Squeee!

A few squee-worthy announcements:

I was accepted into the University of Maryland's MLS program.

I was accepted into Indiana University's MLS program.

I bought an iMac and it arrived this morning.  BEST reason to get out of bed EVER.  Also, I now love my FedEx man.  (When I orderd my iPod last year, neither I or my roommates were ever home when they tried to deliever it.  I had to sign for the package, which is fine, but I was not willing to presign for it and have them leave it on the floor outside of my door - anyone could have walked off with it.  To make a short story not as long as I could (ok, that sounded better in my head.), FedEx ended up giving my cell phone number to the driver, who called me and gave me a 20 minutes head's-up so I could skip out of class early.  Same guy delievered the iMac this morning, and thus, I love him.)

Oh, and details for those who like to know such things:
24" display, 2.8 GHz processor, 500gig hard drive, 2gig memory, nice graphics card.. the works.

It is pretty and shiny and I love it.  Best of all?  I shall not need Vista! Really, my hatred for Visita is irrational and at least partially unfounded, but it remains as is.  I refuse to change for those who have come to accept Vista as the latest OS for their computer.  Me?  I just bought a computer that is at least a few hundred dollars more expensive then a comparative system running on Windows.  Cause that makes sense in my mind.

Anyway.

Also, I finished a sock that I was knitting for a friend.  Because I loved the colors of the yarn so, I took the leftovers and knit a blanket square. 4", starting with one stitch and increasing one stitch every row until I have four inches, then decreasing every row.  Most boring knitting ever, and I loved every second of it.  I'm hoping I get a similar amount of yarn left over from the second sock, so I will have TWO squares.  I know, the excitement is killing me as well.

I ripped and re-started the second Rotating Rib sock.  Still no idea if I'll have enough yarn, and yes, I realise this is a reason to knit toe-up but I hate knitting toe-up and please see above, re: irrational hatred of things I should not (necessarily) hate. But, I did three fewer repeats on the leg this time around and am willing to go back and chop off three repeats from the other sock as needed.  If I don't need the yarn for the socks, maybe I can make another square.

The square making?  It is a sickness.  I know understand Ann and Kay of Mason-Dixon Knitting.

No pictures yet, for I have yet to attempt to contect my digital camera to the shiny new computer.  That, and the printer, ought to be connected, but I'm having such fun downloading my Absolutely Must Have Programs, such as AIM (well, actually, Adium) and Opera.  Next, FireFox, for I strongly feel that every computer should have three web browsers.  And now I am just happy that IE is NOT one of my options.  Take that, crappy web browser that is dead and sucks!  (Again, the hatred.  I apologize, but really people? Do you LIKE Internet Explorer or do you just not have a choice or what?  I am confused.)

I just realized that I have a number pad again!  Number pad, I love you.  You make typing addresses and such so much easier.

Oh, back to the squee-worthy stuff:

I seem to have gotten my knitting mojo back.  Apparently, all it took was that square.  I've finished more than two repeats (out of 17 that makes up one half, so really, I've done like, nothing) of Print O The Wave and it is pretty and I love it. (Does anyone else sense a theme here?)    I have, on occasion, knit the same row three times before figuring out that the mistake must be in the pattern row one down, and so tinked all the way to that row to fix the problem, oh, three or four times now, but I am content.

And apparently, I am a process knitter, for I am knitting for the sake of knitting lace that is pretty, not something that I'll ever use.  And that is ok.

Ok, back to moving things from one computer to the other and playing with my new toy.  And eventually, I suppose I ought to go to class and take a quiz.

Why I Will Never Fall Asleep before 3am for Spring 2008

(picture at the bottom for those who wish to skim.  Not that I blame you.)


This semester is going to kill me.  At the very least, it is going to kill my sleep cycle.

I only have class three days a week.  Three days in a row, even.  A three hour class on religious conversion in the Early Modern world of the Middle East on Monday.  An hour class on research methods on Tuesday, followed by a frantic dash  across campus to my car to meet a classmate and drive 1.9miles to the local YMCA for an hour and a half of rock climbing.  And a three hour class on ethnicity and class on Wednesday.

There's also a web-based class, for which I have five exams and two papers.   Oh, and attending five events held at my place of employment.  No, I see no problems with saying "sorry, can't work then.  Instead, I have to spend my paycheck on tickets for that event."  (just a tad bitter about that one, huh.)

There's also that pesky little thing called my "undergraduate honors thesis."  Which is due April 18th.  People, I HAVE NOT YET STARTED.  I have to write 40? 80? however many pages by April 18th.  Good news is, binding margins are 1.5" on the left hand side.  I shall love that half an inch, I imagine.

