Day in the Life: 14 May, 2011

Last night, before I went to bed, I stuck a post-it on my computer reading, simply, “blog.” And, while I’ve got a few posts already started, I decided to forget about them entirely and, instead, write something related to what’s going on in my life right now.

There’s a meme that I first saw wayyyy back when I blogged on Live Journal: A Day in the Life. Essentially, you take photos throughout your day, then go back later and write short captions about what’s going on. And the blogging group on Ravelry reminded me of this meme and I figured, hey, I should do that today.

So, today, you’ll see what it’s like to, you know, be me – without the Ally McBeal-like internal monologue (though I have never imagined my office filled with water or a dancing baby).

6:50 am – I’m not someone who sleeps in but, usually, I am not awake by now. But Matt was up, realized it’s sunny out, and decided today was the day to smoke all of the meat for my graduation party next weekend. I attempted to sleep in, didn’t work.

Instead, I decided it was a great time to soak the shawl I want to block later.

7:15 am – Pulled the shawl out of its water bath and spent far longer than normal pining it out. Last time I blocked this shawl, it did not turn out well. Hoping for a much better turn-out this time. I have a feeling the edging stitches are far too tight to get the blocking I want but hoping it will be somewhat ok when complete.

At some point – pulled the shawl off the bed. Blocking success!

10:39 am: Watched some home improvement shows on PBS while finishing knitting Foliage. All started some laundry.

12:30 pm: Lunch (not pictured because I ate it too fast) then more TV watching and knitting. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to knit. I fiddled around with leftover silk lace first then decided it was better to go back to working on a different project I started earlier.

1: 15 pm: Attempted making paper roses. Only wound up upset with a mess of magazine spirals.

2:30 pm: Was starting to go stir crazy. Went shopping. Bought a pair of shorts and a purple and white checkered shirt.

After shopping, more bad TV watching and knitting. And lots of checking my grades over and over again to see if my senior project grade was posted.

6:45 pm – Dinner of some of the pork Matt had smoked. Yeah, no photo of this, either.

(After dinner all I did was knit more and catch up on Bones. And now I’m off to bed.)

Keyboard

I get this feeling that I’m famous for only one thing in my WIP photos: my keyboard in the background.

Here’s the thing: I’m lazy. I tend to snap photos of whatever I’m working on wherever I happen to be. And I usually feel like taking photos of what I’m working on when I’m at a computer where I can take the photo off my camera, fix it a little, and post to Flickr. So, my keyboard winds up in many of my shots.

And I wind up with something like this: yet another set of WIP pics taken by pushing my keyboard back, placing the WIP over it, rolling back far enough in my chair so the item will be just far enough away for my 50mm/F1.8 to focus on it, and snapping a few quick pics.

But, you know what, at least I’ll be famous for something…

[It's a newish pattern called Flourish that you can download via Rav here. Yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in a colorway that starts with Orange and ends in the name of a bug. I lost the tag the day I bought the yarn. I'm so responsible.]

Macro May

May is designated by a group of guys and gals on Flickr as Macro May. It’s a month to focus on macro photography, with the goal of not only improving macro skills but also, figuratively, getting close to your photography subjects. I won’t promise to take a macro photo a day, but I do promise to try to take as many macro photos of as many different subjects as possible.

So, I start at one of the two most logical places: photos of my knitting. (The other obvious starting place would be pictures of the cats, of course.)

I found myself with three different shawls to block and, because I am crazy, I decided there was more than enough 1) room on the bed and 2) number of pins. Instead, I ran out of both room and pins. But, really, I don’t care. By the time I go to bed tonight, I will have three beautiful shawls.

First, my little act of rebellion: blocking one shawl on top of another (only partially). Hoping this doesn’t have any negative effects.

The first of the shawls: Daybreak knit in Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! in (awesomely named) Cuban Cockroach and black Sundara Sock that I bought by accident (thought I was buying a very dark though not solid black colorway). Super easy knit that I am sure to repeat many, many times. I loved using multiple colors in a single shawl far more than I had imagined I would. I blame Miss Babs for giving me the idea at her color workshop last month. (Which reminds me: must post photos/impressions from that at some point.)

