in New Orleans. I went to Nola for a convention, which was completely and utterly overwhelming, but it was cool to go there. Seriously, the best part of going to New Orleans is the food...I kid you know. Between the beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde, there was also this great dish at Cochon that was so mouthwateringly delicious, even though the description was pretty boring. (I ordered: ham hock with sweet potatoes, pickled greens & black eyed pea ham broth $18) There was also Cafe Adelaide, where I spent the most I have on food (Sea Salt-Tellicherry Pepper Shrimp & Grits $26.00 roasted garlic-rosemary stone ground grits, lemon croustade and New Orleans BBQ sauce blanc), but had some really fabulous shrimp (with heads on!) on grits. There was also brandy punch and much overeating involved at Cafe Adelaide. Of course, I topped all this off with the beignets at Cafe du Monde, without which no trip to New Orleans would be complete. I made a mess of myself, ending up with powdered sugar on my elbow, my pants, my new bag from the convention, the front of my shirt...but you know that it didn't matter. It was just completely and utterly worth the powdered sugar on everything. I want to go back to New Orleans to eat.
In addition, I have had this blue and turquoise yarn staring at me for months, so I decided to cast on for another project (as if I don't have enough on my hands, what with the Monkey socks, lovingly dubbed Christoph-Probst-Str. 12 A, in honor of the dormitory I lived in--and had the same colored curtains in my room!)
Because I loved my Owlie Cowl so much, even though I knit it too big (shame on me for not doing a gauge swatch. You think by now, I'd know better), I decided to cast on with some leftover yarn of a red and teal (though it looks blue here) so I can knit down my current stash.
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I also received a package from my Secret Pal, which included some prettily colored sock yarn, a book by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, a potholder and towel (perfect for cooking), window clings, and a pattern for a knitting on the go bag. But one of my favorite parts of the gift was the llama necklace (I have never seen anything like this before, and this made me smile!)
I also finished my Owlie Cowl in this Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn that I have had for a few years. It is an incredibly easy and fun knit, and the yarn is wonderful. However, the problem is that I am terrible about doing gauge swatches, so the cowl became the size of a very small tube top! which of course, is too small for me, but I'll hang on to it because it is pretty cute. 
In my goal to make a more wearable cowl, I cast on for another Owlie Cowl a few days ago, in a bright, color contrasting combination, using my stash yarn (of course). So far, I am loving it even though it is very bright--the colors are a good contrast for each other. Also, I invested in a Habu kit that I've been lusting after for a couple weeks (when one lusts after something for quite some time, i think one is meant to have it. It's made out of pineapple yarn and I think I'll cast on once I finish this cowl and my zebra mittens (no picture as of yet). 
These were the main things that I remember her saying. I laughed at the teaching thing though, because I didn't see that in my future (well, I see teaching in my future, but figured it would take some time to get the job I want). I'm keeping tabs on these to see if any of these do come true at all.
2) A week or so later, I got an urgent sounding voice mail from the chair of the department, asking me to call her back. I called her, wondering if I did something wrong, and basically, she said, "Dr. X is on emergency medical leave and will not be able to teach at all the semester. Could you teach his class the rest of the semester?" Please look at the prediction that I laughed at. I didn't really compute that till this morning.
3) My poor little baby brother had his wisdom teeth pulled out today. Poor thing. He's so miserable right now.
4) I'm working on a cowl right now and have finished a hat but just need to put on a button. Also have received some of the most awesome knitting books in the mail today (japanese knitting books with amazing patterns). I'll post pictures later. At the moment need to do some things and check on poor baby brother.
There's this cool knitting book, Knit So Fine, which has this lovely dress that I will one day have to make, and some vests and sweaters that are classic but unique at the same time (that's totally my style). Also that really cute tape measure in the shape of a bee...stitch markers, yarn cutter, foot soak (which will be good for after a long day at work or night of dancing), and this incredibly stretchy bag that my pal made. Thank you so much! It was so nice to get something on a day when I was feeling utterly miserable, even with DayQuil and cough drops :) I am officially losing it. Today, I have been knitting Akegeomi but am a little tired of knitting the same pink yarn, so I was going to pick up an old sweater (well, not really old, but one I was working on)...but...while I found the bag of yarn for the sweater, and the book with the pattern, I cannot figure out where this sweater is! I give up. I've looked in all my bags where I keep my knitting, on my yarn shelves, and my yarn tote in the living room. No sweater! Argh!
