A picture of contentment

Does it get any better than this? That's Tucker, connoisseur of comfort.

And here's a picture of my half-finished Clapotis. I'm not worried about how much yarn I have anymore. Now I wonder if it's wide enough. Hmm...well, it's always froggable!

Note to self...

...always, always, ALWAYS bring knitting everywhere. Life is really boring at the moment. I want my Clapotis! Oh well, I'll just browse some knitting blogs instead.

Mystery flowers...

I don't know what these are. They came in a wildflower mix that we planted two years ago, and this is the first time they've bloomed.

An afternoon of relative peace!

Well, little sis is now a college graduate. My, how time flies...

After graduation, I got in some knitting on Clapotis. It's coming along nicely, although I'm a little worried about the amount of yarn I have left. Two sleevesworth of a good-sized sweater should make a nice Clapotis, shouldn't it?

Yesterday was the most gorgeous day ever. There was hardly any wind - that's a huge deal in Oklahoma - and it was just warm enough to be toasty without overheating. The sun was shining, the grass and trees were as green as can be, and everyone was happy.

Oh, and here are some more flower pics!

I'm slowly learning how to format!

One less thing to stress over

The bridal tea was a success! I'm not sure who was more surprised - the bride that the "girls' lunch" was a bridal shower, or me that the bride was surprised. I was sure I'd let the cat out of the bag several times. We drank tea, we ate scones with lemon curd *yum!*, and we tried on funny hats. (Mine was pretty stinkin' cute, I must say. Pics when she emails me a copy.)

Haven't knitted in a couple of days. We've been too busy getting ready for my sister's graduation. We've been cleaning and cooking like madwomen around here. But tonight was the family dinner thing, tomorrow's graduation, Sunday's Mother's Day, and then it's back to semi-normal.

I got my mom this for Mother's Day! She and I have a thing for Jane Austen. I want to be Elizabeth Bennett when I grow up (minus the family drama). And for graduating sis, this and this. Some of these might be involved as well...

It feels like Friday...

...but it is in fact Thursday. Bummer.

Actually, tomorrow should be fun. We're having a surprise bridal shower for a friend at work here, and there'll be tea and scones and all manner of things feminine. I do enjoy being a girl when teacups and flowers are involved.

Clapotis pics

I'm plugging away at Clapotis. Here's what I've got so far:

It's about...one pillow-width long so far. I'm a little nervous about not having enough yarn to make it a decent length, so I only did 5 repeats of the increase row instead of 7. It's still a good width, though. I think I've used up about 1/3 of that ball of yarn, which was one sleeve's worth. If I get a 6-foot long wrap, I'll be happy. If I get more than that, I'll be happier, but beggars can't be choosers.
I've just dropped the first stitch. Boy, that was exciting...sort of. It only went down a few rows.

This yarn is a little "clingy," since it's recycled from a sweater. It will definitely need a bath in conditioner and a stout blocking. This is one sweater that lived up to the stereotypical itchiness of wool. Right now, the dropped stitches are kind of sticking out. I hope it sorts itself out once more stitches are dropped.

And here's a gratuitous picture of the Easter Egg dyed yarn all worked up.
I still am amazed by how well this turned out. It goes from a bright leaf green to mint to sky blue to deep robin's-egg.





And here's what was waiting for me on Monday when I got home from work:

This was what I got on Amazon.com with my gift certificate! I have so many things I want to work on from these books. This way, I won't have to worry about library late fees. I'm planning an Hourglass Sweater from the blue Fleur de Lis.


Here's the yarn that samm sent me:

That's the sock yarn - I've been wanting some solid-ish sock yarn for some patterned socks - and the variegated heavier-weight yarn, which reminds me of the autumn leaves in Arkansas when I was at college. (I have never seen such beautiful trees as the October that I went on a weekend retreat to Fayetteville, Arkansas. The colors were glowing.)


I really need to find a place to photograph my stuff besides my bed...now the whole world will know how often I change my sheets.

Well, it's 11:00 PM, so in the words (?) of a 2nd grader that I tried to teach a bit of German tonight, "Auf Wiedreshqpritiethdqetrjeqwkansen!"

Another rainy day

I love rainy days. The sound of rain is one of my favorites, along with thunder. It makes me want to curl up with a blanket and a cup of tea for a morning of reading (or knitting!). Somehow, though, I always wind up having to work on the deluge days. I may have to take a "rain day" one of these days.

