Philistine-hued distractions.

As everyone in my daily blog reading whips through their holiday knits with zeal and cheer, I have been feeling distracted lately by my knits. Since finishing my Inky Blanket Cardigan and Salina, I've been struggling with decisions for casting on new projects. I've met with little success...as can only be measured these days by the Cara Enthusiasm Test (You don't like your new knit *this* much? Then stop, reconsider, and try something else!).

I really, truly wanted to participate in a mini-Demi-KAL with Ashley, but things just aren't working out accordingly for that. Demi, as Ashley so kindly pointed out, involves commitment, patience, a photocopier, some more commitment, some highlighters, and lots more patience. I cast on the back panel of my Demi, worked a few rows, realized that I'd forgotten to work the wrong side purls in twisted stitch, and ripped it out. A few days later, I cast on a sleeve, which seemed far less daunting than the back panel, worked about 15 rows of the twisted ribbing - managing to work the twisted stitches correctly this time - and put the thing down. Those darned charts are just not what a brain fried by the incessant daytime pressures of preparing for prelim exams and teaching a class full of needy undergrads how to research and write 10-page papers on the side needs at the end of the day. I'm excited about the prospect of knitting Demi - say, sometime in early summer - after prelims have been checked off the ol' To Do list. Right now, easy, boring knits = fun, relaxing time. Plus, I am having serious commitment issues with casting on a big project, knowing that I leave in exactly two weeks for the Land O' Sand. (Sadly, there's precious little time for knitting built into archaeological projects).

My newest distraction comes in the form of this awesome custom "Philistine" sock yarn dyed especially for me by the lovely Samantha of sKNITches fame. It's quite fabulous, if you ask me. There's just the small matter of deciding what fabulous thing to do with it. It's a self-striping colorway, so my initial thought was knee socks! Awesome, stripy Philistine knee socks! (Especially since my first vision for knee socks came too late for the proper calf-shaping to be built in). Now I'm even thinking along the lines of Jaywalker knee socks! But I'm not sure if I have the necessary brain power these days to figure out how to correctly build in calf-shaping into the Jaywalker pattern. A project involving round after round after round of self-striping stockinette magic sounds fantastically tantalizing at the moment.

My other distraction of late comes in the form of sudsy, skin soothing, aromatherapeutic-goodness. Handmade in small batches by yours truly and her mom.

I foresee a new Esty store on the horizon...

Have a happy Sunday, all!