Great Work Weekend

I had to work all day Saturday and it was fantastic. I am on the development team for a brand new public high school in Newark, NJ and it has been a wonderful experience. Hard work, fast paced, but working with such committed and loving people makes it all worthwhile.

My Littleman had fun with his dad this weekend. It was filled with basketball (his favorite) and swimming (a close second). This week at preschool they are learning all about insects which means I am making a run to the public library to pic up some insect books and maybe to the dollar store for some plastic bugs.

On the knitting front: I've only been able to work on some vanilla socks because they don't require thinking. There hasn't been much time but as long as I'm able to sneak in a few rows each night I'm happy. Oh and FYI if you are a fan of WendyKnits Patterns, she is having a sale this month; check out her Ravelry Pattern Store.

Frustrating Start to the Day

My day began with a frustrating revelation at my son's new pediatrician. Apparently, I needed his new insurance card, the actual card, in order for him to see the doctor. Never mind the fact that I had ALL of the policy information. Sorry, the little plastic card is of critical importance. And why wasn't I informed of this when I made the appointment? So my morning was shot when I could have been working. Fine. The Littleman went on to preschool and I headed home to get work done (housework and work work).

On a more happy note I did pick up some Koigu fingering in an amazing colorway. These will make a super cute pair of socks.

The New Year

2009 was a stressful year but I very much enjoyed watching my little baby sprout into a charming little boy. When we moved to Detroit the summer of 2007 my son was crawling, well army crawling on his elbows. Last Christmas he had just mastered walking but was still teetering now and then. Now he's running like the wind and talking up a storm. Most days I wake up to his call: "Mami. Mami. Maaaami. Where are you? I want to talk to you." Even at 5:30am I have to laugh. I look forward to watching and recording a whole new year of this little person's development.
We're 6 days into 2010 and I wish I could say I'm off to a good start. I'm not! I just remembered this morning the my pilates class started Monday night (completely forgot). I hadn't checked our bank account in over two weeks and it was overdrawn. Now if we didn't have the money that would be one thing, but we do. It was just stupidity on my part. Of course the bank loves it when we make mistakes like that because they can charge us for it. ARGGHHH!!! In addition to that I'm way behind on my work and have to prep for my classes which begin next week.

I usually don't resolutions but I feel I have to this time around. I want to embrace the idea of "WORK FIRST" i.e., start the days with work and after 5-7 hrs (stopping for breakfast and lunch of course), putting the work aside and enjoying my hobbies: knitting, spinning, reading, etc. I work mostly from home so this can get really tough: "I'll just do the laundry; I'll just clean the bathroom, I'll just organize whatever" there's always something that needs to be done but this year I will try to commit to work and schedule chores like I would any meeting outside the home. I haven't exercised since the pregnancy over 2yrs ago so I signed up for Pilates on Mondays. That's it for resolutions: 1. Work First and 2. Pilates on Mondays.

Good luck with your resolutions.

Even Knitting Hasn't Cheered Me Up

It's so sad when knitting and spinning fail to cheer me up. I didn't even come close to meeting my goals for the Summer (big surprise there!). I was stressed most of this Summer over the fact that I don't have a regular job. How is it possible that after all the work, time, and money I put into a Ph.D., I'm still unclear about what I want to do "when I grow up." I'm almost 40, this is no time for uncertainty and yet . . .

Anyway, I am going to start a large spinning project this week. I have 1lb of Shetland from Windswept Farms. I want to 3ply it and knit up a vest and perhaps matching mittens or cowl. I have to see what my yardage is but 1lb of fiber should yield some serious yardage.

I want to knit up a quick sweater for my little boy before winter arrives. There's a pattern I've been meaning to knit up but the largest size is too small for him so I will have to bust out the calculator and make some adjustments. I usually don't like to alter a pattern because I'm not very good at the calculations but I figure a child's sweater is a good project on which to practice.

I also have some serious sewing I'd like to do but man am I bad at it. I have not returned to the Box Bag but will do so very soon. I was hoping to sew up a bunch of them for my small projects.

Here are a few of my finished objects for your viewing pleasure:

Summer is Over

I can't believe it's August already. Time to get back to work. Not that work ever really stopped. I'll be teaching one course this Fall as well as some consulting but I'm hoping to land a more steady position before the year ends. Not an easy goal given conditions in Michigan right now.

As far as knitting goes, I'm in baby knitting mode right now with all the impending births in my life. I've knit up a bunch of bibs but I still need to get some buttons for those. I knit up a Yoda Sweater for my friends baby along with a Bunny Tail hat, just need to steam both of those. I would really like to sew a few items from the Amy Butler book I just purchased, starting with the Cutie Booties.

Man I'm Tired

My partner and I have been working like lunatics this past week. We both have serious deadlines to meet and we're traveling to California for a few days. It has been crazy. I've sat in front of my computer working for two days straight and I've only made a minuscule dent in my work pile. How is that possible? I literally have more work than I can humanly accomplish by Thursday. And I was hoping to get a few days rest since this is Spring Break. But alas, no real break, EVER!!!
On the knitting front I've made progress on my swap pal's scarf. I knit 12 rows each day (about 25 minutes of knitting). It's all I can spare but slow and steady has worked. I'm still a little uneasy about the lace pattern. It's simple enough but lace is really a mess before you block it. I had read that before but it really is true. You can't even see the pattern. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the miracle of blocking. I've been assured by the Ravelry folks that all will be fine. The rest of my pal's package looks great. I want to get one more item for the package and then I'm done (except for the scarf of course). That's all for now. I'm off to bed for what will hopefully be 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Work, Work, Oh and Some More Work

These past few weeks have been insane. I fell behind in February with my partner's travels and then with a flu/cold that lasted for 2 weeks. Now I'm behind on everything and I'm not sure how to catch up. There's just more work than is humanly possible for me to do unless I give up sleeping altogether for a few days and that could get really ugly. Today's goals are bill payments (priority), grading and posting grades (students want to know how they're doing before heading into Spring Break), reading (must catch up in order to grade students' comments on readings), and of course there are interviews I need to review. I'm guessing housework is going to take the biggest hit this week since my partner is traveling again until Wednesday. Argghhh. Oh and my RSE swap scarf is due April 1st.

Impressed by knitty bloggers

Now that I'm trying to get back in the crafty swing of things I have to admit that my favorite knitting blogs make me feel a bit inadequate. These folks are knitting the most amazing things in addition to maintaining what seem to be incredibly active lives. I on the other hand find it difficult at 6.5 months pregnant to muster up enough energy after 4pm to accomplish much of anything. I know gestation is an energy zapper but my sisters and mom worked full-time right up until they burst. I'm privileged with an academic's flexible schedule and it's still a struggle. Crazy.

Anyway, I promised myself that I would focus on getting some work done today (and by work I mean professional work -- drafting journal articles, finishing up data analysis, etc.) Ok just writing that made me tired.

Here's a pic of my Trellis sweater in progress: