passimenterie

Now blogging from the isle of Manhattan!

2010-07-25T13:49:00.003-04:00

That's right folks, this sporadically read and updated blog is now coming to you from Manhattan! I'm all moved in, and as soon as I clean up the old place, I'll be out of the Bronx for good. I just got my internet connected yesterday, so although there are still plenty of boxes to unpack, at least it's finally getting civilized around here.

Music to pack by

2010-07-05T20:35:00.002-04:00

Oh it's miserable hot here right now. It wouldn't be so bad if all I had to do was sit in front of a fan, eating popsicles and drinking iced tea*, but no, I have to pack. And pack and pack and pack. And there's just no way to do that without getting hot, sweaty, and miserable.
I do find that a little music helps, though. This one helped me through the bookshelf that just wouldn't empty.

* I've been indulging in a little iced tea related alchemy, mixing and matching the various flavors. Today's version was iced apple cinnamon, and it was fabulous. Three regular Lipton black tea bags, one Stash Apple Cinnamon, 2 quarts of water, and an afternoon's worth of sunshine. Yum.

Is this thing on?

2010-07-04T11:56:00.002-04:00

Hi Blog!

I’ve been avoiding you, and I’m sorry about that. When the end-of-semester craziness finally passed and I was finally able to relax a little, updating here just seemed like so much work. And then the longer I put it off, the less I wanted to deal with it. But now I’ve found other things I want to avoid more, so here I am, posting again (at last).

Things I’ve been up to:

Gave my presentation at the symposium – went really well, was encouraged by several people to try and turn it into a journal article. Felt like a rockstar for a week or so.

Gave a dissertation presentation to the Ph.D. forum – went well, people seem to like my topic (but who doesn’t like George Washington? I mean, aside from those America-hatin' commies). I need to get started for real now on the research, but I’m not quite sure where to begin. Right now I have this weird obsession with finding an appropriate organizational system for my research, but I recognize that this is just a distraction technique. Still, binders, file folders, or haphazardly stacked piles -- what would you recommend?

Administered and graded finals for the class for which I was a t.a. – went mostly well, except for a problem student whom I know I didn’t handle the way I really would have liked to. I’m a little disappointed with myself for not doing better with this person, but hopefully this will be a good cautionary tale for the future. Overall I really liked being a teaching assistant, although it was a crazy amount of work, and I definitely want to try and pursue more teaching opportunities.

Went home to Texas for a long (but not long enough) weekend – came home for my dad’s birthday and had a great time. It was really nice to be home again without the craziness of a Christmas visit.

Went to Philadelphia for a long weekend, just for fun – I love visiting Philadelphia, and this visit didn’t disappoint. Saw the Liberty Bell, had a cheese steak, and stayed in a really nice hotel. There are few things more fun to me than staying in hotels. I splurged a bit to stay somewhere a little nicer than I usually would have, and it was totally worth it.

Got a new apartment – I really hate searching for apartments. Especially on my budget, which is pretty tiny by New York standards. But the rent was rising out here in the Bronx, and I figured if I was going to have to pay more money anyway, I might as well pay it while living in a better neighborhood. (I try very hard not to think about the fact that my brother’s mortgage payment for his 4-bedroom house in Texas is only a hair more than my rent for a studio apartment.). I found a really nice place in upper upper Manhattan, and I’ll be moving on July 12. I’m excited about it, but now I have to deal with decluttering and packing all my belongings. One nice thing is I’ve finally reached the saturation point with many of my things. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live like a minimalist, but I’m having a much easier time getting rid of stuff than I have in the past. Especially all the paper I’ve been lugging around. My shredder and my recycling bin are getting a real workout. I’m still struggling with culling my books, and it doesn’t help that I have so many hobbies which entail having lots of supplies (the knitting, the dolls, the dollhouses), but letting go of things is finally starting to feel more freeing than traumatizing.

And I’ve been knitting. I’ve got a giant pile of items that need ends sewn in, buttons sewn on, etc. Three pairs of socks, two shawls, a baby hat and booties, a beret, and my first me-sized sweater. Not to mention all the unfinished objects lurking by my favorite comfy chair.

And I think that’s about it. At least all typed out like this, it makes me feel like I’ve been busy.

Too pooped to post

2010-04-14T00:13:00.002-04:00

If I can stay ahead of school and work for one more week, all the craziness will be over. But before then, I have to make it through work, teaching a review section, paying my taxes, editing and then giving a talk at a symposium, attending said symposium, a bridal shower, and a presentation on my dissertation topic to the Ph.D. forum. Yikes. On the plus side, I am getting a lot of desperate procrastination knitting done. I'll be back soon.

Belated WT week 2 -- piles and piles and piles

2010-03-30T21:06:00.007-04:00

Last week was a toughie. A looming deadline, my own bad news, and some bad news from a friend meant that I didn't really have the energy for much other than just getting through the day. Although, funnily enough, I didn't really mind my own little misery so much. Not getting the job didn't hurt as much as I had thought it might. I was bummed, sure, but after I vented on the blog I felt so much better.

And so, now that my paper's turned in to the editor and I can do something WT-related for a change, here's the result of my week 2 tasks.

1. Piles and piles of tops
First off, I didn't realize how many shirts and light sweaters I had, so to make things go faster, I did this in stages based on kinds of shirts -- blazers/jackets, light sweaters, button-down/fancy shirts, and t-shirts/camisoles.

Superstars: My favorite velvet blazer. I wish I had more occasions to wear it. A pretty silk shell that I used to wear when I had to dress up for work. My new snakeskin-print cardigan.

Stalwart Staples: Lots and lots of t-shirt type tops and fine gauge sweaters. Long sleeve, 3/4 sleeve, short sleeve, scoop- or v-necks. I got rid of the ones that were sliding towards rabbitiness or that I never wore.

Velveteen Rabbits: I finally let go of some t-shirts that had seen better days -- both nice work-quality shirts and casual t-shirts that just looked too tired to keep in the rotation. Also got rid of some items that were in fine shape, but too dated to wear any longer.

Sentimental journeys: I didn't have any among my nicer clothing, but there were lots of t-shirts (especially related to college football). I tossed some and moved the rest to pajama rotation so I could hang on to them a little longer.

Torture devices and mysteries of the lost shopping trip: I'm combining these two because my problem garments all seem to have the same problems. Those problems include, but are not limited to:

1. The Wrong Color -- why do I keep buying brown clothing? I do love my brown jacket, but all the brown sweaters and tops need to go. Also, I may technically be a Summer, color-wise, but pastels look terrible on me. So out went a bunch of pale pink tops. Darker jewel toned colors look a lot better on me.

2. The Wrong Shirt -- button down shirts are really tricky on me. If they weren't a terrible color, they made me look like a waiter (Thanks to Dr. Wende for the comparison). Add to that my natural talent for wrinkling clothing (I can create creases even while staying perfectly still), and these shirts are not my friends. This one, a gift from my mother, was such an egregious offender on the waiter-front that I never even wore it out of the house. The button downs I did keep are 3/4 sleeve, wrinkle resistant, and in the right colors. They're better, although not that great.

3. The Wrong Quality: this sweater was almost but not quite right. There was a lot I liked about it. It had a nice cut and fit, I liked the sleeves and the neck. I even liked the pattern -- it had sort of a crewel-embroidery thing going on. Unfortunately, the material was itchy and the pattern isn't actually embroidered, it's printed on and feels a whole lot like that puff paint stuff I used to embellish my sneakers with in elementary school. It felt kind of cheap, so I always felt kind of bad wearing it. So out it goes.

4. The Wrong Lifestyle: the clothing I bought in the mistaken belief that I am the sort of person who might wear that sort of clothing. I'm almost never right about that kind of thing. The beautiful but doomed little camisole top falls into this category. I almost never wear clothing that shows off my arms like that, and never quite mastered the art of wearing under the right sort of jacket or cardigan, so it still had the tags on. Maybe the right kind of girl will find it at Goodwill.

The purge resulted in a huge garbage bag of clothing for Goodwill and several new dust rags for cleaning. It's nice to be able to open and shut all my dresser drawers again, and there's actually room in my closet again. Plus, there were a few nice staples lurking at the bottom of my drawers, and now they can get back into the rotation again. And I feel like I learned a lot from what I kept and tossed. Like that I really, really, need to stop buying brown clothing.

Next, onward to the pants and skirts!
But before you do, check out my new haircut. I won't tell you how many pictures I took in the mirror before I figured out how to get my whole face in.

When you least expect it

2010-03-24T23:37:00.003-04:00

I've been hunkered down these past few days trying desperately to get a paper put to bed. I finished wrestling it into shape tonight and will be sending it off to an editor tomorrow. I hope they're kind.

After I finished saving it in a few different places, I hopped over to check my email and got some news that hit me like a blow to the stomach. See, I applied for this job a few months ago. It was pretty much the perfect job for me in every way. Not only was it just what I wanted to do, just where I wanted to do it, but I was actually perfectly qualified for it -- for every bullet point on their list I could tick off an accomplishment. I sent off my resume and have been twiddling my thumbs and trying not to hope too much ever since.
Turns out I hoped too much.
I never heard anything, but tonight, via an almost completely unrelated email, I learned that someone else got the job. And not just any someone else. A former classmate. A lovely former classmate, who is also super qualified and will do a wonderful job. But still, it was a classmate who wasn't me. And while I'm happy for that person (jobs in my field are a little thin on the ground right now), I'm crushed on my own behalf. I wanted this so badly, and I thought that I'd at least manage to get an interview or something. Maybe this was one of those cases where they had someone in mind and only advertised to give the appearance of a search -- that happens a lot, I know. Maybe I wasn't really as qualified as I thought. Maybe I made a terrible grammatical mistake in my cover letter. Maybe my application got lost under a doormat somewhere. I don't know. I'm just so bummed. And it really sucks to lose out to someone I know. Again.
I'll be fine. This wasn't meant to be, and that's okay. With all the silence from the institution, I'd been trying to prepare myself for rejection, so this isn't completely out of left field. It's just sort of a crappy thing to happen on a night when I was so happy about finishing up a project.
Boo.

WT week one

2010-03-18T21:32:00.006-04:00

Having done my questionnaire, I'm moving on to the rest of this week's tasks.

Remove one (and only one!) unsuccessful item from your wardrobe. My discard item for this week is a pair of brown jeans. I'm sure this will come up again when we get to the pants-related week, but I've decided that I'm going to stop buying pants that aren't black or grey (not counting jeans). Pants that are other colors just never work for me. And there's something particularly hideous about these. I bought them in what can only be considered a fit of shopping madness. See, most of the time, I'm cheap. I'll see things I like in stores, but I won't buy them, because they seem like too much money. But every now and then, I'll need new clothing in a hurry, or I'll be determined to get some new item of clothing. Of course, when this happens, there's never anything in the stores I like. But I have to buy something, so unwise purchases are made. These jeans were one of those bad ideas. There may be people out there for whom brown jeans are flattering. I am not one of them. They made me feel extra frumpy. Which is quite the accomplishment.
Do something that makes you feel good about your body. As I mentioned in the questionnaire, I really hate my hair right now. I've been really remiss about getting haircuts since I moved to New York. I was just really intimidated by the prospect of finding a nice salon that wouldn't charge and arm and a leg, so I didn't get haircuts. The situation would get dire and then I'd go do something crazy like duck into a salon while I was in another state visiting a friend. My hair was getting long and unmanageable again -- about halfway down my back -- and there was a nice looking salon in between school and my favorite deli, so this week I bit the bullet, made an appointment, and got a haircut. It only cost an arm, but it was worth it. I now have a swingy chin-length bob and my head feels a ton lighter. The jury's still out on whether or not I'll be able to replicate the effects of the truly awesome blow-out I got in the salon, but I'm pretty happy with it right now.
Find yourself some sources of inspiration on personal style. I'm off to go do this now. I did buy some knitting magazines tonight -- Interweave Knits and Knitscene -- I always love the way the models are styled in these, and I'm sure I'll find some good inspiration in there. (I love this cardigan so much that I think I'm going to have to knit it.) I'll report back soon with more inspiration.

Wardrobe Therapy and What I did on Spring Break

2010-03-17T23:27:00.006-04:00

So. I went to Spain! And it was super fantastic. The trip was part of the decorative arts and design history class I'm TA-ing, and part of the conditions of the administration sending the TAs was that we would handle the logistical aspects of the trip. My job was transportation, and I was holding my breath the whole time that buses would show up when we had booked them. They did, and the rest of the trip was fairly smooth as well (one stolen wallet, one case of food poisoning -- not too bad for a 23-person group.)

I have stories and pictures, but first.... Wardrobe Therapy!

The brainchild of Dr. Wende, Wardrobe Therapy is on again for the spring. Since my closet is about to burst and there are shoes everywhere in my apartment, I thought it would be a good idea for me to participate. Also, it's a form of productive procrastination, and I'm always up for that.

I wanted to go ahead and put up my answers to the questionnaire, and hopefully I can get to the rest of the week 1 tasks tomorrow.

Wardrobe Therapy Questionnaire:

1. Thinking primarily (but not necessarily exclusively) about looks, who's your favorite performer of your own gender and species? Why?

I love Lady Gaga. Love her music, love her look, love that she feels free to make her body and her clothes into an art project. That said, I’m a girl who needs to wear pants, who can’t really balance in super high heels, and who believes that muppets are for watching, not for wearing. Still, I admire her confidence, and her willingness to be beautiful and ugly and to play with traditional ideas about gender, even if there isn’t much specific inspiration I can take from her wardrobe.

For a performer whose wardrobe I could actually steal some inspiration from, well, I have to say Gabby Sidibe. It’s so nice to see a woman of size in the public eye, period. But it’s especially nice to see one who seems so comfortable and confident in her skin. She’s obviously having such a good time in the limelight, and she generally looks great doing it. And while I share the mixed feelings of the Shapely Prose crew on this subject, one of the nice things about Gabby’s use of off the rack clothes is that I actually could wear the things she does.

2. If you could live in any historic era with a really good clothing budget (as well as soap, toothpaste, and delicing as needed), when would you choose?

It's totally unsuited to my figure, but in an ideal world, with an ideal figure and budget, I’d live in the 20s and 30s and be costumed exclusively by Vionnet. This seems just about right for a night at a supper club or for cocktails and dancing.

3. What's your favorite painting or other form of visual art? Why?

I fell in love with this painting at the Prado a few weeks ago. I love the contrast between the spinners in front and the elite ladies in the background. I love it as an art historian, a knitter, a fan of mythology. I like the idea of the behind the scenes part getting to be front and center stage. I was also really tempted to put Velasquez's Las Meninas here, too. Or this one, by Florine Stettheimer, Spring Sale at Bendel's

It's so bright and bustling, there's so much to look at (which is sort of a theme in my favorite paintings) and it completely captures the mania of a big sale.

4. What is your first memory in which clothes are important?

I had this beautiful dress for my role as a flower girl in my cousin’s wedding. White organza with tiny yellow and peach flowers and a giant peach satin sash. It had puffy short sleeves and a long full skirt – very southern belle-ish. It was a floor sample at a fabric store and so much work must have gone into it. And it was the itchiest thing I have ever worn. I hated every single second I spent in it. It’s been memorialized in a big studio portrait of me and my brother that hangs in my parent’s dining room. We look very adorable. They must have caught me between scratches.

5. What is your favorite garment ever? Why?

I bought this amazing dress for the semi-formal my sophomore year of college. It was the most sophisticated thing I’d ever bought, and the most designer (it was Liz Claiborne and we got it from Macy’s – that was a pretty big deal to me back then). Little black dress, sleeveless, asymmetrical neckline. Oh I loved it. It’s been ages since I could fit in to it, but I’m not ready to let go of it yet.

6. What is your favorite garment in your wardrobe right now?

In a rare moment of foresight combined with extraordinary shopping karma, I managed to purchase a beautiful black London Fog raincoat with these super cool silver toggles. Not only was it incredibly handy during my trip to rainy Spain, but I feel very chic in it, like a proper New Yorker. I also really, really love my glittery black sneakers. They get me more compliments than anything I’ve ever owned.

7 What is the worst clothing purchase you can remember making?

I don’t know why I buy half the stuff I do. The worst offender I can think of right now would be all the vests I owned in middle school in the early 90s. I had a tapestry cat vest. I wore it with turtlenecks and a horrible perm. It was just as bad as you’re imagining right now.

8. What's your most embarrassing clothing-related memory other than a bad purchase?

Middle school was not a good period for me, fashion-wise. As a sixth grader, I had this sweatshirt I loved. Yellow with little ballerina bunnies on it (Yes, I know. Dancing bunnies. I can't explain it either). I was wearing it to school when I overheard two girls making fun of it, and me. They may have been right about how stupid that sweatshirt was. They probably were right about it. But it was all I could do not to burst into tears. I never wore that shirt again.

9. What body part (no more than three!) are you proud of and expect compliments on?

Expect compliments on? I don’t really expect compliments on anything. But I guess I do like my eyes. They’re a nice shade of blue, and really pop when I’m wearing the right colors, which I do pretty frequently, now that I realize that.

10. What body part (again, no more than three!) seems to require management, if not coaxing, cajoling, and sometimes outright begging if it's to please you?

My name is Erin and I have serious hair issues. Other than the color, there’s not much I like about it right now.

11. If you could dress however you wanted all the time, what might you include?

Cardigan, [t-shirt and jeans/t-shirt and skirt/dress], cute flats. That’s pretty much how I dress most of the time now. It's comfy and it works. I do like the idea of wearing fancy dresses all the time, but it seems like way too much work in reality. And also not that comfortable.

12. If you could shop at any store (or from any designer), which would you choose?

I’d like to live a life where I could wear Alexander McQueen’s last collection. It's all so amazingly beautiful. But since I’m not a swordfighting princess ninja, I’m worried that they wouldn’t work with my lifestyle. I also really wish Anthropologie offered things in plus-sizes.

13. Where do you ordinarily shop now?

The fat girl staples – Lane Bryant and Avenue, plus Macy’s (if you can brave the Herald Square Macy’s, it has one of the nicest plus size departments I have ever seen. Much nicer than the Macy’s in the malls back home).

14. What clothing, accessory, or prettifying need (if any) do you enjoy shopping for?

Shoes and makeup.

15. Which one do you most loathe shopping for?

Pants. I hate shopping for pants. The Lane Bryant right fit system has helped, since now I can get pants that approximate a fit at both hips and waist, but I still struggle with finding the right length, especially since I’m too cheap to pay to have them hemmed and too lazy to do it myself. This is one serious argument in favor of a pants-free lifestyle, but I don’t know if I’m ready to live solely in skirts and dresses yet.

16. Do you consider yourself low-, medium-, or high-maintenance?

I’m low-maintenance in reality, but I like to think I’m high-maintenance. Which might explain why I own so much makeup I never actually take the time to put on.

17. What are the two most frequent occasions that you dress for and how would you describe them?

Work/school – it’s all in the same building, so it gets the same wardrobe. It’s pretty business casual (jeans + nice tops are okay, and I even get away with my cuter sneakers), but I’d like to do a better job of looking more like the staff than the students. I can’t think of anything else I do often enough that also requires a different style of dress, which might be one of my problems.

18. What was your favorite Hallowe'en costume ever?

My mom made me an awesome panda costume when I was about 6. She sewed it herself. It had a top, pants, shoe covers, gloves, a hood and a mask. I think my brother had a matching tiger costume. It was hot to wear, but I loved it.

19. What do you see as the current problem(s) with your wardrobe and/or look?

My whole wardrobe runs together. I don’t ever really dress up or down, I just sort of dress. I have a problem knowing what to do with accessories, and I tend to just throw on the appropriate amount of clean clothes and go. I also get very self-conscious about trying anything new.

20. At the end of WT, what lovely compliments do you want onlookers to give you?

I’d just like to look appropriate for wherever I’m going/whatever I’m doing. I’d rather people compliment me on my actions, not my clothing, so I guess I don’t want my clothes to distract from me.

Whew, that was a long questionnaire. Stay tuned for my attempt at the other week one tasks. I have had a revelation about my pants, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Because there are other things I don't want to do more

2010-02-11T21:48:00.004-05:00

I'm posting as a form of procrastination. I have tons of things to do, most of which are urgent, none of which are fun, and all of which are making me want to hide in bed with the comforter over my head. If I can't see it, I don't have to deal with it, right?

As part of my ongoing efforts to put off unpleasant tasks, I've been doing a considerable amount of knitting. I've got a little progress to report on my finish or frog list, and I've actually started (or am about to start) two new projects (I know, I know, but I needed a sock project to work on and I had a new Rockin' Sock Club kit to open, and then the Yarn Harlot started the Winter Knitting Olympics, and I had a skein of Wollmeise that was just begging to get knitted up into this.) I mean look at this -- how could I resist?

This picture does not do it justice. I can't wait to cast on tomorrow night!

Finish or Frog Progress (from this post)

And there are pictures!
1. The Reluctant Scarf -- done!

10. Purple Tomato -- an inch to go until I hit the bottom ribbing. I'm almost there.

13. Twisted Flower Socks -- done!

14. Market Bag -- done!

15. Plaid Messenger Bag -- done!

Please note the official yarn inspector, first class, there in the lower right.

All this yarn, and she doesn't get to chew on any of it. You'd be disgruntled, too.

This was a nice break from the proofreading I ought to have been doing, but all those French vowels aren't going to get their accents put in by themselves. I'm off to go insert some accents aigus. And then my duvet and I have a little appointment to keep.

Finish or Frog

2010-01-17T21:07:00.003-05:00

More for my own reference, and to take stock and see just how bad it is

1. The Reluctant Scarf -- not sure why this one stalled out, except that I always forget how long scarves can take. But I only have about 25g of yarn to go, so this one should go quickly. (Finished 1/2010)

2. The Big Blue Afghan -- I'm going to finish the repeat I'm on and then start the border. This one has been going on for nearly a decade and it's time to be done with it.

3. Plum socks -- these are my traveling project. They'll get done sooner or later.

4. Lotus Blossom Tank -- I stalled out on the bust darts, but it's a bottom up tank and I'm up to the bust, so I'm nearly there, right?

5. Hey Teach! cardigan -- all knit up, just needs to be seamed up.

6. Mystery Stole 3
7. Mystery Stole 4
8. Icarus Shawl -- I'm more than halfway done on all of these. I just need to keep pushing through. I like lace knitting, I'm not sure why I have so much trouble finishing it.

9. Clapotis -- again, I always forget how long scarves take. I'm maybe 1/3 of the way through this one?

10. Purple Tomato -- stalled out at the colorwork band. Right now it's a crop top. I need to get it down to a wearable shirt-length. (One inch left to go till the ribbing 2/11/10)

11. Girasole -- lace knitting + big blanket = I eventually gave up. But it's so pretty!

12. Baby Surprise Jacket
13. Twisted Flower Socks (Done 2/5/2010)
14. Market Bag (Done 2/5/2010)
15. Plaid Messenger Bag -- all these projects need are buttons sewn on and/or ends woven in. I really have no excuse except for my own laziness. (Done 2/5/2010)

16. Vintage Baby Blanket
17. Granny Square Afghan -- projects I've inherited from relatives. I'm not worried about the granny squares, they'll happen sooner or later. But the baby blanket needs to get going, one way or another. I do have some baby gifts to make for this spring, so I might see how this one works, but if I don't like it, I'll be frogging this one for sure.

18. Baby booties -- why would I knit one bootie (booty? that doesn't seem right) and stop there? I don't know either.

18 projects. I think that's it. That's kind of a high number. I need to think about which ones I really want to tackle and which ones I need to let go. For now, I'm going to concentrate on my scarf. It's so close I can feel it. The ball of yarn has to run out sooner or later, right?

On the other hand:
Things I've finished since September 19
1. Crazy zauber-socks
2. Socks for Mom 2
3. Baby jacket and hat for Vishal
4. 3 squares for Schuyler's Blanket project

Baby Steps

2010-01-17T20:14:00.003-05:00

The longer I didn't write here, the harder it became to write here. I kept feeling like it wasn't enough just to put up a post. I needed, I thought, to fill you (if there are any yous left out there) in on everything you'd missed. I had this problem with paper diaries too. While I was home during Christmas break I found my junior high school diary (hilarious!). There would be a flurry of entries, then a long break, then a big catch up entry, then a few more daily entries, then a gap, etc. I think my problem was that I regarded the diary as some sort of historical record, rather than an outlet for pre-teen angst and overblown prose. Although I still managed to get plenty of angst in there.

And so, I'm going to do my best not to bore you with the details of my life since mid-September. In the words of Flylady, I'm just going to start where I am. Which is, at the moment, trying to blog while dissuading the cat from unrolling all my yarn.

