Hello There/Blog Recap

Hello IComLeavWe Folks!  Thanks for dropping by.   For all the rest of you, thanks for coming back again and again even though I know you aren't even knitters.  That's love, and I appreciate it.

Reminder:  I announced a hat give away yesterday for those of you who comment on this post.

For you newer folks, I thought it would be helpful to do a little blog recap of what's been going on:

• You can find out more about why I started this blog (and, you know, look at my beautiful picture) here.
• You can learn about what it's like to be a doula (a birth support person) here and about what I keep in my birth bag here.
• You can learn about Atlanta and law school here.
• And you can learn about knitting/wool/crafting pretty much everywhere else.  Specifically: 
• Spinning with a wheel or spindle
• Extreme Knitting and other knitting inspiration
• Dying yarn  in a kitchen sink
• Weaving and other very slow hobbies
• Sheep, sheep, and more sheep
• My latest knitting-so-I-don't-have-to-study projects
• Oh, and for info on my on-going uncomfortable relationship with squirrels, you can see here, here, here, and here.

Enjoy!

BISIO UPDATE: April

I haven't done a BISIO (Because I Said It Outloud) Update in a super long time (since February....yikes).  So, in the spirit of accountability, here goes:

Grad School:  I'm signed up for Emory in the fall.  I will be doing first year as a law student.  I am quitting my job at DOT at the end of May to bum around (read: volunteer at the birth center full time) this summer.  I really need to find somewhere to live in Atlanta, though.  I am pretending that having a car isn't actually necessary, contrary to everything I've heard.

Sheep-To-Sweater:  I started my sweater!

Or rather, the sleeve of a sweater....

It obviously isn't made with yarn that I spun myself, but I am excited to say that I am in the knitting phase of my project.  In a couple of weeks I will be headed out to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival to learn about sheep shearing....I think then I will be able to say that I can do and/or understand each step of the sheep-to-sweater process, even if my final product is not the result of me doing each step myself.

Doula-ing: I explained in this post what I need to do to to get my doula certification.  I am currently working on one of the last things I need to do before I write my essays and turn in my certification application: observing a birth education class.  I am taking a Bradley Class with nine couples (the teacher and I are the only non-pregnant women in the room).  I am doing my best to keep my mouth shut in the class and focus more on learning from the instructor.  She is pretty amazing.

BISO Update: February

It's the last day of February; it still counts if I do a February BISIO Update on the last day, right?

Grad School:  Basically, the big news is that I was accepted at ALL of the programs I applied to and am going to....EMORY for a joint degree in law and public health!  What made me turn down Georgetown, you ask?  I won the Woodruff Fellowship at the Law School after a harrowing (that's such a lie...it was a lot of fun) three-day interview.  The interview consisted of meals with former Fellows, with faculty and staff, and with current students, a tour of the Coca-Cola World Headquarters, a cocktail reception (slash, secret social vetting process to make sure that we wouldn't be painfully awkward representatives of Emory and/or drink too much in public) and an interview with a distinguished panel of professors and Atlanta lawyers.

We toured the Coca-Cola Headquarters because Robert Woodruff was the head of Coke for 20+ years and was a HUGE philanthropist in the Atlanta area.  When he died, he left a large gift to Emory, endowing professorships and scholarships; half the buildings on campus are named after him.  This picture was taken before they gave us each a bottle of coke to drink as we walked around the building.  Tasty, tasty indoctrination...

There were 14 of us; 4 of us ended up winning the full-ride fellowship.  I am going to law school for FREE!!!  It is still a little hard to believe.  I am waiting for someone to jump out of a bush yelling, "haha, psych!"  In fact, I have been avoiding bushes all month until I get my official package in the mail.

Sheep to Sweater:  I have been failing at knitting lately.  I have finished only two projects in two months as spinning, fundraising and trying to finish my library books before they are overdue (failed at that one, too) got in the way...however, I am pleased to announce that I bought a sweater quantity of yarn (it was on sale...I feel more comfortable knowing I am not going to spend a ridiculous amount of money on my first sweater) and am going to make this sweater.

Grown-Up Hoodie by Kira Dulaney  I'm hoping the pattern comes with free pink hair streaks...

I think it is pretty cute and doesn't look TOO hard....The cabling down the back makes me think it will keep me entertained enough (rather than miles and miles of stockinette) to actually finish the thing.

