hi there! My semester is finally, finally over. I have some tiny things left to do (burn a project on CD for my professor, that sort of thing) but mostly I'm done. and it feels NICE. ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

I even had time to finish the Mingus socks! I gave them a bath last night, and they are blocking on a towel right now. Once they are dry, they will be traveling to see Miss Emily, woo-hoo!!!

I posted on Flickr, and the thumbnail apparently looked like I was washing spinach. or maybe kale. hee.

I am so happy with these socks. I am also glad they are not in my size, so I'm not tempted to do a switcheroo and send Emily so Wal-Mart tube socks instead of these. (I AM TOTALLY KIDDING.) And these are officially my FIRST finished object of 2008! isn't that insane? Hi, it only took me almost 5 months to completely knit something. I AM SLOW.

So, I picked up an old unfinished object so my next finished project will be gratifying and quick. It's Anais. When you last saw her, she looked like this:

This is a front.

I'm now up to the shoulders on the back, and then I'll be seaming her up. I'm still trying to decide what to do about the sleeves. I'm not really feeling the sleeves on the original pattern, so I'm thinking about some cap sleeves instead. Or, maybe just making it a sleeveless top? Opinions?

Speaking of opinions, let me get yours on another little situation. A fabulous blog friend from back in the day (thanks, Vanessa!) emailed me this week because of a little sign she saw when she was shopping at AC Moore:

Wait a minute....

This is a sign advertising their knitting classes - notice the Carrieoke cartoon on the sign?

Now, my dear friend Mary Jessica drew that for me years ago, and it's been on my blog for a long time. At first we were like, HEE! that is funny. And then we thought about it...and they should've asked, ya know? Mary Jessica is a writer and an illustrator, and her work belongs to her. I'm totally assuming the best here and thinking that whoever downloaded the cartoon just didn't realize that it wasn't free clipart.

So, what should we do? For starters, I'm going to make it clearer on my site that the illustration belongs to Mary Jessica, and that it's not okay for people to take. (I think I might add a copyright statement to the bottom of the actual image.) And actually, in this case, I probably would've been okay with it (after checking with Mary Jessica), as long as they credited MJ at the bottom of the image.

But, I think we should communicate to whoever borrowed it that it's not okay to just download it and use it, just so they know for future reference. It seems like a letter would be the best way to go about it - what do you think? I do think it's cool that they liked the drawing enough to want to use it on their sign, BUT, they should have asked.

So. bizarre!

Well, I'm off to enjoy this lovely Saturday. I'm going to knit some, and maybe even put a border on my quilt. It's so awesome to not have schoolwork to think about. YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!

Posted by Carrieoke at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)

Time. is. flying. and I am overwhelmed. I've been taking classes and working for almost two years now, and I usually find a way to manage my time, get everything done, and still blog and knit and relax and spend time with my schmoos, etc.

This semester is apparently the exception. I am SLAMMED. For the past two Sundays, I've had 9-hour marathon sessions on campus working on a group project. ICK. It's still not done. It feels like it may never be done, actually. I had my oral comprehensive exam last week (I passed! yay!) and had to show a "dress rehearsal" version of our final project. so. much. to. do. I hate to bitch and moan, but OMG when will the semester be over? srsly?!?

Luckily, my husband cooks me dinner. and also obtained all three previous seasons of Battlestar Galactica for my viewing pleasure (we are just starting season 3, so NO SPOILERS! and also, what is up with out-of-shape Apollo? so. bizarro.) And the BSG, it is great TV for knitting. I've actually finally finished a Mingus sock!

Right before I started my toe decrease.

and I'm dreaming of finishing some unfinished objects that have been laying around (Anais, and maybe my Drops sweater...) and also still knitting away on my Minimalist cardigan. I also participated in a swap on Ravelry with some fabulous girls, and I totally got some Malabrigo! My first ever! It's lace, and it's this beautiful pinky purple color ... I want to eat it, actually. Check out the other awesome stuff I got...

Sensual Knits! Yay! and some more yummy yarn, and some Addis,
and a project bag! and some of the best chocolate I've ever tasted - Vosges -
and - Cathy, look at this! a tiny version of Scattergories. YAY.

Mindy is all kinds of awesome - thanks so much, girlie! The chocolate has gotten me through several extremely stressful nights this past week.

Even my Ravelry time has been hurting lately - obviously my priorities need adjusting if I can't spend hours at a time lurking in the Big Issues Debate forum. HA.

I'm just looking ahead to the end of April/beginning of May, when the semester will be winding down, and I can let out a big deep breath and celebrate by hopping on a plane to Maryland with Anne Marie and seeing friends and getting some yarn. Lots of it. so. excited.

Things are really good, actually. Just busybusybusy, and I miss being able to sit down and blog. But the semester will be over soon, and then I have only two more semesters -- that includes summer! -- until I get my Master's degree. YAYAYAYAYAY!

Hope you had a good Monday! I'm going to go watch some more BSG....

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)