I don't love driving in rainy days, especially when my 25-minute commute turns into a 1-hour commute on a day when I'm supposed to be ready to scan a Western blot at 9:00. At least the demo was pushed back to tomorrow. *I forgot to scan the blot! Oh, great.*

I got a swap package from samm at Knittinghelp.com today! I sent her several balls of Magic Stripes, and she sent me the Winter 2005 issue of Interweave Knits, some grey sock yarn that'll be great for cabled or lace socks, a cute tape measure and magnets, and a ball of pretty variegated yarn that'll make a great cabled scarf or wristlets. Thanks samm!

Tomorrow night is the AWANA awards night rehearsal. That'll be..."fun." The kindergarteners have been really hyper lately, probably because they know it's the end of the year. Two more weeks!

Oh, and Beverly sent me this site - amazing knitting and photography! Thanks for telling me about it!

Done with Immunology!

I have officially finished my first graduate class! It was a piece of cake, too, except for the clinical stuff, and that was quite tolerable. The final was this morning, and from what I've heard from the professors, I did well.

Last night was the best thunderstorm we've had in quite a while. (Yes, I love thunderstorms. Crazy, I know.) At one point, there was a really loud thunderclap, and my sleep-deprived, immunology-crammed, caffeine-overloaded brain thought, "That lightning bolt hit an IgM pentamer!" (It made sense at 2:00 in the morning, okay?)

Today was good. I had the test in the morning, a nice busy afternoon, and a package waiting for me when I got home! I bought Knitting Nature, Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, and Knitting Beyond the Edge from the Amazon sale. So my reward to myself for getting the final done is going to be a leisurely perusal of these books!

Still waiting for the postman

Well, I guess I won't get my books before Monday. That's just as well, I guess, because I have my Immunology final tomorrow morning, and knitting books would be a huge distraction from the studying that I should be doing right now. I'm not too worried about my grade. I've already got an A in the class. I'm more intent on showing the professors that I'm a good student so I can get more potential academic references someday!

My friends T&J moved today. I miss them already, even though they'll be back in 2 weeks. At least they're only moving 2 hours away! But P&H are moving several states away next month, and they're taking baby J with them...*sniff*

The Knit-In was fun last night, even if there were only 10 of us instead of the usual 30 or so. We watched the Kentucky Derby on a little TV someone dug up. I started on a Clapotis with my Easter egg dyed yarn and got a good ways on it. I also got the Summer issue of IK and some of this to make a "Fiery Bolero" (from here) to wear over a strapless dress for a wedding this summer. (Although, I got white yarn, so does that make it a Snowy Bolero?) I've started swatching it, and I like the yarn a lot. It's super-soft and feels like Lion Brand Microspun, but it isn't nearly as splitty.

Tapping foot impatiently...

So, last week there was a big sale on Amazon.com. Specifically, it was a sale on certain knitting books that I've been drooling over - Knitting Nature and Knitting on the Edge, for example. A few weeks ago, I filled out some surveys for scientific supply companies, and I got a $15 and a $25 gift card to...Amazon.com! So I ordered those two and Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I picked the free shipping option (because I am, above nearly all things, a cheapskate), which has an estimated delivery time of 10-14 days. Package tracking is the BEST thing ever. According to the website, my package was in Kansas City at 1:00 AM on May 4, Waco at 9:00 PM (couldn't they have dropped it off on the way?), and Oklahoma City at 9:00 AM! Then they said it was "out for delivery." But at 12:46, it was still in Oklahoma City. I was hoping to get it before I leave for the Knit-In at 3:45, but I guess that can't be helped. I'm going to make the Hourglass Sweater from LMKG with the Fleur de Lis yarn I got in a swap.

I found the cable!

I have pictures to post again! This is a finished Conwy sock. I think I set a record with this one - I casted on at the March Knit-In and had it done in about a week. Amazing the amount of knitting you can do when you're sick.

Also included for your viewing enjoyment are the Log Cabin Blanket (4 balls of Plymouth Encore on size 8 needles and about 2 months!), an Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet from Patons SWS, Easter-egg-dyed recycled wool in blue and green, blue variegated Malabrigo Laceweight, and a baby hat that only took about 2 hours to knit.

Oh, and there are also some (quite a few, actually) gratuitous flower pics. I love living in Oklahoma...

This is slightly irksome

Number of pictures I have to post: quite a few
Number of cables in my house for connecting computer to camera: two
Number of aforementioned cables that I can FIND: zero.

Don't you love disappearing stuff? Stinkin' Borrowers...

Psammeadred tries her hand at haiku

I've seen this floating around, and I thought I'd give it a try. Basically, you summarize your dissertation or other research in a haiku - a poem with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. Since I'm not technically a grad student, this is based on our lab's research:

Jet fuel causes rash.
Mechanics should know better
Than to expose skin.