Doula:  Nothing awesome to report this month.  I had taken time off to do the Vagina Monologues, but I am planning my trip to Boston this summer for the DONA International Conference.  Will get to learn new things, hang out with cool doulas, and visit Boston for the first time as an adult.  Excited!!!

March looks (moderately) less hectic.  No more traveling until April.  No more crazy fundraising.  Free time?  Probably not as much as I think, but perhaps....

BISIO Update: December/January

Oh man!  I made it all the way through December without writing a "Because I Said It Outloud" Update.  I feel ashamed.  So here it is:

Doula: I am co-coordinating the volunteer doula program at the birth center now with two fantastic women.  I helped train eight new volunteers in December and we hope to get a bunch more in January.  Sooooo exciting!  I was in-charge of creating the January on-call calendar, though...what a stressful, complicated activity.   I also attended two births in November, one of which was qualifying towards my certification (only one more to go!!!).  The other randomly ended up being in support of the wife of a college friend of mine.  That was weird at first but extremely exciting.

Sheep to Sweater:  I went to spinning class.  Soooo much fun.  I need to practice, though, so I can keep up the skills/hopefully improve a little.  I learned that my Local Yarn Store (LYS) has roving (prepared fleece) so I at least have a local supplier for basic spinning supplies.  Made the (I think, pretty smart) decision to not necessarily clean my own fleece to be used in my sweater yarn.  Still deciding whether I should try to spin all the yarn for a sweater or if I am satisfied just knowing that I could.

I've also been doing some seriously awesome knitting (IMHO).  I made these Fair Isle Socks, this awesome hat, made some alpaca awesomeness for Devon (OMG Devon, I never took a picture of them!!!  Send pictures quick!!), working on my multi-colored mitts still (gosh, don't seem to have a pic of those either....).  Not that high-volume when I see it layed out like this, I guess.  But I feel good about it.


Grad school:  I've officially applied to all the programs that I am going to apply to.  That would be joint JD/MPH programs at Emory, Columbia, Minnesota, and Michigan and just law school at Yale, Stanford and Georgetown (gotta reach for the stars, right?).  I didn't bother turning in the UCLA application because it was too annoying (I'm ignoring the sneaking suspicion I may have destroyed a beautiful legal career in LA over paperwork issues).  Now I have 10-12 weeks of nightmares about my letters of rec not getting to schools in time before I hear back from schools.  Also, interviews at Georgetown Law (this week) and the Michigan School of Public Health (early February).  Not sure where I want to go, so it would be nice to know where I am accepted so I can go visit a few places.  With all the cold weather around here, I am beginning to think I should have chosen some warmer places...

That's what's up.  More pictures of things next time

BISIO Update: November

Doula certification: I didn't take any on-call shifts in October.  There was just too much travel and getting together with friends this month.  Buuuuuut, I picked up new responsibilities at the birth center, helping to coordinate the volunteer on-call doula program.  More work.   A lot more work.  But a really good introduction to the administration of a doula program/birth center.  Good public health experience for sure.

Sheep to Sweater: Still no idea where to find a sheep to shear.  Buuuuuut, I am working on a couple of interesting projects that I think will help broaden the spectrum of sweater patterns I could choose from.

This is going to be Limelight Stirrup Socks from Lionbrand Knit in KnitPicks wool in four colors I had laying around.

These are my first attempt at Fair Isle knitting, meaning that I am knitting with multiple colors stranded across the back of the work.  Wikipedia sums it up, "Traditional Fair Isle patterns have a limited palette of five or so colors, use only two colors per row, are worked in the round, and limit the length of a run of any particular color."

Not only am I learning the Fair Isle, I am also using the "magic loop" technique.  Johanna has already claimed these, so eat your heart out.

Magic loop uses just one long circular needle (instead of four double point needles) to knit a small tube for something like a sock.  In this sock, there is no heel to turn...I might be using thicker yarn than will be comfortable in a shoe, but we shall see.

I am also finishing the blue gauntlets.  Here is my progress.

One mitten down.  The left one is about half way done.

