Alternate Problems

Savvy stats-watching bloggers probably already know this: I have not been to my office yet this week. This means that the world is one week further away from knowing whether certain classes of noncommutative filtered algebras are strongly noetherian and how much simple localizations tell us about the endomorphism rings of their simple modules. The great thing about this being a continually updated narrative in serial form is that should I make progress on plumbing the depths of those mathematical mysteries, you will be among the first to know! Meanwhile some other projects have been in the works.

Remember the window that popped out of my wall? It has been banged back in and is awaiting the next steps in its rehabilitation. The interior fall-out was pretty minor -- nothing a little joint compound and paint can't fix. (The worst part? The sanding. I hate sanding.) This week I'm hoping to make some progress on reglazing the sashes. This project should be well under control by the end of June. We run a classy operation here at Learning Curves Headquarters -- so far this summer there has never been more than one boarded up window at a time (for those keeping track, this is the third one this year). Furthermore, we have never had a boarded up window at the same time that any of my gun-toting relatives have been visiting. (Yes, that is my little brother -- a very old picture of him that I found when I was cleaning out my portfolio.) And any non-driven cars are parked in the BACK yard. No plans yet to put up a clothesline.

I went to the hardware store and got a bunch of paint chips. Now a trim color has finally been selected for the guest bedroom / sewing room / auxillary closet / place where random stuff ends up. I was a little apprehensive about choosing purple for the trim in this room because I already have purple trim in the bathroom. (This photo of the bathroom window was taken the other day. As of yesterday the bathroom window looks completely normal from the inside.) I decided to go with it because I'm leaning towards a reddish purple (American Tradition "poetic purple") for this room, while the bathroom has a bluish purple. Also, purple is my favorite color! Speaking of purple, I really do need to re-purple my hair. But I want to time it in such a way to as have maximal purple just in time for a family command performance that I shall be attending next weekend.

One problem remains unsolved. Remember the 30% off sale at the yarn store last week? Right. Two sweaters and three pairs of socks are now planned. Sweaters, unlike socks (my default project), actually have to fit. So now I have to figure out what to do about modifying the pattern. The first issue is gauge, which I don't got. The pattern is written at 18 sts = 4", and the sleeves came in at 16 or 17 sts for 4". So if I want to make it the size that the designer intended, I should cast on 150 - 160 sts instead of the 170 sts that the pattern calls for. But if I'm going to be mucking with it, I might as well deal with the fact that I am more pear-shaped than the designer/model. Probably I will cast on close to 160 sts at the hip, decrease to the waist as called for, and then slow the rate of increase so as to end up with fewer sts at the bust. And I might shorten the sweater: the pattern says that it is 22.5" long, and my favorite sweater in the whole world is just shy of 20" long. Should I be anticipating a fantatic and cozy winter sweater or bracing myself for a yarn disaster? We shall see.