Meet my coach

Just before Thanksgiving I made the brilliant decision to sign up for the One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon. I don't like running. In fact this is the 3rd mini-marathon I've signed up for. My first mini would have been in Prague. A certain someone (me) didn't really train for it and conveniently a certain someone else got stuck in Spain, so I never showed up for the mini. Credit from my plane ticket was transferred to the ticket I used to get to my first Oktoberfest. Much more fun than running 13 miles for sure! The second mini I signed up for was in Champaign-Urbana. Friday night meetings that lasted till 10pm along with all the work to get ready for those marathon meetings were a pretty good excuse to drop the ball on that mini. No excuses this time though. There are 85 or so people from the College of Health and Human Sciences signed up for the mini. Pretty big deal. We're having shirts made and everything! Shirts from "wicking" fabric which on the order form is described as "fabric designed to keep athletes cool and dry in hot temperatures." Very fancy. Glad they defined "wicking" for us.

Last night was my first training run with my coach. He's pretty tough on me. Doesn't really take no for an answer. Practically drags me along. He's all about speed training an intervals too. Thankfully he's good for short breaks between intervals so I can catch my breath.

So here's my coach...



Looks pretty tough, right? Maybe this will change your mind...



Anyway, we have a goal to run a 5-K together. He's actually only good for about 1.5 miles right now, but the pace is faster than my usual pace so I'm ok with that. Nike+ guy tells me our pace is around 8.5 minute miles. My usual pace is a lot closer to 9.5 minute miles! Fun times. If you have any suggestions for running with dogs, let me know. Right now I'm just following his lead a little too literally!

Under Construction

This blog is a work in progress. I'm trying to figure out how to get everything looking way cooler and make sure I can link from one place to another. Right now I'm just excited that I got a few tabs working!

Time to Get Things Started

It's just about time to revamp this blog. Who knows, I might even do that .com thing sooner or later. Blogspot is my friend for now. I have all kinds of ideas, but haven't quite figured out how to "go public" as it were. It's hard to figure out exactly how to sell your blog, but given that I'm a dietitian who likes to eat normal food I figure food should be a big part of the blog. Seems like mom's have the market on blogs with meal ideas and deal ideas. I'm not a mom. Most of my friends aren't moms. We like to save money too, but wading through all the diaper deals gets old. Given that I'm currently a grad student AND I like to travel as often as possible I have figured out a bunch of ways to save money here and there. I'll give you tips on that too. I'm not a personal finance guru, so I won't dwell on personal finance. I will point you to personal finance blogs that I follow. Here's what you can expect in the not so distant future:
1. frequent posts!
2. weekly menu ideas that will score you 5 fruits and vegetables a day and won't break your budget.
3. fun recipes that I've tried and think you will actually like
4. food product reviews. you know...new stuff, low fat stuff, low sodium stuff
5. loyalty program reviews.
6. occasional rants about grad school
7. adventures in traveling
8. oh, and I'm training for a mini-marathon, so you'll get those up-dates too.

I think eight things is enough to expect for now. Get excited!

Contest on one of my favorite blogs!

I've been pretty hooked on the personal finance world the last few months and stumbled across a few blogs I really like. One of them is http://www.thousandaire.com. What really drew me to this blog is Kevin's budget template. Actually, he's not the one who made the template, but he souped it up a bit and it's really good. He's having a amazon gift card give-away right now, so it would be a good time to check out and maybe even subscribe to his blog if you like it!Go check it out!

Swagtastic!

I have to admit that I love free stuff. I found out about Swagbucks from a blog and I was skeptical. Turns out that several of my friends use the Swagbucks website. I've been using it and it's legit. It's basically a search engine interface. You search through Swagbucks and you earn points and in return for those points you can "buy" stuff. The best deal is $5 gift cards to amazon. I've used the site for about 3 weeks-ish and have earned 2, $10 gift cards. Today I earned about $100 swagbucks. You only need 450 to get a $5 amazon gift card. So here's my plug! Use Swagbucks and earn free stuff! Fun times ahead!

One heck of a domestic weekend

For the first time in several weeks, I'm rested! I owe it all to a fantastic, school free weekend. It turned out to be a crazy domestic weekend as well!

Saturday:
Baking with Marie. Result = blueberry cobbler!


Sewing with Marie. Result = adorable satchel bags!

Sunday:
Home brew class with my dad. Result = enough stuff to make 103 bottles of beer on the wall!

Knitting at the river surrounded by friends and family. Result = 4 inches of scarf!

(Pictures will be added soon!)

Holy Crazy Cow!

I am grateful to my friend Bethany for giving me not one, but 2 fantastic excuses to finally buy the cowboy boots I've been drooling over for a while now. We're going to the Brooks and Dunn concert in a few weeks AND all her bridesmaids are wearing boots to the reception. She's just that cool! Here they are...in all their beauty!

