HARFLARBLEMRAAAAAH!
Guess where I went this weekend? Austin, ergo, Hill Country Weavers.
Guess who was at Hill Country Weavers this weekend? Amy Singer and Jillian Moreno! How awesome is that?
So, I totally geeked out. I asked them to bless my idea book, and also sign it; photos of this will be up as soon as I can get a camera. Then we sat down, and had cookies and beer (I refrained from the beer), and I was working on Galveston and Jillian said "Wow! Look at that lace!" and I got to show it off to them. I'm almost unreasonably excited about this.
Squee!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Senioritis
Wow. This has been a tough few days since my last post, and it looks like it'll be at least another week of the same.
The schoolwork has boiled down to two final papers - one comparison of a film to the story it's based on, with original thesis, to be as long as needed to back up the thesis thoroughly, and one semi-symbolic paper, 8 to 12 pages, with original thesis based on a particular (very small) novel, citing at least 15 sources in the novel to back up your thesis, and how it all relates to the law and literature movement as a whole.
Neither of these, you may notice, are psychology.
So while I find the ideas interesting, I'm having to fight lethargy and the neccesary but so far nonexistant planning for the actual graduation weekend (making and sending invites, getting reservations, knowing how many to reserve for, et all).
So what's a girl to do, but take a weekend road trip? Austin, here I come!
The schoolwork has boiled down to two final papers - one comparison of a film to the story it's based on, with original thesis, to be as long as needed to back up the thesis thoroughly, and one semi-symbolic paper, 8 to 12 pages, with original thesis based on a particular (very small) novel, citing at least 15 sources in the novel to back up your thesis, and how it all relates to the law and literature movement as a whole.
Neither of these, you may notice, are psychology.
So while I find the ideas interesting, I'm having to fight lethargy and the neccesary but so far nonexistant planning for the actual graduation weekend (making and sending invites, getting reservations, knowing how many to reserve for, et all).
So what's a girl to do, but take a weekend road trip? Austin, here I come!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
ZOMG HORSE PENIS
So this friend of mine, she works in the Histotech lab where I hope soon to also be, and she likes to text message her buddies when they get in unusual or amusing animal parts at the lab. So this one day she texts her buddy 'ZOMG HORSE PENIS'. Ever since then, it's been kind of a catch-all phrase for those moments that blow your mind.
See a car explode? ZOMG HORSE PENIS.
Perfect stranger proposes to you? ZOMG HORSE PENIS.
100 people join your mystery knitalong? Well, I'm sure you get the idea.
See a car explode? ZOMG HORSE PENIS.
Perfect stranger proposes to you? ZOMG HORSE PENIS.
100 people join your mystery knitalong? Well, I'm sure you get the idea.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Holy Crap, 50 People!
The second clue is up now, and the cat's out of the bag construction-wise. Yes, my center-out square spends an intermediary period as an octagon! The triangle moonlights as a ... very lopsided hexagon? Regardless, the presence of the rays and triangles (or jetties and ocean, as they are meant to reflect) has been revealed. The jetties have always been my favorite part of the beaches in Galveston, and they were of course the starting point for my shawl.
In other news, I have over fifty members now in the GalKal! I know it's nowhere near the number of participants in most other knitalongs, but I personally am floored by the number of knitters who've decided to take part in the knitalong. Seriously, take a moment and think about it - fifty people. Fifty strangers, fifty names-with-no-faces, fifty individuals with their own lives to be going about, are working on my shawl. Maybe some of them have cats who "help" like Heed and Cricket do - maybe they have dogs, or children, or significant others. Maybe there are rocket scientists and doctors and stay-at-home parents and not-staying-at-home parents. Maybe there's even a robot. Regardless, the one thing (aside from knitting in general and access to the internet) they have in common is my shawl. Robots and all.
