Pointless musings

after much pondering, i have decided to try using blogger for a while. if it sucks, i may return here but most of my KAL's require a blogger account and i like the look of blogger better. its going to take me a little while to get settled in to blogger but if you're visiting me here, please come visit me at my new home HERE.

i am finally finished with the modified aspen hats. they are a fun little knit, and they only take like an hour to knit up. or they would, if i wasn't obsessive compulsive. i ended up with four hats, two from each skein of LB wool ease thick and quick (i love nice fancy yarn, but there is something to be said for the economical, comfy, and washable wool ease) the wool ease works well in the hats, but it is no where as obnoxiously thick as the twinkle so there had to be some modifications. and i couldn't get the damn things long enough to cover my ears. but multiple frogs and reknits later, all four are satisfactory. one of each color will be going to sister to act as christmas presents until i get her pinwheel sweater done.


the other orange hat has two black buttons like the green one here, and the other green one has two wooden buttons.


here is one in action


here is the current progress on sister's pinwheel sweater. the black on the edge is just waste yarn so i could try it on. it needs to grow a bit still

i've done much organizing of flickr photos and ravelry projects in the last few days in an attempt to distract myself from studying. i have one final left to take, tomorrow at 1:30. so far they have gone alright. it appears as though i have made it another quarter without failing out. however, i have seriously lost interest in studying for tomorrow's test. i even opted to clean downstairs over studying. at least my house looks better.

we've also gotten our engagement photos back from the photographer, finally. she took a lot longer than i expected, but she got a lot of really good shots so i suppose that's alright. eventually i will upload them to flickr to share and post my favorites here. and i'd like to take the CD to cord to have a few developed to give to family members, but i guess all of that can wait until next week.

i can't take credit for this discovery, as i am not the one who actually noticed. it was in another knitting blog in which i came across this information. lets all think back to an entry i posted some time ago (i would link it, but i'm lazy) about a certain twinkle sweater. a sweater that, in spite of being loud and somewhat obnoxious, called to me from the cover of one vogue holiday issue. a sweater that i knit up in a variety of brightly colored yarns and wore out in public. a sweater that mr. z will tolerate, but does not like. i like this sweater quite a bit (though i wish i had known better and splurged on somewhat better yarn) and my only complaints about it are some funky increases that i messed up but are thankfully hidden under the arms and the fact that i had no idea how much wenlan chia's knits stretch and i knit a medium (my standard size) rather than the extra-small i probably needed.

why do i bring up this sweater after all these months? well for one thing, with the 80's making a comeback i thought it would look cute with black leggings. mr. z (i like calling him that, i think it shall be his new new alias) gave me a horrified look at the suggestion, but i have not ruled it out completely. but no, this is not the real reason i mention it. the real reason is this. that's right. the store whose clothes i most often drool over, the store that will probably eat up at least one paycheck when i finally start making real money is selling it. for over 200$. how's that for heinous?!

i will have to have mr. z take another picture of the heinous sweater because i cringe to post the ones i have. the lighting is terrible and it doesn't compliment the sweater at all. i must get a picture that is worthy of a 230$ sweater.

... is no longer in service.

i called home yesterday. i dialed my parents phone number. that is to say my parents' old number. or the number that was home for as long as i've known how to dial a phone. my parents had already said that the phone was being disconnected last thursday, seeing as how they moved left in the wake of the moving truck on wednesday evening. but still, i just wanted to see. i mean that number has always either resulted in one of them answering or some dumbass machine message from my little brother. this time i got the mechanical woman who says that the number has been disconnected. its not our house anymore. :(

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Originally uploaded by zarafaknits

... is for my mom. she's not really the wrap type, so in the end there may be hours of labor wasted. but she does appreciate handknits, so i figure if it isn't a wrap, it will end up being a lap blanket. which, as long as she's happy, i'm ok with. but they say it gets chilly in tuscon in the evenings (though she had to rub in the fact that it was 80 there yesterday) so i thought maybe it could replace a jacket if they go somewhere nice in the evening.

this picture isn't really up to the photographical caliber that i am aiming for these days, but ken was hard pressed to get a decent picture that encompassed the whole wrap. i'm not kidding, this thing is huge.

