In Which I Wear My Cloak

Today it got cold. Really, really cold. Today I also conducted an experiment in self-confidence in the face of weird looks.

I decided about a year and a half ago that I really wanted to own a cloak because I think that they're really pretty. I found a pattern and was planning on making it myself when my mother thought to ask my grandmother to make it for me. We bought warm, dark green wool and sent it to Tulsa. It turned out beautiful, and I wore it a few times last winter. I brought it with me to campus and told some people about it, but it hadn't been cold enough to wear it for most of the semester.

Last night I knew it would be and I resolved to wear my cape today. I worried some, would it be too big to fit in at the desks we have to sit in?, would people think I was crazy?, would it be warmer than I thought? But this morning it was still close to freezing and I donned my cape and went to class.

The reactions I got to wearing an ankle length cape around campus were varied and hilarious. The first person to comment saw me sitting down wearing it and thought it was something like a snuggie at first. I explained and she seemed to think it was interesting. Every time I walked into a room I almost felt like I was making a grand entrance, because people would glance up and I could see wonderment on their faces.

I got one bad review from a girl in my math class, but I've never much liked her fashion sense, so I didn't take her reaction much to heart. When I went to get lunch at the library the woman who usually sells me my sandwich and coke said that she loved it and wanted to know where the pattern came from so she could make one herself.

My worries about the cape being too bulky were unfounded. When I was in a building I just folded up my cape and usually put it on the floor next to me. On my way to the Canterbury center the sun was setting and it was getting even colder. I put my lovely, very deep, hood up for the walk there. I got some really great looks from the theater people smoking outside the Seretean Center as I walked up in full cape with my hood. It made me laugh.

So today I reminded myself that as long as you walk tall almost no one will laugh in your face, cloaks are awesome, and so are grandmothers that make them.

Also, this evening I was told by a woman that I go to choir with, "You know, you're young - but your book would be very interesting." I agree.

"We always walk tall, we're Jets!"

In which I Scare My Psyc Class

So I have a funny college story to tell.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have carried a pocket knife for several years now. Unfortunately the clip on my knife is bent and I have not received a new one yet. Because of this and the fact that clothes makers seem to think that women's pockets don't need to be deep enough to properly carry a pocket knife, I lost my knife last Thursday afternoon.

I filed a report with the police and the next day they called me and said that they had found it. I was very excited and thought the matter closed.

Today in psychology we were discussing motivation and fight or flight. Dr. Dempsey began to mention a personal experience that he had had with fight or flight just last week. He told us how a student after class had walked up to him with an open switchblade. At this point I burst out "Was taht last thrusday?" Dr. Dempsey said that it was and I announced that that was my knife and I was very glad that I had gotten it back.

The class began to look at me a little strangely and wanting to better demonstrate what he was teaching Dr. Dempsey asked if I had it with me. I said yes and pulled it out and opened it. Then I got that feeling that everyone around me was fairly certain that I was crazy.

I handed the knife to Dr. Dempsey and he said that when a student had walked up to him after class holding an open knife (the student hadn't known how to close it), he simply thought that he was going to die.

We all laughed and I thanked Dr. Dempsey for turning it in to the police. He said that he had to, and that the police officer had seemed rather unconcerned about the whole thing. Apparently Dr. Dempsey thought that they should fingerprint it or something to make sure it hadn't been used in a crime. I'm sure that since there have been no recent reports of stabbing on campus that that never crossed the officers mind.

So I have my knife back, and S.O.G. is supposed to be sending me a new clip. Also, my entire psyc class is a little afraid of me going off the deep end and stabbing someone. Funny Day.

In Which I Have a Lot of Knitting

Wow....

How did October get here already?

First off the college catch up:
Classes are fun (bet you don't here that from many people), they're pretty much the same as they've been.

I've had time to read a lot more than I thought I would so I've been reading a bit of Shakespeare. I don't think I'd read any of his comedies before and I really like them! Always learning something new.

With it being fall and a little colder up here than it is in Texas, I've had oppurtunities to wear stuff I've made, and I love it. Unfortunately it's also given me a bad case of startitis.

I'm currently working on five projects and I've ordered three more which are being shipped to me now. That's more projects on the needles than I've ever had before.

