Semester Done

Well, as of yesterday, my semester is complete! I am glad that it's over. 2 of the classes went very well, the other one not so. It's not worth it for me to get overly perturbed about it though. At the worst, I will just take the class again with a different professor.

In other news, I've been scratching my itch to learn how to knit socks 2 at a time on 2 circular needles. It's fun and I think I've finally found the cure for my Second Sock Syndrome! The alpaca/silk yarn for the Rambling Leaves Shawl arrived and I am looking forward to getting that started. I am exercising some self-control in not casting on for that until I get some other stuff finished first.

My next dream projects are to make myself some convertible mittens/gloves and a Lopi sweater. I love the Icelandic designs (I have a bit of an Iceland fetish anyway) and I like that they're done in bulky yarn so they knit up fast. I am just trying to decide which one to make. Should it be this one? (my favorite so far)



Or this one?



More complicated:



Monochromatic:



Or if I decide to go for texture rather than colorwork:



I am taking votes and suggestions about this in the comments.

Fawkes v2.0

The second version of the hat pattern that I created is done! I am very happy with the way that the shaping turned out as well as the new colorway and choice of yarn. The only thing that I might try differently next time is to go down a size on the needles to tighten up the gauge a bit.

Here's a photo:

Ravelry Yay!

My invitation for Ravelry arrived a couple of days ago, and let me tell you, it's as cool as the hype has made it out to be. It's really neat to be able to show off your projects and to find inspiration for other stuff to make. The user groups and forums are pretty cool as well. My username on there is also wanderingpup in case you would like to check out my project notebook.

Thanksgiving went fine. We got to see the immediate family in Tennessee as well as a bunch of extended family on my Dad's side in Kentucky on the way back. I am already very much looking forward to the Christmas plans for Carolina.

The photo that I promised of the finished Shedir is here:



Also, I just had to share this pic of the most appropriate post-Thanksgiving church sign that I've ever seen!

Really Antsy

Well, the Shedir is done. I only did three repeats of the Saxon braid and it's plenty big enough as is. I can only imagine the kind of ginormous heads that the original pattern would fit! Photos will be up soon.

The next projects are to go back to working on the chullo (a nice portable project for the Thanksgiving weekend), more work on the blue throw in Lion Brand Homespun, and to play around with Fawkes v2.0 (in Noro Silk Garden 84!)

Referring to the title of this post, I see that now there are a mere 950 people ahead of me in line for Ravelry invites!

Fawkes and Shedir

Well, the first version of the flame chevron hat pattern that I mentioned before is done. I decided to name the pattern Fawkes, continuing along the fiery theme. Here's how it looks:



I generally like how it turned out, but there are a couple of things that I'm planning to change. I want to find a darker red/purple yarn to make it in, for one thing. I'm willing to take suggestions on that! I'd also like to make it slightly larger and maybe adjust the cap shaping. I've already figured out how I'll change the repeats for a larger version. Here's how the hat looks being worn:



I plan to write up the pattern, but I think that I will wait until my Ravelry invite arrives to actually post it. (Only 4003 3713 2908 people ahead of me in line!) In the meantime, I have cast on for Shedir, done in Nashua Handknits Cilantro color 014. This is for a friend who is battling breast cancer right now. As lovely as the pattern is, I wish there were no need for it...

Wavy Gravy!

Here's the finished product for the Wavy Gravy hat that I mentioned in my previous post. Who knew Teddy was such a fashion plate?



Better shot to see how the colors are gorgeous and slowly change from one round to the next.

Knitting Update

Well, the chullo is coming along fine. I'm done with the boring liner part and about to start the pattern rounds. Here's a pic. You can see how the liner will look when it's folded up inside the hat.

In the interim, I actually had a quick project come and go. A friend saw me working on the chullo and said that she wanted a hat. I said "what color?" and she said "blueish". So I was thinking water and waves, then went hunting for a pattern. I came across the Wavy Gravy hat, which fit the bill pretty much exactly. I went down to the LYS to see what she had in Noro (which I had never knit with before -- it's an absolutely gorgeous yarn to work with!). I wound up choosing colorway #166, which is basically the colors of a peacock's tail -- lime green thru purple, cobalt blue and teal and back. It was a really quick knit; about 2.5 days, off and on.

