Upcoming Patterns

The last two weeks have been a little iffy. I told you about dropping the tax class, but I also dropped an economics course. It’s an interesting subject. Unfortunately, our teacher isn’t actually teaching it and there was a little incident in class that made me want to decapitate him. Plus, I already have to go to summer school now, so what’s one extra class? Add to that the fact that I missed several classes. Again. My excuse is that the fiance came down for V-day, so I feel I can be a little excused. I jumped right back on though and haven’t missed since.

So, with all my newfound free time, I’ve been knitting a little more every night. Remember my diagonal drop stitch scarf fiasco? Well, I’m actually going to give you patterns for them. Honest to goodness patterns. One will be the one that I posted the picture for and the other will be another drop stitch scarf with tapered ends. The second especially is good for people just learning how to think about using increases and decreases to shape pieces. I’ll probably post that one first since I have more progress on it. If you’re a beginning knitter, be looking out for that soon.

In the meantime, check this out.

A Shawl, a Surrender, and Some Hope

Alright, I’ll admit it. I missed a class Monday morning. I just kinda… slept instead. However, I jumped right back on the horse and haven’t missed anything since. There. That’s off my chest.

So let’s talk about another one of my horses. In my last post, I asked for free help from the accountants of the world. Well, I won’t be needing that anymore. I bombed my first test in income tax. Bombed as in Hiroshima. Or so I think at least, because I dropped before I bothered to find out what I made. Effort-wise, I spent more time slogging through tax law and writing papers about tax court than focusing on my major-specific classes. That’s a waste of time and energy in my book. So, I’ll take a lower-level accounting elective over the summer. Summer classes… ugh.

Is everyone ready for some hope? Okay, well my rabbit chewed through my phone and TV cables, so I can’t watch movies and have to be careful with the phone. That’s not the hope part. This is: I’m knitting again. I hadn’t realized how little I’ve knit since the beginning of school or how much that’s stressed me out. I mean, I still haven’t finished Christmas presents. I realize knitting cable covers isn’t exactly tackling my to-do list, but I’m doing something I love again that will protect the sanctity of my film watching, ensuring the goodness of mindless knitting in the future. So there’s that.

And then there’s this: Mom’s Shawl. Yes, the one I finished BEFORE my Christmas deadline. Sometimes I’m not totally slack. I used a simple feather and fan pattern and several colors of I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. I Love This Yarn is much softer than Red Heart but just as cheap. And since I refuse to use Red Heart for anything that goes on or near the body, this is the best basic, cheap acrylic out there. It doesn’t block well though. I’m not sure if it was because I knit with two strands held together and it was too thick, or you just have to douse the hell out of it. Otherwise, I think it worked up pretty nicely and both me and my mom are very happy with it.

Challenge: Week 1

How have you all been? Anything exciting heppen? As for me, nothing exciting so much as debilitatingly boring and extremely stressful. Are any of you tax experts? If so, give me a call because I’m taking a class entirely dedicated to income tax law. I’m not even an accounting major! This is the last accounting elective I need to take and it’s killing me. Though, as you may have guessed, I have a new computer!  That’s been the highlight so far.

You may have noticed from my last post that I’m feeling overwhelmed. Most of my life, I’ve been very confident in myself and my abilities. However, the last few years I’ve taken a massive hit and don’t quite know how to recover. For the past several months in particular, I’ve felt lost. The only way I know how to fix it is to take back control of my life, in any way possible. Hence, the February challenge.

How have I done so far this month? Awesome. For one week, I’ve attended every class. Thanks to the school board, we even had class this Saturday. That sucked ass, but I’ve managed to go to all of them. I’ve been bored, tired, pissed, and sad, but in class no matter what. And for one week, I haven’t had to ask anyone what we did, what I needed to catch up on, or what the plan is. It’s a good feeling. Sometimes it’s the little things that can help make you feel better, even if you’re otherwise drowning.

So, for all of you out there in blogland, keep your heads up. I’ll try to do the same. We can take on next week together.