Perknitious: weekends

Showing posts with label weekends. Show all posts

05 May 2013

Adventures in frugality: the hair edition

2 comments Sounds like: spring, weekends

Let me preface this by saying that being a grad student requires finding creative solutions for almost everything in life that is fun and costs money so that one can save up enough to actually pay rent every month. Sometimes I pretend that I have the dad from Calvin and Hobbes in the back of my head chanting his refrain about "building character," and it makes me feel better about getting by on an amount that isn't really enough. I haven't been to the hair salon in about 9 months, and the lovely haircut I got last summer is growing out very nicely, but sometimes I really wish I could afford to go get a fancy haircut again. Since that's not in the budget right now, last night I resorted to another solution.

First, I saw this picture of Emma Stone's hair style on Pinterest:

Then, I thought, "Man! I miss having bangs!"
So I grabbed the scissors at 11pm, and this morning I look like this:

You know, not really like Emma Stone, but since I cut those bangs myself in 3 minutes, I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out, especially since I did not accidentally make myself look like Alfalfa or something!

That's the end of my Saturday adventure story. The brown and orange striped socks have been revived for want of another portable project, so you should see the complete pair shortly...

13 April 2013

Honeycomb

0 comments Sounds like: blanket, weekends

Meet my teeny tiny beekeeper's quilt in progress. Those are 34 hexapuffs, and I think I'm supposed to have about 10 times as many in order to get a full-sized blanket. With this enormous project, my philosophy has been "slow and steady wins the race." Or, in more concrete terms, "watch a lot of tv and make sure you keep the bag of polyfil next to the couch." I started out knitting just a few puffs in each color and changing it up so I wouldn't get bored, but I've been on a roll with the skein of white lately, and since I have lots of white and two shades of gray to serve as the majority/background of the blanket, I think I'll try to get through my neutrals first and then knit some more pops of color.

This project is frustrating and satisfying in the same way as academic work, I think. Each piece (article or book read, short analysis written, chapter mapped out) is small and it doesn't seem to make a dent in the overall task. But taking a minute to lay everything out together and see how far I've come is actually pretty great, and the prospect of arranging everything in the final form is exciting (daunting, but exciting).

Back to the knitting: my current favorite color combination is periwinkle, purple, and the gold shade against a white background. I'm also pretty excited about pairing pink and green with some gray.

24 February 2013

reminders ii

1 comments Sounds like: hats, inspiration, rambling, spinning, weekends

So. Lent. Yup, it's still happening. I'm doing that reading I talked about last week.

This week's reading has been the best combination of tough and great. I worked my way through J.H. Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son, reading which (I will hide nothing from you) caused a whole lot of self-assessment and crying and resolution making. I can guarantee that I'll be returning to this book more than once as time goes on.

It's an excellent reflection on the Lukan parable, especially in its assertion that while we can easily identify with one or both of the sons, we're ultimately called to take on the role of the father, who is welcoming, joyful, and celebrates both his sons. A) That's a tall order. B) What an opportunity to shift perspective! Yes, we can spend lots of time reflecting on our shortcomings and seeking reconciliation like the two sons, and these are valuable practices that should never stop. But! BUT! The book and the parable are a reminder that there's also a call to step into spiritual maturity and work on bigger things than just my own faults and concerns, as overwhelming as those concerns can sometimes become.

Here's my somewhat goofy but potentially interesting for you to think with knitting-ish analogy. When I'm being all graspy and wanty and tied up in my own concerns, I find it helpful to visualize myself taking a skein of yarn that represents whatever it is I'm griping about/mooning over and physically handing it over to God so I can stop worrying about it for a while. Inevitably, I end up holding the skein again and having to hand it over again, but it's still a helpful image of letting go and not spending all my energy imagining 8000 possible scenarios and outcomes.

In this visualization, God is like the owner of the best yarn store ever, so he's on the other side of the store's counter and he keeps all my awesome daydreams and complaints and "projects" over in his storeroom for more appropriate times when they can actually get dealt with instead of just worried about. However, if I'm called to be like the father of the prodigal son, I don't always have to stand on the opposite side of the counter from God just dealing with my own personal stash o' yarn. I can still hand stuff over for restocking or safekeeping or frogging and reskeining, but I can also go stand on that side of the counter and work on projects or spinning or whatever and share the results with other people who come into the store. Plus those other people also get to help with the stash and the crafting, and there are a whole bunch of us behind the counter working on stuff together.

