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November 29, 2006
it's a grave mistake, and i'm wide awake
Thank you all, so much, for both the congratulations and the condolences. It's not been the free and easy week of slouching and slacking that I thought it would be; I haven't really begun to pay off any of my crushing pile of sleep debt, although I have made a tiny stab at the interest. I've been dreaming about Benny a lot. I'm having trouble concentrating, having trouble caring, and can think of little else but Friday next, when my good friends at airtran will be escorting me home to my family. I'm so grateful that my students, rather than just scraping by and showing the signs of late-in-the-semester stress in their work, are instead knocking my socks off with fantastic drawings and leaping improvements. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to muster the enthusiasm I need to finish out this last week and a half, and blowing off my teaching would be a very bad thing to do. I will show you some of those drawings soon; I hope to photograph them over the weekend.
Now that I've got a bit of time to pick up the sticks and knit something for myself, I can't focus on anything and instead am working in fits and starts (or rather, starting a lot of things and tossing them aside once it's apparent they're not going to fit). I wouldn't be able to finish anything were it not for Larissa and her amazing Meathead pattern, the Fastest Hat Ever(tm). When I sat down to start my first one in green Lamb's Pride Bulky, after first having to undo a horrible snarl after following Larissa's suggestion to work the doubled strands from either end of the ball (I'm a little too inept to manipulate such things without making a huge mess), I wound it up in a centre-pull ball and then wound half of that off into a new centre-pull ball, leaving the two conjoined in the middle and naming the one on the left Chang and the one on the right Eng. I was going to take a picture of Chang and Eng for y'all, seeing as they were so darned cute sitting there joined by a string, but I cast on first and then before I knew it Chang and Eng were gone and I had a hat in my hands, only it seemed a bit small so I unravelled it and knit it in the larger size and I swear the cup of tea I had sitting there when I started all this was still warm by the end. And I had a cute, warm hat.
A few days later I wound up a new pair of twins, this time in brown (um, Ang and Cheng). I cast on. I went to the kitchen, stuffed a sliced onion into a potato and threw it in the oven. Before I knew it I had a delicious, golden baked potato. . . and a new hat.
Part of the deal-i-o* in being in the meatheadalong is that you have to embellish the hat over the left ear any way you like (rather than the usual cow-ear-tag, which I love). I wanted my embellisments to be interchangeable, so for now this one is wearing a few of my "knit" and "stitch" buttons.
Yeah, those are scraps from the dress. I don't throw anything away. I'm going to use buttons on the green hat too, but I'm waiting for some buttons I ordered from Kate at obsessive consumption to arrive; I got 20 so I can change them every day if I want.
I'll tell you a secret, I'm totally in love with this hat. I thought it would look dorky on me with its pointy, smurfy top, but it's very cute. I also made one in a smaller yarn for an infant, and I'm scouring my stash for anything else I can use to make more, more, more! I left a bunch of hot pink bulky wool in my filing cabinet at home, and it's not the fact that everyone whose name I drew for xmess is male that stops me from making them all pink meatheads, but the fact that I don't think pink would be a good colour on any of them. Actually, that might not stop me.
*I only use words like this because I know it pisses Peter off. Does that make me an asshole?
Posted by jodi at November 29, 2006 09:46 AM | categories: self-absorbtion : sticks and string
Comments
hey Jodi
I was speking with the Windsor Printmakers Forum last week and they mentioned they were possibly going to offer a litho workshop or course over the upcoming summer.
I told them that you might be interested and that they should contact you. The womens name was Giovanna (i think their site address is wpf.org).
Judging by your blog grad school is keeping you busy, hope all is well.
casey
casey_purdie@hotmail.com
Posted by: casey purdie at November 29, 2006 10:44 AM
I will leave you some fiber to roll in, promise! I don't think I can have it all done by then. For some reason, my family expects me to make dinner, do laundry, milk cows....wait....no cows. Just feels like it some days.
I might have one of your noserings?
Your "meat" looks beautiful. The buttons are a fantastic touch.
Posted by: Sandy at November 29, 2006 01:02 PM
I often read your blog, but don't think I ever had commented... anyway - love your meathead hat - I feel the same way about mine as you do yours! What a neat pattern! Everyone should have one!
Posted by: Cece at November 30, 2006 09:55 AM
Hi Jodi, I'm just getting caught up on your blog...I'm so terribly sorry about your kitty.
You have my deepest sympathy.
Posted by: Anne Marie at November 30, 2006 04:08 PM