#2 daughter and I dropped off #2 son early yesterday morning and went to the local French bakery, where we enjoyed apricot Danish, prosciutto and fontina croissant, visiting with people we knew, and brainstorming about the new forms my old job might take.

We went from there to the grocery, and thence to Hancock Fabrics, where -- seamstresses take note -- patterns are on sale. Simplicity is 99 cents this weekend, and Vogue is $3.88, which is a serious bargain.

 This is Vogue 7941, one pattern which we both bought. It has no collar, an asymmetrical closure with a high stance, and interesting details with a simple shape, so it is a good representative of the spring styles. It also does not require buttonholes, so that is a big plus right off.

My SWAP planning has been derailed by my uncertainty about my job. I have decided to stay on where I am and embrace the new possibilities, but I am not entirely sure what I will be doing. I had intended to make my SWAP Part II suitable for climbing on ladders, but I think I may now be doing more presentations and also more computer work at home, so I may really need a combination of suits and yoga pants.

In addition to the lovely jacket pattern, I picked up new buttons to replace the fine vintage ones on my gray jacket, one of which broke.

These are not much like the first set, but they are distinctive. I intend to sew them on today, and we shall see how they do.

If they won't work for the jacket, they will do nicely for Erin, the cardigan I am very slowly knitting.

Having completed our pattern purchases, we continued to T.J. Maxx in search of teakettles.

We were entirely successful with the teakettle quest, and here is mine, looking sculptural on a marble-topped table.

This is because there is no surface in my kitchen which is clean enough for a photograph. We did no cleaning yesterday, just playing and errands.

Having scored our teakettles, we carried them around with us, dangling from our hands like purses, while we checked the other things we typically buy at T. J. Maxx.

There was no Yorkshire tea. However, we bought shortbread and Turkish Delight. We also bought shoes in the $10 shoe clearance.

"I have loafers for climbing ladders and pumps for parties," said I, "but I think I need a sensible low-heeled pump for presentations. Something stylish I can wear with skirts or pants, and can stand up in for hours comfortably if I am doing a workshop."
"Like these?" #2 daughter held up a pair of chestnut brown Liz Claiborne shoes.
"Yes," I responded, "but not with those pointy witch toes."

I don't see the sense in having the toes of your shoes go out beyond the toes of your feet for four inches. Didn't that go out in the Renaissance?

No, #2 daughter assured me. This is required now in a shoe. The only alternative is a ballet flat, and then it has to be in bright colors or encrusted with bling. She held out a glittering gold shoe to demonstrate.

"A pointed toe doesn't look witch-like. It lengthens the leg," she insisted, stepping into a pair of glen plaid mules with pointy witch toes.

She has an inseam of about 40", so it seems a bit redundant for her, but the shoes do not look bizarre. In fact, I insisted she buy them. Whereupon she insisted that I buy these handsome shoes with not quite so excessively pointy and witch-like toes.

I cannot believe how many pairs of shoes I now own. I have never had so many shoes in my life. I am having storage problems with them.

But these are very nice shoes, and quite comfortable, since the pointy bit doesn't even begin until your own natural toes have finished.

We threw our bags into the car, which was becoming quite full of bags. Then we went to the store where I work, where the Saturday worker met me with an agitated whisper.

It was JJ. She has an excellent line in agitated whispers.

"I don't have anything to sell anybody," she hissed.

From this I deduced that The Empress had not let her in on the little secret, and I tried to be reassuring. "It's not your fault," I said. "Just apologize, and keep the store looking as nice as you can. We're buying things that we know are here."

We made our purchases (from the hidden stack of books behind the counter), picked up #2 son, and headed home. The mail contained the contract for my latest encyclopedia entry and my new book club book, as well as the details of the area Mardi Gras celebrations.

We had lunch, welcomed #2 daughter's friend and relaxed for a few minutes while he told us about the future of artificial intelligence, and then the two of them left for The Big City. #1 son's friend came by for a jam session, and #2 son and I went to the basketball game.

I had never been to a basketball game before. I have watched my kids playing the game, so I am familiar with it, but it is different at the university.