Diabetic wounds
Heal very very slowly
MMP's do what?

Booze kills gals' livers.
Estrogen causes problems
So does LPS.

Knitting update: At the knit-in on Saturday (Hi Bev!), I cast on for a sock from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. I'm doing the Conwy sock in Plymouth Sockotta color #5618 (blue, green, and purple stripe) on size 1 DPNs. And I'm very pleased to announce that I'm already on the gusset!! It's amazing how much knitting one can do when one is sick for a day. I really like the twining cable pattern - it's easy to knit, and it flows very nicely even on DPNs that are slightly bent. If I can finish this sock in a week, it'll be a record for me. Knit-ins are so much fun! I'm going to miss next month's, though, because my semi-half-cousins 2.61659 times removed (long story) will be here from the East Coast. I'm so excited to see them again!

Right now, I'm waiting for DB to bring the score for the high school musical. The first performance is in one month - guess what I'll be doing every night! I do enjoy it, though, and I even get paid this time. So come on, brother dear. (Of course, this is the same DB who locked his keys in his car while it was running this weekend...)

Exciting news of the day: I might lose my job in 2009 if our grants don't get funded. So it looks like postponing house-hunting was a good idea.

Finished, finally...

Well, I finished the Sockotta socks today! I have nearly a whole sock's worth of yarn left over, so I'll make a kerchief thing out of it. And I think I may have figured out a new way of grafting toes without yarn needles...maybe.

I've been up since 6 AM on a Saturday morning!

Well, the contest went pretty well. It was a little scary being in a room full of middle and high schoolers. One student is advancing to state - go J! The piano I played sounded very different from our piano at home - much darker and cloudier, if that makes any sense.

After the contest, I went to the library sale. I found Kathy Dalmeny's World of Knitted Toys, Paintbox Knits (might go back tomorrow to get this one), boxes full of vintage knitting and crochet magazines (I got one with 101 sweater patterns!), America's Knitting Book, by Gertrude Taylor (this one has lots of information about modifying patterns), With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, The Floating Admiral by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G. K. Chesterton, and "Certain other members of the Detection Club," and two books about buying a house. I also got the most beautiful antique book I've ever seen: The Book of Wild Flowers for Young Readers, by F. Schuyler Mathews.

There's an outlet store for a ridiculously expensive clothing store that's opened within the past year. I got $673 worth of clothes for $45. The dressing rooms are downright creepy, though - it's just a big room with a lot of mirrors and clothing racks. So you get really comfortable with your body really fast. Yikes.

And to top it all off, I got Last-Minute Knitted Gifts from the library! I'm trying to decide whether to cast on for the hourglass sweater tonight or wait until tomorrow...that's such a pretty pattern. I'd buy the book, but it's not a cheap one.

Now I'm pretty doggone worn out. I think a hot bath is in order.

Oh, and if you've never listened to Schickele Mix or Weekend Radio on NPR, your life is woefully humor-deprived.

Pre-Saturday morning blues

I have to be AT the school at 7:15 tomorrow morning. Bleargh. At least it'll be over by 11 or so. Starbucks gift card, I'll be needing you in the morning. At least the library book sale is tomorrow! Yay! I'll be bringing home way more books than I'll ever need. With any luck, there'll be some neat knitting books. I'm still in awe of finding an Elizabeth Zimmermann book and a Barbara Walker stitch treasury for $2 each at that LYS that closed. I still wish I'd bought more needles. I really need to get over that.

And I need to find something to knit for my cousin's baby! I want to make something really special for her - it's the first grandbaby on either side of the family. How exciting - my cousins are becoming parents!

The top secret plans for the yarn...bwahaha!

My yarn stash has magically expanded again. Five balls of leaf-green Patons Classic Merino followed me home Saturday night after a bead-hunting expedition with DS. (Side note for those of you who don't know me in the flesh, which is probably most of you: DS = dear sister; DB = dear brother. I know I have a pretty poor memory, but it seems like marriage, pregnancy, and
childbirth would be fairly difficult to forget.) DS took one look at the yarn and said, "Don't you already have a wall full of yarn?" Poor non-knitters just don't get it, do they? I should have asked her if she already had a jewelry box full of necklaces. But hey, it's for a specific project (Cable Down Raglan from the Spring IK), and it was on sale for $4 per ball! You can't beat that!