Grad School Applications:  Still suck.  Yup, still sucking...Buuuuut I will give you a mini update anyway.  The schools I am applying to are Minnesota, Michigan, Emory, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, UCLA, and Georgetown.  I am continuing to improve the personal statement.  And now I am wrestling with the dreaded Yale 250...I wrote an essay that I thought would work (they don't give you a topic or anything, just a word count)...my professor gently suggested that I scrap it and try again...oops.  Do-over.

BISIO Update: October

I had a bit of a posting issue last week, and the "Recent Knitting Projects" post looks like it went up on Monday instead of Wednesday.  If you missed it, please go back and read it 'cause I made some pretty stuff recently.

Grad School:  Folks, this sucks.  I mean, really.  I have letters of recommendation writers lined up.  I have accounts set up with LSAC (the online application center for law schools), SOPHAS (the online application center for schools of public health), and Columbia University (who spitefully refuses to be part of SOPHAS).  I have uploaded my resume, begun to enter information is all 12 separate applications I have to fill out (despite the common app that will supposedly make the process easier), and have written a pretty uninspiring personal statement that I now get to rewrite a thousand times.  Sigh...

Sheep to Sweater:  I am going to Iowa in a week for the annual Smith Family Picnic (more on that later, I promise).  Iowa, the land of farms and, in turn, farm animals.  I am convinced that I can find a kindly farmer who will let me hang out with their sheep for a while. However, the folks we are staying with informed my dad that they sheared their sheep in July (JULY?!?!?!), and that they probably don't need a new haircut for another year or so.  Pft! 

Additionally, knitting blogs that normally make me so happy have started to make me feel super insecure.  Rationally, I understand that very few people are into knitting as much as I am.  In the larger scheme of things, there are probably more blogs and experts on any other topic in the world than there are on knitting.  And knitting is a relatively young craft (compared to spinning and weaving that is.  Only about 1000 years old), and people are coming up with new ways of doing things all the time.  And yet, reading blogs and books and seeing the cool things that people have designed, I feel like everything in the knitting universe has already been said and done and accomplished.  Thank goodness I have other skills to fall back on, right?

Doula: One of the coordinators of the volunteer doula program that I am part of is leaving.  I am going to step up to help out as part of a three-woman team to keep the program in tip-top shape.

I have ideas....

Because I Said it Outloud (BISIO) Update

Here is a little first-of-the-month update on where all my goals (doula, sheep-to-sweater, and grad school) stand at the moment.

Doula:

Folks, I have been on-call so many days this past month but haven't been called.  I am hoping to remedy this lack of baby-birthing this weekend with 48 hours of on-call awesomeness.  We can only hope the midwives want help over LABOR Day weekend (best pun ever).

Sheep-To-Sweater:

Sheep:  Friends around the country (we are talking, Iowa, Vermont, South Dakota, Washington, and Virgina) have emailed me to say they are on the hunt for sheep.  I was going to go to the VA Fall Fiber Festival this October, but Crafty Bastards is that weekend, too.  I might just wait until the MD festival in the spring.

Spinning:  I've signed up for a class at the Torpedo Factory/Art League for early December.  It is called "Crash Course in Spinning."  I hope it isn't actually "Crash and Burn Course in Spinning."  I have no idea how to prepare for this one.  I can't wait for the materials list, but in the mean time I am just learning about different kinds of wool.

Dyeing:  I've learned to dye wool (more on that soon) at my local knitting studio.  I have serious doubts about my skill in this area, but I think I am passable.  I might host a dye practice party if I can find enough people that care about yarn to come do it with me.

Knitting: This is the area I feel most confident about.  I am doing my first "sweater" currently.  It's the Microspun Baby Hoodie by Lion Brand.  I wanted an easy way to learn about sleeves and button bands and had just enough purple Microspun to do it.  I am currently pretending that I swatched ahead of time and that my gauge isn't horribly off.  In other words, there better be an abnormally small baby out there that needs/craves a purple hoodie...

Grad School:

Applications come out September 15th.  This does not amuse me in the slightest, as it means that I will actually need to fill out said applications.  Still aiming for Thanksgiving as my self-imposed deadline.  I've been reaching out to people for advice on the MPH portion of the JD/MPHs I will be applying for.  I have had both amazing (thanks Stacy, Paula, Ebeth, Addington and others) and ridiculously unhelpful (you shall remain nameless) advice from various sources.

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Basically, progress is being made, and I am not totally wasting all my time knitting sheep or watching NCIS.  And we can all be grateful for that.