For one thing, they play much better.

For another, there are many picturesque customs in addition to the game. There was a band, and people dressed up in costumes who danced and mimed little dramas, and cheerleaders with pompons, and whole sections in the audience where people knew the words to the songs and the choreography that went with them and all of them would stand up and do these dances all together when the band played particular songs.

One of the best parts was right before the game. There is a clock telling you how long till the game begins, and all the players had come out and circled around the baskets throwing the ball and I suppose warming up. Then they returned to their locker rooms and a fellow with a megaphone (and a microphone too, of course) led us in calling the mascot in. At this point, a cartoon of our mascot woke up on the giant TV screen above the gym, looked about himself at the stone labeled "1871," and then ran down the years to the present. He then ran down the main street and there was a sort of light show of the mascot running into the gym. #2 son tells me this is very common, but I thought it was extemely cool. When the creature supposedly arrived at the gym, more dancing and music and carrying on broke out.

Not only did this beguile the time while we waited for the game to begin, but there were further examples of it throughout the game. There would be a loud honking noise, a bunch of men in suits would come out onto the floor of the gym carrying chairs, a cheerleader would do handsprings down the length of the floor, and the band would begin twirling around with their tubas. I suppose the idea was to distract the audience from the men in suits until the game could begin again.

We were playing Ole Miss, and both sides played very well, it seemed to me, but we won, which was of course the best outcome. Whenever our lads got a basket, there was loud cheering and applause. When the other team got a basket, there was near silence. This is better than  if there had been booing or something, but it still seemed unkind. There was a smattering of applause each time, and I wanted to join in, just for politeness. However, #2 son had made the error of wearing a blue shirt (we had completely forgotten that it is customary to wear red clothing to the games) and was already feeling self-conscious about it, so I refrained.

The game was very fun, and I got a good bit of the Bijoux Blouse knitted as well.

We got home at dinner time and passed a quiet evening.

Today there is church and then I have a baby shower to go to. I am hoping to get some housework done, so as to begin the week in an orderly fashion. It has been a fun weekend, though, and a little disorder is not a bad price to pay.

Last night some friends of #1 son called to say they wanted to have Family Game Night, too. So he agreed that they could come over and we would play games again. We played Cranium and Catch Phrase.

This skewed the average age of the group down a bit, especially since my husband wasn't at home. Teenagers are not at a disadvantage in general knowledge games. Older people may know more things in total, but it is longer since we -- and the twenty-somethings are included here -- studied stuff like the difference between igneous and metamorphic rock. The teens are more likely to remember state capitals and all.

But the biggest thing about playing games with teens is that their phones ring constantly, and they all carry phones.

You know how in old movies the newsroom or office would have incessantly ringing phones to show how busy and exciting life was there?

That's what it's like.

It was fun anyway.

Here, by request, a picture of Pipes off the needles and on the girl.

I had envisioned it with the collar folded, but #2 daughter turned it up -- standing collars are all the rage in the spring collections, you know -- and it made a wonderful Elizabethan ruff effect.

Very pretty, and not at all ordinary.

However, the sleeves were too short. In the snap, she pushed them up, and it looked cute. However, I will be pulling out the ribbing and making the sleeves longer before I give it to her.

It appears that my job will be changing, but not immediately disappearing. As Sighkey pointed out, it was always possible that it would disappear, so the more exciting option of change is the real news.

I do want to say here, because it would be petty to say it in my daily life, that my store always had stronger sales than the new one, and it is not my fault that it is closing.

I will be spending the next six weeks NOT saying it to the many people who will be asking me exactly that. However, we are trying to put a good spin on this, and saying that we are centralizing our operations and putting more emphasis on e-commerce and stuff like that.

So I will have to learn something about e-commerce. I will be doing some telecommuting, and some dog and pony shows (I have always done that, of course, and will probably enjoy doing more of it) and spending one day a week at the new store. If I am successful, I will not be looking for a new job. It is not, of course, entirely up to me. There are other people involved, and we have already been told by people who do these things for a living that our chances do not look good.

However, I have determined that looking for a job in a few months will not be any different from looking for one now, and it is always fun to try new things.