What I'd really like to show is the UPS tracking page. I ordered standard free shipping. Soon after I ordered I got a friendly email from Zappos.com that my order had been shipped. When I checked the UPS tracking page I see that my boots are on schedule to be delivered today. Seriously! My boots are in Lafayette in a UPS truck riding around town right now. I've never heard of such fantastic shipping service. And it's free! So I am shamelessly putting in a plug for zappos.com. Again that's z-a-p-p-s-z-dot-c-o-m. Got it? Good.

And the winner is!

This was fun for me! I have picked a winner, but a few sweaters are going in my queue for sure! The Honeybee Cardigan was tough to turn down. The one that looks the best in the Ravely collection is the one I highlighted below. Thing is, she made it out of worsted. I'm afraid that even with the delicate lace, it would be too much for late spring/early summer. Same goes for the Tall Flower Cardi. Love it! Probably will make it for fall, but I think it's too heavy for now.

I also LOVE Poplar and Elm! Oh my gosh! It's beautiful. But it would have to be the highlight of the outfit. I think I'll make it because it would be amazing!

And now for the winner....AMY! You win!

I love the way the geodesic cardi will be an accesory to a cute spring or summer outfit. Plus the suggested yarn is Malabrigo Lace which means it will be lightweight, but cozy. I may use some yarn already in my stash if I have enough. That said, I haven't picked a color winner yet. That will be announced later!

Thanks for all the fun suggestions! I think I'll have to have another contest soon!


Here are the last suggestions. Great sweaters to add to your queue!

Tall Flower Cardi by Cecily Glowic

Myrtle cardigan by Snowden Becker

Old Mill Hoodie by Cecily Glowic

Today is the last day!

Today is the last day for suggested patterns/colors for a spring sweater for me to knit. Here's the most recent suggestion! Winner will be announced tomorrow if I remember! If I don't remember, the winner will be announced as soon as I remember. How's that for a fabulous contest hostess!?!?!

Geodesic Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio

Ideas Suggested So Far...

In no particular order here are the patterns that have been suggested so far...
Keep the ideas coming!

Mr. Greenjeans by Amy Swenson




Poplar and Elm by Carol Sunday

Honeybee Cardigan by Laura Chau

(this one is knit by Jettshin)

Barb Wire by Grace Mcewen

It's My First Blog Contest!

I'm heading to Europe (more specifically I'll be going to various places in the Netherlands, Brugge, Belgium and Bergamo, Italy) in May and I'd like to knit an all purpose cardigan to wear while I'm there. This is going to be a contest and I just decided that it will be a 2 part contest.

Part 1:
Suggest a cardigan pattern for me to knit. I'm thinking 3/4 sleeves, feminine, size 6 needles or smaller and some lace detail.
The person who suggests the winning pattern will receive a skein of sock yarn from my stash

Part2:
What color?!?!?!?! Needs to be all-purpose, but who said purple can't be all purpose? Suggest a color and/or a yarn for me to use.
The person who suggests the winning color will get some cute stitch markers.

Post your ideas in the comments and I'll try to cleverly post pictures of the patterns as they are suggested! Contest will end on Friday, April 9th at midnight EST. Yay for a fun contest!

The fine print:
*if the pattern or color is suggested more than once, the first person to have suggested that pattern or color will be the winner.
**if the pattern is in a book or magazine that I don't have and that is not available at the library, you will be responsible for providing me with a copy of the pattern. I am willing to pay for a Ravelry pattern, but not more than $5 or $6.

Shopping Spree!

Tonight I'm going shopping with a few girl friends, one of whom would like some wardrobe encouragement in efforts to impress a certain boy. So exciting! I've had a bit of a wardrobe overhaul myself. A few weeks ago it became blatantly obvious that my wardrobe is boring. I only have a few tops that are cute enough for wearing out on the social scene and my jeans are way too boxy to be terribly cute. In the last couple of weeks I've managed to spruce up the ol' wardrobe!

Jeans are a problem for everyone. They are made to fit no one. I tried on 8 pair at Macy's, 8 pair at GAP and didn't even bother at The Limited.
Dear Clothes Buyer at The Limited,
I didn't bother to try on jeans at your store. First, they were $70 a pair which was discouraging enough. But really...did you have to put a giant button on the butt pockets? No matter the size of a girl's tush, did you really think it was a good idea to draw attention to it with a button? Really?
Sincerely,
A jeans shopper speaking out for all women shopping for jeans


So just when I was about to give up, Old Navy pulled through! Old Navy of all places! I haven't had Old Navy jeans since high school. Mostly because their jeans have notoriously been made for girls in high school. So now I am happy with some jeans and cute tops. Missing from this picture is a pair of shoes. Ballet flats just don't seem to cut it in a club or a bar. I need some shoes that say, "this girl means business!" I need shoes I can walk in, but just barely. I don't want blisters, but I do want shoes that look like they might give me blisters.

Tonight will be all about my friend dressing to impress a certain boy. She wants cute jeans. Not sure what else, but I'm sure we'll manage to find a few hot items for her. Maybe just maybe I'll find a pair of shoes while we're out too! This is going to be fun!

A mild distraaction from Christmas knitting...

