Fall is here... and going so fast?

So this fall has been sudden and quick. I feel like it was only two days ago when I was taking cold showers at night just to lower my body temperature enough to get some sleep. Now I am busting out the boots with the boiled wool lining and the mittens. It is possible that sometimes I am overdressed for the weather but honestly I am not used to 40 degree weather. By the way, if you want to know what to get my for Christmas or my birthday: winter base layers, long johns and even if you want, snow pants!

Of course fall is beautiful. Right now the leaves in the Boston area are in the midst of turning. There is still a lot of green around but teher are ints of red and brown all around.  But the weather is also very confusing. One day the temperature is in the low 50's and then another it in this high 60's. One day it's sunny the next it's pouring rain. Luckily I have a thing for coats and I some how have worked out a way to have an appropriate jacket for the random fall temperatures.  

Asside form  the random weather all of the changes are also signifying a change in the school year. It is hard to believe that the semester is almost over. i have a number of large projects that I must do and everyone is wondering what to do during the winter break. This will be the first time that I am not going home for Christmas so I will have a lot of time to think about what to do. I will spend a bit of time working.

I started my new job a couple of weeks ago. It is pretty fun. I am realizing that i may want to read up on some new topics. I am beginning to realize that I really have to use my reference interview tools, mainly because my frame of reference for subjects and titles are different than that ot he patrons of my place where I work.

First week on the east coast and I encounter two natural disasters

NOTE: This paragraph was written before the Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene:
 So right now the whole East Coast is under a hurricane warning. Earlier this week there was an earthquake and now this. So far I don't really know what to do. I did go to Trader Joe's and picked up some non-perishables but really my NERT trainers would laugh at what I picked up.... If you ever hear of those old-timey expeditions where they bring 500 wigs, coo coo clocks and beads I got a small scale modern equivalent. The storm isn't supposed to hit until Saturday night/Sunday. Or at least that is the rumor.

Update Post:

So I survived the tropical storm. There were no power outages or floods in my neighborhood. Luckily the worst that happened to me was that I got antsy due to staying in all day.  
This is the first week of school. Well, I don't actually go to school until the end of the week but hey, that just means that I am no longer in vacation mode. So far I have a few articles to read but it's more exciting than stressful. I am nervous, excited and anxious about this new start. It is exciting but I really wonder what it is going to be like to go back to school. It has been five years since I was a full-time student. And this time around I am a graduate student. Now, unlike during undergraduate school, I know that I have to take responsibility for a lot of my actions in and out of the class. Don't get my wrong, I was a good kid, but now I understand how clueless 20 year old people are...or how clueless they can be..  

The other interesting thing about my program is that all of my classes are once a week. I don't even have things spreed out so I have to make sure that I don't just think of my days off campus as days off. That would be a really good way to fail my first year. I am ready to have something to do with my time. Although I enjoy my time getting lost in Boston I do find that without a place that  I have to go to at least twice a week.  Once school starts that is exactly what I am in for. It will also be exciting to start my internship. I am taking intro to archives. Part of that  course requires that I have an internship. This will be a real change form what I am used to doing on a day of work. CRAZY! 

I have been knitting. I started working on my winter cap. I think that finishing a winter hat will inspire me to finish my big projects...you know... like my shawl or my two sweaters! Ekk. Well I guess that I will eventually just have one post where I talk about nothing but knitting. The pattern that I am using is Pollen and Bubbles. I am using Mademinetosh Vintage yarn. It is really nice to work with and I really want to finish it. So this is what I am keeping with me at all times. It is a good distraction from making sleeves on my sweater (which I really should do now rather than when it gets cold). I will get to make pom poms for this hat wich I think is pretty fun. I still haven't mastered knitting with both hands but the results aren't that bad, just a little on the puffy side. I am still in love with the hat nonetheless.
 
I guess that like all of the choices that I have made in the last year everything may not be perfect but the results are generally good and I am happy with what I can do.

