I'm Getting Married!

One little disclaimer here: No, I didn't get engaged on Valentine's Day (like 57,000,000 other people in the world). It happened a couple weeks ago, but I'm only now getting a chance to write a little something on it.

It happened January 27, 2009 but hasn't felt quite real until I finally got my engagement ring back on Feb. 13th (nice timing Jewelry Store). All of the congratulations up intil now have been nice, but now I can actually show off the ring, which is gorgeous. The story is great to tell on it's own (walk on the beach, the rainbow, etc.) but the ring makes an impact.

The wedding will be sometime in Spring 2010 (April or May). Lost of planning to do before then.

For now, however, I should get back to the work I'm supposed to be doing now. My "justify your existence to the department" presentation is tomorrow morning and I still need to do some work. Surprisingly, I'm doing fine with my data, but stumbling through my introduction material. Who knew it would suddenly be hard for me to talk about obesity and the same silly diagram I have used in every presentation for the past 3 years?

I'm not good at this whole "blogging" thing

It appears that I am not very good at actually writing on this here blog. I keep thinking, "Oh, I should do something with that." But, like many things in my life, the thought is as far as it goes.

A lot of the reason for that is because the grad student part of my life (i.e. about 85% of life) has been sneaking up on me lately. However, I think I may be the only grad student EVER to wish that The Advisor was more structured and slightly more demanding. It may be because I'm her first grad student ever, so she hasn't learned yet that half her job is to, in a sense, abuse her students and make them cry. This seems like a fantastic situation, and sometimes it actually is. But, despite a certain sense of intrinsic motivation toward achievement, there are times when I need someone to kick my ass and tell me to get it in gear because I'm not good at doing that to myself.

Right now, I should be working on my Master's Thesis - all the data are collected, all the statistics are done (I hope), and I just need to write my little heart out. Write, write, write. But - with no hard and fast deadline, or real expectations from The Advisor to have it finished yesterday, I'm having a hard time actually sticking to self-imposed deadlines. Bah. Bad grad student.

Things are going fairly well in the lab, even with certain experiments still not working after 9 months. I could have had a baby in this span of time and I still can't get in situ hybridization to work for freaking leptin receptors to work. That's ok - I have 3 (4th is starting soon) other projects to simultaneously keep me busy. Oh, and, cleaning up after The Incompetent One.

:Warning: Here comes the venting part...

I have slides with tissue samples sitting in my office. They are not mine. They have been here since last Sunday (8/31) after I found them under a heavy pile of lab debris. They are not mine, but they are from an experiment that should have been mine but was given to The Incompetent One because my other projects (i.e. the ones not working but that no one else knew enough biology to handle) didn't leave me any time for it. These slides will be on a poster I'll be presenting at a conference in November. I'm seeing how long it takes her to realize they are gone. Before 8/31, the last time anything was done to them was 8/18 when they were set out to dry. I know that I will have to give them back and say that she screwed up, yet again, but I'm waiting on the off chance there is some tiny shred of competence in there... or minor concern for experiments. The Advisor knows (not that I have them, but that I find them under a pile of heavy crap). When I mention things like this to her, she says "I'll talk to her." Nothing changes.

(A little background on The Incompetent One. The fact that she's a grad student is scary enough sometimes, but she used to be a lab tech. The lab made it through her time as a lab tech and, for some reason despite the fact that The Advisor recognized that there were things seriously lacking in her tech capabilities, she offered her a spot as a grad student. It makes no sense to me, after contemplating the firing of an employee to turn around, offer them a spot in your lab for the next 5-6 years, and have a good chunk of your research depend on this person. The Incompetent One accepted because she had nothing better to do, so why not go to grad school. This is almost offensive to me, someone who worked her ass off to get into grad school in the first place and takes this seriously (most of the time).)

:End venting:

Ooh look.... knitting. Knitting will make me feel better.

Catch up time

I have found that the problem with successful blogging is that you actually have to write on your blog. I have (obviously) been really really bad about this so far, but I'm attempting to do better. So here's a little bit to catch you up on things from the last almost 5 months!

I've been knitting... a lot. Somehow it always seems to get done, despite all of the work that grad school seems to send my way. Projects that I can remember right now... (If I talked blogger into loading pictures, then they will appear here).

1. First sock - I did get through the pair. And in the grand tradition of first socks, they didn't fit particularly well. Even better, they weren't even the same size, despite repeated measuring of leg and foot length. Soon after finishing, the Yarn Harlot came to Indianapolis and the mismatched socks recieved a bit of love and were properly photographed.

2. I finally started (and have almost finished) the Twinkle Best Friend Cardigan I had been thinking about. It's definitely bulky, which I expected to a certain extent. But it's quite bulky. I knit it with 3/4 length sleeves but I think I'm going to redo them to make them full length. With the bulkiness, the shorter sleeves make it worse. I also left off the bobbles, because that's a whole other bit of big-ness this sweater doesn't need. I just bought buttons yesterday, so maybe I'll get around to finishing this soon.

Please note: The cat was given yarn (bright pink, nonetheless) in order to distract him from the sweater. He might think it is big and comfy as well.

3. The Boyfriend has another niece or nephew on the way (this will make #8... don't even get me started on this...) and so I got a chance to knit some baby things finally. I made the Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stitch n' Bitch in a nice, gender-neutral light minty green (no word on if it is a boy or girl). I have quite a bit of leftover yarn, so I'll probably make a matching hat.

