So, I wilted at 8:10.

And had sufficient brain cells left to rub together, that I figured out it was because I had left the office at 3:15, and my brain [or what was left of it] said, “Hrm, we left work five hours ago; must be 10:00pm. Time to put on the jammies and go night-night.” Yes, I did make it to Knit Night, but I only lasted about an hour.

Work went well. Lots of piddly little projects checked off my list, and bigger ones organized and annotated so that when I get back to the office today I will know where to start and what to finish.

Speaking of starting? I started Willow’s scarf twice and frogged it twice. And I’m OK with that; I’ve grabbed my largest needles and rethought the pattern, and I think I will like the new incarnation just fine. Film at 11.

I finished the left front on the doll sweater and may have figured out how to manage the side gusset vs. the kimono sleeve. Short rows, I think, and a three needle bind-off for the side seam and then Magic Loop to the sleeve hem. I am trying to figure out a way to knit this sweater with an unbroken strand of yarn to make the most of the Noro color changes. [Not to mention the joy of having only two ends to weave in.]



On the drive home from the Bishop’s Storehouse, I remembered the hand-painted, variegated floss I used on a couple of cross-stitch projects several years ago. Yes, they were still wound on bobbins, and I think that a couple of the colors will do nicely for the fancy stitching on the doll skirt.



Obviously, some of these colors will do much better than others. And I may still choose to go with my extensive DMC and Anchor collection, also neatly wound on plastic bobbins. [These are the cheap paper ones that came with the floss-organizing boxes.]

I was in bed at 9:31. And up at 4:41. Seven hours? We should maybe call Ripley’s, or the Guinness people.

Text messages have been flying back and forth between the girls and me. Texts re: filing the claim for Cuprit, with Fourthborn; texts re: the yarn CARE package, which unlike Cuprit arrived safely and on time, to Middlest; texts re: Firstborn and college. She went to the counselor’s office to see about the holdup on her app for graduation in December; they told her she had already graduated and would have the paperwork in about two weeks. When I spoke to her last night, on my way home from the Storehouse, she was filling out paperwork for her scholarship to UTA for spring semester.

Phi Theta Kappa [junior college honor society: one apple fallen not far from the maternal tree] = scholarship. Her goal is to graduate with her BA the same year that Lark graduates from high school.

You can eat an elephant, if you take it one bite at a time. And direction is far more important than speed. She will be my first college graduate; I suspect she will not be the last. Speaking from my own experience, higher education is most valued when it is self-paced, and least-stressful when there are no student loans piling up. I began my AAS on grants, because we were so poor, and finished using part of my inheritance from Mom. [Thank you, America, for two-thirds of my ability to sign.]

I am taking the necktie skirt with me and intentionally driving to the Richland Hills station, because it is close to both JoAnn’s and Hancock’s. There are all sorts of tulle out there for the underskirt, and I want to have that on hand before I start the decorative stitching, because it will strongly influence what colors I should choose.

There are a couple of outfits on one of the doll websites which will fit the Jessica I have on layaway; one is $110(!) and the other is $75(!). I’ll wait while you rub your eyes and clean your glasses. There are elements of both outfits which I admire. One of them is even completely modest [you think you have trouble finding modest clothing for your daughters? a good chunk of the doll world is into goth and Lolita-style, 99% of which just makes me go ewww!]. In human-scale and with a slip rather than a tulle underskirt, it would be completely appropriate to wear to church, and if I still had my pre-baby figure I would do so [even at my advanced age]. Having made a Renaissance-inspired skirt for LittleBit for Halloween one year, I know how to reproduce the skirt. Having made crinolines for bridesmaid dresses, I know how to make the underskirt; it will definitely involve a judicious use of childbirth words. I’ll tell you when to cover and uncover your ears.