Anyone who can recommend some references to me, or indeed has any other suggestions, please jump right in. Our store has had a website for a year, we have had about six orders from it, and I have had nothing to do with it so far. I made some suggestions in the beginning, but they were not taken, so I don't know whether they would have been useful or not. I know absolutely nothing, so do not think that you shouldn't mention something because you figure I must already know it. I still haven't figured out how to get buttons on my xanga. I have my kids set up the DVD player for me.

I may not be the obvious person to lead our business into the 21st century, but I can learn. Last year, after all, I took up soldering.

Last night's dinner guest explained to me about indexing and critiqued our website, something for which I believe he normally gets paid large sums of money.

We gave him penne with chicken and mushrooms in a wine sauce, homemade bread, zucchini with balsamic vinegar and herbs, salad, and #2 daughter's chocolate cake. Also wine and games.

If you wanted to make this zucchini, perhaps in order to thank a dinner guest for some useful information, this is what it takes:

2 zucchini
1 t olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
mixed herbs -- we used the Pampered Chef Italian blend

Cut the zucchini into spears. Put the oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Put everything else into the skillet, too, and cover it tightly. Give it a few minutes to cook and steam. Eat it up.

Today there will be errands, including the buying of a new teakettle since the old one died, and a modicum of housework. I will be seeing #2 daughter off for her return to the Big City, and possibly attending a basketball game. And lengthening Pipes's sleeves.

The tea arrived, my daughter arrived, the oven is repaired thanks to my clever husband, and the snow is off the roads.

No complaints here.

Daughter's new friend came over last night -- he doesn't have a nickname yet -- and we played games. Us old folks packed it in around midnight, but the kids were still playing for quite a while after. Catchphrase, Malarkey, and Wii Sports were the games I joined in on. We had been told ahead of time not to play any "smart" games or pop culture games.

I skipped Chamber Singers rehearsal. I have skipped three, all with excellent reasons, but I think that means I cannot sing with them this term. I was ambivalent about it anyway, so it is just as well.

I discovered two cool new websites. The first, mentioned in Fast Company, is swivel.com., which serves up "tasty data goodies." I like a good statistical analysis, myself, and if you do too, then you will like this site. I haven't played around on it much, but I look forward to doing so. I anticipate using it for business and history projects, and it might come in handy for other uses as well.

The second, which I learned of in The Wall Street Journal, is geni.com. This is a new genealogy site where you can put in your own family info and invite living relatives to join in the project. The premise is that, when I invite Cousin Nina from Texas (the granddaughter of my great-grandfathers' son by his first marriage), she will know some different people from the ones I know, and will invite more folks, who will have some other information and know some other people. Since you only get to look at your own tree, and only get into the tree by invitation, the living people are not hidden as they usually are at genealogy websites, so you can get in touch with folks who may have that piece of data you have been needing. Geni's hope is that they will be able to hook everyone up in one gigantic family tree. I like a good lofty goal, don't you?

And this is what two skeins of Connemara looks like.

It looks uneven, actually. I am not an especially even knitter, I don't think. I agree with Elizabeth Zimmerman that a bit of washing and wearing will even it all out in the long run.

But it may be that my practice of knitting while doing other stuff contributes to the unevenness.

The history of knitting is, of course, a history of people doing other stuff. Shepherds watching their sheep. Sailors hanging around waiting for the next active moment. Mothers avoiding idleness during rare moments of free time.

I have knitted this standing up, sitting down, listening to boys giving each other clues like "If you're speechalating and someone gives you some gup...", watching movies, and reading. I have stopped in the middle of a row and stuck it into my purse. I guess it is entitled to a little unevenness.

This is one skein of Connemara, on its way to becoming a Bijoux Blouse from Oat Couture.

The Yarn Harlot had a thoughtful post on love yesterday, and The Panopticon has a funny list of ways to say "I love you" to a knitter.

That's in case you sort of missed Valentine's Day, as I did. It's a good holiday, and worth observing.

Never mind. Mardi Gras is coming up.

