The sharp-eyed of you might notice that my hair is much darker.  I dyed it Saturday with Electric Black... it is more purply than black, but it's cool and I like it!



May 29, 2005
We have sunshine!  And that means the blog has pictures...

And finally for today, I finished knitting another of the bags.  So here's some comparisons pre- and post- felting.

Goal for today... finish Asana!!  Goal for tomorrow... put office back in order (now that they have finished painting) and read, read, read.

Comments...
Thanks all (Renee, Marian, Cordelia, Lolly, and Carrie) for the compliments on the bag.  Any suggestions for how to dress it up a little or what to include inside for gifts for the secretaries?  I love it as is, but want to jazz it up a little!

Mary... next time I'm at a yarn store, I'd bet I'm coming home with Rowan Big Wool... I think I eventually want to make everything in that little book!

Speaking of yarn store... Marian, you're right... we should definitely plan a yarn store excursion!!  Cordelia, you in?



May 27, 2005
A depressing, gray and gloomy week seems to be ending with some sunshine and packages!  I've been trying so hard to be good all week and get work done.  And except for sleeping in most days, I've been to my temporary office by early afternoon and put in a good deal of writing/reading time.  (Yes, temporary office because my real one is being painted, so I've had to stake out one of the classroom/conference rooms... thankful, there's an internet connection in there!).

Anyway, I came home yesterday a bit depressed because of the weather and thinking my paper thus far sucks to find a package!  It was the final gift from Mary, my SP4.  The timing couldn't have been better!

After I tore through the package, Kevin and I went to the grocery store, and when we got back, I had another package!!!  This one was yarn I ordered.  I originally saw this on A Good Yarn and went to the Knit for the Cure site to read more about it.  It seemed a cool idea and the yarn was affordable and some of the money went to charity, so why not.  I bought 3.  They actually aren't going to be for myself.  I'm going to make one for each of the secretaries that I work with.  They are so nice and always complimenting my knitting, so I wanted to make them a gift.

Did anyone notice that Teva Durham stopped by my site and left a comment to the May 17th post about charting all of the projects in Loop-d-Loop?  Very cool.

Thanks for all the compliments on the Yarn-Over Steek Vest/Tank!  It may actually get warm enough that I could wear it (which also means it may get warm enough to inspire me to finish Asana).  If it warms up and stays sunny, hopefully I'll have some good pictures for y'all.

Today's work goal, finish paper 1, so that I can start paper 2 on Monday.



May 23, 2005
Shhh... I'm supposed to be writing right now, not blogging... don't tell!!

Yesterday, I decided that I was tired of all my projects on tiny needles and needed some instant gratification.  A brief search through the stash and a flip through Loop-d-Loop and 6 hours later we have a Yarn-Over Steek Vest.

• Asana remains unfinished.  I believe that the temperature here is doomed to never again rise above 65 degrees and it will continue to rain, rain, rain, which means Asana will remain unfinished.
• It is impossible to eat cheese balls and knit at the same time.  That orange stuff that gets on your fingers doesn't look nice on yarn.
• I finished the back of Flirty the other day and have been avoiding casting on for the front.  More endless 3 x 1 ribbing... I don't know if I can take it!!
• Knitting 2 socks at once is damn hard!  I ripped out Kevin's socks for the 4th time and have now decided to try 1 at a time from the toe up.
• I spent over an hour winding (by hand) the lace weight cashmere from the shawl kit I got at MDSW, and then I looked at the pattern.  Turns out I need a size 6 circular.  I have size 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10.5 circulars... did you notice, no size 6?

Here finally is the picture of the cashmere scarf...

The pattern is a combo of ribbing and seed stitch (yes, I know... I hate seed stitch... but I'll do any stitch with cashmere).  The scarf actually lays fairly flat, but I have it on a long circular needle so that makes it curl up a bit.  Everytime I look at this or say cashmere, I can't help but think of that episode of Seinfeld in which George gives Elaine the cashmere sweater with the red spot, and then gives it to the woman who cleans his office and she exclaims "Ooooooh Georgie!! Cashmere!!" Hahaha!

I wish I could send you all some of my pretzels to try for yourselves (especially, Lolly, Terby, Jenny, and Cordelia), but we've eaten just about all of them already... very addictive!  So, y'all need to make your own.  It is super simple.  Here's how:

    In a measuring cup, add 1 teaspoon of white sugar and 1 1/4 cups of warm water (not too hot, but warm).  Then add 4 teaspoons of active dry yeast.  Let that hang out for 5 minutes or so and it should get all frothy.

