Category: Knittastic!

I’m so tired. Even with 7-8 hours of sleep per night, I am dragging. I am so happy that we are done with our Chemistry lectures. I don’t have any classes on Wednesday, or next Monday. Yeah! We are in the final stretch now, and there is still so much to do. I will be scarce over the next week, and here is why:

– Tonight: Finish last roll of film; gather images for birds & bees project; prepare slides for birds & bees project; finally write paper on historical photographer.
– Tomorrow: Photography class – develop final roll of film, print final 3 prints to turn in for grades. Biology – present project on the birds and the bees to class. Well, actually going over the reproductive cycles of vertebrates.
– Wednesday: NO CLASSES! w00t! Study for Biology lab practical & unit 4 test.
– Thursday: Last day in the darkroom for photography; turn in portfolio. Biology – lab practical over vertebrates followed by unit 4 exam.
– Friday: MOM’s group, start to study for finals.
– Saturday – Monday: study, study, study.
– Tuesday – Biology final, 2pm.
– Wednesday – Chemistry final, 11am.
– Thursday – Photography final, 1pm. (Taking on alternate day so it isn’t the morning of the Biology final. Could take on 5/4/06, but want more darkroom time.)
– Friday – Margarita time! (Just kidding. I’ll be too tired after all that to lift a margarita.)

I finished my second sock (pictured below) this weekend, and started a new sock. I don’t think it is going to be big enough though, so I’m going to frog it and start over. I’m using size 000 needles with Trekking XXL yarn, 60 stitch sock pattern, and it seems to pull just a little too much. I think a 64 stitch pattern would be a better option. I have recently done a lot of socks in Trekking XXL though, so I might put it back in the stash and knit up my Cherry Tree Hill in Spanish Moss instead. I need a change of pace. I also worked on the Lady Eleanor shawl yesterday, finishing two and a half tiers of knitting. I love how it is turning out, but I’m afraid that by making it 8 blocks across a tier instead of 7, it is going to be too wide. I need to decide soon, because if I’m going to frog it I want to frog it now before I go any further!

My strange dreams have been back lately. Last Friday, I had a dream that I was going to knit the Koigu blanket that Wendy had on her site recently, and while Twisted Yarns still couldn’t carry full skeins of Koigu (they are mean and will only let one shop in the area carry it, even though they are something like 30 miles apart), they were allowed to carry small mini skeins of Koigu, so they had the yarn for the blanket and I was buying it all up.

Does that mean that I really need a Koigu fix now that “Use What You Have Month” is over?

Isn’t it lovely? This is my lovely new Vesper Sock Yarn! I looooooove it! She calls it Neopolitan, but come on … that is Big Pink Cookie sock yarn! I couldn’t resist the BPC sock yarn!

I survived today. I just told myself right before the presentation that if I can do a podcast that an amazing number of people listen to (seriously. Freaks me out when I think about it, that big. Not as big as Cast-On, but big.) then I can handle talking in front of 10-15 people. I realized later on why I was so worried about it – every time we have gotten together with our project mentor, we have gotten a lot of “no, no, that is wrong” responses from her. She asked for an abstract to submit – ok, I’ve done abstracts. Several times. Write one, Mike checks it for me – I figure he has seen even more abstracts then I have – and I turn it in. Nope, it is wrong. She basically wanted, “We will first be giving a basic introduction to X-Ray Crystallography. We will then go over how we solved a structure.”

That? Not an abstract to me. Whatever, she is the boss. That isn’t exactly what we turned in for it, but close enough. I think it is missing a sentence, but my brain doesn’t have enough room left for the cheesiness of it.

Then we went over our outline. Once I made edits that were exactly what she said to say and that was still wrong! Bah. You know, I can feel myself tensing up just thinking about it – no wonder I have been so stressed out all week! In the end, she said it was good, she cheered us on today, said we did well. All the things she should have said. It would have helped if she had just said them earlier. I was thrilled when my Chem. I teacher (who was one of the judges) told me afterwards that I had done very well, seemed very composed, and that our slides were very nice. Yeah!

Oh, did I mention that my partner for the project ended up getting super sick Wednesday night, was up all night because of it, and wasn’t there yesterday to practice so we could iron out the kinks before the day of the presentation? Yeah. Fabulous. His whole family was hit by a stomach bug. I’m just glad he wasn’t sick today. He offered to come up to campus yesterday afternoon, and I told him no. First and foremost, he needed his rest. Second, I *really* did not want to risk getting sick myself. Keep the cooties at home when you are sick, people! Don’t share the cootie love. The rest of us do NOT want your germs! So yeah, the fact that he was sick didn’t add to the stress at all.

