full of dreams, you overslept

Hi.

It's been forever.

It's pretty slow today at the Crisis Center, but whether that's a good this is unclear. Are people Not in crisis, or are they simply not calling? Either way, I'm getting a lot of knitting done during this very quiet time. I reorganized my yarn stash and found some projects that I'd forgotten about, so I think that's what I'll be doing for the first few months of 2010. I'm starting my practicum in two weeks, perhaps with no papers to write, I'll be able to be craftier than I have been since starting grad school.

Speaking of grad school- you guys, I'm almost done!! One semester of practicum and then internship, and that's it!

Hooray!

Happy Birthday Britty!! I love you!!!

I am so super stressed out about school. I'm not overwhelmed by the amount of work, and it's not that I don't want to do it. I'm kind of in a 'sitting quietly, alone' place right now anyway, so to say "no, thank you" to the activities my friends have planned for me is sort of a relief. It might be a result of the stress, but honestly, I think I might not be cut out for this. Sometimes, I read the assignments and think that I just don't know what the hell my teachers are talking about. Sentences don't make sense and the descriptions seem so vague and for whatever reason I can't articulate what makes me feel confused so when I ask my professor about it, he can't help me because he doesn't know why I'm confused.

Understanding, I'm doing it wrong.

Mostly, I just want to eat Vegetarian Mongolian Beef and knit, but who has time for all that nonsense?

It seems that my first attempt at colorwork is, technically, a bust:

The first section of color work, with the "flowers" (I got the chart from this mitten pattern and adapted it to my hat- hers looks a million times better and like actual flowers!) is tighter than the rest of the hat. Once I work on my tension, hopefully that will change, but for now the hat it like a really long and not flat beret.

I wanted to use more of the pink, so I added a second section of colorwork (also from the same mitten pattern). It turned out nicely, but it also added about an inch to the hat, which made it too long.

Technical flaws aside, I really like the hat. You can't tell from the picture, but the green is the most wonderful dark olivey gorgeous green and the pink reminds me of the crepe myrtles next to the golf course on Clairmont (only relevant to Birminghamians reading, but I'm sure you get the idea).

Hooray for trying new things! And still being excited when you (technically) don't do so well!

Edited to add:


This is to show you that it's floppy and long! Haha!

I've got too much knitting/crocheting to do before, like, next week to do all this homework and studying!

Also, I finished Amnesia Moon- it only got weirder, but I really enjoyed it. I was going to start Gun, With Occasional Music, but I'm considering not starting another book. On the hierarchy of things I need to get done, reading a book is at the very bottom, and anytime I can do something besides what I'm supposed to do, I'll always do that.

Oh! This might be a good time to make a list of things I need to do:

School work
Send out thank you notes
Clean Apartment
Finish crocheting Anna Claire's birthday present
Start making Chat's birthday present
Work on Phoebe's Big Sister present
Read books
Watch Beverly Hills 90210

Can you think of anything else I'm supposed to do?

So, back to school means less time to do things like knit and read and post to live journal, so hey guys, here I am! I've been knitting and reading like crazy since I started school (GRAD SCHOOL!! Hooray!) a few weeks ago, and I suddenly had the urge to update. What is it about being insanely busy that makes me want to stop doing all the things I'm supposed to do and start doing all the things I couldn't have cared less about (knitting not included, as I'm sure you all know I stay obsessed with knitting) during my hiatus?

Here's what I've been reading since school started:

I just finished reading I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, by Tucker Max. The jury's still out on that one- it was well written and, at times, very funny, but HOLY CRAP, you guys... this dude is HORRIBLE. I don't want to get into here, if you've read it, I'd like to talk to you about and see what you think.

Also, Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. At first, I reallllly loved it, but once I got to the climax and then the end I was not terribly impressed. I'm going to read the sequel (and there's a third, I think?), just so I can say I gave it a fair chance. It is young adult fiction, so I shouldn't be too critical.

The book that I'm happiest with (but which has left me most confused) is Amnesia Moon, by Jonathan Lethem. If I ever meet that dude, I'm pretty sure all I'll be able to say is "WTF?" Where does he find his inspiration?? That book is pretty twisted- I've only read Fortress of Solitude, Motherless Brooklyn, and You Don't Love Me Yet, and Amnesia Moon is so completely different from those three books. I started to read a collection of short stories that he wrote, The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye, and got as far as the first story- The Happy Man. It left me so upset that I put the book down and was reluctant to even touch another one of his books. I'm glad I did though, because I'm really enjoying Amnesia Moon (I'm almost done, but not quite- sadly, I have had to study just a little).