In other news, I have over fifty members now in the GalKal! I know it's nowhere near the number of participants in most other knitalongs, but I personally am floored by the number of knitters who've decided to take part in the knitalong. Seriously, take a moment and think about it - fifty people. Fifty strangers, fifty names-with-no-faces, fifty individuals with their own lives to be going about, are working on my shawl. Maybe some of them have cats who "help" like Heed and Cricket do - maybe they have dogs, or children, or significant others. Maybe there are rocket scientists and doctors and stay-at-home parents and not-staying-at-home parents. Maybe there's even a robot. Regardless, the one thing (aside from knitting in general and access to the internet) they have in common is my shawl. Robots and all.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
W00ty w00t w00tness
So, the GalKal is going great. The first clue is up, the key is now also up, and the second clue is ready for this weekend. I've already knit up to the end of the second clue and will be blocking it out tonight, to further refine the sizing of the chart. I'm still very excited about all of this. I can't wait to unveil the secret of how the triangle shawl is constructed with this next clue.
In other news, I applied for the fantastic histotechnician job, and hopefully I'll hear back about that soon. I know I was grumbly in my last post, but Sweetie and I talked it out and everything is fine again. We're both going to be applying to anywhere we can, and see where that goes. I, personally, am hoping to get this job and stay in town another year. I'd be able to pay off my smaller loan entirely and start on the big one - what's not to love about that? Also, I hope to discover interesting new shapes and colors in the slides (I find inspiration in odd places sometimes), and design much more knitting!
For now, though, I'm off to class. Whee!
In other news, I applied for the fantastic histotechnician job, and hopefully I'll hear back about that soon. I know I was grumbly in my last post, but Sweetie and I talked it out and everything is fine again. We're both going to be applying to anywhere we can, and see where that goes. I, personally, am hoping to get this job and stay in town another year. I'd be able to pay off my smaller loan entirely and start on the big one - what's not to love about that? Also, I hope to discover interesting new shapes and colors in the slides (I find inspiration in odd places sometimes), and design much more knitting!
For now, though, I'm off to class. Whee!
Friday, March 30, 2007
And We're Off!
Well, it's official: The TKAL has begun! I've posted the materials list, and am converting the first couple of clues into PDFs. I don't want to get too far ahead, in case of unforseen mistakes, but I do want to be prepared in case I get swamped with extra homework (and what is up with assigning extra homework the same day as a 12 page paper? What is the deal with that?) which I'm expecting semi-weekly until the end of the school year. I'm so excited about this shawl. I've cast on for it (again) myself, and I'm already into the second chart. It would be nice to get to knit along with my own knitalong, after all :) It's really the only pattern I'm working on at the moment - Frost Flowers is great and all, but it's a heavy son of a bitch, and I'm paranoid about my math not working like it should in Galveston.
In other news, I think I might be awesome-ing myself out of a job. I mainly do stuff like returning books and asking for money for books we've returned, and ever since we stole a cataloger to do our ordering we haven't had a lot of mistakes to return (fancy that, someone who knows what they're doing is doing things correctly) so I'd been set to check out the massive backlog of stuff we hadn't gotten money for. There were hundreds of books in this, from dozens of vendors, with prices ranging from the trivial (less than $15) to the massive (I don't know what about a book justifies a $500+ price, and I don't think I want to know. Maybe it's printed on solid gold?), and this has been what I do all day for the past couple of months.
Now? There are about twenty where we're just waiting to receive the actual check from the vendor, a few where I've got their people checking up on the info I've sent them (I am great at this. I provide definitive proof for everything. There can be no conclusion but to send me all their dollars), and two - exactly two - where I have been playing phone-tag with the ladies in charge, leaving and receiving messages like please give us money and and sure we'll give you internal credit and did you not hear the part where I said cash? I'm sorry, but two phone calls, no matter how entertaining, do not an eight-hour shift make. So I've been doing lots of little things, like running errands, and getting coffee, and hey-do-you-need-a whatever the fuck. That this happens to coincide with my work study grants being generously doubled (I'm so hardcore, I use up all funding in half the time) and my serious need for extra hours frustrates me. I need to be getting in about 150% of the hours I'm scheduled to work in a week. I need to get those hours and put moving money into savings. I have become an absolute beast around the house because Sweetie does not seem to be worried in the slightest about this, has made NO plans for the move, has made no plans for if we CAN'T move (which will happen if he isn't offered a sweet deal pretty damn quick), and keeps applying for positions in places where I can't go to school.