After the presentation was said and done, I went over to meet with the woman that wanted to buy my two Paris prints. I SOLD MY FIRST PICTURES TODAY!!! I can’t even begin to tell you how happy that makes me. She bought them for $30 each. I had to remind myself not to apologize for the price – a very bad habit of mine – but instead to take pride in my work and believe in them. I wish I could put the feeling I had when she handed me the money into words, but I can’t. I’ll just say that it was good.

When I left campus, I headed over to Twisted Yarns for an hour or so to join the Friday “Sit & Knit” group. It isn’t a formal event, but there is a group that gathers there every Friday to knit. Since the shop is on my way home if I take the back roads, I decided to stop. I was lucky and got the “squishy” chair, and I felt like I was just melting into that thing. All of the stress from this week was melting away. Literally. At least 3 different times when I turned my head, my neck popped. I hold way too much tension in my neck, since I clench my teeth without realizing it when the stress builds. By the time I got home, I was drained. Exhausted. I haven’t slept enough this week, and I am on the edge of getting sick. I can tell. I couldn’t keep my eyes open, I was so tired. I ended up laying down – because sleeping upright isn’t good for my neck either – and I took a lovely 3 hour nap.

I still feel tired and drained, but better. I’m going to bed soon, so I can be up fresh and early in the morning to record my (once again belated) podcast! I have been looking forward to doing that all week. When that is over, I get to study for the next round of tests. 12 more days left. I can make it.

Oh, and the Big Pink Cookie sock yarn? Soooooooft. Very nice. I can’t wait to knit with it! Want to see what it will look like? How cute are those? Love them!

No, no, not those kinds of “New Kids on the Block” – new podcasters! I just listened to the first episode of Knitty D and the City this morning, and I *loved* it. Wendy of Knit and the City and Christina of Knitty D are the hosts of this new show, which just went live yesterday. Now, as a warning, Wendy had told me ahead of time that she didn’t like how the mic picked up the recording, and they are working on it. Also, keep your finger on the volume button, because the first music clip that they play in the show came through my car stereo really loud. But hey, if that is the worst that you can say about a first show, then it is pretty fabulous!

Seriously, as I said in their comments, listening to the show made me wish I could call them right away and talk to them about what they were talking about. When that happens, you know it is good. They made my drive to school this morning pretty great – and if you recall from that “to do list” I am pretty stressed right now. So anything that makes me laugh and smile is a very good thing. Heck, if Loop had been open in Philly at 9am their time, I would have called Grace and talked to her again! (I talked to her in the beginning of April – details coming on the next podcast that I’ll record tonight or tomorrow night!)

Now I really wish I could hop on a plane and go back to Philly to see the most fabulous knitters outside of Houston! Wow… Mac, Sarah, K., Wendy, Knitty D., Grace, plus visiting Loop again and Rosie’s Yarn Cellar for Koigu? And getting some lemon sorbet? How kick ass would that be?

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out their show. It is fantastic!

On a completely random separate note – I had someone ask to buy my prints today! A member of the school staff sent a message to me through my Photography instructor; she wants to buy two of the color photos of Paris that I had printed for the student art competition at school. I was so surprised! Now here is the big question again … how much should I charge? I was considering $50 per print, but in some ways that sounds too low, and in other ways it sounds too high! Ugh. I just can’t decide; I guess I need to research it a little more before I call her tomorrow. (If you have advice and need details, the are color 8×10 prints, unmounted and unframed. Should I mount them and frame them first? And then price accordingly?)

Also on the plate for tonight:
– Edit outline and slides for the Honor’s Day Presentation on X-Ray Crystallography, prepare for preliminary run-through tomorrow afternoon;
– Press leaves for Biology Scavenger Hunt project;
– Start shooting final roll of film for Photography class, if the light permits;
– Gather information on the reproductive systems of birds and mammals for comparitive analysis group project;
– Pick a photographer and write the “famous photographer” paper. I don’t want to go to the library tonight, so I’ll go with a photographer that is mentioned in at least 2 books that I have here at the house. (5 resources required, maximum of 3 from the internet.) I cranked out the last research paper in under 1.5 hours, so I’m sure I will do the same with this one.
– Write show notes for next Pointy Sticks podcast. Not for school, but I want to do a show now. Now, now, now.

(I’ll update when I finish stuff.)