Knitting Update

While my tea is seeping, I’ll show you the “11^th Hour Hat” I finished yesterday and a sample of a lace pattern I worked on this weekend.

The hat turned out so well, I plan on making up another three or four. I had to fold the brim in half and stitch it together; otherwise it is longer than the body and crown.

This was supposed to be a shawl before I realized I needed to make it wider. And use a softer yarn. However, I could not bring myself to rip it out, hence how it became a sampler type piece. I know, I know, why not use it as a washcloth? Partly because it is wool and will felt, but mostly because I like it as a sampler.

Grad. School. Rocks.

Grad. School. Rocks.

Ok, so I just had the best day of class. Can not wait until Thursday, even if it is a long day. Here is how it went:

0930—African American Lit to 1900 where she did put in a book list in June but it didn’t make it to the right person. No big. The one male in the class did not show up, which was weird. I had no problem giving my opinion, no surprise to those who know me from previous classes, on Phyllis Whitney. Thank you Prof Anderson for your many detailed lectures on Neo-Classicalism and again on early American Lit. I am already planning the semester paper.

1300—Lit Research where Prof Britt was funny, interesting, and just plain cool. Turns out we are going to learn about the different schools of criticism and how to write a paper on a higher level. Some of the critics he talked about I have heard of though Evolution Rhet Theory, but I have no clue what they think about literature. And he wants to teach us how to summarize, not analyze or give opinions, an essay or work of literature. I learned how to do that in Rhet and Cross-Culture Communication last Spring; good to know the odd classes I took as an Undergrad are going to pay off.

The other students are pretty cool. The Lit Research is full of bubbling personalities; in fact, my face still hurts from smiling and laughing before class. Oh this is going to be fun. And I get to sleep in tomorrow! Yea for me.

What a Lovely Afternoon

Comfort is sitting in a makeshift window seat reading books while a small coffeemaker is being used to make tea. I never thought I would enjoy a window seat as much as I did this afternoon. I read 2 of the 6 books for my Women in Lit class, which is not even meeting until Thursday night, while Puppy slept on the rug. It was really nice.

Tomorrow is the first day of Grad school and I simply cannot wait. Lit Research and African American Lit to 1900 sound like good classes. Though it would be nice if the latter had a book list or reading list or something to give me a heads up. After class, I have to stop at a yarn store—not to get yarn understand, but I do need some better needles in a size 4.

Yesterday I listened to 3 sermons before noon. 2 of them were delivered by a member of the church (not an elder, deacon, or preacher). First he gives a 5 minute spill at the communion table (that could have been said in under a minute if the man has ever attended a rhetoric/speech class). Then the preacher had his normal spill, which for mom’s church means 15 minutes including the PowerPoint outline and scripture. Lastly, the communion dude makes a 10 minute speech (which was a disaster rhetorically: bad use of parallels, images, repetition, etc, and he no idea how to deliver a speech). I was cringing the entire time. A day later and I still have no clue what he was trying to do. The message was the same as the preacher, that much I have grasped. Please God be merciful and keep him from speaking next week. I might have to give him one of my rhetoric books…better yet, where are my notes from all those speech classes? I’ll donate a copy to him.

My dad made it back from the beach with his family, everyone is in tact or so I’ve gathered from his blog a few minutes ago. Glad to hear that they had a good holiday last week.

Better Day

We spent nearly the whole day shopping girl style, meaning we went to 4 or 5 shops to find, try on, and compair different stuff before we bought anything. But I found two brooches for the shawls I have already made for Christmas. Yea! All that the shawls need now is to weave in the loose ends. Funny how something little, like finding the right brooch, made the day seem brighter. Forgive the quick pics:

I somehow find that my Sunday, as well as the rest of the week, is quickly filling up. I shall have to fix that soon. Maybe I will hide Wednesday afternoon; that should give me sometime to read for class. Tuesday morning cannot get here soon enough.

I See A Pattern Emerging...