4. Finished the Aran Accent Vest to go along with the scarf for The Boyfriend. It fits well and he was impressed that I actually fitted it properly - he's still skeptical of knitting in general, due to seeing hand knit giant acrylic monstrosities knit by other people. I haven't blocked it yet, but that'll happen eventually.

4a. I also realized that I hadn't shared a picture of the finished scarf. The center pattern of the sweater is the same motif, but this is a better picture to see the actual pattern.

5. A friend of mine threw a "Pretty Woman" party back in March, which meant that the women had to dress up like 1980's "women-of-the-night" and the guys had to wear suits and look like they could afford us. I couldn't help myself - I had to make legwarmers, despite the fact that Julie Roberts never wore those. This occasion just screamed for obnoxiously bright pink legwarmers, and so I took a weekend and made them. Fabulous with the fishnet stockings... fabulous.

6. Lace Hoodie from Rebecca 32 - with my wonderful sense of inappropriate planning, I started this sweater (in wool) just as it began to warm up outside. It's now almost June (and actually staying warm outside in Indiana) and I'm still working on it. For awhile, I debated on whether or not to add the hood, since it is quite an odd looking hood, but the picture on Ravelry have convinced me that it looks cute with the hood down and I'd never actually wear the hood up. I have to buy a new US 8 circular needle because my 29" one is definitely too long for this purpose (I tried... it's baaad) so this is once again on hold.

7. My excitement over knitting socks increased a little after the first pair that weren't perfect. And I realized that sock yarn can be fairly inexpensive (as opposed to 1100 yds of something for a sweater) and found some fabulous specimens of such yarn that I am excited to use. Pair of sock #2 are going much better and I'm through the heal of the second sock of the pair :-).

I'm realizing that I do, indeed, knit A LOT. A lot, a lot. And so how I haven't failed out of grad school. Yay for me!

Taking a flying leap into oblivion

Alright, so maybe I'm being a little over dramatic. But I'm finally doing it.

I'm working on my first sock. Note that I didn't say my first PAIR of socks. I'm taking it one step at a time, as thing increases the likelihood of success, at lease in my little world. It's just a 2x2 rib sock in baby blue acrylic yarn - nothing I'd really wear most likely, but right now I'm just knitting on principle!

Wish me luck...

Cables, Cables, Cables

I'm a huge fan of cables. Very few things in knitting make me happier than (purposefully) twisting stitches all over the place. At the moment, however, I am doing a lot of them. A lot. I'm remembering why I don't knit scarves oh so often - it's the same thing over and over again until it's long enough to be considered an acceptable scarf.


That is after 5 repeats of the 32 row pattern. I've done 2 more since then... and it's probably about half finished. The only thing that keeps me awake while doing it is a cable pattern. Despite my complaining, I still love love love this cable pattern. Which is good... because I'm also half finished with a vest that employs the same pattern.

I have until Feb. 6th to finish this. Technically, the 7th, since that is The Boyfriend's birthday. But let's not employ the knitterly holiday tradition of last minute finishing, shall we?

Glorious Yarn Storage

In an effort to make it easier to fit The Boyfriend in my one bedroom apartment with all of my stuff, he's slowly and subtly trying to get me organized. Yesterday, the yarn stash was tackled. If anyone is reading this, you may have just fallen off your chair and hit the floor at the thought that I allowed someone else to assist is stash organization. Fear not... he simply bought me a $12 solution to all my yarn-related problems (other than my fear of knitting socks). It is glorious.
And ready to be filled with more when needed...

The only place to start...

... is the beginning.

I've become obsessed with blogs lately - mostly those involving knitting. I couldn't help myself. Even if all of about 7 extremely bored internet surfers will read this, I still feel the need to thank them in advance. Despite this fact, the need for self-indulgent, narcissistic reflection is strong. And so... off we go with a few things about me.

Grad Student
I know what you may be thinking. Grad school can be hell - and yeah, it is at times. But I've been in school since I was 3, so why stop now when it's 20 years later?

I'm working toward a Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience. My research involves the effects of dietary macronutrients on endocrine hormones and hypothalamic neuropeptides. Sounds complicated and boring right? Well, it's better than it sounds, at least to me. In simple terms, I put rats on the Atkins' Diet and see what happens - because everyone loves fad diets. I'm a big nerd, but not as socially retarded as that makes me sound.

Knitter
My grandma taught me when I was 8. The first thing I ever made was a scarf for a teddy bear, which I think is still in my mother's house somewhere. Since then, I've branched out a little - scarves for humans, mittens, hats, afghans, sweaters. I'm scared to try socks - despite being somewhat comfortable with short rows and all of that good stuff, socks still scare me. Someday I'll be brave... but not today.

I knit mostly for myself, but again, I'm trying to branch out. I'm starting to knit a scarf for The Boyfriend - a first. Scary thought. I'm weird about relationship stuff. I'm working on it though - slowly and awkwardly. I'm sure all of this doesn't make me sound less socially retarded, but that's ok.

Cat Mommy
About a year ago, I was visiting my sister for Thanksgiving and I wound up bringing a stray cat home from Georgia with me. Please note that I live far far from Georgia. He's crazy and I think his favorite toys are my feet - especially when it's 7am and I'm half asleep, walking through my cluttered apartment. But I love the little thing.


Ok. There's more. I swear there's more. And eventually, it will come to me. But my brain feels like cottage cheese because this past week was Finals Week and that is so much fun when you're a student. So this is all I can give at the moment...