I'm knitting fingerless gloves for someone and I don't know if I like them. They seem so bulky. I suppose that one option would be to continue on as the pattern says and hope for the best. The other option would be to rip out the fingers in a not so violent way and turn them into convertible mittens. So while I think about that for a while I've decided to distract myself with another Hannah Fettig sweater! I loved the yellow featherweight cardigan I made this summer and now I will make a lightweight pullover. If it's done for Christmas Eve Mass I'll be a happy camper!

I've been hoping for a great way to use this yarn for a while now. It's kind of vintage. At least the label is!

The yarn is 50% virgin wool and 50% crimpset nylon. I don't really know what crimpset nylon is, but the label implies that it's for super strength and delux softness! Ooh la la! The pattern calls for for sport weight, but I'm getting gauge with fingering. I think the fabric will have more drape to it. That's kind of what I'm looking for. So I'm off to the races. Row after row after mundane row of stockingnet in the round. So far, I have an inch. This could take a while.

Shalom My Friend!

I finally finished my Shalom Cardigan!


And this is why I love living with mom...
Shhh....she doesn't know I stole the buttons yet!

Or you could just knit it...

I’ve had some time to drool over some fun catalogs yesterday and today! I would like to report that the following are hot items! Maybe this will help inspire your Christmas knitting.

The Limited is featuring “infinity scarves”. $40 for a chunky knit cowl in a bold color. Or you could just make one!

Sundance catalog is one of my all-time favorites! Some day I will do more than droll over the catalog! Here are some links with super cute knits that we could all knit before Christmas!

This little sweater vest is remarkably similar to several I’ve seen on Ravelry! Actually there are lots of sleeveless sweaters with big collars being worn over plan long sleeve shirts or longer sleeveless sweaters over simple dresses! Looks cozy and elegant for sitting around a fire! I saw a lot of that look in Athleta. Of course everything looks good on the uber athletic, yoga doing, skiing, surfing super women models in Athlete. &%(#)@#!!!

Here’s a cowl neck sweater that reminds me of Francis Revisited.

If only I had made my Shalom with sleeves! Check this out!

How about a pistal headwarmer? Can you say Calorimetry? $28!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out the other accessories! Norweigan Woods? Hooded mittens? Get yourself some alpaca with a twist and make these!

Well, that’s knitted fashion for October 30th brought to you by the quarantined girl who has too much time on her hands! Hope you are inspired to knit something fun for Christmas!

Early to bed and early to rise

I've been trying to be diligent. Parking on campus is a bear if you arrive after 7:32. Thankfully I have a garage pass and always have a parking spot waiting for me. The garage is further away and I have to park on floors 5-7. That's kind of a lot of stairs. Soooo, I'd rather park in a gravel lot, but I can't seem to get here before 7:43. Today was a new day. I set my alarm a little earlier and woke up to music blasting in my ears. (new iphone docking station is awesome, but a little loud!) I made it here by 7:32 and was able to park in a gravel lot. Very proud of that! There were some BIG yawns on my way from the prized parking spot to my office and I know I'll be really tired around 2:30 when I'm supposed to be awake for class. This early to bed, early to rise thing has it's ups and downs!

Travel Knitting

Now I know why people just knit socks on vacation! Oh well. I'm having
fun knitting this scarf out of Malabrigo silky merino. I pretty much
knit a few inches and the rip an inch back. It's about 7 inches or so.
I found one yarn shop today. I want to say it's called Northern Lights
Yarn Shop, but it's not. I'll have to make a seperate post about that
experience. Gorgeous shop for sure!

We're off to Seward. Tomorrow we'll find out if I get sea sick. Let's
hope I don't! Speaking of gettig sick...today I learned never to eat
pot stickers for breakfast. For the record, I didn't order them!!!!!!
I sure felt the reprocuasions of eating them though!

How much does the tomato cost?

I've been kind of amused watching my one little tomato grow in my red neck hanging planter thing. I figure it's about a $15 tomato. Here is is...cute little lonely tomato.

From Summer2009

But look! It's not going to be a lonely tomato for long! There are a few more little flowers.

From Summer2009

So maybe I will have a total of 4 tomatoes! That would mean they are less than $4 a piece. Crazy. There better be some more tomatoes by the end of the summer or I'm going to be really bummed.

I'm trying to pack for my trip and it's difficult. I really hate to check a bag. Eight days of unpredictable weather makes it tough though. Right now I have to consider the 10 day forecast calls for rain every day, we'll be on ice half the time doing whacky crazy stuff and who knows if I'll need to dress up ever. Polar fleece and jeans and hiking boots takes up way more room than sun dresses and flip flops. Humpf. I'm still going to be stubbern and try to make it fit in my carry on bag. I'll take my favorite hydration pack for extra little things. Maybe I'll treat myself to a new hydration bladder thingy. Not sure if I'll need it, but it might be nice. Sounds like a trip to Hodson's Bay!

Sunrise...Sunset

GOOD MORNING!GOOD NIGHT!

Thanks COURT1KATHY !

