dash of this

dash of that. basically lets go over everything that's happened whilst i've been gone from blogging. i've been so busy!
ready to recap? set? go!
Made the decision to attend Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in the fall and get a 1 yr masters in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. Accepted Debby's offer to get my PhD in her lab at the University of Utrecht (Holland) after my masters.
Lots of Europe trip planning.
My super awesome birthday. Anne and Erik came up for that - we went to the Sam Adams brewery and started the day off right with free beer after the tour. Then we ate too much yummy food. Climbed a mountain (well ok, Summit Ave). Went candlepin bowling at the Milky Way Lounge with lots of wonderful people. Oh and, holy crap! - I'm now closer to 30 than 20. Feeling old.

Finished first sock and started second (of the pair).
Totally effed up my sisters mittens (They've been a 2 yr wip, ugh) and stopped knitting out of frustration.

Submitted an abstract for the New England TB Retreat and was asked to give a talk too. (stunned that they asked me, a lowly technician, to give a talk but honored. And scared. And where am I going to get the time to prep for a talk too!??). Hired and started training my replacement at work.

Went to the Webs tent sale with the lovely ladies Danielle, Alexis, and Catherine. Money was spent. Projects were planned. Northampton was beautiful and a great day was had by all. Revived my desire to knit crazy new things.

And now for the pictures!

Here's the first sock when it was almost done. I have a huge calf, I know. Its meaty. -Ew - what a word.














Here's some beautiful STR color Mossay that Ariel was kind enough to obtain for me while she was at Sock Camp.

And the stash it grows in the night!












Here is the yarn i ended up with from Webs. One of these days I Will buy yarn for a sweater. Maybe.
We have here a huge cone (for only $3!) of super soft cotton - probably for a blanket and pillow cover its so nice. And another cone - mercerized cotton. Probably going to see if this works for a shawl.
Then we have the Hempathy for The Bag (linking to Grumperina's Bag photoshop explanation).





Super excited that I was able to find the liner material for the Bag as well! I'm stoked to start this project but I think it's going to have to wait until after Europe.















Here is my fabric haul. Goodness me I got a little carried away. In my defense, this is my first major fabric purchase since I was, oh, 16. Most of them are fat quarters destined for knit bags or to line knitted items. Except for the black and white floral pattern at the bottom.
I fell in love with that fabric and immediately SAW the skirt in my head. so I bought it. Problem is, I dont have a sewing machine and dont really know how to sew. But it WILL happen. It must. Inspiration struck. Its going to be a rockabilly style skirt with a black sash around the waist (tying in a bow at the back) and white and black ruffled petticoats peeking out from the bottom. Anyone have a sewing pattern for this type of skirt? Or know where I could get one? Help please!

Well, now I must be off for bed. Tomorrow starts the longest 2 weeks of my life. Sigh. Way too much to do and not enough time to do it.

WIP thursday

Well I was ultra busy yesterday so I missed out on WIP Weds but I figured I'd post today instead.

As some of you know, I have yet to complete knitting a pair of socks. This is somewhat of an annoyance to my knitting friends who would like ever so much to share in this (apparent) joy with me. I tried once to knit a sock and it didnt go very well (first time with lace, first time with small needles) so I lost interest. But I promised to at least give it a try. So here I am. I'm using Lyon Brand magic stripes yarn (using the stash!) and a pattern I got in my sock knitting kit for my birthday last year something like Beginners socks on a handout from Knitting Pure and Simple. I did a gauge swatch, but it didnt do much good. I have a tendency to cast on very tight, so I CO holding two needles together. I CO the number of stitches the pattern suggested for women's socks, but after about 2 inches into it I could tell they were socks for a bear. Frog frog frog (after looking at my gauge). Start over. Even though I CO the amount of sts my gauge suggested, here I am at about 4 inches in and they still looked like man socks. I decreased 6 sts. Still look like man socks. I am NOT frogging. If they end up man socks then I'll give them to a man.


Here IT is in all its glory.












I hate socks. And I've barely begun one. I dont see how this is supposed to be FUN. Cuz its not.