    In the meantime, in a big bowl, add 4 cups of all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup of white sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt and mix together.  Then add 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil and the yeast mixture (once it is frothy) to the center.  (Get ready to get messy!)  Work the mixture with your hands to create a dough.  Depending on the humidity you might need to add an extra 1 or 2 Tablespoons of water if you mixture is too dry or a couple sprinkles of flour if too sticky.  Knead the dough for a couple of minutes (I'm lazy so I knead until it is all incorporated and slightly tacky in consistency).  Spray another bowl with cooking spray.  Place dough ball into the sprayed bowl and turn it to coat it with spray (so it doesn't stick).  Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for an hour or so.

    Once the dough has doubled in size, now the fun begins.  Heat your oven to 450 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix 1/2 cup of baking soda with 4 cups of HOT water, set to the side.  Line your baking sheets with parchment paper, set to the side.  Now take your dough and create shapes!  I like to roll little balls and smash them into discs, or roll long snakes and twist them into pretzel shapes, or just make odd little shapes.  The only key is to try to make them all approximately the same size (so they bake at the same rate).  Once you have them all shaped, tip each one in the water/baking soda mix and place on the baking sheet.  Finally sprinkle the pretzels with some Sea Salt before placing in the oven.  Baking time is anywhere from 4 to 8 minutes depending on how big your pretzels are.  Just check them at 4 minutes and then every minute or so until they are golden brown.

    While pretzels are baking, melt a stick of butter in the microwave.  When you take the pretzels out of the oven, immediately brush them with the butter (as much or as little as you like).  Let them cool on the baking sheets (if you can resist eating them).  Store them in an air tight container.  They are good cool and even better if you warm them up in the oven for a couple of minutes.

Enjoy!!

Terby asked about my basic sock recipe.  Uhm... I just sort of guess how many stitches, knit a few rounds and try it on.  If it doesn't work, I rip and try again.  A smarter way is to follow Wendy's generic toe-up pattern.  Well, you don't have to follow the pattern, but at the beginning she has good advice for how to figure out how many stitches to cast on.  It involves math and a gauge swatch.  It works, I've tried it, but I don't like math and gauge swatches so I typically fudge it!

And finally for today... today is the start of my Qualifying Exams.  Basically, I have 6 weeks to write 3 huge papers.  If my committee likes my papers, then I get to move on to the stage of dissertation; if they don't like them, well... I guess I start researching a new career.  So if I disappear for periods or just post lots of pictures, you'll know I'm burnt out on writing!

Comments:
I'm glad I'm not the only nerdy knitter!  Thanks, Kate and Cordelia!!



May 17, 2005
Last night I baked up some pretzels...
 

Don't they look delicious?!  YUM!!!

I completely forgot to take a picture of the cashmere scarf, so that will have to be for tomorrow!

This is the other thing I've been working on...

Comments...
Yes, it seems all graduate students (and former students) are probably unathletic!  Thanks Jaimi and Annette for letting me know it's not just psychology students!!

Thanks for the compliments on the socks(Annette, Karma, Pamela, and Lolly)!!

Hi Marian!!  Loop-d-Loop is so awesome, you'll love it... so finish those wedding presents quick!



May 16, 2005
Sorry for being a bit MIA... with the end of the semester comes the inevitable complaints about grades, which I cannot understand.  When I was in college, I would never dream of challenging a professor about my grade unless it was obviously miscalculated.  I knew the grade I got was what I deserved based on my performance.  Of course there were times I was disappointed in a grade, but I knew that I could have studied harder or spent more time perfecting my paper.  And sometimes there was just a class that I knew I could study super hard for and just wasn't going to do well (best example... organic chemistry).  I just don't understand this mentality of trying to negotiate grades.

Ok, now that that rant is over, let's get back to knitting...

Asana is still unfinished.  Thursday night's ER was too good to try to attempt any sewing and the forecast for Friday didn't seem like it would be a good thing to wear to a picnic.  Hopefully, I'll get around to finishing her this week.  I was glad that I didn't wear it on Friday because at the picnic we ended up playing a marathon game of volleyball.  Ok, well, maybe "playing" is the wrong term... it would probably be more accurate to say ATTEMPTED to play volleyball.  9 psychology graduate students are probably among the least atheltic people, but it made for a great ab workout!  We are all laughing so hard the entire time.  My arms are still bruised and sore from hitting the ball.  But it was so much fun.  Not much knitting Friday since we all went out to dinner and then hung out gossiping into the wee hours of the night.

Saturday was all about finishing mom's socks.  Not only did I finish sock 2.  I ripped off the toe of sock 1 and reknit it (for the 4th time) such that it is now perfect!

