In Progress

Here's a sneak peak at a little project I'm working on:



It's so easy and mindless - great for TV knitting. In Kraemer Summit Hill 'Camel' and 'Black'.

Thankful Monday

Inspired by Kathy's and Nmblefngers posts, here is a list of what I'm thankful for:

* I'm thankful for the freezing cold walk I'm going to take in a few minutes to the office because it means I am able to walk and have lots of clothes to keep me warm and an iPod to always have a soundtrack to my life.

* I'm thankful for all the worry and stress and woe of working on my dissertation because it means that I am capable of doing it. And I'm thankful that I live in a time that a woman can get an advanced degree in science.

* I'm thankful for the unknown-ness of my career path after grad school because it means that I have unlimited options.

* I'm thankful that I'm completely freaked out about the talk I have to give next week at The Big Conference because that means all the yayas and whohas are interested in what I have to say (errr, at least the conveners are).

* I'm thankful for the years apart from Rock Star because it means that I have found the most supportive. partner. ever. I'm also sooooo extra-thankful that the time apart is almost over.

* I'm thankful for my mother's perspective on my grandmother's recent diagnosis of Alzheimer's in which she said that Grandma has always seemed decades younger than her calendar age and now that she's acting 90 we are all shocked. And we shouldn't be.

* If you read my blog at all, you know I'm also thankful for my friends and family and home and our little zoo. And I'm thankful for my blog and my blog friends because they are providing a very-much-needed creative outlet.

Thanks, y'all.

Reason #1,023 why I love my friends

So I have this friend I'll call The Lady Miss Blogless. She is super keen. She is very talented at finding pornographic rocks in the field. Unfortunately she now lives too far away and I miss her a lot. I emailed her today asking if she is going to a meeting associated with a conference that we'll be attending soon. Here is her reply:

I'll sign up for the whole shebang but will bail out if it's getting ugly. If you go with me, we can glare at people over our pizza slices.

I miss her so much that eating crap pizza with a bunch of people we don't like sounds like heaven.

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU, LADY MISS BLOGLESS! LET'S DRINK LOTS OF MARTINIS!

So we're agreed?

I signed the Agreement for Sale last night. You know these things are never official until settlement, but. A family - not an investor - will be purchasing my home. I am quite pleased that a family who will build a life and memories here will be moving in.

Branching Out is Finished!

I steam-blocked my first lace scarf last night.



Here are the details:
Yarn: Madil Kid Seta in ‘Moss.’
Pattern: Branching Out by Susan Pierce Lawrence
Needles: Vintage US7 aluminums. A little slippery, which is to be expected. They are also a little too heavy, causing some wrist fatigue. I will try to find my bamboos before I start the one for my grandmother.
Recipient: Rock Star's mom.
Thoughts: I got 36 repeats from 1 ball and had quite a bit left over. If I were making this for myself, I would've knit it all out to make a really long scarf. There are some mistakes here and there; I'm hoping that the recipient won't notice!

Don't drop stitches or mess up with this yarn. It is really a bitch to frog and tink.

Open House

Today is Day 2 of two open houses this weekend. Teak and Madeline - my housemate Cookie's cat - were soooo lucky yesterday. A family showed up right at noon, before I had a chance to put them in their carriers and carry them away. I made a last-minute decision that it would be more obtrusive to carry them and their litter boxes out than to just leave them sleeping on the bed.

Did they stay sleeping on the bed? No, of course not. As soon as prospective buyers opened up the attic, they apparently ran up and hid (the attic is the most no-no spot in the house for them because it's so dirty and insulate-y). When I arrived home after a nice dinner with a couple of friends later that night, they were very dirty and very tired. Teak was so tired that I had him model Branching Out, which is now over 30 repeats. He repaid me by walking all over the bathroom with his wet and dirty feet so I had to clean it again this morning when I woke up.



Today they weren't so lucky. I captured them and brought them to work with me. It's been nearly an hour. Madeline hasn't budged from her crate but Teak has already taken a full tour - twice - and fallen asleep in an empty computer box. After, of course, picking up every cobweb and bit of dirt left by grad students of yore.



This process is very stressful. That's really all I can say coherently about it right now.

See: Bandwagon, jumping on

I want to see the world but have no time or money to do so right now.

Please visit my map and add your favorite photo from each and every location you want to show me.

Are you shy? Okay, I'll go first.

Fuzzy Feet Complete!

The gals are felted after a hot tumble with some cast-aside jeans and a pillowcase:



You may be surprised to learn that they are not waterproof, something I discovered last night when I had to go to my truck for another gallon of paint.

