TA-DA! It is finished!

Well, that "week or so" over which the sleeves and trim on my baby-kimono sweater were going to grow turned out to be only two days, since I spent the weekend knitting rather than studying (and what a lovely weekend it was, too!). So, I am pleased to present, my first-ever hand-knit sweater creation, The Baby Kimono Sweater:


I should probably issue a general warning: anyone planning to visit my home in the next weeks (months?) will probably be shown this sweater. Oooh-ing and aaaah-ing is advised.

I am very proud of this little sweater. Oddly proud, actually. I mean, I have many accomplishments in my life that I would consider worthy of pride--being admitted into a top-notch graduate program, for instance--and yet, my joy and happiness at having successfully created this little sweater from mere string just about equals, if not surpasses, my pride in being a grad student in a great child psych program (at the moment anyway, we'll not surmise as to the long-term sense of accomplishment each might result in).

What does this mean? Am I destined to be a knitter rather than a psychologist or academician? I'm guessing not. Were knitting to move from the "hobby" realm into the money-earning, source-of-livelihood realm (which graduate school now occupies), I doubt I would remain enamored for long...but there is something special about being able to say "I made this"...you know, with my own two hands. :-)

Knitting Notes

I think its time for a knitting update. I have been knitting all along, but mostly working on Christmas presents, which I can't exactly show on my blog pre-Christmas, can I?

I am working on a non-present project now, though, and here it is: a baby kimono-style sweater. Basically its a cardigan-like wrap-around sweater (as you may be able to see from the book photos of it). I've been wanting to tackle a grown-up sweater for myself, but buying that much yarn is quite expensive, and I'm still a bit intimidated by the idea that I could just screw up the entire thing...so I thought starting with a baby sweater would be wise, sort of as a warm-up. This one I thought was adorable, and also quite functional...of course, there is the problem that I don't have a child of my own that will be able to wear a size 12-month sweater when it is finished. I thought of making it for BOJ, way early...but by next year, when BOJ will be 12 months, I could just make another sweater specifically for him/her if I really wanted to...and little Ben who will be 12 months in February happens to be in a tropical country, where I'm afraid a sweater wouldn't do much good. So I decided to make it for the as-yet un-conceived future child of mine and Andy's...in other words, I decided to make it just because and I'm sure someday it will be used.

I just finished the right front piece today and sewed the top shoulder seams together--so now it looks like a vest of some kind...but it will grow sleeves and trim and ties in the next week or so, to become a full baby kimono sweater--my first sweater ever!

Guess I'm Idiosyncratic After All

So, upon viewing my last post, Andy took it upon himself to describe a few of my idiosyncracies...hey, what are husbands for? He posted them as a comment, but it seems worth an actual post, don't you think? So here they are, according to Andy:

1. Deep concern that the frozen items purchased at the grocery store get IMMEDIATELY home and into the freezer.
2. Dishes awaiting washing should have NO standing water left in them.
3. In 'Sixth-Sense' style, she sees babies EVERYWHERE.
4. When switching to a new color of dish-soap, the old color must be completely rinsed from the bottle in order to avoid a grotesque mutant color.
5. One must make a recipe EXACTLY as it is listed the first time--experimenting is only allowed on successive attempts.

An Empty Post?

I have been challenged by my grad-school, knitting, blogging, friends to list 5 idiosyncracies of mine on my blog (e.g. see Knit'Nabler and SweetPea)...but I'm afraid I can't think of a single one. Maybe I'm too shy. It's not that I don't have them, I certainly do...maybe I just have too much on my mind at the moment. It's been a rather hectic few days due to events slightly outside of the Andy & Jess bubble...so this may be all the posting you get for now. No wedding this weekend. Nothing we took photos of...just us, doing laundry, struggling with homework and grading assignments, etc.

Captain Olaf

Dashing and daring, courageous and caring, faithful and friendly with stories to share...

Introducing, Captain Olaf! Your generally helpful, pretty much white-bread, scandanavian, coffee-drinking type guy......with bat wings.