I think ten pages a week until spring break is TOTALLY reasonable and doable and yes?  No?  Should I just go cry in a corner now and forget all about it?

The research methods class, while also promising to be very boring and good lord, that woman talks a lot, seems like it will help me with my thesis.  The class is designed for honors students to have help with the research part of their thesis, or even deciding on their thesis topic.  Hopefully, that shall provide a nice kick in the butt to get working.

There's also the whole "applying to grad school" thing.  Because I decided to apply rather late in the game, I didn't have time to study and take the GREs.  I found four highly respected and ALA accredited programs that do NOT require GRE scores from students with a certain GPA (or higher).  Universities of Illinois, Maryland, and Wisconsin and the Indiana University.  My first pick is decidedly Illinois, and of course, that's the only one that's complete as of yet.  Of course, that's also the school with the earliest deadline and such. After that.. I don't know.  Maryland is close to TheBoy and rent, for a not-nicely-located-to-class studio apartment will be some $800 a month.

Illinois?  Three blocks from campus, hard-wood floors, fire place, dishwasher, utilities included, and I can have a cat?  $550 a month.  For a one bedroom.  That I wouldn't have to share.  And includes parking.  AND a washing machine and dryer.  That's just from scanning Craig's List, people.  Imagine what I could find if I tried!

Of course, there's that part about whole writing essays and trying to pimp yourself, at which I suck.  "Accept me because otherwise, I will live in a cardboard box.  Also, I can read."  That's pretty much what I want to write, but somehow, I don't feel the admissions committee is going to love it.

In summary:
Four day weekend = awesome
Three day week, with classes starting at 2:30pm = not getting up before noon
Thesis = the death of me
Applying to grad school = pimpage of self, at which self sucks

Time for a kitty picture?


(This is Kit, known as the World's Most Opinionated Cat.  I'm surprised her mouth was shut in this shot, because she was NOT happy with the camera in her face.  Hence the squinted eye.  And the tail, which was most decidedly twitching.)

This is not homework

Even though today's high was something in the 80s, I'm still slogging along on Blaze. I have 15 rows to go.. but with nearly 300 stitches per round, that takes a while. Maybe I can wear it to work over the summer, as I tend to freeze in air conditioning.

Soon, I'll need to pull Sizzle out and finish that. Then I can wear that one to work as well. I think after everything settles down a bit. One rough draft and a final paper for FR, one final paper for 301, one final exam for 301, one final paper for 497C, one final paper for 409Y, one book report for 176, one final exam for 176, one take home final essay for 303, and one quiz for 497C and I think I'm done for the semester. Of course, I also think I'm forgetting something.

The finished waffleweave sock:


For some reason, the sock does not lie flat. I haven't blocked it however, and it fits a foot perfectly, so I'm not too worried about it. You can also see that I've started the second sock. I'm about two pattern repeats into the 18 repeats that make up the cuff. I don't see it taking too long but I also don't see me having that much time to knit.

Bayerische is slowly coming along. See:

Because of the crossing of stitches every single round, I've had to distribute stitches in a slightly ... uneven and strange way. DO NOT LIKE. It is almost enough to make me consider two circular needles, but that will prolly never happen.

The sock is pretty there, but it totally blooms on the foot:

The color is close to true in the first picture, this one is a little washed out. It is seriously hard to get a decent picture of a sock on needles on the foot with weird numbers of stitches on each needle and NOT accidentally getting a corner of your drying rack which is currently home to some 14 bras and pairs of underwear from the last two weeks. Love the internets, but I'm not posting pictures of my underwear. (if you have other requests of things that I could also show my parents, let me know.)

I think I'm going to try to finish the waffleweave socks, then Bayerische. THEN, I can cast on a pair of socks for me.

That's part (and a small part, at that) of the windows in the Urmila's uncle's house. SO COOL.

Let's play Catch Up

Not this week, but next week, I have a paper due every day of the week. For five days of classes, that is five papers. I've avoided putting together a page count, because then I just might cry.

I started a new pair of socks, with the Austermann Step yarn, in a waffleweave pattern. I have no idea if I've blogged about these before and I'm too lazy to look it up. But here's the current state of the sock:


I've decided that I really love garter stitch short row heels. Somehow, the row gauge of garter works well with my theory of 50% of total stitches for the heel, and knit and wrap 66% of those, leaving the remaining third for the middle. I forgot to center the instep pattern with columns of purl stitches framing it, so after I knit the heel, I ended up ripping the whole heel out to center everything. I'm much happier now. (And actually, I think the foot is longer now than it was when I took that picture. In an inch or two, I should be ready to start the heel. YAY for Paradise Lost reading, which I'm currently avoiding by writing this post.) These socks are for my mother and I think she'll really like them.

