the middle knitter

Aud and I spent all weekend moving out of the dorm. We're housesitting for the last two weeks of the program. It's a really great opportunity to retreat and work on our papers, and we're being paid. And we don't have to pay rent!

There are three dogs here. They are all black and white, and they're all great. Taking care of them is a little like having three children around. I'm constantly having to count and make sure they're all there--one, two, three dogs.

This is Kayla. She's the oldest, and she's really a sweetheart. I have a bit of a soft spot for her, because she looks a little like our old dog Ellie, with the little tufts over her eyes and the beard. She's sleeping on the rug next to me right now.

That's Tippy. Don't believe the pathetic eyes, she's a little mischief-maker. I'm pretty sure she's the reason there's an electric fence in the back yard. She's also totally charming, though. Personality plus, there.

And that's Ella! She's the biggest, and it was very hard to get a decent picture of her. I think she was avoiding the camera. She's got a big otter tail that's always pounding, and it has the most adorable little white tip.

It took us most of the weekend to move out of the dorm, so we didn't get a lot of work accomplished. We did watch Pride and Prejudice last night (the older, long one). I grabbed a ball of cotton yarn and a couple needles before we started. I wanted to try out a stitch pattern I read about on LJ knitting. I had a vague idea of using whatever got made as a washcloth, but either I knit faster than I thought, or the movie was longer (or both), because I ended up with something too long for a washcloth, but too short for a scarf.

So, I made it into a bag. I'm thinking about giving it to the woman we're housesitting for as a thank-you gift, but first I'll have to get over my insecurities (I really don't think it's very good). The button is from a bag of cool buttons I picked up the other day.

Also, can I just say how much I'm loving having a nice house to take photos in? It totally beats my dorm-standard, "toss it on the bed and snap" method.

I'm alive. It's just, writing a paper really isn't as interesting to blog about as knitting. Partly that's because I can't snap photos of my work in progress to show you all. (Even if I could, it's only about three pages long right now, which would be equivalent to posting a photo of a sweater that has only had the first couple inches of ribbing knit.)

On the other hand, there's no end of things to keep me amused. Like endnotes. My word processor* makes the little number clickable, and when you click on it, it jumps down to the note. And if you click there, it'll jump back to the spot in the text. I can do this for ages, which is not good for my productivity at all.

Also, it amuses me to be able to type--in all academic seriousness--things like, "On the likelyhood of the disease inflicted on the Athenian men being a perpetual erec-ti0n, see Sourvinou-Inwood, pg 77." I mean, seriously--I actually had to censor that in order to post it on my blog because you KNOW the kind of spam I'd end up getting, but I can use it in a paper? Some days being a scholar is fun.

Of course, then there's the actual paper writing, which is stressful and fiddly, and makes me suddenly remember all sorts of other things to do. I am the world's biggest procrastinator. And I do mean that. That three pages I mentioned? I've been writing since Monday. The writing process goes something like this:
Think about writing. Check e-mail. Check LiveJournal. Open word processor. Minimize it. Read a few blogs. Trim fingernails. Vacuum floor. Check e-mail. Maximize word processor. Get a snack. Stare at word processor. Check e-mail. Repeat as needed.

Oh, and if any of you are curious, the title of my paper is, "Masks of Madness: Contextualizing Euripides' Bacchae." If by some offchance I manage to write a particularly snappy passage, I'll post an excerpt here, but don't hold your breath.

*I use OpenOffice.org, because I'm sort of a software vegan. I like my software free and as unbloated as possible. And open source, which I admit is a little ridiculous, because, given that I don't know the first thing about coding, I'll never be able to use the open source part. Even so, the only reason I don't use Linux is compatability issues. It's bad enough trying to survive at college without a copy of Microsoft Word--can you imagine if I was trying to get by without Windows? (Or, well, you know, a Mac. But I don't do Macs.)

On Tuesday, I have to give a 25 minute presentation on my summer research. So, I got this brilliant idea. To cut down on the stress of preparing my presentation, I was going to write it as a blog post, post it, and then e-mail it to my advisor. That way, you guys would get to see what I've been working on, and I would have my presentation ready.

Of course, when I came up with that plan, I didn't realize that the text of my presentation would end up being over 2,000 words long. So . . . um. I am going to post it here, but I'm going to stick it behind a cut so that those of you who don't want to bother with it won't have to.