Next shawl I made was Haruni in Miss Babs Northumbria in the awesome Squash Blossom colorway. I know I shouldn’t wear yellow with my coloring but I really don’t care. I will be wearing this over a nice black shirt.

Finally, the shawl I just finished yesterday. Rock Island in Sweet Georgia SeaSilk Lace (that Danielle gave me as a thanks for knitting her things this year). I would have never purchased this yarn on my own, mostly due to its price but also because it’s technically laceweight. Heavy laceweight, in reality, but still. I have no had any laceweight luck previously. [The funny background is because it's blocking over a beach towel which is striped.]

Any of the rest of you all (other than Chawne who inspired me to participate in the first place) participating in Macro May? Even a point-and-shoot will have a macro setting, so that’s no excuse not to participate!

Random? Random.

As usual, I’ve got a million things on mymind and some combination of “I don’t have time to blog” or “I don’t feel like blogging” means you’re stuck with a list post for today (with the requisite random photos).

1. Finished knitting the alpaca shawl and hoping to block it soon, though I really don’t know when. The cats have taken to taking naps on the futon I usually block things on. May just block on my side of the bed, starting one of these days when I get home well before Matt. I can point the fan at it to help the drying process, right? It has no destined recipient so it’s not as if there’s a big rush.

2. Have finished knitting the scarf for Leah and am now working on a single crochet edging to help stop some of the curl. After that’s done (hopefully shortly after I get home from work this evening), I’ll toss it through one or more machine wash cycles to “block” it. Really, really want to get it to Leah tomorrow though Monday (when I would see her next) seems more likely.

3. No progress on the gloves for my coworker due to the concentrated work on the other projects.

4. First sock for Danielle is done, second is only a few rows away from starting the heel turn/gusset (whichever comes first on a cuff-down sock).

5. I have applied for graduation with the university, filled out my departmental paperwork, and even bought graduation announcements. Yet, still, I can’t seem to wrap my brain around the fact I’m actually, FINALLY graduating.

6. Next knitting project I’ll start will likely be a blanket for Dan and Shelagh though I’m waiting on them to pick yarn/colors.

7. If I finish the gloves and am itching for another WIP to work on, I’ll probably be good and finally finish up the sweater I started for myself months ago. Just needs 1.25 sleeves and a good blocking.

8. Been very much slacking on my daily self-portraits. Missed taking one altogether last Thursday. I blame the fact we had friends over for dinner though, really, I had no excuse. I even had my camera downstairs! Look, I took this photo of the flowers Matt got me.

9. Turned in abstract for my project to a conference/competition at UVA. Project is going in a different direction, yet again. I’m not too bothered, really, as it’s more of a change to the wrapper of our projec than it’s core.

10. The robot ships a week from today. I doubt Matt will be on the same planet as me before then. I’m still quite distant from what’s going on with the team as I’m only at their Saturday meetings and, well, I’ve been doing my own school work then. Maybe I’m helpful in showing that women are engineers? The school is a fancy engineering/science prep school with a good 50% female population, so it’s not as if the girls don’t think they can go into this field, but it’s another thing altogether to know the female engineer isn’t something their teachers made up.

11. It was super warm for a few days but today, back to very windy and upper 30s. Thankfully, more warmth is coming later this week.

12. We’re thinking of going to Europe this fall. Matt has a new idea as to where every time we talk about it. This time, we’re going for at least two weeks. Sort of tired of rushing around for 8 days and just plain getting worn out versus relaxing.

So much for that…

For the last couple weeks, I kept posting my daily post on Thursday. I knew this and fully planned to write a post yesterday. Too bad all sorts of things conspired together and I didn’t actually get that post written. I also almost forgot to take my daily self portrait.

Oh, right. I don’t think I’ve said anything about that here. I’m trying, yet again, this year to take a self-portrait daily. With a brand-new camera and a year that’s going to be full of all sorts of big changes in my life (hello, college graduation!), it was the perfect time to try again. So far, I haven’t missed a day.