So yesterday wasn’t a very good day either. I have not been feeling like my normal self since the last big migraine on 10 Aug. At lunch with Mom, I decided to visit the RPN in town who gave me a B12 shot in addition to a Sinus Cocktail. The shot area still hurts and the B12 has yet to ‘reenergize’ me. I am not sure I slept more than 3 hours last night at all.

I spent this morning driving people around, which I really don’t mind. Somehow I have managed to get just shy of 10 minutes behind the clock.

There are roughly 120 days left to Christmas and I have just about talked myself out of knitting Stepsister 1 a sweater. Heck, I do not even know if I will knit my Dad a sweater at this point. The vest has not made any progress since Wed, mainly because I have made the armhole an inch longer than the pattern says to. Joy. When he steps out tonight, the project will be measured against vest he already has to see if I can simply adjust the pattern. Anyone have a spare goat/dove/chicken I can sacrifice? This is a very noble cause.

I cannot help but wonder how I managed to get Panic at the Disco, Rob Thomas, Helmut Lotti, Garth Brooks, and The Killers on my Shuffle at the same time. Strangely, it is not such a horrible playlist…minus the drastic theme and tempo changes.

Sometime this past week, I’ve picked up the current Interweave Knits issue. I love the books the company publishes but remain undecided on the quarterly magazine. Nice patterns and articles, do not misunderstand, but it almost feels too upper townish for the area devoted to organic and folk styles.

Very Monday-ish

Thank the stars the day is nearly over.

While nothing has gone wrong today, nothing has gone right either. Like missing an exit. Yes, I knew another way to go but it was still frustrating. One of my books would not scan in the bookstore this morning; this is after it took me 10 minutes to find a parking lot where my parking tag would work. Turns out, the first little lot I pulled into was General Parking—it just looked like a church/ministry parking lot.

The mentor I’m escorting to PT is making very good progress. While she was PT-ing I worked on the vest and just when I was making real good progress…I ran out of yarn. There was a fourth of a hank earlier; I could have sworn there was.

The only thing that kept this from being a ‘Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’ was the fact I did not lock my keys in the car. I am turning in very early tonight in hopes that I have a better day tomorrow. Here’s hoping.

We have 75 channels of TV to watch now so what do we watch? PBS. Don’t get me wrong, it is much preferable to watching Barbie’s version of Swan Lake or whatever it is that the twins want to see nonstop. Though it does kinda make me feel old; especially since I actually told some kids at church to stop running in the hallways. And I stood there waiting for them to turn around to see if I was still watching them—which they did of course.

I am almost finished with the back of the Christmas knit I’m working on. My maternal grandfather still has no clue it is for him. ^_^

I have also begun to get in school mode, now that all the books I ordered are in and I will buy the remaining two or three tomorrow. Wednesday is quickly becoming a busy day for me. I’ll drive one of my mentors to PT, which should give me enough time to get some serious knitting done. That will be followed by a shopping trip to Wal-Mart for Puppy some food since the other stores do not carry a formula for senior dogs; then some other important stuff. Fun fun.

Quick Break

The wedding shower has 30 minutes left to go and already I have had 6 cups of punch. The mother of the bride handed me a camera over an hour ago and I cannot believe the party is still going on. True, most of the guest have left, however there is still clean-up to come.
Sadly, my quick break is now over.

The Weekend of Wedding Parties

So, Rina’s meet-n-greet wedding party went well today. Her future MIL and MIL’s best friend are pretty cool. First wedding of children for all families involved, so MIL is having a blast shopping and planning for it. She kinda sees Rina as a member of the family already and is genially fond of Rina. Which makes me feel great, after all, she is like a cousin to me and if she insist on living and having the wedding 4 hours away from us then she at least has a mom figure she can go to. And the groom and his friends are going to help with the heavy jobs—volunteered by MIL and Rina. I have been given the job to monitor the sales at local craft stores. As in the places that also sale yarn. It’s like asking the kid to step in the candy store every now and then to look at what’s new. This should be fun. ^_^

While one of Rina’s friends entertained the twins and the moms and Rina were talking wedding, I cleaned my sister’s room (a catch all room since she joined the Navy). I did some major overhauling and now we can see the floor and get from one end to the other. After everyone left, I helped mom clean the rest of the house for Rebecca’s wedding shower tomorrow. I have already promised to wear a skirt to this thing, shock of all shock, so I do have to show up. I am so ready for all these wedding stuffs to be done and over with.