I would say I'm his mild-mannered alter-ego, but that would imply he is something other than mild-mannered. So I guess he's just my bat-winged alter-ego. Rock on, Captain Olaf...Rock on.

Super-Jess!

Hey, look! Thanks to my friend, The Knit'Nabler, I can visualize myself as a Lego superhero! If you would like to create your lego-self, hero or otherwise, go to this site.

Andrew & Eric: Wedding #9

This Saturday we attended wedding/blessing ceremony number nine: Andrew & Eric's. It was AWESOME. Talk about the classiest, and yet least traditional, wedding celebration ever, followed by a truly fun and relaxing reception. A few tips, should you, too, want to replicate this classiest-ever-wedding experience:

1. Marry a gay guy. Be a gay guy yourself. Make sure both you and your partner have an impeccable sense of style, which will be reflected in the dress of the entire wedding party, and decorations.
2. Dress everyone in black & white, with red flowers: gorgeous.
3. Include music in your ceremony. In particular, have about 30 of your friends, mostly recent alums from Luther College's Nordic Choir, form a choir specifically for your wedding. Have Tim & Sandra Peter (conductors) from Luther College come to direct this choir of angelic voices. And, just for kicks, throw in a brass quintet as well.
4. At your reception, have a board game or trivia game on each table, along with crayons and paper tablecloths to draw on. An open bar helps, as well as delicious appetizers and dessert for everyone to snack on as they mingle.

So, this was a particularly fun wedding for us. Andy read a lesson, and Jess just sat and basked in the glory (literally) of the choir and quintet. Here are a couple pics, as well:

Autumn Splendor

Autumn is in full swing here in Minnesota. Before it passes me and everyone else by all-too-quickly, I managed to take a walk the other day with my camera to capture a few glimpses of the leaf-turning, leaf-falling, leaf-crunching joys that fill my days this time of year. Plus, Andy and I bought apple cider and mulling spices at the grocery store on Sunday...mmmmm...I can almost taste autumn just thinking about it!

Elayne & Joel: Wedding #8

Wedding number eight, of the ten we have/will be attending this year, was last Saturday, the 8th of October. Andy was co-officiant of the ceremony and gave a lovely message, and pretty much did all other parts of the ceremony, except for the justice of the peace jumping in to do the "I do's" and pronouncement. Just a couple of pictures, for those of you who know these people: below are Joel & Elayne, and Andy & Andy.

Monday, Monday

After a long weekend, Monday has finally arrived. This is both good and bad. I feel I should be celebrating, as it is a double-holiday for my family (happy anniversary Mom & Dad and happy birthday Ellie!). Yet, for me, there will be no celebrating. Just a long, arduous day of convincing myself that a weekend of non-work should translate into a Monday full of work, of catching up, and of preferably getting ahead, and the middle of this week is looking rather hellish. A preview of the nightmarish portion of the schedule I somehow got myself into:

• Tuesday, 5:45 to 8:00 pm--parent ed observation assignment for a class, in Roseville
• Tuesday, after 8:00 pm--drive 3 hours to Fergus Falls to spend night in hotel
• Wednesday, by 8:00 am--drive 30 minutes to childcare home near Fergus Falls for assessment
• Wednesday, around 1 or 2 pm--when finished with assessment, drive 3 hours home
• Wednesday, 7:00 to 8:30 pm--attend special training at church to be assistant Sunday School teacher

Doesn't that sound like fun? I'm not sure quite how I'm going to do it...the whole arriving at my hotel near midnight and waking up at 6 am thing just isn't much fun. Neither is driving home in the middle of the afternoon (nap time) when I'm exhausted from too little sleep and an early morning.