I'm avoiding Blaze. I'm angry at myself for not finishing Blaze before spring arrived. (Then again, Spring HASN'T YET ARRIVED, so I'm still not late. But I don't think I'll finish in time.) Thursday night, I was knitting away on Blaze and discovered one fewer stitch than required. Well, one fewer going by the tried and true method of going around and checking to make sure there were four purl stitches between every two knit stitches. Lo and behold, I was missing a stitch. I checked and didn't discover any dropped stitches.. Ripped back a few rounds and didn't magically get the correct number of stitches. I don't know what happened, but since there aren't any dropped stitches, I really don't care. I just picked up an extra stitch in pattern and kept knitting.

Of course, I ended up ripping out about an inch worth of progress. In one three hour long class, I tend to only mange 5-6 rows of knitting and I tend not to raise my hand but just blurt things out. GAH!! I could have avoiding ripping, just added a stitch and kept on going.

While I had the thing on multiple needles, though, I did take the time to try it on. It fits! YAY! I really do need another 3-5 inches though, or the thing will become an off-the-shoulder- sweater and I just can't pull that look off.

Last night, the Boy and I were watching Firefly and I wasn't knitting, per usual. He asked why not and I replied that I just didn't really feel like it. He became convinced that I was about to fall over and die. Annoyance with Blaze, not being able to look at charts and knit Bayerische while watching TV, and not wanting to hurry my reading sock knitting along left me with nothing to work on. Also, my pinkies hurt from the double reins of Timmy's bridle and knitting really doesn't help the pain.

Now that I've wasted a good two hours, I'm going to go read ... something and try not to fall asleep. This week is going to be hellish and next week is going to be even worse.

Procrastination, how I love thee

I'm currently at the top of page 4 of a 5 page paper. So I need to come up with another 1.5 pages or so. Clearly it is time for a blog posting.

I spent very little time knitting this weekend, as I'm working next weekend and needed to get ahead to be able to finish everything on time. However, two three-hour-long classes really adds to the knitting time. Reading Milton's Paradise Lost also really helps.

I've been knitting Bayerische during Hist 409Y:

Six inch DPN included for scale

A close up of the pattern:

the actual color is somewhere between the two. For some reason,
this color is very hard to capture with my camera in artificial light.

And Blaze during Eng 497C and watching movies for Fr 497B:


That's actually the third attempt at Blaze. I didn't like how the pattern incorporated the increased stitches - purled until all were added, then a new zig-zag just started up - so I started those stitches in pattern a little early. Given that this will be the bottom of the sleeve, I don't think it will make much of a difference, but I like it. I'm really hoping the sleeves won't take too long, but I'm not holding my breath.



And when I remember, I've been working on the second PawPrint sock while reading Milton at my desk. So far, not too bad. I've finished the toe and have just started the majority of the foot portion, pattern included.



Other than the fact that I could be found at 10pm both Friday and Saturday still doing homework, the weekend was good. I managed to get a decent amount of work done, minus this paper that I have no desire to actually work on, minus the fact that I could then go to bed.

It's the fever talking

Well, I'm alive.  I still have yet to decide how I feel about that, but I am alive.

For some odd reason, I no longer get a stuffy nose or a runny nose when I get a cold.  Rather, I get post-nasal drip, a nasty sore throat, and pressure in my ears.  The sore throat gets worse when the coughing sets in, but then it tends to only be a few more days before I can swallow again.  There's no more tea left in the apartment, so I've been drinking hot water.  Yeah, I know.

To top it all off, I have to read a two page paper outloud in class tomorrow.  I can't stand the professor, so I would rather NOT have to explain in the beginning of class that I can't talk.  Also, the guy is going deaf, which does not help matters.

I've been knitting in one class - it is three hours long and discussion based, so he shouldn't be able to yell at me for it.  Or maybe he doesn't notice.  Who cares?

I tried Blaze on the other day, it DOES fit.  YAY!  I think I have about 6" done, only another foot or so to go.  I ought to measure the length of some of my favorite sweaters and figure out how long I want this one to be.

Ok, I can't seem to maintain brain function often enough to write a real post.  And Blogger hates pictures this evening, so no pictures for you.  Maybe, however, there will be pictures after the weekend, when I sit down and take pictures of everything that has changed since the last time I took pictures.

