight, and smarmy Ilan won. Ick. The guy who videotaped Marcel getting assaulted by Cliff while screeching for Sam to join in on the fun and shave his head. The guy who used his boss's Spanish recipes to win. The guy who said he wanted to pee on Marcel. The guy who, after winning, completely slams Harold (Top Chef season 1) by calling him "motherfucking boring" and imitating him like a freaking elementary school kid. Ick. Just . . . ick. I'm annoyed that Ilan won, and, like Lauren said, I'm annoyed that this show has gotten me annoyed.
Well, on to better things.
I was feeling pretty creative today after class, so I perused through my cable patterns and charted some up. I thought the Celtic braid flanked by two plaited cables would look very nice.
And what do you know? It does.
I'm making a bag to carry other knitting projects in. The front and back will be this cable pattern with about two inches of ribbing on top. The strap will be a loose five rib braid cable and will be long enough that I can wear it across the body. I also plan on having a single button closure on the middle of the ribbing so if I have long needles, they can just stick out of the bag. Also, I can knit straight out of the bag instead of having to take the yarn out and balance it on my knees.
It's a bit of an experimental design, but so far, I'm very happy with it. The pattern is nice and engaging--there are traveling cables on every right-side row, so it's definitely not a snoozer. I think it'll turn out nicely.
There's a good chance that it might snow or ice over tonight, so I may not have class tomorrow. It would be nice if we got some snow (I haven't seen any in Athens since I got into college), but even if classes are cancelled tomorrow, I'll still have to go to work. Nothing against work, but if there's going to be freezing rain like Weather.com is predicting, then walking around in it will not be fun. At least I have plenty of knitted hats and scarves to choose from.
Je t'ai croisée
Un samedi soir
Et j'ai jeté sur ta silhouette
Une poignée d'épices colorées
Mon but était clair
T'envoûter
Tout en restant
Libre-moi et libre-toi
Car le roi de l'amour
N'a plus besoin d'esclaves
Adieu, adieu la nuit
Adieu tristesse, adieu les larmes
Je ne suis plus celui
Que tu as connu, plus le même
Ô bel enfant
Qui a tant pleuré
Adieu tout est fini
Adieu les larmes, adieu la nuit
Et le soleil de minuit a brillé pour nous
Jusqu'à l'arrivée du jour
Alors nous nous sommes séparés
Comme déjà saturés des délices du futur
Et j'ai marché seul
Guidé par ton ombre
J'ai traversé la ville déserte
Encore étincelante
Du voyage des rêveurs
Je t'ai croisé un samedi soir
Et déjà j'aimais l'odeur de ton rire
Et le soleil de minuit a brillé pour nous
Jusqu'à l'arrivée du jour
