Ponderings and a knitting question

[lilyofshalott]

Alexander's coming home to-day for mid-term break (I think my dad said they'd be home around five or sixish). I find it hard to believe that the fall semester is half-over already! (Also, my five-year reunion is next spring--it doesn't seem like it's been five years since I graduated from HS.) Our high school's homecoming is also tonight. I'm planning on going to the game to see if any of my high-school friends are there--surprisingly(?) I seem to have kept more in touch with friends that I *didn't* graduate with. As always, I'll be paying more attention to the band, &c. than the actual game (I'm not too fond of football . . . and I *still* don't understand why it's called "football"--the ball isn't kicked very often).

To-morrow I'll be taking the GRE. Since there isn't a test centre nearby I'll be going to Syracuse--which is about three hours away. More than a bit annoying, but we'll be stopping in Ithaca on the way back. This is good for two reasons. For one, the Ithaca Wegmans has an amazing chocolate dessert--I have no idea what the actual name of it is, but it has a consistancy between that of a cheesecake and fudge. If you've seen the movie Chocolat, the mint chocolate variety of these would be my "favourite." The second reason would be that I just found out they have a few yarn shops! Hopefully we'll have better luck finding them than when my mom and I tried finding one in NYC. (Condensed story: My mom and I went on a NYC bus trip with her work last weekend. I'd looked online a few nights before to find a LYS near where we'd be dropped off. There was only one close by so we planned on stopping by. We did find the yarn shop, but it was closed for Columbus Day weekend.)

Speaking of knitting, I have a question for any of the knitters on my flist. I think I wrote about the earflap hat I'm planning on making a few entries ago, yes? The pattern calls for 24" size 15 circulars (as well as dpns). I'm using the leftover Homespun (bulky) from my grey fuzzy scarf instead of the recommended super bulky yarn, so I'm thinking of using the 36" circular I bought to make a shawl. I thought I might be able to bypass the dpns altogether by using the Magic Loop method, for which I found instructions on www.knittinghelp.com. I practiced a bit using some of my "practice yarn" (i.e. random SuperSaver I keep for this purpose) and it didn't seem to go very well. This may have just been because I was using worsted weight yarn on size 13 needles. So now I'm pondering how I should go about making this hat. A family friend of mine told my mom that since she doesn't knit much anymore, I could take my pick of her needles--apparently she has quite a few (I'm quite excited about this). If it ends up she has size 13 dpns, I may not have a problem--I'll just knit the whole thing on dpns (and hopefully not impale myself).

And since I can . . . gratuitus poll on said subject!

[Poll #1070304]

I'll most likely be more scarce online this weekend--I've been using my parents' computer (which is in Alexander's room) as mine's still at IT, but since he's home he'll be on it most of the time (unless he goes out).

~Michelle