it was a surprisingly easy knit though, and now i understand why everyone always says that entrelac isn't nearly as hard as it looks. its totally not. its time consuming if you plan to drag it out through fifteen skeins of Noro Silk Garden (thank GOD for going out of business sales or this never would have been affordable), but not difficult.
and yes, the new user pic is the future mrs. and mr. z. still waiting on the remainder of the photos from the photographer and trying very hard to be patient. ros, i shall pass your suggestion on to mr. z about supporting my habit. i suspect he will not be agreeable. hehe. :)

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Originally uploaded by zarafaknits

so i haven't figured out how to get multiple photos from flickr onto the same blog post, so we'll do these one at a time for now.

this is the entrelac (or however you spell it) scarf i knit for jen. its loosely adapted from both the Danica and the Lady Eleanor patterns. its Noro Silk Garden lite in some colorway that i really like but think has been discontinued. at least according to my LYS.

i really liked how it looked, and from the lovely action shots jen sent me (via picture text) i will assume she does too.

there are some more FO's and WIP's to post but now i must go test blood glucose levels at a screening event for school.

has it really been two month since i last updated my blog? yowsers. let the be an indication of just how crazy my life has gotten recently.

so school started off pretty much hectic right out of the gate. this could be due to my habit of not going to class and listening to the lectures at home later, putting me in a perpetual state of being two days or so behind. and then tests start and i skip one class to study for another and pretty soon all hell breaks loose. that is pretty much where i am right now. but i rocked yesterdays test and i'm not as far behind as i have been other quarters so i'm feeling pretty good about it, minus the usual baseline state of panic.

wedding planning (right... got engaged in August. never did blog that) its set for next Oct 11th. we've ironed out a lot of the major details, but its still always there in the back of my mind. plus its given me a whole new reason to monitor craftster regularly.

and work has become a clusterfuck of ridiculousness. someone quit, someone else might as well for as often as they bother to show up. and somehow my 15 hours a week became 20 hours a week and is now 25. not to mention i have third year rotations on top of normal work, so i get to go to meijers at the ass-crack of dawn to test people's cholesterol. the testing cholesterol and counseling is actually fine. its the timeslot with which i have issues.

i do have a bunch of knitting projects to post. a couple are actually finished! the rest are work's in progress. one of which is the first of the bridesmaids wraps which i'm quite excited about. i will try to post the pictures of them soon. i apparently need to open a flickr account because i got my invite to ravelry.com a couple weeks ago and i need a flickr account to post pictures there. i am just now setting it up because i should be working on my counseling notes and studying for tomorrow's test. therefore, i am messing around with pointless online knitting things. that makes sense... right?

darn you rosalind! i can't stop taking knitting quizzes!!


on another note... FINALLY called zarah tonight. (called sarilyn too but she didn't answer) and SO glad i did. it was a lovely chat. i should take care of these things more often. :)

so its been quite some time since i last posted.  i could try to recap everything that went on in the 12 weeks (plus or minus) since i was consistently posting.  but i won't.  i don't have the patience or the time to recall and type everything.  suffice to say, i had a wonderful time in new mexico.  it was awesome to get to hang out with carrie all the time.  i really miss having her around... and spending time with jen and the youngsters.  even having drunk jeff stumbling over to talk about who knows what.  it was nice to have constant social contact.  not that i don't have social contact here... everyone is just more spread out so it takes some effort and planning to actually get together.  much less just dropping by and shooting the shit over some boxed wine.  and i miss pretending to coach volleyball :(    oh... and the job was alright too.

back in ohio, we did have a good psych outing this weekend.  there were multiple spouses/sig others at the party friday night so there were lots of people to talk to.  i even had a REALLY nice chat with aaron, whom i've really only ever said hello to before.  it was a very adult conversation and it was surprisingly genuine.  not the usual type of conversations i have with ken's colleagues, even the ones i know.  i did miss michelle's cheerful presence though, too bad she's gone.  didn't spend much time with jamie, so didn't get terribly annoyed.  it was nice to see him as well.  AND... almost forgot.  michelle and dave were there with their latest addition who is precious.  definitely one of the nicest conversations i've had with michelle as well.  she seemed far more comfortable among dave's 'people' than i have ever seen her before.  i could actually see us hanging out with them again.  and i spent saturday with sonja and jenny, which was also a good time.  we hit the alternative craft fair and then just kind of wandered around the short north, which is always an enjoyable way to spend a sunny afternoon. 

and i've plunged back into the mundane world of CVS.  it was just scott and a floater pharmacist yesterday though so it was a less painful return than it could have been.  i assume it will be more of the gals tonight so that should be good.  L is on vacation so i have a week to remember what i'm doing before i have to work with her. whew. :)

couple new knitting projects on the needles, and one finally off.  will have to post pictures of the completed lady e in action once we get some taken.  and jen's scarf should be done shortly as well.  the its just carrie's christmas present and and the turtle skirt.

in the meantime, i am ALMOST finished with getting all my shit put away and the laundry done.  then its just organizing school stuff and dusting and this place is cleaned up.  just in time for school tomorrow.