The thing about having projects is that, for me at least, they breed more projects. Now I have an idea for another hat done in Noro (purple/red/orange) in the flame chevron pattern from Barbara Walker's 2nd Treasury. I also want to make up a couple of quick afghans done in Lion Brand Homespun on Speed Stix. I've never worked with those before and it might be fun.

Here's the flame chevron swatch that I worked up.

Adventures in Shopping Online

I have been long overdue to have an eye exam and get my glasses updated. I like the style of the ones I have now, and I am naturally lazy, so inertia kept me from doing anything about it until recently.

I went and had my exam done by our local ophthalmologist (much better than having it done by an optician) who gave me a copy of my prescription. Then, following the advice from the Glassy Eyes blog, I checked out several online eyeglass retailers. I didn't want anything too fancy, but I was interested in getting bendable titanium memory frames. I chose a pair from Zenni Optical that included a pair of single vision lenses for $29.95. Here's the catalog image for them.



I also decided to add anti-reflective/anti-glare coating for $4.95. With shipping, the total still came to under $50.

So, now I'm waiting for them to arrive. When they do, I will post a follow-up about the quality.

New Project

I've been away from my knitting for far too long. With the autumn here and winter approaching, I felt the need to make a new hat. I'd had my eye on this pattern for a Peruvian-inspired chullo for a little while. I love geometric colorwork and natural earth tones, so I decided to go for it. After a quick trip to Rae's Yarn Boutique, I was all set to go. I'll keep you updated on how it goes!

UPDATE: Grr! I just discovered that the cast-on row got twisted when I joined it and had to rip it out and start again. Knitting is great for developing patience...

Time Keeps On Passing

It is with some sadness that I wanted to note the passing of author Madeleine L'Engle. I saw the news a few days ago and wanted to write a little bit about the influence that her books had on me.

I don't remember exactly when it was that I read A Wrinkle in Time, but I was still in grade school at the time. I was captivated by the story of the Murry family and their travels through space and time. I eagerly read the next two books in the series before I lost track of the Murrys and O'Keefes. Now, my interest in reading more of her works has been sparked.

I especially enjoyed how she blended the elements of science, magic and religion in her books. Her quote that these three are are facets or reflections of a single deeper reality is pretty much my own belief. I can see that many aspects of my own spiritual and intellectual journey thus far are reflective of the same conviction.

Here is an article talking about L'Engle's relationship with Christianity.

Helping A Friend

Hey, check out my friend Doug's blog, either here or in the link list. He recently went into business for himself as an instrument maker. His blog documents the process of hand-crafting fine musical instruments from scratch.

El niño que vivió

Time for a new entry, now that the weekend is here. I'm happy to report that my order from Amazon arrived a couple of days ago. Since then, I've been reading thru the first chapter of "Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal". I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I can pick up without having to refer to the dictionary -- I would estimate about 40% comprehension. Of course, it helps that the story is familiar to me.

I have also been working with Madrigal some more. I did a quick tally of roughly how many words I have in my passive recognition vocabulary based on Madrigal's word groups and transformation rules. I came up with about 1265 words. Not all of them are high frequency, but a lot of them are, so it's good to be able to recognize them.

In other news, I think that I have my classes prioritized this semester. The one that is going to take the most work by far is the Real Analysis, but it will probably also be the most rewarding. The Combinatorics class comes in a distant second for difficulty and a close second for interest. As for the Stats class, so far it hasn't really been difficult at all. I am looking forward to learning more about the specific linear models and how to program them in R. I still want to get certified with SAS; I just need to figure out when I will have enough time to do it.

First Day of Classes

Today marked the start of a new semester, one which is a milestone in a certain way. This is the first semester with an assistantship, so now grad school feels much more serious and real to me.

The classes themselves went pretty well. The real analysis class seems like it will be a good, natural continuation of the classes I had with Dr. Fleming last year. Dr. Angelos seems like a reasonable guy. The stats class doesn't seem as intimidating as I thought it would be at first. I have to get familiar with a software package called R. I still want to pursue certification with SAS. As far as the Combinatorics class is concerned, I think it will be okay. I have a natural interest in the topic and am interested in learning more about it. I am going to have to sit closer to the front though in order to compensate for the professor's quiet voice.