Oh and I was wait-listed at Drexel in case you are wondering. So cross your fingers I get accepted into the "back-up plan" masters program at Johns Hopkins. Otherwise I'm going to have no career options and no where to go and I'll be insanely depressed. Life sucks.
At least the weather is nice out now. And M passed his nursing boards (I knew he would!). Though it seems our lives are heading in opposite directions so were not sure what "we" are or what we want to be. But at least its fun whatever it is.

Savy Savy He's our man!

Finally! Bruins won a playoff game against Montreal tonight! Savard scored the game-winner in overtime, Lucic scored the other goal of the game. Wish I coulda' been there! Savard scoring the game-winner was nice b/c he's been out w/ a broken bone in his back, and injury he got after a Montreal player cross-checked him a couple weeks ago. I heart the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Go Bruins!

heart in throat

So for the past three weeks I've been eagerly anticipating the decision of Drexel Med. (Remember, I interviewed there in Jan) Two weeks ago, I called the admissions office with questions about the FAFSA, but before I could ask my question the guy on the phone was telling me that decisions were slowly being made, I should be patient, I'll hear from them in the next 2-3 weeks, and dont forget, I can check my status online too. They must get a lot of phone calls regarding admissions decisions this time of the year.
After the guy told me about the online status I've been religiously logging on every other day and checking. Every time it has said that a decision has not yet been made, but to check back. Until today. Today my status said that a decision has been reached and a letter was sent to the preferred address. Cue nervous stomach ache. For the past 10 weeks I've surprised myself with my lack of worry and stress over this matter. Probably b/c I knew there was nothing I could do to speed up the process and theres no point in worrying until I actually get the decision. But now, I know its in the mail and my stomach is in knots. Worse yet is I dont even know what I want the letter to say. I change my mind every day. I suppose having options would be nice. And knowing that I didnt spend gobs and gobs of money for nothing would be nice too. Sigh.....
So the med school moment of truth will soon arrive.....
Coincidentally (or not?) M took his nursing boards today and is convinced he failed. I hope he's wrong.

In other news I bought a ticket to go to Lollapalooza yesterday! Very excited about that! Radiohead, NIN, and a reunited Rage Against the Machine! Nothing better!

i want

On her LJ Ariel reported that she wanted a huge poster of her DNA (its probably a picture of DNA cut by restriction enzymes). And while I think its neat, its not something I would pay that amount of money for. Something more in my price range is the tee-shirt from Science showing the annotated gene sequence map of human chromosome 1. I want one! Do I Need it? No! But that doesnt stop me from wanting it..... I'll probably refrain, but it would be sweet to have it..... Sigh
I'm such a geek!

Travel Log

Over the summer this blog will temporarily move from craft/general posting to travel posting. Originally I had intended to go over to Europe for 8-10 weeks and do a Grand Tour of Western Europe, of sorts. Sadly, thanks to the falling economy (the money I have saved is worth less and the price of flights to Europe just tripled) I have to cut it short. I'm hoping for 6 weeks but I think in reality its going to be more like 4 weeks. Which is extremely sucky, but there's really nothing I can do about it. I need to be a responsible adult and not go into ridiculous credit card debt if I run out of money while I'm there. Sigh.
After making this decision, I consoled myself by buying my backpack for the trip. I had my REI Co-Op member 20% off discount for March, and obviously I wanted to use it on the pack. Alexis was kind enough to accompany me and watch my stuff. I had originally hoped to get the biggest pack that would still be reasonable for the trip but as it turned out I had less choice in the matter than most. My tiny 5 foot barely 3 inch frame doesnt allow for comfortable wearing of most packs. But luckily with the help of awesome backpack fitter guy at REI, I was able to find one that fit perfect and still had a decent capacity. I ended up with the Gregory Jade 50 womens size small pack and I Love it! The REI guy showed me how to put it on, what all the straps were for, how to pack it up, and even put in 15 lbs of weights so I could give it a test drive. I'm super excited about my pack now, did I mention that I love it? (:

In other news the Rook has finally stopped hurting like crazy but now it itches like hell. Its annoying, but perfectly normal.
Also, a spring update on the Resolutions: today the scale read the smallest number I've seen in over 2 years! So excited. I'm just 2 lbs away from my pre-diabetes weight (the Byetta is def helping). Too bad all of it has come off of my breasts, arms, and back and not my belly. So I still have a beer gut that I need to work on.
Hopefully I will be casting on a second go at a first sock soon. I've made major progress on the 2 year mittens for my sister, too bad my gauge has changed over the years and I had to rip the new one out. Grrrr.

to leave the country?

