Stained glass

I had a fair productive day today! (please ignore the fact that I had to stay up until... 2:13am to have one) Not only have I managed to blog (twice!), i've also done quite a bit of fair work on my finals (on two of them, anyway), managed the lot of my email (there's only 7 unread! not 40 quatrillion), made many return phone calls, AND went to a SnB meetup! Last but not least, I finished chart A of the endpaper mitts.



Isn't she purty? I chose color #4, and I love it so far! the color combos remind me of stained glass. If I had 3 skeins of color #3, I would be tempted to make another pair of these with that color combo.

The SnB meetup was a great getaway from the computer time. I met lovely knitters, had some laughs, and made progress on the mitts and my irish hiking scarf.

I hope I can rip myself away from these mitts for the next few days, b/c I really do need to buckle down and finish up these take home finals. I hate take homes. It means I have to pay attention to detail, and cite references. Which means my bullsh*tting abilities won't be enough.

Sunday Surprises!!!

So today, I was TOTALLY surprised by the PACKAGES that came on a SUNDAY! From the USPS. I kid you not. Right before I was dashing out the door for my all day long meeting, the mailman rang the door and delivered two packages. One from Amazon.com (um... where I guess maybe I ordered myself a birthday present?) and one from Chris. I won a contest over on her blog on HER birthday, and the prize arrived on MY birthday!! Neat, huh?

Let's see what I got.



I got a skein of STR in the Rainforest Jasper colorway. A tin (a cute tin!) of Sinamints (with our favorite black cat mascot), black pawprinted tape measure (very handy, even though I own 5-6 of these, but can never find one when I need one), and two bars of YUMMILICIOUS dark chocolate. AND two mix CDs!! I can't wait to pop them in and listen, which I'll do a soon as finals are over. I guess I could listen to them now, but I have to concentrate on finals instead of my music (have you noticed how you need to pay more attention to 'new' music?)

The choc. definitely came just in time, seeing as I am not a HUGE lover of choc., and usually only crave it when my friend George comes for his monthly visit. Well, he's visiting now, the inconsiderate wretch! If you look close enough, you'll notice that one bar of chocolate looks a litte... disheveled.

I also treated myself, on my birthday (thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone!), and cast on for the endpaper mitts.



It took me longer to cast on than to knit the cuff and the first repeat of color work. That italian tubular cast on, while ingenious in it's simplicity, is also maddeningly difficult to keep straight (did my right hand go left or right last time? DANG IT!) I love working on it, but i need to set it aside for now, so that i can focus on school. My goal is to make it to the SnB meeting tonight. (b/c now it's monday, b/c it took me a day to take pics and blog)

Paralyzed with Possibilities

My life in the last three weeks has left much to be desired. I have been quite homesick, as the reality of moving to Boston has begun to set in. I probably could have ridden the wave of "I'm too busy with schoolwork to notice that I have no social life to speak of" if my school life had stayed busy as all get out, but emotionally stable.

Three weeks ago, we had a guest lecturer from a very well respected university. He was eloquent. He was concise. He was SO knowledgeable.



He was also a bigot.


I don't want to go into all the details, but this incident has affected me, and the other students of color, in a profound way over the course of the last three weeks. This past month could be a terrific example of ripple effect. The program, faculty and students alike, are all scrambling to deal with how this incident has impacted on on the personal, class, interpersonal, and program level. It has not been easy for me to focus on schoolwork. I don't really need any comments or inquiries about this in the comment section, b/c I don't really want to explain what happened. Sorry if that's hard for you right now, but I wrote about it for the 'journal' part of blogging, not for the 'share my life with others' part of blogging. That distinction is difficult to make b/c I know other ppl read my blog to see whats going on for me in my life. If it's really driving you insane with curiousity, just email me instead, ok?


let's move on to more important matters. I prefer to think about Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts. Agonizing over which of my beautiful sock yarns I would use on this project... and in two-three weeks of thinking about, looking at, and thinking about my yarns some more, I am no closer to a decision. So, i'll leave it to you.

Here are the choices



Here are the choices, next to my 'background' color.
First up, this one little skein from Rhinebeck (Spirit Trail Fiberworks). It has blues, purples, greens, purples and browns. I like this one b/c it's subtle and variegated, and it's one of. I don't have enough to make a pair of socks out of this, but I love the colors. The cons are that since there is a bit of brown in the skein, it might not 'pop' as much as some of the other yarns I'm considering.

#2: lovely Koigu. I love this colorway, even though the, AHEM, lavendar shade in it borders dangerously close upon being pinkish. The lovely light LAVENDER and green shades look beautiful against the brown. Cons: i have two skeins of this colorway and wouldn't be able to make socks with them.


#3: More Koigu. In bright beautiful aquas/turquoise colors. Pros: i love the color combo of brown and aqua/turquoise. Cons: i bought two skeins of this colorway hoping to make a pair of socks.





#4: My favorite Koigu colorway EVER. I have 4 skeins of this colorway (don't ask) so, don't mind using one up for the endpaper mitts. I love the blues, greens, and bitty bit of purple that runs through this, and I think it looks smashing against the brown.

So. If you're reading, please vote in the comments. I leave the fate of my endpaper mitt color choice to you.