the good and the bad

The good:

My sockapalooza pal :)
Question from Pal: Would you rather have a yarn you've looked at and/or used and liked, or something I don't think you've mentioned that I think you would really like?--Your Sock Pal
Answer from Me: Oooh, something new would be fun! I'm up for anything...

Internet. We now have a connection at home :)

The bad:

Comcast. Two and a half hours to hook up my internet. All because they brought a bad modem with them. Of course, they had removed and replaced all the cable wiring in the house before they figured this out.

Grad school. Started class on Wednesday. By the time I went to bed on Friday night early Saturday morning, I had read an entire book and a case study, written a five page response to the case study, did some research and met with a group of 4 people to prepare a presentation due on Wednesday. The blogging will be sporadic for the next 10 weeks.

Ravelry love

So, JoFrog was so sweet to send me a Ravelry invite. Now I'm hooked!!!

I *HEART* Jessica and Casey!! What a fantastic thing they've created.

We still have not set up our internet service at home, so I am sneaking in some Ravelry time in spare moments at work. As soon as we figure out the internet thing (new computer? old computer? wireless? what hardware do we need to update?) you had better believe that there will be some serious Ravelry time chez moi.

If you've got a Ravelry account, let me know your name so that I can add you to my friends list.

In the meantime, hang tight while I figure out the computer stuff, upgrade to a Flickr pro account, and proceed to catalog all my WIPs, FOs, UFOs, and stash. What a happy little OCD knitter I will be :)

It's a slippery slope, folks

On Sunday, I drove up to NHS&W with the Mafia and her Little Man, and a large green kid-wrangling wagon. When we got there, we hooked up with the (sadly-blogless but newly flickr-ized) Pi Grrrl.

My shopping list looked like this:

• sock blockers
• sock yarn for my Sockapalooza 4 pal
• yarn to make felted clogs for Thom
• yarn for a baby sweater for my expectant childhood best friend

Did I mention that Pi Grrrl is a spinner? As we wandered about, strolling through the Grafton Fibers booth, I may have pet a few lumps of fiber in luscious purples and blues.

Despite my cries of "I'll consider learning how to spin after I finish grad school," Pi Grrrl may have dragged me kicking and screaming gently nudged me towards a wheel. You know, just to try it out...


See that sign in the back? Yeah, that says "The Merlin Tree".*

At lunch, I may have sat down next to Cheryl and Kristen and Kellee and Teresa. Maybe.

At which point, Kristen may have engaged me in a conversation about Lyle the Louet.

After which, I may have deviated from the shopping list.



Yep, Kristen offered to let Lyle the Louet come live with me for a little while. We'll arrange a pickup at a later date, as the two of us and Lyle are currently located in three different states.

When I got home and told Thom this story, the first thing he said was "is it a travelling wheel or a regular one?" Huh? How does he even know to ask this? (The follow up commentary was "I just want to know how much space this thing will take up.")

It's a slippery slope, folks...

*********
* Dave knew I was a goner before I even sat down at the wheel, as I may have mentioned that I was reading The Age of Homespun by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. (In my defense, I was a history major, and one of my mentors was a colonial American historian ... it's not THAT far-fetched that I might just happen to read a book where spinning wheels are the main characters!)

shameless whoring, and thank you!

Does anyone have an invite to Ravelry that you would like to send me??? Pretty please?

Thank you all for your nice words about getting in to grad school. In answer to some questions, I will be returning to my alma mater to get an Ed.M. with a specialization in Higher Education Administration. 8 courses, no thesis, all part time. And, for courses that meet at 4 p.m. or later (which mine do), a 50% discount on the tuition! Now that's the way to get a graduate degree ...

good news, but less knitting

About 10 days before moving to our new house, right when I should have been packing and finishing up last-minute projects at the new house, I had a bright idea. "I should apply to grad school. Right. This. Very. Minute."

Let's not discuss the fact that I have been making noise about going to grad school for the past 5 years or so. All of the sudden, I decided that it needed to happen NOW.

So, I signed up for the requisite standardized test, filled out an application, wrote a personal statement, convinced my boss and my boss' boss to write letters of recommendation, and sent it all in. Before long, I was admitted!

Classes start in two weeks. It's been 7 years since I've been in school. Yikes! Do I still remember how to study? More importantly, do you think I can get away with knitting socks during class?

Let there be light! (and then, photos...)

Blah, blah, blah ... BUSY ... blah, blah ... MOVED IN TO NEW HOUSE ... blah, blah ... TRAVELLED TO SEE FAMILY ... blah, blah ... CRAPPY WEATHER = POOR LIGHTING = NO PHOTOS ... blah, blah, blah ...

Well, that about sums up the past month or two and saves you from having to read a lot of rambling garbage. Now, what you are really here for ... the photos! The rain did break on a few occasions, so I have a few pix.

Remember this hat? And my promise to knit for charity? ... I finished the hat. No photo. Doh!

I made some more hats. Three baby hats for my mom ... one to give to her next door neighbor and two for colleagues at work. One is made from the variegated Peaches and Creme in the left of this photo. One from the variegated pink in the middle of the bottom photo here. And one from some orange GGH Goa. Oops, forgot to take photos before handing them off.

OK, OK, here's some photos I dredged up ...

A Fake-Isle ...
An ... ummm ... something green and wooly with a cable thing going on. Sized for a baby.

A ridiculous, retina-searing, scrap-bag mashup. Will keep a Mongolian child warm, though!
Finished some socks for the hubby ... and then proceeded to take an extremely overexposed photo that makes them appear to be the color of baby dust bunnies. Really, they are a manly charcoal grey.
Started some more socks for me (Diagonal Cross Rib from IK's "Favorite Socks" book. Artyarns Ultramerino #109) ...

Made 2 chemo caps and started a third one. Duh, no photos yet.

Well, let's hope I can blog a bit more regularly now ...