Dying for the weekend...

This has only been a 4 day work week, yet it feels like the longest of my life. After the class yesterday, I really need some mental downtime. 200 student classes are pretty draining on us introverts. My mind is mush. It's mid-afternoon and I find myself surfing yarn catalogs. I just don't have anymore to give work-wise right now.

I also had a meeting this morning that was so painful I feel totally justified in my need for downtime. Throughout the meeting, I actually had to distract myself by envisioning a roll of duct tape, peeling a few pieces off, and placing them over the mouths of several of my chatty colleagues. Hey, I would have done it gently. And then we all would have been finished with the meeting AN HOUR earlier, so everybody wins.

Anyway, in fun news, I had a fabulous time at Michael's yesterday afternoon, and went home to make my lime shrimp dish. It was *delicious*. Definitely one to keep in mind come Lent. I'll be giving up meat again for Lent (although I will still eat seafood, so I'll be going pescaterian) so I'll post some meatless recipes throughout. Anyway, I had a good time making it, and happily sipped a glass of red wine while I worked. Later, after Hank went to bed, I knitted away.

My trip to Michael's garnered me some fabulous (and on sale) yarn for upcoming projects, but the proper knitting needles for Mike's hat continued to elude me. I wanted 16" circular needles in a size 6 or 7. My current needles were a size 8, and it just wasn't workin'. Mike would have to have some sort of cranial deformity for his head to actually fit in this thing.

I looked at Michael's yesterday, and no dice. I ended up buying a pair of 29" circular needles in my desired size 6, figuring the stitches could just stretch around there while I worked. Well. It didn't work. I found the extra length of cord to be in my way and unwieldy. I'm using a cotton/acrylic blend yarn to make Mike's hat (he has this love affair with cotton) and the stitches decidedly did NOT want to stretch around the length of cord. It was a total disaster. I ended up starting to feel cranky, so I put it away and worked on Christina's afghan. I do needle crafts because I enjoy them - as soon as I feel myself start to get angry at one I know that I need to take a break from it.

So today on my lunch break, I set off for JoAnn's. I made a beeline for the bamboo knitting needles (I much prefer these over aluminum or plastic, even though they cost a few dollars more), all excited. Instant deflation. No 16" circular needles in a size smaller than 8. Blast! That's how I wound up with the needles I currently have, I belatedly remembered. Curses. I surfed the selection of aluminum circular needles, and that was pretty paltry. Sigh. I figured that I had time to run to nearby A.C. Moore for one last ditch attempt to see if they had smaller needles.

I drove over and hurried in. Immediately, somebody got in my way. Doesn't this always happen? Or maybe it only happens to people with Type A personalities who always know exactly what they want. But a meandering person appeared in my path and somehow managed to take up the entire width of the main aisle, so I couldn't easily pass her. I didn't want to be a jerk, but I *desperately* wanted to pass her. I was in a hurry to get back to work, and I wanted at the yarn section ASAP. I had to divert into a side scrapbooking aisle to make my way over without looking obnoxious, and made a beeline for the bamboo needles. BLAST! No 16" ones in smaller sizes. I furrowed my brows and looked around. Luckily, I found that their selection of aluminum circular needles was much, much larger than JoAnn's. Somebody was standing right in front of them, so I hovered as unobtrusively as possible until she moved on. Over her shoulder as she was preparing to move I spotted 16" circular needles in a size 7. Amen!!! Once the interloper moved her cart away I found that they actually carried 16" circular needles in all sizes, down to a size 1, so I grabbed a size 6 and nearly kissed them with happiness.

I was downright thrilled as I proceeded to the register. All for less than $8. Happy day. Tomorrow, Mike and I are scheduled for a 'date night', so all around I feel resoundedly pleased.