Extended vacation
If I can get through this program, get my degree, and a post grad position as a faculty member, maybe I will continue to have these supposed 'extended vacations.' My question/concern is... as an academic, do you really REALLY ever get a vacation? I mean, where you don't have a grant, proposal, article, or tenure review hanging over your head? Maybe I'm just talking myself out of being a professor, maybe I'm just blabbering.
So. Since the last post... I finished another semester (3 down, 7 to go) and I've accomplished some serious knitting
finished sandal socks
Specs:
Yarn: Spirit Trail Fiber. 100% merino superwash
Needles: US2
Pattern: FiberTrends Sandal Socks
Modifications: I knit one as the pattern wrote, then knit the second sock with a more traditional decrease pattern (4 decreases every other row... the sock on the right).
Verdict: Forever in love. I've washed them once in the washer, and let them air dry. They are like butta. I mean, I want to make a blankie out of this yarn or maybe a set of sheets. LUV this yarn. Want... no. NEED more.
Um. Yeah. I had planned on showing you all a pic of the progress on my new lace project. However, I forgot to take a picture of it. you can have the specs. I'll repost the specs along with a pic in the next post.
Specs:
Yarn: 100% merino laceweight by The Woolen Rabbit. Color: Lady Sings the Blues
Needles: US4 Addi Lace Needles
Pattern: Eunny Jang's Print O'the Wave
Mods: Knit in one direction (no center graft), and am planning on 38 repeats instead of 34.
The yarn? Oh so loverly to knit. Sproingy. Silky (in the non squeaky way... silky in the satiny slippery kind of way). I love the colors. I might need some more. It's like crack. I haven't finished using my first skein, but am worried about running out and not having more in the stash. This yarn? Is the kind of yarn that gets a yarn/fiber novice on her way to having a HABIT. Is the kind of yarn that makes the yarn/fiber novice start collecting and stashing yarn.
Meanwhile, I studiously and religiously ignored all the work I should have been doing for school related stuffs.
1) work on research project that I am presenting at a conference in Chicago (in March).
2) Apply for practicum placements for the next academic year **
3) work on research projects for my research assistantship (2-3 projects)
My new motto (well, it's adapted. I've always been a procrastinator) is that I can't have gotten this far if I didn't get things done when they needed to be done. So... it'll get done when it NEEDS to get done. However, I am actively seeking therapy for how to be able to be productive w/o a due date looming over my head.
Even though I started back at my practicum placement (actually practicing psychotherapy with actual clients instead of sitting in a room talking about them) on January 2nd, we didn't start actual classes until this week. I'm taking another three classes (career development seminar, practicum seminar, and social bases of behavior seminar), plus teaching, research assistantship, and my current practicum placement. In this craziness, I kind of am looking forward to next year (please don't remind me of this when I blog and bitch about it next year) because supposedly I'll be able to shave off about 9-14 hours off the current schedule.
Anyway... it was SO nice to come home today (I wrote most of this post yesterday) to a HUGE box on my front porch! Inside, the big box was stuffed full of birthday goodies, and yarn that I had bought from Colorful Yarns. Anyone think that it's strange that Colorful is STILL my LYS even though I live many many states away?
Let's see what we have:
1) Amy Butler bag
OMG. It's beeyooootiful. And very well made. The fabric is sturdy, and pocket placement is stellar. The colors are right up my alley (shh. I hear all the snickering!).
Thanks Stacey, Michelle, Jeni and Tiffany!!!
I cannot wait to use this bag. I would like to use it as a book bag too, but it's too special. It might have to be used as a work bag a couple times b/c I need to have some one give me some bag envy. don't lie. We all love it when someone else has bag envy for OUR bag.
Inside the bag...
2) Cascade Eco + Wool
I bought a couple skeins from Colorful to make Hemlock Ring Blanket. Stacey showed me this pattern, Michelle's got it in her Ravelry queue, Jeni has made a few... I was helpless to resist.
3) Classic Elite Classic Silk. To make Tangled Yoke. Someday.
Anyone see a theme developing here? Notice some sort of... um... limited color palette?
4) Needles galore. Tiffany had a sale a while back on her addi needles. Who couldn't use more needles? I got some addi lace needles for socks, and a small circ to knit hats.
5) And movies from Wanda!!! She send me Hitch (with Will Smith) and Bend It Like Beckham! (girl power!)
Last, I leave you with a pic of my furbaby Danger 'helping' me make the bed.
** Didn't you think that after you get accepted into a PhD program that you should be done applying for anything for awhile? Me too. Alas (woe is me), it's not true. I have and will have to send out applications every single year of schooling.
posted by CynCyn @ 7:23 PM
14 Comments:
Y'know, I think I wasn't so bad about needing a deadline to get things done... but grad school finished me off. That behavior was part of the culture, from professors on down. Doom. Doom. Doom.
Your Colorado friends are the best. :) Hang in there!
Aw, kitty help making the bed... always quadruples (at minimum) the bedmaking time...
I'm glad your package arrived in time to brighten your day. The constant application process might drive me a little batty.
I'm sensing a color theme with the bag, Eco Wool and Classic Silk, eh? :=)
Your kitty it just too cute...and he's just trying to help! Glad you liked the birthday goodies, better late than never, right?
your colorado friends do rule. nice.
and the whole grant writing stuff is one of the big reasons why i did not continue on with my ph.d. it's bad enough having my job tied to a grant but to be responsible for it would just blow.
finally, i believe that there's a big genetic component to procrastination. my father is a huge procrastinator. like father like daughter.
Excellent surprise! Did you end up liking that shade of Eco-wool? I don't think it's too bright. It'll be purdy.
Wow, nice yarn and that bag! You do have faboo friends. And a helpful bedmaking cat.
Oh, doom and deadlines. They're everywhere anyway. Granted, maybe not to the horrifying extent you're getting right now, but...what the heck. In for a penny, in for a pound. You've come this far! Any other platitudes/cliches I can come up with to help?
Oh wow! What a loot! Love the socks too but you gotta show us the back!
Your socks look great!
What a fun birthday package :) I love that Amy Butler bag, too!
Love the picture of Danger!
What a lovely bag! And butta socks, what could be better.
Nope, never get that "extended vacation." And everyone will always & forever be jealous of you for "having the summer off" no matter how many times you tell them that's when you get most of your work done.
Have I talked you out of it yet? :-)
Nice prezzies! I hope you can take a picture of your lace for us!
I know my field is different, but I do hear stories of the extended vacation. At least when the funding is good and you have tenure. But until you get there - no.
I like it too much to quit, even though I'm tired.
Love the bag, love the socks!
Yay for finished socks! Your ranting and raving about a yarn I've never heard of makes me think, "I've got to get some NOW!" What's wrong with me?
Can't remember if I've told you this before, but you need to read _Advice for New Faculty Members_. Ignore that it says it's for faculty - it's for academics at all stages, really. (But since you aren't faculty, this means you can skip the section on service, since you don't have to do any yet).
It took me a long time to break my bad work habits. You'll get there.
Post a Comment
<< Home