I'm still working on Joe my blanket, but it's gotten so big that it just lives on my bed now and can't travel anywhere.

I'm also working on an unnamed scarf that I started before college. It's a beautiful gray lace scarf and I love the feel of working with it.

I recently started a shawl in a pretty blue-green for a knit-a-long. I have to purposely drop stitches in it and I love it. It's named Anne.

I also ripped out a fingerless mitten I had made a year ago and am changing it into a lace neck scarf.

Then I wanted to learn how to do circular knitting with the magic-loop method so I ripped out Juliet, my pretty cotton yellow gloves with cables up the arm, and restarted them with magic-loop and it's working out much better.

See? I told you I've got startits! I started all those new projects within days of eachother.

Now I've ordered three kits. One is a kit of knitted ornaments that I'm going to decorate my room with for dead week and finals week. The second is a knitting bag that will teach me how to make linings and and use interfacing. And the thrid is a kit for a hat and gloves to teach me fair isle (knitting with two colors of yarn in one row), which was one of my goals at the begining of the year!

All this knitting will keep my hands busy and warm all winter.

Alright, tired of hearing about knitting?

In other news my classes at the Colvin Rec Center are going really well and I'm imporving greatly in both boxing and yoga. My boxing class has dropped from 20 people to about 8. It means we get to learn a lot more in each class because Jeremy, the teacher, only has a few of us to correct.

The other big part of my life here at OSU remains the Canterbury center with the Episcopalians. I love going to a church that has such a small congregation, because everyone knows each other; and I still love the two-three nights a week I spend at Canterbury, the people and conversation are great.

I also went on another tour of the library this week and found a fantastic study spot! It's on the fourth floor facing big arched windows so during the day it's really sunny and really beautiful. I also checked out a couple of books on e. e. cummings and I don't have to give them back till the end of January if I don't want to! How cool is that?

All of these things are keeping me very busy, and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow when I don't have any pressing responsibilities until the play in the evening.

"When you're a Jet you're a Jet all the way."

In Which I Spread the Love

So summer has already happened.

I have so many interesting things to say, so I'm just going to stick to interesting knitting and school. I think.

Why knitting and school you ask? Why, because those are two things I love and this is technically a knitting blog.

First though, an interesting story - this Tuesday I was leaving my mom's hairdresser and I tripped off a curb. This is not that unusual for me (I'm not particularly graceful), but I twisted my ankle bad enough I though it might be broken. One condescending doctor and an x-ray later, it was determined that I didn't break it but it was swolen bad enough that I got a nifty brace and crutches. I only used the crutches a couple of days, but I've been wearing the brace awhile and was hobbling for several days after.

I and several of my friends have spent this summer trying to get ready to go to college this month and I've been having a great time. Apparently I chose a difficult color scheme for my room because wherever you go it is hard to find eggplant purple bedding and other room stuff. I have bought and returned several items and I think I might actually have everything I need now. I'm still knitting my handtowel, but I should be done by the time I move in without any trouble at all. In an attempt to be organized I've taken a schemeatic of my room and written down where everything I have will be going so that move in day will be a little easier.

I can't wait until next Monday when Dad and I get to start packing. He and I are both good at making many things fit into a small space so I am not worried about making it all fit at all.

I've bought my school supplies, which I seem to do differently than everyone else. I need a spiral notebook and a folder for all of my classes. I like these to match and have a pretty design on them. I didn't think that that was asking too much because I knew there were brands that made matching supplies. Of course none of the stores seemed to think that people would want this because they seperated all the notebooks and folders, so I had to hobble around (see above story) back and forth comparing to try and get 5 matching sets.

It took 4 stores.

Enough about school (I can't wait!!!), I also have fun summer knitting stories.

Early this summer I finished my orange sweater, fondly known as Pete (go Pokes!). Pete is a bit oversized so I will be able to layer it really well, and it will be a fantastic study sweater because it is rather cuddly.

I have also been working on more washcloths, my blanket, and at least one handtowel.

I have enough washcolths to take now, and the first handtowel will be done before I get to college, but the blanket will not be ready till almost winter I think.

My blanket is also yet to be named, although I've been given plenty of suggestions. My dad says I should name it a guys name so I can shock people by telling them that I sleep with ____ (random guy's name), my brother said something along the lines of Shada, but I'm really not sure what fits yet.