I got home from Indy this afternoon and had a package waiting for me! The package was from my Ravelry slipper swap pal COURT1KATHY. She sent me not 1, but 2 pair of fantastic slippers! I'm kind of on a purple kick right now, so I have to say the purple ones are my favorite, but it's hard to say because the other ones are super. I'm wearing them now! Plus I got a lovely little crochet rose pin and big stitch markers (that I needed!) and some yummy grape juice mix to add to water bottles. I didn't grow up having grape anything because mom gets sick just smelling it, so it never occurs to me to buy grape anything. I like it though and so it's fun to have these little individual servings of grape drink. I hope COURT1KATHY doesn't mind that I'm poster the picture she took. I'll try to get some action shots of me wearing the slippers soon.

From socks

One down, two to go

I finished Mom's socks this morning. Yay!

From socks

I'm working on the orange sweater now, but I think I will have to redo the sleeve I already knit. I'm afraid it's going to be too tight and uncomfortable. No point in having an uncomfortable sweater!

Can they get done?

There are a few knitting projects looming over me. All are really close to being done, but just haven't gotten done for one reason or another. The main reason being that I always seem to start a new project! I really want to get a few of these done ASAP.

My little red summer sweater is pretty stinkin close. This is the sweater that needed major repair last spring and I never did it. i started it, but never really got finished. I have just about an inch on the front and back plus a lot of kitchener stitching. Might take a total of 5 hours if I sat down and did it in one go.
Here is is all ripped out and ready to go...

From The Stash

Project number 2 that seriously needs to get done are mom's socks. Probably another 5 hours of steady knitting on those. They are going to matching mismatched socks. One pooled (photo) the other is striping. I wish they had both stripped, but I'm not in the business of ripping out an entire sock just to see if maybe possibly it will stripe the second time I knit it.

From socks

On to project number 3. My Remember Sweater! It would be perfect to wear as a jacket in Alaska, but it's not done! Only one sleeve, the collar and the piecing. Maybe I should multi-task tonight. I could block the pieces are are done while I knit one of the other projects. Here's the cool smocking pattern on the top of the sweater.

From socks

Those are the three projects that are really looming over my head. Trust me there are others that I'd like to start, but I really want to get these done first. It can be done. Especially now that it's been made public, I will race to get them done and post progress as soon as possible!

5 reasons I probably won't be getting tan this summer

1. school

2. hospital

3. vacation in Alaska

4. i have yet to wear a swim suit this summer

5. I do dumb things like wear jeans or long sleeves on a perfectly warm sunny day.

Finished Featherweight

Good thing the weather cooled off! Gives me a good excuse to wear my new sweater! I just finished it the other night at the hospital. Couldn't get mom to wake up, so I had to go out to the nurses' station to show it to someone. A friend at knitting group who would prefer not to be named on the internet took a picture and emailed it to me, so here it is...me knitting another sweater while wearing a sweater I knit.

Dumb blog Design

Let's talk about how dumb my blog looks right now. Real dumb. Real, real dumb. For some reason I remember there being so many more blog designs to choose from on blogspot, but there aren't. Don't get me wrong. I'm ever so grateful for the simplicity offered by blogspot. Not like I know how to design a webpage and besides it's budget friendly! But doesn't anyone else think it's time to update the background options. There are like two that allow for full screen photos like I posted yesterday or whenever that was. And they are dumb. So for now I will pout.

Now this is what I call summer!

From Summer2009

My Day In Pictures

Shouldn't take long to figure out that I had an AWESOME day with my friend Dana and her parents!

From Fiddler

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A day in the life of a nerd

Today I was up to my ears in data. Well, actually this morning I wasn't. We had training on doing doubly labeled water studies. I won't bore you with the details, but like most of my research...it involves diet records and urine collection. I really have it good! I felt like a dork though because i started day dreaming about other mini-studies we could do during the big study. It's sad to think that only one year into this PhD think I'm already starting to see how much data we can milk out of a study. About 2 weeks ago I was at a conference in DC and was inspired to look into portion size estimation a lot more. To make a long story short, we know people can't estimate how much they eat but we don't know why. Today I thought of an easy study that could give some insight on that.

It was really the afternoon that I was up to my ears in data. We kind of designed our own cheeseburger and it doesn't have a food code. Everything MUST have a food code. So now I have to do tons of math...er uh...arithmetic to figure out how to deal with it compared to existing food codes. I'm not a fan of math and was easily distracted by Pioneer Woman. Everything she does is disgustingly exquisite. So that made me think of all my pretty dishes. And...since I'm getting to be a wiz kid with databases I thought to myself...I should catalog my dishes in a giant database! Sadly I don't use my dishes right now, so I thought I could put the catalog on my blog and when people need massive amounts of awesome dishes for a dinner or a party they can kind of rent them from me.

Knitting is still going. I'll probably just keep knitting and catalog dishes in another life time. I don't feel like taking a picture right now, so sorry for the photoless post.