The only thing I can think of is that maybe it got moved somewhere and hidden in some box during The Great Flood in our house. But I am not sure.
In Akegeomi sweater news, though, I am working on the first fold of the sweater, so it is pretty exciting. Although I am still wondering where that sweater is...Hmm.
Dissertation progress: I have written one page of my prospectus. Plus a rough outline of what I want to cover in my prospectus. My goal is to write as much as I can during the last few days of summer, because in the words of a former professor (well, he wasn't my prof, but a chair of the department), I would have a greater advantage at getting a job with a PhD than with ABD, and I'm hoping that certain things will line up correctly the next few months or year. We shall see, and I shall not say too much for fear I would jinx something.
Here is my progress on the tunic. I am so excited that i am way past the armholes and now am partway up the back!
I also went away for the Memorial Day weekend, where I knitted. In my attempt to stash-bust, I brought some chunky yarn to make the Shalom sweater, and finished the whole thing. I still have 4 skeins left over (darn it). All that's left to do is weave in the ends and buy a really cool button. I'm thinking a bright yellow or orange button. 
Isn't it pretty?
I've also been trying to finish my scarf, made out of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, and it is absolutely wonderful to knit with. It is incredibly soft and it's also a lovely color.
For those of you wondering how awful it was in the basement--we have a little storage room where we have some things like books, old products, paper, etc, and everything was soaked through and through. It really sucked, but i am glad it wasn't worse. Like, it could have been pictures or my things for school, or heaven forbid--beloved collectibles.
Anyhow, I've been up to a few things after finishing up exams...Friday night, I went to buy some yarn for myself. I wound up with some Noro Solk Garden sock yarn and some Malabrigo sock yarn (in Eggplant). 'Twas a splurge, but think I deserved it.
But, I actually had to rip it out several times, because the first time, I was dumb and didn't read instructions straight through. Second time, I ripped it out to the beginning (again) because the sock was too big, so I went down a size. Third time, the foot was still too saggy. Fourth time, I tinked back a couple rows because I missed a block. But right now it's looking good, but it's driving me nuts becuase all I've knitted so far has been purpled, blue, and grey, and I'm seeing some cool pinks and golden colors inside the ball of yarn, and I am dying to get to those...
With a little more experimentation, I made some bunny pops.
Now I am relaxing, sort of. I'm watching Ghosthunters (yes, at nighttime-me, the girl who gets freaked out about ghosts!) but I'm having fun doing this. Plus, my written exams are over. Yay--just have to defend them next week.But in other news, I finally finished Pomatomus last week. Since I'm also trying to not kill myself as I study, I take time off in the evenings and at lunchtime to relax, so I get to do things like work on a knitting project while watching mindlessly stupid (but fun) TV shows, such as Dancing with the Stars (even though the Woz is a horrid dancer, I want him to make it through another week or two. Goodness knows I need the smile). I am partial to Melissa Mycroft and Shawn Johnson, and surprisingly, I kind of like Steve-O. But there can only be one Steve, so I have to place my loyalties with Steve Wozniak, even though I'm a PC and not a Mac type of girl.
I thought I was doing SO well with Pomatamus and was working on it last night (indeed, this picture was taken in a moment of extreme happiness and pride). The problem was, however...I realized that somehow I am missing stitches. Sigh. So now I have to tink back a while and figure out just how some of my stitches disappeared. I'm not sure how. But this always happens whenever I attempt something that has lace patterns. 
Also, I completely lied when I said I would never, ever knit lace again. At least this was more bearable than the lace that I knitted for that Brooke's Column of Leaves scarf...
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