I've overcommitted myself again this semester, and while I think I can pull it all off, I'm going to be crazy busy again. I really need to work on saying no. The problem is that everything sounded like such a good opportunity, I didn't feel like I ought to say no.
This semester, I'm:
Working
Serving as a TA
Helping organize and then going on a class trip to Spain for the class I'm TA-ing
Turning in my dissertation proposal
Writing a book chapter
Giving a paper at a conference

Typing all that out just made me feel slightly ill. Yikes. It's a lot to do. I'm trying to break it all out into manageable chunks. Maybe that will help. I've always liked the "baby steps" theory of self-help as espoused in one of my favorite movies (What About Bob?). It worked for Bob, maybe it will work for me.* Hopefully I will not have to move on to "death therapy.

In the meantime, I'm knitting to maintain my sanity. I carry a sock in progress in my bookbag and have been trying to get a few rounds in each day at lunch. It's surprisingly helpful. (In a related note, I'm trying hard not to eat lunch at my desk. The simple act of going up a few floors to the student lounge to eat really seems to make a difference in my afternoon attitude.) I've also decided to "finish or frog" all my current works in progress. It's a goal I've had before, without much success, but I feel a little more optimistic about it this time 'round. We shall see, I guess.

*You know, when that movie came out, I was young enough to be completely on Bob's side in that movie. Now that I'm older, while I still love Bob, I have great sympathy for Richard Dreyfuss's character. Poor guy.

So much for the best laid plans

2009-09-19T14:12:00.002-04:00

So this week, the class for which I am serving as a teaching assistant had its first sessions. The lecture session went fine - I frantically took notes and tried to discern the important points of the presentation. The class is held in the evenings, and it ran late, and I had already put in a full day at work, so by the time I got home I managed to stumble into bed and that was about it. Then we had our review session. I didn't embarass myself, which was pretty much all I was aiming for. I did forget to introduce myself, but since they met me at the lecture and I work at school and we're a tiny program, I'm going to figure that that didn't matter too much. Thankfully they were very talkative, which was perfect because in my nightmare scenario they sat silently and stared at me for 75 minutes while I tried to recap the lecture material. This week was made especially difficult because it's probably one of the trickiest lecture subjects of the whole semester, and I'm not entirely sure I understood all of the material.
I know this week was hard, being the first session and all, and there were also several other school-related events going on this week which took up lots of time, but I am just beat. I certainly hope things calm down a little because otherwise I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to make it through the semester.
In other news, I did sign up for a spot at the Ph.D. forum for early spring, which means I need to get my proposal in and start some research so I have something to say by then. I've finally settled on a topic, which was very hard for me. I had about four options, all of which I liked and all of which were feasible. It helped to realize that by picking one I'm not writing off the others for good. They'll still be there when I'm done.
I'm taking today off and then it's to the library tomorrow to get some research done. As a grad student who doesn't get to church much anymore, Sunday in a quiet library is the closest to a religious experience I have these days.

Summer's over

2009-09-07T21:11:00.004-04:00

***I looked really hard for a free version of Jonathan Coulton's "Summer's Over" to go with this, but couldn't find one. But I highly recommend the song, so go look for it.***

Well, after I finished my last exam, I promised myself that I could take the summer off. "Off" only in a loose sense, of course, since this summer I started working full time. But "off" from school, "off" from scholarly work, "off" from my dissertation proposal. It made for a nice change.

But now summer's over. And school starts tomorrow. And I can't put if off any longer -- I have to start thinking again in earnest. I can't say I'm looking forward to it. It was kind of nice to tune out for a summer. I knit, I read, I made my way through my netflix queue. It was wonderful. And now I have to shift my mind back into student mode. Not to mention into teaching assistant mode. I'm a little nervous about that.

This fall's gearing up to be pretty busy. In addition to the job, the t.a. gig, and the dissertation proposal, I'm also committed to write a book chapter by February. I'd like to think I work best under pressure, but this may be too much even for me.

Firmly believing that a new school year requires new school supplies (even if I am technically in grade 21 by now), I have a new book bag and new shoes for tomorrow. After work tomorrow, I'm going to head over to the office supply place for new pens and a new notebook or two. It's sort of a psychological boost to help me get ready for what lies ahead. I just wish I could think of a good excuse to buy some new crayons...

Working stiff

2009-08-15T13:56:00.002-04:00

The books are in, and in order (a week and a half of shelf reading and book shifting is an excellent exercise plan. Step on the ladder, reach up to move books, put books in new location, step off the ladder. Why, it's almost aerobic!)
The air conditioning works and thank heavens because it is hot here. When summer finally arrived, it really arrived.
We're still in a construction zone with temporary walls and plastic sheeting, but things are getting more and more settled every day.

So work is fine, and if nothing else, it hasn't been boring.

But I was very happy to see the weekend finally get here. I need some time to recover.

I'm home in my comfy chair, relaxing between half-hearted bouts of housekeeping and trying to achieve an ideal air circulation scheme between my three open windows and two fans. The cat is also trying to stay cool, which means we're both vying for the same prime location in the room. She doesn't seem to mind sitting on top of me, but hot + sweaty + cat on the lap is not really a recipe for comfort as far as I'm concerned. With the air on me, and with judicious application of popsicles, it's actually not too bad in here. Unless you have to exert yourself, that is, which is why the housekeeping is being punctuated by a series of breaks.

I've been knitting merrily along on socks, a sweater for a knitalong (you can see a photo there), a knitted tank, and a blanket. I was making good progress on all of them, but the blanket's about to go on hiatus until it cools down a bit. Some photos:

The bottom section of a Lotus Blossom Tank:

The Girasole blanket:

Jaywalker socks:

And now I guess I should get back to work. The vacuum isn't going to run itself.

If it isn't one thing, it's another

2009-08-01T20:20:00.003-04:00

The past 6 weeks or so have been a little crazy for me, and as I often do when things get nuts, I coped by withdrawing from people, and from this blog. Sorry about that.
I'm feeling a little better now, and though I can't really say that things are settling down, at least I feel like I'm coping a little better than I have been.
When last I wrote, I was getting ready to go to my aunt's 75th birthday party. It was a family reunion, with all my aunts and uncles on my mother's side as well as many of my cousins. I hadn't seen my parents since Christmas and hadn't seen most of the rest of my family since my uncle's funeral last March, so it was really nice to get to reconnect with them. The weekend went by much too quickly. I finished my aunt's scarf a few days before I left, and I'm pleased to report that she loved it. (And everyone else was really impressed, too.)
I'm glad I got to see my dad, because the week after the party, he had to go into the hospital for surgery. He came through with flying colors, and seems to be almost back to normal.
I wasn't able to go home and see him, which really sucked, and which was one of the reasons I am so grateful I got to see him at the reunion. I couldn't go home because the next week was when I started my new job. (See what I meant when I said things were going a little crazy?)
The job is great. I really like my coworkers, and I'm very excited for the semester to get started. The job's also a little hectic right now (but what isn't?) We're finally geared up for the big library move, which is taking place on Monday. We're getting a whole new building, and it's mostly done. It's the mostly part that's a little worrisome. I'm really not sure what we'll be moving into. Given the weather this week, I'm just hoping that the a/c will be on.
So that's more or less what I've been up to the last month or so. There's also been some reading (romance novels and sci fi), some tv (I finally got cable again, and I love it) and some knitting, which I'll try to get posted up as soon as I get a few photographs taken. I can't believe that it's August already.

Knitting content!

2009-06-12T14:20:00.005-04:00

Since it's been ages since I've shown any actual knitting on the blog, I thought it was about time to put some up.

First up, a gift I made for my friend Bekka who had her baby in April. A baby surprise jacket from the Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern, an Umbilical Cord hat from the first Stitch n' Bitch book, and a bunny hat from the pattern by Adrian Bizilia. The yarn is by Yarn Bee: Baby Bee Sweet Delight in Bare Blue and Teddy and Baby Bee Sweet Delight Twist in Teddybear. Yarn Bee is one of the house brands from Hobby Lobby, a craft store chain in Texas that I miss very much.

The Baby Surprise Jacket (my second, though I haven't even sewn up the seams on the first yet)

I really love these buttons I found -- I think they're a perfect match.

The bunny hat:

As seen on Mr. Bear, a very reluctant model:

The umbilical cord hat, one of my favorite baby gifts:

Still to come: the yarn I bought (and made) in Tucson, some mmmm...Malabrigo (gosh I love that yarn), my aunt's birthday present, and the scarf and skein that would not end.

Friday Fill-In #128

2009-06-12T13:51:00.002-04:00

Friday Fill-in blog is here

And...here we go!

1. I grew up thinking _that my family was so boring. Boy was I wrong.____.
2. _Crazy Aunt Purl ____ was the last website I was at before coming here.
3. Why don't you _go have some iced coffee? It's my summer beverage of choice.
4. _My cat _ helps me relax.
5. Thanks for the _late night pan flute concert, mysterious street flautist. It was certainly unexpected___.
6. _I think that cliquishness is _ very off-putting.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _trying out some of my newly acquired Trader Joe's wine_, tomorrow my plans include _cleaning up the kitchen_, and Sunday, I want to _finish my aunt's present_!

Friday Fill-in #127 (better late than never edition)

2009-06-06T14:20:00.002-04:00

Sorry to be late this week. I got distracted last night with knitting and never got around to it.
Friday Fill-in is here.

And...here we go!
1. _I miss my family and wish I could go visit_ home.
2. My favorite thing for dinner lately has been _asparagus. I got some from the farmer's market last week and it was wonderful_.
3. _When he gets lonely, the dog next door goes _ bark! bark! bark!
4. A nice long walk _would be nice, now that it's stopped raining____.
5. _Is it really gossip if you're only sharing____ some good news.
6. When all is said and done, _I don't think any place will ever feel like home the way Texas does____.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _knitting____, tomorrow my plans include _making pizza and knitting____ and Sunday, I want to _go to the park and do some knitting____!

When I'm not missing the deadline on memes, I've been busy with a secret knitting project for my aunt's birthday. I'm only a few rows behind schedule, but I'm hoping to catch back up today. I'm also working on updating my flicker pool and ravelry notebook, so that I can share some of the knitting I've been doing so far this year. I completed a few small projects, mainly baby gifts for friends, but I was also afflicted with a terrible case of startitis, and now I've got tons of unfinished objects laying around the knitting corner of my apartment. I think I'll be playing a little game of "finish it or frog it" this summer.
I've also been working on cleaning up my apartment. I've gotten the basic cleaning done -- things have been swept and mopped and the many small piles of paper, knitting, etc., have been consolidated into a few humongous piles of stuff. It's still a little messy, but it's much more livable than before. Now comes the harder part -- sorting, thinning the herd, and organizing it all. This is the overwhelming part, where I'm not quite sure how to start. I guess I should just jump in. Right now I've got a choice of books, paperwork, yarn stuff, other crafting stuff, or the closets (I feel like there should be some ominous music here). Any thoughts?

Friday Fill-In #126

2009-05-29T20:59:00.003-04:00

Shamelessly yanked from the blog of my friend Wife, Mom, Knitter, who got it here.
I thought this seemed like just the thing to ease back into blogging.

And...here we go!

1. It's cold and _muggy here, but I won't complain because I'd rather that than hot weather_.
2. _When I was little I only liked ketchup and spaghetti sauce, but now I like all kinds of __tomatoes.
3. My favorite health and beauty product is _vanilla bath gel____.
4. _If I had I car, I could go for ____ a nice long ride.
5. Well, first of all _it's so nice to be done with exams. I feel like a whole new person____.
6. _My friend J. and I_; those were the cast of characters in a recent dream and it was _weird. I went to Boston but it was closed. The whole city was closed. That's just my luck__.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _a South Park marathon____, tomorrow my plans include _going to the farmer's market and picking something interesting to cook____ and Sunday, I want to _go see some art exhibitions____!

That was kind of fun. I might have to keep doing this.

I've really been enjoying being responsibility-free this past week. There has been lots of knitting, and lots of fun (my friend J., of the Boston-is-closed dream, came to visit for the long weekend, and much fun was had by all). And there was even some cleaning. The apartment went from disaster zone to relatively under control. There are still assorted piles of paper and books to be sorted, but at least you can see most of the floor and the number of cat-hair tumbleweeds has been drastically reduced.

I have to go make the first part of item number 7 happen now. I just recently discovered that you can watch most of the seasons of South Park on the Netflix instant viewer. I can't wait! It's one of my go-to shows when I need a good laugh.

Stick a fork in me

2009-05-20T19:50:00.002-04:00

Because I'm done!

Monday I took and passed the last of my three field exams for my Ph.D. It was American Cultural History this round, and while each of the exams was hard in their own way, this one was by far the most challenging. The reading was the hardest to digest, the written exam was the hardest to do, and the oral was hard, largely because I was a little "thought-out" by then. Also, there were no pictures to look at, unlike at the other exams. I liked the pictures. This exam was tricky. I wrote about the ways in which issues of identity -- class, race/ethnicity, and gender/sexuality -- have impacted American cultural history in the past several decades. During my oral, the professors asked my why I chose that topic (there were several possible essay prompts). They laughed when I said because it sounded easiest. (Honestly, it did.) The examiners were two of my favorite professors, and even though it was difficult to answer their questions at times, it wasn't too bad. It was very much a conversation, and it was very nice to be treated as an equal in it.

It still hasn't quite sunk in that I'm done with it all. The last few nights when I've gotten home, I've been really surprised to realize that I can relax. I don't have to read anything off my list, or make any notes on my collection of index cards, or anything. I can do whatever I want and I don't have to deal with (much) guilt about it. That hasn't happened in a while.

The next steps are picking a dissertation topic, writing a proposal, and getting said proposal approved. Then there's the small matter of writing the dissertation. But these are all things that can wait for a while. Right now I'm going to relax.

(As an aside, one of the peculiar things about being in a small program at a small school is that everyone knows what's going on with everyone else. While this can be annoying at times, it's been very nice to be congratulated every time I see a fellow student, teacher, or staff member. That kind of thing is very good for the ego.)

In the meantime, I've watched tv, I've been knitting, I even read a book. For fun. It was wonderful. I'm trying to decide what I want to read next. I'm thinking I might work my way through the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, in order. They're just about my favorite mystery novels ever, and while I read Gaudy Night once a year or so (best book about murder, romance, and higher education ever), I haven't read some of the others in ages. I also want to organize my giant stash of craft stuff so I can do some sewing and play around with the doll house this summer. It's just been sitting around since I moved to New York. I figure if you're going to keep a dollhouse in a studio apartment, you'd better be getting some use out of it.

I also have other good news to report. While I'm going to be able to enjoy my free time this summer, come this fall I'll be nice and busy. I've gotten a full time job in the library at school. With benefits! I am beyond excited. I'll also be serving as a teaching assistant for the big design survey. I'm a bit concerned about being able to get it all done, but I'm not the only student who juggles a workload like that, so I know it can be done. I'm really looking forward to getting some teaching experience.

Anyway, I think that's about it for now. I'm hoping to be a more frequent blogger, as well as a better commenter, now that I don't have the guilt of not-studying hanging over my head. But right now you'll have to excuse me. There's some knitting and a movie calling my name.

It's really a post!

2009-04-27T17:36:00.003-04:00

Just poking my head above water to say that I just took and passed exam number two on twentieth-century decorative arts and design of Europe and America.
Yay!

Since I normally focus on early America, this one was a big stretch for me, and I hope I manage to retain at least a little bit of all the stuff I've been cramming in my head this semester. I'm afraid I'll forget it all now. Though I've been in a state of perpetual nervousness for the last few days, I actually really enjoyed both halves of the test. Is that weird? Probably.

I feel a great sense of relief, tempered by the knowledge that exam number three is lurking just a few weeks around the corner and there are still so many books to read. I'm taking tonight and tomorrow off, and will then dive back in to American cultural history.

I'll be back again on May 18th, hopefully with some good news.

A Quick Update

2009-02-18T19:39:00.003-05:00

I have tried to write a post so many times, and it's just not happening. Everything I put down on paper (or screen, as it were) sounds too flip or too whiny, or too, I don't know, wrong.

So I'll just say this: I'm fine, mostly. I'm battling a bit of the winter blues. And I'm not studying nearly as hard as I ought to be. And those exams keep getting closer and closer. But I'm hanging in there. It will all be fine in the end.

I am beginning to wonder...

2009-01-27T19:16:00.002-05:00

if it's possible for me to go a week without injuring myself or suffering from some kind of illness. Between the face-to-the-door thing and the cold I've caught (darn you grad school germs!) I haven't been able to breathe right in weeks. I'm hoping the cold is on it's way out, thanks to copious amounts of orange juice and generic cold medicine. It's funny, I'm very reluctant to medicate for actual pain (I think I'm stoic, my mom thinks I'm stubborn), but the minute I start sneezing, I break out the troops -- cough drops, daytime medicine, nighttime medicine. Out comes the tea with honey and lemon, the hot soup, and my warmest, fuzziest socks. Sometimes it really sucks to live alone, and being sick is one of those times. The cat is not a very sympathetic nurse.

I want to thank everybody for their well wishes regarding the whole nose/face/glasses thing. I never did get any bruises, but my face was pretty sore for about a week. Every now and then I stop to think how lucky I am that I didn't get hurt worse than I did. The scars are really not that noticeable anymore, and I actually really like the replacement frames I got for my lenses. Don't worry, I'm going to get brand new glasses ordered next week with a brand new prescription. I'm just waiting for one more paycheck before I go. Glasses should not be so expensive.

I'm working on posts with actual knitting, and with details of my whirlwind trip to Arizona, but they may take me a while, as I'm right back in the thick of exam reading again. Luckily, my examiners for the next two topics are adamant about not loading me down with an excessively long reading list. That's the good news. The bad news is the books that are on my list are very, very dense. I'll definitely be putting the new glasses to the test.

In which I make a spectacle of myself.

2009-01-13T23:36:00.002-05:00

In my daydreams, I am fabulous. Glamorous, well-dressed and perfectly groomed, graceful, witty, the center of attention wherever I go. But that's just my daydreams.

In real life, I'm actually fairly content to go about my day unnoticed. I don't really like to draw attention to myself. Which is just one of the things that makes what happened yesterday especially embarrassing (and, as you'll see, kind of painful).

Yesterday after work I thought I'd go shopping. I had a lot of errands to run before I head out of town this weekend, and decided that a certain store whose logo is a red bulls eye would be the best place to go. I rode the subway to the shopping center, stopped at the bank, popped in at a clothing store to peruse the sale, and headed to the big store, list in hand.

I was about four feet from the door when I felt it happen. My feet just went out from under me. I reached out for the door handle to stop my fall and missed. But my face didn't miss. It hit the door just fine. I hit the door, nose first, right on the handle, and then hit the ground. I broke my glasses, got a bloody nose, and, to add insult to injury, got cuts on my face from where my glasses frames hit me. I was stunned, and then I started freaking out because I am blind without my glasses. The employees and some nice customers helped me get up and get out of the way and collected my belongings (and can I just say how grateful I am that all the undergarments I had just purchased did not spill out of their bag? That would have been the icing on the awful cake). By this time I had realized that my glasses were destroyed, and was crying and bleeding everywhere. I finally remembered that I had an old pair of glasses in my book bag, so that calmed me down a little, since at least I could get home that way, and then I started worrying that maybe I had broken my nose, but the paramedics who came (the store insisted) said I was okay. I filled out a bunch of forms, cleaned up as best as I could, got some kleenex for the road, and headed home.

Did you know that if you're covered in blood, nobody will try and sit by you on the bus? It's true.
If you like to people watch, and you take a lot of public transportation, you have seen that person. That crazy-looking scary person on the bus or the train. Yesterday I was that person.

I spent an uncomfortable night trying to sleep, and then spent most of today getting the glasses taken care of. The frames were shot, but the lenses were okay, so I found a place that could pop them into a new frame, so at least I can see again. (The old pair wasn't quite right, and I was not looking forward to having to wear them for long). I also got an eye exam and a new prescription, and am going to go order a new pair when I get back next week. As an aside, I went to two different locations of a place that rhymes with schmenscrafters, and they were so rude (although their doctor was very nice). I got much better service at what the schmenscrafters saleslady nastily referred to as "the lower end" place across the street, where they found me new frames and where I will be ordering my new pair later. Seriously, those ladies were not nice and so they won't be getting my business in the future.

Now that the glasses are taken care of, I've just got the bruises and cuts to deal with. (and a really sore nose. I keep poking it to see if it's still hurting. It is. I should stop doing that).
I have to wear a bandage on my nose because the cuts are right on the bridge of my nose where the glasses sit. I tried to be as inconspicuous with the bandages as possible, but I do look like I've had a nose job or something right now. And of course this would happen at the start of a two-week period in which my social calendar is fully booked for once. Including a date-ish thing.
Just my luck.
On the train, on the streets, at school, I felt like everyone was staring at me and my messed up face today. This is not what I had in mind when I wanted to be noticed.*

*Although, this being New York, I was still not the oddest person on the subway this morning. That honor goes to you, man wearing multiple strings of pearls.

Late as usual

2009-01-07T09:02:00.002-05:00

My New Year's resolution post is a week late. That seems typical for me these days. But, as I so often say during situations such as these, at least it's getting done at all.

First note: my dad's socks were finished at approximately 11:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve. Dad wore them to ring in 2009 and reports that they are very comfortable. I've got pictures, but am not sure where my camera has wandered off to.

Second note: I'm currently reading Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation and loving every page. But Erin, you might be saying to yourself, isn't that a book about American history? Yes, yes it is. Didn't you swear off history in your quest to get the fun in while you could? Yes, yes I did. But I don't care. This is her book about traveling around the country to see sights related to the first three presidential assassinations -- Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. Why am I reading this instead of a romance novel right now (and there are a couple of those waiting their turn on the nightstand, too)? Well, it's about the "dirty" side of history, something I always enjoy, and I really like Vowell's deadpan (no pun intended) style (I'm a big fan of her appearances on NPR, too). But mostly, it's because this book is really about more than assassinations -- it's about the way that people remember, the way that we construct history and the way that we tell our story as Americans. It's actually an area that I'm very interested in, academically speaking. But it's not dry and boring like so many of the books I read last year for my exams (and will be reading again soon). I've often wondered if there's some prohibition against being an interesting writer and also being an academic. So often the two things are separate, and that's a shame. But that's also a topic for another time.

Now the real reason I'm here: Resolutions.
Here are mine: I'm not making any.
Well, that's not precisely true. I want to pass my exams. But other than that, no resolutions for me. And that's not really a resolution so much as it is a requirement by my academic program. I don't really have any choice on the matter if I want to keep going.

I acknowledge that there's room for improvement in so many areas of my life, and I do hope to take steps toward making those improvements this year. But my history of resolution-keeping is not that great, and frankly, I don't need the pressure right now. It seems unfair to me that we should be encouraged to upend our lives and reexamine ourselves so thoroughly at the darkest. coldest time of the year, right after all those holiday excesses. It's all party, party, party, then suddenly the lights go on and you're forced to stare blearily at yourself and your life in one of those hideously unflattering department store mirrors. No wonder it's so easy to make long lists of things to condemn and improve. Nothing and nobody looks good in those mirrors.

Over at Shapely Prose, they've got a great post about this that says it more eloquently than I can, encouraging us to remember what we accomplished in 2008 as we look forward to 2009.

Here's my brief list of what I'm proud of:
1. Passed my first field exam and my German language exam.
2. Wrote several catalogue entries for (eventual) publication.
3. Made it through a year of graduate school and a year of life in New York.

One last dispatch from 2008

2008-12-30T15:40:00.003-05:00

I'm writing this from a Starbucks in Texas, because my parents are still on dialup and one whole week without internet access was making me just a leeetle bit crazy.
After passing my exam not quite two weeks ago, I promptly went to sleep, got snowed in by a rogue snowstorm, and headed home to Houston, where temperatures have ranged from the low 30s to the 70s. It is really hard to pack for this kind of weather, but since I haven't worn a coat since I got here, I can't complain too much.
I've very much enjoyed being home for a while. It's always good to catch up with family and friends, and it was sort of reassuring to see that while there's still plenty of clean up from Ike left to do, Houston is well on its way back to something resembling normal. The marina near our house has boats where boats shouldn't be (the parking lot, the median by the road, etc.) and there are plenty of blue tarps dotting the roofs around here, but things look good overall. It's very relaxing to be home. I've been catching up on my sleeping, reading, and knitting, and have been trying out my mom's big Christmas present -- a Kitchen-Aid mixer (I'm a little jealous, but there's no way I could fit one in my apartment's kitchen, so I'm just mixing everything in sight while I'm here instead.)
Christmas was really nice. I am now well-armed with a variety of fun books, as opposed to books for my exams, and am doing my best to read as much as I can before I go back to New York and have to start studying again. I'm supposed to squeeze two exams in this next semester. Blech. I want to try and keep up with making a reading list this year. It may look like I slacked off on the list this year, but actually I just never got much of a chance to read for fun after about August or so.
I've also been knitting like a madwoman, mostly on my dad's socks, which I am determined to finish before I head back east on Saturday. I've currently got one-and-a-half socks and see no reason why I can't finish them before the end of the year.
And since the baby in question has made her appearance, I thought I'd share the baby gift I knit for my friend S's little girl.