Queen of Kitchener

I finally got up the nerve to do the tubular bind off on the collar part of my sweater. It's basically kitchener stitch, but crazier because there are about 300 stitches. I'm cheating a little bit. You're supposed to do 2 rows of double knitting (it's in the video). I pretty much just started slipping the knit stitches onto one really long double pointed needle and the purl stitches on another. So here's the picture...You can see my double pointed needles, the rediculously long piece of yarn on the darning needle, the circular needle I used to knit the dang thing and about 20 stitches cast off. Since taking the picture I have 80 stitches bound off and it's looking much nicer. I actually think doing it more like kitchener is easier than trying to follow the instructions for the tubular bind off. Theoretically I'm getting the same effect. It's really stretchy and looks nice! Although it's tempting to stay up and knit, I have to get some sleep. I'm way too tired lately.

Ha! I beat Annie!

After yoga today I had way too much fun chatting and laughing with my friend Sarah. We're both too scatter brained and into school stuff to hang out very often which turns out to be perfect. We were supposed to have lunch today, but we both forgot. I saw her old roommates over by stone hall when I was on my way home to let the dogs out which is what tipped me off that I had forgotten. Crap! So I called Sarah and left a message hoping she had forgotten too. She called me a little while later to apologize for forgetting. It was really funny. So we had coffee instead. Laughing with a friend is the best kind of workout.

Annie is awesome and gave me a friendship bread start. I hope I don't ruin it! I've never been the best at making bread, but I'll sure give it a try! The thing is, when I got to her house there was an odd van that said "Mobile Command Unit" on the front. There was even a camera on the dashboard. We watched it for a while and tried to figure out why it was parked there. I figured they had a bugged informant in a house nearby and the police were going to get some big drug bust. Annie seemed to think something along the same lines. Just as I was about to leave, an old man in a suit came up to the van and opened it and out hopped a little dog! What?!?!? Annie and I nearly died. Here we had imagined up some drama and it was just an old man and his camper van. He asked me where the nearest Wal-Mart is and explained that he's allowed to stay in Wal-Mart parking lots. He figures "Mobile Command Unit" sounds better than "Little Old Man With Cash." What a character! It looked for all the world like a police detective van. Well, except that it wasn't too subtle. Guess the joke is on us!

For the record I beat Annie to posting that storie. She'll probably tell it better though! Please tell your version of the story Annie!

Conundrum

It's Tuesday, so that means knitting night at Barnes and Nobles. 7-9 PM. Sad plug, but come on. It's the best entertainment in town on a Tuesday night! I'm having problems with the sweater I'm knitting. There is a chance that when it's all done, it's going to be huge. Other people on Ravelry have had this problem. Makes me nervous. My biggest problem right now is the bindoff around the neckline. There are about 300 stitches or so and I can't decide if I want to do the tubular bindoff or the normal one. Decisions, decisions. On the bright side, I think I convinced a girl to knit herself a sweater. She's in highschool and makes an impressive number of blankets for the Linus project. Yay for her! I am still admittedly a not-so-charitable knitter. Hopefully I can convince her that sweaters are the best thing to knit!

Seriously, i will post pictures soon.

My Big Fat Greek Windex

Last summer I spent hours upon hours on my hands and knees scrubbing the silt off the wood floors in the recovering river house with a stif bristle brush. For anyone who has experienced a flood, the silty dirt residue does NOT come off with water. When wet, it becomes clay and just smears around. So the other day mom accidentally found out that Windex miraculously makes silt cling to the cleaning object of choice! I don't know what the accident was, but let me tell ya...it's a lot easier with a bottle of Windex! Maye it really is the cure for everything!
Before Windex After Windex

maybe i will try again

I suppose I could try to blog again. Some days it seems like life is too busy and not interesting enough to blog. It's summer now and that brings a new air of optimism for starting anew. I don't really know why we make new year's resolutions in January. Seems like spring or summer would be a much better time. This is a way better time to start exercising, being more environmentally friendly, blogging, etc. Not that I'm doing those things very well, but this would be the time! I did sign up for PiYo at the co-rec. Monday we mostly do pilates and Wednesday we mostly do yoga. Either way I can barely walk the next morning. The co-rec charges for classes like PiYo, so I feel obliged to go. It's not that big a deal since I enjoy it, but it's nice to be half-forced to go. Although I've embraced the fact that I don't enjoy running I'm running anyway. If nothing else, it gives me an excuse to buy cute Nike running shorts! I ran with Baxter yesterday. It's more like interval training than endurance training. Maybe sprinting from tree to tree will make me a stonger runner! Who knows!

Today had wasn't such a bad Saturday. Slept in for the first time in ages. Can't complain about that! Did some laundry...not so exciting. Went to TJ Maxx for the irst time in ages and bought some cute Nike running shorst and a Father's day gift for John. Props to me for getting a Father's day gift a week early! And it's not even related to golf! This afternoon I got to hang out with my niece for a while. She's pretty hilarious. Her songs are the best. Well actually, her fashion sense is the best. Annie has pictures on her blog that will keep you amused for a while. Plus stories to humor you for a while! Mostly Anja wanted to read books and shout at squirrells. I tried to help teach her to jump on the couch, but that was only mildly successful. I also tried to get her to say Auntie, but that didn't really work either. She just pointed to me and laughed every time I said "auntie." Little bug! We had fun though and that's all that really matters! It will be more fun when we can fingerpaint!