Last week? Not so good for the knitting.

I did, however, rip-out the sewn cast off of the paw print sock, knit another half inch or so of ribbing and then try a cast-off I saw on Wendy's blog. I like it MUCH better now. I'd take a picture, but really - it looks almost the same. Just better.

So now I can start the second sock. I'm trying to decide if I want to attempt to make the socks match or just go with it. I think I'll end up matching them. I couldn't bring myself to start the second one when I didn't like the first one.

I also got the second skein of yarn for my sister's scarf, so hopefully I'll be able to knock that thing out in a week or two, just to make myself feel better about the number of things on needles right now.

Blaze is moving along... It would make a semi decent tube top right about now, but not so sure about how much I like the idea of a cabled tube top. Or a tube top in general, so I'll just keep knitting. For the most part, I've memorized the pattern. I just have to stop and figure out if I'm knitting/purling each stitch or crossing them on each round. I've just joined the third ball of yarn, too.

Last week, I somehow forgot to cable and/or cabled when I shouldn't have and had to tink back 4-5 rows to find and fix the mistake. That actually took more time than knitting would have, which was rather annoying. But ah, well. At least it is correct now.

Other than that, working for the first time this weekend - stage crew for the Vagina Monologues. I love the show, but not sure how being present for 3 performances is going to pan out. At the very least, I'll be paid.

Other than that, feeling rather ... off. Somewhat feel like I'm forgetting to do something or am behind or something. Things with friends are weird, things in general feel weird. Not bad, just .. different. And I'm not sure I like it.

Catch Up

$458 and 30 books later, I need a larger bookshelf. 30 books for a 15 week semester means about two books per week. That'd be do-able, but ... at least half of the books are over two hundred pages and two of them are 800+ page books. This is gonna be a fun semester! Some of the books actually look really good, like Special Topics in Calamity Physics (which, don't worry, is just a novel) and Toni Morrison's Paradise. I'm also looking forward to Beware of God: Stories and The Plot Against America. I think part of the reason I'm so excited is that I get to read some contemporary texts this semester. YAY!

I dragged the Branching Out scarf back out and have tacked on another 3 or 4 repeats. The pattern has either gotten easier or I'm a better knitter, since the pattern is easier than I remember. I'm no longer getting lost if I put it down mid-row (I know, I know. But when the phone rings and you only have til a certain point in the song your phone is playing, you do things like put down your knitting mid-row). I'm hoping to finish the thing by the end of February at the latest. And then! I get to discover the Magic that is blocking lace.

Here's the current status of the Bayerische socks:

The color is actually pretty close in that picture. And I am still loving the pattern, just working on a few other projects in my attempt to finish projects that have been on the needles in a while.

Blaze, as a result, has been left like this:

Soft! Fuzzy! Yummy! As soon as I see Julie, I'll have size 6 circs to start the body and to enjoy this pattern even more.

And this is my sister's scarf, in a lovely mess of colors that she, thankfully, loves. Basketweave pattern, of knit 3, purl 3 across for four rows. She's happy with it and it really is going quickly. It is just kinda boring and I don't really like the larger size yarn and needles.
And I've turned the heel in my first toe-up sock, so I just have the cuff to go. I'm thinking it will be a 6" cuff, so those will be for a while. Pictures when I get around to it.

bits and orts

I want to knit these socks.  I'm not very good at reading charts, so that might prove interesting. But they are beautiful socks.  

Problem is that I owe a pair of socks to Tina, a pair of socks to my sister, and a pair of socks to my mother.  Tina's socks are about 3/4 of the way done and I've already knit my mother a pair.  So I guess I ought to make my sister a pair.  And she also loves the pattern.  I suppose that I can knit them for her first, learn the pattern, and knit myself a better pair.  That works for me.

This is our Christmas Tree Topper.  Somehow, it was deemed
fitting that he should have something up his behind.
That ought to give you some idea of our sense of humor

So, for break, I have lined up : Kool-Aid dying.  I've got some 400+ yards of fingering superwash yarn from KnitPicks to be dyed.  

I'll FINALLY get to start Blaze, with the super yummy alpaca that I pet before going to bed every night.  Luckily, the boyfriend doesn't even notice when I knit in public anymore, so he's gotten very good at ignoring all the yarn sitting around my room.  And my actions towards it.

And then, I'll start the Bayerische sock.  I'm thrilled to find a sock pattern with a gauge of 9sts/inch since that's my typical gauge with Opal and that's the yarn my sister picked out for her socks.

When I was little, I used to build forts under this bush.
The best part was that my parents could never see me.

