And She's Back!

Hello everybody! It's so good to be back! I haven't blogged in ages it seems - a few months at least. Sometime in January, my thesis began to take over my life and by February, I had given up all of my familiar leisure activities - walking, knitting, watching Netflix movies, listening to podcasts. I continued to work, but in all of my "spare" time, I worked on my thesis. However, on March 28, I presented by work to my committee and it was approved! I have a Master's Degree now! All that's left is finalizing the formatting and walking in May. J is coming to San Diego to help me celebrate my graduation, and we're going to have a blast while she's here. We're planning a trip to the Santa Barbara wine country to do a little eating, relaxing, knitting and, of course, wine drinking.

So, what have I been doing since March 28? I have been knitting, but my pace has definitely slowed since what it used to be. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think it has to do with the fact that the project that I have been working on is rather fussy and not a relaxing knit. I have been working on Josephine from last summer's IK:



I am using a DK cotton/linen blend yarn, but the pattern calls for a sportweight, so I had to do a little refiguring. I ended up making a different size and customizing the lengths for my body. So far, I have knit the front and the back, so all that's left are the cap sleeves and the seaming. I am very much in danger of running out of yarn, but I think I'll be OK. While my pieces were blocking, I picked up another IK project, this time Sylph from the Spring IK:



I'm using Calmer in a color that I absolutely love! This project is also not particularly relaxing. The upper portion in this photo is not stockinette - those are twisted stitches. They result in a subtle striping effect, but they're very difficult to see, so each row takes a while. I think the final product will be lovely, so I'm trudging onward. However, I need something that I can just pick up anywhere and knit on, so I'm going to cast on for Chaise from one of Jo Sharp's pattern books:



I plan on casting for that sometime this weekend.

I'm hoping to do better about blogging in the future, but now I'm looking for a job, so it's hard to say how successful I'll be.