Happy Holidays

Christmas was pretty uneventful--I went to my parent's home for a few days, and had a good time, until I wanted to pull my hair out, and then I came home. I feel bad for saying that--but it's the truth. I can't be home for more than 24 hours it seems without something happening to make the house feel like a prison. Anyway, guess what I got for Christmas??

Yup. Knit Picks Harmony Wood interchangeables. And they are everything I was hoping for. Between these and the gift certificate I got to my favorite yarn shop, I'm going to be set for awhile.

I can't believe I'm comparing myself to Jessica Simpson...

I have a confession to make, but first a little background information. I started working at Barnes and Noble in June. Once school started and it became obvious that I couldn't keep working 40 hours a week and take classes full time I switched to seasonal employment. I started back this week after graduating last weekend.

Anyway, somehow back when I first started working there, I got a reputation of sorts of being a little flaky and stupid. I'm not sure how this happened, probably a combination between my gullibility (which is a characteristic I only have when working at B&N, because you never know if the managers demands are serious or not because they're always unreasonable and ridiculous it seems) and the cheerful, upbeat persona I adopt when I'm there. And yeah, I say stupid things sometimes on accident, but who doesn't? (As an example, the other day I said "reindeers" instead of "reindeer" for the plural--sue me)

Heres the thing: it started out on accident, but now that I'm aware of my reputation (or what I feel is my reputation--no one has called me a dumbass to my face yet), I've started playing to it a little. I really don't care if my coworkers at Barnes and Noble think I'm an idiot--in fact, I'd rather not let them get that close to me. I mean, they're nice people and all, but it's not like I'm forming lifelong relationships here--when I leave I'll probably never talk to any of them again.

So I was thinking about this situation this morning and for some reason I found myself comparing mysef to Jessica Simpson in this situation. She has a reputation for being stupid, but I've also heard that she was putting on an act for her television show and now she's kind of stuck with that reputation. I have a feeling that no matter what I'll be stuck with this reputation at B&N but at least the people who really matter know I'm not stupid. And at least, unlike Jessica Simpson, it's just a handful of people at the local bookstore in northwest Georgia and not the whole world. The only time it really bothers me that they think I'm stupid is when I say something intelligent and they look at me like, "where did that come from?" Or when I was telling some of my coworkers that I'm going to get a Ph.D. and that I applied to Princeton and Cornell and I can tell they're thinking that there's no way in hell I'd make it in to any of those places. Maybe I'm overanalyzing things, maybe they don't think I'm as much as an idiot as I think they do. Maybe I care more than I let myself believe. But like I said, I'm not sure I want to let the people at Barnes and Noble in that much.

Oh well, just something that's been on my mind.

As Promised

Here's some pictures of what I'm currently working on:

I am SO excited about this Noro sock yarn. This picture doesn't quite do it justice (no picture can do Noro the justice it deserves) but the colors are absolutely amazing and I love the way the stripes are interacting with the pattern (which is from knitty.com). If I didn't have Christmas projects for others to be working on, I would definitely have these done by now, since I got the yarn last week.

This is my stepmother's Christmas gift (shh...don't tell her). The yarn is Manos Del Uruguay and it's everything I heard it would be. The colors (like Noro) are absolutely wonderful--very deep, very autumn-like. The stitch pattern is from Vogue Stitchionary Volume One. It's pretty close to being finished and ready for blocking, I just want to add a little bit more length.

Off to raid the cabinets for something to eat for dinner, and after that, more knitting.

All by myself

Today has been quite uneventful. I finished up my last grad school application (for now) and sent it off, so that was pretty exciting. Then I got to work at the library and it turns out I'm the only one working circulation today, so it's a little boring and lonely, but it gives me time to read and work on customizing my new blog to the best of my ability--which is fairly limited. I'm wishing that I brought my noro socks to work on today, but it's probably best that I didn't, because even though there has only been a handful of patrons in today, there's still work to be done. Only two hours and fourteen minutes to go...

When I get off work today, I'm going to go buy some batteries for my camera so I can take pictures of everything I've been working on. That is, assuming that the problem with my camera is that the batteries are dead. I haven't been able to get it to work lately, but then again, I haven't been trying fresh batteries in it. I hope the camera's not dead. It's only three and a half years old, which, I suppose may be considered old in digital camera years, but I hardly ever use it and I don't envision myself buying a new one any time soon, even if it is broken. I'm just not a picture taker--pretty much the only time I use my camera is to take pictures of my knitting projects, and since I was so busy this past semester, I never had a chance to knit, thus the last time I picked up my camera was probably March, when I took it to Florida for spring break. Maybe it died from loneliness and lack of attention. Or maybe it's just being dramatic in a desperate plea for attention. Or maybe I need to get a good night's sleep tonight since I'm anthropomorphisizing my camera.

In any case, assuming I remember to go buy batteries tonight and assuming my camera comes back to life with said batteries, I will do my best to post a picture blog either tonight or tomorrow morning.

A fresh start

Throughout my life I have had this one problem--among others of course--of not carrying through with things that I've started, specifically things of the written variety. As a child I would write in the first few pages of a crisp new journal, reporting faithfully every day for a few weeks and then slowly taper off. Each time I would feel the urge to journal, I would be overcome with some strange feeling of guilt for picking up where I had left off in the old journal. So I would begin a new one again. This has not left me. Now that I've moved much of my musings and such online (though I still try to keep a written journal) I'm having the same problem. I think it arrives out of a need to reinvent myself, erase the past and start brand new.

So that's what I'm doing. Welcome.