plums for tea

well, my extended blogging absence can't be attributed to anything like nuttnbunny's triathlon training or vampirebee's studying for a scary chemistry placement test. what i have been doing, however, is wasting lots of mental energy trying to make a decision about an out-of-the-blue job offer, a paper airplane gliding in from my previous life. a company i worked with in a consulting capacity a few years ago is re-structuring, and they've offered me a 20-hour position at the exact same salary as my very first (full-time) job in the business. i made my decision, choosing (yet again) academics over advertising. i said no, that i didn't feel that the position was right for me. they called me back and have said i can structure my own position and do only the part that i enjoy...

of course, the money would be great! i could quit my shitty receptionist job and we could afford 1) my hearing aid and 2) pay down debt. but we're planning on doing that stuff anyway--it will just take us longer. i spent a really lovely morning doing research at the library, and it underscored for me that i love my life the way it is--i like the way i spend my time. for example, digging up old articles and discovering fascinating side-stories (most recent find: in 1951 a florida museum mounted an exhibition of abstract paintings in the homes of their members: a pollock ended up in a trailer home, a dali above the mantle of a shag-carpeted ranch home. brilliant!). it's just so hard to pass up opportunities!

in knitting news, the body of forecast is complete, and i'm working on the sleeves. with all of the cables, bobbles, and ribs--as well as the really beautiful shaping--it's one impressive-looking piece of work (even before blocking):
the dashing fingerless gloves need only the ends woven in.


i liked the concept of the thumb construction, but was unimpressed with the final results. perhaps i picked up stitches incorrectly? i also couldn't get the ribbing pattern to match both the glove "body" ribbing and the pattern on the thumb itself. i ripped and knit multiple times and couldn't get it to work... ended up matching the main ribs of the hand and forgetting about following the pattern on the thumb itself. not sure if this is a pattern glitch or a problem with the way i knit the palm (although the palm ribbing looks exactly the same on the photo). overall, i like them and think they'll be useful, but i find them a bit puffy around the wrists. this is due to the lack of shaping at the wrists: the cables are further down the arm and create a nice tension that holds them up. we'll see when fall comes around...

i'm excited to begin my next project: jarrett for mr. boot, in a lovely grey-brown! i gave him the yarn for his birthday last week: peace fleece from an amazing farm in maine:

their tagline is "warm fleece for a cold war": the family started out in the 1980s working with soviet farmers in an attempt to humanize russians and alleviate cold war tensions. now they continue to work in russia but also have projects with sheep farmers in a jointly-founded israeli/palestinian community on the west bank. not only that, but the farm in main is horse-powered. mr. boot was beside himself. mr. boot chose the jarrett pattern. i think it's rather old-man-ish and was leaning toward the urban aran cardigan, but jarrett is very professorial, with the elbow and shoulder patches. maybe mr. boot will take up pipe-smoking, too.

here's a terrible photo of my completed ester. i like wearing it off the shoulder--otherwise it looks dumpy from the back.


and, fianlly, plums for tea this afternoon...