I can’t say all of my shots have been wonderfully inspired. Some are just quick iPhone shots of me during my commute or sitting at my desk at the end of the day, but there’s always a picture. On more exciting days, I’ve been trying really hard to record what happened to make that day important/special/impactful (yes, it’s a word). Way to record my life, even though it’s usually pretty mundane.

Outside of this photo project and forgetting to blog, I’m working on getting back into the swing of things with school and work. I only have two classes so most days are spent at work, not at school. That’s going to take a lot of getting used to, as I was only working 8-10 hours a week last term.

But, only 15 weeks of school left and my classes aren’t that bad. Senior design is complicated and stressful but, really, that’s expected. My last operations research class looks like it’s going to be easy and the professor is a good combination of informative and interesting (though he voice is so soothing, it makes you want to sleep in class).

Oh! And the crafting. I finished that blanket for Steph and Kevin and the socks I’ve been working on for Danielle since early December. Also slowly plugging away on an alpaca shawl for some as of yet undetermined recipient. Feeling guilty that my cardigan I started for myself in late November still has only 3/4 of its first sleeve (though the body is all done). Started the next pair of socks for Danielle though the dark color of the yarn she chose is obfuscating the pattern horribly. Just this morning, started a pair of fingerless gloves (crocheted) for a coworker with permanantly cold hands.

Exciting, huh?

Today’s random blog photo is of a prototype for the claw the students designed. Search my blog for FIRST and you’ll find previous posts about the high school robotics program I work with. New school, same concept. [Though these kids can all solder, machine, weld, and draft far better than I can. It's nuts!]

Later, all!

Year in Review

Alternate title: The New Year is not nearly exciting enough to blog about, yet, so I’m going to cheat and blog about what last year was all about.

January: Worked part-time during winter recess from school. Found myself with more free time than I knew what to do with. Did almost no blogging but lots of knitting. Matt was away for work for a week and I passed by time by hanging out at the yarn store and going to lunch with my friend, Rosemary.

February: Started the Couch to 5 K for the first time (which ended a few weeks later when I got sick and could barely breathe). Went to West Virginia so Matt could go skiing with Alex and Shelly during a horrible snow storm. Two days after unburrying a parking space for Matt’s car, we got another 20″ of snow. I did get to miss four days of both work and school, though my poor car remained burried for a full three weeks. I participated in and nearly finished my goals for Ravelympics. The semester really got going, including two classes which went late into the evening. Thanks to Dan’s wife, I got a behind-the-scenes tour of the Mason Inn construction site.

March: Spent a week feeling like death which was really just a bad cold. Did a lot of knitting while Matt spent my Spring Break skiing in Vermont.

April: Decided to train to run a half marathon, while only being able to run for 2 minutes at a time for 30 minutes.

May: Learned to crochet, hexagons specifically. Spent a long weekend in Chartlottsville wine tasting. Went strawberry picking. Finished up what turned out to be a 4. 0 GPA semester.

June: Went back home for a friend’s wedding. Managed to also go to the Florida Keys (finally) during the same trip.

July: Celebrated the 4th at Arlington, as I did last year. Knit a shawl for a coworker and an ill-fitting sweater for myself. Got an iPhone 4, an upgrade I really didn’t need.

August: Made fingerless gloves for Sarah. Gave away about a third of my stash, finally got the last of it to the recipient this past week. Went to DE to go to the beach (but forgot to take photos, apparently).Visited the National Zoo.

September: Began my penultement semester of college. Got eaten alive by my senior design project. Celebrated my 26th birthday by not being able to talk for three days. I finally went to the doctor about my hip and was told no more running until some physical therapy (or a monthly injection). Had family over for labor day.

October: Went to the Rally to Restore Fear/Sanity. Celebrated fourth wedding anniversary but going somewhere for dinner than neither Matt nor I can remember. Ran out of candy at 7:15 on Halloween, despite expecting very few children.

November: Had a cousin’s-only Thanksgiving, again. Lots of school stress. I’m sure I did some knitting.

