A Bitter Knitter

It's been an absolutely crazy couple of weeks.  I finished all my classes & turned in papers (including one I especially loved writing which I titled "Knit Two Conceptual Domains Together" and which was about the use of metaphor in knitting) and then I GRADUATED!  That's right.  I now (or rather will, once final grades are posted,) have a B.A.! Here are pics from graduation.  These were taken by my sister & friends.  I'm shiny!  (You know what the reason is for having tassels that hang down the sides of your face?  Distraction!  Something to play with during graduation (such as while the student speaker sites "dictionary.com" as a reference *serious eye rolling*)!  The cords were fun to play with, too...  but I digress... What can I say?  I'm distracted by shiny objects...) Sorry, photo vanished. Sorry, photo vanished. I graduated "cum laude" but I'm hoping that my final grades will nudge up my GPA so that my dip...

"Give me a word, any word, and I show you how the root of that word is Greek." (My Big Fat Greek Wedding)  Today's Greek word is Thesaurus .  Not a dinosaur, the word "thesaurus" comes from the Greek word for a store, treasure, storehouse, or treasury, now meaning a treasury or storehouse of knowledge.  That wonderful information comes from the Oxford English Dictionary Online.  (One of the things I'm going to miss most about graduating... no more access to the OED online with the campus subscription.  Deep, pitiful sigh.) Today is Saturday the 8th of May.  A week from now, I will participate in the graduation ceremony marking the completion of my BA!  The only things standing between me and my diploma are a geography final on Monday, border studies final due Tuesday, and three linguistics papers due Thursday...  Not a ridiculous amount of work, but nothing at which to sneeze either, but all the end of the semester work is why I haven't...

So Husband and I went out to visit Mom & Dad yesterday.  Husband and Dad finished the back fence.  Yay!  Mom took me to the LYS in Fallbrok: Labors of Love  and bought me these: They are Panda Superwash by Crystal Palace Yarns .  The colour is called "Joyful."  I absolutely LOVE it.  The jewel tones are simply marvelous.  And I was so excited that as soon as I got it home, I promptly cast on.  The pattern I have chosen for this lovely yarn is called " Pablo ."  And I have thus far finished the ribbing and one pattern repeat.  See? I'm calling them my "Joy in the Journey" socks.  "Finding Joy in the Journey" is the theme of Vista 10 Relief Society this year.  It comes from a talk given by the  Thomas S. Monson in November 2008 .  It says: "This is our one and only chance at mortal life--here and now.  The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief.  Opportunities come...

I don't generally post on sequential days, but, behold! a second post in two days. Red-Headed Sister and I spent mid-day at the park. We fed the ducks and geese,  blew bubbles,  Sorry, photo vanished... and played on the swings.   Then we came home and watched movies.  Of all the photos I took today, this one is my favourite: Sorry, photo vanished... I got nothing done for school, but it was an excellent, relaxing day, and I did get the heel turned on my Monday Sock .  See? The foot of the sock is my least favourite part... alas.  But that's what's next.  Tomorrow Husband & I are headed out to Mom & Dad's--Husband is helping Dad fix the fence (they hope to finish it all tomorrow, I believe), and I've got laundry to do and need to revise my presentation.  My Most Wonderful Linguistics Professor is going to let me rehearse my WAIL presentation for her on Tuesday, so that means I have this weekend to make revisions and get...

Let's see... when I last posted ten days ago, I had just finished three hats for niecelettes and nephewito.  While I have multiple projects in progress (ahem... hibernating...), I was in the mood for something new, and by new, I mean things I haven't done yet.  So here's what I've recently cast-on: Item Number One: My first ever pair of toe-up socks.  I'm calling them Summer Fog Socks , and they're made using the Wendy's " Summer 2008 Socks " in " Lavender Topaz ," making these also the first ever item not knit in a solid colour yarn, and is the finest yarn I've worked with yet, with the smallest needles.  Size 0!  The socks are biasing, but I won't know until I get farther along if that's going to be a problem.  Other Ravelrians agree to the leans-to-the-right bias, but there was no clear consensus as to whether it will block out or not.  But I'm contemplating switching the pattern for the other sock to use a k2tog whe...

April.  The fourth month of the year. It is designated as, among other things, Autism Awareness Month , Frog Month , National Kite Month (reminds me of Charlie Brown ), and ... Stress Awareness Month.  Fitting.  Ask any college student. I'm plugging away.  Keeping very busy.  (Would probably be less busy if I didn't go on Facebook.  Oh, well.)  I got my grant proposal and scholarship applications sent in and my prof and I got the big grant proposal done electronically... it was just waiting for signatures to go off in physical form.  Cross your fingers when you get a chance and wish us luck on all of them! My poster is done and ready for my presentation tomorrow, I just need to plug through some more audio files so that I have more than four examples...but I spent all day editing video and I'm kind of burned out.  The forum on undergraduate research is tomorrow afternoon.  My prof has actually cancelled class in favour of the foru...

Time keeps marching relentlessly forward and then races past, bringing April closer and closer.  Deadlines for grant proposals and papers are looming nearer...  I really should get off Blogger and get to work on my poster, because (insert severe sarcasm) thanks to furloughs (and spring break) I have to print it by Thursday of next week, even though that presentation isn't until the 6th of April.  Sigh... But we're hoping to videotape our speakers on Tuesday for my presentation at WAIL.  BIL's scarf is progressing slowly, but I'm hoping to have it done by the 1st weekend of April as well, for BIL's birthday.  (Act surprised, Sid!)  But I have finished the unbloggable projects I mentioned... hope to get those mailed off tomorrow.  Pictures soon! And, thanks to the turning and tilting of the planet (which corresponds with the passing of time) we are coming up on the Vernal Equinox on Saturday.  It's really been lovely the past few days....