So, you want to hate me?  I'm almost completely finished my Christmas shopping.  I need to run down-town and pick up a poster for a friend, but I know that the store has it.  For the Urm-dawg, I'm going to donate money to a charity in her name.  I just need to figure out which charity would best suit her.  Doctors Without Borders would let me help out the Yarn Harlot, but maybe I'll just end up donating a bit to them anyway.  I need to get the Boy one more gift, but that might be done through iTunes, so no big deal there.  And of course, I need to wrap those that I've already purchased, but that won't take long.

Clearly, I am a throne for the cat.  This is a scan of a print
my sister took, when I fell asleep reading one evening.

Yesterday, I stayed on campus until 9:30pm, working in various computer labs.  I managed to get quite a bit of work done - I only have two papers and a final exam left.  So, I've calmed down a bit and am rewarding myself for managing to hand in two finals today.  I managed to get about 3 pages of the 5 page paper done, so if I can finish that tonight, I have tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday to churn out 20 pages.  Totally do-able.

Right?

I finished Tina's sock last night! I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, but am not sure it will be long enough for her feet. She'll have to try it on at Thanksgiving. If it needs to be a bit longer, then maybe the stripes will look better on the toe. As it is, they seem a bit funky.

I also completely ripped out Ryan's hat. The fabric was too stiff and tight and also, not quit making gauge. I figure it is a hat, I can MAKE the charts and stuff work out to fit his head. Plus, it didn't take me all that long to knit what I had. And since I finished Tina's socks, I have my set of size 2 DPNs to work with, rather than my size 1s. And I don't want to start Tina's other sock til I know the first one actually fits.

I've got a new plan in mind. I want to knit at least 7 rows/rounds on all projects on needles a week. For Ryan's hat, I want to finish at least one chart a week (and some of those charts have 15-16 rows). That way, I might actually finish things in a decent amount of time.

And also, not stress about them.

I've got enough stress going on, what with an 8-10 research/analytical paper for my Chaucer class due in, oh a week and a half. And I haven't started it yet. That's not the worst part - I haven't picked my topic yet and I've got to clear that with my professor before I hand in the paper. He did change the due date, a bit. If you don't have a final paper ready for the 16th, you can hand in an annotated bibliography and turn the paper in the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. But I also have an 5 page paper due the Wednesday before Thanksgiving due for my honors class. I'm worried about that one and yet, not. She gave us a huge speech about how no one is going to get into grad school or law school cause our papers all SUCKED. And then she handed them back out to panicking students. I managed an A-, but I'm now worried about the improvements I need to make on the next paper. Any one have any ideas for a paper topic for Austen's Emma?

Other than that, an exam next week, a trip to Harrisburg, other such fun and excitement.

I think the world's trying to make up for the last month or so. I only think, however, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

First off, I did well on all papers/exams that I was either sure I had failed or too sick to remember how the test went to know if I had failed or not. (Does that sentence make sense? I took the test and was too sick to remember anything after I handed it in, so I couldn't tell you if I was able to answer all the questions or not.)

Second of all, I have a riding lesson on Thursday. I'm a tad nervous about this, but all excited, since I drove out to the barn today and took a quick look around. They have a nice indoor and outdoor, the guy in charge seemed really nice, and there was a super-cute little boy, bout 5-6 years old, getting ready to get on his pony. And also, they have foals every year. BABY HORSES. Riding always manages to keep my head together and it will be good to ride, hopefully to do a lot of jumping over the winter.

Third of all, I started Ryan's hat. He's afraid it is going to look "too girly" what with the slightly-pale yellow. Personally, I doubt that, but he better change his mind before I finish cause I think this thing is gonna take me a while. Size 1 needles? That's a lot of stitches, folks. And I need to come up with a new pattern and chart it, since he doesn't ski. I'll prolly figure that one out when I get to it.


See, Tina's sock: I may or may not finish both of these by Christmas, just as she may or may not finish my quilt by Christmas.


Proof that my camera rocks:

I was some 30 rows up in the stands and holding my camera above my head. And still, I got shots like the above. AWESOME.

Russian roulette

Ugh.

The internet, it does not like me. Or my roommates. I'm not sure what we've done to anger the internet god(s), but something needs to give. So far, I've talked to tech support for the modem, return the old modem and picked up a new one, talked to India via Linksys and attempted to set up the router, and reset the router about 7 million times.

Reseting the router works for about 20 minutes or so. The worse part is that I HAVE a connection, I just can't DO anything with it. Grr. Angry. And also, sore. I have a bad habit of punching myself to get anger out. (Hey, it means I'll get my security deposit back later. And less likely to break a bone or something.)