I have told Sweetie that I am taking exactly one year away from school after I graduate this may. This year is to be filled with a full-time job and studying for my GRE's, and reading research and kissing ass at whatever school I'm trying to get into. There are certain things I need for this, such as a full-time job and a school both within reasonable distance of public transportation, as I have no car. A friend of mine is working in a lab that offers $10 an hour for what I used to do for free in the rat lab: slicing frozen organs and putting them on slides. Evidently the careful placement of guts-based deli meat is a skill high in demand? And after a year, I'd be able to take a certification test, which would let me make $30 an hour doing the same in a hospital! I want a job like this! I can do a job like this! Plus, full time experience in a laboratory setting? Helps the FUCK out of grad school. Plus, I like where I live, and I like the people in this city. I don't want to leave here, but if I am, it had damn well be for something that will put me where I want to go.
I guess we're having a talk later tonight.
In other news, I think I might be awesome-ing myself out of a job. I mainly do stuff like returning books and asking for money for books we've returned, and ever since we stole a cataloger to do our ordering we haven't had a lot of mistakes to return (fancy that, someone who knows what they're doing is doing things correctly) so I'd been set to check out the massive backlog of stuff we hadn't gotten money for. There were hundreds of books in this, from dozens of vendors, with prices ranging from the trivial (less than $15) to the massive (I don't know what about a book justifies a $500+ price, and I don't think I want to know. Maybe it's printed on solid gold?), and this has been what I do all day for the past couple of months.
Now? There are about twenty where we're just waiting to receive the actual check from the vendor, a few where I've got their people checking up on the info I've sent them (I am great at this. I provide definitive proof for everything. There can be no conclusion but to send me all their dollars), and two - exactly two - where I have been playing phone-tag with the ladies in charge, leaving and receiving messages like please give us money and and sure we'll give you internal credit and did you not hear the part where I said cash? I'm sorry, but two phone calls, no matter how entertaining, do not an eight-hour shift make. So I've been doing lots of little things, like running errands, and getting coffee, and hey-do-you-need-a whatever the fuck. That this happens to coincide with my work study grants being generously doubled (I'm so hardcore, I use up all funding in half the time) and my serious need for extra hours frustrates me. I need to be getting in about 150% of the hours I'm scheduled to work in a week. I need to get those hours and put moving money into savings. I have become an absolute beast around the house because Sweetie does not seem to be worried in the slightest about this, has made NO plans for the move, has made no plans for if we CAN'T move (which will happen if he isn't offered a sweet deal pretty damn quick), and keeps applying for positions in places where I can't go to school.
I have told Sweetie that I am taking exactly one year away from school after I graduate this may. This year is to be filled with a full-time job and studying for my GRE's, and reading research and kissing ass at whatever school I'm trying to get into. There are certain things I need for this, such as a full-time job and a school both within reasonable distance of public transportation, as I have no car. A friend of mine is working in a lab that offers $10 an hour for what I used to do for free in the rat lab: slicing frozen organs and putting them on slides. Evidently the careful placement of guts-based deli meat is a skill high in demand? And after a year, I'd be able to take a certification test, which would let me make $30 an hour doing the same in a hospital! I want a job like this! I can do a job like this! Plus, full time experience in a laboratory setting? Helps the FUCK out of grad school. Plus, I like where I live, and I like the people in this city. I don't want to leave here, but if I am, it had damn well be for something that will put me where I want to go.
I guess we're having a talk later tonight.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Galveston Mystery Testknit-a-long!
Last night I set up the yahoo group for the Galveston shawl. I'm really excited about this - I've never run a KAL before, I've never made PDFs before, I've (officially) never designed a shawl before (okay, so I backwards engineered Icarus until I could find another copy of the pattern, but I really don't think that counts).
So the membership is going to be completely open for the first week, then I'm restricting it (so you have to ask to get in - just to keep the spambots and such out, you know) and putting up the first clue. I'm hoping to swatch more during this time - I've been focusing on Frost Flowers for Meagan, and it's making me wonder if I ought replace one of the stitch patterns for something simpler. My kingdom for a jellyfish!
At any rate, if anyone else would like to join you're certainly welcome:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/galkal/
So the membership is going to be completely open for the first week, then I'm restricting it (so you have to ask to get in - just to keep the spambots and such out, you know) and putting up the first clue. I'm hoping to swatch more during this time - I've been focusing on Frost Flowers for Meagan, and it's making me wonder if I ought replace one of the stitch patterns for something simpler. My kingdom for a jellyfish!
