In a few short days...

During the SnB party, I was talking with Devona about one of my projects, which did not turn out as lovely as I wanted. This is the Elizabeth Bennet sweater that I knit out of the angora yarn that I bought before. My intention was that it would be fitted. The problem?

I hate doing gauge swatches.

Lesson learned: I have a sweater with sleeves that go over my hands, darts taht start at my waistline, and a sweater that is just huge and is most definetely not fitted.

Devona convinced me to post pictures. Here you go, Devona! Enjoy!

I did not bother putting buttons on this sweater. It would be pointless.
I also promised you a photo of the sweater that Andrea knit for the swap in which I participated. It is truly lovely and warm! it will also look fantastic with my purple coat!

The day after the swap/anniversary party, I unfortunately came down with a fever and a sore throat, and thought it was the flu.

It lasted through Friday afternoon, making me rearrange, cancel, and reschedule appointments (what a pain in the neck). During this time, I took the hint and let my body and mind rest by finishing a fiction book (The Eight by Katherine Neville--unfortunately I was so out of it with fever that I really don't know what happened at the end). I also watched a couple really bad TV shows (Royal Pains and Ghost Whisperer. Can someone explain to my why I find the lead actor who plays Hank in Royal Pains so attractive in movies such as In Her Shoes and Woman on Top but so unattractive in Royal Pains?) I also made some progress on a pair of fair isle mittens that I started the day before the anniversary party.

On Friday night, I watched Amelie while I knit these.

On Saturday morning, no more fever! So I went to work.

Then...mid-afternoon, I started feeling cold and a little shivery. Wanted to sit down, and was feeling a bit of sore throat. Went home, and still felt pretty cold. My boyfriend was waiting for me (we had plans for the evening), but I was feeling pretty miserable and sorry for myself. When he went to pick up food for me, I checked my temperature (even though boyfriend thought that I wasn't running one), and it was up to 100.1! I was so distraught over getting sick again in such a ridiculously short period of time.

Decided to monitor my fever and sore throat for the night, and see how I felt in the morning. In the morning, I still had a fever (hovering around 100 degrees) and my sore throat was even worse. So I decided to go to the urgent care in town, and boy, was that place busy with coughing people, feverish people, and a whole lot of sick adults and kids. Lots of coughing. Anyhow, I waited for 2.5 hours to get to see to the doctor. She basically told me that I had strep throat (just what I thought).

The end result is that I got some medications and a doctor's order that I not work on Monday. So basically, a sanctioned sick day, which did make me feel somewhat guilty.
(I didn't cancel class, but got someone else to cover for me). I also took everything as another sign to take a break. So no work on dissertation, no work on class prep, etc. I read another book. I watched Spirited Away. I knitted some more and made a lot of progress on this mitten.

Tomorrow I do not have to be at school or work. However, I will be catching up on all the work that did not get done for...well, days.

What I have made

It's been a long time since I've posted, and admittedly, a lot of things have been on my mind (mostly school and research related, so I took a little hiatus from this blog to try and keep sane. Plus, the thought of school was a bit depressing last fall, so I've tried to focus my energies in a more positive direction). So, in the time between the last time I posted and today, I've

• finished my Noro socks (I am wearing them at the moment and will take photos of them sometime soon)
• Finished a scarf for my SnB anniversary scarf swap
• Actually read a real book (meaning: A book that has absolutely nothing to do with research or school: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest)
• Gotten my photo taken for a billboard (it is up right now!)
• Worked a lot
• Made some progress on recruiting subjects for one study
• Started the new semester anew, and hopefully the spring semester will be much better and much happier than the fall semester

So, for tonight's anniversary swap, here are some photos of things that I made:

This is my homemade baklava, which is so yummy and sweet.

I made Saroyan, a lovely scarf with a leaf edging out of a mohair blend yarn that I've had in my stash for a while. I've looked at the yarn for a long time, thinking it would be beautiful knitted up in this pattern. Chantal wound up with this scarf that I made.

In return, I wound up with the scarf that Andrea knit. Andrea, I love the scarf that you knit, with its bright, cheery colors! I will post pictures of it in the next few days!

Catching up

The past few days have been hectic. Actually, the past few weeks have been hectic and I am in need of a day off--one where I see no one, speak with no one, and do absolutely nothing but prop my feet up and watch cheesy lifetime movies. The likelihood of that happening, however, is quite slim.

Knitting stuff first: I knitted up a shrug, and it's finished! It took me less than a week, and I'm breaking into my stash pretty nicely--but still have a ton to go through. I think this summer (0n one of those days off), i will take pictures of my stash to determine what can stay and be knitted up, or what can be sold or traded. Or given away.

Anyhow, here is the shrug:

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.

And finally, finally, I finished my s0-called-scarf. it is very pretty, and I think it will be gifted to someone else.

Other adventures (non-knitting) also included going to Trollbeads University, and also having our basement flood on tuesday evening. Our fridge broke two weeks ago, so we got a new fridge, which has an ice-maker and a water dispenser! The guy hooked up the fridge, but apparently didn't do a good job, so water was leaking into the basement. So on Tuesday night (when the Cavs were also playing pitifully) I stayed up till 2 AM just cleaning the basement with my dad. The next day, right after knitting, i just conked right out (which is early for me, at 10: 30 PM).

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.