December: Last days of the semester. Caribbean cruise with parents and MIL. Barely stayed up until Midnight on New Year’s Eve. GOT NEW CAMERA!

Things I May Do Next Year

Because we all know how good I am at following through, here’s my list of things I may possibly do next year.

1. Learn how to use my new camera: What new camera, you ask? My pretty Canon Digital Rebel something-something Matt got me for Christmas. While I know the absolute basics of how to use it due to prior experince using his (original model) Rebel, I really don’t know what I’m doing. That being said, I do have the manual and Matt, of course, to help me figure it out. I plan to take lots and lots of photos, not just on special days like vacations but also on normal days and throughout my normal, daily life.

2. Take self-portraits: I know better than to try to do this every day, but I do want to take self-portraits that really show where I am in my life at that particular moment.

3. Graduate: Okay, this isn’t a may do but a WILL do. I have been in college since 2003, it’s about dang time I graduate. Only two courses remaining, the second half of my senior design course (did I mention I got an A in the first half?) and a final course in stochastic modeling. I can’t believe I’m almost, at last, done.

4. Visit more touristy places in DC: Sure, I’ve been to most of the Smithsonians and the National Gallery of Art, but want about the Udvar-Hazy Center, Arlington Cemetary, and the moments (other than the Washington Monument). I live less than 5 miles away from the city, there is really no excuse. Okay, maybe the cold. The cold is a good excuse.

5. Blog more: Partly because I feel better when I write, partly so phone calls to my mom aren’t nearly as necessary. Man, that sounds horrible. I really like talking to her. Really. I just don’t want her to worry that I’m dead. Blogging means she’ll know the important (but not super private) stuff and will only have to fill her in on the important but not blog[able and stupid stuff.

6. Get back into running: Sure, tehre was the whole injury thing which I never followed up on. Then school got busy and now it’s cold. But, really, there is not adequate excuse from now on. I have a great gym on campus with decent treadmills and have both the time and money available to get physical therapy for the injury. And I’m pretty sure I can convince my former running partner, Jen, to keep me focused.

7. Watch what I eat: And not in the “watch as I eat it all” way. I’m not talking a diet, per say but being more mindful of what I’m eating. Again, school was busy last term so it was all about just eating anything that was available. But this next term, I only have two classes and a part-time job. I should have more than enough time to eat healthier.

8. Figure out what I want to do for a career: Although I know what industry and discipline I want to work in, generally, I really need to work on figuring out specifics. Performance? DOORS and other database stuff? Project management? Risk mitigation? Find a manufacturing job? Process improvement? Work on a software-based program? Small program? Big program?

And, just so this isn’t a totally boring post, a random photo I took on our cruise this last week (that I’ll blog about in detail at some point).

Crafty Inspiration

I have a confession: I watch a ton of Flickr photo streams in search of crafty inspiration. I’m not someone inspired by nature or materials but by other peoples’ work. I actively seek out fun color combinations, new patterns to knit/crochet/attempt to sew, settings for finished object photos, and photos that embody what it is I like about crafts.

I’ve been lucky to get to know a group of woman via Flickr who constantly keep me inspired by showing off their amazing work (or detailing their attempts at greatness that go awry). They are witty, creative, honest, and amazing. I just hope maybe, in some little way, I can push them to keep going, as they have pushed me. They are the reason I continue to create, even when I don’t feel like it.

Chawne (cauchycomplete)

What craft does this woman *not* have her hands in? Quilting, crochet, knitting, embroidery – she does it all. A math professor by day and extraordinary crafter by night. If there was a Queen of Craft, it would be her.

(Abe Lincoln is her secret boyfriend. This picture has nothing to do with craft, per say, but her willingness to be cooky in photos does inspire my photos.)

She also does this hilarious illustrated embroidery of spam emails she and friends have received. I won’t post a photo or link from here as, well, my mother reads this, but you can search them out yourself in her photo stream.