I have a huge amount of music to learn. The Chamber Singers are doing Rutter's Requiem, Vaughan Williams's Easter, and a sort of medley of masses, from Monteverdi's Vespro della B.Vergine to Bruckner's Locus Iste and a Bach Alleluia. With lots of other stuff in between, of course. The church choir is doing Christus Paradox and a bunch of other flashy stuff, and contemplating a choir trip to #2 daughter's church. The idea came to us in rehearsal last night. The director asked if I had been up to hear her "outfit" yet, and I said I hadn't, at which point Suwanna said, "We should all go!" and someone else asked if they would let us sing if we came.

We only had one tenor last night, and he is rather elderly and frail, so it might not have been the ideal grouping for a tour. Ah, if only I were capable of bending my sons to my will!

#2 daughter is coming in tonight, and we plan a game night. I will therefore be cleaning house and making food and stuff like that before work, as well as running to the bank and the gym. This may not be a realistic plan, but I have rehearsal after work.

Blessing says our new business plan is unrealistic, too.

Is realism overrated?

The other suspenseful thing around here is tea. I found one more Yorkshire Tea bag in my purse, so I am having my excellent tea this morning, but then I will be out. #2 daughter was going to bring me some from the Big City, but they had run out. I have ordered some, but I see by the UPS tracking site that it has been wandering around the country, as UPS packages always do. It has been to Parsippiny, NJ (can that be right?). It has been to Memphis. It went to Little Rock and left again at 3:27 this morning. It could get here today, if it tried, but I think perhaps it will be too late to get onto the UPS driver's truck before she leaves for my house. Especially if it decides to go to Ft. Worth first or something. I continue to hope that my Yorkshire Tea supply will be replenished in time for tomorrow morning's all-important First Cup, but that may not be realistic either.

I've come back because the sun came up and revealed snow all over the ground. What a surprise! Cross off the bank and the gym, I guess.  Sigh. On the other hand, I can get the house cleaned. On the third hand, if the boys are home from school, there is little point, as they will mess it back up while I am at work. I don't know if this will affect #2 daughter's travel plans, but it may keep me from going to rehearsal. My husband says not to walk to work today. If I have to work somewhere else, he says, I may have to get accustomed to driving on snow. Hmmm...

The other night, #2 son went to take part in an experiment at the local university's psych department. It involved wearing electrodes while being exposed to Macauley Culkin and Tickle Me Elmo, among other things. Since Culkin and Elmo are two of the most irritating things I can imagine, I surmised that the experiment was about irritation.

Afterward, I took #2 son to Target to spend the money he had earned.

"Think how proud of us you'd be if you could bend us to your will," he said thoughtfully in the parking lot. He had in mind my desire for the boys to study hard and do well in school, to do their chores, and perhaps to come sing in the choir, which is desperately short of tenors.

Ordinary parent, or evil genius set on bending people to my will?

Other family members are having some excitement. My husband placed first in the opening night of a pool tournament. Son-in-law is going to the north pole in a submarine, with a film crew.

Yep. Stargate, which is apparently a TV program of some kind, is sending a film crew along. Apparently they needed some footage of a submarine breaking through Arctic ice.

Can you imagine that conversation?

"So, Commander, do you have any boats going to the North Pole? We're wanting to vanquish an ice alien, and we need some footage."
"We've got some boys heading up to visit Santa Claus next month. You can fly somebody in to meet them if you want."
"Terrific! We'll be happy to send a little donation to the Navy."

I have no idea how you would arrange that, actually.

I have a new assignment from the History Encyclopedia --1000 words on a county to the southeast. I was not happy with the outcome of the last assignment I had with them (that would be the Miss America/Playboy cover one), so I am glad to have another opportunity there.

I also have some upheaval at work. I had a worst-case scenario in the back of my mind when we opened the second store, and it looks as though it may be coming true. At this point, there are three possibilities: my job may continue as it is, it may change radically and indeed for the better, or it may disappear entirely. I have worked there for a decade and a half,and I now have about a month to decide what to do. And perhaps to find another job.

The key will be to look on this as an opportunity and an adventure.

