Meanwhile, in between thesis chapters . . .

Life happens and it is often insane.  That's never been so true for me than during the last few months.  I've been on a rollercoaster health-wise with my student clinic doc not really knowing what's wrong with me since my symptoms are all over the place.  Then finals hit.  Essays had to be written; essays required Olympic level mental gymnastics since I can't make things easy for myself; essays had structural issues; essays resolved themselves.  Then my bike got a flat.  Then my computer crashed.  I had a thesis to write.  Insert whatever expletive you prefer here.

Yet my knitting community was there for me.  If they thought I sounded like a whiny brat, they never showed it.  They helped keep me sane, even when it felt like literally everything kept breaking.  Thank you guys.

Now I am knee-deep in thesis.  Most of the writing has to be done in the month of June as a lot of profs are off on vacation or conferences in July.  Mine leaves two weeks before the thesis is due and arrives just before I have to turn it in.  I am now writing like mad so I can get as much feedback as possible.  Well, except for today, where my brain feels like old rubber - remarkably unflexible.  I have a rough draft of chapter one done and am a third of the way through chapter two.  I feel I am making good progress considering.  I am happy with my work and can't wait to continue onto Ph. D. work. 

Nevertheless, I do need knitting for my sanity.  I finished the sweater before it got too warm to wear.

Mom's socks got out in time for Mother's Day. They are knit in Knitpicks Felici, colorway Cochineal.

And then something happened.  It seemed I somehow bent the space/time continuum and got a lot done in a short amount of time.  I got my sister-in-law's present done really fast, for a laceweight.

Okay, I didn't give my SIL a stuffed dog and a big ball of yarn for her birthday.  Apparently the finished photos wandered off and got eaten during the file transfer to the new computer.  Just imagine an Almost Ovals in many shades of purple and oh so soft from the silk.  This is a Hedgehog Fibres creation; Silk Lace in colorway Poison.  It was very pretty.

I also got my Mom's birthday present done and it awaits shipment; I know my mother well enough to know that if it arrived early she wouldn't wait until her birthday to open it.  It's the Debussy Shawlette in Alpaca Silk from Blue Sky Alpacas.

I love the color of this yarn.  It's an incredibly intense fuschia, and now I want a sweater's worth of this color.  The yarn is like butter in your hands (without the grease), a 50/50 blend of alpaca and silk.  I may or may not have bought a skein of it in chocolate brown. *Cough, cough*

Continuing the gift train, I also finished a hat for one of my brothers.

This is the Semi-Swedish Hat knit in Knitpicks Stroll Sport.  I planned on using up the leftovers from the boys' gloves to finish this hat.  I had a skein and a half of each color and thought I would be done with them, but however I still have a skein of each.  It looks like someone will be getting a grey and black scarf for Christmas.

Yes, I said the Evil Word: Christmas.  I have already started my gift-knitting, partly because I always knit gifts in the summertime, and partly because I will be leaving Ireland for a 6-month hiatus between my MA and (hopefully) Ph. D.  Looking at my local stash (as opposed to my Mother Stash back in the States), most of the projects with lots of balls are marked for gifts.  My current plan is to knit all the presents I can and then ship them back to the States so I don't have to carry them around with me in Scotland.  (Oh yes, I am going to Scotland after my Master's thesis is completed.  Carrots, my friends, carrots.)  I also plan on pulling out a few hibernating WIPs to finish off because, in addition to writing a thesis, I've decided to enter The Knitgirllls 4K Stash Dash this summer.  Nope, I don't like to make things easy for myself, not at all.

So what have I got on my needles at the moment?  I've barely started the Gramps Cardigan for my nephew.  I plan on making the 2 year old size since it will be a Christmas cardigan.  That's what I plan on working on the rest of the day since my brain apparently can't process poetry.  Even with a lot of caffeine, I feel a lot like this guy:

Our neighbor, Mr. F. Fox, sleeping off a night on the town

Although the weather has been nice, tomorrow will see me tied to the computer.  I hope the Muse comes back to me.

Life gets in the way

Oh my goodness, it's past Christmas!  It's past New Year's!  My apologies for neglecting the blog.  My Master's program really heated up in November.  I had to work harder and then we had exams starting at the beginning of December.  We also had our first long essay due and I had to try and remember how I used to do analysis.  Working on that essay caused me to question if I wanted to write my thesis on what I was planning or if I want to change it.  It was a mental tornado.  Now I am home and it's past the holidays.  I am grateful for the opportunity to see my family, especially after the death in the family and the birth of another family member.  We also have another animal member in the family.

His name is Jojo.  At the end of August he showed up on our back doorstep skinny as a rail.  We live near a highway, so we think someone dumped him and he found his way to our neighborhood.  He was mostly an outdoor cat until a coyote attacked him; now, he spends most of the day sleeping in the house and goes out at night.  He's a very sweet cat and enjoys being petted.  He even allows the dog to jump all over him when she's playing.  I'm surprised how much I like him since I'm allergic to cats.  So far, I haven't had too major a reaction - just some sneezing and slightly itchy eyes.  He seems to have charmed everyone, though.

Despite all the work, I had time to finish off the Christmas knits. 

Simple gloves for older bro.

Irish Hiking Hat for younger bro

For the new baby: Sunnyside cardigan

For Grandma: Eleanor cowl

The last was a last minute gift.  I was in the middle of writing my essay when I realized I hadn't made a present for my Grandma.  I decided that it was necessary for my her to have a knit gift.  I couldn't get the yarn the pattern called for, so I subbed a fingering weight yarn and added an extra lace repeat while using the needle sizes called for in the pattern.  I probably didn't need that extra repeat and wouldn't use it again.  Also, another knitter suggested that you could put beads on the smaller diamonds in the pattern.  Just an idea.

I also got some knitting for me.  I finished off my mittens just before we got a cold snap in my part of Ireland.  Since I cycle everywhere, these mittens were a welcome addition to my winter wardrobe.

Hedda Knits' La Joie du Printemps

I also finished a cashmere scarf for me using Anne Hanson's Fernfrost pattern.

The yarn I used was Hedgehog Fibres Cashmere Lace in the colorway Sour Cherry.  I was impressed because the red dye did not run at all.  I love Hedgehog's colors and can't wait to spin some of her roving that I have.  The scarf blocked out wide (12 inches or 30cm) but only 50 inches, or 125 cm.  If I made this pattern again, I would make it longer, perhaps using 200-300 yards more than what the pattern called for.

I got to play with more luxury fibers when I reminded Mom that she had some yarn hiding in the closet.  Three years ago, my Mom came with me to my first Stitches, a major fiber retail show that occurs in four regions of the US.  Every year, a company called Windy Valley Muskox vends and they sell qiviut and qiviut blend yarns.  Qiviut is the down fiber of the muskox that is shed naturally every summer.  It is light and very warm . . . and rather expensive.  My Mom likes the good stuff, so she purchased a skein of Qiviut Luxury Blend, a 45/45/10 qiviut/merino/silk blend, and a skein of Pure Qiviut.  I knitted up the Qiviut Luxury Blend in the Little Shells Scarf pattern my Mom got at the same time.  The result was this:

And some detail:

My Mom likes it as it is lightweight but very warm.  Perhaps I'll get around to knitting the other skein before I leave again because I've big plans for the new year.  To be continued. . . .