So anyway, with that schedule as motivation...off I go to do something productive. What will it be? Homework? Cleaning messy apartment? Balancing the checkbook? Hmmmm...

knitting in secret

I haven't actually been knitting in secret...but I'm afraid I can't share with you all what exactly I've been knitting, as of late it happens to be gifts for certain blog readers. Just to warn my family members: this may be a Christmas full of knitted gifts, (or partially filled with knitted gifts) because: 1) while yarn certainly can be expensive, it's not always, and it's generally cheaper than other gifts, especially for small knitted things; 2) I've discovered I love knitting; and 3) I'm afraid the number of things I can knit for Andy and I is somewhat limited, and I'd hate to reach that limit too early in my knitting career, so I need to make things for other people!

So, some of you have seen a little something (well, anything for a toddler is little, right?) that I made Ellie...I'm trying to hang on to it until Christmas to give it to her then, but its very tempting to just send it in the mail now, since I just finished it. Here's a piece of it, just to pique your curiosity:


And, I've also started on Ben's Christmas gift. It is less than halfway done...really just "one piece done"...and here is the piece:

I guess I was in a blue mood when I picked out yarn for these. Actually, its the first time I've ever picked out special yarn for a specific project, so it was rather daunting. Ellie and Ben, being toddler & infant, needed yarn that was machine washable and dryable, but not scratchy or itchy, and of course in lovely colors, preferably not super-expensive yarn, and preferably of a similar size/gauge to what the patterns called for. Also, they live in Cambodia, with tropical weather all the time--no warm wool for these kids! So I wanted sort of light/breathable yarn, too. All in all it was a more difficult task than expected.

The one I picked for Ellie is a sort of dark periwinkle blue called MicroSpun (Lion brand yarn)--it's super silky-soft sport-weight acrylic yarn. Unfortunately, it was also kind of difficult to knit with (very slippery), though I liked the finished product. I love the color, I think it will look pretty with her blue eyes. So for Ben's I chose a different yarn--worsted weight--that is more of a fuzzy-soft than a silky-soft. I think its a cotton blend. His ended up being blue too because the other colors in this kind of yarn were rather limited and pretty boring (gray, wheat, etc), at least at the store I went to. So I guess they'll have to match, sort of. Oh well. As siblings, I'm sure it won't be the last time.

Later today Andy and I are going to another wedding...I should be getting work done now, as yesterday was an ultimately unproductive day. But of course I'd rather procrastinate...hence my escape to blogging. And just think, if I manage to put off work for another two hours, then it will be time to get ready for the wedding and I won't be able to do any work anyway!

Me, PJs, & Coffee

Hello all. I am happy to report that it is 11:45 am and I am sitting in my cozy little apartment on this cold morning-almost-afternoon still in my pajamas, still drinking my morning coffee (2nd cup now), and enjoying the pressure of NOTHING to do.

It's not that I have NOTHING to do. Actually, there is PLENTY to do. Articles to read before a meeting tomorrow morning, overdue laundry to do (which means about 4 loads instead of the normal 2 or 3), etc. However, today I was supposed to be in the Fergus Falls area, doing a research observation. This means I cleared my entire calendar and planned to spend today first observing at a childcare home, starting at nearly the crack of dawn, then scoring said childcare home for an hour or so over lunch in some random restaurant in Nowhere, MN, then driving 3.5 hours home and crashing for a nap, essentially taking the entire day.

The observation was cancelled, however, so I am FREE! Sure, I could have gotten up at 8 am anyway, to do all those things I am behind or about-to-be-behind on, but that's no fun. Sleeping in till 10:45 am is fun. Well, for me, anyway. I am the queen of sleeping in, after all (though sadly, ever since starting this whole graduate school thing I've had to wake up consistently early). So, I'm catching up on my blog-reading and posting...and later I'll get to laundry and article-reading and all of those BORING things. For now...hmmmm, I could use a warm-up of coffee :).

Happy Thursday to all!

Kilt, anyone?

This weekend Andy and I hit the road again, in pursuit of witnessing the very beginnings of wedded bliss--not ours, of course, but our friends' :-). The happy couple this Saturday: Matt & Erin. They had a lovely wedding and reception, featuring, among other things, the groom in a kilt. Andy and I felt we played an instrumental role in the wedding, most notably in aiding & abetting the decoration of Matt's car...