  My completed SWAP. I am going to present it the way the sewing bloggers do. Yep, only sewing here today. if you come for the family news or philosophical ramblings, then move along.

Like all the serious SWAPmeisters, I have strewn the garments all over my piano for their group shot.

No, really, they put them on their garment racks, dress forms, and sewing tables.

I guess they just don't have a piano.

#1, jacket

Kwik Sew 3334, of gray microfiber with vintage buttons from the flea market

I followed this pattern exactly, and found the directions very clear.

The shank of one of the buttons has broken, so I will have to replace them all. Sad news, but that is what happens when you get your buttons at the flea market.

#2 and #3, two piece dress

Butterick 4467, of burgundy paisley cotton from Keepsake Quilting

Truthfully, quilting cotton isn't the best thing to make clothes from. Nonetheless, I love the skirt, and the top is okay, though I feel dowdy in it. It was a learning experience.

#4 trousers

McCall's 3740, of gray microfiber

I made plenty of errors putting these together, but I still like to wear them. I plan to make more of these. Preferably without the errors.

# 5 skirt

McCall's 4950, of gray microfiber

This was a very easy skirt, and great to wear.

#6, skirt

Simplicity 5914, of burgundy wool gabardine from Fashion Fabric Club

This is a great skirt. I made a "wearable muslin" of this, and we also made one for #2 daughter, and all have turned out very well. This would be a TNT pattern for me. I also love the fabric. It is light weight for year-round wear, and very luxurious.

#7, top

McCall's 4261, of burgundy interlock knit

Another TNT pattern.

# 8, top

Kwik Sew 3093, of blue cotton interlock knit

Yet another TNT pattern. Wow! I have quite a list of them.

#9 and #10, tops

Butterick 4467, of blue microfiber
McCall's 4261, of charcoal cotton sweater knit

These two were learning experiences. The gray one was where I learned the wonders of hem tape. The blue was the one where I had to redo the darts three times and the sleeves twice -- and I am thinking that I may redo the sleeves again, now that I am better at set-in sleeves.

# 11, top

This is Elsebeth Lavold's "Jasmine", from her Summer Breeze Collection. I made a couple of these, and may make more.

This of course was knitted rather than sewn.

And I am including this purse, which is loosely based on McCall's 5198, and works well with my SWAP. I made it from a motheaten lambswool sweater, severely felted, and lined it with the gray microfiber from the suit.

This is not really how the SWAP mavens present their SWAPs. Their remarks on the items say things like "I made a FBA and morphed the sleeves." I tried.

Actually, I am impressed with how much I learned in the course of this project. My later pieces are much better than my earlier ones. And the Sewing With a Plan idea really works -- all the pieces work together, and I have lots of outfits to choose from. I can do conservative things like a skirted gray suit with a silky blue blouse, or more surprising things like the peach sweater with the burgundy paisley skirt, or casual things like the pants with the turtleneck.

So I am going to plan my SWAP Stage II. And, if you have toyed with the idea of doing a SWAP yourself, I can recommend it.

  Here is the turtleneck I made. This keeps me on my self-imposed sewing schedule, and also completes my SWAP. I will do a proper SWAP report tomorrow.

You are probably thinking that I ought to press as I go, or at least press before I photograph things. You are right. My having noticed this is surely some kind of progress.

This is Kwik Sew 3093, and it was indeed fast and easy. It is a pretty traditional turtleneck, though it has some waist shaping. I think that if (when) I make it again, I will make the neck piece a bit larger; when folded, it doesn't really double, leaving the seam visible. Apart from that small thing, I like it very well. Reading the reviews on this pattern, I found that folks who had made it in a slinky or thin fabric were less happy than those who used a more substantial fabric. Mine is a cotton interlock knit from Hancock Fabrics, and seems to have been a good choice.

Aside from being on schedule for sewing, I feel as though I lost a week to the cold. As a result, I was awakened at 3:30 this morning by a nightmare. In the dream it turned out that we had another child, whom we had forgetfully left alone at our place in the country.

The dream consisted of my attempts to rescue this feral child.