That's a Tender Blankie (Thanks Wife, Mom, Knitter for alerting me to this pattern), a baby hat from the first Stitch n' Bitch book, and baby ballet slippers that I made up from a bunch of different baby shoe designs. I'll try and get the details up on Ravelry when I get back to New York. Here's a closeup of the shoes.

I think they turned out pretty well.
Well, I have to leave the coffee shop (and their speedy internet access) to go pick up my mom so we can go do our part to revitalize the economy. I don't expect that I'll get back online much until I get back to New York, so I'll close by wishing everyone a very happy new year. I, for one, will be glad to see the end of 2008.

Merry Christmas to Me!

2008-12-17T22:53:00.002-05:00

I passed the exam.

I can't tell you how relieved I was the minute they told me. I didn't know how much stress I was carrying around until it was gone. It feels so nice to be free of it all, just for a day or two. It's a little hard to stop smiling.

I took the written exam on Tuesday and had my oral this afternoon. The written part was every bit as excruciating as I had thought it would be. I thought three hours would be a long time, but it seemed to go by so quickly and before I knew it I was handing in my paper. I managed to churn out 8 double-spaced pages of my (more or less coherent) thoughts on the progression of geographic influences on the design and production of American decorative arts from 1600 to 1900. I stumbled home (through the snow!) ate some dinner and tried (unsuccessfully) to get to sleep.

Today during the oral part, my professors had a few questions about what I'd written, and then we moved on to the slides. They put up pictures of different objects and I had to talk about them. There were a few where I didn't quite get everything (despite my best efforts, I still have no real idea of how clocks work), but I did pretty well on that part overall. And in a stroke of incredible luck, several things that were in the last few books I read ended up being on the exam. I'm so glad I crammed them in. And cramming is what it felt like -- I really did feel like I had run out of room in my brain. I don't know how I'm going to be able to do this two more times.
So we chatted about andirons and quilts and retablos and Louis Comfort Tiffany's dining room, and then it was over!

And luckily for me, the school holiday party was this evening. It's almost like they threw it just for me. I won't lie, it was really, really nice to get congratulated by everyone. This has felt like a pretty lonely endeavor sometimes, so it was nice to have a social event to cap it off.
Now I'm home in my pjs, cup of cocoa in hand, and I just feel so relaxed. Tonight will be the first night in weeks that I haven't gone to bed worrying about this thing. And tomorrow, I'm going to the library to clear all the books for my exam off of my shelf. That will be a very cathartic experience.

Now that I'm temporarily sane again, hopefully I can be a little more present here on this blog, and in the comments of all of yours. Who knows, I might even show off a little knitting in the days to come. (Wouldn't that be a shock!)

It's Alive! (Post-Thanksgiving Edition)

2008-12-01T00:28:00.002-05:00

Just a quick note to say that studying for my qualifying exam has not killed me yet. I am alive and mostly well (except for a cold -- the third this fall), and hope to see the light sometime after December 16, which is the date of the big exam (both the written, and, hopefully, the oral). A date that is approaching a little too rapidly for my tastes. I'm taking my first subject field in American Decorative Arts, 1600-1900, which is an area I have been working on for the last eight years. It's not the material itself that is the problem, it's trying to decide which bits are worth remembering that is worrisome. I am encouraged by the fact that very little of the material is new to me, and also by the fact that my ~~bullshitting~~ improvisational skills are pretty considerable.

I don't think I'll be around much until then, but I hope I'll be back with good news. Wish me luck!

Yes We Did.

2008-11-05T00:23:00.001-05:00

We sure did.

I'd love to write something profound, something poignant, something meaningful. But I'm still crying. It's like every Christmas ever rolled into one beautiful night. I know that Obama's no magician -- there's still so much to fix, so much to do. But for the first time in a long time, politically speaking, I feel so hopeful.

Sometimes watching history is wonderful. It was tonight.

Thank you Susan B. Anthony!

2008-11-04T12:28:00.005-05:00

I headed out to the polling place before work this morning. There was more of a crowd than there was for the primaries, but not that many people overall. I think that there are many immigrants in my neighborhood, so I am not sure how many of them can vote. Still, it felt good to do my civic duty. (Even though I didn't get a sticker. I like the stickers.)

Here in New York we have the old fashioned machines with big levers. I like them much more than the computers we had in Texas. Pulling the lever is fun. (and also, these machines are apparently harder to mess with than the computerized version).

I have always lived in states that go pretty solidly red or blue, so on the national scale, I've never felt much like my vote was all that critical (the local scale is a whole 'nother story, though), but I've always been excited about voting and have voted in all the major and many of the minor elections since. I remember how angry I got in grade school when I learned that women hadn't always been allowed to vote. It seemed (it was) so incredibly unfair. I'd like to think that had I been alive in the nineteen-teens and earlier, I would have been out on the front lines with the suffragists. So for Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Pankhursts, Carrie Chapman Catt, and all those other women (and men) whose names and faces aren't as famous --

thanks for giving me the right to say:

To tide you over...

2008-10-11T12:50:00.002-04:00

Yes, I'm still alive.
No, grad school hasn't beaten me yet, though it's been close.
Yes, I have been sick three times so far this fall.
No, I don't think it's fair either.
Yes, I did get approved to take all my field exams.
No, I haven't freaked out about it (yet.)
Yes, I have created my first exam bibliography.
No, I don't think there's any way I can read all those books by the beginning of December either.
Yes, I had a lovely time when my parents came to visit, even though I had to stay up until 2 a.m. most nights in order to get my work done.
No, that "easy" extra research project I took on isn't done yet, largely because they keep adding more work to it. They also keep adding more pay to the project, so I'm not that upset, though I look forward to being done with the whole thing by the end of the weekend.
Yes, I have been knitting. Not much, but it's been keeping me sane-ish.
No, I'm not going to Rhinebeck (Wahhh!). But while I am sad, my wallet is okay with it. (I also made up for it with a MMMMalabrigo purchase last week)

I'll try to update in more detail soon. But until then, here's something I read today and was utterly charmed by. I'm posting it here because maybe some of you might enjoy it, and also because I know I'll forget all about it otherwise.

On Turning Ten

The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I'm coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light--
a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.

This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number.

It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.

--Billy Collins

May all your psyches be mumps-free, and have a good weekend.

Catch-up Day

2008-09-22T20:35:00.002-04:00

My lack of blogging can be explained by two things.

1. I'm not doing anything interesting
2. All those boring things I'm doing are keeping me terribly busy.

So here's what I've been up to, in a convenient list form.

1. My parents are fine, and they just got their power back yesterday. Seabrook is still pretty much a mess, but things are slowly getting back to normal.

2. I've just about finalized my field exam subjects and examiners, and I now I'm worrying about creating my bibilographies. Two of the exams I'm taking are new fields, so there aren't existing bibiliographies to work off of. Why do I always have to make things so complicated?

3. I've bitten off too much to chew with research projects this month. I've got a bunch of catalog entries due on the first, and a freelance job due on the 5th. I suppose it will all get done in time, but I don't expect to enjoy it.

4. My parents are coming to visit. This means I have to clean. Really clean. At least it's giving me the kick I need to make a few improvements around here.

5. I work until 5 most days, either in the library or in the exhibitions department. By the time I get home, I am exhausted. I haven't done much in the way of cooking lately, and I've eaten an unbelievable amount of frozen pizza. I did manage to make chili today. It seemed like a good way to celebrate the beginning of fall. But now I'm REALLY tired, and I still have to get my laundry ready, take out the trash, and do the dinner dishes. And then I need to work on one of my reports. And I want to watch Heroes, and I would have liked to get some knitting done too.
There are simply not enough hours in the day.

6. I'd keep making list items, but then I'll never get anything done. So I will leave you with one of my favorite songs right now.

After the storm

2008-09-13T15:18:00.003-04:00

Well, my parents and brother made it through the storm okay at his place. They don't have water or power as of 3 p.m Eastern time, but neither does most of the rest of Houston. Not much damage in his neighborhood, so hopefully the power will be on soon.
As for home, reports are that my suburb did okay*, with water from the lake not getting more than a few houses beyond the shore. Lots of wind and tree damage though. It's the trees I'm worried about -- we have two huge live oak trees in the front yard and one of them has been dying, which means it might not have been strong enough to withstand the storm. Irony of ironies, my parents had their roof replaced last month.
The AP has a picture of the state highway near us with a sofa and a boat in the middle of the road. Things appear to have been much worse for the areas right near the bay** -- apparently the local Dairy Queen was pretty much submerged, as was T-Bone Tom's, home to some truly excellent BBQ.
My best friend (she's in Arizona) and I have been calling each other, commiserating about whatever news we can get off the net. At least it's something to do. I'm also cleaning my own apartment, which is sublimating my feelings of helplessness quite nicely.

*And can I just say thank God for the internet? Between the websites of the Houston Chronicle and the sites of some of the t.v. stations, as well as streaming radio, I've been able to keep up wiht the news, see photos of my area, and, through a forum, read reports from as close as a few streets away from my parents' home. It's probably kept me from going even crazier.

**Though Galveston got off easier than expected, thanks to an "only" 12-15 foot storm surge, apparently as many as 40% of the local population didn't evacuate. Then, of course, they started calling emergency services late on Friday night, at which point nobody could go in to rescue them because it was too dangerous. While my heart goes out to those too poor or sick to evacuate (and there were buses off of the island well into Friday afternoon, so one would hope there weren't too many of those), many of the people who stayed seemed to be nothing more than stubborn. I hope they don't have to pay too high a price for it all. One man in particular made me want to reach through my computer screen and strangle him myself. He said he was staying because "if it isn't your time, you'll be fine." Well buddy, I sure hope it wasn't your time. Seriously, I'm a bit of a fatalist myself, but come on. If I thought the hurricane was out to get me, I certainly wouldn't make it so easy for old Ike.

Edited to add: Heard from a family friend who works for the city and is in our neighborhood -- the trees and the house are still standing. It's nice to find something to be happy about. I just wish that everyone could have a home to come back to.

Not what I wanted my 100th post to be about

2008-09-12T18:40:00.002-04:00

If you can spare a few thoughts and prayers today, please direct them towards Houston and Galveston, Texas. My parents were smack in the center of the mandatory evacuation zone for Hurricane Ike (we're about 20 min. from Galveston and our town, a suburb of Houston, is on the bay), but have made it safely to my brother's house. He lives across the city (Houston's a big town, so that's about an hour away) and they should all be safe there.

I've been looking at pictures of my neighborhood online, and the flooding from the storm surge alone is already pretty bad with most of the roads under a good amount of water. The storm hasn't even hit yet. It's hard to tell these days, because "gloom and doom" seems to be the default setting for the weathermen, but they are predicting that Galveston will be a direct hit -- which the island can't necessarily take -- and then the storm should head up towards Houston and to the northwest, which will pretty much take it through our neighborhood, darn it.

Things shouldn't be as bad as Katrina -- though the storm is as big, it isn't as strong, and there are apparently fewer people who couldn't evacuate. Unlike many of the hard hit areas of New Orleans, most people in the Houston/Galveston area have cars, so they have been able to get out, and people are more careful now than they used to be. There are always a stubborn few though. It's funny how they always manage to get shown on tv or the papers. I never know what to think of them. Part of me wants them to quit being a hero and get the heck away, and part of me knows how hard it would be to leave, not knowing what might happen while you were away.

It's so hard to be up here. Not that there's anything I could do if I was back home with my family. And I'm certainly glad I don't have to sit through the storm tonight. It's hard to worry by yourself, though. Aside from my concern about family, friends, and neighbors, I am rather selfishly worried about my home -- the physical building, I mean. Which makes me feel terrible, that I should care about that right now. But still.

I hope everything will be okay. We'll know in the morning, I guess.

Like Any Other Day

2008-09-11T19:23:00.002-04:00

I haven't been able to get good reception on my clock radio lately, and with no cable, I don't watch much television. I don't read the newspaper, though I usually check the New York Times and a few other news sites during my coffee break at work (shh... don't tell) and again when I get home. So with such little exposure to the media, it was pretty easy to forget what today was.

Well, almost.

Today was gloomy, promising rain that hasn't come yet, but earlier this week the sky was bright and blue and cloudless. Just like that day, seven years ago. A co-worker remarked that this kind of early fall weather is almost spoiled for her now, and everyone else in the office who had been in the city then agreed.

I stay away from the financial district and lower Manhattan. Not consciously, really. It's just I generally have very little reason to be down there. But I go down there sometimes, and when I see that giant scar in the ground, or that hole in the sky where those two icons used to be, I remember. And I feel a little sick.

All that death and destruction. All those lives lost. All those people who were minding their own business, just going to work. Who thought that day was just another day.

I wasn't in New York on September 11, 2001. I was in Delaware, getting ready for a meeting with my thesis advisor. I remember hearing the reports on NPR. One plane hit. Everyone thought it was a mistake, an accident. I took a shower. When I came out, everything was different. The second plane. The Pentagon. The crash in Pennsylvania. I drove to school. Didn't know what else to do. We were all in shock, I think, trying to be normal. People who knew people who worked in New York tried to call their friends and family, just to check in. A few hours into the day they closed the museum campus, "for security." We all thought that was funny, in the way that things can be funny and sad and horrible at the same time. I drove home (I remember the streets seemed oddly empty) and turned on the tv, watched for as long as I could stand, and then curled up into a little ball in bed and cried.

I had been to New York City for the first time earlier that year. I loved it immediately. But my love was a tourist's love, a reader and movie watcher's love. I loved the magic the city promised, I loved all the history it held, but I knew very little about what living there was really like. I loved the idea of New York, and dreamed that maybe I could live there one day. I didn't know the practicalities, the challenges of the daily grind, the gritty but often wonderful reality. I know a little more now, one year into my tenure in the Bronx. Though I can never really know what it was like in the City that day, knowing life in New York as I do now, I can barely begin to imagine. But even the city I love is different than the New York that existed before 9/11. Shaped in innumerable ways by a tragedy too terrible to contemplate. I wonder how the city I have come to know would be different now, if things had been different.

Seven years is a very long time. But sometimes it isn't very long at all.

***
If you've made it all the way to the end of my rambling, and if you can stand to read one more thing about that day, from someone who was there, and who can say it far better than I, I highly recommend this. The first two links in her essay will tell you all about Sars and her search for Don, if you need a little background. If by some chance Don sounds at all familiar to you, please let her know.

Labor Day

2008-09-01T20:41:00.003-04:00

I spent my Labor Day the way I've spent much of the past few days -- asleep or knitting. I came down with a summer cold last week and have been unsucessfully fighting it off ever since. I had to miss a cookout because of this darn cold, and I hate missing the opportunity to eat a charred meat product.

But at least there was knitting! Since the Summer of Socks knitalong ended today, I rushed along and finished my Oriel Lace socks.

They're from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks, and I made them in Dream in Color Smooshy (color: Lunar Zazzle), which is my new yarn crush.

And there's been baby knitting, too! Inspired by Wife, Mom, Knitter, I am working on Wendy Bernard's Tender Blankie for a friend who is expecting. I'm using up various colors of Caron Simply Soft in an attempt to knit from the stash. I didn't have enough yarn to do the blanket in one color -- so voila! Stripes!

I'm part way into square 3 right now. This is a really easy and fun knit and I will definitely keep it in mind for future baby knitting needs.

Also, like every other knitter on the planet, I am making a baby surprise jacket from the pattern (well, it's really more of a guideline) by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I've been wanting to make one for a while, and the recent spate of babies has provided me with a good excuse. Thursday I went to my LYS after work to buy the pattern and look at yarn. In what I can only assume was some karmically earned serendipity, they were having a BSJ knitalong that very night. So I also bought some needles and sat down and got started. I'm glad I did, because while the knitting isn't hard, the pattern is very brief, and assumes that you know to do certain things that other patterns would normally spell out for you. I'm glad I had someone to walk me through the beginning and to point out a few quirks in the pattern language. I don't have a picture yet, mainly because it doesn't look like much right now, but I promise to show you it soon. I am using a worsted weight yarn, and I'm afraid the jacket is going to be pretty big, but the nice thing about babies is that they grow, so it will fit eventually I guess.

In other news, school starts tomorrow. I don't have any classes to take this semester and will be mainly working on my exams this year. I am a little nervous about how this will work, since I don't do well without deadlines. Even though there's no class for me tomorrow, I still will be showing up bright and early since I'm going to be working in the library. I even get to man the reference desk for a while. Exciting!

And finally, before I sign off to go get my stuff together for the morning, here's a cat photo.

Minnie says, "I have a Ph.D. in napping."

Yum!

2008-08-25T21:19:00.002-04:00

There will be knitting updates as soon as I can rouse myself to take pictures. But until then, how about a meme? I got this one from Dr. Wende.

Favorite food to crunch: Popcorn. With salt, but butter's optional.

Favorite comfort food: Mashed potatoes and gravy. No contest, hands down, my favorite comfort food, and a definite contender for favorite food ever.

Favorite picnic lunch: When we used to take family road trips when I was a kid, my parents would pack a cooler so we could eat at rest stops along the way. Our big treat was Underwood meat spreads, a canned food that we rarely got at home. It also came in deviled ham and roast beef varieties, but the deviled chicken was our (my brother and me) favorite. Spread on bread with Miracle Whip, mustard, and a slice of cheese, the sandwich meant that vacation was underway. Half the fun was eating it at a rest stop picnic table, with paper towels for napkins and chips or cold pork n' beans as a side. Somehow I don't think it would taste as good eaten at home. I'm also not so sure it would taste good now that I'm an adult. But at least I have the memory.

Favorite food scene in movie: The sequence in the first Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the "Chocolate Room" (this is the part where Gene Wilder sings "Pure Imagination"). I'm not a big fan of the movie as an adult, but I used to dream about being set loose in that room when I was a little kid. All that candy! That river of chocolate! Those little edible buttercup teacups....

Favorite food lyrics: "And when I promised my hand / He promised me back / Snow Cherries from France." I don't know what French Snow Cherries are, but don't they sound wonderful? This is one of my favorite Tori Amos songs, all about love and wandering boys, and promises kept and broken. It sounds like the beginnings of a fairy tale, or a grand adventure story.

Best food smell memory: The smell of my grandma's caramel pecan rolls. She used to make a pan every time she came to visit. The smell of the yeasty dough, of the caramelized sugar, of the melty butter you spread on before you eat them -- they remind me of her, and how much she loved sweets and baking and sharing food with her family. I attempted them by myself for the first time last Christmas. They smelled just right.

Favorite summer snack: Strawberries. Sure you can get them all year now, but they're best (and cheapest) in the summer, and I try to eat as many as I can before they're gone.

Food that reminds me of the ocean: Fried soft-shell crabs on a roll, preferably eaten at the West Haven beaches.

Favorite winter snack: Eggnog. I've had some killer homemade versions, but I like my dad's the best. He gets Pennsylvania Dutch brand and doctors it up a bit.

Most likely to eat for lunch: Last year it was soup from the Soup Stop. This year it will probably be burritos from the Burrito Box (what is it with lunch places and alliteration?). Or whatever else is near school and relatively inexpensive.

Least likely to eat for lunch: Something I brought from home. Despite my best intentions, I am terrible at packing lunches. I always mean to do it the night before but then I forget and don't have time in the morning and run off to work with a bottle of water and some crackers or something.

Makes me gag: Raw cucumber. (but not pickles!)

Food tradition I love: My mom's Christmas morning egg sandwiches. They're a homemade version of Egg McMuffins and it wouldn't be Christmas without them.

Food tradition I loathe: I hate black-eyed peas and I don't care if it's good luck to eat them on New Year's. They're terrible.

Favorite wild foods: I'm a child of the suburbs. Food comes from the grocery store.

Favorite medicinal food: Chicken soup, especially Vietnamese chicken soup. It's good for what ails you.

Food that reflects my heritage: I'd love to name some classic German dishes, but they really aren't foods that got eaten much in my family (with the exception of German potato salad). My culinary heritage is good old Midwestern-type casserole food, preferably incorporating a can of Campbell's cream of something-or-other soup.

Food most like me: Burritos. They're packed with interesting stuff. ;)

Favorite raw food smell: Limes. They smell fresh and clean and like summer and the beach and refreshing drinks and maybe even key lime pie.

I came, I translated, I kicked some butt!

2008-08-19T11:04:00.002-04:00

Summer internship: over, except for a few last details (whew!)
Library job: restarted, and they'd like me back for the fall (yay!)
German: learned, sort of (arrgh!)
German reading exam: passed (hooray!)
Next step on the road to Ph.D.: proposing my qualifying exams (aack!)

Sorry to have dropped of the interwebs like that. Things got a little crazy once I realized how little time I had before the German exam. But it is over and I have passed (thank goodness) and now I'm right where I should be on the degree schedule. I just got the email with the results - I was a bit afraid to look in case the news wasn't good. I still can't believe I passed. I've reread the email several times just to make sure.

The exam was hard. I got the paper and looked at the page full of German and freaked out a little (ok, a lot). It seemed to take me forever just to get through the title and I started to panic a little. I just kept going, though, and things got easier and I got faster, and by the end of the three hours I had made it through the whole passage. By the end, I felt like I more-or-less had the basic idea of all the sentences down, but I just didn't know if it would be finely tuned enough to pass muster. The German instructor was rumored to be very tough, so I just didn't know. I spent the evening making chocolate chip cookies to console myself, just in case. Now they can be cookies of celebration, instead!

I'm off to enjoy myself for a day. For once, there's very little hanging over my head. Tomorrow it's back to work and back to figuring out what to do about those qualifying exams, but I'm just going to enjoy the day today. Auf wiedersehen!

...And I'm thirsty

2008-08-01T20:42:00.002-04:00

I have a little problem with contemporary art. Namely, most of it is crappy. So when I learned that this week's intern field trip was to P.S.1, The Museum of Modern Art's contemporary art space, I was a little less than thrilled. I was even less thrilled when I went to the website the night before to see what was up. Finnish art? Now I have nothing against Finland. I'm sure the Finns are a delightful people, what with their reindeers and lovely sweaters, and um, other stuff. But what kind of art was going to be there?

Well, I'm pleased to say that I was totally wrong. I saw some totally awesome art today. Here's a link to the exhibit. You can see detail pictures of many of the coolest things there. There were four things I thought were especially cool. For the design aficianados among you, there was the Futuro Lounge, which is a version of futuristic plastic pre-fab housing from the 1960s. It was refitted as a space to watch installation videos. It was hard to imagine the place functioning as a home, but it would have made a thouroughly awesome bar.
If you go to the page I linked above and look at the rotating images at the top, you'll notice a rabbit standing in front of a pool of water. The picture doesn't do this one justice. The room was dark, lit from above with all the light shining into a round pool of water. It looked like moonlight and was cold and beautiful. The rabbit was standing on its hind legs with its front paws on the edge of the pool, and if you were standing across from it, it seemed to be looking directly at you. It was so beautiful I didn't want to stop looking at it, but there was almost something sinister about it all.
Also sinister, VERY sinister, was an installation by an artist named Markus Copper. Called Kursk, it was set in a small room off a quiet stairwell in a corner of the museum. It was dark when you walked in, and before you were several rows of large black old-timey diving suits hanging from the ceiling. Creepy enough, in its way. But then they started to move. Lights went on and off in their helmets, their arms (holding giant wrenches) started to move up and down. The whole thing was accompanied by banging noises and wooshing sounds. It was terrifying. Turns out it's an homage to a group of Russian sailors who were trapped deep under the sea in a nuclear submarine and all died. With the added background knowledge, the whole thing was even more disturbing. I don't know what it must have been like for those poor men, but if it was anything like that room, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. This one will be with me for a while. (The photo on the website is nothing like the actual room -- not nearly as dark and grim.)
There were other great things, like clothing made out of feathers and natural seeds and grasses, movie projects, more rabbit art, but I want to leave on a high note after that last thing there, so I'll mention the thing that I was most excited by. The Complaints Choir. I had seen a few of these videos on youtube before, but was pleasantly surprised to see that there were many more playing in one of the rooms in the exhibit. I guess the originators of the project were Finnish? If you haven't heard about this project, basically they go to different cities, get a group of volunteers together, and then write and sing songs based on things the people complain about. It's really awesome. The version from Helsinki, though not in English, is beautiful (there are subtitles). I especially liked this one, from Birmingham, England. The refrain is particularly catchy. I've been humming it all day.