I gave them to my mom yesterday and she loved them!!

Coming up tomorrow...
     State of the current knitting:
          1. Flirty from Rowan - slowly working on the back
          2. Cashmere scarf - this is the most fabulous thing I've ever knit
          3. Two socks simultaneously - this is cool, but I think I need to start over wtih smaller needles
     Why I'm a big dork and how much I love Loop-d-Loop!

Comments:
Thanks for the compliments on the Mets T.  If all goes well, I might get to where it to Shea Stadium tomorrow!

Lolly, Cordelia, and Mary... get Loop-d-Loop as soon as possible.  Heehee, I should be Durham's PR person.  I'm obsessed with this book!!  Check out tomorrow's post for more evidence.

Jenny... don't worry I didn't cry at the split milk... I said some rather unpleasant words at it, ok yelled some unpleasant words at it.  Definitely make an NBaT!  It is a great pattern!!



May 12, 2005
Holy Cow!  61 votes on the Asana poll!!  Where did all of you come from?!  I'm so excited!!  Clearly, the brown, white, pink ribbon is the favorite.  My goal tonight is to sew it in so I can hopefully wear it to our social psychology picnic tomorrow.  So look for pictures soon!

In other news... I totally forgot to reveal the secret pal 4 here.  I was sending gifts to the lovely Jenanne.  And I was receiving gifts from the wonderful Mary.  The really odd part of all of this is that Mary was my sockapalooza pal who I sent socks to!  It's amazing that out of all the knitbloggers who participated in SP4 and Sockapalooza that we were matched up twice!  I think we are fated to meet!!  I better start saving my pennies to get over to London.

I'm in love with a knitting book.

Have you seen Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham??  I thought I loved some of the other knitting books I own, but this one is amazing.  The pictures are gorgeous, the layout is gorgeous, and the designs are fabulous.  I literally want to make every single pattern in this book; yes every single pattern!

Alas, I must resist all of the temptation of Loop-d-Loop because I've got enough other knitting going on right now.  I've been madly working on the socks for my mom so that I can give them to her on Sunday.  I finished the first one on Tuesday.

I got a wonderful little package in the mail yesterday from Nona.

How sweet is it that she sent me a little gift for zooming ahead of the pack in the NBaT knit-along?  I got the package after I came home from knitting with Kathy and she had just been telling me about the Knitticisms book.  It is so cute!  There are some chocolates under the cute sheepy card and some nice stitch markers, which is great because I have very few left of the little plastic ones I purchased a while ago (those things just seem to vanish!).  Thanks Nona!!!!!

And lastly on the knitting front for today, it was nice and warm on Wednesday so I finally got to wear Mets NBaT sans sleeves.  I got a lot of great compliments on it.

Comments...
Sarah, Terby, Kim, are on board for the Knitbloggers Fantasy Conference!  And John Cusack is definitely invited!  Now if we can just figure out who we can get to pay for it all...

Jenny and Lolly, thanks... it has been so hard not to jump into all the new yarn and play with it!  And yes, Lolly the ribbons are from JCaroline Creative... I got the link from you site, thanks!!



May 9, 2005
Since the next several days appear to be super busy, here is a loooooooooooong post that you can enjoy over the next several days or all at once, whatever your heart desires.

This is a four part post.  First up is the goodies from MDS$W, then Asana, then the Book Meme, and finally a response to comments.

I'm very happy with my purchases.  I feel like I got a lot and I didn't spend all of my money.  I decided that I would take cash and only pay with cash.  If I had pulled out the credit card, I would have been too tempted to spend too much.  I want to start playing with all this new yarn right now, but I need to at least finish mom's socks (by Saturday!).

1)Total number of books in your house:
Egad!  So total as in my books and Kevin's books? Let's just say we have 5 full bookcases and many books stacked on nightstands, the floor near the bed, under the end tables, near the computer, and in the middle of the living room floor.  Of course that doesn't include the many that are being "stored" at my office.

2)The last book you bought was:
The last books I bought (at the same time) were YarnHarlot's "At Knit's End" and Ayun Halliday's "Job Hopper".

3)What was the last book you read before reading this?
Ayun Halliday's "Job Hopper."  If you haven't read any of her books, go and buy them.  "Job Hopper" is the most recent.  Very funny.  It is about her experiences working a variety of odd jobs (telemarketing, sales, waitressing).  It made me laugh out loud and there were definitely things that I could relate to.  "No Touch Monkey" is her second book.  Even funnier!  It is about her low-budget travels around the world.  And "Big Rumpus" is her first book (which I actually required my Psychology of Women class to read last year).  Defintely my favorite of the three...simultaneously makes me look forward to having children someday (way way way in the future, we're talking like 10 years) and very, very, very happy that I don't have kids.

