Almost There

My grad school days are almost over! I've finished every paper, taken every test, and will be moving out of my on campus apartment this weekend! All that's left is my graduate project, the final boss before I defeat my degree.

I wish I could say that I felt enthusiastic about it.  When I first started my project, I was excited and optimistic, but my research area is very young and there are dead ends everywhere.  I don't have the time to do the primary research that I needed for my original project; then came revision two and three and four and now I've lost count on how many times my proposal's been rewritten.  Six months just isn't enough time, that's the lesson that I've been learning.

So I've been knitting at my scarf during classes and while reading papers and when I need to sit and breathe.  I've used up half my yarn, and the scarf is 30 inches long - so it will end up being about five feet.  I hope that's long enough for boyfriend! I'm not incredibly excited about how the pattern came out - I kind of wanted the stitches to look different. I think next time I'll use a smoother yarn and larger needles.

I also put some scales on a hedgie.  My roommate asked for one at the beginning of the quarter and I think that she forgot - I hope that I get to surprise her! Hooks and Needles is having a winter sale again (though I won't be around to see it :( ) but since I paid my dues for a year I still get to participate!  During the last sale I was kind of a hedgehog sweatshop, and after the initial nightmares about needing to make more hedgehogs, I actually started to like it. 

If you had told me four years ago that I would make the same pattern over and over again, I would have laughed.  But there's something about these hedgies - they're just too cute. And each one is a little different.  This one makes me think of gingerbread houses, with the sienna scales and white thread.

It's the little things!