Home again, and the onset of pennant fever

I'm back from my conference and am trying to make sense of re-entry into this life. For example, just how much research can I do into green tomato recipes? I can't believe how many green tomatoes I have right now, and the first frost is approaching....

For the record, I had no visceral memory of ever having been in Boulder before, though in fact we were there as a family for a while in (I think) the summer of 1968. It's a place that makes my hometown of Cambridge MA look positively right wing. And so beautiful! How does anyone get their work done? I was also curious about the vast numbers of kids we saw out and about during what I think of as school hours, and the motivation for holding a big kids festival on the Pearl Street Mall from 3-6 on a weekday... in addition to the conference, we were able to sneak out for a dinner in an amazing place, and of course I dragged a friend to Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins. Although we went for me, she ended up buying something. The patterns in that book are so cute. I can't wait to see which one she tackles first. (The only kind of evangelist I'm ever likely to be is the fibery kind, and I am very good at it.) We ran into another conference attendee while there, and spread the word among like-minded literary scholars when we returned from that exciting escape.

My paper and other conference/academic responsibilities went very well indeed, and as always attending this gathering feels like renewing my very lifeblood.

However, I lost the pattern for Tudora on the plane just as I was getting to the decrease/bind-off part of the exercise, so that's not finished. Now I'm home & can print it again, though, it should be a matter of a couple of innings.

And, in another misguided attempt to modify a pattern, I had thought I could convert Jared Flood's Druid mittens into a size large (the pattern is written only in Women's small) by just casting on and proceeding with size 4 needles. I completed one entire cuff before deciding that I was on track to create women's size humongous instead. So, time to frog & then back to size 3 needles as called for in the pattern. I'm using the Dream in Color Smooshy in the Ruby River colorway that my mother bought for me at Lettuce Knit last year and they're going to be SO gorgeous .... just right for fall in New England. This is my favorite time of year, and my favorite region in which to spend it.

Okay. Must keep moving! And let's hope that Joshua Patrick Beckett is close enough to 100% tonight that we can finish off this series before anything typically Red-Soxian occurs.