Mostly fiber stuff

This luscious fiber arrived a couple days ago from Chimera. Definitely looking forward to spinning it.





And here is some yarn I spun with fiber I got from SarahWood3587. I just finished plying it this evening. I had to re-wind one of the bobbins into a ball before plying to get the color contrast I wanted. I love how soft the yarn is. I don't think there's enough for a scarf, but definitely enough for a hat.





And I finally finished my improv lace shawl! I cast off last night. I've got pictures with and without Jude. The shawl is currently blocking on the floor in the second bedroom. It seems pretty dry, but I'll still wait to unpin it until tomorrow.

Jude nap

Knitting news: I'm still plugging along on the improv lace circular shawl. The end is in sight. I'm on the third rep of the feather and fan border, and I think I'll go for 5 reps, or maybe 7 to balance out the size of the shawl. The crazy part is: I still love working on this project! How many tens of hours have I spent on it? And it's still pretty much my favorite project to pick up! I don't understand it. I do look forward to wearing it, though.

I've been somewhat succumbing to startitis lately. Luckily my supply of needles is limited, else I would have three more hats in "progress" right now. I did start the Litla Dimun shawl from Folk Shawls, because it's a moderate size, simple-looking, and the kind of thing I can finish. As much as I would love to have the Irish Diamond Shawl, I don't think I've quite reached that maturity level, as a person. The KnitPicks podcast on charity knitting from 9/9/09, and especially the Sticks and String podcast from 9/6/09 inspired me to cast on for a baby hat to send off to Afghanistan, where many babies die just because their heads get too cold. I even have the perfect yarn for it. But I'm going to let that wait until I finish a few more projects. And then there are various promised presents I need to make this year. And stocking my Etsy shop. And Christmas...

I just discovered a new blog today: AndreaKnits Fiber Arts Blog. I'm going to just eat that up. Her work is gorgeous, and her pictures are plentiful and lovely. And it's fun to read.

In other news, Jude is outrageously cute. Jonny came over to pick up his mini fridge, which Evan and I had been storing for him over the summer. Jude was as friendly as ever, and lay down as Jonny and I were chatting in the living room. Jude fell asleep. Nothing strange there, except for his position:

I couldn't help taking many, many pictures. Jude didn't move through the whole thing. Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy.

















Oh, my gosh, I love my cat!

April

Yesterday Evan and I had to euthanize his pet rat, April. April had had a very long and happy life, though in the last several months she had been developing tumors. Evan operated on her three times to remove these tumors, which were superficial, but the tumors spawned and grew faster with time, and though she recovered quickly from the surgeries, they were still hard on April, especially as she got older and the cancer took its toll. These past weeks April hasn't been eating or drinking. She couldn't make it up the ramp to the upper floors of her cage, and couldn't even navigate around the lowest floor. So Evan made the tough call, and we took care of it. As he says, it was harder than he expected. This afternoon he went to his parents' house to bury April in the back yard.

Here's a picture of Evan's rats, Lily and April. April's probably the one on top.

There's still Lily, who is remarkably healthy, feisty, and cancer-free. We wonder whether she will notice that April's gone, or if she will care. More banana chips for her, I guess.

Crows

So apparently crows can recognize human faces. However, humans are hopeless at telling one crow from another. Interesting. NPR told me.

Weddings suck

After having dealt with barely the tip of the catastrophic iceberg of wedding planning, I have determined that weddings are impossible. Mom says tradition dictates that the wedding should be all about the bride (me). Evan insists that he (groom) is part of the wedding, too, and that his preferences should be taken into consideration. So we must find a way to be married in both Connecticut and New York simultaneously so all parties are appeased. Meanwhile, it turns out that there is no time when we actually can get married. Evan's two-week winter vacation is clogged with holidays and impossibilities, spring break is too short, and then we're into summer already. I don't want to be one of the multitude of summer weddings. Besides, I dislike summer.

To quote myself: Every five minutes I revert to thinking we should just go do the legal paperwork at the town hall, have a nice lunch, and call it done.

Engaged!

Yesterday, Evan and I went to look at an abandoned cat at the vet where his parents take their pets. We absolutely loved this cat -- friendliest, chillest cat there ever was, loves to be held, playful, and with beautiful markings, to boot! He didn't even make Evan sneeze. So off we went to get cat stuff (food, litter, etc), and returned to the vet to pick up the cat, whom we named Jude. I was thinking maybe Jasper, because I was getting a "J" vibe from him. Evan suggested Jude, since the song Hey Jude has significance to us.

When we were getting our Petco card for discounts and stuff, the application asked Jude's birthday. We counted back 6 months, and decided that he was born on February 22nd, which is our anniversary.

In the car on the way home, Evan said we should probably wait until we got a house to get a second cat, and this ruined his proposal plans. He had been planning to surprise me on some Saturday morning with a new cat with a ring attached to the collar, but that plan was out. I said he could still surprise me with the ring. He complained that the cat didn't have a collar. I said he could tie a piece of string around the cat's neck, and that would be fine with me.

At home, Jude quickly warmed up to us. He slunk around the apartment for a bit, and then chilled under the dining table, but he came out before long and was very affectionate (and I made sure to introduce him to the litter box).

Then Evan shut himself and Jude in the bedroom and wouldn't let me in. I assumed he was trying to get kitty bonding time behind my back, while I cleaned up in the kitchen. After a minute, Evan came out, holding Jude with a red piece of yarn tied around his neck. I thought maybe he was just being cute, since we had already discussed that whole proposal plan and thereby disqualified it. But, sure enough, there was a super-sparkly ring under Jude's chin. "Sarah, will you marry me?" asked Evan. I answered something to the effect of "yes!"



















There followed the usual phone calls and such, but otherwise, things remained quite casual. Evan did his reading for class. I cleaned up the second bedroom for Jonny's arrival and played with Jude. The whole engagement thing hasn't quite sunk in, yet. But I am loving this ring!

Cold, ick

I seem to have been the victim of a hit-and-run cold. I felt hunky-dory yesterday morning, but as the day progressed I developed a major sniffle, along with aches, swollen glands, and what I think was a low-grade fever. I left lab early and slept most of the afternoon. Evan was an angel and made me chicken noodle soup. Granted, it was canned, but he still made it for me. :)

Today I'm still somewhat achy, and moderately sniffly, but much more functional, which is good, because I need to generate an experimental design for discussion with my advisors tomorrow. I think I have it pretty much done, but I'll re-visit it later today. And I should finish taking pictures on the microscope. Only four more slides to go. Then I can start getting into the higher magnifications.

Tomorrow afternoon I'm driving to CT for a friend's wedding. I'm looking forward to it. This friend is an organist, so I have high expectations for the service music. On Sunday my mom is paying me to serve as organist at the church she's preaching at. They have one of those ridiculous organs that plays music off a CD, so having an in-person organist will be new for them. The church won't pay me, but Mom feels that it will be worth it. So, cool.

Oh, and I'm very proud of myself. My examination committee has unanimously decided that I passed part I of my qualifying exam with honors.