So I'm glad I got proven wrong about contemporary art, and had a lovely and educational day despite myself. I like it when that happens. So go watch the complaints video, because for the moment, there are no complaints here. Happy weekend!

The knitting

2008-07-30T20:06:00.003-04:00

Oh, the knitting.

I've been feeling very lazy lately. I think it's partly in reaction to work, where there is far too much to do, so that when I'm home I don't want to do anything. It's sort of my passive-agressive way of having free time, except the only person I'm annoying is myself. But since I get annoyed when my friends don't update their blogs (how dare they go have lives instead of writing about them!), I thought I should update mine, just in case anyone feels that way about me. I assure you, when I'm not writing here, I am not out having fun. I'm probably just sacked out in the living room watching tv and trying not to melt into my armchair.

So. Here's a picture of the finished summer socks by Wendyknits. Please ignore my large and pasty legs. It is hard to take a picture of your feet while you're wearing socks. Especially when it's hot outside.

Also, here's a picture of the sock-in-progress:

It's the Oriel pattern from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. I'm now all the way up to the leg, so I guess I should take a new picture, huh?? I'm very pleased with this sock. First of all, the yarn (Dream in Color Smooshy in Lunar Zazzle) is WONDERFUL! It is indeed very smooshy. I love the color and it's knitting up into a fabric that I think will be very comfy to wear. Secondly, this is the sock on which I finally learned how to pick up stitches. Just like my old foe the matress stitch, picking up stitches has always been an ordeal for me. With the matress stitch, I had to watch someone do it before it all clicked. This time, I looked at the instructions in the book and suddenly the light went on. Usually the picking-up stiches part of a sock involves a lot of swearing, but not a curse word was said this time. Thirdly, I got lots of compliments on it at the last knitting group I went to, which was very good for the ego.

In other knitting matters, this past week I got the happy news that this winter there will be two new babies in need of knitted goodies. I'm very happy for my friends, and I'm also happy for me, because I love to knit baby stuff. It's cute and its little, which are both good incentives for me to get things done. I'm thinking maybe some of the booties that my friend Wife, Mom, Knitter's been making for the girl baby, but I don't know what to do about the baby-of-indeterminate-gender just yet. (The baby does have a gender, the parents just aren't saying, so I'm going to go with something neutral.) Maybe a knitted toy or two?

Mid-July Status Report

2008-07-13T21:45:00.003-04:00

The weather was actually pretty nice today, which is always a welcome discovery when you have no air conditioning. It bugs me a little that between the heat and the job I'm in such a hurry to have summer hurry up and get over with. I used to like summer. It used to be a break. Right now it's an inconvenience and that makes me a little sad. I wonder why I didn't feel this way when I was working before -- I think the stress of school and finances are contributory factors here. Also, in Connecticut there was air conditioning and the commute was not nearly so draining.
So what have I been up to since I last updated?

Well, I went to Queens and watched the Macy's 4th of July fireworks from Long Island City. It was so much fun. I can't remember the last time I went to go watch fireworks, and I haven't seen such a big display in I don't know how long.
I've been working (still). The internship is now half-way over. Time is flying, and that's been a pleasant discovery.
But since time is flying, I have to get my butt in gear about learning to read German. I went to the library today and did two and a half chapters from the book. By the end, I really seemed to be getting it. I'll be curious to see how well I did when I check the answers. Unlike the French exam I took last year, this time I don't have much of a background in the language to see me through. I really have to work on the rules for case and tense with verbs, and I'm trying to bulk up my vocabulary as well. We are allowed to have a dictionary when we take our tests, and I guess if you were fast enough you could just look up every word, but I don't really think that's a very sound strategy. Besides, I hear the German tutor is a very strict grader (To quote my brother, "The German tutor is strict? Well that's a surprise.")
Also, the internet seems to be back, for me at least. I'm not sure what has triggered my connection issues, but whatever it is seems to have resolved itself more or less. Thank goodness. I can deal with no cable tv, but no internet? That's just cruel.
I've also been knitting. And I even have some pictures to prove it. I still haven't woven in the ends on the Storm Water Scarf, and I still haven't blocked it, but here's a picture so you can see how gorgeous it is. I can't wait to start wearing it.

It's hard to see the color changes, but it goes from lime green to deep teal. It's also amazingly soft. Handmaiden Sea Silk is one of the most luxurious things I've ever knit with. I can't wait to buy some more and try something else.

And here's a sock!

This is the official pattern of the 2008 Summer of Socks, designed by Wendyknits. The yarn is Regia Bamboo. It's a little splitty, but not too bad. I've finished sock one and am ready to start the leg on sock two (it's a toe-up pattern). It's very easy, but seems to be progressing very slowly -- I think because the pattern repeat is only three rows, so it doesn't seem like you've accomplished much each time you finish a repeat. But then it seems to grow all of a sudden. Must be sock physics. I'm very anxious to get this finished this week so I can enter it in this period's contest -- every two weeks there are drawings for people who've completed a pair of socks. It would be nice to get lucky!

I'm mostly concentrating on the sock right now, but I'm also looking forward to working on my Icarus shawl some more. I made good progress on it while waiting for the Summer of Socks to start and I want to keep going on it while I'm still in the mood for lace. Since I was good and went to the library, I feel I've earned a bit of knitting time tonight.

And that's what's up with Erin tonight. I'll try to be a better poster, but if you need an instant update, you can also find me on plurk.com, which is really kind of fun. See the widget over on the right?

T.G.I. A Long Weekend!

2008-07-02T22:10:00.002-04:00

I do not know if there are words to express how unpleasant the past week has been. Remember how I was complaining that things were boring in my last post? I should have known better. After that, things got hectic and uncomfortable at work due to looming deadlines and confusion over who was in charge of what. I got caught in the middle, and it made me very uneasy. Also my internet broke (boo!), and then my computer broke (double boo!), and then they both mysteriously fixed themselves (huh? but yay!), except now they're super fiddly (hmmm...) and I can't guarantee that I'll have internet access at any given moment (meh).

But! There is light at the end of the tunnel. I was already looking forward to having Friday off, but now I get tomorrow off too, thanks to my very kind supervisor who decided we had all been through enough this week and gave us permission to start the weekend early. I am sleeping in tomorrow!!! I kind of suspect that we are getting the day off because she wants a day off, but I am NOT going to look this gift horse in the mouth.

A WT-related side note: Yesterday was an incredibly demoralizing day, so to pep myself up today I wore (brace yourselves) a dress! (I know, I'm a little surprised, too). I got so many compliments on my appearance today. It was a little weird -- did I look that bad before? -- but nice. I felt a little different, too. Don't know that I'll wear dresses everyday, but I might trot them out a little more frequently. They're good for morale. :)

Where did my mojo go?

2008-06-25T20:19:00.002-04:00

I just don't know. But I just feel very boring lately.

The internship is fine, and I'm pleased to say I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. We're headed out for a historic walking tour of Coney Island tomorrow, which I'm really looking forward to. We even get a ticket for the WonderWheel. When we're not on field trips or at lunch lectures, we do our actual work, which in my case is lots of research and writing. For reasons I won't go into here (not because they're sensitive information or anything, but just because they're not all that compelling), I've been translating a German book on the history of carved coconut cups. Because of course the only book anyone's ever bothered to write on the subject is in a language I can barely read. I'm through the section on the coconut's discovery by and exportation to the West. Did you know that people used to think that coconuts grew at the bottom of the sea and then floated up? Neither did I. Also, they're named after their resemblance to monkeys, which were called "cocos" in some Pacific languages. It's also very good practice for the German reading exam I have to take in August. The translating I mean, not the part about floating coconuts and monkeys. (The German for coconut is kokosnuss, by the way, except instead of two esses, there should be one of those things that looks like a B.) (I also now know the German word for unicorn, cabinet of curiosities, and mermaid!) (I sure hope those show up on the test). :)

When I'm not at work, I'm at home, trying to stay cool and trying to make myself go to bed early enough to not be so cranky in the mornings. So far the early to bed part has been a failure. I don't usually get home until after 6, and then I relax for a while, and then I try to think of something to eat for dinner, and then I surf the net and watch movies, and then I realize I should have gone to bed an hour ago.

I did do some knitting. My scarf is finished! I just need to weave in the ends and do a little blocking. I started a sock for the Summer of Socks on Sunday and ended up ripping it out after I had about 3 inches in because it was wayyy too big. It's Wendyknits' exclusive pattern for the knitalong, and she wasn't kidding when she said it was very stretchy. I ended up going down two sizes from my usual sock size to get one that wasn't huge.

It just really doesn't feel like there's much interesting stuff going on in my life these days. It's just get up, go to work, go home, kill a few hours, go to bed, and repeat. I am looking forward to this weekend, mainly because I'll get to sleep in, but also because I'll be kitty-sitting for a friend who just rescued a pregnant cat and now has a non-pregnant cat and seven kittens. I can't wait to see them!

Also, I think I might go see a movie. And go to the library. And maybe hit the farmer's market down in Union Square. Boy, it's just a thrill a minute around here, isn't it? I guess not every day (or even every week) can be exciting or interesting. I'll try and get some knitting photos up as soon as I get the scarf totally finished. At least you'll have something fun to look at then. And who knows, maybe something interesting will happen at Coney Island tomorrow.

Gosh

2008-06-18T20:36:00.003-04:00

Thanks for all the nice comments on my last post everybody. I'm glad the post was meaningful to you all, too. It's a constant battle, learning to live with the hand you've been dealt, and I'm glad to know I'm not alone.

I started my internship on Monday, and while I won't say too much about the particulars, I will say that (1) everyone was very nice, (2) the work I've been assigned is both interesting and well-matched to my skill set, and (3) the place is so well air-conditioned that I need a sweater. If I have to go to work, at least it will be cooler than staying at home. It's been a little difficult to get used to a regular 9 to 5 schedule again, but I'm managing. I'm also taking advantage of a full lunch hour. The past few days I've gone outside to Central Park (it's practically across the street) to eat my sandwich and knit.

Since I've sworn off socks until the Summer of Socks starts on Saturday, I have been working on my Storm Water scarf and on my much delayed Icarus shawl. I took them both with me to a girl's night out party/sleepover this past weekend. It was hosted by a classmate who is an extremely talented seamstress and needleworker. Watching her effortlessly draft and cut out pattern pieces for a blouse, it occurred to me that really knowing how to sew would be an incredibly useful skill to know. I can sew very simple patterns -- I've made pajama pants, for example, but haven't tried anything that requires curves, gathering, and other complicated (to me at least) techniques. But if I could sew well enough to make clothes that I'd be willing to be seen in public with.....

One of the problems with having a non-standard body type (I was going to say with being larger, but it's not a problem solely for plus-sizes) is that you have a fairly limited selection of retail options. Mostly I shop at Lane Bryant, because it's a brick and mortar store where I can try things on (I love the plus size options available online in theory, but I hate to deal with returns if things don't fit the way I need them to), they're relatively affordable, and they're sort of trendy. But I've been let down by them before. Like the time when I really wanted a dress but they weren't making any dresses that season. Or the time that all the business-type pants were only available in capri length. Really, a suit with capri pants? For when you want to look simultaneously businesslike and casual. LB designers, were you high that day?

Anyway, my point was that with limited options to begin with, retail shopping can be even more frustrating than it is normally. If I could sew though, I could have whatever I wanted. It's a really tempting thought, isn't it? That perfect dress I've been imagining could be mine. Of course, there are two enormous downsides to this plan. First, it hinges on me being able to sew well enough to create a garment that I could and would wear. Second, I would have to actually sew it. Being the champion procrastinator that I am, I'm not sure I'd ever get anything done.

Have any of you turned to sewing to create those elusive clothes that only seem to exist in your imagination? Or do you find the costs of skills, materials, and time to be not worth the effort? I'd be interested to know.

And speaking of procrastination, I've got to go work through a chapter of my German comprehension book. Those sentences aren't going to translate themselves.

Putting the Therapy in Wardrobe Therapy

2008-06-12T19:48:00.003-04:00

So the post that I had intended for this weekend ends up on Thursday. Sorry about that. First I was melting into the very fabric of my armchair thanks to a heatwave. Then I was enjoying not melting once the wave broke. It did so with one of the most spectacular thunderstorms I have ever seen. There is a lot of litter in my neighborhood, but it usually stays in the corners and the gutters. Tuesday night it went flying through the air, making little tornadoes of cups and chip wrappers. I'm on the second floor, and things were flying up higher than my window. An awning from the beauty parlor down the street broke free of its moorings and went crashing down the street, smacking into several cars on its way. Made me glad I'm not a car owner anymore, as with my luck it would have been my vehicle in the path of destruction. Lightning lit the sky with that eerie blue green glow. It was, as they say, really something.

Now I'm relaxing from the work day, which was spent in the cool air conditioned buildings at school. In this heat, it's nice to have a reason to go into work. :) I've done a deep clean of the bathroom, fighting a losing battle against cat gravel. The bathroom's the only place in the apartment for the box, but the floor is made up of those tiny 1-inch square tiles, and Minnie's a kicker, so there's gravel all over the place. I sweep and vacuum as much as I can, but there's only so much one can do. Now I'm cooling off with some cherry seltzer and biding my time until I'm refreshed enough for a 15 minute sweep through the kitchen, where, like Tuesday's storm, I will gather up all the detritus littering the table and counters. Unlike the storm, however, I'll put it all away or in the trash.

Which brings me to now, which seemed like as good a time as any to bare my chest (metaphorically speaking) and confess why I fizzled out on Wardrobe Therapy, and why I'm really not that upset about it. It wasn't the chaos of finals, although that didn't help. It was a very upsetting revelation: when it came to my wardrobe and grooming, I had largely given up. Oh, I still made sure that things were clean and covered and decent, and I didn't neglect basic issues of hygiene, and I was ever on the lookout for cute shoes and other goodies, but I really wasn't TRYING. I was SETTLING.

I'm not sure if I've ever written about this on my blog before (I took a brief look through the archives and didn't see anything obvious), but almost four years ago this month (June 26, 2004, to be exact) I caught/developed/came down with (I don't even know what verb to use) Bell's Palsy. I've never had the most loving relationship with my body and appearance, but I mostly managed. Once half my face was paralyzed, however, things took a definite turn for the worse. Depending on which websites you look at, between 80-95% of Bell's Palsy sufferers regain their lost nerve sensation. I was one of the unlucky 20-5%. While the droopiness has, thank heavens, gone away, half my face is fine, and the other half is set in a sort of neutral expression.

In the first weeks and months after I got sick, I gave myself permission to take it easy. I was sick, in part from the steroids that were treatment for the palsy, and making extra effort with my appearance was just too difficult. It was hard enough to get out of bed and go to work. As time passed, and my hopes of getting all the movement back faded, I got depressed, and that became my reason for not doing all the little things I used to do for myself. Why bother with makeup when half my face was a mask? Why try to look nice when I felt so terrible? In time the depression passed, more or less, but by then the neglect became a habit.

Going through Wardrobe Therapy, when I saw the dresses and skirts that I didn't really wear much because I had stopped shaving my legs regularly except for special occasions, or the jewelry I didn't take time to put on, or the nail polish congealing in its bottles (I used to have a nice pedicure all the time, now I could go months between applications, letting the polish wear away into nothing), or the makeup I didn't wear and the hair products I didn't use -- I realized how much I had been neglecting myself. Oh I was still interested in beauty and fashion, but there was this little voice in my head, telling me it was fine in theory, and for other people, but not for me, because why bother? I mean, it's not like I was a fashion plate before, but this is one case where the before was definitely better than the after.

So what changed? Well, I became interested in Wardrobe Therapy after following one of Dr. Wende's posts on Apartment Therapy. I started following in the middle of the last round, and decided to participate when she ran it again for the spring. Though I have yet to follow through on an entire Apartment Therapy cure, I was impressed by the structure of the program and liked the way Wende had translated it to clothing. I also got interested in Fat Acceptance / Heath at Every Size through reading the very excellent Kate Harding's blog. Sorting through my clothes was easy, but as I (slowly) worked my way through the WT program and read more and more about the way that society conditions us to undervalue ourselves, I started to realize how messed up my attitudes towards my appearance were. The Bell's Palsy sucks. It really does (though I realize there are far, FAR worse things that could have happened to me). But like my size, it does not define me. It does not make me a good person or a bad person, and it should not stop me from doing the things I enjoy doing or treating myself with love and respect.

I don't want to give up on myself. I've had some pretty emotional moments these past few weeks as I started to put the pieces back together. I've made some strides. My toenails are painted a bright purple. I'm making an effort to put on makeup and do something more with my hair than just brush it before I head out the door. I'm going through my (newly organized) jewelry box instead of just grabbing for my old standby jewelry. And I'm doing these things not so that they'll "distract" from the fat or the palsy. I know they won't. I'm doing them because I like doing these things and because I like how I feel and how I look when I do them.

I haven't been the most dutiful participant, blog-wise, during this round of WT. I regret this a little, especially since the other participants are so interesting and inspiring (and they post so much more often than I!). But I do feel as though I've gotten so much out of the program. Yes, my wardrobe isn't quite so bulging as it was before, and I've bought (or have planned to buy) things that I love and that flatter me, and I finally got rid of all that "make do" clothing. But what's more important for me is that it's helped push me back to being myself again. And that's more important than a clean closet any day.

If you're still with me, I apologize for the novel-length post. I just needed to get this off my chest. I'm actually a little embarrassed now that I've written this, but I'm going to post it anyway. Now I'm off to tidy up the kitchen. Then I think it's time for knitting and a podcast or two before bed. Thanks for reading. I promise it will be shorter next time.

Monsters!

2008-06-05T21:31:00.003-04:00

There are monsters on my socks!

I finished these on Saturday and am pretty happy with them. It's too hot to wear them now, but fall will come back eventually. I'm off socks for a few weeks now until the Summer of Socks starts. The Storm Water scarf is making good progress (it looks like it's going to be pretty long), and is serving as my mindless knitting project of the moment. The scarf has also gotten me excited about lace knitting again, and I've even put in several rows on my Icarus shawl, which I hope to finish this summer. (We'll see).

In WT news, I went through my jewelry, which is the only big group of accessories I have at the moment (there are scarves and winter accessories, but I'll leave them for another season). In the interest of not having to link all the photos, I've created a set in my flickr photostream, with my comments. You can see it here. Since I tend to wear the same few pieces every day, I've been making a conscious effort to wear different pieces this week. It's a little difficult right now, since my summer job is very casual and much of my jewelry is kind of dressy. When my internship starts in about a week I'll be wearing my office clothes again, and I'm hoping I'll be able to work more pieces in.

I am also reminded that I like silver jewelry better than gold, but that I own much more gold-toned stuff than silver. This is in part because much of my jewelry has been "borrowed" from my mother or has been handed down from my grandma, and they both prefer/preferred gold. My mom has tons of jewelry, mostly of the costume variety, but also the "good stuff." Since she doesn't wear lots of her older pieces anymore, but since I like the vintage look, I've ended up with lots of her things. I like to refer to it as "stolen" since it usually ended up in my jewelry box permanently after I had asked my mom if I could wear a piece "just this one time." She doesn't really mind, though, since as I said they're mostly things she doesn't wear anymore. Looking at lots of the things that were hers, I realize that my mom was pretty stylish back in the day. She got married at 35, which was much later than most of her relatives and friends, and so, as she puts it, she had longer to spend her money on shoes and clothes. I love to look at pictures of her from the 60s and early 70s -- I'm still waiting for pictures of her in her wig collection to surface. :)

The jewelry that I've gotten from my grandma is kind of a roundabout story. My maternal grandmother loved costume jewelry and had a ton of it. For reasons that I won't get into here, she stopped wearing a bunch of it and it was just sitting in her apartment. Her move into an assisted living facility (a few years before she passed away) coincided with my own big move to the East Coast for grad school. Since she needed to pare down her belongings and I needed household goods, I was gifted with all sorts of things, from her rocking chair to her dishes to cookbooks, to some of the jewelry she didn't have a use for. I got a few more pieces after her death. My mom and grandma's jewelry isn't just pretty, and I don't just like it because of my own scholarly interest in jewelry -- it's a reminder of who they are (or were) and who they used to be. There are parts of their lives in those pins and necklaces, and owning them is, for me, a way of keeping all that close to me. And it doesn't hurt that much of it is pretty darn gorgeous!

All the jewelry is currently stored in a series of jewelry boxes, new and vintage. I need to come up with something better, though, since it's getting a little crowded in there. I should whip up some little bags for things the next time I get out the sewing machine, since enamelled and rhinestone jewelry is very vulnerable to scratches and losing stones if it gets all jumbled together. There's one more thing for the summer project list....

Going through my clothes, jewelry, and makeup, I've noticed that there are lots of things I used to do or wear that I don't really take the time for any longer. I've got some thoughts about why this is, and also about why Wardrobe Therapy has been far more difficult for me than I anticipated, but that has to wait for the weekend. It's been a long day and I'm looking forward to some knitting and relaxing before bed.

More stuff about me

2008-05-28T20:16:00.003-04:00

Knelly tagged me for this meme, and since I don't feel up to a whole post right now, this will have to do. Besides, reflection is good for you, right?

1. What was I doing ten years ago? It was the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college. I was working at the mall earning some money before heading off to a summer study abroad program in England. We stayed at Brasenose College in Oxford, I took a class on Chaucer, saw six Shakespeare plays (two at the Globe, four at the RSC in Stratford), and had one of the best times of my life. That was the first summer I got drunk (sorry mom) thanks to the lower drinking age in the UK. It's where I developed my love of hard cider. It was the only time I've ever really been out of the country as an adult.

2. Five (non-work) things on my to-do list today:
Buy an extension cord and a new mop (didn't get around to it)
Pay some bills
Take out the trash (did that)
Knit
Finish my netflix dvds so I can mail them tomorrow

3. Snacks I enjoy: popcorn, Pirate Booty (and Trader Joe's knockoff booty), almonds, oranges

4. Things I would do if I were a billionare: Buy a snazzy apartment in New York, hire a maid to keep it clean for me. Take care of my family. Travel. Travel some more. Buy yarn and shoes with wild abandon. (Qiviut and Jimmy Choo, here I (hypothetically) come!)

5. Places I have lived: Beaverton, Oregon; El Paso, Katy, Austin, and El Lago, Texas; Wilmington, Delaware; New Haven, Connecticut; and The Bronx.

6. Jobs I have held: Hamburger cooker at McDonald's, line server at the world's most awful BBQ restaurant (far worse than the McDonald's job. FAR WORSE), customer service rep at the mall, secretary, tour guide, substitute teacher, intern, assistant curator, exhibitions assistant, library assistant, and let's not forget -- grad student.

7. Other people to tag: if you're reading this and you'd like to participate, please go right ahead.

While I was out

2008-05-27T22:18:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the little blog break. I've been busy trying to enjoy myself -- knitting, shopping, cooking, watching dvds, etc. It's kind of nice to have jobs that stop at 5 p.m. and then I don't have to think about them until the next morning. It makes a pleasant change from the school semester, in which I freak out about classwork 24/7.

So what have I been up to? Well, I'm a half a sock away from finishing the pair of "monsters on a sock," and my lace scarf is currently 2 feet long. I got lots of compliments on both at the last knitting group I went to. That's right, I finally joined a knitting group here in New York. It only took me 9 months. Its a meetup group called "Sit n' Knit" and I went to one meeting at a bar (I can have one beer before the knitting gets impaired) and one meeting at The Point, which is a local knitting cafe. I had a really good time, and while it was different than the old New Haven group (and really made me miss you guys), I'm looking forward to going to another meeting.

I've also been watching the first season of the Flight of the Conchords on DVD. Hilarious! I have a soft spot for comedy/parody songs, and I love them! They're New Zealand's fourth most popular folk pop parodists. Here's a little video to show you what they're all about. "Ladies of the World."

And I haven't forgotten Wardrobe Therapy. I've been wearing the new maryjanes, which only get more comfortable with each wearing, and I bought a new pair of sandals, just in time for the warm weather.