4)Write down 5 (or 6) books you often read or that mean a lot to you.

Uhm... I generally don't read inspirational types of books...so I don't know that there are any that meant a lot to me.  I love to buy books, read them, and put them on shelf when finished, but I don't often re-read things unless I'm really bored and have no money for new books.  So we're going to alter this question a bit and give you a list of some of my favorite books...

Favorite Non-Fiction Books...
a) "Deal with It" and "The Looks Book" by Odes, Drill, and McDonald - I wish I read these when I was 14.  If you have a teenage daughter, she needs these books.

b) "Jane Sexs It Up" by Johnson - Another that I require for my psychology of women class.  It gives you a lot of different perspectives and interpretations of sexuality.  My fav chapters are about dealing with heterosexuality and a feminist identity.

c) "The Male Body" by Bordo - Lots of insight into how many interpret their bodies, but you also learn nearly as much about women and their bodies.

d) "Virgin Territories" by Alter - A book of women's stories of their firsts (periods, kisses, jobs).  It'll make you laugh and cry, mostly laugh.

e) "Pink Think" by Peril - How women and girls have been taught to think pink.

f) "Kiss My Tiara" by Gilman - My psychology of women students love this book.  It is a manifesto for being a "smart-mouth goddess."

g) "Unmarried to Each Other" by Solot and Miller - Great information for couples living together.

Favorite Fiction Books...
a) "The Fourth Hand" and "A Widow for One Year" by John Irving - Can you believe these were the first John Irving books I've read.  Loved them!

b) "A Handmaid's Tale" and "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood - The first one's a classic, the second hopefully will be as well.

c) "The Stranger," "A Happy Death," and "The Fall" (among others) by Albert Camus - I like extistential philosophy, especially in novel form... I can understand it so much better that way.

d) "Lysistrata" and other plays by Aristophanes - I fell in love with his plays in college while taking a Greek history class (little known fact... I have a minor in Classical Studies because I loved taking classes from the one professor who taught Greek history, so I took them all).  The plays are witty and clever.

e) "The Season of Passage" by Christopher Pike - This is my all-time favorite book.  It is the one book that I've read at least 5 times.  I know it by heart, but can always re-read it.  I actually love all of Pike's books and have read most of them twice, but "Season of Passage" is by far my favorite.  (Ok, I just checked a list of all of his books, and it seems I've read all of them that were written between 1986 and 1994).

5)Who are you going to pass this onto and why?
I think I'll leave it up to whoever wants it.  I know I've seen it on a lot of blogs, so if you haven't had a chance... take it and leave a comment so we all know to come check it out.

From May 2-
*Thanks for the compliments on the socks (VaxGirl, Chris (ps. I walk slow in the clogs so I don't fall down!), Jenny and Sarah).

*It seems we could have a jimmies (Sarah) vs. sprinkles (Cordelia and Carrie) debate.  But why bother... let's just eat 'em!!!  Yummy!!  I need ice cream now...

*I'm glad that Lolly and Jenny agree with me that the internet is all about knitting and yarn!  Maybe getting a laptop with wireless internet wasn't the best plan for accomplishing work (case in point, right now I ought to be writing a paper, but I'm composing a blog entry.)

From May 4-
*Thanks Annette for the compliments on my mom's socks. I hope she likes them too!!

*Thanks, Karma, Wendy, and Jenny... you see Asana's current state above, now I need help picking a ribbon!!  What is your sage advice?

From May 8-
*Kim B....I know.  Cordelia and I were joking the whole time about buying fencing and herding dogs and coming home with some Alpacas and sheep.  I know my landlord said no pets inside, but Alpacas live outside...

*Karma and Lauren, you're welcome.  It was a blast.  I only wish more bloggie friends could have come and that I could have met more people (stupid pathological shyness).  I think there needs to be a knitbloggers' conference somewhere warm and sunny and definitely sponsored by a yarn company who pays for all of us knitbloggers to attend so everyone can come no matter how exotic the location!!!!

*Jenny and Carrie, it was so great to meet you, too!!!  See comment to Karma and Lauren about needing a knitbloggers' conference.  Let's think about this more... "7 days and nights of knitting and meeting with blogger buddies on the sandy beaches of Hawaii sponsored by ??? yarn company, who is graciously paying for every knitbloggers' airfare, hotel room, and food."  Ooooooh, and maybe some hot male celebrities will be there so we can teach them to knit.  "Very good Mr. Pit... those knit stitches look perfect.  Such a shame about you and Jennifer, let the knitting heal you.  Have you heard about knitting blogs?  They are so much fun.  You should start one of your own..."  Ok... I need to go take a cold shower...



