All Cowl, All The Time

Life around here has been C-R-A-Z-Y. Have you ever had so much to do and so little time to do it in that it actually made your hair hurt and your stomach churn? My professors assign a lot of homework, and then, in addition to that, it takes me a particularly long time to do it. I try to balance each day between school, homework, and relaxing time and it gets really difficult when the work portion gets so demanding that the relaxation time begins to disappear. I'm trying not to let it happen at any cost, even if it means something doesn't get done perfectly. We'll see how it goes.

The good news is that I picked up my cowl stitches. I used a row gauge/stitch gauge-type formula and it seemd to work out well. I won't really know for sure until it's all finished and I can see how the cowl neck lies. Of course, at that point it will be too late. But, I don't see any puckering or pulling, so I guess that means the stitches were picked up fairly evenly. My goal for the end of today is to have 20 rounds done. At this point, I have 6 done. I figure, while I'm studying, I can sneak in a round or two here and there and make some real progress. I have to do 54 rows in total before we can call it done. Then, weave in the ends, give it a good washing, lay it out to dry, and abracadabra - a finshed Somewhat Cowl. Can't wait! Cuz then, I get to start on the Hourglass Sweater. I have some modifications to make to that pattern, including the neckline, that I found out about on the knitalong, but more on that later.

One of the things I try to do about 5 times per week is take a stroll around my neighborhood to do a little stress-busting and to enjoy the great outdoors. The houses in my neighborhood are pretty old by San Diego standards, built in the 1920's, and they have tons of character. In general, the owners take amazing care of them and put in really great flowers and shrubs in the front yard. Here are a couple of the gems I saw yesterday.