Aren't they cute?

Also, in an effort to catch up on the weeks I missed due to finals, I sorted through my collection of makeup. I own tons of makeup for someone who doesn't really wear much. I think I keep buying things in the hope that they'll be the magic potion, but of course they aren't, and so after a few weeks or days I stop using them and toss them into the medicine cabinet and forget about them. I'll talk more about the makeup stuff later, but I wanted to show you two pictures. The first is my nailpolish collection. I used to keep my nails (finger- and toe-) painted all the time, and I had tons of colors to pick from. Back in college, I was the go-to roommate for all your nailpolish needs. The end of high school/beginning of college was when crazy colors came around again, and I took full advantage. My mom's only nailpolish rule at home was no black. I obeyed, but usually bought the darkest blues, purples, and greens I could find instead. Drove her crazy, but technically allowable. This is the collection after the purge I made prior to the move. I decided that I needed to get rid of ten more colors -- mostly colors I didn't like and stuff that had gotten gloppy. As you can see, I still have plenty of options.

I also undertook a purge of the lipgloss/stick/liner/balm collection. I had forty-seven different containers of lip stuff, and then I found a few more hiding in the corners of my purse and back pack. This is the before picture. It's a little embarassing. This was harder to pare down, largely because I'm still hopeful that some of those products might work out. I did get rid of some unfortunate colors, and a few lipsticks. I've been leaning more towards glosses and sheers rather than traditional lipsticks. I did keep the red though. You never know when that might come in handy. Though I had tons of stuff, most of it was the same few colors, proving that while I may be a spendthrift, at least I'm a consistent one.

More WT to come this week (accessories, yay!). Also pictures of the socks as soon as they're finished.

Lolcats: Is there anything they can't fix?

2008-05-15T23:36:00.002-04:00

When I saw this, I laughed and laughed.

more cat pictures

Happy Friday!

Break Out Your Tiny Violins

2008-05-15T23:11:00.002-04:00

Now I know that any of you reading this who have full-year regular jobs aren't really going to sympathize with me, because complaining about summer vacation to people who don't get one is kind of not cool, but I'm going to do it anyway.

I want my vacation, darn it! One of the things that was kind of alluring about the prospect of going back to school was getting back on the academic calendar, complete with summer vacation. It is nice not to have to worry about classes and papers, although I should get to worrying about that German translation exam, but shouldn't summer vacation involve a little relaxation? I've got 2 jobs in two different departments at school, which takes up about 4 days a week right now and will take up the whole week as we gear up for a big move. Then I've got a "regular hours" internship that starts in mid June. While that's going on I'll be working at the jobs on nights and weekends. The things we do to pay our rent!! That takes me up to August, when I have to take the German exam, and, if I don't pass it, 3 weeks of refresher German, all the while working at the internship for the first half of the month and the other jobs once the internship stops. Do you see anything missing in my vacation description there? Oh yeah. Vacation.

I know I shouldn't complain. I chose this, and I have to take the good and the bad. But man, I've been dangling the promise of summer like a carrot on a stick to keep me going all semester, and now I'm just a little bummed that my summer won't involve nearly as much lying around as I'd like.

And that's more than enough whining for today.

In other news, I'm going to do the leftover portion of my wardrobe therapy this weekend, since getting my bridesmaid dresses and saris stored properly will involve a reorganization of the closet that I just can't deal with during the week. I'll try to get some pictures for you, cause the Indian outfits are really pretty.

Also, here are my new shoes. I was out in Connecticut this weekend, and didn't have to twist my friend's arm too hard to get her to make a trip to M@rshalls. They have really great shoe sections, if you have one near you. I found the mary janes of my dreams. Here they are:

But wait, there's more! They were on clearance, for super cheap, and they also came in brown. So I bought them both.

I got two pairs for less than half the regular price of one! I felt very clever, especially since I had budgeted for more expensive footwear. They're pretty comfortable, although after wearing, they're rubbing a bit near the buckle. I'm hoping time, some stretching (with big thick socks), and maybe some moleskin will help.

Also, I cast on another pair of socks. I needed to get back on the horse after the very frustrating experience with my mom's socks. I also wanted to try the magic loop method. And then I discovered Lime n' Violet's Snakes on a Sock pattern, which I thought would be perfect for my Cherry Tree Hill Monsters in the Closet yarn. I'm calling them Monsters on a Sock, or maybe Snakes in the Closet. I haven't decided.

They're a little loud, but I like 'em. And boy, the magic loop goes fast. This photo is from yesterday, and I'm already nearly ready to start the toe decreases now. This has been a thoroughly non-frustrating project, which is just what I needed. And since the magic loop is far more portable than the double pointed needles I usually use, I think I'll take them to work tomorrow. Maybe I can finish one sock by the weekend.

Mmmm, Leftovers: WT Week 7

2008-05-12T21:20:00.002-04:00

Okay, I still need to do weeks 5 and 6, but in the service of not falling further behind, here are this week's tasks. A link to Dr. Wende's list is here.

So (my rephrased versions of) the tasks are
1. To take stock of leftover items, which in my case are computer bags and backpacks, saris and other fancy dress items, bridesmaid dresses, etc.
2. To dispose of, mend, and store said items as necessary.
3. Make a master shopping list. That one's getting easier.

Here's my working list.

new black mary jane type shoes
new sandals
new sneakers
new undergarments
a denim skirt
2-3 new v-neck plain t-shirts (and one old shirt needs to leave for each one that comes in)
another pair of pants, either jeans or something khaki-esque
a big bag for toting around all the stuff that I seem to think is essential
a lightweight raincoat/trench coat

I've actually started to make some headway on the list. This weekend I bought almost exactly the mary janes I had in mind (and then some -- I got such a deal, and I'll post pictures later this week). I've identified the kind of sneaker I want, and today I think I saw the sandals I'd like. I wanted to go try them on, but my toenails need painting, and I didn't want to expose my chipped blue polish to the entire store (and the extraordinarily dapper salesman). Which is silly, I know. But I'll go back once I'm repainted.

4. The fourth task is a tricky one:

Name one positive thing you intend to do for your image/self-image/look and one negative thing you vow NOT to keep doing
I always find this kind of thing a little difficult. But here goes. Positive: I'm going to try not to leave the house without a little makeup. I tend to rush out of the house without it if I'm running behind (which I usually am), but I feel more pulled together with it, so there you go. Negative: this is actually related to something I've been working on, but not blogging about. Fat Acceptance/Health at Every Size. (You can read more about it at Kate Harding's excellent blog here). I am working very hard to become happier with my body at its current size, but I find that I have been holding very tenaciously to what Kate calls the "Fantasy of Being Thin."(excellent essay here). I'm not quite ready to let that fantasy go yet, but I'm also coming to realize that there's no reason to put my life on hold until I reach a certain pant size. So my negative thing that I am going to not keep doing is making excuses for not treating myself well because I am not thin. No "I shouldn't buy nice clothes/nice shoes/get a nice hair cut/manicure/pedicure/have any fun/feel good about myself until I lose a few pounds." I deserve to have these things or do these things now. Sometimes I get into this rut where I think "oh I'm so fat, it doesn't matter what I do to my appearance, so I won't even try." I don't expect that I'll be able to stop this 100%, but I hope that the next time I find myself using my size as an excuse for not living it up, I'll reject that negative thinking.

The Movie Meme

2008-05-08T22:20:00.005-04:00

I got this from Wife, Mom, Knitter. It sounded like fun.

Here are the rules:
1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie (or get them out of your capacious memory).
3. Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.
4. Bold it when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. Looking them up is cheating, please don’t.

Since I love me some movie trivia, here we go:

1. Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while. The Princess Bride (guessed by CostumeChick)

2. A: We're going to catch those crooks red-handed.
B: What color are their hands now?
The Great Muppet Caper, guessed by Mella DP

3. A: Those people are trying to kill us!
B: [shouts] I know, Dad!
A: This is a new experience for me.
B: It happens to me all the time.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (SCB and Wife,Mom, Knitter got this one)

4. Your Honor, ladies and gentleman of the audience, I don't think it's fair to call my clients frauds. Sure, the blackout was a big problem for everybody. I was trapped in an elevator for two hours and I had to make the whole time. But I don't blame them. Because one time, I turned into a dog and they helped me. Thank you.

5. A: Now that was when people KNEW how to be in love. They knew it! Time, distance... nothing could separate them because they knew. It was right. It was real. It was...
B: A movie! That's your problem! You don't want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie.
Sleepless in Seattle, guessed by Mella DP

6. A: Don't call me stupid.
B: Oh, right! To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people! I've known sheep that could outwit you. I've worn dresses with higher IQs. But you think you're an intellectual, don't you, ape?
A: Apes don't read philosophy.
B: Yes they do, xxxx. They just don't understand it. Now let me correct you on a couple of things, OK? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not "Every man for himself." And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, xxxx. I looked them up.
A Fish Called Wanda, guessed by Colleen

7. Think big, think positive, never show any sign of weakness. Always go for the throat. Buy low, sell high. Fear? That's the other guy's problem. Nothing you have ever experienced will prepare you for the absolute carnage you are about to witness. Super Bowl, World Series - they don't know what pressure is. In this building, it's either kill or be killed. You make no friends in the pits and you take no prisoners. One minute you're up half a million in soybeans and the next, boom, your kids don't go to college and they've repossessed your Bentley. Are you with me?
Trading Places, guessed by Colleen (I figure that's what you meant by Trading Spaces, since that's what I call this half the time, too)

8. My colors are "blush" and "bashful." Steel Magnolias (Wife, Mom, Knitter strikes again!)

9. A: Are you married?
B: I'm divorced.
A: Would you like to talk about that?
B: There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don't. My ex-wife loves him.
A: So what you're saying is that even though you are an almost-paralyzed, multiphobic personality who is in a constant state of panic, your wife did not leave you, you left her because she loves Neil Diamond?

10. I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope. The Shawshank Redemption (guessed by Wife, Mom, Knitter and Knelly) (As an aside, I have never seen this movie in its entirety in one sitting. But I will stop and watch it and cry like a baby whenever it comes on tv. Which is like every other week.)

Happy guessing!

First the knitting

2008-05-08T21:40:00.002-04:00

Okay, I've slept, showered, gone to work and banged the heck out of my shins on a library shelving cart. I've been shopping, knitting, and I even watched a little television.
Now for the blogging. So on Tuesday evening I (finally) finished up my mom's socks.

Aren't they pretty? They're actually a pretty appropriate present for my mom -- I labored pretty hard on them, and didn't give up, and while I may have sworn under my breath a little, I kept on going. I think she'd be proud. I just hope she likes them. The pattern and I did not get along. I'm not sure why things went wrong, but almost everything that could go wrong did. Still, they're finished, and I think they're going to fit. So all's well that ends well.

Now I've cast on with my seasilk to make a Storm Water Scarf. Here's the yarn I'm using. In keeping with Wardrobe Therapy principles, its in one of my joyous colors. :)

I also wound up this yarn, from Cherry Tree Hill, its called Monsters in the Closet (what a great name! that's why I bought it!) and I have a very special pattern in mind for it. I'm hoping to cast on this weekend.

Okay, that's part one of the post-school update. Up next, wardrobe therapy catch-up. Since I'm now 2 weeks behind, I'm going to skip week 5 for the moment, do week 6 (or at least part of it) tomorrow, and then try to catch up with weeks 5 and 7 next week. I've been working on making a list of things I need to buy to fill in a few holes. I'm also still struggling with letting go of a few shoes that I had intended to purge in shoe week. I delayed in tossing them, and then I had second thoughts. Because I love those green sneakers so much. I think I need to buy replacements for them, and then I won't feel so bad about tossing them. I'm thinking about something like this. Aren't they cute and summery? Or what about these? Adorable! I might see what I can find this weekend.
Hmmm... this turned into kind of a WT post after all. :)

I'm back!

2008-05-05T22:21:00.002-04:00

And I'm done!
The paper was turned in at 10:30 this morning. Barring any horrendous grading tragedies, I am now finished with the coursework for my Ph.D. (yay!)
While I thought that my term papers would never end, it just doesn't seem possible that this is it, class-wise. I've got one more language exam to pass this summer, and then it's on to the qualifying exams. (eek!)
But for today, I'm just going to relax. After I turned in the paper, I ran some errands, had some lunch, and then bought some celebratory yarn. I had been thinking about buying some Socks that Rock, because I'd never tried any, but then I decided I had too much unused sock yarn. So I went with the Handmaiden Sea Silk instead. I'll do pictures tomorrow. But it's gorgeous (and in a really great colorway for me, too!). I'm going to make a lacy scarf with it. It will be my reward for finishing the semester and my mom's socks, which, by the way, I am scheduled to bind off tomorrow and mail Wednesday.
Now I'm going to knit, listen to some podcasts, and relax (and then sleep!). I'm so happy summer is here. I'm going to try my best to catch up on blogreading/commenting/wardrobe therapy-ing. I feel bad that I dropped everything for the last few weeks, but such, unfortunately, is life. But thank you all for your comments and encouragement. It was so nice to know that you were rooting me on!

Three down

2008-04-30T23:24:00.003-04:00

One to go! It was originally due Friday, but I got an extension until Monday. I hated to ask for it, but I think it was necessary -- I'm running on empty and couldn't have turned in anything I'd be proud of by Friday. This is one of the two papers that I'm really excited about, and I very much want to do a good job. It just took me forever to find my angle on this one. But I've got it now, and I think it's not too bad. Assuming I can get it all down on the screen.

I just have to keep telling myself the end is in sight.

Thanks for your supportive comments. They're really appreciated right now.

I'll be back on Monday. :) See you on the other side!

Still alive

2008-04-27T14:21:00.002-04:00

One paper handed in, one almost done, and two more to go. I don't know if I'll get much posting done until after everything's in on Friday. Now back to writing what are probably my last term papers EVER!!!

p.s. the socks are growing slowly during the periodic "sanity breaks" I'm taking while writing. The ends are in sight!!

More Week 4, and ... Socks!

2008-04-20T21:43:00.002-04:00

First of all...
Look at that!

See? Socks. Two socklike objects!! Okay, so one has only the whisper of a cuff, and there's still plenty of yarn left, and I really can't give my mom socks of two different lengths. Fine. Be picky. But the fact remains that there are now two socks that could in theory go on one's feet. And the end is in sight. In fact, I'm going to say it out loud (and probably curse myself into not meeting this deadline, but hey, it's late and I'm feeling bold so here goes): I will mail the finished socks to my mom for Mother's Day!!

And now on to Wardrobe Therapy.
Week four was about shoes, socks, and purses. The shoes were done, the socks above are all you're going to get on that for now (with the exception of my hand knit socks and my punk socks, my sock collection is functional and boring, and that's okay), and here come the purses.

I've grouped them by type.

The large cary-alls. This doesn't count the plethora of canvas bags I use to tote around school stuff that doesn't fit into these, but those are boring, and also too full of notebooks and file folders at the moment. The one in heavy rotation right now is a canvas tote from the Strand. It seems fitting to carry books around in it. I have really come to appreciate big bags now that I'm in the city and carless. All the junk that might once have rattled around my car is now in these bags.
The green messenger bag in back I have had since high school. The zippers are broken, but the clasps are still functional, and I keep using it because I've never found anything else that worked quite as well. I'll happily replace it when I find something else that can do the job for schlepping things to and from school and libraries.
I love the black wool bag in back. It was very good in fall/winter when I was working and wanted something more professional looking than the messenger bag. Still in good shape, although I need to mend a tear in the lining before it gets bigger. This one's worth repairing, unlike...
The black bag in front. This was a Christmas gift from my parents. I was really excited about it because I thought it might be a good alternative to the green messenger bag. It was, until the handles started to crack right where they're sewn to the bag. I'm afraid they'll break while I'm out, so I don't use this one anymore. I hate to toss something that's so new, but this is really non-functional, and I can't think of a repair that won't be more trouble than its worth. Sadly, gone.
The gray bag in the bottom left is my computer bag. It would be perfect, except it needs a bit of shoulder strap padding, because when its full it can be heavy. Still, I don't tote my laptop around unless I'm in the middle of a paper or on a research trip, which doesn't happen too often (except for right now). But there's lots of writing in my future, so I should try to find an alternative. There's plenty of time to find something though, and this works pretty well, so it isn't a priority just yet.
Also, please note the cat. She would not get off the bed while I took these photos. There are cats and paws in the background of half these shots.

"Everyday" bags

Clockwise, starting at the top left:
A vintage straw purse "borrowed" from my mom. A bit flimsy for serious use, but fun in the summer.
My favorite purse. Pink tweed and brown leather. A little small for all the necessities I seem to need these days, but good for dressier occasions.
Teal suede purse. This is the one I have been using, though I guess its time to change it out for spring. Roomy with straps that go over my shoulders in a fun color that isn't black but still goes with a lot. A definite keeper.
White "macrame" purse. Good for summer. It's getting a little dingy, so I'll see what a wash will do to it. If the results aren't pretty, its no big deal.
Teal felted purse. I really like this one. It's tiny, but is good to stick inside a bigger tote so all the essentials are in one place.
Striped wristlet. I thought this would be useful for when I go out, but then I realized this isn't really a "going out" style. Also? My going out clothes tend to have no pockets and this won't fit a cell phone, so it isn't really very useful. I should toss it, but its little and doesn't take up much room.
Needlepoint bag. This was my grandma's. I don't think she made it, though. I think I'm going to repurpose it as a knitting bag. It's roomy enough. I just can't see myself carrying it anywhere. But it would make good project storage.
Denim bag. For a $10 clearance purchase, it's done a good job. But it's a bit dated, and the straps aren't comfortably long enough to go over my shoulder. I loved the big pockets in the front. They were perfect for keys and my phone. I need to remember to look for that in future purchases, because this one's hitting the road.

Evening purses:

I made the bronze bag in the back to go with the bronze flowered evening sandals from the shoe post. This is a great little pattern and is perfect for whipping up in an afternoon or so. I know it's a little matchy-matchy with the shoes, but I kind of like it. Besides, when you're wearing a blue, pink, and purple sari with metallic embroidery, subtle accessories help.
The black mesh bag next to it is a genuine vintage Whiting and Davis, I'm guessing from the 1950s-60s. Bought at Buffalo Exchange in Austin in the summer of 1999. I wouldn't have thought I remembered that. It goes with a lot, it's surprisingly roomy, and it's a little piece of decorative arts history.
Silver vintage purse. Another one "borrowed" from my mom. I'll have to ask her where she got it/wore it. Really useful for super fancy occasions, and in great shape.
Black burnout velvet clutch. I'm pretty sure that I bought this to take to the homecoming dance my sophomore year of high school. My date (my first boyfriend --neither of us could drive so my parents drove us) was a total doll who sadly moved away not much later. It's not exactly my style anymore, but this is a hard one to get rid of. I think I need to hold on to it just a bit longer.

I just realized I didn't take into account my big knitting bag, or the two knitted purses in progress, or my old backpack. And I know I didn't weed much out, but I did get rid of a bunch of old purses before I moved to New York. Oh well.
Looking at these, I realize I need a new "big bag" solution for when I need to carry a ton of stuff around. I'd also like a new spring bag. Ideally it could fit inside the big bag so I could just pull it out and have all my essentials when I don't want to carry the big one around. I hate having to do the purse swap all the time. Something crucial always gets left behind. Like kleenex, mints, etc. The multiple purse swaps are also why there are a million tubes of lip balm rolling around the place. I found 4 while cleaning out all the bags.

Now, for the final section of week 4: The questions (my answers in italics)

What's my Status Symbol? That is, what do you expect people to value and respect about you as a human being? I would like to be recognized and appreciated for my intelligence, my consideration for others, and my sense of humor. That sounds very cheesy, doesn't it?

How does my wardrobe relate to my status symbol? Does the way you dress help people recognize your status symbol? Undermine it? Play into one part of a stereotype but not another? Attire always says something, though it may say it quietly or it may hop on a table and sing the score of A Chorus Line. When I had a job, I tried to dress professionally and appropriately, while still retaining a bit of my individuality. In an art museum, there was lots to choose from, style-wise, and I think I did okay. Now, I'm not exactly certain how I should be dressing. The graduate student/art-field/New York overlaps are confusing me. In theory, lots of black should work, but that's just not me. I just want to look appropriate. Like I belong. And then I want to stand out from the crowd, but in a small, good way.

Do I want some aspect of my attire to be a conversation starter? If so, what? No and nothing are valid answers here -- it's in wonderfully good taste for every aspect of your outfit to contribute to a vague general impression that you look healthy, happy, and appropriate. My purses are my life or let's talk socks! are also valid answers, as is I've worn the same necklace every day since I was 16, and that's what I'm about. I don't mind if people notice something I'm wearing, as long as it's in a good way. Between shoes, purses, and jewelry, I've got some really cool stuff, and I like it when people notice. But my love for pink sparkly shoes notwithstanding, I'm generally happier being a conversation starter in more subtle ways.

Okay, so now that we're into week 5, I've finally finished off week 4. Some of my donation items have already left the building, but there's still a stack waiting for my next trip to Goodwill (having to schlepp it on the subway means small loads). Purses have been cleaned out, and the detritus sorted and tossed where appropriate (adios, lint covered lipgloss and smooshed gum). Now it's on to week 5 -- underwear and overwear. I probably won't get around to much before next weekend, since I have a paper due this week. But the next time I do my laundry there will be some serious sock evaluations. And somewhere in there, I'm going to finish those darn socks!

Shoes!

2008-04-15T20:41:00.002-04:00

So it's week 2 of week 4 of Wardrobe Therapy. This week's tasks are here. Purses and socks will come in a day or so, but since I didn't feel like working on my Consumer Culture essay this evening, I decided to go ahead and sort and photograph my shoes.

I'm going to level with you. Lots of women in all shapes and sizes love shoes, that's a no-brainer. But shoes are really important for the fat fashionistas out there. I'm including myself in that group. As a fat woman who is interested in fashion, I spend a lot of time being frustrated at the lack of options available in my sizes. Those cute clothes in magazines? Not an option for me. But shoes? Purses? Jewelry? Those come in my size. Accessories are the one arena where I can have the same kind of fashion that skinny women can. They're the place where I can fit in with the rest of the fashionable world. I own lots of shoes, and I think one of the reasons is that when I need a shopping fix I can always find a pair of shoes I like. Finding clothing I like can be a lot harder.

So shoes. Here are all the shoes currently in my apartment. Not counting my fuzzy slippers, it's 34 pairs.

There's also a cat in the corner. She was intrigued by all the shoe-related commotion.

To make things easier, I'm separating by shoe type.

The sneakers

Running/walking shoes -- in good condition, useful, they're keepers.
Green suede sneakers -- I love them, but they're dirty and worn and the insides are shot. They were on sale when I bought them, and they've gotten a good run, so I don't feel bad about tossing them. They're out! I'm going to add another pair to my shopping list.
Tan/pink/blue suede sneakers -- they're a bit dirty (that's what six months on NYC streets will do to a pair of shoes), but in good shape. I'm going to try cleaning them.

Casual summer shoes

(back row)

Beaded flipflops with a sturdy sole. Stalwart staples.
Keds flats. Bought at the end of last summer. I'm looking forward to wearing these.
Flats with rhinestone skulls on the straps that you can't really see in this photo. I am happily wearing these into the ground.

(front row)

2 pairs of black slides that I bought in emergency shopping trips. They're both uncomfortable and both going.
Cheap-o flipflops. They're handy, though I don't really wear them out here in the city. Staying.

"Everyday" flat shoes

(back row)

Short boots. They're ok, and will stay until I find something better. But I'll worry about that next fall.
Slingback flats. I really like these and need to wear them more than I do. Surprisingly versatile.
Leopard print flats. This is probably their last season. I should try to replace with something a bit more sturdy -- these are really insubstantial.

(front row)

Black mary janes. These are worn out, and I'd love to toss them, but then I wouldn't have a pair of black flats. They'll go once replacements are found.
My trusty loafers. I wear them all the time. They're holding up well, considering.
My fancy loafers. I spent a good amount of money on these and wore them through. I'm going to see if the holes in the soles can be patched. Then I can wear them again. If they're unsalvageable, well, I guess I'll just have to buy something new!

Dressy/"business" shoes. I have a good number of these because I used to wear them when I had a real job. Now that I'm a student, they stay mostly in the closet. I don't want to get rid of them, because I'll need them again once I'm back on the job market. But maybe I'll get to wear some of them at my internship this summer.