May 8, 2005
Maryland Sheep and Wool was so much fun yesterday!  Cordelia and I drove down and spent 6 hours enjoying the festivities and sheepy goodness.  Since I have a bunch of cool pictures, I'll post details to the trip here and leave you with a couple of cool pictures.  (Silly me totally forgot to get a picture of me and Cordelia together!)

Go check out all the pictures from the festival... oh, and where are the yarn pics... I'm waiting for some sunshine so you can see all the beauty!



May 4, 2005
No time to post... I have a presentation in less than 2 hours and in true procrastination style, I'm posting some pictures for you...

Thanks for all the great comments... I'll respond more personally when I have some time!



May 2, 2005
Was there a time when the internet served a purpose other than knitting?  I know lots of people are spending lots of time on the internet, but I've seem to forgotten what use there is other than knitting related information.  I mean, when I'm trying hard to avoid doing work and bloglines has no updates, and I've already looked at the sale pages of my favorite yarn stores, and clicked through tons of blogs on the knitting blogs ring (not to mention checked all my email accounts 5 times), what am I supposed to do on the internet?  Over the past few months, I rarely seem to use the internet for non-knitting related purposes.

I ought to have more pictures to show you, but after researching the foremothers of the psychology of women for my presentation on Thursday, I looked out the window to see that it had clouded over and the sun was gone.  I did manage to run out and snap these pictures...

Projects that you deserve pictures of include mom's socks (with cool spiral rib), Asana in pink and white (notice I joined the Asana-along in the sidebar), and Flirty (with the beginning of armholes).  I'll work on them tonight and hopefully get good pictures tomorrow.

Tonight's dinner... pizza!  (because Kevin isn't here and I'm not cooking for myself.  Watch the Mets game on ESPN and you might see Kevin sitting in super awesome seats that his good friend scored from his law firm).  Although, if the weather isn't looking a little better, I might be lazy and not walk up to the pizza place and instead eat some cereal...ok, I'll stop thinking aloud on the old bloggie here.

Comments...

• Hi Jenny!  I'm glad you stopped by!  I've been reading your blog too (also found through Carrioke... she's a gate-way blog!! hahahaha), but I guess I should stop lurking and comment!!
• Cordelia, I had vanilla soft serve with chocolate jimmies.  Yes, I grew up in South Jersey so I call them jimmies... they are not sprinkles, they are jimmies.  I tend to eat mostly vanilla soft serve throughout the Spring and Summer because that's the only time you can get it and get it good.  If I want "hard" ice cream, I'll buy it at the store and eat it at home.  When I was a kid, we used to go to Dippy's for ice cream... and the family joke was that for my brother it should be called Drippy's because he'd have ice cream everywhere.  That story was kind of random... but, it's my bro's b-day in a couple of days and older sisters are supposed to embarass their little brothers... especially to the whole world via the internet!
• Vicki, thanks!  If Kevin took pictures everytime I was feeling silly (or full of champagne), I'd never be able to show my face in public!  I'm quite goofy.

When Kevin and I moved into our first apartment, I made a bunch of curtains and pillows using that no sew heat-bond stuff that you basically iron between two pieces of fabric and viola no sewing needed.  This pillow is the last remnant of those horrid curtains and pillows.  Kevin uses it to support his lower back (our couch sinks in a lot).  Recently, more and more of the stuffing has been oozing out.  So, I had to do a little emergency knitting (because I'm too lazy to pull out the sewing machine and fabric even though that would take about a total of an hour for a new pillow, instead I've chosen a process that will take several days including drying time).  Using some of the Arcunia Nature Wool leftover from Suss Zip-Up, I knitted up two big squares and crocheted them together on three sides.  In this picture, it is a hat (those flushed cheeks are probably due to having just finished a bottle of champagne because why not drink champagne on a Saturday night for no reason).  Here's the state of the pillow after I felted it in the bathtub...

It shrunk more in height than I wanted and not enough in width.  It is still drying (outside right now) and hopefully will work out well when I stuff it (which at the rate it is drying won't be until Tuesday!).

To distract you from the lack of pictures of yummy socks, look at our pretty tree...

..

I plan on wearing my yummy socks tomorrow, so I will get a picture for you then.  Tonight it is pork loin on the grill followed by a walk up to the ice cream place!!!!!!!  (I LOVE ICE CREAM!  and come on, a 10 minute walk there and back is enough to burn it off right?)