I got back from New Orleans last week and I had an amazing time. There were 4 youth there including me. On the drive down I informed them that if there was a knitting both there like there had been in the past we would be visiting. Come Saturday, I found the booth. I sat everyone down and gave them needles and yarn and began to teach. The two guys, Andy and Jacob and Jo our youth director picked up knitting quite fast and even seemed to enjoy it. Huzza for knitting!

I introuduced them to some of the traditions of knitting and recomended books on the trip down and now I've done all I can and I hope the knitting bug takes hold of at least some of them.

Now I think this blog is long enough so I'm going to go watch some Stargate and knit!

"Get back and let a man do the Popcorn!"

In Which I Do a Little Bit of Everything

School is finally winding down and I'm already getting ready for my next semester in the fall.

I've been looking into what classes I want to take at school and I've been looking for dorm stuff. Apparently I picked very unpopular colors for my dorm as my mom and I can't seem to find them. I choose orange and black for my bathroom because of the orange washcloths I've been knitting in my philosophy class and purple for my bedroom because of the purple, black and yellow blanket I've finally started and plan on having finished by the time I get to school.

In classes now everything is getting close to the finish. We're reading Hamlet in English, doing a unit of the philosophy of logic, truth, and science in Philosophy, and reading Billy Budd by Herman Melville in Lit. I still really don't like Melville - Billy Budd is at leas short, but the story isn't even really good. I thought I might like it because it's something of an exploration of opposite personalities, but instead it just makes me angry like Moby-Dick did (and yes the hyphen is supposed to be there).

On a happier note, I got accepted to the Freshman Research Scholars program at OSU and I'm very excited! The class I take for this program is taught by the dean of the arts and sciences college and there's only 16 people in it! I think I'll really enjoy doing a research project next year and hopefully I'll have the opportunity to do another one my sophomore year.

While I'm making plans for the fall semester I'm also making summer plans. The only big event I have is the National Lutheran Youth Gathering in New Orleans. It should be great fun. The rest of the summer I plan to spend buying stuff for my dorm, knitting my blanket, and reading classic novels.

When I got accepted to the FRS program I realized the only classic novels I've really read are Jane Austen novels and I think I should expand my horizons a bit. I've been making a list and every time I go to borders now I spend time lingering in both the knitting section and the required reading for schools aisles.

Despite being so busy I have gotten quite a bit of knitting done lately because I temper my homework schedule with knitting breaks. I knit an entire wrap - Emma - in two weeks because I wanted to wear it on Easter. I was up at one in the morning before Easter watching The Ten Commandments on TV sewing on the buttons and weaving in the ends!

I've also started my black hand towels for college and I've finally collected all the yarn and started my dorm blanket!! It's really soft yarn that's knitting up really well, I'm very happy with it and I haven't even finished the first block of color yet. There will be pictures when there's something more to show!

That's the highlights for this semester (I really might blog more than once every few months after this)

Until next time!

"Why did I listen to that cad?"

In Which I Love School and Ice Days

So, last week I finally started school for my last high school semester. I'm taking three classes at Tarrant County College: English II, Philosophy, and Early American Lit and this semester should be fun. On my first day in class I was sitting there after knitting Kevin's tardis all through the Obama inauguration which we watched in Philosophy, and my teacher began to explain what we were going to be learning this semester. While he was talking I began to realize how much I like college.

I'm not necessarily talking about living in a dorm and meeting new people and all that fun stuff I'll do next year, I'm talking about the classes themselves. I plan on majoring in Psychology but I want to take so many other classes that have nothing to do with that while I'm there. I just have this sensation that there is so much knowledge out there and so much of it interests me that I want to take as many of those courses that I can while I'm at OSU.

I am in the honors college at OSU so I went on their website to see what honors classes they offered that I might be interested in. It was so cool! They had a logic course, an ethics course, some lit courses, and even a Jane Austen seminar. Doesn't that sound cool? When I first got the information about being in the honors college it said that my first two years(four semesters) I would have to take two honors courses a semester. Since I've finished most of my core classes already I was pretty sure I would have to contract a lot of those classes, but now I think I'd rather like to take these classes that will teach me something interesting as well as my regular psychology courses.