Despite the fact my textbooks were due in from BarnesandNoble.com yesterday, they did not show up. Right now it is bouncing around from one place to another. I plan to start reading the novels tomorrow, but I would like to look at the theory book sometime soon. I did, however, get started on my grandpa’s vest for Christmas so the day was not a complete loss.

As much as I would love to chat, I was sistered by the twins who had no nap today. Preschoolers need naps daliy, if only for their older sister's sanity.

2 post in 1 day: try not to die of shock

Yesterday was pretty cool. My mentor was doing great in PT and I finished most of the train hat no. 2. Puppy and I were able to read outside before the tempter got too hot. I was able to catch up a little bit with Rina as we ran a quick errand. After church, I got some ice cream with the twins.

And here is a pic of the train hats together. I cannot wait to give them out on Sunday.

Wed night gossip

Ok someone needs to help me understand female logic, because the church gossip last night left me more than a little confused.

Rina, a girl I grew up with, is set to marry Jan 13. Wedding dress picked out, site booked, reception planned, decorations decided. All of which is cool, setting aside the thought she is getting hitched. The matron of honor recently set a date (with a guy she’s known less than a month). Guess when? Jan 6. The popular theory behind the quick engagement is that she is trying to outdo Rina. This chick is currently attending a rather expensive Christian college and plans to live near the state capital with the groom.

Interesting bit of gossip: the boy has been married once before and does not pay child-support. And Rina’s matron of honor plans on spending the rest of her life with him: since divorce is the greatest sin according to the family and will probably led to disownment. All this to outdo a rather nice, if somewhat ditsy, girl.

Well, I'm off to go take some pictures. I will show you the finished train hats after while. Finally, I am done with the train hats!

Tuesday...Better than Monday, Worse than Wed

Today was semi-productive. I took a mentor to her PT where I did some major knitting. The train hat has progressed and I am over halfway done with it. Tomorrow’s session should provide enough time to finish it.

I also ordered four of the remaining six books for classes; the remaining two must be bought at the University bookstore. African American Lit to 1900 still has no books listed which should be interesting.

Lastly, I have finally been able to think straight enough to call my paternal grandmother for my dad’s home address. The elder of my two stepsisters turned 16 last week but I was unable to buy her gift due to lack of shipping address. Thankfully, the $17 flip-flops are now on there way to her. I was not thinking straight enough to have them gift-wrapped or enclose a card. But I am known for that in the family, so she will not be completely surprised.

Back to Monday

So after the drugged feelings on Friday, the migraine hangover on Saturday, and nearly overheating yesterday; I am doing great. Despite the sinus migraine and almost overdoing it today, I truly feel better. This weekend was low, hence the lack of posts as my friend pointed out.

I am happy to say almost all of the books I order are in. Perhaps I will make my way over to the University tomorrow and purchase the remaining books. It must be done soon as classes are only a few weeks away.

Nanny’s back-to-school party for the teachers went well. Over half the teachers popped in and out and food was plenty; though I am glad this only happens once a year. There was a brief laps in the heat and we had a few fans that kept the air moving. The paper didn’t cover it, so I’ll see if they need my pictures sometime tomorrow.

Lastly, my beta fish of two years finally died. It was sad moment and I do not believe I will buy another for awhile.

2 Bad Days and 1 Good One

Well. Today was infinitely better than the last two; despite the hangover from the heavy meds the ER nurses gave me. That’s right, ER.

I worked 14 hours straight on Wednesday, after working 8 hours earlier this week prepping the stupid thing. All the stress and smoke triggered a migraine yesterday, which was then made worse by a sinus infection. When the Matriarchs of the family came into my room and saw me hurled up crying; they rushed me to the ER where it took 2 hours for the pain-relief IV to kick in. Then the nurses had me do a CAT scan. Not a fun time.

