Conflicting Thoughts on the Color Blue

Blue books, bad.  Blue Malabrigo, good.

Yep, it's that kind of day.

FO: Unorthodox Cowl

It snowed today.  At the beach.  In North Carolina.  This actually happened last year, but I was out of town and so did not get the full joy of playing in snow that has mixed with sand.

After you gets over the initial shock of snow on the beach it is pretty much just like normal with the  big wind blowing sand in your eyes.  Only you're wearing hats and giant coats and are allowed to throw things at people.

Erica wonders why, if it's snowing, are you still not allowed to swim?

Yesterday I finished the Unorthodox Cowl, so it got quite the debut.

Dilih Wrap from Go Go Malabrigo 2 by Alexandra Tinsley

It was really cold, so I was more concerned with photographing the cowl than with how I looked.  Evidentially when I'm cold I get really really red.  Who knew?

I love this cowl.  I technically bought the ebook to get the pattern for my sister's Strawberry Chocolate Wristers, but really I wanted an excuse to make this.  I splurged and bought the two skeins of Malabrigo Chunky in Sunset (same color as the pattern because I love it that much) and it was totally worth it.  The cowl is warm, but not an intense winter item, which is fine for where I currently live.  You can also wear it around your shoulders like a wrap, but it was too cold to try to take pictures of that.

I have never knit a pattern with dropped stitches before, so now I totally understand what all the hype is about.  It's so much fun!  The pattern itself is actually a fairly simple concept, but Alexandra's writing is very clear.  The directions are very easy to visualize and make it totally worth the purchase.

My sad snow hat is starting to fall apart, so today was probably its last outing. I think I am going to make one of her hat patterns my next project because one can never have too many hats.

The Return

Sorry for long silence. The week before Thanksgiving my computer decided to make my life a living hell and short out the fan. Right in the middle of the most stressful part of the semester. Guess that's what I get for naming my computer after a Dollhouse character.

Here's a few photos of what life's been like and all the craziness you should be glad you've missed out on:

Grading, grading, and more grading. Boy am I glad that's done for the semester.

Malabrigo stress breaks,

Amid late nights spent buried under piles of research (yes, that's Princess Diaries. I was looking at using it for an example in my paper but unfortunately it didn't suit the subject matter)

Thanks to comps, I wasn't able to go home for Thanksgiving. But my family came here instead. One of the advantages of living here in a sprawling metropolis? We got to cut an hour off the travel time for Black Friday, a day in which we go buy one or two things and then marvel at the crazy hordes of people. My sister really wanted that giant makeup kit for $15.

No pictures of Thanksgiving food, we ate too fast, but this is my favorite way to use up the leftovers.

Friday was a day of support for young girls everywhere who might feel outcast because of their geek love. This was done in honor of Katie, a now famous first-grader, who was made fun of by the boys because she loves Star Wars. The outpouring of support has been quite impressive to people who are not part of the female geek community. Unfortunately far too many women and girls feel the need to hide their love of Star Wars, BSG, comics, etc. I hope that this story helps continue to change the way people view women and the geek community.

Me? I just can't hide my geek pride, any day of the year. This is actually the tank from the new Boba Fett sleep set over at Her Universe. I turned it into a party outfit because I truly do have a "Boba Fett-ish"

It's the start of the Christmas season! Wednesday I indulged in one of my favorite traditions -- peppermint chocolate ice cream. This isn't the peppermint flavored ice cream you get at the store. Instead I buy the individually wrapped peppermints and crush them over vanilla ice cream. Add some fudge (or chocolate sauce if you have it handy) and it's Christmas in a bowl!

This little terror looks so innocent. . . . Until he drug out my yarn and tangled it all up and down the staircase. . . .

Puppy Love

No WIP Wednesday again this week (but you should go to Tami's blog to read all the great posts from everyone else).  Instead I thought I'd bring you this video from Russia Today.



