Tag Archives: exams

day two.

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Brokeknits has been hinting at this forever, with all of her gorgeous stripey shawls, but I think I had to figure it out for myself: stripes are good for academic productivity. How else can you explain that I not only met my word count goal for day one of my exam, but I also managed to knit several more stripes on my shawl?

I am in love with this shawl. That center-ish spot (you know, where the center would be if this were symmetrical) looks little less crisp than I’d like, but I’m thinking it might have to do with the fact that the dark grey trekking pro natura I’m using is slightly thinner than the local organic undyed wool, which is closer to sport weight. I’m hoping the poofiness of garter stitch after blocking will help with this — and do a better job of hiding the short row wraps.

And then there’s this guy. Such a good sport.

Alright, back to it.

ready.

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Ready. The apartment is clean, the library book piles are tidy, and Boh is pouting.

[I meant to post this earlier today, but wordpress was a little finicky. Day one was okay. I’m aiming to write steadily every day this week, and if I can reach my word counts/section goals pretty consistently, I will feel good about the process.]

exam (knitting) prep.

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So this morning I made an important decision: I settled on my exam knitting project. I know I said I was going to get going on the second sock, but I’m decreasing the first toe right now, and I just don’t think I’m going to feel like kitchenering and knitting the ribbing on sock #2 before Tuesday. Which means I need something pretty and soothing to knit on, just a little bit, this week.

Lately I have become obsessed with Veera’s Stripe Study Shawl, especially the versions that are made in neutrals. I want this one — but I want to knit it out of my stash. This morning I went stash-diving, coffee in hand. I came up with some gorgeous color combinations, but I’m just in love with the idea of natural/grey. Ideally, the grey would be less severe, but this Trekking Pro Natura in a charcoal-ish tone is what I’ve got in the right weight and yardage, so I’m going to give it a go. This natural yarn is local, organic wool, and I’ve got almost 800 yards, which means I’ll be able to use it again in another stripey shawl. Yay!

Unrelated, but I snapped some pictures of Boh making his crazy face.

It might look like he’s not having a good time, but trust me: this is the face he makes when he is very happy about being scratched. He almost looks like he has bug-eyes! Silly dog.

Last night some of my cohort got together for a delicious dinner at E.’s place: homemade pizza and two colors of Jello! I made salad with farm spinach I picked in the greenhouse last weekend, and it reminded me of how excited I am for spring and summer vegetables. Today I’m going to try to crank through the big ideas of a handful of books so that I can keep my plan of a book-free Monday. Knitting, dog-walking, yoga, good food: all of these are on the list.

tears.

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Yep. Tears. In my chair’s office today. Sigh. I’m just so tired, and struggling to get a handle on the last of my exam prep. I’m just so ready to be done with this part of the process, and it is only beginning.

I came home, cleared my head (by filling it with a pretty standard rom-com type movie), and now I’m curled up here on the couch with Boh, working through possibilities for the big chunk of writing I’m going to produce (ready or not) for part one of my comprehensive exams.

I have not been doing a very good job of letting off steam this week — and I need to be better, especially if I am going to do my best work come Tuesday. (Maybe that means I’ll actually finish that sock?)

Thanks for all the encouragement here in blogland, folks. Back to it.

(Apologies for the crappy phone pictures — I couldn’t bear to move Boh in order to retrieve my camera…)