At any rate, if anyone else would like to join you're certainly welcome:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/galkal/
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Crazy Adventure (Overview)
Here is how things ran down.
On friday, we awoke entirely too early in the morning and Sweetie drove Hastur and I into Houston. We checked our luggage (they didn't ask to look into any of my carry-on bits) and got on the plane fine, there was flying and sleeping and we watched Happy Feet. I give it a resounding meh.
Contrary to my expectations, we did not crash and die, and settled into Hastur's parents house with relative ease. Hastur's mom's dog tried to eat three balls of the Baby Silk I'd brought for Frost Flowers (a little eulacan and they were fine, very little loss of yardage. But I do hate that dog forever), and every time I started on my homework Hastur's mom would strike up a one-sided conversation, but otherwise it was okay.
We saw the aquarium (I got a stuffed octopus) and the zoo (stuffed Hippo for Sweetie) and met up with some very nice cross-stitchers. I met Dani from Canada, and Jill, and a very nice lady whose name I cannot remember for the life of me because I have the memory of a goldfish (who's also a spinner, and I'll be sending her half of that giant Beaverslide fleece I got ages ago - I think her online name is branch52?). It was good times. We also drove around San Diego like hoodlums, met up with Hastur's most bestest of friends (who's a really cool person and has a very sweet cockatiel who likes neck scritchies). We went to Trader Joe's, which is a great place, and I wish we had one in Texas, and then we headed home. This took two days total, one night stopped at a friend of Hastur's, the other driving the entire time, from noon saturday to 9 a.m. sunday, at which point I came home, gave Sweetie a kiss, and slept like the dead.
I wasn't able to get as many souveniers this trip as I might have liked. For example, though orange trees were abundant, I couldn't afford to get one for my dad (sorry dad!), though I was able to pick up a small California Poppy. I'm a little nervous about this, since I have something of a black thumb, and plants around me tend to die horribly, often through strange accidents. But I got the two stuffed animals for Sweetie and myself, and thanks to Hastur's ability to scent out every craft store in the tri-state radius we found a little knit shop!
I picked up the infamous Peacock Feathers shawl from Fiddlesticks, and the new Addi Lace needles (size 4, 24", my old standard) and I've got to say I love these. The new finish on them makes them more grabby than my wooden ones, so they're easier on my hands, but not so slick that I'm doing acrobatics to keep them from falling off, like tends to happen with me and metal needles. They're just the right amount of pointy (for now, but I'll likely try those KnitPicks needles when next I get a chance), and the join of course is perfect. They weren't kidding about that flexible cord, either! If you like lace, I think it's worth it to at least try one pair of these needles. I'm giving them a sort of trial by fire, and casting on for Mountain Ash :)
All in all, the vacation was fun, but it's good to be home. Heed and Cricket's fleas have mysteriously dissapeared in the week I've been gone (it's about damn time that advantage kicked in, in my opinion), so there's been lots of good snuggle time. Right now Heed's curled up on my blanket, finally asleep after his arduous week all by his lonesome with Cricket and Sweetie and lots of guests over to give him affection. It's hard to be a cat sometimes, eh?
On friday, we awoke entirely too early in the morning and Sweetie drove Hastur and I into Houston. We checked our luggage (they didn't ask to look into any of my carry-on bits) and got on the plane fine, there was flying and sleeping and we watched Happy Feet. I give it a resounding meh.
Contrary to my expectations, we did not crash and die, and settled into Hastur's parents house with relative ease. Hastur's mom's dog tried to eat three balls of the Baby Silk I'd brought for Frost Flowers (a little eulacan and they were fine, very little loss of yardage. But I do hate that dog forever), and every time I started on my homework Hastur's mom would strike up a one-sided conversation, but otherwise it was okay.