In case you have ever wondered why I want to leave this country so badly..... It's because we're surrounded by idiots, and they piss me off. And they are ruining this country! I don't know who this reporter is, but this is a pretty good piece.
Obama tests America's cult of ignorance


Also, that name personality testy thing I did the other day - I started putting all sorts of names into it, and everyone was a Type -A personality... hmmmm

FO: Brim hat redux

So last year I attempted to free form a seed stitch brim hat for myself. And true to my status quo of free forming hats, it didnt fit me. However, instead of being way too small, it was way too big. I ended up gifting it to my brother this past christmas (and of course, forgot to get pictures) so it wasnt a total waste, but still, i was sans hat. Then a pattern came out in Magknits that was nearly exactly what I wanted, and I knew I must try it.



Project name: Possibly Hip??
Pattern: Reasonably Hip by Elizabeth Cobbe, free on magknits.com
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, charcoal gray
Needles: US size 5 metal circs and same size bamboo dpns








Pattern adjustments: Lots.
The gauge in the pattern was 3.75 st/inch (15 sts = 4" in seed st) but I was using a different yarn and my gauge was 5 st / inch in seed st. So I cast on 81 sts instead of 63. This means I had to re-work the short rows for the hat and the brim.
My hat short rows were as follows:
Row 1: K 45, w&t . . . . . Row 2: K 46, w&t
Row 3: K 47, w&t . . . . . Row 4: K 49, w&t
Row 5: K 53, w&t . . . . . Row 6: K 55, w&t
Row 7: K 57, w&t . . . . . Row 8: K 59, w&t
Row 9: K 61, w&t . . . . . Row 10: K 65
Row 11: K 67, w&t . . . . . Row 12: seed st for 72 sts, w&t
Row 13: seed st for 77 sts, w&t
End of short rows.
Then I knit for 6 inches measured from the front of the hat where there were no short rows.
I followed the pattern for the decreases, just added an extra round before the pattern starts.

For the brim of the hat I cast on 40 sts instead of 34.
Short rows I changed as follows:
Top visor
Row 1: work 2x2 rib for 30 sts, w&t
Row 2: work 2x2 rib for 20 sts, w&t
Row 3: 24 sts . . . . . . Row 4: 28 sts
Row 5: 31 sts . . . . . . Row 6: 34 sts
Row 7: 35 sts . . . . . . Row 8: 36 sts
Row 9: 37 sts . . . . . . Row 10: 38 sts
Row 11: 39 sts . . . . . . Row 12: 40 sts
End short rows. Continue 2x2 rib over all sts for 4 more rounds.
Bottom visor:
Pick up and knit center 20 sts from front edge of visor.
Row 1 (ws): p20, cast on 10 sts
Row 2 (rs): k30, cast on 10 sts, should have 40 sts
Row 3: p30, w&t . . . . . Row 4: k24, w&t
Row 5: p28, w&t . . . . . Row 6: k31, w&t
Row 7: p34 . . . . . . . Row 8: k35
Row 9: p36 . . . . . . . Row 10: k37
Row 11: p38 . . . . . . . Row 12: k39
Row 13: p40
end of short rows. continue in stockinette over all sts for 4 more rows.


















Notes: the pattern never explicitly states where to join the hat and begin to work in the round. i found out the hard way that you are supposed to join immediately and do the short rows in the round (otherwise it makes no sense).
Also, having 6 inches of hat measured from the front edge is a bit long for my taste and you'll notice in the pictures that i'm rolling the back brim of the hat. I'm ok with that, it gives it a unique look but in the future I wouldnt make brimmed hats so long b/c then you have to pull them down so far on your face you cant see a damn thing. Other than that, i'm pretty happy with the pattern and the result.