I'm trying to get 2 sweaters done. Well, actually I'm trying to get one sweater done and then I'll try to get the other done. I've been working on one since last week. There were a lot of meetings during that time, so it's just one sleeve short of being done. The other sweater is a sleeve and a collar and a lot of piecing together away from being done. If I weren't so lazy I'd get off my lazy bum and take some pictures. Maybe later. Hopefully the summer sweater will be done in the next day or two so I can wear it on cool summer nights!

Frenzy!

So first... Boiler up!!! Congrats to the Purdue men's basketball team! I'm proud to be a Boilermaker!

Not so much of a surprise that I haven't been blogging. By the time I'm done at school I don't want to spend more time at the computer. Some people live pay check to pay check...I live dead line to dead line! The nice thing is that when I'm stressed out, I knit so fast! I'm having a bit of a knitting frenzy. There are pictures up on Ravelry, but I'll have to add them to the blog later. Hard to do from the phone blogs. I finished my first fair isle project- the fake isle hat. Next time I'll keep the stings even looser! Still turned out not so shabby! (Picture would be great here!)
I've also been knitting socks like crazy. I finished a pair of cute bamboo socks, knit one self-striping sock, knit a pair of Monet inspired socks for my sister, and just started the 2nd self-striping sock! (More pictures would help here!)
I also started a sweater. I think it's the Berocco Remember sweater. Too bad I can't actually remember. I was afraid that socks would be a problem and that I'd never finish a pair. To combat second sock syndrome, I decided to reward myself with a pair of nice clogs (Birkenstocks most likely) if I knit 3 pair. Shouldn't be a problem since I'm on sock #4. I have enough yarn to make 3 more pair. Most skeins are generous, so I have all this left over sock yarn that I don't know what to do with. There's enough of some that if I knit a different color heal and toe, I think I can get another pair. We'll see. It's fun to dream!

I've gotten great deals on Araucania yarn lately. I got my sweater yarn from the River Knits bargain bin. It's Araucania nature wool in a burnt orange color. Then, one of my Purdue knitting friends told me about a sale at Tuesday Mornings. I was better off not knowing about that store! It's a bit like TJ Maxx, but smaller and basically no clothes. Mom and I got a bunch of Araucania sport weight alpaca yarn for $3 a skein! Talk about a bargain! I also got some cotton that will make a nice spring scarf.

Hopefully I'll have some free time this week to knit a bunch! It's spring break, but I still have to go to school. At least I don't have classes. I do have a huge to do list and need to have most of it checked off by next Sunday. Yowzers! It'll all work out eventually, but I don't want to think about it right now. Time for bed.

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Knitting with toothpicks

I'm headed to Washington DC next week and know I'll have some dead time in the airport and such. Mom gave me really cute sock yarn for 12th night, so I figure I'll knit socks on the trip. Of course I have a million other projects I could work on, but socks seem really travel friendly. I got bamboo sock needles today at River Knits and they are size 1 (2.25mm)!!!!! Toothpicks! I wonder if anyone has tested the size of toothpicks. Hmmmm...I think I'll try that! Luckily I looked in the bargain bin, because there was only one skein of yarn left like what mom got me. It's Regia bamboo sock yarn. Very short color ways, so it looks like confetti when it's all knitted up. Cute, but makes choosing a pattern tough. The patterns that looked cool on Ravelry were lacy and I'm not ready for any serious lace sock stuff. I thought about a fancy ribbed pattern, but I don't want to have to count rows and the simple patterns don't show up with this yarn. Now I'm debating if I want to do a simple stocking knit or a slipped stitch rib like I did with Martin's socks. Seems like the elasticity of ribbing would be nice. Then again, it would be so quick to do plain sticking knit. Maybe I'll go to the library for more ideas.

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Risking it all

I'm about to make the snip. My little red sweater is about to undergo serious surgery. I'm nervous, but it's the right thing to do. Here we go!
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'Tis the season

It's the time of year when I have to check to make sure I don't have pointy ears. I feel like an elf. Mom and I have been through her closet full of stuff she's forgotten about and divied it up for everyone. She has me wrap all the presents and send me out shopping for everything she thinks people want. I realized that my wrapping skills have gone to pot. It used to be important to use a variety of wrapping paper and bows. Every present was meticulously wrapped with no raw edges showing. This year...not so much. Not sure what happened, but I used one roll till it was gone and there aren't many bows. Maybe I'll tidy up the packages when right before they go under the tree. On the bright side, I haven't lost the tape or the scissors! Practically a miracle!

You'd think last year I would have learned my lesson about Christmas knitting. Alas, here I am, frantically trying to finish truly last minute knitted gifts! Take that Ms. Hoverson! Maybe I'll write my own book! (Doubt it) Better get back to knitting.
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So many exciting things!