(back row)

Black loafers with white top stitching. Stalwart staples. A little boring, but very useful.
Black mary jane type shoes with pink piping. What looks like pink butterflies are actually cutouts on the toe area. I love these shoes, and since I wear lots of pink, they actually do get worn pretty often. Both of these are Aerosoles. So they're pretty comfy.

(middle)

Tan woven fabric pumps with woodgrain heels. Boring. I bought them for my high school graduation. I still have them, because they're pretty classic, but I don't wear them, because my shoes are one of the few areas where I try to be less boring. I'm giving them another chance before I toss.
Beige slingbacks with black trim. Very classic, in a slightly sexy way, so they don't bore me the way the woven shoes do. A little uncomfortable, but I'm not ready to let go.
More Aerosoles. Brown mary janes with wingtip detailing and slight wedge heels. I just bought them this fall and love them. Good with jeans or dressier outfits. Just a little funky, in a good way.

(bottom)

Tan suede loafers with little suede rosettes on the front. They have little curved-in heels (I don't know what to call them). Very comfortable, very cute. They're staying.
Brown leather slingbacks. Useful. Could use a little padding. I saw these insoles just for heels the other day -- I might have to try some here.
Maroon metallic leather mary janes with the curvy heels. I love these shoes. They're one of my favorite pairs of shoes. Despite the odd color, I find them pretty wearable with black, grey, and even the right shade of brown trousers, and also with jeans.

Finally, the fancy shoes. My favorite category, though of course the least worn.

(top row)

horrible shoes I bought to coordinate with a sari for a wedding. They turned dark and the fabric got crunchy on me. I never really liked them (emergency purchase rears its ugly head), so feel no guilt about tossing.
The purple glittery shoes. They were $8.00, I was a senior in college. I thought it would be funny to wear them with my graduation gown. It was. I did. I never wore them again. I'd save them, but they're hideously clunky. Maybe some kid can play dress up with them. Donated!
The pink ruffly satin platform shoes. I bought these after seeing them in a fashion magazine back in college. Like the Birthday Shoes, they appealed to my inner Dolly Parton/Miss Piggy fan. I wore them to a few college dances. The heels are really chunky, which is good because they're also really high. I'm saving them, just in case. (I'm not sure in case of what, but we'll see.)
Uncomfortable but cute brown sandals with sparkly flowers. Also bought to be worn with a sari at a wedding. They're cute, and I have this idea that I might wear them again, and also they're cute, so they're staying.
Silvery blue satin sandals. Bought to match a bridesmaid dress. They weren't dyed to match, but they went with the dress perfectly. I can't quite get rid of them yet.

(bottom row)

Embroidered satin flats. Remember when these were all the rage a few years ago? So do I. They're getting a little ratty, so I think I'll give them one more season before I toss, because I think I'm really going to want my flats this summer.
My classic black evening pumps. With just a little bit of rhinestone. Perfect.
Black velvet shoes with just a tiny heel. Cheap and they look it. An emergency purchase that's in the outbox as I type.
The rare emergency purchase that actually worked. Strappy black sandals that don't cut my feet.
Hot pink thong sandals with floral heel/base. Oh these shoes. Right after I got my masters, I was living at home, looking for a real job while substitute teaching. I was so miserable. I was so jealous of my other friends who had jobs and lives while I was staying with my parents. I saw these shoes at the mall. They weren't really that expensive, but even so, I shouldn't have bought them. I should have saved my money. But something about them just called to me. This sounds so dumb, but they were kind of a promise to myself, that even though my life was crappy, I would get these shoes and wear them and somehow that would help. So I bought them, and I wore them ( I was in Texas at the time. Flip-flop/thong type shoes are practically state-mandated wear there), and I started to find my way again. And eventually I got the job that changed my life. And now here I am. I don't attribute that to these shoes or anything, but more than any other pair except maybe the pink satin platforms, these shoes are important to me in some weird way. They're milestone shoes. They're also kind of kick-ass, stylewise.

There was also a pair of Mock Doc Martins in the group photo , which I used to wear in the snow, but the soles cracked and now my feet get wet in them and so they're gone, too. When I was putting all the shoes back in the closet, I tried to rearrange things so that I would have easier access to the pairs I might want to wear this spring/summer. I just wish it would warm up a bit so I could get started on them.

So that's the shoes. That was maybe more about me and my footwear than you needed to know, wasn't it?

Next time: Progress photos of my evil socks. Purses (this would be a much bigger category if I hadn't purged before I moved). The answers to the status symbol questions.

Now I need to get back to my reading and my essay. We're covering Janice Radway's Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature this week. It's fun stuff, and I want to make sure it gets its due attention. I've got 2 1/2 weeks of school left, so things are more hectic than ever. But when classes are over, I'm done with the coursework for my degree! It's scary and exciting at the same time. At the moment, scary is winning. :)

(This Song's Just) Six Words Long

2008-04-09T21:01:00.003-04:00

So a little while ago, The Mad Knitter tagged me for this meme.

Here's the NPR story that describes the concept and gives examples of six-word memoirs from writers and non-writers alike.

Here are the guidelines, should you choose to participate in this yourself:

Write your own six word memoir. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere. Tag five more blogs with links.

Here's mine:

No, I meant to do that.

My writing professors often said that being brief is harder than writing something long. They were right.

Since I am (as usual) behind on these, I won't tag anyone. But please feel free to write your own.

Edited to add: super bonus cool points to anyone who knows where the title comes from!

Therapy!

2008-04-05T23:22:00.002-04:00

Wardrobe therapy, retail therapy, knitting therapy -- this post has it all!

First off: knitting therapy

I had some paypal credit sitting around, and my parents gave me an eb*y gift card for my birthday (who knew they even had those?), so I decided to spend it this evening while I was listening to podcasts. Lime and Violet were waxing poetic about Malabrigo, so I bought two skeins in a purple color (I don't see it on their website, it might have been an older colorway), and then I bought a copy of More Big Girl Knits -- I really liked the first book, and am very excited about getting the new one. I'll post pictures when they get here.

Also, I knit a sweater!!!

But it's a little small. Luckily I know somebody it will fit:

The doll is by the Robert Tonner Company, the skirt is by me, and the sweater is the Textures and Ribs Turtleneck pattern by Daniel Bingham . It used size 1 needles and less than a skein of the Tioga Yarns Three Ply Fingering Wool that I got back at S&B in New Haven. I think Claire found it at a thrift store. The wrapper looks ancient -- I have no idea how old this yarn is.

Also in knitting news, I'm on sock two of my Mom's socks (finally). I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, or the sock, as the case might be.

In more retail news, I went shopping today, and bought a new pair of jeans to replace a pair that was getting worn out. I also got a new black 3/4 sleeve t-shirt to replace one that was getting all pilled and faded. The old garments aren't nice enough to donate, so I'm going to put them in the trash.

This brings me to the final portion of this blog post, Wardrobe Therapy. I'm still chugging along here. I didn't have time to get this done until the weekend, and the piling was a big task. I decided not to take pictures of the pants and shorts, but got rid of the ones that were too worn. I'm going to need at least another pair of shorts this summer, I'm ok for jeans since I bought the new pair today, I have nice "work pants" in grey, black, brown, and khaki, and then casual pants in green and khaki. I'd like to get another pair of khaki casual pants, since I'll get more wear out of those for school. My work pants are still in good shape from when I had the office job, but there's no sense in buying more of them right now since I don't have to wear them much.
Skirts:

These are my summer weight skirts. The white printed skirt is a superstar, it has enough colors in it that I can wear it with black tops or any other color that's in it. The others are stalwart staples.

These are the heavier weight skirts. The raspberry suede skirt would be a superstar, but the hem fell out and I haven't gotten around to fixing that. The others are a black suiting trumpet skirt and some wool blend plaids. They're ok. I like the green and black skirts the best. I think the flare is a good shape for me. The real problem with all these skirts, and with the dresses you'll see later, is that I don't wear them. I almost always wear pants. It's partly laziness, part self-consciousness. I'm going to try to wear them a bit more often this summer, though. It is cooler.

Here are my blazers and jackets. Nothing too exciting. The velvet and cordouroy blazers are superstars. I wear them alot, especially with jeans. I hate the black blazer and want one with buttons, not a zipper, but I'll hold onto it until I find one to replace it. The mauve jeans-style jacket used to be a favorite, but I don't wear it much anymore. I'll give it a go and see if it gets used this spring.

This is my favorite cardigan for spring. I wear it with tanks or camisoles underneath. It's one of the trendier things I own.

These are my two suits and my more work-appropriate dress. The pink suit is a jacket and dress. It's a little Jackie O, and has gotten lots of wear. My mom helped me pick out the purple suit for my first grad school interviews back in 2000. If I was doing this over again, I would have bought something more classic, like a black pantsuit. It's also another zip jacket, which I plan to avoid in the future. The green shirtdress hasn't been worn yet, mostly because I don't wear dresses much. I'll have to give it a shot soon though, before it gets too worn.

These are the lighter weight dresses. Lots of empire waists, v-necks, asymmetrical hems, etc. The black dress on the end is the dress I mentioned as my favorite outfit ever a few weeks ago. I put aside it and a few other dresses that are a little too small, in the hopes that I can fit into them again.

Whew! That covers most of the major clothing pieces. This next week is for accessories. The shoes will take me a while.

It's been sort of interesting going through all this clothing at once. I've made lots of shopping mistakes, and I have tons of plain basics. I tend to make iffy choices on trendier things, so I often stick to the safe choices (probably the reason I had about a million t-shirts). In addition to instituting a "one item enters, one item leaves" policy, I think I need to stop my impulse shopping. I often get tired/frustrated and end up buying things that never get worn. I also need to stop letting my mom talk me into things. She has a good eye for color, but doesn't really have a handle on the styles and cuts I like. It's really hit or miss with things she picks out for me. I also want to make more of an effort to wear skirts and dresses. Considering that I never wear them, I have plenty of them. I think I'm always hoping that I will find the skirt that will make me love wearing skirts, if that makes any sense.

Ok, now that I've driven all my readers off with this really long post, I think it's time to hit the hay. I'll be dreaming of new yarn tonight!!

Birthday shoes!

2008-03-30T21:54:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was my birthday! It was a big one (begins with 3, ends with 0). I had a lovely time, including drinks at the St. Regis King Cole's Bar, Thai food, and a window shopping trip at Bloomies. Which is where I saw these:

They're over-the-top in every way, but I love them. I wish I had the kind of life that called for shoes like this, but I really can't imagine exactly what kind of life that would be.

edited to add: no, I didn't buy them, though I was tempted. They do come in black -- would that make them a bit more sensible?

Wardrobe Therapy: It's the tops!

2008-03-30T21:22:00.005-04:00

If you're going to sort through all the shirts you own, it helps to have some entertaining background noise. Try this:

That's some beard Bing's got, huh?

Anyway, sorting through the shirts was boring, but enlightening. The photos are not great, so my apologies. I hope to have an easier time with this week's assignment (pants, skirts, dresses), mostly because I have fewer of them.

Here's what I learned: (definitions of the terms here)

1. T-shirts (long, 3/4, and short sleeves)
Most of these are stalwart staples or velveteen rabbits (depending on their age), which I should work on replacing. I got rid of a few torture devices, mostly shirts that are too tight, especially around the sleeves. There were also a few mysteries of the lost shopping trip, mostly due to color. Why I ever wanted a tan t-shirt is a mystery to me.
I didn't count my stash of regular t-shirts from places, bands, etc. If they were in good shape I kept them. I mostly wear them around the house anyway. Sentimental journeys were my shirts from my college's football championships. I might add them in with the regular shirts so they can get worn for workouts, etc.
What I learned: I need some fresh shirts in any sleeve length. V-necks are best. I need to be careful about the fit on short sleeves, and I need to make sure they're all the right length (not too short).

2. Tank tops / camisoles
I don't have too many of these and could stand to buy some more for layering. Most of them are stalwart staples, with two velveteen rabbits (the off-white and black camisoles) that should be replaced asap. Two worn looking tops are not quite torture devices, but I'm letting them go because I don't really wear them. The green
top in the middle is a mystery that could be a superstar. I wouldn't know because I've never had the nerve to wear it. If it doesn't get worn a few times this summer. It's out.
What I learned: not much, except that these are basic pieces and I need to make sure they're in good shape. I also have to find an outfit that I can use that green top in.

3. Sweaters (that go by themselves, not over other pieces)
Torture devices: turtlenecks (I need to stop buying them, although I love the color of the pink one.
Mysteries: some hand-me downs from my mom's friend. Not my style, won't wear them, they're leaving.
Same time-next year / velveteen rabbits - a cowl neck (better than a turtleneck on me. I'm not sure why) that's getting a little pilled, all my sweater sets are getting a bit mangy looking, although the cardigans are in better shape than the shells.
Stalwart staples: I've got a few nice long-sleeved sweaters that I need to keep an eye on for rabbitiness. I have a bunch of 3/4 sleeve sweaters with interesting neckline details that I love. They're a bunch of different ages, so some are in need of retirement. But I bought several this fall that are in good shape, and in good colors, so I feel good here.
Superstars -- the purple long sleeved v-neck ribbed sweater. Good color, good fit, in good shape.
What I learned: It's time to let go of the turtleneck. Free clothes are not necessarily worth taking. Almost all the sweaters were in good colors for me.

4. Button-down shirts/knit shirts/others
Superstars: I have a silk t-shirt and a few fancy tops in this category. What do they have in common? V-necks, empire waists, wrap-style detailing.
Stalwart staples: 3/4 sleeve button downs (fine since I don't wear them with blazers, usually. long sleeve button downs, in cute colors, but need a basic white one that doens't make me look like a waiter (to quote Dr. Wende)
velveteen rabbits: a few cotton tops that are good for summer. I'll have to see how much I actually wear them before I decide if they get to stay after the end of the season, though, since they're a few years old and are not really classic pieces -- I don't know if they'll still be good a year from now. Also a few knit tops that need replacement, like my classic white shell that goes with my suit (which I never wear, but that's a story for next week).
Mysteries: more of the free shirts, which are going, and a few others that are staying for now, but need to prove their worth, since they are cute in theory but haven't seen much wear.
Torture devices: why did I want a peach flowered polo shirt? It washes me out and is too tight, so bye!

Whew! That was a lot of shirts. I've made a nice little pile for Goodwill, and I'm putting together a list of things to buy when next I get to do a little retail therapy. I've been a bit behind this week on WT, and haven't been doing a very good job on commenting on other blogs, either. But hopefully I can get back on track this week.

Sock on a Rock!

2008-03-24T23:43:00.003-04:00

Attention, readers: we now return to your regularly scheduled knitting content!

Here's the sock that nearly drove me crazy, soaking up the sun at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

It's hard to tell, but I'm up to the cuff, and I'm just knitting the ribbing until I've used up most of that half of the yarn ball. Then it's on to sock #2. I was warned that one ball of the yarn (Colinette Jitterbug) can be a little short for a pair of socks, but I didn't feel like buying two, so I wound it into two nearly identical balls and am doing the best I can.
So the knitters among you are probably thinking I'm nuts. This is just a simple toe-up sock with a ribbed cuff. No fancy stitch pattern, no bells and whistles, right? So what am I complaining about? Well, to put it briefly: This sock is evil.
I want to say up front that I do not blame Wendy's Detailed Toe-Up pattern. She's a genius, I just had bad sock mojo.
It called for size 0 needles and gave two potential sizes. I started with 1s and made the larger size, because I'm contrary like that. It quickly became clear that it would be too big. So I went back to the 0s and made the smaller size. Knitting progressed (slowly), and by the time I met up with my parents in Illinois for Uncle Dave's funeral, I had turned the heel. My mom tried it on, and it was too small. So I ripped back to before the heel, added some length, and tried again. But then I noticed that I was one stitch short. I thought maybe I had dropped one, but didn't see any ladders. So I decided to increase and keep on going.
But then the OCD part of my brain kicked in, and I couldn't deal with making a sock that had an error in it. So I thought, well, I'll just rip back again until I find the lost stitch. It's got to be there somewhere. By now, you probably know where this is going.
I ripped the whole thing out.
I. Ripped. The. Whole. Thing. Out.
Boo.
This is the sock less than a week after its 3rd incarnation began. It is proof that I can be a speedy knitter when I need to be. I guess I should fly across country more often.
Now, I'm almost done with this one. I'm just hoping it fits my mom ok. I figure it's a bit tight on me, so it should be fine. I'm dreading sock #2, because I can't imagine more ways in which I could screw up this pattern. But I'm sure I'll think of something.

*****
I finally uploaded some of my pictures from the Tucson trip. You can see them by following the links on the sock picture to my Flickr page. They're mostly of the Desert Museum (which was soooooo cool, that's where I saw all the animals) and of our hike through the Sabino Canyon park. I can't believe I willingly went on a hike in the desert. Especially since we saw this at the very beginning:

What exactly counts as "high" mountain lion activity? We joked that maybe they meant the lions were high. Which would also be bad, since then they'd probably be hungry.

The gelato at the end of the day more than made up for the potential hazard of mountain lions, though. I did get to see one at the desert museum, up close through a window behind the caves in its enclosure. Those are some BIG cats. Really pretty, though. One of the other really cool things I saw was a temporary river. It had rained not long before I came, and what was normally a dry wash was now a pretty river. We followed a trail alongside the riverbed and eventually saw a waterfall. In the middle of the desert. Neat!!

The two lovely and charming people in the photos with me are my best friend S and her husband T. They were wonderful hosts, and should be recruited for the Tucson Chamber of Commerce -- at the end of the weekend I was totally ready to move out there. But sadly I had to go back to school. Speaking of which, I should get back to work.

I'll be back with round one of my Wardrobe Therapy shirt piles as soon as possible. I bet you can't wait to see how many t-shirts I own!

Wardrobe Therapy: The Interview

2008-03-22T12:20:00.002-04:00

So, I'm behind already, which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows me. But not that behind, which is a bit surprising to me, because this has been a very difficult week. I spent the first half being jet-lagged from Arizona. Which wouldn't have been so bad except I also spent the first half of the week putting 12-hour days in at school. Having fun on Spring Break was all well and good, but it really had me playing catch-up there for a while. So much for relaxation.
I did get my clothes off to the dry cleaners, though the mending is just going to have to wait (but it's part of the tasks for week 2 of WT, so it might get done this week (maybe). The other outstanding item from week 1 is the interview. So here it is:

Favorites

Who is your candidate for Best Dressed, real or fictional? I'm going to play it safe here and say Katherine Hepburn. Also, maybe Helen Mirren.
What is your favorite garment or outfit ever? I had this beautiful black Anne Klein cocktail dress in the late nineties. Very simple sleeveless sheath with a little gold bar pin at one strap. Mom and I bought it for a college semi-formal. It's too small, but I will never give it away as long as there is any possibility it might ever fit again.
What is your current favorite garment? My black leather jacket.
What would be your favorite thing to wear, if reality were not an issue? I would love to wear knee-high boots, maybe with a bit of heel, but I have yet to find a pair that will zip up over my freakishly wide calves (seriously, I'm not being a body hater here, they are oddly big. And it's not fat, it's muscle. Why I only have muscle there, I don't know.)
Where would you shop, if money, time, and geography were not issues? If there were good vintage plus size clothes and stores that sold them, I would so be there.
What's your favorite fashion faux pas story to tell, now that the scars have healed? In junior high (c. 1992) I had an outfit that consisted of black leggings, plaid flannel shorts, and a sweatshirt with appliques in the same plaid flannel. I probably wore it with a double pair of scrunched socks in complementary colors and one of my many pairs of imitation Keds. It was a matching ensemble, and I was so proud of it that I wore it until the shorts wore out. And then I wore the sweatshirt until I lost it. Fashion gods, I am sorry.
What colors do you associate with happiness? (Your Joyous Colors) I really love dark jewel tones, and any blues/blue-greens. I love pastels but am realizing that they don't really do me many favors as items of clothing.

How You Live

If there were a uniform for where you spend most of your time, what would it be? Nice jeans, fitted t-shirts, sweater or blazer, cute sneakers or loafers.
If there were a uniform for where you spend your leisure, what would it be? Pajamas or yoga pants, comfy t-shirt, warm knit socks (this is my at home wear :) )

Your Wardrobe

What is the problem with your wardrobe? (Maximum of three bullet points) I wear the same things all the time and have tons of things that don't get worn because I don't really feel "right" in them or because they've gotten lost underneath unworn garments. Also I can't accessorize.
If your wardrobe could speak, what would it say is the problem? Half the clothes would be suffering from exhaustion, the rest would be feeling abandoned.
What would you like your wardrobe to do more of? I don't want to be totally Garanimals, but I'd like enough of it to coordinate that it would be easy to think of things to wear each day. I also want it to only consist of things that make me feel good.
What would you like people to say about how you dress? (Max 3) 1. She looks really confident/put-together/etc. 2. Where'd you get that purse/those shoes/etc.? Because I want one. 3. She looks amazingly well-rested for a graduate student.

Ok, so there we go. Now I have to quit procrastinating and head to the library. I've got two assignments due next week that aren't going to write themselves. There's not much to report on the knitting front (although the sock that drove Erin insane is nearly done), and I still haven't managed to upload those Arizona pictures yet. Maybe tomorrow afternoon. I don't know if the library is closed on Easter or not, but I'm going to take it as a day of rest.

Eeee!

2008-03-18T23:30:00.003-04:00

So I got tagged for this meme by Anne and Phoebe. Hi Anne and Phoebe!

Here is what you do. Use the 1st letter of your middle name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names,things…nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person you took this from had the same 1st initial.You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. Middle name letter: E. That's right. It's an "E" for all three initials. Makes remembering my monogram pretty easy.
2. Famous artist/band/musician: Edgar Degas.
3. 4-letter word: I don't know if there are any swear words that begin with "e." :( For the sake of completeness, I'll say evil, though it isn't 4-letters in that particular sense.
4. U.S state: How sad is it that I had to really think about this one before I realized that there weren't any? Boy, e kind of sucks, doesn't it? Too bad there's not an East Virginia.
5. Boy name: Eustace
6. Girl name: Enid
7. Animal: Elephant
8. Something in the kitchen: Easter candy!
9. Reason for being late? Elevator's broken
10. Body Part? Elbow
11. Drink? Egg Cream
12. Something you shout: Eeek!
13. Something you eat? Eggplant (sorry, had to reuse an egg word, but couldn't think of anything else. I'm not too creative today. I spent 12+ hours at school and I think my brain is broken.)
14. A movie you've seen? Ever After (oh, I should have said Encino Man, but I'm not proud of that)
Whew! That took longer than it should have. E is a tricky letter. I should tag somebody now, but as usual, I'm the last to respond and am all out of meme buddies. So if you read this, please consider yourself tagged.

In which I return home and start overhauling my wardrobe

2008-03-16T21:16:00.003-04:00

Just this morning I got back from a trip to Tucson to see my best friend. I had a blast, and will hopefully have pictures up soon. I saw giant cacti! Mountain lions! Road runners! and there was decent Mexican food! And margaritas! And also one of the best birthday presents ever (more on that later).

I came in on a redeye, getting back to JFK at 6:30 a.m. It would have been fine if I could have gotten a bit of sleep, but in a fit of niceness, I swapped seats with a member of a school group who had been assigned a seat far from her classsmates. While it was no doubt a quieter location, it was also near the bulkhead, so I couldn't stretch my (admittedly short) legs out far enough to get comfortable. I have no idea how the tall guy in the aisle seat managed. So I was grumpy and fidgety and dead tired by the time I made it back to the Bronx. I was very sad to have to put my coat back on again. I spent the day alternately napping and reading, and also bemoaning the fact that Spring Break is over and I have to get back in student mode again. I am not looking forward to it.

But at least Wardrobe Therapy has started. I'm very excited about clearing out my overflowing closet and drawers and making my wardrobe less, well, blah.
Here are this week's tasks and my thoughts so far:

BONES: Catch up on laundry and dry-cleaning. I did laundry right before I left for Arizona, so am pretty good in that department. There are several blouses that I hope to take to the cleaners this week. And maybe I should do a bit of mending if I can fit it in.
BREATH: Choose one garment, accessory, or beauty product that you know is a Torture Device and ruthlessly de-accession it. (Do make a note of why you hate it, or vice-versa.)I have a few candidates in mind. There is a pair of pants I really hate. They're dark brown, but not a shade or a material I like, they're tapered (a very bad idea for my shape), and they don't have pockets. I feel very wide and frumpy in them. I think I'll go toss them right now. (runs to closet, goodwill box, and back to computer) DONE!!!
HEAD: Complete the WT Interview. After you finish it, find a source of clothing pictures that you enjoy looking at. It need not be a fashion magazine or current catalog. Old movies, Old Masters... doesn't matter. This will have to wait a day or so for posting, but I'm thinking about it.
HEART: Do something pampering for yourself. This week, this isn't a hard task. Before my trip, I gave myself a pedicure. Then I got a haircut while window shopping, and then my super best friend gave me an early birthday present of a face mask, foot soak, and custom perfume blend here. So I'm feeling pretty pampered at the moment.

