On why Santa is a saint...

I've been knitting folks! I wish I could show you the pics. I guess i COULD, but that requires work (putting cd into puter and letting puter figure it out) that I"m just too lazy to do today.

I hope everyone has been enjoying their holidays... I had dinner with my friends from Philly (they were spending the weekend at the Cape), then I took the train down to NYC on Friday. We had breakfast at City Bakery (which was on an episode of Sex and the City, supposedly), and then hiked up to a northern suburb of NYC. We spent the ENTIRE time either cooking and cleaning up, or eating. It was a jolly good time. With six adults and 2 small children, it was a small gathering, but we managed to be a very loud group, nonetheless. So loud, that when we got back to the city, it felt quiet.

I came back to Boston on Tuesday evening, and am headed out to MI for the New Year. All of this traveling gives me the idea that Santy truly is a saint... or, instead of a sleigh and reindeer, he must have the whole space time continuum thing figured out and he can zap himself here and there and everywhere.

to the Boston knitters/bloggers... anyone up for a field trip? I wanna go visit Classic Elite before my break is over!

Just when you think...

you're starting to give a place a chance...
I survived my finals. Even though I remembered later that I had forgotten to add something to at least one final, I survived. On Saturday, Maryse, Adrian and I met up for breakfast, then the Bizarre Bazaar. I remember thinking some fond thoughts of Boston as I took the T into Coolidge Corner,... along the lines of "hey, I really enjoy this public transportation thing!" and some thoughts of "wow, ok, the buildings are old with bugs and mice, but they sure are pretty from the outside" (for the most part). I had a terrific time with the girls, and am especially glad we made it to the BB early, b/c when we left, there was a LOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG line... and I don't do so well waiting. you know.

We headed down to Newbury street for some window shopping. I saw some sweaters that I wanted to buy, but could probably knit. We even enjoyed some crusty bread and drinks at Bertucci's. Then I joined some classmates at a holiday party, and had fun kicking ass at Scrabble (I'm a wee bit competitive and my 8 yr old partner and I made an 108 pt word, which included the 50pt bonus!... on 2 glasses of wine, no less!!!... ok. i was a wee bit impressed with myself, and thus begins the story of hubris).

On Sunday, I joined the lovely Wendy, and her family (DH and 4 furbabies), and friends for a day of relaxation. She gifted me with some b-day love (which I took pics of, but can't show you). I'm thinking, for barely knowing anyone, a girl can sure fill up her dance card pretty fast around here.

I came home a bit late... and found that someone has broken into my apartment. Stolen the laptop, the ipod, and a few other items of value. Guess what idiot doesn't have renter's insurance?

and so we're back to "Boston Bites"

ps. pics probably won't show up for awhile... not until someone gets a replacement laptop. :(

on why extensions are a good thing

Extensions on my taxes, extensions on my assignments.... good things.

The best thing? An extension of my birthday celebration!!! Lookee what the postman (quickly becoming my FAVORITE person in Boston) brought me today!

Of course, I knew a box was winging it's way from Denver, b/c a little sheepie told me so. But this is a big old box. Who else, besides a knitter, gets a birthday present in a BROWN SHEEP YARN COMPANY box?



Inside (and i'm sorry I couldn't contain my excitement and take a picture of the box JUST opened, but well...) the box had SO many goodies! it took me over 30 minutes to unwrap it all.

Here's the loot:


You see how SOMEONE thinks that all of this stuff is for him? He's actually mostly concentrating on that bit of ribbon sitting in front of his face. Curling ribbon is his most favorite thing ever, even if he has to hork it up later (sorry). Even if it means incurring the wrath of mommykhan (oh, did I just let loose what a big ST geek I am?)... b/c I definitely smacked him a good one for chewing on my presents.

Let's get some details of the goodies!!
First up, a big tin o cookies, handmade by Tiffany and her mom, Carmen. I immediately had to sample (gingersnaps? ( i think, i don't know names of cookies very well, but i'm an expert in taste.), chocolate and butterscotch/peanut butter cookies, AND these yummy coconut cookie bars). Oh MY.

Touchme touchmetouchmetouchmetouchme. From Stacey, her mom Marsha, Jeni, Michelle, and Tiffany. I can JUST barely manage to not cast on this very second, minute. It's in a beautiful steel-blue-grey which will go with both of my winter coats! I hear tell that there was some concern about color choice, but I always trust Michelle.