I'm excited about a lot of things today! We're having a Christmas lunch for our lab group. Being in a lab full of nutrition types pays of at dinner parties. I made Aiken's cold corn and goat cheese salad. There should be a slew of really delicious foods and most will be nutritious so there's no guilt in pigging out! Another thing to be excited about, I discovered techknitting! This knitter has her act together. I was looking for instructions to line a hat with fleece and found so much more. Probably the very best thing is that she has instructions for lengthening sweaters, sleeves, etc. I knit that little red sweater this summer and it's so short I can't wear it. Annie suggested getting my belly button pierced and just wearing the sweater anyway. Um...maybe not! With the help of TechKnitting the sweater can be fixed! Talk about exciting!

Time to kick into high gear as far as Christmas presents go. I've been slacking in that department. I have a few things, but that's not really enough now is it? At least I have ideas for everyone. That's a start.

Purdue maintenance crew busted out the snow polishers. We're fortunate here because rather than salt the side walks when it snows, Purdue takes a little tracker with a giant metal brush and polishes the snow on the sidewalks into miles of a nice slick liability. Seriously, it's horrible! I nearly fell twice on my way from the garage to my building. Why don't they get a zamboni and properly ice the walk ways? It'd be faster to skate across campus anyway. Sometimes I wonder how such a big university with so many logical people can make such a stupid decision to use the snow polishers year after year after year.

Facebook amazes me...

Is anyone else amazed that people who you've barely met can find you on Facebook so fast? Granted, I have a fairly unusual first name, but still last night I was introduced to someone and that person friended me 2 hours later. I'm not creeped out, just amazed that people can friend you so fast. I don't even think to friend people unless I really know them. I bet I'm not friends on Facebook with half my real life friends. What do you do to all the people who friend you, but you're not really friends? People from high school who you never ate lunch with or even had class with? I feel like a big jerk if I don't accept people as friends, but then they just sit there in Facebook and I never read their wall or write them little notes. Maybe I'm just not up to speed on my web-based social networking skills.

Getting buff...

A few girls in my lab group had the brilliant idea for us all to run a marathon. I don't really enjoy running. It always seems like a good idea and I get all motivated and go for a run and then remember very quickly that I don't enjoy it at all. Problem is, everyone is on board for this lab group marathon team. Fortunately, most of us decided to just to a half marathon. Our professor is going to walk a 5-k and one girl will run the who marathon. I'm just smart enough to know my competitive side is going to take a blow if I don't actually train, so alas...here I am starting to train for a 13 mile race that's going to make me hurt for days and days. Actually, it's probably going to make me hurt for the next several months. 5K races are always fun. Especially when Martin runs them with me. So, last Saturday we ran the YMCA Sleigh Run. Turned out to be a great race! What's better than 200 people with bells on their shoes running in the snow? The best part is that the volunteers misdirected us and cut 1/4 mile off the course! Makes it look like I ran a 5k in less than 30 minutes, but actually I ran 2.7 miles in less than 30 minutes. I'm going to the gym a couple times a week now. Last night I "ran" on the eliptical machine and lifted weights. Definately a humbling experience. Hopefully Baxter and I can start going on runs in the mornings before I come to school a few days a week. Might have to get him some boots to protect his little paws from the cold snow and ice.

Aunt Anna May to the rescue!

A while back I saw a pattern for a hat that was lace on top and solid underneath. It was called Peek a Boo Hat or something like that. Ravelry totally let me down. I searched through hundreds of hat patterns and never found what I was looking for. Doesn't anyone other than me think it's a brilliant idea!?!?! Well, Nike does and so does SmartWool! But not the rest of the knitting world. I was looking for something in my room tonight and found a book Anna May let me borrow. I feel bad that I've kept it so long! Guess where I saw that pattern? Yup...it's in her book! The book is Lace Style by Pam Allen and Ann Budd and it's even Interweave Press. The pattern is Peek-A-Boo Cloche. I can't believe the pattern didn't come up on Ravelry. I can't believe no one else is knitting this hat! Especially since there are similar commercially made hats by expensive brands like Nike and SmartWool! Come on people! Jump on the band wagon! Mine is going to be black on the outside and gold on the inside. Boiler up! I want to have a little school spirit next time I end up at a Purdue basketball game.

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Procrastinating

I've got Thanksgivingitis. I dont' know what grad students have to be at school today. It's kind of stupid. No one else is here and brain is pretty checked out.

There is a chance that knitting productivity is directly proportional to my stress levels. So, convenienly I'm knitting like crazy! I finally finished My So Called Scarf. I finished one sleeve for my Gathered Pulloever Sweater, but then I ran out of yarn. I know I have more, but a big chunk of my stash has disappeared. I probably tried to put it some place safe, but now it's just out of sight. I'd be better off just having a huge pile of wool in the corner of my room to scramble through every time I needed something. Whoever inspired me to organize my stash was an idiot! I've never done any serious cable work, so I took on the challenge of the Estes Vest. The challenge isn't the cabling, it's reading the stinkin' pattern! It's just not real clear and the charts are whacko. From what I hear the i-cord edging is a pain. I'm not looking forward to that. Maybe I'll get to wear it before summer hits. There are some other works in progress, but since they are for other people I'll keep them secret for now. Let's clarify that I am NOT committing to any Christmas knitting!