So, I have about 15 minutes to type up this entry before I have to take a shower and run over to TheUrmily's for Studio 60. And then home and to bed and ignoring the internet, cause it doesn't want to play nice.

(I've spent way too much time dealing with this problem.)

So... Tina visited yesterday. At which point, I discovered that her feet are a LOT bigger than mine. To the point that the sock I was knitting for her? It didn't fit. So I frogged the whole thing and have decided to try knitting it toe-up. Not sure how that's gonna work, cause I might have increased too many stitches to make sure that the new sock fits. Went from 88 stitches to 92 and it seems a little... big. I guess we'll see. Worst come to worst, I can tink a bit of the short-row toe and make it fit, I think. We'll see. Experimental knitting, such fun!

I finished the first of the Lorna's Laces sock. Need to take pictures, but don't want to waste the time I have with an internet connection. Later, I promise. It fits nicely, though it might be a little short at the ankle... I'm thinking about picking up and knitting a few more rounds of ribbing at the ankle, to see if that helps the problem. Other than that, love it.

And Sizzle is still neglected... Poor Sizzle. I promise I'll do something with you soon. Before I start another project. Maybe. We'll see.

So, 21st birthday is tomorrow. I plan on watching the season premiere of Gilmore Girls and doing homework and going to be early. I live such an exciting life.

Clearly, I blog when I am avoiding going to bed as well.

Clearly, I am not always completely right in the head. I blame large amounts of Victorian Lit.

So, socks for Tina:


They are coming along, slowly but surely.

This side of the heel turned out very nicely, matched the stripes up and all. (And I did that by accident. There's no way I could have planned that, minus counting how many stitches each stripe tends to take place over, figuring how much yarn is used in a wrap and turn and then calculating how many stitches I could knit with each color to make the stripes run. But that, my friend, would take WAY too much work and effort and math.

That's a rather difficult section of sock to photograph clearly - the sock did not want to lay flat. I think I messed up the proportions of a short row heel, so yeah. Is there a formula for that? I'm sure there is.

And then... this side, not so much with the matchy-matchy. Personally, I'm at the point where I don't care. And also, they will be on her feet. In shoes. And if people are staring at her heels THAT closely, maybe they have other issues? Like a foot fetish?


And the Lorna's Laces:

Procrastination, how I love (and hate) thee

Apparently, I suck at up-dating at a regular basis. I feel that this is a result of my need to include pictures with my posts. The fact that I have an awesome digital camera, am a founding member and secretary of the Photo Club, and clearly LIKE photography seems to have no impact on the whole dragging camera out, finding the item I want to photograph, arranging the item in some sort of not-so-boring manner, taking the picture, uploading the picture (which requires disconnecting either my wireless mouse or my printer [and which I will forget to plug back in and then spend 10 minutes cursing as I try to figure out what is wrong with my mouse and/or printer]), editing the picture, and loading it to Blogger.com.

That is, unless, I am putting something off. Currently, I'm putting off calling my parents (it is Sunday, I call on Sunday. Otherwise, my mother will call to tell me that my cat wants to go outside. Again. After coming in 5 minutes ago. While that all might be true, THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO. Nothing. But she will call and tell me that. Or that my sister stained her placemat again.)

Where was I? Oh, and homework. I have an article to read on Lithic Stone Tools and Stone Tool Technology. After reading the article, I must write up an abstract and some sort of notebook entry on the article.

Clearly, blogging comes first.

And sadly, pictures are NOT forth coming in this entry, unless you want to see close-ups of weeds in my yard. (They are pretty weeds, though.) If you so desire, leave a comment and I will share.

I've finished the major work of Sizzle. Finished on ... Thursday? Wednesday? Don't quite remember. But back and front have been knitted. Then the shoulder seams were grafted, the side seams mattress stitched. I just need to neaten out the edge of the neckline and do that part of the finishing. But. YAY! It fits! It is pretty! I can wear my very first major-knitting project. (Good thing, with the amount of money I spent on it. A pair of socks that doesn't work out... well, that's not so bad. And you could re-knit without killing yourself. Multiple times.)

I've finally, finally finished the heel of Tina's socks (the purple with white/black checkered strips). I knit that heel three times and I messed up on the short rows the third time. I'm trying to decide if I want to rip and reknit. Again. The only reason you can tell is cause the stripes didn't quite line up as they should.... I think it makes the sock more special. I also don't wanna deal with the heel anymore.

I've start swatching with the Lorena's Laces that I won a long, long time ago from Moth Heaven. I think it is finally time to knit a pair of socks for myself. This makes me happy.