See? Totally nerdy knitting analogy for the Lenten journey, accompanied by photos of a hat made out of handspun, a gift for my friend J's birthday. Happy Sunday.

03 February 2013

And then, I became a bad-ass

0 comments Sounds like: fun and games, health, weekends, winter

Ms. J and I ran a 5k on Sunday morning...

Photo from J's instagram

along the lakefront, in 14 degree weather, while it was snowing. I am claiming official bad-ass status for myself now. J's husband, also pictured above, ran the 10k, which means he's basically twice as awesome.

To top it all off, I got a PR time, beating my previous best time by about half a minute. Hey, when it's really freaking cold, you move faster! Apart from undertaking this feat of insanity/athletic excellence, I've spent my entire weekend knitting, spinning, and frantically watching episodes of the West Wing before I have to return to a regular weekday schedule of doing massive amounts of academic work.

I think I've finished enough knitting to put together a few posts this week - keep your peelies peeled!

26 February 2012

Saturday Surprises

1 comments Sounds like: fiber, weekends

Yesterday was a Saturday full of wonderful things, including a couple of surprises that just made my day! You all saw that I got to spend my whole morning knitting and finishing a hat, which is already enough to make the whole day wonderful. Well, that wasn't all that happened...

First, this package arrived in the mail from the excellent Kathy of Irisheyes Knitters: My Yarn Garden. Check out this adorable card:

And what is that peeking out from underneath? Glorious spinning fiber in a beautiful pink, brown, and cream colorway - Neopolitan ice cream?

I cannot wait to get started on my next yarn :) Thank you, Kathy!!!

I also got an e-mail about teaching jobs for next year, plus I got to enjoy a rousing afternoon discussion with my book club ladies and, on top of all that, a Blues Brothers movie night with good friends. Talk about an eventful way to start the weekend.

Today is a bit more slow-paced and will definitely involve a lot more work to balance out yesterday's relaxation. What's going on with your weekend?

18 December 2011

10 Things, vol 36

1 comments Sounds like: joy, weekends, winter

10 Things is my weekly list of things that are making me smile right now. Please share your own grin-inducing items and events in the comments!

1. holiday parties with wonderful friends

2. lots of books to read

3. small gifts from thoughtful people

4. tiramisu cupcakes, take 2 (these are so delicious, I can't even tell you)

5. packing up to go home

6. snow!

7. simple ribbed socks on the needles

8. a large pile of clothes to donate, including a warm winter coat

9. adding the first events of 2012 to my calendar

10. lessons learned and knowledge applied

10 December 2011

10 Things, vol 35

1 comments Sounds like: weekends

10 Things is my weekly list of things that are making me smile right now. I hope you'll share your own grin-inducing items and events in the comments!

image source

1. The homemade donuts from last night's party. I got to bring home extras to enjoy for breakfast!

2. Sweet, caring, and thoughtful friends

3. Netflix and all its episodes of Gossip Girl

4. Yarn. Always the yarn.

5. Much-needed and long-delayed Important Conversations that solve Big Problems
6. Connected to the above, doing something that scared the crap out of me and

coming out on the other side feeling brave

7. My new haircut. I quite like it.

8. The fact that freaking out leads to freaky fast knitting speeds. This sweater is zooming along.

9. A Song of Ice and Fire books that are long enough that I can read for hours and not run out of pages.

10. A tiny bit of snow this week

12 November 2011

10 Things, vol 34

2 comments Sounds like: joy, weekends

10 Things is my weekly list of things that are making me smile right now. Please share your own grin-inducing items and events in the comments!

source

1. A surprise guest (okay, that part did not make me smile because it meant being momentarily ashamed of my really messy living room) for playing video games (that part was really fun!)

