Today is my sweet Mama’s birthday.  She’s turning…um…25…yeah, that’s it…25!  (Haha, that makes her two years older than me…)  And she’s getting a scarf that is (in my opinion) pretty sweet!  She gave official approval to post pictures before she receives it:

The yarn is Encore Colorspun, picked out by Mom herself, knit up on US 9 needles.  The pattern is YH’s One Row Handspun Scarf (scroll down to Oct. 12) and I really like it.  Like the title implies, it’s only one row to learn which makes it perfect for knitting during meetings, classes, movies, etc.  (Not only did I borrow her pattern, I borrowed some of the photo ideas too…)  Mom picked the yarn because of the versatile color.  I like how the colors change gradually:

One final down, three to go.  Barf.  I think I did well on today’s, but not well enough to get the grade I want in that class.  Oh well.  Tonight is the big farewell to Dr. Gates.    Then a weekend of studying and beating the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Hell outta UCLA!  Hope y’all have a great one!

I have watched this commercial  probably 5, 6, 30 times today and it never ceases to make me laugh.

This may or may not be due to finals-induced sleep deprivation.  But I don’t think so.  It’s brilliant.

I loved the commercial so much that I actually bought the drink, in hopes that high sales would encourage them to keep the same ad agency.  Turns out, it’s really quite good.

It is finals time.  I don’t have any desire to study.  That is bad.  I mostly just want to knit.  I have at least 8 WIPs (works in progress) currently, all of which are holiday knitting and thus have due dates.  Soon.  I did finish Mom’s birthday scarf on time!  Whoop!  Although, she won’t get it until I see her next, which is no longer on her birthday, but about a week later.  I will photograph and post about it after she has received it.  I’m also working on some other scarves, some handbags, some neat felted stuff, some things for animals, etc.  Luckily, most of the knitting is pretty simple so I work on it while I’m reading/studying.  If I get a chance, I’ll figure out a way to photograph some of them without giving away what they are so the blog is not picture-less for too long.

Back to studying.  Good luck to all with finals!  You can do it!

…because my body’s timeclock is all screwed up.  What a week!  Two physics labs, one paper, one presentation, and two
tests!  I made it through though, and hopefully managed to only blow
one of the tests and do decent on all the other things.  I actually did
really well on one of those tests, so that is nice.

A few other things have happened this week:

1) My yarn is talking.  It is completely unoriginal (scroll down to the 29th), but still makes me laugh.

It’s a scarf I started for Mike Beaubien (not his name, he worked
there, so that’s what we called him…) not last summer but the summer
before.  I finished it up in Italy (it is a well-traveled scarf) and it
has been sitting around here ever since.  I sort of hate the post
office, although waiting in line is good knitting time!  So when Mike
inquired about the status of the scarf, it decided to send him a
message since I can’t get my act together.

2) We had our final physics 401 lab assignment – whoop!!!  I took some photos to commemorate the occasion:

Coding away.  All the stuff you see around me is mine.  Some of you
will not find this surprising.  Specifically, my family, anyone who has
ever Scattered or Gathered with me, and anyone who shared a duplex with
Kansas Jack (cough.Sarah.cough) and watched my stuff explode.  You may
notice those strange, 80′s looking fingerless gloves I am wearing.
 Here’s a closeup…(sorry for the blurriness…hand-eye coordination suffers at 3am…)

They are this pattern, knit with Brown Sheep Lambs Pride from the yarn store in Cimarron which I miss dearly.  The only thing I changed was the type of increase in the thumb gusset, from her bar increase to an M1, because it is invisible in stockinette.  The lab is really cold, and my wrists freeze, then my hands start hurting.  Luckily, I am good at making warm things.

3) I got offered a job at French Henry for this summer!  Yay!  It is one of my fave camps: in the Baldy Country, interp, with mining, blacksmithing, and gold panning!  I’m so excited!!!  Here are some pics from one of my visits there in ’03.  Unfortunately I don’t have any of the actual camp, but I promise you it’s beautiful.  These are from a rockin’ Monopoly game:

4) I wanted to start on this scarf tonight using some lovely bulky alpaca from a yarn store in Houston, but when I went into the needle stash looking for what the pattern calls for (7mm) I was baffled.  I don’t have any 7mm needles.  I have US 10 1/2 which are 6.5mm and US 11 which are 8mm.  Hmm…I thought…maybe there is a US 10 3/4 I don’t know about…so I consult my trusty Knit-Check:

(You might have to click to enlarge.)  Turns out I’m not crazy.  There is no 7mm.  What?  So tomorrow I’m going to the yarn store to see if anyone there has done this scarf, and what size needle they used.  I wasn’t going to go back there until next semester to control my yarn spending, but I figure I oughtta at least try to get someone else’s opinion.  