Pictures next time, I promise. And is there anything you want me to photograph? I will consider requests.

Dubber Ruckys Galore

A few years ago, I decided I need a rubber duck.

A kind friend gave me one for my birthday, as a joke. My sister found out about it, and my excitement upon receiving said duck, and this is the result:

Bubbles shower curtain and rubber duck bathmat.


A close up of the bathmat.


The trashcan, too, is ducky.


A sticky-like thing that clings to the shower and the bathroom walls. I was told today that the ducks just keep multiplying.


The light-switch plate cover that my aunt gave me for Christmas.

Realize, I bought only the shower curtain - and that does not have actual ducks on it. My sister (or aunt) gifted me the rest. She didn't hear me when I said I don't really like ducks that much.

Least it made decorating the bathroom cheap...

sunshine

I've made some serious progress on Sizzle. Back on ... August 2nd, I had this: Today, September 1st, I have this: A completed back of Sizzle, plus the start of the front of Sizzle, that little bit at the bottom on the needles. Color is pretty close, though I think it might be a little less blue and a little more grey. The yarn is actually that shiny, though. I'm totally loving it. This is what I'm totally looking forward to: Penn State Football. Kickoff tomorrow is 3:30pm, against Akron. We should win. In fact, I'd be scared if we lost. But, new quarterback, lots of new players on the field. Will be interesting to see how the team has learned to work together. My body also wants to kill me. Going from physical labor all day, every day to sitting on the couch, sleeping in, taking naps, etc., is killing me. I'm getting headaches from ponytails, since I've worn my hair down every day. My knees hurt, my back hurts.. I hurt. I think I need to drag my butt up to the gym tomorrow or maybe today. We sent Ryan, one of my roommates, to the grocery store. So far, he's about half-way done his list and has called me three times to ask about what he should get, how much, if we have this, if we have that. He cracks me up. Wonder what he'd do without a cell phone? Or if I didn't answer mine? TheUrmily should be up here in just under two hours, so I prolly have time to get a hair cut, should I so choose, a shower, and maybe even read a little bit. This free time thing is weird. Weird, I say!

A short reappearance, only

For some odd reason, Blogger.com wasn't loading for me for the last week or so. I could read blogs hosted by blogger, just not up-date my own. Once I got the new Ethernet adapter, random pages stopped loading. Other pages randomly lost pictures- they would load, I would scroll to the bottom of the page, and they would have disappeared when I scrolled back up. Very strange.

Lots of sock process. Not last Wednesday, but the one before, I cast on again- with a bigger needle size and two more pattern repeats. That Saturday night, I turned the heel. I didn't knit as much as I had wanted to during finals week, but I have evenings for knitting now. Well, knitting and reading.



That was taken on.. the 2nd. What day of the week was the second? The sock is now about 5" long, all said and done. Hopefully, I'll finish that this coming week and start on the mate. I'm not taking any other sock yarn in hopes that that .. mental trick will work. Can only knit what one has.

I've finished 13 pattern repeats with the lace scarf, so I'm about half-way done that. Supposed to do 27 pattern repeats, but I have this weird ... thing with odd numbers. Plus, I think the scarf looks better when folded in half with an even number of repeats. But again, that could be the weird ... thing with odd numbers.

I'm heading to the beach tomorrow- the Outer Banks, actually. Spent a good 20 minutes tonight, going over maps and stuff, figuring out my directions. Should be an 8 hour drive, what fun! But I plan on leaving at 8am, so I'll still have the evening there.

I've been attempting to unpack from school, reorganize, pack for beach and pack for apartment, without losing my mind. So far, I gave up on the packing for apartment and getting everything neat and organized and out of the way. Many things need to happen, like taking the queen size down comforter off my twin bed at home (my bed is really high. Think mid-thigh to hip level.), replacing it with the twin size comforter from school, and taking the queen size to the apartment. I need to sort through clothing, figure out what I'm going to do as far as clothing storage- closet in the bedroom over there is TINY, with one self. And the room contains only a bed. (but said bed is comfy. And large. But very low- that's gonna be weird.)

several arrows later

My computer is officially broken. No longer does it recognize that the cable is plugged and thus, no longer do I get online. Somehow, I see this being a good thing. No more wasting hours and hours on knitting blogs. And Freecell can only hold me for so long.

Completely frogged the Sixth Sense Socks. My roommate, who is not quite 5'1'', has tiny feet and she couldn't get the sock past the ball of her feet. Should have thought to check sooner, but denial is a powerful thing? I think I'll add two pattern repeats and work with the size 2 needles. That should give me a decent chance of finding SOMEONE the socks fit.