PS- to those friends whose calls i have not been returning... i SWEAR i will call you as soon as i'm settled back in.  its on my to do list... honest.

well i'm finally starting to feel a little less cranky about some things... and a little more cranky about others.

more cranky... ron.  he's driving me fucking batty.  ok, so its not my fault you are miserable and are dealing with it by moping around feeling sorry for yourself and drowning yourself in a cult-like church and judging other people.  your coworkers are a group of sweet-ass people that are hilarious to hang around with.  sit around and judge them, fine. but i don't feel sorry for you when you aren't having any fun.  it could be that having to shadow him all week in the clinics is getting to be a bit over much for me but SERIOUSLY.  the guy can't even carry on a normal conversation.  i can take shit and give it back without a problem.  harrass me about my football team, about my age, about my drinking... whatever.  i don't care. but it would be nice to have a normal conversation from time to time.  i can only pretend to be witty for so long before i get tired of hearing the same old shit.  i've started dealing with it by reading my immunization stuff and just not responding.  plus he was all pissy this afternoon.  amit wouldn't tell me why but i suspect it had sometime to do with me mentioning that ken was coming for the week.  well... i've already pointed out that i don't date religious people d/t conflict of beliefs.  and i have not (in my opinion at least, i'm having flashbacks to when i was "dating" dave) given him any reason to belief that i would want to date him.  chubby asians just aren't my type.  nothing personal, just not my thing.  anyway, tomorrow i'm with him in clinic all day instead of just half a day so hopefully people show up for their appointments so i am not tempted to beat my head into the wall.

more cranky... running.  its been terrible lately.  i'm way undertraining so i don't even know if i'll be able to finish the marathon without walking.  the half on the 12th should be alright.  i'm slightly better trained than i was for the last one.  but the marathon is a whole nother story.  the last two runs have been total crap and i couldn't even get motivated to go out and run today.  and then lindsey is all talking about her seven and ten mile runs.  i know she takes her running seriously, and i want to also but i just can't seem to get my butt in gear.  i miss sonja.

less cranky... next week.  i was really looking forward to spending this weekend in albuquerque with ken but was feeling a bit testy about his being here the whole week.  i really don't want to have to spend the whole week worrying about whether or not he's bored out of his mind or not.  (and yes dear, i know you are going to say not to worry about it but i still will). ok, i guess i'm still a little cranky about it.  and it was kind of like 'i'm going to come for a week in august, which dates work best for you?" rather than "is it ok if i come for a whole week"  and i only have a few weeks left to enjoy being out here.  (and yes i admit it, i'm enjoying being out here on my own) and i feel like one is being usurped.  but whatever.  its fine.  and today kerri at work said there is a wine tasting next wednesday at ceremonial so i got us two tickets, and neil's going away party is tuesday so i said we would come to that too.  she seemed excited that they would get to meet ken so that was good.  and it made me feel better.  but i still feel kind of selfish and don't really want to share new mexico.  its weird, i know.  i'm not sure what my problem is.

less cranky... work and career.  i think i'm going to try to find some time and sit down with cindy next week and talk about the srcostep and residency programs and the possibility of doing both.  and since i've really enjoyed this hospital experience, maybe i'll see about joining one of the organizations for hospital pharmacy once school starts up again. SSHP i think maybe is the one.  but i still have some time to consider my options and talk to cindy, and rodis once i get back to school about what i want to do.  stressing over it right now really isn't going to do much good.  and ken and i can talk about it this weekend.  part of what is stressing me out is that i think i may want to use the IHS to work in the pacific northwest or alaska for a few years.  and i don't know what that means if ken takes a job somewhere else... which seems most likely.  but i guess we'll just have to see how that goes.

ok.  so i just needed to vent a little bit.  there may be more venting tomorrow, depending on just how annoying ron is.  

i am feeling kind of sad that its august already.  this summer has flown by!! i only have five weeks left at GIMC and sister goes back to work on monday. :(  it will be nice to go back to school and see ashley and sonja and everyone, but i'm really going to miss everyone here.