no. 7: decorations, knitting frenzy and last minute everything

Alright, it's been almost a month. wow, a month. I guess that's what happens when you mark papers and final exams, and have to do a mountain of sample processing, yay research! not to mention knitting. I haven't done this much knitting in quite some time, and I'm finding it difficult to a) stay motivated and b) stay seated long enough to get this last (and longest on-going) project off the needles and ready to be gifted.

Progress of late:
The BIGGEST TOQUE EVER

seriously, it's huge, I put it on, while wearing a bun and can still pull it a good 5cm away from my head on every side... but that means it SHOULD fit the person I made it for, with extra room, too!

THE SCARF THAT WILL NOT END

Okay, not that it'll never end, but that I'd forgotten just how LONG scarves need to be in order to be useful... It's from the Interweave Knits holiday knitting 2007, and you can find more of my notes on it on Ravelry.

MOM'S TOQUE, improved

yes, amazing self-photography skills, I know. But it shows off the duplicate-stitched snowflake quite well, I think, and now there actually is definition around these buggers, they're not just indistinct patches of white amidst the blue any more. yay! one present 100% absolutely DONE!

*phew!* progress is exciting. Actually progress in any general sense seems to be exciting, and I have tons of that right now. I had a meeting with my supervisors yesterday, in which they came away smiling saying I had "novel" information to present, yay! Now I just have to process and statistically analyse that novel information.

And, other things to look at. My roommate and I got a tree and decorated it, I'm so pleased. I helped my family decorate theirs on the weekend, and then we got ours on Monday - I carried it home in my arms from the tree lot - and decorated it Tuesday night. It's a tiny tree, only using one string of LED lights, but it has branches, full, green and beautifully scented branches that don't hold many ornaments, but at least look pretty. Our tree became a mix of folksy wooden ornaments, crafty goodness, and a punch of coloured glass balls for variety (and to lessen the red and white theme we'd have going without them)... crochet snowflakes and red beads make for a cute but slightly monotone tree, so I'm glad we could mix it up with some other fun stuff too.



Now, if only my baking and shopping were all done...

no. 4: stalling

I am supposed to be either writing my thesis, analysing my data or marking papers, and instead, all I can do is sit and think about knitting. Admittedly knitting has always been my (one of many) mode of procrastination, but you wouldn't believe my productivity of late. Thankfully it's nearing Christmas and I can somewhat justify it. Not like I can justify sleeping in because I'm exhausted and I'm in love with my flannel sheets, but still... I CAN justify that!

So, in the spirit of being proud of at least SOME of my progress (how can one be proud of putting root samples in the drying oven, woo!), I shall now show off my knitting, because maybe if I can be inspired to knit, I can be inspired to work on something else too... namely chapter 1.



this would be the toque on my paint-stained hand-me-down kitchen table


and to truly know what it looks like, me donning the toque for posterity (and the necessary craftster 'action shot')





Chapter 1... aughh! who am I kidding? there's no work happening today. I just... can't! Maybe I'll read a paper or two (I have 28 to mark, boy am I looking forward to being done with this teaching assistantship). Maybe I'll just have a nap and prepare for the anticipatedly delicious hand-tossed pizza supper my friends and I are having. Tony's Pizza Palace here I come.