Wednesday, April 22, 2009

What's working; what's not


I've been working like crazy. This last weekend, I spent between four and six hours a day studying; the last of my three exams is this afternoon. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the process just a little: packing up my books, hunkering down in the library with my computer (for knitblog breaks and problem-set answers) and a little square pillow stolen from the window-seats. There's something very zen about diving into a subject with nothing but a textbook, some good music, and pencils with erasers worn down to little nubs.

All that being said, I think that I've come to a conclusion in the last week or so:

while I love chemistry, I don't feel like majoring in it significantly advances my career goals or overall happiness. The fact that I am dreading almost every chemistry class and requirement (woooo physics) I have left leads me to believe that I should leave it at a minor, and pursue the subjects that make me happy - East Asian studies and the arts.

There. I said it. We'll see if I change my mind this time... but I have a feeling that I won't.

But oh, hey, right! Knitting! I've been doing that, too. I cast on for some Retro Ribs with some Shibui sock yarn, kindly picked up for me at Webs by my friend Ondrea. I'm not sure what the colorway is, but it's a really beautiful, rich green. I didn't like the striping at first, but it's definitely grown on me.


I keep on having this weird problem lately with my socks. The first sock is reasonably tightly-knit, probably because I don't know the pattern well enough yet. And the second sock... well, it's not quite a needle-size looser (and hence I can't fix it by going down a size) but there is a marked difference in the way it fits my foot. I think I just get comfortable with the pattern and start knitting looser. It's beginning to drive me crazy, as it has happened with 3 pairs of socks now, at least. It's not bad enough to rip, but it's bad enough to deeply offend my perfectionist sensibilities.


Oh yeah. You know when you get knitting lust, and you have to cast on for a particular thing right now or you're going to keel over into a sad, twitchy little puddle of goo?

Hello, Zetor Scarf!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Busy busy busy

In more ways than one!

These past couple of weeks have been pretty busy and intense. I haven't been doing as much knitting as I'd like, but I have been studying a lot and working even more. I've been burning through my sock yarn stash. I recently counted, and I have enough yarn for 11 pairs of socks including the ones I'm working on right now. However, I have also knit 3 pairs of socks in the past month and a half, so I'm feeling pretty good about my overall rate!

The only thing is... now I really want to cast on for a big lace project. I only ever cast on for socks anymore because I have so much sock yarn and because they are so easy to carry around in my bag, but I also have a lot of laceweight and two sweater's worth of dk and worsted weight yarn.

On the sock front, I recently got a set of the nickel-plated Knitpicks needles in size 1.5 US, which is my go-to size for socks in general. And holy. Frickin'. Crap. They're awesome. Just pointy enough, just grabby enough..... mmm.