All together now: Awwwww!

It's Randomly Sunday Again

1.  It's November.  Any university student will tell you that it is one of the most stressful months of the entire year.  I think this is the most stressful November on record.

2.  Because of the fact that it's crazy stress-inducing November I've been especially bad about posting, replying to comments, and emailing people.  If I owe you some form of contact, don't worry, I haven't forgotten.

3.  Something I tend to do when I am very stressed out is shift my mental focus to obsess over something non-scholastic when I'm not working on school.  When I was in high school it was Star Wars, and lately it's been Doctor Who.  I used a birthday gift to Amazon to pre-order series 5.  It finally arrived last week.

4.  I love Matt Smith

5.  I finally cast on the other sock for my mom.  Should be done sometime next summer.

I took this photo of the first sock a few weeks ago.  It is modeled on the foot of my friends' two year old daughter.

6.  I've also been working on Christmas presents, because of course I am insane enough to decide to knit presents again this year.  And, wouldn't you know it, I'm almost out of yarn on one. Not quite sure what I'm going to do.

7.  I love Matt Smith.

8.  Chris visited this weekend.  We went shopping yesterday (or rather, I went shopping and he tagged along) and found this:

It's a set of Star Wars baking supplies!  So of course I bought the apron

And maybe one set of cookie cutters?

9.  There is no Sherlock on tonight.  Makes me very sad.  If you have yet to check it out and you live in the US, go to pbs.com and check out the Masterpiece Mystery episodes where they aired the three episodes that make up series 1.

10.  Did I mention I love Matt Smith?

Random Sunday

1. The giant lecture went really well.  I think I have another really good item to put on my CV.  Also, I told my students that they could come for extra credit but because it was a major event for which I had to dress up they had to dress up as well.

2. Nothing makes me happier than when I can brag about my students.  They looked great and stayed for the question and answer segment when everyone else's students walked out in a noisy herd.

3. Chris' birthday was the same night as the lecture.  Despite the fact that my professor told me the situation reminded him of that part in The Devil Wears Prada when Andy misses her boyfriend's birthday and it's all sad with the cupcake and candle, I think he had a good birthday.  I gave him a nice overnight bag so that he doesn't have to keep a hockey bag in the trunk when he visits, though he says it's because I plan to do long-distance for a long time.

4. I threw my first "dinner party" (too grownup sounding not to use quotes) last night since I moved to this apartment.  I invited Chris' friend and his wife and he was totally surprised.  It was entertaining.

5. In anticipation of said "dinner party" I actually cleaned the apartment and . . . drum roll . . . my room!  I should take photos but I need to re-clean.

6. Cleaning frenzy was set off because I had to clean the tank of my new pet.  A mouse named Martin (after Martin the Warrior in the Redwall books).  He was supposed to be food for my brother's snake but my sister liberated him and refused to give him back, so when Mom and my brother came to visit for my birthday (did I tell you about that?  They just, like, totally showed up out of nowhere for a few hours) they dropped him off.  He was stinky but I cleaned the tank and now have him on a smell reducing water supplement.

7. He sleeps in an old sock.

8. I had a new KIP moment today.  I knit in church.  I've been wanting to forever and today I decided just to do it since the church is huge and I've been going there for over a year and still don't know anyone besides Chris and his mom.  And then the lady next to me pulled knitting out of her bag too.  Kindred spirits.

9. I was working on some knew mitts.  Even though it's back up in the mid 70s here, the temperature dropped for a moment last week and gave me the overwhelming urge to knit fingerless mitts.  I finished the first one on Friday and am now trying to hurry through the second.

10. I'm procrastinating on a giant paper.  About Russia in World War I.  It's all economics and boring stuff and I'm having trouble making sense of my data.

11. I'm leading discussion on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tomorrow.  I think I'll show this video:



12. Tonight is the US premier of the new BBC show about Sherlock Holmes.  I'm very excited.