Item 1: I survived my first jury duty. (Two more to go, then my civic duty is over for a while.) It was actually very interesting. I enjoyed all the little courtesies and rituals between attorneys, judge, and jury. (It's pretty cool to have someone call "All rise!" when you walk into the courtroom. I'd thought only judges got that one.) And the case had all kinds of drama, with high-speed car chases, sideswiped police cruisers, finishing with a two-car bang-up ending. Though the drama was a little hard to maintain in the dry tones of the state troopers' testimony... In the end, we deliberated hard - just like the judge told us to - and nitpicked each charge until we were all satisfied with our decision. As a group, we were thoughtful, careful, and conscientious.
And, Norma? I made a point to notice the stenographer - actually, stenographers, since we had a different one each day.
Item 2: Since I needed a knitting project for the downtime in the jury room (and believe me, there was a lot of it. A 9am start time was actually closer to 9:25; a ten minute recess usually lasted 20 minutes.) I cast on Kathleen Taylor's Picot Hem Stranded Snowflake Hat. (Rav link)
Because of course I needed a new project... The Selbuvotter glove was too dangerous looking with all those pointy metal needles, and the thrummed mitten was too messy to try to tote around (all the jurors would have ended up covered in fuzzy fibers. Sorry sorry...) The hat was innocuous-looking enough to make it through security - they might have let the glove through, but I didn't want to take the chance of having it confiscated, leaving me knitting-less for the day.
I got a bit of knitting done, anyway. The other women on the jury lamented not bringing their knitting and crocheting...Item 3: I got my eggplant plied. (Does that sound odd to anyone else? Try reading it out loud. Maybe it's just me...) Anyway, the original plan was to spin for 10 minutes a day, but I kept getting sucked into the spinning vortex, and next thing I knew I had 300+ yards of 3ply. The best part is, it's an actual worsted weight yarn - which is the first time I've been able to achieve that weight. (My default is fingering - I think it's my innate stinginess trying to coax as many yards as possible out of a hank of fiber.) Laurie is the one to thank for it - she gave me excellent advice on tightening the take-up, and next thing I knew, I had real yarn! She's my hero!
And just in case I get any spare time...
Item 4: I bought Maplewing. And yarn. (I lusted for the red/orange of the original shawl, but knew I would never have anything to wear that color with. So I wimped out and got a neutral sort of tan. Though I may go back to the LYS and get the deep evergreen laceweight they had. Or that dark purple. But since everything I make lately seems to be green or purple, maybe I should stick with the tan just in order to break it up...) I'm trying to resist the urge to cast it on Right Now. Because I have a feeling that if I cast on one more project, my house will explode. Critical mass was reached long ago...Item 5: Still working on the second thrummed mitten. I'm starting to collect photos for a post for the pattern.
Stay tuned....
7 comments:
That shawl looks fancy! What's the yarn?
Naw, no heroism involved. Just more spinning classes recently. That yarn looks BEAUTIFUL.
I work hard to avoid jury duty. Didn't realize you were allowed knitting needles...not in MA.
Wow! You've been real busy. I'm one of those people that would at least once like to have jury duty. Never have been. Not sure where they get the names, either voter list or the DMV and I'm in both places (sigh).
Interesting to me is that this is Vermont? You had live stenos? Criiiipes. They got rid of us in the courtroom a long time ago, and use tapes, except for extra-special things like murder trials, and even then! So if you had different ones each day, they were freelancers...and I also find that interesting, because most freelancers I know HATE court and I was one of the few who would go in -- so times must be tough for the freelancers (most of whom I have sort of lost touch with) would say yes, because court is a lot less lucrative than depositions. This was state court, and not federal? I'm still scratching my head!!! Tell me more!!! (Not that I want to do it, mind you! My court days are long since over. I'll take the classroom, thank you!)
that yarn does look beautiful!
I had Jury duty and they made me take my needles back out to the car - tiny wooden 2.25 circulars - yet I could bring in a huge honkin' pencil also made of wood and very pointy! Of course I didn't even bring a book because I thought I would be knitting! Disaster :-)
Oh - and your snowflake hat is going to be so pretty!
Tucson specifically bans knitting needles and crochet hooks. Alas. Though the last time I was called, I was an alternate, so I sat all day reading a book. It was actually quite excellent.
It's funny that your default is fingering and you wish for worsted - my default is worsted and I wish for fingering!
Oh, and I really think you should go with the red/orange you lusted for. And then buy/make yourself something to wear it with. (Or heck, just wear it with jeans!)
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