2. The resulting de-cluttered living room

3. Plus also clean dishes

4. Plans for baking cookies and cupcakes this afternoon

5. Holding the world's cutest babyTM at church yesterday, even if she did spit up on me

6. This ornament kit that I'm so excited to work on after Thanksgiving

by Alicia Paulson

7. Wearing jeans that actually fit all week - hooray for running and buying clothes in smaller sizes!

8. Winter crafts on people's Pinterest boards

9. Reading ahead for my class and getting excited to teach the next section

10. Liam Neeson. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

05 November 2011

10 Things, vol. 33

0 comments Sounds like: health, joy, weekends

10 Things is my weekly list of things that are making me smile right now. Please share your own grin-inducing items and events in the comments!

source

1. Completing my first official 5k with a decent time this morning :)

2. Ghirardelli chocolate fondue; that stuff is seriously delicious

3. Lots of socks to knit

4. Homemade trail mix with dried cranberries and pistachios

5. People who like knitted gifts

6. Text messages from my sisters

7. A big cup of coffee. Do I write this every week? It's always true.

8. A really busy week finished and a less busy week ahead

9. Catching up with friends I don't see very often

10. Blasting cheerful music while doing chores

29 October 2011

10 Things, vol 32

0 comments Sounds like: joy, weekends

10 Things is my weekly list of things that are making me smile right now. Please share your own grin-inducing items and events in the comments!

source

1. N is in town for a visit. We've been having the best time catching up and practicing our karaoke moves.

2. Sushi lunch yesterday (thus the picture above; that's not actually my delicious lunch,
but it looks pretty good, too)

3. Hilarious phone calls

4. Knit night tonight!

5. The giant stack of Fall fashion magazines at the hair salon yesterday

6. A new pair of socks on the needles

7. Taking goofy self-portraits

8. New friends

9. Good conversations with new friends

10. And I've still got a whole day today to get myself organized for the craziness of the coming week. Yes!

22 October 2011

10 Things, vol 31

2 comments Sounds like: joy, weekends

10 Things is my weekly list of things that are making me smile right now. Please share your own grin-inducing items and events in the comments!

source

1. Receiving a giant custom socks order on Etsy - so excited to get knitting!

2. Finding an awesome dentist

3. Getting back to my running this week after fully recovering from a cold

4. Choosing music for dancing while washing dishes

5. Having plenty of lazy weekend time planned for today

6. Putting a pint of coffee ice cream in my freezer (I'm out of creamer, so this is
totally going in my coffee this morning)

7. Wearing boots almost every day

8. Anticipating a drainboard full of clean dishes

9. Receiving lots of happy mail this week

10. Reading three amazing books over the last three days
(Peter Filene's The Joy of Teaching changed my whole classroom outlook)

Happy Saturday

Last day to enter the giveaway before I draw a winner tomorrow!

enter, enter, enter

15 October 2011

10 Things, vol 30

0 comments Sounds like: joy, weekends

10 Things is my weekly list of things that are making me smile right now. Please share your own grin-inducing items and events in the comments!

1. first cherry pie of the season, made last night, already 1/4 eaten and thoroughly enjoyed

2. new boots arrived in the mail yesterday, just in time for cold weather outfits

3. sweater progress (one sleeve is almost done)

4. eggs and bacon for breakfast

5. shiny gold stripes on my shirt

6. bread dough rising in the kitchen

7. pinning 1" pins with cute pictures on all my fall jackets and unpacking scarves

8. plans for a productive afternoon

9. finished socks! FO post coming shortly...

10. driving a zippy red car to work on Thursday

So... that list looks a bit food-centric! One of the real joys of getting over being sick is getting one's appetite back, wouldn't you say? This weekend might just have to be all about delicious meals and tasty snacks. What's in the cards for you?

10 October 2011

10 Things, vol. 29

3 comments Sounds like: joy, weekends

10 Things is my weekly list of things that are making me smile right now. Please share your own grin-inducing items and events in the comments!

Woohoo, the weekend was so refreshing! Thank goodness, because this last week was pretty exhausting. I managed to get sick on Thursday, but a few days of sleeping as much as possible seem to have cleared up the worst of it. Now I'm almost back in top form, ready for a productive Monday, and I'm set to share another list of things I'm enjoying.

1. Strawberry Kefir. This stuff is tasty, I tell you.

2. Students who are truly engaged in class discussion

3. Learning a new knitting technique. Thanks to the fab Lauren, I now know how to make a ssk decrease that lays flat (slip 1 knitwise, slip 1 purlwise, pass slipped stitches back to the left-hand needle and k2tog through the back loop - give it a try!)

4. Coffeeeeeeeeeee, always

5. A relaxing afternoon of reading in the park in the sun