Things are finally getting done.

Most importantly, my thesis is being submitted to my committee tomorrow morning. One MAJOR step towards finishing. Now I more or less just have to put a presentation together and wait for comments. So it's all coming together. Three long years. I am very much looking forward to returning to a normal working life - you know, where you go to work in the morning, come home in the evening, and don't really have to think about work until the next morning. That and the steady paycheque. Always appreciated! My knitting projects are coming along too. At the moment I have noprojects on needles. A couple of swatches here or there, but those aren't even for specific projects. I finally finished my ribby cardi, except for the zipper, which I have yet to purchase. I had to frog and reknit the zipper bands like 3 times because the bloody things wouldn't lie flat if I had 91 stitches like the pattern called for. It bowed inwards really badly. So I tried more stitches. Still didn't work. Finally, I ended up picking up a stitch in each existing stitch and that worked. There are maybe 5 stitches too many, but I'm hoping that careful zipper sewing will minimize that problem. I'm NOT knitting those bands again!!! I can't wait to wear this thing. And knit more. Sis is getting one in black and pink. And I think I'll make myself one in cotton that I got from recycling a thrift store sweater. My orange jacket is all wrapped up in damp towels on my bathroom floor at the moment. I had one of those "I'm a moron" moments with the second sleeve. Apparently I was half asleep when I got to where the increases start because, well, I didn't make any increases. And of course I just blindly kept on going until it was time to bind off and I realized that I had nowhere near as many stitches as I needed. So ribbit, ribbit, the sleeve got frogged all the way to where the increases were supposed to start. And now all is well. Other than the first sleeve and the first 8 inches of the second sleeve, I have quite literally knitted that sweater twice now. I am rather looking forward to blocking and seaming it though. I suspect that it's going to be a tighter, more cropped jacket than in the original pattern, but hey, it's not like I was going to wear the thing for actual skiing anyways!!! Here's the front of the jacket. (That really horribly clashing piece of fuschia thread was just to mark the right side). And here's a shot from a few days ago, before sleeve #2 was completed, frogged, and reknit. Hopefully by tomorrow, it'll be blocked and ready for seamage. Now I have no idea what to knit next. I want to make like everything!!! And I'm still on my no yarn budget, so I have to make do with what's in my stash. I'm thinking I might make a warm fuzzy version of Teva Durham's Ballet Pullover. Looks like a nice quick knit! And after that, who knows. What I do have to make some project on is my crocheted afghan. I started it in like March, and I've only got about a foot done. It's a super easy pattern, and works up fairly quickly (come on, it's a J hook after all), but I've just been so busy knitting that I've left it in the bucket for months. Here's what it looks like It's already big enough to keep me warm while I'm working on it. :-) Can't wait to finish it... hopefully I'll have it done by the time fall comes. Of course, as I write, it's super sunny and rather hot in my apartment... so working on afghans is like the last thing I want to do right now. What I need is a slurpee!