Changes

So I am currently house sitting..."Why?" you might ask. Well I am technically homeless. I have a home... but it is across the country. I think that at this point I should just say what is going on with me. I am moving from San Francisco to the Boston area. Yes, this west coast girl is moving to the east. I am moving because I will start graduate school for library science. I am pretty darn excited. The past year has been full of ups and downs and now I am finally taking a little time to stop and look around me. My things are being shipped out to my new home and with the kindness of knitters I am able to stay behind in my hometown and enjoy my time off. So far I have met up with friends and had some wonderful food. I will miss both (SF friends and food!).

During my two year program I will study cataloging and reference, as well at take courses like the history of the boot k and user services. I am going to be be a general MLS student. But my hope is that by the end I will graduate with a lot of classes in user services. I hope that with hard work that I will complete my program prepared for a new career path.

Although I will be on the opposite coast for a little while I will still knit. And well for a while I will have projects started on the west coast to complete. I am currently working on a great number of projects. Socks, hats and even a sweater. I really wish that I could finish at least one of them, but right now I am at that odd tedious point (ex: sleeves)  of most of my projects. One project that is a constant challenge is the Phostosynthesis shawl. The combination of lace and beading makes this a very involved project. I think that most of it is coming out nicely. I am excited to see what will happen in the end. I highly recommend this pattern. It looks great with AND without beads. I would love it if I could get just a bit further in this pattern before I leave. I guess that means  that I will have to hunker down and knit! Well so long till next time.

First Post of 2011

Why hello everyone! It has been a while since I have posted. I since my last post I have worked long hours, completed a couple of personal projects, moved and become a year older. So far 2011 has been a busy one.

One thing that I am very excited about taking a Dreamweaver course! So I hope that in a few months from now that I will try a few new trick on this blog. The class is very basic. But I plan on using this site for my final project. I don't really know how this whole thing would work. But it would be nice to show off what I am learning. The class starts off very basic. I learned where menu items were and how to save files. It sounds minor but it also seems that not knowing the basics can cause some really annoying or even major problems.

Craft-wise I was pretty busy at the end of the last year and the beginning of this year. Two of my cousins were pregnant at the same time! Since they were both due in January/February I felt that it would be a good time to work on something small as a gift. The result were two pairs of baby booties. One set for a girl and another for a boy. This was my first time making booties. I used the sock yarn from my diagonal lace socks and Charade. I used the magic slippers pattern. I was pretty close to not having enough yarn but lo-and behold, these bad boys barely use any yarn. These are done in on piece (first the sole and then stitched are picked up for the body of the booties). I am pretty sure that I could have done these two at a time. But I did not. They still worked fast.

This winter I also worked on a couple of hats. The first that I completed was a lace and cable number called the Ashley. I did this project using sport weight yarn. And although it came out pretty good it was also a little on the thin side for me. So of course I decided to work on another hat.


The Selbu Modern came out very nice. This was my first fair isle project. It went fast and it was the first time that I ever knitted while holding yarn in two hands. This hat fit perfectly and was comfortably warm. The sad part of this story is that I lost it! I tried to retrace my steps but I just couldn't find it. I do want to another one. But I feel like i should use a different color. BUT I also don't want to go around buying large skeins of sock yarn and not using it all for one project.Today I started a new Selbu. I am going to use the contract color as the man color for this one. I just hope that I have enough yarn. I forgot how hard it was to start this project. I think that I must knit really tight.

When not knitting, reading, or watching movies I have done a bit of canning. The first thing that I made was apple sauce. I used Macintosh and Honey Crisp for a nice sweet sauce. I spiced it up with cinnamon and brown sugar. This gave it a nice pink color. I think that next time I make applesauce I will add some raspberries. That would have to be good. My second attempt at canning were pears. So far so good. I made the pares last month and so far I have had three out of the five small jars (one pear per jar people). And well so far I have not gotten sick and the paers are still not brown. Yum! My favorite part of canning is hearing the pop made as the cans seal while cooling. That is pretty exciting.


I have a number of projects to finish: Alice lace top, socks, secret gift knit (the secret is what the gift is, not that it exist), a lace stole and well... I hope that is it. I guess my next post will be an "in progress" post. Hopefully THAT wont take me three months to write.