However! I would really appreciate feedback on it. I'm giving the presentation to a general audience that will include everything from Chemistry professors to English majors, and I'd really like to know if it is clear enough without going all eye-glazy. I'd also love to hear questions! There's a Q&A after I present, so it'd be good practice for me.

So, if you feel like doing a good deed for a college student in need, read through this (or even just skim!) and leave a note about what you thought. One thing, though--I'm giving the presentation on Tuesday (July 10), so if your feedback doesn't get to me before Monday night, it won't really help.

One last note: This talk actually only covers a portion of my paper. I focused in the talk on the context of Euripides' Bacchae within tragedy; in the paper, I also go into detail about the festival context and the play's relationship to comedy. Just felt like I should point that out to avoid misrepresenting my research.

EDIT: This post is getting spammed like no other, so I'm afraid I have to close comments. Sorry!

Click below to read!

The presentation went really, really well. People laughed and cringed in all the right places, and it took me 24 minutes to get through my talk. The talk was supposed to be 20-30 minutes long, so it was perfect. Also, since I went last, I suspect no one in the room regretted me not taking the full thirty minutes. (Except possibly Prof. Casey, but that's okay.)

They've been asking presenters for "fun facts" to tell the audience. My fun fact? My presentation was originally written as a post on my knitting blog!

Unfortunately, I'm drowning in Euripides right now, so the blog is feeling a little neglected. I got a shipment of yarn from Knitpicks (including my Very First Sock Yarn!), but I haven't even had time to photograph it to show you guys. It's all Greek tragedy all the time around here these days.

Well, okay, there might be some Frankish family law in there too, but that's entirely Aud's fault. (By the way, Aud finished the first draft of her paper last night, and I'm only a little jealous. She was planning on staying up until four--I don't know when she went to bed, because I abandoned her at one. When she wakes up, I'll ask her.)

In two days, my paper is due. In three days, I get on a train to go back to Colorado. In five (5!) days, I will be home. I can't wait. Six months away from Colorado is too long.

It is finished.

By the numbers:

Weeks researching: 8
Pages: 21
Pages after the bibliography: 23
Words: 7811
Emotional breakdowns: 2
LiveJournal entries made during major breakdown: 4
Frantic phonecalls to Prof. Casey: 1
Frantic e-mails to Prof. Casey: a lot more than 1
Lamps we had to put in our work room because both Aud and I hated the light: 5
Books in my study area by the end: 42
Books that actually made it into my paper: 16

How good I feel right now: Really, Really Good

Also, it's before 2am and I'm already packed. I'm actually going to get sleep tonight! (Less than six hours, but that's about three hours more than I expected.

These are all the books Prof. Casey loaned me for my project:

These are all the books I got out of the library:

These are all the Post Its I took notes on over the summer since I couldn't write in most of my books:

(You might not think those are worth a photo, but imagine having to pull ALL of them out of their books so that you can return the books. Almost all of them have notes written on them, too.)

I'm getting on a train tomorrow. I promise than when I come back, I will have knitting material to post about. (Well, what did you THINK I was going to do for three days on the train?)

This is just a quick post to say that I'm still alive, for reals! My absence from the Internet lasted longer than I expected. I have tons of stuff to post about, but I'm very sleep deprived right now. You can go look at my photo album from the Harry Potter release at the Tattered Cover in Denver--that's over here, and I'll try to get a real post up within a day or two. I have really cool knitting stuff to show off.

Whew. I have so much catching up to do here . . . lots of stuff to post about. This post will be picture heavy. I'd apologize, but I'm on dialup myself right now, so . . . you're not getting any worse than I am. (It still really irks me that there isn't a single form of high speed Internet available here. No DSL, no cable . . . the only possibility would be satellite, which is expensive and not terribly reliable.)

So, I'll start at the beginning. After I finished my paper, I got on a train to come back to Colorado. This is what I did on the train:

I finished it in Ottumwa, Iowa. It's a Ravenclaw scarf, done in Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, in Sapphire Heather and Amber Heather. Traditionally, people knit Harry Potter scarves in the round, but that sounded stab-your-eye-out boring to me, so I took the opportunity to learn how to double-knit. It looks amazing. I have plans to do a matching hat, but first I need to order more of the blue . . . I had exactly two inches of it left when I finished casting off the scarf. It was scary.

