Lofty aspirations.

My life, these days, along with being über-hectic with nail-biting over upcoming prelim exams, preparations for Christmas excavating in the UAE, and setting into motion my dissertation research, has been one failed lofty aspiration after another. I just can't seem to find enough time in the day, people! Most recent example: Socktoberfest, replete with lofty socky aspirations, drew to a close DAYS ago. As I am wont to do, I started out with seriously intrepid plans for Socktoberfest. That, friends, obviously didn't happen. My revised plan was to knit ONE mate to my overabundance of swingin' singles (newest phrase of choice for single socks, a là Mrs. Blue Garter). Just a one. Of course, in due diligence, I chose not only the oldest single sock, but the biggest, too. The infamous Pomatomus Almost-Knee-High.


So very, very close. The good news is that these socks will be finished imminently, which is most excellent. The bad news is that these socks will not, as had been previously hoped, mark my celebration of Socktoberween. October 31 came and went, and despite furious pomatomus knitting, I couldn't eke the entire sock out by the deadline. But not to worry... my Socktoberween ended up being fantastic, thanks to the super-speedy delivery service of Barnes and Noble...


Hello, every single last episode of Twin Peaks on dvd digitally remastered and in 5.1 surround sound. The definitive gold box edition. And that, my friends, made this the best Sock-less-toberween ever.

And now my lofty dissertation aspirations are leading me off to Boston this weekend to scope out some pre-Islamic Iranian ceramics in the Peabody Museum. I do love a good field trip! Will report on my adventures upon my return...

Happy belated Socktoberween to one and all!

The state of things.

Hey there. Things have been uneventful 'round these parts, mostly because I've been diligently knitting the never-ending miles of ribbing for the wide collar portion of the Wide Collar Cardigan. That, and I've come down with the ubiquitous change-of-the-season cold. Achoo! I've been doing a lot of that lately, and the draggy feeling that goes along with change-of-the-season colds tends to inhibit one's blogging stamina.


Back to the state of things. I had dreams of finishing the ribbed collar a week ago, but every time I measure it to see if it is long enough, it turns out it's not. Long enough to be a knit yoga mat? Yes. Long enough to be the length needed for a complete Wide Collar Cardigan? Sadly, frustratingly, NO. Go figure. I do see, if I squint reeeally hard, the finish line just ahead, and I suspect I'll be able to get the Wide Collar finished and in action very soon. I can't wait, either, because it turns out that I love--nay, ADORE RYC Silk Wool. It is my dream yarn.


In my funk of hacking and sneezing, I only yesterday realized that I've been completely tardy from the Soctoberfest '07 party. Shame on me. It seems that all I did this summer was knit single sock after single sock, which was quite the entertainment at the time. However, it may be time to do a bit of second sock knitting so that I can actually wear some of these socks this winter. So...


...now all I have to do is retrieve the second socks from this great big pile. They're in there somewhere, it's just a matter of FINDING them. Ahem. So perhaps there will be some pairs of socks this Socktober.


I do have to fess up though, that I started a new sock recently. I am the first pattern repeat into a I Love Gansey sock (free via the Six Sox KAL). While I do indeed heart this pattern, I decided I diamonded it even more. That is, I replaced the gansey heart design in the center panel with gansey diamonds. I just couldn't imagine wearing a bunch of hearts on my socks. And, while this is a sock I'm knitting for someone else as part of a swap, I spared them from having to wear hearts all over their socks, too. Because hearts on pretty much any garment? No thanks. I do love this pattern, though, and I'm already contemplating a nice tweedy pair for myself.

So, that's what's going on around here. A whole lot of sheer thrills and excitement: ribbing, more ribbing, some sock knitting, ribbing, and ribbing, and did I mention ribbing?

I do look forward to the day when I can write a post that is free of the word "ribbing." Til then...