I've been looking for a pattern for the Opal yarn. Self-patterning yarn, so I want to use a fairly basic pattern. I've discovered that I like short-row heels and toes much much more than heel flaps and gussets and pointy decreased toes. (Never mind the fact that I have the hardest time figuring out how many stitches to knit each row and can't see if a stitch has been wrapped or not. Go figure.) I think I want a toe up pattern, cause I haven't tried that yet. I'm figuring to get a good bit of knitting done during finals week, since I'll write the paper due at the end of next week some time this week.

Saw Matt Pond PA tonight. As always, he (and the rest of the band) rocked. I love the cello. Love, love, love. Really shouldn't be too surprising, since I love Yo Yo Ma as well.

Went to see a production of Much Ado About Nothing on Monday night. Or rather, went to see the first dress rehearsal of a production of Much Ado About Nothing. The Roommate and I were two of about ... 8 people sitting in the theater (which prolly seats about 60 people, max) and that included the director, stage manager, and costume guy. It was very well done though and I managed to swatch more Opal yarn. Since getting about 10 sts per inch with size 2. I'm wondering if I should go for the whole 4" swatch, rather than the 2-3" I've been doing. That involves a whole lot of casting on though and I don't want to wait.

Since I'm in the computer lab, I have no pictures. I should see if taking my laptop to the end of the hall lets me pick up the wireless connection from the building next door. I doubt it, since I'm sure PSU has managed to end the range about 2 feet from the sides of the building.

I have NO talent for witting titles. Or interesting titles.

I'm currently having serious issues with my internet connection. A 'local area cable has been unplugged' on a VERY regular basis and doesn't like to be plugged back in. I've fiddled with it quite a bit and I think it is a hardware issue, which means I need to replace my network card. That won't be happening any time soon so I think my computer will continue to vex me. (I swear it knows when I want to talk to someone on AIM or go to a website, since I almost always lose a connection then. Evil, evil thing that must last at least two more years.)

And so concludes the lengthly explanation for the lack of any updates.

I was on repeat 7 on the lace scarf when I realized I had made a mistake some 4 rows back. I'm now working on the 5th repeat again. I think I've learned why people hate knitting lace. If you screw up and have to frog, you had better hope that you thought to put lifelines in. I had been carrying one lifeline every pattern repeat, but my mistake was below that. Luckily, one row only has 25 stitches, compared to the other's with 31. It looks much better now, if a bit shorter.




I've started the Sixth Sense Socks. I'm loving the yarn, Sockotta, even though it is 45% cotton. I normally hate knitting cotton cause it doesn't have that much stretch to it. I'm also loving my new bamboo dpns. Almost enough to go buy another set. Almost. Then I could cast on my Opal sock yarn, which arrived over the weekend. But I think I should finish these before finals. I'm afraid they might be too small for me, so I need to find someone with smaller feet who will actually wear them.


I think I'm going to set up my textbook to knit and read. Luckily for me, I've already read tomorrow's assignment so close attention to detail will be towards the sock, not The Rape of the Lock. YAY for yarn and needle goodness. And yay for homework that allows me to knit and read. The paper I have yet to write will piss me off cause it will cut into good knitting time.

I handed in my Honors College application today. I watched the Honors Advisor sign it, so I have a fairly decent chance of getting in. He has mentioned oh.. 4 times that every student he nominates gets into the college. But, it is out of my hands and has two recommendation letters to go with it.

Hopefully, I will also be getting paperwork for concurrent majors signed tomorrow. YAY for insanity!

In other news, the second sock is zooming right along. I'd show more pictures, but I am lazy and that requires finding the camera cord, unplugging the printer, plugging in the camera, and remembering to plug the printer back in when done, so that I don't think that the printer has broken again when I attempt to print something. (Yes, it happens on a regular basis. No, I do not learn.)

I bought some yummy wool/silk blend to attempt lace with. I found a pattern on www.knitty.com that I just love and I want to attempt lace. And since I'm going to have a good bit of yarn left over from the socks, I'm wondering if you can felt lace. Anyone know?

And since I like pictures, I'll leave you with a few shots from my trip to NYC last month. MOMA, Phantom of the Opera, and a random shot.

seriously, what is there NOT to like? And besides, it can
totally be my theme picture for days like today.

Dali! I lurve Dali. Anyone who can paint a skull out of nude female
bodies and have it both awesomely cool and very weird is cool in my book.

Ah, the national debt clock. Only in America?