Women often have dreams about having inadvertently abandoned a kid, or having put a baby down somewhere and being unable to find it again. I tend to think that they are a response to the feeling that we have stuff we have allowed to fall through the cracks, or just have too much to do. And indeed, once I was awake, my mind was so filled with the errands and chores I need to catch up on that I couldn't get back to sleep.

Something that may have added to this feeling is the fact that I was asked yesterday to be the Care Team Leader at church.

I was startled by this request. I sing at church, teach Sunday School, work with the UMW coffee ministry, knit prayer shawls (and I don't want to think about how long it has been since I worked on my current prayer shawl) -- where could they get the idea that I would be a good team leader for the ministry that looks after the sick and bereaved?

The people who thought to ask me this may have picked my name out of a hat. But they may also have been led by God to offer me this new opportunity for service. So I do not want to refuse out of hand, and I said I would pray about it and get back to them. My reaction -- beyond thinking that there is no evidence that I am a caring enough person to do this -- is that they probably need someone with more flexibility than I have. I work full-time and have three evenings a week committed, not to mention having a home and family to take care of.  Can I count on people to arrange to be sick or bereaved only on the evenings I have free?

I assume that "team leader" also means lots of phone calls, asking people to make meals and passing along needs on the prayer chain. And you know how I feel about the telephone.

There are also needs in the music program for which I am more qualified, it seems to me, and the new education person has asked me to lunch to "visit" with her, so I assume that she has things in mind for me to do as well.

So I think I will probably say no to this request.

As for the rest of my feeling beleaguered, I need to keep that in perspective. It is Living Room Week on the Grand Plan and my house shows that I didn't keep up with the housework last week, I have baby gifts to knit and my SWAP Stage II to plan, there are things my sons need me to do for them, I have homework to do and a writing contest to work on, I need to get back to the gym and get the taxes done, I haven't even bought this month's Book Club book let alone read it, #2 daughter is coming for the weekend, I did not send any Valentine cards, and I have a trio to prepare and music for Chamber Singers that I've not yet looked at.

The thing that all this stuff has in common is that it mostly just matters to me. These are not work deadlines, or things that carry fines if they are done late or not done at all. I can get the errands done today and the rest will wait.

I rested up this weekend and have recuperated from my cold, even if it has left me feeling like a have a lot of catching up to do. I did a couple of rows of Erin and started the Bijoux Blouse. This is a pattern from Oat Couture. On the left is their picture of it, and here is the link to it. I bought the pattern and the yarn last spring, but it has just now made its way to the front of the queue, and will probably be knocked off by baby gifts almost immediately, seeing as how there is a shower coming up this weekend.

Still, after I had to frog one design repeat on one row of Erin three times and reread a single paragraph just as many times, it was clear that I needed a zombie project if I was to make any headway on the whole reading and knitting plan.

So I swatched and cast on. Then I noticed that the Bijoux Blouse as written begins with an inch and a half of garter stitch. Garter stitch has its uses, but in general I feel that it is too stretchy, especially in cotton, and tends to be ugly. Cotton is inclined to bell out at the cast-on edge anyway, and I don't want to encourage that. So I am changing that to seed stitch. My Bijoux -- or at least the first inch and a half of it --  is on the right, in Connemara, on #5 needles.

I don't remember the name of this color, but it is a lovely shell pink, and I am enjoying working with this yarn. It has a sort of crisp texture.

The pattern is extremely clear and easy. There are explanations of how to decrease, and little reminders about things that might be confusing to a beginner. If you are a scarf knitter thinking about branching out into three dimensions, you might check out this or other Oat Couture patterns. They do quite a range of things, including a large selection labeled "easy."

Now I must fold laundry and make a list of all the chores and errands so I can stop fretting over them.

Happy Monday!

This is a Wii. It is a game playing machine like a PS2 or Nintendo or whatever, but it is no bigger than a typical hardcover book (most sources say "3 DVD cases" presumably because people have forgotten how big a book is. Do we say "as big as a couple of chickens" or "the size of five golf balls"? I think not). The other cool thing about it, besides its great cuteness, is that you play with physical movements instead of pushing buttons. If you are playing tennis, you swing the controller. If you are bowling, you draw back your arm and push the controller forward. When you hit a baseball, it goes a distance based on how hard you swung. It is very fun.