And for those who cannot get enough of my exciting knitting life, here is the progress on Branching Out:



I made a mistake, one that was too big to hide. I had to frog back a couple of repeats and this Madil Kid Seta is not forgiving. It looks nice on the needles, but I still have to figure out exactly where I was in the pattern and hope that it doesn't look too funky when I finally can move on.

Dissertation update: The first chapter is nearly ready to go out for review. It is in my advisor's hands now. The second chapter? Well... it's coming along. I had an insane writing spell right after I have sent out my first academic CV and supporting application materials for The Dream Job. This is what my office looks like after a writing storm (Mom and Dad, this is what you can envision when you talk to me at the office. it's truly creative genius in action):



Home update: It's on the market. The realtor's assistant took photos and put up the sign last night. I stuffed everything in closets and then painted the baseboard heaters after she left for the open houses this weekend. This is what my living room looks like now:



Notice a theme?

Google quote of the day

We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us.
- Maurice Maeterlinck

H A P P Y 6th/42nd B I R T H D A Y, Yuck Mouth! We're so glad you're part of our pack.
- amandamonkey, Teak, and Rock Star

FFA, pre-felt

In a fit of post-Rock-Star-visit letdown and because of the weatherman's promise of "the return of winter" this week, I finished my Fuzzy Feet Along project last night.



Now get to work, Amanda. No rest for the wicked.

another weekend in which Rock Star and I prove we're an awesome team

First things first. Here's my progress for the wildy-popular Fuzzy Feet Along. I am knitting them like giant socks in two colors of Mauch Chunky - Almond and Spearmint. Yummy.



My feet are very very excited. Every time I start knitting, they feel especially cold.

I am meeting with the realtor on Friday to list my house. As a result, I will likely be showing some rather odd WIPs of my house instead of knitting or another textile-y thing.

It is not ready. I am not ready. It's a very sad time for me as it will take Rock Star and I years to ever afford something like it in Chicagoland. He was in town this weekend and we tackled the Very Scary Project: patching a big crack in the wall and painting the corner below which there are approx. 80 million feet of fallable space to the first floor. There are no photos of him patching it because I don't want his parents or mine to cry.

Before:


After/During:


I still have tons left to do in the rest of the hallway, but this was a major step.

Thank you, sweetheart. I miss you already.

Eastern Wisdom for when you're feeling a little down

Drum Roll

And the winner of the contest is...

...Carrie!

This was a photo finish, friends. It was a very hard decision. Should Ashley win due to her willingness to throw her knitted goods in harm's way just for a measly piece of fabric? What about Dani? She carefully rewound and restitched a nearly dead object. Or poor Kiri, who toilet-dived because she wrote her name inside her gloves (even though her gloves were not hand-knit, I have a special place in my heart for poo divers)?

In the end, Carrie nosed ahead with the sympathy vote. I would hate to lose my favorite needles in a fit of dog rage. Additionally, even though she claims that her mother loved the socks she made with the salvaged yarn, I think if she hasn't yet seen her wearing them, we all know the truth...

Congrats, Carrie! Now send me your two favorite Mauch Chunky colors and an address! I will design the button later this week/weekend and email it to you.

rabbit, rabbit

Thanks to all who entered the contest - I will post the winner tomorrow. It seems pets - not toilets - are the biggest enemy to our beloved objects. That is no surprise to me, nor to any pet owner, I suspect. The stories from you all got me reminiscing. So for my amusement (and yours), here's a sampling of items that have been in Yuck Mouth's stomach**:

* very old (but not old enough) deer carcass
* a lingerie collection >$500 (from when I had a 'real' job). Now I wear cottons from Target (oh! I forgot for a moment I was boycotting them... yes, I still am. I expect more from my friends than my enemies)
* various cat toys. These I think have accidentally been swallowed after he's carried them around for a while.
* three baffles of a down comforter
* some other things that I won't mention here because I don't want the Human e Soc to come after us...
* enough sticks to build a house



** please don't judge. We crate trained him, but he is very very sneaky and is an OCDog. and remember he's no longer a puppy so these 'bad snack incidents' are integrated over 6 years.

Still here? Check this out to taste my favorite pop art flavor of the week.

Public Service Announcement

I thought the Meirs nomination was a little funny, I have to admit. But Alito is far worse. He has a demonstrated record that erodes basic rights of workers, women, minorities, and the disabled.

If you agree, please sign the Move On petition and call your Senators to voice your concerns.