So I may be one of those few people who just likes learning for the sake of it, but I've got four years ahead of me to do all the in class learning I can - after that I'll just have to go on teaching myself things like I've done recently with poetry and even the more complicated knitting techniques I've learned recently. (such as knitting socks! I still love knitting socks!)

With that lovely segway into knitting I do want to mention one of my favorite days in the past few weeks was on Tuesday when school was cancelled due to non-existant ice. I stayed in my pjs all day and knitted on my pretty purple slippers that are so far without a name. As much as I love school, it was nice to have one more lazy day before I really get busy, now when I look at my new slippers I can remember that those lazy days do come every now and then.

In other news, I breifly mentioned Kevin's tardis earlier. I made up a pattern for his birthday and finished it in just about a week and I must say I'm very proud of it. I even learned how to duplicate knit and embroider words in order to be able to do it. I'm probably going to make one for myself with the leftover yarn soon.

Speaking of yarn I have ordered the first color for my blanket I plan on finishing before college. It will be dark purple, pale yellow, and blue black. Hopefully soon I'lll be able to save enough money to buy the yellow and black and I can actually start knitting it.

Well that's all for now. I really should get to sleep, I have one more busy day this week.

"Finally facing my Waterloo"

In Which I Knit Socks

So here I am again.

My last post to this blog was in November and a lot has happened then. So much has happened that I actually did not pay attention to any of my emails, ravelry, or any blogs that I follow for almost the whole month of December. Now that I've caught up with everything and gotten through the crazy that has been these past two months I felt it was time for an update.

Apart from my grandmother getting the stomach flu on Thanksgiving day and passing it on to my dad who then passed it on to me (this was the begining of the crazy), then finally starting to work three days a week, and all the other stuff that goes along with Christmas including spending 7 hours at church on Christmas eve. I have actually gotten a lot of knitting done. I have had my first ever Christmas knitting, been knitting to get rid of my stash, and am now working on my knitting new years resolutions.

Chirstmas knitting always has a good story with it. I've heard of many from other knitters which include such fun things as sleep depravation and finishing hats to go in stocings in the wee hours of Christmas morning. My story is this - I was only making Christmas gifts for two people, my Mom and my Brother. For my brother I choose to make a Jayne hat and a set of juggling balls. For mom I was making a wrap she picked out. I started both of these projects very early on so I was sure that I would have plenty of time. Due to this feeling of not needing to rush I worked on my Christmas projects sporadically and worked on other projects in between.

The week before Christmas I suddenly realized how little time I had left and how little yarn I had left for mom's wrap. I ordered more online, hoped it would show up soon, and set to work on finishing Kevin's gifts. A long doctors visit that was mostly waiting gave me time to finish the Jayne hat and start sewing up one of the juggling balls. A few nights later I was up at midnight watching Legaly Blond and finally filling the juggling balls, they went under the tree the next day.

During that time my yarn that I had ordered showed up I opened it on the Tuesday a week before Christmas and suddenly realized it was the wrong yarn. I had accidentally ordered the yarn I had used for the Jayne hat. I frantically ordered more and it didn't show up until the Saturday before Christmas. I frantically worked to finish the last sleeve and was up until 1 a.m. on the 23rd sewing it up it was wrapped on Christmas Eve.

For Christmas I was given among other nifty tools a yarn meter, so I immediately went to work measuring all my yarn and planning projects for it. I now have great plans for using up almost all of my yarn before I go to college in order to make it easier to travel and store (it's much easier to store nothing than a whole lot of something).

Then the new year came and I made some resolutions. I read the Knitting Daily and one might notice the banner on the side of my blog saying that I was a Fearless Knitter for 2008. I believe I lived up to that name too, I made my first sweater and it fits, and I tackled my first Christmas knitting as well as other things. Now I also have a banner proclaiming myself to be a Fearless Knitter in 2009 and I began to wonder how I would live up to that name. I came up with three ideas. I decided that in the course of this year I would conquer my fears of socks, lace, and colorwork.

I began eagerly last week with socks. I can now proudly say I have knitted a sock and am knitting it's mate and have plans for more!! The rest of the resolutions will hopefully come to fruition in the course of this year.

That's all I have for now, I'm off to finish my second sock!