Since the scarf was going to be part of my costume for the Harry Potter release, I duplicate stitched Luna Lovegood's initials onto one end. (Not movie-accurate, but nothing else about the scarf was.)

I figured I'd just pull out the duplicate stitch after the release and keep the scarf, but I like the way it looks so much that I may just wear it like this.

I didn't actually end up wearing the scarf at the release . . . it was too hot, and my costume was already pretty cluttered--I didn't want the scarf to hide my cool bottle-cap necklace and Ravenclaw tie!

I knit at the release. It wasn't part of my costume--there's a lot of knitting in Harry Potter, but I'm reasonably sure Luna doesn't knit. But it was a great way to burn off the extra energy. Better than pacing.

And I met knitters!

Real, live knitters that don't just live inside my computer! Who knew what I meant when I said things like "magic loop" and "Knitpicks". It was AMAZING. I wish I knew more knitters in real life.

What was I working on? This:

My very first real pair of socks. (I had knit a couple of practice booties before this, just to use up some yarn scraps.) I'm insanely proud of them. They're made from Knitpicks Felici, colorway Coastal. I didn't want the stripes to match, and I love the way they turned out.

I went outside to get pictures and the cat decided that they were the best new toy ever. He was attacking my feet like nobody's business--I had to take off the socks just to get him away.

But, what's this? "Cat?" you say? Yeah. Apparently my mom managed to pick up a stray cat while I was gone. He is adorable and cross-eyed, and I'm completely in love with him. He's really scrawny, and he was sick for a little while, but Mom says he's gained weight since he showed up. The vet says he's about six months old (just a kitten!). My mom has been calling him "Kitty" or, worse, "Ki-Ki" (which is pronounced more like 'key-key' than "Kiki"). I decided he needed a more dignified name, so he's now officiall Sir Christopher the Cat. Mostly he's still just Kitty, though. I have to say, I'm disappointed that he didn't get a more creative name, but I was on the other side of the country when he was named.

Don't let the picture fool you. That's the only time he was still all evening, and then it was only for about three seconds. He's full of all the kitten antics, which, admittedly, gets a little old when he decides to attack my hands. But he's so adorable that I can't get mad at him--I just call him a brat and look for something to distract him.

Sir Christopher spent the day stuck up a tree. I went out this morning to look for him, and I heard him meowing up there. So what did I do?

I took pictures. I'm a terrible person. Anyway, you can't make it out here, but he was about 10 or 12 feet up, and the notch he's sitting in is the tree's lowest branches. Below that, it's straight trunk. I don't know how he got himself up there, but it took us all day to get him down, poor thing. He seemed fully recovered this evening, though. He was tearing around like a little daredevil--maybe trying to make up for not being able to run around while he was up in the tree.

I worry about that cat a bit, though. He lives mostly outside, and he's always getting into scrapes. I guess he got stuck up a different tree a while back, and apparently he managed to find his way inside of Clay's swamp cooler once. Mom and Clay go away for the weekend pretty regularly, especially in the summer. What happens if he gets himself stuck somewhere and we're not around to save him? Darn kittens. They're just like children--you have to wonder how any of them live to be adults. But, darnit, when I called him "Sir Christopher", I was not trying to turn him into an explorer!

Apart from playing with the cat, I've basically been doing nothing but knitting and reading. I made a case for my stepbrother's Nintendo DS.

It was my first foray into felting with a washing machine. SO much easier than doing it by hand. (No, really, Emma?) I also took the opportunity to work on one of the sweater bags I'm making, but it's not finished yet and I don't have photos.

I do believe I've been bitten by the sock knitting bug. Yesterday, I picked up some more sock yarn, and I'm this far into my second pair of socks:

The yarn is Patons Kroy Socks, in "Winter Eclipse". The colors were a lot prettier in the ball than they are in the sock, but oh well. I discovered the meaning of 'negative ease' when my gauge for the sock (8 stitches per inch) turned out to be noticably different than the gauge on my swatch (7 1/4 stitches per inch). It's a bit snug, but I think it'll be comfortable that way--I do hate slouchy socks.