We saw the aquarium (I got a stuffed octopus) and the zoo (stuffed Hippo for Sweetie) and met up with some very nice cross-stitchers. I met Dani from Canada, and Jill, and a very nice lady whose name I cannot remember for the life of me because I have the memory of a goldfish (who's also a spinner, and I'll be sending her half of that giant Beaverslide fleece I got ages ago - I think her online name is branch52?). It was good times. We also drove around San Diego like hoodlums, met up with Hastur's most bestest of friends (who's a really cool person and has a very sweet cockatiel who likes neck scritchies). We went to Trader Joe's, which is a great place, and I wish we had one in Texas, and then we headed home. This took two days total, one night stopped at a friend of Hastur's, the other driving the entire time, from noon saturday to 9 a.m. sunday, at which point I came home, gave Sweetie a kiss, and slept like the dead.
I wasn't able to get as many souveniers this trip as I might have liked. For example, though orange trees were abundant, I couldn't afford to get one for my dad (sorry dad!), though I was able to pick up a small California Poppy. I'm a little nervous about this, since I have something of a black thumb, and plants around me tend to die horribly, often through strange accidents. But I got the two stuffed animals for Sweetie and myself, and thanks to Hastur's ability to scent out every craft store in the tri-state radius we found a little knit shop!
I picked up the infamous Peacock Feathers shawl from Fiddlesticks, and the new Addi Lace needles (size 4, 24", my old standard) and I've got to say I love these. The new finish on them makes them more grabby than my wooden ones, so they're easier on my hands, but not so slick that I'm doing acrobatics to keep them from falling off, like tends to happen with me and metal needles. They're just the right amount of pointy (for now, but I'll likely try those KnitPicks needles when next I get a chance), and the join of course is perfect. They weren't kidding about that flexible cord, either! If you like lace, I think it's worth it to at least try one pair of these needles. I'm giving them a sort of trial by fire, and casting on for Mountain Ash :)
All in all, the vacation was fun, but it's good to be home. Heed and Cricket's fleas have mysteriously dissapeared in the week I've been gone (it's about damn time that advantage kicked in, in my opinion), so there's been lots of good snuggle time. Right now Heed's curled up on my blanket, finally asleep after his arduous week all by his lonesome with Cricket and Sweetie and lots of guests over to give him affection. It's hard to be a cat sometimes, eh?
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
LACE (like that's any surprise)
So, today I have given myself the task of deciding which yarns/patterns/projects I am going to pack in my carry-on for the Crazy Adventure that starts on Friday. I'm going to need good plane knitting, good walking around being a tourist knitting, good showing off the mad skillz to the x-stitchers knitting, and good driving back for three days while listening to audiobooks and having wonderful conversations knitting. And, in case of an emergency, a backup project.
Luckily, plane knitting and driving knitting are pretty much the same. It's sitting-in-one-place-forever knitting; I'm thinking Frost Flowers and Leaves, which has gotten to the point that I simply can't work on it without sitting down. This is sadness for me.
Tourist knitting and mad skillz knitting I may also be able to combine. Two socks at once is pretty damn impressive, and portable to boot. So, of course, is fair isles, and I have been wanting to start on those Norwegian Stockings for a while now. Shawls in their younger stages have all the benefits of lightness and mobility while still being pretty damn cool, and I do have a couple of brilliant silks on cones that are nice and droolworthy.
Have I mentioned I got in a pair of patterns? Raku Suri and Misty Morning, both from the Alpaca Yarn Company.
So today I go stashdiving. It makes me wish I had more handknit socks finished, so I could show off a different pair every day. Sadly, this will have to wait until my rough heels stop eating my socks in less than a week. A week!
Luckily, plane knitting and driving knitting are pretty much the same. It's sitting-in-one-place-forever knitting; I'm thinking Frost Flowers and Leaves, which has gotten to the point that I simply can't work on it without sitting down. This is sadness for me.
Tourist knitting and mad skillz knitting I may also be able to combine. Two socks at once is pretty damn impressive, and portable to boot. So, of course, is fair isles, and I have been wanting to start on those Norwegian Stockings for a while now. Shawls in their younger stages have all the benefits of lightness and mobility while still being pretty damn cool, and I do have a couple of brilliant silks on cones that are nice and droolworthy.
Have I mentioned I got in a pair of patterns? Raku Suri and Misty Morning, both from the Alpaca Yarn Company.
So today I go stashdiving. It makes me wish I had more handknit socks finished, so I could show off a different pair every day. Sadly, this will have to wait until my rough heels stop eating my socks in less than a week. A week!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