In recent knitting news:

I knitted this shawl for my wedding:

It's a terrible picture, but I had to block it quick (I had to wear it later that day!). I improvised a little around the edges, but generally, I'm pleased with it.

This is the middle of a blanket I'm knitting:

It's called the Hemlock Ring Blanket. I've recently become obsessed with lace knitting, if you haven't noticed.

And finally, here's the beginning of a shawl that I'm making for my friend Meg:

I've made much progress on it since I took this picture, but I haven't had the chance to take another picture.

That's about it... I'm going to make an effort to post here more often, but if you don't see me for a while, please feel free to find me on facebook and start a scrabulous game!!

Today was a good day.

It's so weird that it's 2008.

I had the best Holiday that I've had in probably nine years. Hooray!

I hope everyone had a fantastic day and got everything they wished for!

Kate tagged me and so I have to post six things that make me happy:

1. Last Tuesday was my twenty sixth birthday. Kate, Kadee and Joel and I went to Chez Fon Fon and had the most amazing meal of my entire life. When our waitress asked what we wanted for desert, we said, "We'll take one of everything!" And we did.

2. I'm engaged. I've had a weird marriage phobia most of my adult life, so this is a pretty big step for me. It makes me really happy that I can do this and not wake up crying and sweating and generally freaking out every morning.

3. Vegetarian Mongolian Beef from New China Town in Five Points. The "beef" isn't just smushuly tofu- I HATE smushuly tofu- it's texturized vegetable protein, fashioned to look like strips of beef but not taste like beef. I love it.

4. Knitch and Why Knot Knit- two of the most precious yarn stores I've ever seen. I visited them while we were in Atlanta for my birthday last weekend.

5. My Friends. The ones that aren't crazy and don't hate me make me incredibly happy.

6. It's cold out side!!!!! The low tonight is 31!!! How great is that?!

I'm supposed to tag someone, but I want anyone who read this to tell me six things that make them happy.

Happy Birthday brantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, quiet_flame!

May you live all the days of your life.
- Jonathan Swift

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my journal requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don't know what that gift will be yet, but you will receive it within 365 days. The only thing you have to do in return is "pay it forward" by making the same agreement on your journal.

I finished the Market Bag! Hooray! I've got this bad habit of starting a project and then starting another project without (ever) finishing the first project, so even as the bag started to drag near the end, I finished it! And now I've started on a cabled scarf called Persephone. I've finished one repeat, and it's going pretty quickly. If I can do four repeats every day, I can finish it by Saturday, and then I can start on something else!

I'm thinking about a cardigan. For me. Which is not something I've ever done before. Adventures!

I've decied that Top Chef is not a program for vegetarians. They euphemistically (and accurately, fine) call meats "proteins" so when they actually show the "protein" it freaks me out. It's not just that it's dead animals, it's that it's dead animals like Kangaroo and Geoduck (pronounced Gooey Duck, I learned, it's like a sea snail), and snakes. It seems so pointless... who eats that stuff? I sure don't.

I'm knitting like crazy- it's so great to not have homework. Currently on my needles- or rather, my hook, as this particular project is crocheted, is the Market Bag from the latest issue of Knit1. It's designed by Vickie Howell, the woman that hosts DIY's Knitty Gritty. I really can't stand her, but she has her own line of yarns, and one sort is called Love- and Mariko, you'll love this- there's a colorway called Mulder and Scully Green. She's an idiot, but I love that. It's so perfect. ANYWAY- the whole point of this story was that the bag pictured in the magazine is a green color, so I was hoping that it would be made with Mulder and Scully Green, but alas, it is not. It's still a neat bag. I'll post pictures when I'm done.

How is everyone doing? Well, I hope. Comment and tell me what books I should be reading.

It seems like all the really great things in life are mirrored by really terrible things.

I'm off to graduate!

I'm feeling really nervous, send me good thoughts.

I just took my last final as an undergraduate!!!

Hooray! HOOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

This is the best video I've ever seen.

This IS a really lovely meme, thanks Megan.