In other news, Amazon tells me that my books should be arriving soon!

Spanish Update

Today I added about 75 words from the first 8 lessons in the Madrigal book to my Spanish collection. These are only the ones that are not part of the English => Spanish word transformation groups that the author provides. I think it would be interesting to come up with an estimate of how many Spanish words fit within those categories; I am sure that the count would be well into the hundreds and possibly into the thousands!

When my dictionary arrives, I will go back and enter the Spanish definitions for the items. I could start doing this with Real Academia Española's dictionary widget, but it could lead to definition overload right now. I can't wait to get started on Harry Potter in Spanish...

The Fall Semester Approacheth

This morning I went up to Mt Pleasant to do my grad assistant training. There were parts of it that I found interesting and informative, but there were also parts that seemed a bit boring to me. I think that this is probably because of my pre-existing interests in learning and memory research, as well as different learning styles and perceptual/cognitive psychology.

More interestingly, I went ahead and purchased my textbooks. The books for Real Analysis (MTH 632) and Combinatorics I (MTH 578) look especially interesting. The book for Applied Statistical Methods (STA 580) seems like a massive brick!

This semester I intend to experiment with using SuperMemo to provide continuous review and recall of the material for my classes. My plan is to enter the class material into SuperMemo collections right after my morning classes and make it part of my daily repetitions.

I have had a good experience thus far using the software to help me with vocabulary acquisition for Spanish, Russian, Toki Pona and lojban. I have also used it to help with remembering various bits and pieces of music theory and statistics. I look forward to using it for my classes!

Recipe for Greens Casinelli

An inspiration from dinner tonight.

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of collard greens

1 large bunch of Swiss chard

1 small bunch of kale
1 sm onion, diced
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tb olive oil

2 Tsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 C water
3 Tb butter
1 Tb lemon juice
1/4 Tsp marjoram
1/4 Tsp rosemary
1/8 Tsp paprika
1/8 Tsp yellow curry powder (or more to taste)
1/8 Tsp garlic powder

Salt to taste

Wash greens and trim stems. Slice approximately 1 1/2" wide. Heat olive oil over med-low heat in skillet. Add onion and garlic and saute until light brown. Add 3 handfuls of greens, drizzle sesame oil over them and stir until wilted. Increase heat to med-high, add water and rest of greens and cover. Steam for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, melt butter, then add lemon juice and rest of ingredients except garlic powder and salt to melted butter. Remove cover from skillet and drizzle butter mixture over greens. Stir to coat and cook for about another 5 minutes. Sprinkle garlic powder over the greens. Add salt to taste.

Serves 4 to 6.

PS: One suggested addition was portobello mushrooms and a dash of soy sauce.

Learning Spanish

Our recent trip to Mexico has reawakened and strengthened a long-standing desire of mine to learn more Spanish. Ever since my first exposure to the language in 3rd grade, I have felt an attraction to it which I have never seriously followed up on. Now I want to.

I propose to use a modification of the method that Michal Wojcik describes as The Norsk Experiment. I am going to use a monolingual Spanish dictionary right away -- the Diccionario Practico del Estudiante -- and an easy Spanish novel -- Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal.

Two differences in the method that I plan to use: I am using Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish to help with the grammar and to quickly build passive recognition vocabulary, and I plan to add vocab words to a SuperMemo collection, in the form of sentence-items. More about my experiences with SuperMemo in a subsequent post...

I will post updates of my progress as I go!

Inauguration

Welcome, friends.

In the past, I had a LiveJournal which died on the vine from lack of attention because I felt as if I had nothing to say. Now, I finally feel as if I have something to say. I guess that (belatedly) joining the worlds of MySpace and Facebook has broken my shell.

My intentions for this blog are to share bits from my life that others might possibly find interesting. This could be anything from travelogues, poetry, and photos to recipes and progress reports on school and hobbies.

Whatever it is that makes its way onto these pages, I hope that people (including you!) find it interesting.