So I'll be back soon with my interview results and photos of the trip. For more information on Wardrobe Therapy, try the links above or see Dr. Wende's blog for current posts and links to other participants. Now I have to go amuse the cat. She's been alone too much this week, so I need to make it up to her.

Uncle Dave, this pun's for you

2008-03-10T23:57:00.003-04:00

Oh Internets, I am out of sorts. There's so much I'd like to write about right now. What a wonderful concept Spring Break is, how the airport screeners in Peoria, Illinois, have far too much time on their hands, how much I'm looking forward to my trip to go see my best friend Saumya, why I am mad at the socks I've been knitting, why the superhero stamps I bought are really cool but kind of embarrassing to use, how excited I am to start Wardrobe Therapy, and how bummed I am that I'm too busy with school to do Apartment Therapy right now. See, I have lots to say.
But I don't really want to write about any of that right now.

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Peoria. Normally I love visiting. It's my mom's hometown, and lots of my relatives are nearby. They're the side of the family I'm really closer to, and since I haven' t been back since my grandmother's funeral in 2003, it was really about time for a visit. But this visit wasn't the kind you like to make.

My uncle Dave was a really great guy. He loved puns, as do many of my family members, and a visit was never complete without several long punning exchanges, each of us competing to come up with the best reply. He started my obsession with dollhouses, and by extension with the decorative arts. He and my aunt restored an old dollhouse for their daughters in the seventies, and eventually started a miniatures business of their own. As a kid, I got lots of "castoff" miniatures from them -- things that were a little out of scale or a bit rough around the edges. I had a great time ripping them apart and reassembling them into something special for my own dollhouse. Later on, they gave me more detailed and elaborate kits and pieces that are among my most treasured miniature possessions. They even took me to my first miniatures show. All of this exposure to tiny houses combined with my obsession with historical accuracy eventually led me to the study of material culture and design. So he sort of helped make me who I am today.

This weekend I went to his funeral. He had fought cancer for more than ten years, going in and out of remission. This winter, cancer finally got the upper hand. I got to see him this summer, when he was still doing really well, and I am really thankful that I have good memories to hang on to. It's hard to think that he's gone, that I won't find him puttering in the basement or working on his miniatures the next time I go back. It's even harder because of my father, who just finished a round of chemo and radiation himself. He's doing well, but these past few weeks have been a sobering reminder for me, all the awful "what ifs" you think of in the middle of the night made horribly, terribly real. As bad as I feel, I know that my aunt and cousins feel so much worse.

If there's one bright spot, and I have to believe there is, it's that he led a truly exemplary life. The attendance at his wake and funeral, the volume of cards, flowers, and callers -- he made a mark on so many lives, and an impression like that won't soon be forgotten.

Feeling better, finally

2008-02-29T20:13:00.004-05:00

So, I can breathe again, which is handy what with it being necessary for living and all. Thanks to copious doses of cold medicine, zinc, and vitamin c, the cold didn't progress much beyond my head, which is good because I hate chest colds. Although the weekend full of sinus headaches was not much fun either.

But! I'm feeling fine, and the school week is over, and I'm really looking forward to this weekend, even though large parts of it will be spent cleaning my apartment or reading in the library. I've really let the apartment go, which I tend to do when I'm stressed. I've been finding little tumbleweeds of cat hair under all the furniture, so it's time to vacuum again. I keep telling myself I should do these things more often, and then they wouldn't be such Herculean tasks each time I finally get around to doing them. Maybe it's time to dust off my Flylady stuff and try to create a routine that works for me. There are large parts of her program that rub me the wrong way, but I can't deny that that timer thing really works.

There's not much knitting progress to report. My mom's socks are stalled out. I thought I was being clever by knitting a plain vanilla toe-up pattern. "It will knit up so quickly," I said to myself. "You will be done with these socks in no time."
Not quite.
They're boring. And they don't even have the dubious benefit of ease/speed, since I don't have much time to work on them right now. I'm not even to the heel of sock #1. I actually started a new project because the socks just weren't doing it for me. I really don't know if I want to frog and start over on them or just keep on pushing through. Arrgh.

I'll be back with pictures soonish. Maybe after I clean up enough to have space to take some :) In the meantime, happy weekending!

So that's what that noise was

2008-02-20T22:14:00.002-05:00

Saw this widget on Knelly's blog and couldn't resist:

We have heard the knitting at midnight.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

There's a cold that's been going around school for weeks now, and its finally my turn. I'm spending some quality time with my bag of Cold-eze, a box of kleenex, and my kitty. More blogging later when I can swallow without wanting to cry again. :)

Muffin Recipe

2008-02-11T08:28:00.000-05:00

So good I had to share!
Here's the link to the recipe:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cappuccino-Muffins

Somehow my muffins never get as round on top, though. I guess I'll just have to make another batch and try again! :) Also, apparently I can't spell Cappuccino. Oh well.

p.s. Thanks for the compliments on the monkeys!

The Monkeys are off my back!

2008-02-10T22:29:00.001-05:00

And on to my feet!

I finished them on Super Bowl Sunday, and had them done in time to watch the Giants win. Yay! (for the socks and the Giants!) I immediately cast on the Jitterbug for my mom's socks, but have had to start over since they were looking a little big. I'm using the generic toe-up recipe from Wendy Knits. I may put some fancy ribbing on when I get to the leg, I'll have to see, but I'd like this to be a relatively speedy knit (speedy for me, at least, which isn't really objectively speedy at all.)

I've also been on a yarn buying kick, which is bad, but hopefully after my order from the Loopy Ewe gets here, I'll have the buying urge under control for a while. I just can't say no to pretty sock yarn.

Things have been a little crazy for me, school-wise. My part-time job got sorted out at last, and I think I'm going to really enjoy it. It is surprising how it's affected my schedule though. Having one less day to get my reading done is making it a bit hard to stay caught up. I don't really like having to go in to the library on the weekends, but it looks like I'm not going to have much choice.

Yesterday I had a much needed Day of Fun. A friend came in to visit me, and we hit Dinosaur BBQ (pretty good for not being in Texas :) ), the New York City Police Museum (a really interesting museum. I saw an actual sawed off shotgun in a violin case in their historic weapons section. I thought that was just what movie mobsters did), and the Fraunces Tavern Museum. The last one was really interesting. Aside from being the oldest standing building in NYC, it was also the site of several important events in the Revolution and early Federal periods, including George Washington's farewell to his troops when he resigned command of the Continental Army. We happened to come on Benjamin Tallmadge day, which is an important date for the Sons of the Revolution who run the place, and there were reinactors all over the place, including a brigade (?) of dragoons from Connecticut. They had very cool uniforms. Sadly I had no camera with me. After touring the museum, we went into the restaurant/bar on the ground floor and had a beer. It was fun to drink in the same historic place as George and his pals.

Today I puttered around, did some reading, and made muffins. Cappuchino Chip Muffins, to be exact. They're delicious. What you do not see in this picture is the coffee cream cheese spread that I made to go along with them. With the topping, they're really more like cupcakes, and that's fine with me.

Mmm...muffins. Not a bad way to end a weekend.

Seven things, and then some more things

2008-01-27T20:58:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting. School started and then things got a little crazy. I've got four classes, and four sets of reading, plus I'm working on the grad student symposium committee, and I'm also trying to set up a part-time job (which is a whole set of frustrations in itself). Also, I had friends come and visit, and lots of other stuff. In the few moments I've had where there wasn't any work to be done, I've been knitting instead of blogging, and I can't say I've really felt bad about that choice :) But here I am, on Sunday night, trying to get my mind and my work organized for next week, and I thought, hey, why do that when I could procrastinate on my blog?

A while ago, I got tagged by Costumechick, to list seven things about myself, so here they are, in no particular order.

1. I hate cucumbers, but I love pickles. Even the scent of cucumbers makes me blanch, although oddly, I don't mind things like cucumber-scented bath products.
2. All the guys I have ever dated have been Eagle Scouts. I don't seek them out or anything, it just happens that way. I wonder what that says about my taste in guys?
3. I don't have a fear of heights so much as a fear of falling off of high spaces. Going up in a skyscraper? No problem. Standing at the edge of a 2nd story balcony? No thank you.
4. I have never been ice skating. I don't blame my parents for much (they did a great job overall), but I do blame them for never taking me, especially since I was obsessed by figure skating as a kid. What gives? Now I'm too old and scared (of falling and breaking things) to go.
5. I love Dolly Parton.
6. I taught myself to read as a kid, and polished off Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol when I was four. According to my mom, I then went around asking people if they liked to read novels, too.
7. The first time I saw something that I wrote in print I almost cried. Now I get a secret thrill from looking up my name in our school's library catalog.

So what else?
Well, I knit two Calorimetry (Calorimetries?), sewed their buttons on, and managed to get pictures before I gave one of them away to a friend.
Here they are:

The blue one was for my friend, the noro version was for me, to match my mitts. Details on both are on my ravelry page.

The monkeys are coming along nicely. I've gotten to the foot of sock 2, so it's only a matter of time now. Normally these are my travelling project, but I've been working on them at home too, trying to hurry them along. Also, more progress on the granny square afghan - 4 squares done, 92 to go. Sigh.

I need to get moving on my WIPs. I want to finish the socks and get a handle on my Tomato sweater, then I can think about my 2 lace projects that are currently on hold. I have all the yarn I need for a clapotis, so I'm going to use that as a lure to finish up some of the things I have lying around. I also found the lost button for my plaid bag, so I might try to knock that one off the list soon, too. Ah, the bravado of youth!*

* One of my very favorite college professors said that once after listening to one of my classmates make a series of very grand pronouncements about life. I think of it now and then whenever my mouth (or in this case, my fingers) starts writing checks that I can't cash (I love that saying too).

Well, I should get back to my preparations for Monday. I don't have class, but need to spend a good chunk of time in the library reading. I also need to mail some packages, drop off a bunch of papers to get copied for a meeting, and hit the grocery store. And it would be nice to get some laundry done. My to-do list is too long already, and I haven't even started the week yet. Boo.

Oh well, at least there's another weekend coming up.

Good times!

2008-01-13T23:29:00.000-05:00

I have had such a good week! I cleaned my apartment, I bought some yarn (Patons SWS in Natural Denim and Sheep Shop Yarn Co. Sheep 3 in the most amazing pink purple green and white colorway). I bought some really good chocolate (Ritter Rum and Raisin with Milk Chocolate). I went on a great hike on Saturday. I have friends coming to visit this week. And best of all, I got to go to Stitch n' Bitch again! It was so great to see everyone. I didn't get to chat with everybody as much as I would have liked, but it was so good to get to catch up with everyone. I can't tell you how much I've missed hanging out with all my friends. Knitting with pals is so much better than knitting alone. I really need to find a group to knit with here. It won't be the same, but it might be fun.

Also, Knelly, I got my buttons sewn on. Pictures after they're done blocking.

Works in Progress

2008-01-08T10:14:00.000-05:00

Well, I already went to bed with dirty dishes in the sink, and it's only January 8. I reufse to feel too bad about it, though. They're just dishes. :)

In keeping with one of my other resolutions, I'm going to list all my works in progress. There are several here that I could knock off pretty quickly if I just sat down and worked on them, but there are also some that will require a good amount of work to finish.

1. Monkey socks -- no problem here, they travel around with me and get taken out pretty frequently
2. Tomato sweater -- I'm on the colorwork band. This stalled out because I didn't take it home with me for the holidays, but I'm working on it again now.
3. Mystery Stole 3 -- This needs dedicated knitting time and space. I need to get everything set up for the charts and beading before I work on it, so it tends to stay in hiding. But I was inspired by my progress over Christmas, so hopefully I can keep plugging along
4. Icarus shawl -- on hiatus. I want to finish the MS3 first, so this one might be a while. But I finally got through with all the tedious repeats on chart 1, so at least I'm on to something different now.
5. The afghan of doom -- due to my ignorance about crochet hook size and gauge when I made this, I'm rapidly approaching the size I want, even though I'm apparently only about 1/2 way there according to the pattern. I just need to finish one more repeat and then I'm calling it a day and putting on the border. I've only been working on this one for 6-7 years.
6. That 70s afghan -- It came from the basement!! (Cue horror movie music) This is a granny square afghan kit that I got from my aunt.

I thought this would be a fun and mindless project for watching tv and such. It would be, too, if I ever got it out. I need 96 squares, and I currently have 2 1/2. I should get a counter for this. (Edited to add: I did it! I used the instructions here and it couldn't have been easier!!)
7. The world's tiniest sweater vest -- this was done on 00 and 000 needles for one of my dolls. I struggled through knitting the pieces, but stalled out on sewing them together and doing the neckbands and arm bands. Have you ever tried to pick up stitches at that scale? Crazy-making.
****I think I might have a finishing problem****
8. Chinese Charm Bag (from Stitch n' Bitch book). It is knit. The lining is sewn. The handles are purchased. I even found a cute little charm-y thing to go on it. I just need to put it all together.
9. Plaid felted bag. Needs a button. Has needed a button for over a year and a half. I had a button for it, but now have no idea where it is. Oops.
10. Crocheted market bag. Needs the ends woven in. Why I didn't do this as I made it I'll never know.
11. Calorimetry -- needs a button. Just whipped this up this weekend for a birthday gift. Need to finish by Sunday.
***Not started, but need to do soonish***
12. Socks for my mom -- these will be up next after the monkeys are done.
13. Birthday knitting for 2 more friends. I'm thinking another Calorimetry, and maybe a fetching or some other kind of mitt.

The round-up. Projects 8-11 will take mere minutes, if I can make myself do them. Projects 1-3 will get done soonish, with 12 and 13 in there somewhere, and projects 4-7 will hopefully follow one day, but I wouldn't advise anyone to hold their breath or anything. It doesn't seem like much written down, but some of these are pretty intimidating, like finishing the two lace projects. Plus, now that I've written them down, I have incentive to finish them and show y'all the pictures. :)

P.S. If all goes well, I'll see you at S&B on Thursday! Yay!!!!!

Resolutions!

2008-01-06T19:21:00.000-05:00

Happy (belated) New Year! I hope 2008 is getting off to a good start for everybody.

I had a wonderful vacation in Texas. It was so nice to be home again. My dad is doing really well, and is in good spirits as he starts what we're hoping will be his last round of chemo. It was weird to go home without Wilma. I kept looking for her everytime I came in the door, or at night, when she used to sneak into my room and hide under the desk. Often I wouldn't know she was there until the snoring started.
Christmas was great, and Santa was very good to me. He didn't bring me any yarn, but I did get a book on crochet techniques, which is great since I want to start doing more of that this year. I did buy myself some yarn though, and I'm justifiying it because it's for my mom and I'm going to make her a pair of socks with it. It's Colinette Jitterbug in Marble, and while it's a little more subdued than what I'd choose for myself, I think my mom will really like it.

One of the nicest things about being home was that I had lots of time on my hands and no school work to do. So I knit. And I crafted. And there was glitter glue.
A few months ago, I came across this book in Barnes and Noble (on the left, seen here with my new crochet book). It's The Cute Book by Aranzi Aronzo, a Japanese company.

I fell for the cute little mascots, and last month I finally got the chance to make a few. Here's a selection (I also made a super cute panda, but gave it away before I got a picture):

I especially like the monkey. He reminds me a little of our current president, but I love him anyways.

I also finished my first monkey sock, and got a good start on number two.

Oh, and best of all, I finally got back to work on my mystery stole. I hadn't picked it up since August, and thought that this vacation would be a good chance to get going again. I set up all my stuff in the corner of my parents' living room and knit like a mad woman. I'm mostly done with clue 4 now (I was stuck in clue 3 before), and think I am going to do the repeat that will make it longer. I hate the thought of doing this section again, but I hate the thought of having a stole that isn't long enough even more. I know it will stretch a lot in blocking, but I'm a broad broad, and I want there to be plenty of stole to go around.

I've been reading all the blogs of my fellow SnB'ers, and I want to put my New Year's Resolutions out there too. If other people know about them, I'm more likely to stick to them, right.
First, the non-knitting stuff:
1. I want to get organized. My apartment, my life, myself. I'm tired of living in chaos and I want to be more relaxed and have more fun in 2008. That will be easier if I have a serene and organized home to come back to each day. I'm actually pretty good at cleaning, but not so good at staying clean. I have a real problem putting things back when I'm done with them.
2. I'd like to blog more. Sort of knitting related, I guess, since that's what I mostly blog about.
3. I want to go to bed each night with no dirty dishes in my sink. Very Flylady of me, I know, but she has a point. It makes the whole kitchen seem cleaner.

Now for the knitting. I think Yankee Lagninappe started this:
My knitting accomplishments for 2007 included lace with laceweight yarn (even if I haven't finished a project with it, I'm still counting it), a baby sweater, starting a sweater for myself, colorwork, lace socks, toe up socks, and sharing my blog with my friends (this was a big one for me).

Here's what I'd like to tackle for 2008:
1. Knit every day, even if it's just a few stitches. It's a good way to relax, and I've always been a big believer that "slow and steady wins the race."
2. Speaking of slow and steady, I resolve to finish my UF0s and WIPs before I start any new projects, excepting socks. I've already sort of broken this one, since I've got emergency birthday knitting coming up, but I still think it's pretty doable. Socks don't count because they're my portable project and I like to always have a pair going. I'll list all of my projects in my next post since this one is already long.
3. Fix up my ravelry page so it's got more projects and more photos. Pretty self-explanatory, I think.

If you've made it all the way to the end, thanks for your perseverance. And once again, happy new year!

Hello, I Must be Going

2007-12-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

School is finally finished for the semester. I handed in my last papers on Friday evening, and couldn't be happier to see the end of them. All told, I wrote 4 papers, for a total of 77 pages, plus illustrations. Starting on Thursday, I worked pretty much nonstop, and had been up for almost 36 hours by the time I finished. So of course, I went out to a party afterwards.

My friend Vicki was in town for the birthday party of a friend of hers, and dragged me along with. It was at a bar down in the Village, and there was Wii bowling. It was so much fun. Turns out I'm much better at virtual bowling than the real thing. I even won a trophy in the bowling contest, which is something that would never happen in real life. I had a great time, but by the time I made it home it was after 1 a.m. and I was dead on my feet. I fell into bed and didn't wake up until noon on Saturday. Usually I'm a really light sleeper, and wake up several times in the night, but not that night. I think I'm still making up a sleep deficit from finals week, because I'm still sleeping like a log.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I hung around the apartment, cleaning (boy, did I let that go while I was studying), watching movies on t.v., and knitting (finally!). Sunday was not much fun with the storm and everything, but it was nice to be snug at home with a cat, some hot cocoa, and my yarn.

Today I dropped Minnie off at the vets, which was interesting because I had the smart idea to take her on the subway. It was only a short ride, but she hated it. I feel bad for subjecting her to it, but I didn't know what else to do. There really aren't tons of cabs in the Bronx, and I didn't see any of the unmarked cabs (which I hate to take but would have), so we hopped on the 2. Poor baby, she hated the noise of the trains. She was very quiet, but kept nudging my hands with her nose through the bars of her carrier.

AFter I dropped her off, feeling like the worst pet owner ever, I did a little shopping. It was really the first Christmas shopping I've done, and I really enjoyed it. I got some great gifts for my friends, but I'm leaving my family for when I get home, so I don't have to pack their presents. I did buy some bagels to take home, though.

This time tomorrow I'll be home in Texas, full of Mexican food. We're stopping on the way home from the airport. It will be weird to be home without Wilma there.

Before I go, I wanted to show a few of the pictures from the sugar sculpting workshop I took recently. In conjunction with an exhibit at school, there was a lecture by a noted food historian who recreates period dinners. The day after, he taught a workshop where we learned how to make basic sugar paste flowers like one might have seen at an eighteenth-century table. It was really fun, although I don't think I'll be taking this up as a hobby.

The paste was made of powdered sugar, gum tragacanth, and a bit of water. It was like clay, but dried out very quickly. It was also sticky, and we had to moisten our hands with butter to keep from sticking to our flowers. We took a small ball of paste, rolled it into a cone, pused a pointed tool into the cone to sort of hollow it out, and then cut and formed the sides of the cone into petals. At the end, you stuck a wire with a few thread "stamens" into the center of the flower.

Here are the flowers I made. Some are much nicer than others. I still have to decide what to do with them. They're supposed to last for quite a while if you keep them dry.

I'll do my best to blog over vacation, though I don't know if I'll get any pictures up since my parents are still on dial-up. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

In which there is actual knitting

2007-12-06T22:52:00.000-05:00

Hi again. I have four papers to write. Two are due on Monday, two more on next Friday. Two are half-done, but unfortunately those are the two that are due last. I estimate I have around 40 pages to go total, plus time to edit. So what am I doing? Working busily at my computer, thinking brilliant thoughts and committing them to the screen? Reading ancient tomes, picking out facts to support my brilliant arguments? Noooo! I'm blogging.

That's right, with the deadlines looming ever closer, it's procrastination time chez Erin. No half-assed attempts at avoiding work. We use our whole ass 'round these parts! I may feel too guilty about not working on my papers to knit, but at least I can show you pictures of what I was knitting back when I had the time to knit. Also, a cat photo.

My half-done purple Tomato! I decided to put the colorwork under the bust for an empire waist effect. One more row and I'm ready for the pattern.

Why yes, that is half a Monkey! Out of Lorna's Laces, no less. The color is Tuscany, so I call them my Tuscan Monkeys. Love the little blue stripe!

I can has nap? Not right now, but at least the cat's getting some sleep.

Random. But while I had the camera out, I thought I'd take the picture. These are my favorite non-hand knitted socks. My friend Holly got them for me in London back in college. I think Johnny Rotten would be proud.

Hmmm. I seem to be a little punchy. Maybe I should lay off the caffeine. I do have to get up tomorrow, after all. Speaking of which, I bet I am doing something tomorrow morning that none of you are (unless my classmates are still reading. Hi guys!). I'm going to a workshop on sugar sculpting. We're going to make little sugar flowers. Best of all, it's school-related, as we are learning about eighteenth-century European court dining practices. I'll try to get photos to show, though who knows when I'll get them posted.

Well, the papers are calling again, so I'm signing off. Until next time, whenever that is.....

Thanksgiving, Turkey, and Term papers

2007-11-25T20:57:00.000-05:00

Sorry to drop off the face of the blogosphere like that. It's been a busy few weeks at school, and I've had to let many non-essentials (like this blog, laundry, and actually cooking) slide while I try to get ready for the end of the semester.
My dad is doing great, which I'm really pleased about, of course. He's home and very restless -- it's hard for him to accept that he needs time to heal -- but seems to have come through the surgery with flying colors. I'm really looking forward to seeing him and the whole family at Christmas.
Thanksgiving sort of marks the end of the regular semester at school. Now it's all presentations and final papers. I have four big ones due in the next three weeks. There's a presentation due tomorrow that I'm procrastinating on right now in fact. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape for the papers, especially since I'm usually a last-minute procrastinator.
This Thanksgiving was nice. I relaxed on Thursday and Friday, and spent Thanksgiving with some friends. YEsterday I did lots of sleeping, and also hit the libraries for a while. More library work today, and hopefully I won't have to stay up too late tonight to finish.
There has also been knitting. I'll try and get some photos up tomorrow or at least this week. Can't wait to show off my partly-done monkey. :)
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

What sleepless nights are good for

2007-11-06T22:07:00.000-05:00

Socks! Yes the Roza's socks are finished at last. Plymouth Sockotta, color 367, knit on size 1 dpns. They're a grumperina pattern from the Spring 07 IK. Technically, I made three socks, but the first sock was so tight I had to frog it and start again. I went up a size and made the heel flap slightly longer, and voila! I really like this pattern. The brioche stitch is pretty and very easy to memorize. These were great socks for mobile knitting, and were knitted in Connecticut, Texas, the Bronx, and Manhattan. They've really gotten around, and I haven't even worn them yet.

