New Magknits! Yay! And they have a plastic bag pattern! (There was one featured on an episode of Knitty Gritty once, but I couldn't get into it. This one is really cute, though. I love how the designer made it striped!) Being more eco-responsible was a New Year's resolution of mine, and so far so good--I've been using reusable bags for some of our grocery shopping (and Costco doesn't have bags, all the better), but we need to do more. We do recycle the shopping bags we do bring home, but that's not enough. (This article opened my eyes a bit.) So I think this will be my next project.

Well, actually, my very next project--which I will start this afternoon--is a steering wheel cover. Dude, it is currently 92 degrees here, which I believe is a record high. (Beating the global-warming dead horse...yes, dearie, we GET it!) And it's a dry heat (did I just say that?), unusual for this area, but that sun is hella hot and my steering wheel is like a frying pan. (Growing up, my parents had a flame red '76 Toyota Celica hatchback--actually a pretty awesome car, even if you don't like Scotchtown-mobiles--that had black vinyl seats that would literally burn your legs in the summer. I recall my parents putting down an afghan across the seat so our chubby little legs wouldn't be burned. See, full circle with the fiber arts!) And reminiscient of the plastic bag, I've tried a few steering wheel cover patterns before, but none have kept my interest. Plus I want to make mine with some leftover fun fur... So there will be some experimentation involved. So today it's fun with fun fur, then the plastic bag project (which will take a while--perhaps I can enlist Mark to help me cut bags), and much 2x2 ribbing on the Cathode in the interim.

Singing notes (nerd!): I had a great coaching yesterday. My coach wants me to learn Fricka's aria (or is it a narrative? whatevs) from Die Walkuere--stressing that I am not too young for Wagner--and she totally agreed with R.'s career advice--and even suggested people to contact. Other than the Wagner, I have a few other things I'm planning to work on, including this amazing aria from Pique Dame--in Russian, of course, not Italian! (But isn't Cossotto friggin' fabulous?!)