My girls gave it to the boys for Christmas. They tried for months to get one, and then got a gift card for it in December. The boys had been calling the store asking for it every day, but there were no actual physical examples of it until today.

I was in Target yesterday and asked about it, and they told me there would be a few arriving overnight. There would be lines, we were told, and people camping out. We went over to the store an hour before they opened, prepared for long lines and mobs and stuff like you see on the news. Instead, a nice man came to the door and gave us a ticket. We, he said, were #8 of 12. #1 got there at 1:00 a.m., but there were folks who came up at 7:20 and still got a ticket.

At about 7:30, the fellow came back and had us line up by ticket number, which we all did very cooperatively. He then shepherded us into the darkened store and back to the electronics desk, where we politely waited our turns to buy the coveted object. Baaa, baaa.

By 8:00, it was all over.

We came home and made little characters for ourselves, with which we played all these jolly sports games. It is quite fun.

 Pipes is complete.

The shape is really pretty, and I think it will be becoming to #2 daughter. I am not sure of the finishing of the collar, so I may yet come back and change that.

This is made of Telemark Deep Navy (with bits of Curry, Maple, and I think it was Wolf) on #1 needles.

It is a Raglan sweater knitted from the top down in one piece in the traditional way.

In my zeal to finish Pipes, I did not knit on Erin at all, but I intend to get back to it today. I will also be beginning a new zombie knitting project. I have a couple of baby showers coming up, so it will probably be a baby thing, though I am feeling eager to begin the Bijoux blouse.

 In sewing, I finished the hot mitt. It meets the conditions for the Sew?I Knit sewalong for this bimonth, though I hope to do more kitchen sewing.

The pattern for this is from an Ondori book, now out of print. The pattern had complex patchwork and quilting. I looked at the condition of my current (store-bought) oven mitts and how rudimentarily they had been constructed, and decided to stitch together bands of this pretty border print and whip the thing together very quickly. We found that it is sized for a Japanese hand as well, so I am glad I didn't spend that much time on it, but it will be a nice addition to the kitchen. At least when we are not in too much of a hurry to pull it on. The scrap of fabric to the left may become a hanging loop, though the pattern didn't call for one.

I once knew a couple who had pretty hot pads which they displayed. They kept the ones they actually used, which naturally get singed-looking after a while, stuck in a drawer. This strikes me as silly. On the other hand, there are all those pretty patchwork potholder patterns still waiting. Do you put time into utilitarian things which you know will be ruined pretty quickly in the course of their use, or not? It is almost a philosophical decision. I decorate cakes which are to be eaten, and cultivate flowers which will wither and die, so I guess I should be willing to quilt potholders whcih will be singed and stained.

I also cut this out. I got it in my mind that I wanted to make a turtleneck for the last piece of my SWAP, and had no such pattern on hand, nor any suitable fabric. so I actually went and bought the fabric and the pattern.

This is not the economical way to do it. You're supposed to get the pattern when it is on sale for 99 cents and the fabric also when it is on sale, because you planned ahead.

As it stands -- even though I forwent the organic cotton and bamboo knit in lovely shades of pink -- this garment will cost as much as if I had bought it ready-made.

However, Kwik-Sew patterns do not go on sale for 99 cents, the Big 4 pattern companies do not currently have turtlenecks in their line (they are wrong, by the way -- there were quite a few turtlenecks in the spring couture shows), and it will be more fun to make it myself.

So I can make more of these, in organic bamboo and cotton if I care to, so the cost of the pattern per garment will go down, and use the leftover fabric to make something else, so the fabric's cost will be spread out over a couple of things.

While I was having the fabric measured, the man who was next in line said ruefully, "I'll never be caught up. I have so many projects going."

He looked like a biker. We have a biker festival here every year, so I can say this with confidence. He was wearing a denim shirt with fancy topstitching, which he had made himself. Also a sort of scarf/hat thing which probably has a colorful name if only I knew. He had clearly made that as well.

"Never is a long time," I said. "You can get caught up. Unless you keep adding projects."