I've been on the verge of finishing them for ages, and finally, I stayed up late to finish them off. I was on edge, and the knitting was just what I needed. I haven't talked about it much, but my father has not been well this past several months. He was diagnosed with liver cancer, and has been undergoing chemo since the spring. Thankfully, the tumor was isolated to the liver and shrunk a lot with the chemotherapy. Yesterday he underwent surgery to remove it. I talked with my parents about possibly going home to be with everyone, but we decided it was better for me to stay in school. I know it was the practical thing to do, but yesterday I was not feeling good about that decision. I really wanted to be with my family. I went to class, but I'm not sure I learned a thing. I was just waiting for the phone to ring. I finally got the call that he was out of surgery and stable around 7 last night, and I just felt all this stress leaving me when I heard he was out and safe. I still couldn't sleep though, and these finished objects are the result.
He's resting now, and finally, so am I.

Thank you

2007-10-27T13:58:00.000-04:00

Thanks for your kind comments on my last post. I'm still sad, but am coping. It still doesn't seem real, and I can't imagine going home at Christmas and not seeing Wilma there. It's been really hard on my parents, too, who are now petless for the first time in their 31-year marriage. I know my mom is taking it especially hard.

This has been a long week, for numerous reasons, and I am so glad it's over. Midterms are done, and I can finally relax for a little while. I've found my stride at school, and my assignments aren't seeming so overwhelming. I've even found some time to knit. Today is chilly, rainy, and damp -- perfect for spending the day in a cozy chair, with knitting and a cat and a cup of tea. Which is how I'm planning on passing the afternoon. I started my Tomato sweater last weekend, and am knitting away. My first adult-sized garment!!! And I've only been knitting for what, 3 or 4 years??

p.s. I started the sweater last weekend because I was too sick to go to Rhinebeck. Boo! All the late nights reading and working on papers caught up with me, and I was in no shape to go. I really enjoyed all the posts I've read about how fabulous it was. I'm trying not to be jealous that so many of my S&B friends stalked the Yarn Harlot. :) Oh well, there's always next year. Or maybe there's a trip to Flying Fingers in my future. Is anybody up for a ride on the yarn bus?

Good dog

2007-10-24T23:53:00.000-04:00

Everybody thinks their dog is the world's best dog, and through some bizzare kind of physics, it's true. All dogs are the world's best.
Our dog Wilma was one of the really good ones. It's killing me to use the past tense, but I have to, because she passed away today. She was old, and had been getting slower and more tired all the time. Late last week she stopped barking, and this week she stopped eating. My mom called me this evening to tell me that she had been put to sleep.
Wilma was a goofy dog, looks-wise and personality-wise. She was crooked-backed, and ran with a funny sideways gait. Her tongue almost always stuck out of her mouth. She had big brown eyes and a surprisingly loud bark for such a tiny dog. She was abused and neglected by her first owners, but that didn't turn her into a mean dog. She was kind and loving and always willing to come up and lick your hands and face every chance she got. She loved to steal my dirty laundry, and had a knack for grabbing my clean clothes out of the laundry basket and running off with them. Oddly enough she never stole anyone elses. She hid her treats all over the house, and I'd come home on visits and find little doggie biscuits tucked into all the corners of my room. She was terrified of thunder and rain, and would head straight under my brother's bed at the first sign of a storm. She hated baths, and for most of her life it was an olympic event to catch her on bath day. She seemed to know when we were getting a bath ready, and would hide under a bed where we couldn't reach her. We used to ring the doorbell and she'd charge out barking, forgetting she was supposed to be hiding. She'd give us a reproachful look when we caught her, but forgave us almost immediately.
Wilma was a runt. She came from a line of champion Shih Tzus, but wasn't "show quality". She was a champion in our eyes. She was with us for almost 16 years, which I know is longer than many dogs get, but it wasn't long enough for us.
Wilma, you were a good dog. A very good dog, and I miss you.
I don't have many good pictures of Wilma on my computer, and no way to scan in the others. So here's a picture of Wilma asleep in one of her favorite spots. For scale, it's a regular bed-sized pillow.

I can has free time?

2007-10-17T23:37:00.000-04:00

So I love lolcats. I just find them wildly hilarious and I don't know why.

My favorite site is I can has cheezburger?

I also recently discovered lolsecretz, which combines cat macros and post secret, which is one of my other guilty pleasure websites.

So when I saw this on ravelry, I had to take the quiz.

Your Score: Sad Cookie Cat

57% Affectionate, 46% Excitable, 53% Hungry

You are the classic Shakespearian tragedy of the lolcat universe. The sad story of a baking a cookie, succumbing to gluttony, and in turn consuming the very cookie that was to be offered. Bad grammar ensues.

To see all possible results, checka dis.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Ravelery revelry

2007-10-15T23:54:00.000-04:00

I'm in!!!!! I haven't had a chance to do more than set up a user name, but I'm on Ravelry and hope to start playing soon. My user name is erinelise. Please friend me! (bats eyes coquettishly)

Also, it's midterm time, and I'm actually on the schedule I've set for myself. I have a presentation on Friday, a paper and a book discussion to lead on Monday, and a bibliography for one of my final papers due next Thursday.

Plus I'm going to Rhinebeck this weekend, so it's not like I don't have anything fun to do. I debated for a long time about going to Rhinebeck. One of the many knitters in my program saw me with my sock, struck up a conversation, and offered to give me a ride (knitters rock!), but I wasn't sure I could spare the time to go. I ultimately decided that the mental health benefits outweighed the lost study time, and I (and my wallet) can't wait! If any of you guys from New Haven will be there on Saturday, drop me a line and maybe we can meet up. I miss you and would love to see you in person again!

Also, hi to Spice who commented on my last post! She's one of my fellow sufferers, I mean graduate students, and is also a knitter. I hope she'll stop by again.

Knitting wise, I'm still plugging away on the second sock. At least I'm on the foot now, and the end is in sight. Pictures soon, I hope.

And since it isn't a knitting blog without an occasional cat photo, here's my official yarn inspector:

Do you think she can smell the chitin?

Higher Education is Kicking my Butt

2007-09-30T21:59:00.000-04:00

Was graduate school this hard the first time around? I really can't remember. Maybe I blocked it out. Or maybe it is harder, or maybe I'm just dumber. Who knows?
Regardless, although I'm really enjoying all my classes, there's just so much work to do, and no matter how fast I read, no matter how much time I spend in the library, I can't seem to do more than just barely keep up.
I mean, I know all about skimming for important points and that you don't have to read every word of every page, but I just feel such a compulsion to do well, to make sure that every moment of this whole Ph.D. process really counts. So for the moment, I'm doing my best impression of an overachiever. We'll see how long it lasts.
What all this reading and studying means is that I've had little time to do anything else lately. No exploring the city, no reading fun books, and most (and worst) of all, no knitting. It makes Erin a bit of a dull girl.
It turns out that tons of my classmates knit, which is very cool, but none of us have much time to do it. I've been bringing a sock to school, and I try to get in a few rounds where I can, but progress is slow. And my lace projects? Forget it. I don't have the time or the spare brain power.
I'm hoping that I'll get the hang of the time management necessary to both get my work done and have a little fun. I'm sure it will happen eventually. Right now I'm blogging during a brief break from reading about the Dutch East India Company, woven textiles, and furniture. I'd like to get some sleep in before I have to head back to school tomorrow, so I guess I'd better get back to the grind.
I hope everyone out there is having more fun than I am. Somebody ought to. :)

Sorry to drop off the face of the Earth like that

2007-09-11T19:48:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I went so long without posting. It isn't that I didn't have anything to say, it's just that I'm lazy. In the spirit of laziness, here's a list of what's happened to me since I last logged in:
1. I sold my car
2. I finished one of my Roza's socks and am about halfway through the other
3. I continued plodding along on the Mystery shawl
4. I started school
5. I got a terrible head cold
6. I still am not quite finished unpacking the new apartment

What to say about all of that?
Well, selling the car was very stressful. I could probably have gotten more money selling it on Craigslist or something, but I didn't want the hassle so took it straight to Carmax, where they'll buy anything. It went really smoothly, but it was hard to let the car go. It was the only car I've ever owned, and I've had it since my senior year of college. I know that plenty of people in NYC do not have cars and I'll be just fine without one, and I certainly don't miss having to move it around for streetsweeping all the time, but it just feels weird. Before I sold it, I made one last IKEA run, since I needed another bookcase. I went to the one in Long Island, which was an adventure. I got my bookcase and an amazing deal on a big ol' ottoman with a leather(!) cover, upon which I am resting my little feet right this very minute. I'll miss Ikea. When the New HAven one opened, my friend Vicki and I used to go there all the time on Friday nights. We'd hit happy hour, and then go to the store and see what we could buy for $10 or less. That is one reason why I have so many candleholders.
Knitting has been progressing slowly. I just wasn't feeling it there for a while. I did manage to crank out one sock, but Mystery stole progress has been negligable. I need to speed it up a little as I'd like to wear it somewhere at the end of next week. It's possible, I think, if I really get moving.
School has been good. I think I'm going to like my classes, although there's going to be tons of work. The people all seem nice enough, and hopefully my brain can start matching up names and faces (I'm terrible with that).
Finally, I caught this cold on Friday night, and have been feeling worse ever since. Sunday was the worst night, hopefully I'm on the tail end of it now. I hate being sick. I don't have any classes on Tuesday, so I could stay home today and baby myself. It's times like this I wish I had t.v., but given today's date, I'm not sure I could have stood to watch it.
I was going to end with bonus cat pictures, but Blogger isn't cooperating. Maybe next time then, and hopefully next time won't be too long in the future.

I do not approve

2007-08-16T18:46:00.001-04:00

That just gives all us Erins out there a bad name. Now I know how the Katrinas and Ritas of the world must have felt. My parents live in Houston and were actually teasing me about this yesterday. They're getting lots of rain and asked me to cut it out. All you Texans out there stay dry!

Free time is overrated (plus Socks!)

2007-08-16T14:29:00.000-04:00

So I passed my exam, which is great, and now I have nothing to do for the rest of the month. I'm properly grateful -- I wouldn't have wanted to have to take those language review classes every night, but I'm running out of ways to entertain myself. There are still several boxes to unpack, and I'm still feeling my way around the neighborhood. Today I even bought one of those little rolling carts to help me tote my groceries around! The problem is most of the things I can think of to do cost money, and I'm trying to live on a budget, so I'm reluctant to get too spendy. I'm also impatient and excited for school to start. I think I've been in such a rush for the last few weeks that I don't know what to do with myself now that the pressure's off.
With all this free time, you'd think I'd be gettting a lot of knitting done, and you'd be sort of right. I've been working on my Mystery Stole -- I can't wait to get further along to the interesting part (I'm almost done with clue 3 and clue 7 comes out soon!!).
Sock-wise, I restarted my Roza's socks (Grumperina pattern from IK Spring 07) on larger needles. I was going to add some stitches to make them bigger, but just changing the needle size seems to have done the trick. I hope they'll fit this time. I'm using Plymouth Sockotta and I really love the color. You can't tell yet, but it goes in wide stripes in shades of pink, blue, and purple. I also never posted a picture of my first (and to date only) completed socks for Summer of Socks. They're Baudelaire by Cookie A from Knitty. I love her sock patterns. This is in Mountain Colors Barefoot yarn in some sort of berry colorway (it's either Elderberry or Huckleberry, I can't remembmer.

I also started a granny square afghan kit that my aunt gave me. It's from the late sixties -- I think it's been hanging around in her basement ever since she bought it. The yarn is acrylic, but a nice sort of acrylic, and it's a fun, mindless thing to crochet while watching t.v. I don't have a photo of my completed squares yet, so here's a bonus photo of Miss Minnie in her cat tent from Ikea.

I think that's about it for now. Oh, last week Phoebe named me a Rockin' Girl Blogger. I'll get that button up on my site as soon as I can (I always have to work up the nerve to mess with my template). Thanks Phoebe -- you rock!! (edited to add: Look, I added the button and it showed up exactly where I wanted it. I rock too!)

Hooray!

2007-08-09T11:19:00.000-04:00

Reasons I'm happy today:

1. I passed the French test! This means I'm essentially done with orientation and have most of the rest of the month to play, I mean unpack.

2. I found my knitting needles! I had packed everything but my current projects for the move, and didn't know where I'd put them. Now that I've found them, I can re-start the Roza's socks I was working on that ended up being too small. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, I also found my boxes of yarn, so I'm all set now.

3. I have reliable internet access! Thanks to a little black box furiously blinking away in the corner of my apartment I am wired up (or more accurately, wireless-ed up) and ready to go. I was even able to watch clips from the Daily Show last night. This will go a long way towards making up for the lack of Cable I was experiencing earlier.

4. It's less hot than it was yesterday. Yeah, not by much, but I'll take it.

And finally,

5. I'm going back to Stitch n' Bitch tonight! (This is just about the biggest "yay" of all!) With no more orientation, the late night drive back won't be a problem. See you soon Ladies!

The first day of school

2007-08-06T20:23:00.000-04:00

Well. Today was the first day of our orientation for grad school. I woke up with butterflies in my stomach and headed off to the subway station very reluctantly. I'm always nervous meeting new people and going to new places. When I got there, people were just starting to arrive, and everyone seemed really friendly. We chatted over the coffee and pastries the school had set out and waited for the introduction to begin. We got lots of practical information -- it's a good thing it was also included in a folder for us because I don't think I could remember it all.
In the afternoon, we had a session with the grad school's therapist, which was really interesting. Before I got my master's degree, I would have thought the idea of having a grad school therapist was pretty ridiculous, but now I'd never question it. It's a very competitive, highly stressful time, and I remember reading once that the suicide rate among graduate students is insanely high. I believe it. I had a terrible time my first semester last time, and while I feel much better prepared to deal with the stresses this time, it's nice to know that the school has somebody there for us if we need it.
We finished off the day with a review session for our foreign language exams, which are tomorrow. I did okay, but am pretty nervous about it. Everybody think positive thoughts for me tomorrow -- I want to pass this the first time around.
I'd love to relax with a little knitting, and the mystery stole is totally calling my name right now, but I think I should study instead. Sometimes being responsible is no fun at all.
Internet access is still sporadic, but will hopefully be fixed by Wednesday night. I can't wait -- it's so hard to be disconnected from everything.

Unpacking and adjusting

2007-08-02T10:22:00.000-04:00

So, I've now spent 5 nights in New York, the cat has finally deigned to come out from under the bed, and I have unpacked enough to do some light cooking in the kitchen. Unfortunately, while I've found the coffee and coffeemaker, I have yet to uncover the filters or the coffee cups. This is a major tragedy and should be rectified as soon as possible.
It is very hot, and the cat and I are doing our best to stay cool, but unfortunately unpacking is sweaty work.

In other news, last week I finished my first pair of socks for the Summer of Socks '07. Better late than never, I guess. They're Baudelaire from Knitty, by Cookie A (I love her socks). I did them in Mountain Colors Barefoot yarn. I'd show you a picture, but the camera is one of the things I haven't found yet.

I'm writing this from a coffee shop, since I won't have email access at the new place until next week :( How am I supposed to last that long? I forsee lots of coffee in my future. Plus it's airconditioned here.

Tonight is a Thursday, and if I was still in New Haven I'd be at Stitch n' Bitch. It will be strange and a little sad not to go there tonight. I'll be thinking of you guys, and furiously knitting on my MS3.

New York! New York!

2007-07-31T16:54:00.000-04:00

Hi there internets! I'm still alive and have moved into my beautiful New York apartment. No internet access yet at the new place, (I've hopped on while in CT to clean my apartment), but at least I've found the yarn. I'm busy unpacking but hope to come visit you all as soon as I can.

I'm ...a sandwich?

2007-07-20T10:55:00.001-04:00

Random blog thingy, but eerily accurate in its own way:

You Are a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

You are a traditional person with very simple tastes.
In your opinion, the best things in life are free, easy, and fun.
You totally go with the flow. And you enjoy every minute of it!

Your best friend: The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Your mortal enemy: The Ham Sandwich

What Kind of Sandwich Are You?

All you ham sandwiches out there better watch it!

I'm so royal!

2007-07-18T19:43:00.000-04:00

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Her Most Serene Highness Lady Erin the Fortunate of Fishkill St Wednesday
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Chaos and a meme

2007-07-18T19:04:00.000-04:00

Since I last posted, lots of things have happened to me. I took a trip to Mount Vernon, one of my favorite places, I had dinner with my very cool cousin and also my good friend J. and her husband, I started packing up the house in earnest for the big move, and.....

I think I found an apartment!!!!!

I could not be happier, but it doesn't feel quite real yet, and I'm kind of afraid that something will happen and it will all fall through. But that's just my pessimism shining through. It will all be fine. Now I just have to line up a mover and get my stuff out of this place and into the new one. Oh, and I have to hand over a big ol' chunk of moolah.

With all the travelling and apartment searching, I haven't been doing much knitting. I'm still on clue 2 of the Mystery Stole, and clue 4 will be out this Friday! I'm also still working on the same pair of socks I've been on for almost 2 months! Honestly, I don't see getting much more done until after the move is up, but hopefully I'll be able to get some in during August.

And now for the meme:
I got tagged (!) by costumechick
Here's the deal:
Below is a list of different knitting stuff. Put it in bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing. For me, I put stuff I'm working on in bold, too. Somethings I left normal not because I'm not planning on them, but because I don't know what they are :)
Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

I'd tag somebody, but I don't know anyone else to tag. Now back to the packing.

I think I may have magical powers!

2007-07-05T15:45:00.000-04:00

Not much knitting progress to report -- the socks are growing slowly, the shawl is ready for chart 2, and the mystery stole is coming along nicely.

But here's the important news: This morning at work I was really hungry, and all I could think about was how much I wanted a chocolate cupcake and wondering where I could get one (there aren't too many cupcake options near my office). So at noon I go down to the lunchroom, and there is one of my coworkers with a big plate of chocolate cupcakes! Delicious!

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go think about Alan Rickman now. Hey, you never know, it might work again!

Eeek!

2007-06-28T11:42:00.001-04:00

This has definitely been the week that got away from me. I went to New York twice for apartment hunting (still working on finding a place to live), and work has been pretty busy. When I've come home each night, all I wanted to do was fall face-first into bed, but I managed to do some knitting anyways. I swatched for my Mystery Stole 3, and am pretty happy with it as far as appearance and needle size go. I am not very good at blocking, though, and mine doesn't look as pretty as it could. I think I need to put more pins in next time.

I also got to work on my socks. I had a late start to the Summer of Socks, since I didn't get to start my socks until Sunday, but I've gotten a good bit done on them. Back in May I started a pair of Baudelaire socks and only finished one. I cast on for the second one and am now about half-way up the foot. The figure-8 cast on went much more smoothly this time, and I've finally gotten to the point where I have the lace pattern pretty much memorized. Most of the time when I knit charted projects I have to have the instructions right there with me, but for this sock I seem to be doing okay without. That will change when I get to the heel section, but I'm good for now. I am still too grumpy to deal with the other pair of socks that needs completing. The more I think about it, the more I think I'll end up ripping out the whole thing and knitting it slightly larger and on bigger needles. I should have known it would be too small, but I just got in the zone and kept knitting. They were supposed to be birthday gifts for my mom, but they were too small, so I had to think of something else for her. Today's her birthday, by the way, so Happy Birthday Mom! (although she doesn't read this, but I'm putting it out there anyways.)

Only four more rows to go on Icarus until I change charts. The rows are getting so long right now that it's hard for me to get more than 4 in during one sitting. The purl rows seem especially monotonous. Still, being so close to a major transition point is making the knitting really exciting right now. I'll be glad to move on to the next row of the shawl. There are three charts left to go, but they shouldn't take nearly as much time as the first one did.

I'll take some photos soon to document the progress on my various projects. This will be a pretty busy weekend for me, so hopefully I can get it done tonight. Knowing that people might check my blog is a pretty good reason to be better at updating!

Howdy!

2007-06-21T22:57:00.000-04:00

Hi! Welcome to my blog! Tonight I finally gave this blog address to the lovely ladies at my Stitch n' Bitch. I don't know why I waited so long to let people know about this thing. I guess I was nervous about what people will think about what I write. Also, I'm a little paranoid about web safety. Once it's out there, the whole world can see it, etc. But they asked, so I gave out the address. So hi!

Since I joined the Mystery Stole knit-a-long last week, I've been eagerly awaiting my needles and yarn. The needles came today. I've been wanting to try Knitpicks options for a while, since several people I know rave about them. And of course I had to add a few things to the order.
I got needles and cables, a skein of Alpaca Cloud to help me finish my Icarus (I don't think I have enough yarn), some Shadow in Grape Jelly (love that name), and a little sock yarn -- pretty colors, huh? I also got Knitting Vintage Socks, which I'm really looking forward to reading. And they threw in a color card! How nice is that?

I also took a picture of my marathon project, the Icarus shawl from Interweave Knits Summer 2006. I think I've been working on this, on and off, for about six months, and I'm just now approaching the point where I get to change to chart 2 of 4. It doesn't look like much now, but it's prettier in person. I'm using Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in Moss.

Also, here's a picture of my awesome baby sweater, Trellis from Knitty. It was for a friend's baby, and I'm really proud of it. I hope the baby likes it! I called it my little old man sweater, since it reminds me of, well, a little old man's sweater. I'd like to do something similar in an adult size one day. It's in Patons Classic, but I don't remember the color name.

Finally, here is the lovely Minnie, cat extraordinaire. She's a camera hog.

I've been out all day, and Minnie needs a little affection, so that's it for today. I hope I didn't just bore all my new readers to pieces.

Still here!

2007-06-14T11:01:00.000-04:00

I'm still around, just too lazy to post much. Since I last wrote I:

1. Went to the 2007 Tonner Doll Collectors Convention (so much fun) which was in Orlando, so I also
2. Went to Disney World, then I
3. Made a quick visit back home to Texas, while all the while I
4. Freaked out about my impending move to New York City.

(Number 4 is still in progress). Hopefully I'll have some news to report on the apartment front after this weekend. I'm hoping to get down there and see some places on Saturday. If anybody reads this, please keep your fingers crossed for me.

I'm also going to try and get some pictures up this weekend of the world's most awesome baby sweater (a.k.a. the only sweater I have ever made) and the world's most awesome cat, Minnie, who has been mostly forgiven for her truly heinous crimes of Tuesday night. I don't think my bathroom rugs will ever be the same. Luckily I was going to buy new ones once I move. In the meantime, let's just say I won't be winning any home decor awards with what is left of them.

I also joined another knit-a-long, the Mystery Stole 3. I don't know if I can do this one technically or practically (is it too hard for my skills, and considering that I am still on the body section of Icarus, is it insane to even be thinking about another lace project?), but I've ordered the yarn and I'm going to give it the old college try. I also ordered a bunch of stuff from knitpicks, and I can't wait for it to arrive. Once it all comes, though, I'm going to have to go on a yarn diet for a while. I've got plenty of sock yarn, plus some odds and ends for other projects (yay washcloths!), and the yarn for an entire granny square afghan, so that will hopefully get me through the fall, unless I decide to do some X-mas knitting, but that's for gifts, so it won't count. :)
On the needles right now, I've got two different socks, that darn shawl, a washcloth, and the enormous blue afghan of doom (on hold until fall, because it's too big and hot to work on now). I also have to finish two bags, which are all knit but need linings, handles, and buttons. Hmm, I'll have to get some of these up in a sidebar like I've seen in other blogs. That would look neat.

Summer of Socks!

2007-05-13T20:13:00.000-04:00

I joined a knit-a-long. Since I'm currently addicted to sock knitting, I thought this would be a good one. Also, there aren't any requirements other than liking sock knitting, so I think it sounds like something I can commit to. It starts on June 21.

2007-05-06T21:06:00.000-04:00

Eight months without a post. That's pretty sad. I'd feel worse about it, except I don't really think anyone reads this. But I'm trying again, again. I think maybe I'll eventually get the hang of this.

There is much to report in my life, but not much that I can really freely blog about. I'm leaving my current job, moving, and starting graduate school. (The plan is to eventually become Erin, Ph.D. ) I have had lots of anxiety about whether or not grad school is a good idea, whether or not I picked the right program, and whether or not I am insane to be trying this.

As an aside, if I'm going to be studying American stuff, why do I need to take two foreign languages? All the literature I'm going to need will be in English. I guess it makes me look smarter and better educated. Je pense que c'est une idée stupide. I don't know if I got the gender and accents right on that, though, so I guess it's probably time to get studying. Merde.

I'm feeling a little bit of panic over all the big changes in my life, and my response to all of them has been to make like a turtle and hide here in my apartment. But that, I hope, is coming to an end soon, or at least soonish.

Coming soon: materialism and the perils of moving to a super tiny apartment, crazy things my cat has and hasn't eaten lately, and my very first finished hand-knit sweater! Also, socks! This blog just gets more and more exciting, doesn't it?