And one to go

So close. So very, very close. I have one more class left to teach. One more.

This doesn't mean that I'm on break yet. Far from it. I'll still have grading galore to get done, not to mention all of the various other writings and reports that I've been avoiding all semester. (Thank goodness a multi-hour marathon got all of my letters of recommendation out the door yesterday; one less thing to worry about.) But no more classes. No more worrying about whether I'm adequately prepped. Or about whether I've got something to wear that's clean, hasn't been worn too often, and that is unlikely to brand me as hopelessly inadequate in the clothing department.

I've been knitting, although I still have very little to show for it. The one and only Christmas gift that I'm really making an honest attempt to finish in time to ship off for Christmas is moving along. I've turned the heel and am working my way down the foot. Since the socks are for my niece, the foot part of things isn't nearly as long as it might be. Now that I've knitted the leg three times, I'm hoping that I'll have everything straight for the second sock, which ought to fly off the needles. The only question remaining is the date by which something absolutely MUST be sent in order to have any hope of arriving in Ohio prior to the big day. Don't tell me, though. I'd like it to be a surprise.

I'm also working on Sprossling. I'm about three inches in and starting the shaping decreases, which is fun. The best bit is that the lace for this pattern is completely, 100%, memorizable. For me, that's a miracle. So I can knit this during meetings, even. This is a treat, since I'm looking forward to wearing this sweater, but perhaps not the best thing in terms of finishing the niecelet socks, as they were meant to be meeting knitting. This is what happens when knitting purposes collide.

It's finally getting cooler here, which means I get to break out the knit wear. By "cooler", I mean that it's in the mid-forties when I leave the house in the morning. To be fair, it's gotten a lot cooler in the inland valleys and hills, and there's even been snow in some unexpected places. Practically speaking, it means that I'm getting a lot more of this:
That would be Gwilim, impersonating a lap cat. I always know that winter has arrived when he starts jumping up into my lap of his own volition. Tilly is taking her cue from Gwilim and attempting to recreate herself as a lap cat, too. She takes up a lot more room.

And, in other very random news, I've gotten a new phone. We had to switch plans so that Rick could get under his company's data and cell phone plan (it makes sense for us all to be on the same network), so I also upgraded my phone (after three years, it seemed not entirely irresponsible, just marginally so). And all I can say is that I'm getting old. I found myself this morning at the breakfast table, poring over the instruction manual. I am clearly not of the generation that finds upgrading technology to be intuitive. At least not cell phone technology. I should probably let Older Daughter loose with it; she'd have it figured out in an hour, and could share all the ins and outs with me, but I'm afraid of the data charges she might rack up while she figures it out. The fun bit, though, is that Rick treated me to the ring tone I've been wanting every since there were ring tones to want. Now I've just got to be sure to remember to turn the ringer off in class. Heh.