Is It Really Summer Already?

Sorry I left that last, whiny post up there for so long. I meant to have progress pics the next day or something, but then the real world called and I had to take care of a few things. Mainly, I had to polish off my thesis and graduate. Which I did! I am now officially a former grad student and have progressed on to being a regular unemployed, overeducated person. What joy.

Before I get to my knitting stuff, however, I want to share a tip for any thesis advisors out there: If your student turns in a draft of their thesis and has only three weeks to gather responses from three different people and make any changes before the final draft is due, PLEASE don't wait two and a half weeks and then email them on a Monday morning, three days before their final thesis review meeting, with a list of topics that you would like to see addressed, and chapters you want them to add to the paper, especially if they only remotely pertain to the topic at hand. This will make the student really hate you for a while.

And while you're at it, PLEASE don't begin your email by saying, "Dear Student, It is obvious that you are just dialing it in..." This will make the student hate you forever and swear to ignore any pleas for money the school starts sending out immediately after graduation, and which somehow manage to find you, no matter what remote corners of the country you move to.

Just a little nugget of advice from me to you.

Now. On to the knitting:

I finished up my Something Red, but I will save info on that until I sew the button on and get pics.

I also finished up my Hanami Stole. It was a very easy knit and the changing pattern kept things fresh. I added beads throughout. They're a little hard to see in the photos, but I put them next to yarnovers in the petal part of the shawl, and added four rows of them just before the gathered edge on the bottom. I like how they look, and I hope that they look just as delicate after I block the stole and they stand out a bit more.

Pattern: Hanami Stole, by Melanie Gibbons
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Cactus Flower
Needles: Knit Picks circ, 3.25 mm























I started my next two projects:

Under the Hoodie, by Kristin Spurkland from the first Stitch 'n' Bitch book. I'm making this in Ultra Alpaca (so soft! But so warm!), and I'm liking it so far. It's for my little sister, and per her very specific requests I am making it all in a pea green color, with no stripes or cables. I also modified the pattern to knit it in the round to save my self the pain of having to seam all those pieces together. Since it's just simple stockinette, I see no problem with it.

I cast on for my Auburn Camp Shirt, by Chrissy Gardiner from the Spring '08 IK, last night. I like the pattern so far, but it's the first time I have done a hem, so that part was a bit tedious. But it really does add to the finished look of the sweater, so I'm happy.

Finally, to follow up on my last post, I did eventually receive an email from the woman who sold me the yarn. She SWEARS she put all the yarn in the box, and that it must have been "compromised" while it was in Pittsburgh. She sent an email to the USPS and another one to Berroco to see how long it would take to get replacement yarn. This was over a week ago, and I have not heard from her since. Now, maybe it's just me and the fact that I like to GET THINGS DONE (you know, "I don't freak out. I just get it done. That's just the way I roll" and all that), but when I'm at work and there's a problem, I CALL SOMEONE right away to get the problem taken care of. We all know that sending emails out into the ether is the lazy way of foisting the responsibility onto someone else. I'm giving her another week and then I'm demanding my money back. This is beyond ridiculous. Just to put it into perspective: I wrote an entire thesis and finished my masters degree while waiting for my yarn!

OK, I wasn't going to complain and then I did. Oh well. Don't come between a knitter and her yarn, people! It's not pretty!