Allrighty…I’m gonna turn on the Full House marathon in my room (I love Full House.  Love love love it!) and try to get some sleep!  Busy day tomorrow!

Some yarn lovliness, in hopes of forgiveness for lack of real updates…Both are for holiday projects, thus the projects they are involved in are super top secret.  The Touche` is amazing to work with…so soft.  I will likely have to figure out something I can make for myself using it.  After the holidays.  The Bellagio is gorgeous, but I’m crocheting it with two strands held together, and keep splitting the yarn.  Plus, it doesn’t have much stretch, making the crochet more difficult than normal.  But it is perfect for the project, and I believe for the intended recipient as well.

I’m home for Thanksgiving right now…came in yesterday (Thursday) morning because I had class ’til Wednesday afternoon and then stayed to clean the house.  I’m going back tomorrow to hit sales at the yarn store and the scrapbooking store, and to go to the Aggie basketball game.  And because I’m really lazy at home and get much more done in CS than here.  And have two tests and three projects next week…yikes…

Speaking of Aggies, we totally beat t.u. today in football!!!  First time in 6 years – WHOOP!  And made us undefeated on the road this year, which is not too shabby.  It was a ton of fun to finally get a win over the Longhorns…finally!

And now, back to work, and leftover eating…

…with this hat.  Visit the link.  Scroll down.  Look at the exquisite way the decreases spiral in.  I have some microfiber dk yarn I’ve been saving for something special.  This is it.  As soon as I get needles, the holiday knitting is going to have to go on hold.  Not that y’all were actually expecting to get your knitted goodness on time, right?  Ok good.  Because now it’s really not going to be on time.

Right now, I can barely move my head without waves of pain and nausea sweeping through my body.  I’m sure it has nothing to do with stress or lack of sleep.  Ha.  If I can make it through this week and next, I will be so glad.  It will be stressful around here until the middle of December, so please forgive me if I am short with you.

And now, I really must get back to homework, despite the pain.  Buona notte lovelies!

I tried to watch a Travel Channel show on Florence yesterday.  I had to turn it off after 10 minutes, I was so digusted. 

To start off with, the lady was just annoying and said that shopping in Florence was more important than seeing the art & history, but then she wouldn’t drop 1500 Euro (~$2000 USD) on a suede Ferragamo blazer.  Hello!  That is a good deal, especially for Italy, especially for Ferragamo!  Some shopper she is.  (Not that I dropped 1500 Euro on anything while I was there, don’t get me wrong!  I stalked museums like no one’s business.) 

Next issue: she had a hotel room with a balconey overlooking the Arno, so they walk out on the balconey, pan the river, and she gushes about how gorgeous it is.  No.  The Arno (the part that flows through Florence, at least) is gross.  It is brown and polluted and yucky.  It is not pretty.  Neither are the facades of the buildings that line it.  They are plain brown; nothing spectacular.  They are gorgeous inside, for sure, but you can’t see the inside from your hotel.  Here is a photo I took of the Arno…

…ok, so that kind of looks pretty.  Chalk it up to my excellent photography skills…ha.  Really, I promise.  It is ugly.  (For Italy at least…)

Lastly, they kept showing pictures of people around the city, most of whom were obviously tourists.  Why show pictures of Americans when you are in Florence?  The Italians are so much more beautiful!  She also recommended wearing flat comfortable shoes – no high heels – while the camera showed all these people wearing ugly shoes.  Sure, wear ugly shoes if you want to stick out.  The Italians don’t own ugly shoes.  Wear the nicest ones you can stand to walk in all day long.  Or buy some there.  You still won’t have the prettiest shoes around.

And that’s enough ranting for tonight.  Alex & I went to the Women’s BBall game this evening- lots of fun!  We won by 54 points, we got free Chick-Fil-A coupons, and we were totally on the big screen for like 15 seconds!!!  Luckily, you could not see that I had a GRE study book in my lap for time-outs and slow parts of the game!  I take the general GRE on Saturday, and after the Physics one, I could mostly care less.  The only studying I have done, in fact, has been at bball games.  Oops.    Unfortunately, I think I might be coming down with a cold…sore throat = uh oh!  Hopefully it will pass quickly – no time to waste in the next month!