Maggie (wwcutie)

Maggie is one of the most persistantly cheerful people out there. Even when things get difficult, she’s happy – no, thrilled – to be alive. She works in the International Studies office at a major university and shoots wedding photography on weekends. Between all of this, she manages to quilt, embroider, and sew.

Jocelyn (Jocelyn_)

Jocelyn tells it like it is. When things are going her way, she’ll tell you. When she’s super excited, you don’t have to guess. Although her crafting attempts sometimes go awry, she isn’t shy in sharing them. Her primary crafts are knitting and quilting.

(I never said yesterday that my photo post would be *my* photos, so I’m not technically breaking a promise here. I will try, however, to have some photos to post that I have taken before we head to Florida next week.)

Post ‘O Random Pictures

Welcome to my post of random photos. There’s nothing tying any of this together. Really.

1. My old blog writing location: Messy desk in our upstairs office. Surrounded by not only yarn but dead computers, rarely used TV, and school stuff

2. My new blog writing location: Living room, using new PC with easy access to Diet Coke, snacks, and bad TV. Much preferred.

3. Shoes my Mom bought me – aren’t they awesome?

4. Yarn Beth got me as a thank you (against my wishes). The blue/green is from Saarbrucken, the town we almost wound up in after mis-reading a train station sign in Meinz, Germany the April before last.

Linkity, Link, Link, Link

Today I feel terribly compelled to share some links with all of you. Maybe I need to get out more – or, at least, take a break from Google Reader. I swore I would never do this. Waste a blog post with a bunch of links (with few words about why I’m linking to them). But, whatever, no one heard me promise other than the voices in my head.

1. From the Washington Post – Snob Appeal: Won’t Someone Knock Heirloom Tomatoes Off Their Pedistal?

I was rather annoyed when a coworker pointed out that someone at the Post was diss’ing my beloved heirloom tomatoes. His argument is simple: just because a tomato is an heirloom, it is not automatically better. It’s all about how their grown, stored, etc. While I agree with that, I still think the best tomatoes – mostly due to my love of highly acidic tomatoes – are heirloom ones. Especially the ones we’re growing in the thin strip in our town house’s front yard we call a garden.

2. Where I Write

A neat photography exhibit that captures where some of the greatest science fiction writers, well, write. Makes me feel so much better about my messy home office!

3. From David Lebovitz – Caramelized White Chocolate ice cream

If you own an ice cream maker and have never made of his recipes, you are crazy. Go, right now! I’ve never made this recipe specifically but my husband’s – our ? – food blog has some other types we’ve made previously here, here, here, and here.

4. USB Fragrance Diffuser

In case your office has the same stale-air smell mine does.

5. How to make a scratch-off lottery ticket

The author of the tutorial is using them for a raffle with her Etsy customers, I just want to make them for the heck of it. Anyone know where to acquire sticky-back film?

6. A monkey analogy

It has to do with corporate culture. I won’t ruin the “punchline” for you. I’ll admit I had to draw a diagram to keep new and old monkeys straight.

7. 7 Ways to Declutter Your Kitchen

It’s actually 8 ways as there are two number 7′s but whatever. These are good tips if 1) you don’t have a tiny kitchen like us and 2) you don’t love toast.

8. The Omnivore’s Dilusion

Good to see someone writing on the other side of things. I’m not sure how I feel about this issue. I think I fall somewhat in between: I want my food to be grown by a local producer (say, less than four hours from my home) that grows in such a way as to reduce environmental impact. If that means short growing seasons or non-organic or whatever, that’s what I want. And I’m willing to pay for it – well, if it’s not too pricey. Where do you guys fit in the spectrum? More towards Mr. Hurst (the other of this piece) or Mr. Pollan?

9. Summer Kerchief

Imagine, actual knitting content on this here blog. Free pattern from the Purl Bee.

10. Expandable Vases

These are awesome. I’ll take ten.

11. Lemon Shakeups

Lemon-y summer drinks, my kind of thing!

12. Creating Destination

Skip all the jabber about setting up a bar scene and read about how to make your own breakfast sushi.

needles & vectors

an engineering gal who crafts her life away

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