Stacey got me these BEEYOOTIFUL ginghers! I have a pair in a a light green, but these are SO much more me! And besides, who doesn't need a few good pairs of sharp scissors?



Joanne sent the awesome Knitting Expereince color book (so fitting... esp since I just joined the Stranded KAL), Michelle got me a copy of Yarn Harlot's latest bookbookbook, and Kim sent the Bug's Life movie (woohoo!!). Big plans this weekend to sit around, knit on the endpaper mitts (after referencing the new colorwork book to see if I'm doing it right), then watch A Bug's Life and cast on for the Touch Me Scarf (from scarf style). And eat cookies. of course.
Last, but not least, what will I be wearing while I do all that? These cute as all get out sheepy pajama pants! I have a thing about pajama pants. I love buying them and wearing them. I think maybe I should call them lounging pants, b/c I actually don't wear them while I'm sleeping (i hate it when stuff bunches up when I twist and turn). ANYWAY! Do you see the cute little sheepies on these? They're from Nachaele!!!

I am so fortunate to have such awesome friends. I feel a little peevish/ungrateful when I wish that I could still be in Denver too, but gifts like these only show you (and me) the tip of the iceberg in how much these people mean to me. I know I've got 5-6 yrs ahead of me in this doctoral program, but I'm already looking forward to moving home when I'm done.

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and presents. I wish I could've celebrated it with all of you!

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.

The internets made me do it.

that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Those of you who have spent time with me, or have seen me at least on three different occasions, may have noticed that I am a bag ho. I love me my pocketbooks, handbags, totes, school bags, and knitting bags. What's so absolutely fabulous for me, is that in making myself a professional student, I have managed to give myself a rational excuse for why I continue to need more and more bags.

Here's a review of my latest (I would say it was impulsive, but it was rather well researched) catch.

Here's the front of Penelope



Side views. I love the pocket with the webbing. Stuff is very secure in there (good for a water bottle, or maybe a skein of yarn if you're KIPing?). Not sure if you can make out the contrast stitches, but I love it. The other pocket, I'm not in love with... yet. I'm not sure what's supposed to go in there, but it feels like it would fall out fairly easily. Also, and perhaps the biggest negative of the bag, is if you look at the top, you can see that the bag does not completely close... the zipper at the top does NOT incorporate the sides of the bag, which means if it gets turned upside down, the keys might fall out (if you had put them in here... not sure why you would, but just in case). Oh! Another terrific feature, while I'm mentioning keys, is that tiny zippered pocket on the back. Perfect for your car/house keys. It would also be a good spot to keep money for the subway, or change for the meter.



This close up shows the front pocket. You've got two larger pockets for your cell phone and iPod, or PDA. Three pen loops, some space to hold your wallet (and I've got a largish sized wallet)... and another inside zip pocket.



the inside. Where you see my copy of LMKG, is where my laptop will go when I'm using this as a school bag. I like that this pocket is sewn in, and padded... so I don't have to use my laptop sleeve. The main pocket is rather large, would fit a textbook and a regulation sized binder, and then there's a large inside zip. There are so many pockets, I just don't know what I would do with them all!

The best part of this bag? The name. The Go Girl Messenger bag. Seeing as I feel like i'm always on the go... and it's not too expensive (about a third of what I would've spent on a Timbuk2 bag, after all the bells and whistles).

Here's what I've been knitting on, furiously, when I get any chance to knit. I'm ignoring some projects that have deadlines, (but the recipients don't know I'm knitting for them), b/c I am in love with this yarn.


It's the premier color collection by Lonesome Stone, handpainted yummy 100% alpaca yarn, fingering/sock weight (7 sts/inch on US2s) and 665 yards per skein. Purchased... where else? Colorful Yarns. Most obviously, a clapotis in the making. To make up for the fineness of the yarn, i added a repeate to section 2, and I'm making it longer than prescribed. The alpaca part should make this sucker plenty warm. Hard to gauge right now, b/c there's usually a cat in the lap while I'm knitting.

Two more weeks, and I'll have finished my first semester as a doctoral student. It's gonna be a very l o n g two weeks for me.