Needless to say, with Grad-school coming up and all; I took an early resignation. I don’t want to go through another day like yesterday. I can’t go through another day like that.

On the bright side of today, my KnitPick yarn came in plus two of the six books I need for classes. Yea! So after I finish the other train hat (I know, I know it’s still not done), I’ll be ready to make some Christmas knits.

Reflections on a Tuesday

I have been completely productive today. Thus far, I have managed to catch up on my emails, I also knocked out a couple of pages (placing columns, figuring out where things need to be, etc), and I spent time with the family.

Not bad for a Tuesday. What I did today will make tomorrow a lot easier and the Paper will be in bed at a decent hour. This is all theory. One that may be proven wrong tomorrow. Hopefully, this won’t be another 12+ hour Paper Day.

Now, if I could only be this productive knitting wise…

Why is Monday so long?

I wish I had that answer. All I know is it is 4:30 (feels closer to 7) and my day isn't over by a long shot.
A slew of yarns was ordered yesterday for me, can't wait for them to come in. I've heard good things about KnitPicks but this is the first time I'll be trying out their yarn. Should be fun. I know their patterns are a blast to use.

One more down

It is done.

My paternal grandmother’s Christmas present is finished. This means I have 2 down and 14 to go. All that is left is the tassel and a brooch of some sort. Here is a quick shot of the shawl/wrap.Other than this, the only thing I did all weekend was take advantage of the tax-free weekend. Now on to other things...

Today part deux

Puppy prissed around the house and yard for awhile after her new haircut; but now she is lying beside me in bed wondering why I am not giving her any attention. Why does a simple cut always take 20 lbs off her? Must be the cocker spaniel in her; I know it is not the lab.

And why does August always remind me to email everyone? Every year without fail, I lose touch with people after May or June. But come August, I’m chatting with all my friends? I think it is the whole ‘back to class’ atmosphere, and knowing that I won’t see them this term has strengthened the desire to email them.

Apparently, my stepmom is having some outpatient procedure done tomorrow morning. I would not have known about it at all if I had not called my paternal grandma this afternoon. I was sitting around the house, knitting her Christmas present when the urge to call her struck. I wonder why dad didn’t tell me about it when we talked on Tuesday.

Speaking of that grandma (after all, there are four of them now),one of my WIP (work in progress) is a wrap for her Christmass.

As of this moment, it is about halfway done if I go by how many stitches I should have. I didn’t take the time to gauge it out, so it is bigger than it should be at this point (as in, it is 5 inches shorter than it is suppose to be). However, it is a wrap so it should work anyways. I know I should be working on the other train hat. But I wanted something I did not have to count stitches on and this fit the bill. I love the way it looks.

The Paper and Other Thur Stuff

The paper is finally done. I put in about 14 hours on it in the past two days alone, and the editor and office manager were up there a good 3 hours after I left yesterday. Stress city to have the 14 page special edition done by the extended deadline. But it is done and sent so I am home trying to figure out my Christmas shopping and knitting lists.
Mom's laptop is in, so I will be helping her figure out how to use it. She now plays Spider Solitare, which is a huge step for her, but other than that, the internet and word she is lost.
I locked the keys in the car this moring. This is now the second time I've done that this summer. Luckly a family member was able to bring me a spare key and I was only 15 mintues late for work. I still felt completely stupid for doing it.
Right now, I'm waiting for Pa to bring Puppy home from the groomers. She loves getting her hair done and prisses around for a few days.

We have Wireless!

Today, my grandparents have gotten Road Runner and Pa was thoughtfull enough to have them make it wireless.
Life is definately better than it was this afternoon when the computers in the office went crazy. They didn't want us to do anything we needed. And this week is a Special Edition for the paper.
But here is a look at one of the train hats I'm making for my halfsisters' boy friends.The hat I want to make my stepbrother will have a spaceship and plantes instead of a train. But we'll see about that later.