One of these days, I will actually sit down and figure out what to knit with each and every ball of yarn in my stash. Here goes a shot in the dark (I'm currently at work and can't see it, so that counts as dark, right?):
1. Mounds of TLC Amore: multiple-strand crocheted dog bed for my Corgi, who is officially getting too old to jump up on the bed. *sniff* Maybe one for the shedding machine pup as well.
2. Cream and pink Greek wool from gigantic sweaters: something felted. It's probably too itchy to wear next to skin.
3. Super-pretty blue heathered laceweight - I WILL KNIT A LACE SHAWL. (someday) Or socks - how many socks can I make from a size M sweater?
4. Yellow laceweight that's falling apart - I dunno. That's probably my least favorite at the moment, mainly due to its fallingapartness.
5. Navy blue worsted wool from a Hagrid-sized sweater - Tubey from Knitty.
6. Nearly-bulky black wool (also from a Hagrid-sized sweater - my, Molly Weasley has been busy, hasn't she?) - a vest.
7. MOUNTAINS of Homespun in Seaspray - a blanket of some kind. I've got to unravel the monstrosity I started a few years ago with stockinette blocks. Urgh.
8. Sock yarn! I have Plymouth Sockotta in a primary color stripe (faux Fair Isle would be fun!) and a purply mix and Lion Brand Magic Stripes in brown, regatta, and purple stripe. I'll have to check out the SKS book for ideas.
9. Light blue lambswool - It's not enough for a sweater that would be as long as I would like, so we'll have to figure out something else...maybe that Bonsai tunic from Spring IK.
10. Lavender sportweight/DK cashmere - I look horrid in lavender, as does DS (who doesn't like knitted garments anyways, so never mind). Maybe Mum would like a lace wrap...there's an idea.
11. Off-white wool - I've got to try dyeing some honest-to-goodness wool. I bet I could come up with some great color combinations! (WalMart's KoolAid knockoff is 10 cents per package instead of KoolAid's 20 cents, so I got some lemonade, cherry, and grape. We'll see...)
12. Carrot-colored (formerly radioactive yellow) WoolEase sportweight - that would make a nice pullover, since it's lightweight.

And when will I find time to make all of this? Hmm...that's a good question.

On the upside, I did get the heel flap done, the heel turned, and the gusset started on the second Sockotta sock. I was knitting away while the Sparkies were at store/game time, and when they came back, one boy asked what I was knitting! Bless you, M, for knowing what I was doing! One little girl said, "She's sewing somethin'!" That's okay, A dear, you couldn't have known. Then M said, "I'd like to learn to knit if someone would show me how." *thud* What lovely children I work with. (They really are sweet most of the time, as long as you keep the markers away from D. No, D, we do not put markers in our mouths, or anywhere else on our bodies, for that matter.)

I found out today that I made a 96% on my first grad school test! It really wasn't hard. (Actually, aside from 2 questions, it was the exact same test as the one they gave us to study.) I'm starting to think that full-time graduate-student-hood might not be quite as terrifying as I once thought.

The United States of America will temporarily shut down this evening...

...because a bunch of guys are going to be running around with a pointy-ended ball.

Meanwhile, psammeadred will be working on her many UFO's and maybe watching a movie.

When you think about it, sports will make people lots of money, but if you're stranded in an ice storm, would you rather be stranded with someone who can play football or someone who can knit you a sweater and some cozy socks?

Knit-ins are fun for everyone!

Whee! Just got back from a knit-in at my LYS ! (Check it out if you're ever in Oklahoma.) I worked on my Pi shawl for a bit (and discovered that I'm way too easily distracted to knit lace around people) and my Sockotta sock #2. It's so much fun to knit with lots of other people. I got two skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky in Seafoam (a gorgeous blue-green), a back issue of Interweave Knits (Fall 06), and the new Interweave Knits spring issue. (Interweave Knits - so many beautiful things, so little time and money...) The Lamb's Pride is going to be a cabled scarf for me (maybe).

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, er, my house. Class is still going well, aside from a little tiff with the bursar, who somehow was charging me both in-state and out-of-state tuition, but what's the deal with people surfing the Web and IMing during class?! I don't get that at all. I really enjoy the class, though. It's so amazing to see God's fingerprints on His creation. "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." Ps 19:1


For our entertainment at the knit-in, there was a duet of the new unofficial state song:

SNOW-klahoma,
where the cold fronts sweepin' down the plain;
And the piles of sleet beneath your feet
Follow right behind the freezing rain.

SNOW-klahoma,
Ev'ry night my honey lamb and I
Travel home from work and hope some jerk
Doesn't wreck our car in passing by.

We know we belong to the land
But it could use more salt and more sand!

And when we say
Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!
We're only sayin' you're slick as snot,
SNOW-klahoma!
SNOW-klahoma, Oy Vey!

(The formatting on here is driving me up the wall, by the way...)