Last night was knitting night at Barnes and Nobles. We had a nice group. There was a new lady who kept talking about her "Arian" knitting pattern. Cracked me up! What do you do in a situation like that? I wanted to correct her and tell her that I was pretty sure it was "Aran" not "Arian" and that peole might get the wrong idea. Then again she really got on my nerves, so I ended up letting her continue to call it "Arian" and snickered to myself a little more each time.

With all my projects I've run out of stitch markers and today is payday, so I think I'll head to River Knits and splurge on a pack of stitch markers. It's good to be back in the blogging world.

Taking it handy

This birthday weekend has been really amazing. I am currently blogging
from a hammock in the shade near the river. Yesterday my dear friend
Dana hosted the lovliest of birthday bbqs. All the Irish girls from my
department were there along with several college friends of mine. John
manned the grill (as men do!) and made really awesome burgers! After
the party a bunch of us spent some time at 9 Irish Brothers. The owner
is hilarious! He really made it fun! So now I'm up at the river in a
hammock half napping...half blogging...definitely relaxing!

So big news for anyone in Dublin! I'm coming back!!! I'll only be
there one night though. Sept. 4th. Maybe it will work out to see some
of you friendly knitters out there!

School starts up again tomorrow. Last week was nice. Well, sort of
nice. I had orientation all week, so I didn't have to work very hard.
That will all change tomorrow. It's going to be long days from here on
out. The routine will be nice I suppose.

Too bad this isn't a resort! I need more iced tea.

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One toe away...

I started socks for my brother for Christmas. They didn't get done for Christmas by any means. I didn't really work on them for several months after Christmas, and now they are almost...so very close to done. I totally finished one today. Grafted the toe and the whole nine yards. Now I'm just hoping I Have enough yards of yarn left to finish the second sock! It's going to be close, but I think it can be done! Martin tried them on last night though and they're going to fit really well! They'll be done for his birthday, but won't be his birthday present. I will be celebrating three holidays with him though on Tuesday. Christmas, Father's Day, and his birthday! Very exciting!

photo to follow!

Only one more week of intro stat. This week will includes lots of studying I hope. There's a lot to review before the final exam on Friday. Yikes! I better finish my homework before I get too excited about the exam!

Sitting in the window...

Today is the first day I've had to breath in a while and I'm enjoying it to the fullest! Today is just a beautiful day! Not too hot and wonderfully sunny! The new grad student, Bethany, started the other day and she's a lovely addition to our lab group. We sat outside by the fountain and read for a while. She's a super cute farm girl from west-central Illinois. Now I'm happy sitting in the window at Grey House watching the world go by. It's so nice here! The free refills might be dangerous!

Tonight is So You Think You Can Dance night!!!!!!! There are a bunch of us crazy girls who are way too into the show! Last week was controversial. Comfort is a hip-hop dancer who got voted off the previous week. Jessica got to stay, but then she had broken ribs, so she dropped out and Comfort came back. THEN, Kherigan had a bad night and got voted off and Comfort got to stay. It was a real pity! So this week Comfort better get voted off or I'm gonna be really annoyed. At this point the guys are all pretty awesome, so it's hard to see any of them go. Will is my favorite and if you saw him with his shirt off, you'd know why! Sigh. He's dreamy! Even dreamier than that electrician in Dublin! After all, Will can dance!

Birthday Week

It's birthday week in our house. My big brother's birthday is today,
mom's birthday is Friday and Martin's birthday is next Tuesday. Very
exciting!

Every Wednesday, we have a lab meeting. Lately we've been brain
storming for my current project. Today is going to be different. I'm
giving a presentation to propose a new study that we can do later. I'm
a little nervous since I don't know what to expect. Should be
interesting.

Given that I have this presentation, I probably shouldn't have gone
knitting last night, but I did. Just needed the mental break and I'm
glad we went. Martin's socks are nearly done! Ok, not really. They're
about 75% done though. He needs to try them on. I really don't want
them to be too small! That would be horrible!!! I'd say there's a
small chance I can get them done this weekend. It's only a very small
chance though. So no one should go getting hopes up!!

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Cheap and Free!

I'm quickly becoming a true PhD student! Saving money being one of the key things. In our department supposedly we all get enough funding to live. I'm thinking they should say we get enough funding to exsist! To really live, one must have the funds to go out with friends on the weekend, to buy a pair of Tevas on sale for $15 and to buy an occasional magazine. Not to mention pay for gas and random things like behavior therapy for oddly aggressive wheaten terriers. That said, part of truely living as a grad student involves the continuing quest for cheap and free! Free brunch yesterday meant testing 4 types of french toast and several egg casseroles for Mrs. Mayfield who is designing new breakfast ideas for day cares. Note: french toast made with orange juice was not a good thing. Cheap morning coffee means a slight detour to Beering Hall on my way back from stat class. There, is the holy grail of vending machines. I can get a so-so mocha or a pretty good cappucino for 75 cents! Bad coffee in the HTM cafe is $1.25. That's 50 cents towards I can put towards living! Anyone want to go find a gum ball machine with me?