Ciao a tutti!  Have a wonderful Friday!!!

Last week = Election week.  Being loud & opinionated, I have things to say about it.

I’m still disappointed that Rick Perry (be sure to read the Talk Page, too, if you click that link) won.  I’m embarrassed that he represents the State of Texas and Texas A&M University.  Why couldn’t the first Aggie governor be well-spoken, not a slave to his party, and not an all around…I dunno…waste of good oxygen?  I do think that, although Kinky didn’t win, he certainly was a breath of fresh air and the reason that a lot more people voted this time around than four years ago.

I’m also still upset that W. tapped Dr. Gates to be Sec.Def. in Rumsfeld‘s place.  Don’t get me wrong – I do not care for Rumsfeld at all and am glad he is leaving, but I am afraid that we are moving Dr. Gates from a position (President of Texas A&M) where he could and was having a major impact, to a position where W. is still Commander in Chief and still the one running the war.  Gates is arguably the best president of A&M since Rudder, and has implemented a lot of new policies that are crucial for keeping A&M a competitive institution of higher learning.  Most importantly, he has had the cojones to stand up to the former and current students who are so incredibly resistant to change.  Hopefully we can find someone else with as much…I don’t know…foresight and strength of character to replace him.

For those of you unfamiliar with Gates, rest assured that if anyone can “fix” the situation in Iraq, it is certainly him.  He is intelligent and thoughtful, and works hard to explore all sides of an issue before making a decision.  I don’t believe he has made a single rash decision in his time at A&M.  (In fact, he has formed more task forces than you can count…)  All those years in the CIA, he was an analyst, not a spy, and so he knows to examine every last detail to come up with the best solution.  And he’s not afraid of making an unpopular decision if it is the right one.  I realize that sounds a lot like W., but Gates is about 1000 times more intelligent, and bases his decisions on facts, not feelings.  Also, he’s just a pretty cool guy.

Here’s to hoping that W. will no longer be able to cruise along with his party in power, and will actually have to make some intelligent decisions and compromise with the Democrats.  I do believe he is capable of that.  Although Pelosi is a tad bit too liberal for my taste, I do think it will be pretty sweet to have a female Speaker.  Let’s see if the Democrats can do a better job than the G.O.P. has been doing lately…

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Addendum:  Another thing I want to talk about.  Elton John’s recent statement on religion kinda pissed me off.  Possibly he should explore different religions and their beliefs on the issue.  For example, from the PCUSA General Assembly in 1978:

Persons who manifest homosexual behavior
must be treated with the profound respect and pastoral tenderness
due all people of God. There can be no place within the Christian
faith for the response to homosexual persons of mingled contempt,
hatred, and fear that is called homophobia.

I would venture to say that, contrary to what he says, some religions (or denominations, in this case) in fact promote acceptance of gay people.  Although “It seems to be contrary to the teaching
of scripture, [and] it seems to repudiate the heterosexual process
which gave us life…The church…should be open to more light on what goes into
shaping one’s sexual preferences and reexamine its life and
teaching in relation to people who are seeking affirmation and
needing acceptance and who are apparently not free to change
their orientations.“   So maybe Elton John needs to read up a little bit before he makes sweeping statements.  I for one won’t be purchasing his albums anymore.

(All of those quotes are from this webpage, a section of PCUSA’s Presbyterian 101 Guide to Social Issues, which is quite interesting to read.)

I took the Physics GRE yesterday.  It was hard.  Really hard.  I don’t have any pictures of it (duh), but what I do have pictures of is this:

 

That is one tiny little hat, for one tiny little baby Jack, the recipient of the booties (which are of course HUGE on him).  I adapted one of the Caps to the Capital patterns for this amazing yarn from the yarn store in Bryan, Elsebeth Lavold’s Cotton Patine`, 100% combed cotton and so soft.  I have a ton of projects in the works…yay holiday knitting!  Scarves, hats, handbags, oh my!

I also have a ton of homework…um…yeah…

Sherry visited this weekend, all the way from Maryland!  Hooray!  Sadly, I only got to see her a little bit because of the dumb test, but a little bit’s better than nothing!

Um…I think that’s about all the excitingness around here these days.  Hope y’all are well.  Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, and if you live in Texas, vote Kinky Friedman for Governor!!!

I changed my PicasaWeb to http://picasaweb.google.com/ashpags so my full name wasn’t up there.  Not that you had it bookmarked, but if you did, you can update your bookmark.