I don’t really knit socks but I want to buy this sock yarn! It’s called Zauberball. As a German speaker who grew up in Canada, I find this hilarious, because it translates to Magic Balls. Because I am 12.

I’ve sort of disappeared lately, and I apologize! I think this is the longest time I’ve gone without blogging, and I should at least have warned you guys in case some of you folks suspected I was dead. Well, I’m not dead! Only my social life is.

The past four days were, I think, the most stressful of my entire life. I had about 3 days to design a neuroimaging experiment, pilot it with 4 participants so I would know which set-up and stimuli would be most effective, recruit participants and make sure everything was tested so nothing would go horribly wrong. My first participant in the machine came in yesterday, and when that person was finished, I’d gone for four days on 13 hours of sleep. Oh yeah, and in that same time I also had to rewrite a 15-page paper twice. Twice!

But now it’s over and I told everyone that I don’t care what my other responsibilities are, I am taking a whole day where I don’t have to do anything. Here is what I have done today: sleep until 5pm, watch Reno 911, and pet my cat. Now I am going to finish the ribbing on my Bubble sweater, and all will be right with the world.

I fibbed a little bit. When I said before that I was done my Masters Thesis, I had finished all the writing but there were still a few nagging details that were bothering me. I made a change to a pretty important algorithm, which meant I had to rewrite a few conclusions I’d made that were slightly different (but better!) after the recalculation. Then lots of other stuff had to be done. And then a few more things.

But now it’s done.

I’m done my masters thesis! I sent it to my committee a few hours ago. I am, as we speak, watching The Colbert Report (*namedrop*) and eating three kinds of cheese atop three kinds of crackers. There’s some brand-name cheddar (*brand name drop*), some Brie, and a bit of Cambozola. I’m livin’ the high life over here. Television and cheese.

After the cheese high passes, I’ll be doing a little knitting. I’m going to turn this:

Into this:

(Photo above: [[Irene Dunne]], famous actress, person whose name sounds like “done”)

That’s right. Eat it, [[Dominick Dunne]], American writer and investigative journalist whose subjects frequently hinge on the ways high society interacts with the judiciary system. I chose the other Dunne to awkwardly reference for no particular reason.

Ah, the dreaded DNF. Of course, with my masters due in 4 days a DNF for me was as inevitable as a double relay defeat for an American team that didn’t practice hand-offs (ZING!). I had 8 panels to knit, and then two sleeves and some ribs. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.

To my credit, I finished 8 + 4i², and i is an imaginary number, so if you take that away you get 8 + 4², which means that it’s kinda like I actually finished 24 panels. But the fascists at the IOC don’t accept that kind of math, so I’m resigned to a DNF. Here’s what I have so far:

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I’m going for the Olympics this year with Bubble by Norah Gaughan! Here’s my sweater on Ravelry. I’m really busy at the mo’ (it being master’s defence season) but I will try to finish on time. For efficiency, most of my comments will appear on the Ravelry page and in 2 weeks I’ll put up a final post on this blog. Wish me luck! I’ll be a PhD student soon!

I’m heading off to the Sault again. I’ve got a copy of The Golden Compass to read, a few papers for my masters and the stats from all that wonderful data you generous folks gave to me!

I’m also printing something else out…

I’m finally starting Bubble! I didn’t have any worsted/aran wool to use with this and I’m still trying to stick to my stash diet, so I drove to Value Village yesterday and bought a pullover in a crimson colour. It’s cotton, which I don’t usually like to knit with, but I think it will be ok. I ripped, skeined and washed it last night, and it’s drying as we speak. Hopefully it will be dry in 4 hours when I have to leave!

I’m back to taking photos again, now that my mom is back from Europe (along with her camera). Here are a few I took for you guys:

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Greenzo (otherwise known as Orangina) is pictured here as an unfinished item, but soon after I took these photos (the 15th), I went to a hockey game (last game of the Kingston Frontenacs at the Memorial Centre!) and finished it up. It’s now sitting around waiting to be blocked so I can seam up the sides and take saucy pictures of myself wearing it. Stay tuned.

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I’m pushing it a little bit with this WIP, in that it is only technically still a WIP because I haven’t woven in the last end of the sweater yet. The lengths to which I’ll go to keep my WIP-week promises!

Bickety BAM!

I love this sweater.

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Here’s the progress on my mom’s Somewhat Cowl. I’ve decided that I actually prefer pure stockinette sweaters, because they’re completely brainless and I only ever have to tink back a row if I accidentally forget a raglan increase/decrease. I also really love that this sweater is seamless, because I am currently in seaming hell with my Phildar sweater and it’s encouraging to know I won’t have to go through it with this one.

The seaming is growing on me, though! I love how that sweater is coming out, and if I can find a camera by tomorrow I will show you exactly how awesome a one-armed sweater can be. And once I’ve finished the whole thing, and finished Colchique, and finished a seamless raglan that fits me (keep an eye out for an EZ pattern in the future), I will tell you exactly which process I think is better. I’ve been afraid of knitting a seamless sweater for fear it will be completely structureless, but this Somewhat Cowl is looking really nice so far. Hopefully my mom will like it.

More pictures after the jump.

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I didn’t want to call this shirt Orangina because it’s not orange, and Greenina doesn’t fit very well. Greenzo, however, fits like a glove. And so voila: Greenzo. (For those not in the know, I named this shirt Greenzo after David Schwimmer’s one-time character on the bext comedy on television, 30 Rock. Watch this show! It is awesome! I would never let you down with a television recommendation.)

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Here’s the neckwarmer, waiting for a button. I managed to sew the button on just as I was leaving my parents’ place and didn’t get to take a picture, so as soon as the batteries on my own camera are charged, you’ll get your FO photos. Because it was a WIP when I took the pictures, I can still technically post them this week!

I really love the pooling effect that occurred in this yarn. It looks like a blue tiger. I really really really love this yarn and I can’t wait to have an excuse to buy some more. I’d get some in Bulky, and make a beautiful hat and mitten combo. I don’t care if they would match this neckwarmer, I only care that they would be the most squishy, deliciously warm and soft mittens in the solar system.

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