He chuckled.

Now I must take #2 son to sit in the parking lot of Target till they open. We are told that a shipment of Wiis is arriving, and hope to score one. It is hard for me to believe that I am going to be involved in this kind of caper, but there it is. I love the kid.

We got the Wii, courtesy of daughters # 1 and 2. It is as cool as everybody says. I have an appointment to play with it when I get home from church.

Blessing was helping me move furniture around yesterday  at work when I got a call from an old friend. She was getting up a party to go to a play at the University -- would I like to come? I accepted happily and returned to wrassling racks.

A flash of nausea, a coldness in my hands -- have I been stung by a strange venomous insect?

No. It was anxiety.

And I had at that point a sinking feeling. Oh, no. (That's the voice of the sinking feeling.) I have never been anxious about social events. Is that being added to my list of aversions? Haven't I Overcome Agoraphobia?

In some ways, my experience of agoraphobia is like.... hmmm... becoming a werewolf or something. I do not have a thought, a worry, or a feeling of anxiety followed by some action or reaction. Instead, I have physical symptoms. Like the way your hindbrain stabs you with adrenalin when it first notices that there is something creeping up behind you, without waiting to find out for sure whether it is in fact a tiger or the neighbor's housecat. If it is the housecat, you are relieved and say, "Oh! It was only you!" and laugh at yourself, but if it is a tiger, you are ready to run away. It is adaptive to have the brain shrieking "Danger! Danger!" just in case, rather than waiting for an analysis of the situation. Unfortunately, in my case, the danger signals come on too often and without sufficient reason. And, apparently, the list of triggers continues to get longer even though I have -- dash it all -- already Overcome Agoraphobia.

Back before I Overcame Agoraphobia, I would have this experience and look around for the danger. That is after all what you do when you experience anxiety. But since the part of my brain (is it a part? I don't know these things) that has these reactions is mistaken, there is nothing there. I used to come up with things to be anxious about -- somewhat reasonable explanations of why I had that response. And then I would seize on those somewhat reasonable reasons and not do whatever it was that triggered the Will Robinson's robot experience.

(Boys and girls, there used to be a program on TV called, I think, "Lost in Space." There was in it a funny robot who would wave his arms around and bellow "Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!")

I don't do that any more. I remind myself that it is irrational, and continue on with my life, including driving or answering the phone or making appointments. Or, apparently, having an evening out with friends.

But it is still sickening. It is "Oh, no, I'm turning into a werewolf again!" And, in this case, "Curses! It isn't even a full moon! What is causing my lycanthropy this time?"

The alarming thing about agoraphobia is that it is progressive. You panic on overpasses, so first you avoid overpasses, then freeways, then roads that might lead to a freeway unexpectedly, then driving on any but a few familiar roads. It can sneak up on you. By the time I realized I had this problem, I could foresee being unable to drive at all. And it may be that having stayed home from some of my usual outings with a cold this week undid some of the good work of always making myself go out and do things. Without constant vigilance, I may always be in danger of turning into, if not a werewolf, at least someone who Can't Do a whole long list of normal things.

Sigh.

Well, the play was very interesting. It was a production of "The House of Bernarda Alba," by the Spanish playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, a play about five unmarried daughters shut up in a house with a grotesquely domineering mother, a mad grandmother, and a couple of serving women. I was not familiar with this play. The director chose to have all the dialogue shouted. Sometimes I tried repeating it to myself with some variations in emotional tone, and it seems to me that it might have potential to make sense. The effect of having the actors yell at one another throughout the play was just to make the whole thing sound crazy.

Afterwards, the four of us who had gone to the play walked over to the student union and had hot drinks and discussed the play, and the university (two work there now, I used to work there, and the fourth is married to a man who works there, not to mention that I have a kid who is going there in the fall), life, religion, politics, and women's humor.

It was a lot of fun.

Today I must clean and do errands and stuff like that, but I intend also to get on with some knitting and sewing. I'll finish up the front porch, it being the last day of Front Porch Week. And be lazy enough in between times to vanquish my cold completely.

Enjoy your weekend!