Good news, everyone!

I just got a letter from Riversedge of UTPA that they are publishing my story in their December volume!

Yea! A legit journal publishing my story! I didn't even have to grovel to no vanity publishers.

The story was from fall of 2008 when I took a creative nonfiction class. We wrote lots of personal essays. It was like group therapy where I got graded for my feelings. Instead of a final paper, the professor told us to submit one of our papers in for publication so we'll "get used to process".

Yea! So far so good!

This totally makes up for the fact that I still haven't found a job yet. I've been looking all summer and no one's hiring me. I know I'm over-qualified for most of the jobs I've applied for, and that might be why they're not hiring me. Maybe they're afraid I'll leave right after training or something.

Oh well :(

As far as projects go, I recently got a top-whorl spindle to spin lace. I was so excited because the people in the Youtube videos made it look so easy. I've found out that they've all been lying to me. I'm spinning and spinning, but all my lace looks like worsted. I guess I'll have a nice cozy hat by winter. I'm still pretty excited about it though. Soon when I have more practice, I want to get all the pretty roving from Etsy.

Last thing! My parents got a puppy! A PUPPY!! She's too cute, her name is Birdie and she loves people. She's a Labradoodle mix and she's so small. Right now she's about Maomao's size but so innocent and clueless all the time. Cute little Birdie, she's still figuring out life.

Here's a picture!



She sleeps a lot!

Yarn Galore!

Before I start with anything else, let me say...

Good news everyone! Quackers is almost fully grown.



Tonight will be the "release" night when Joey and I send him off at the apartment fountain where the bunnies and the dogs will... ignore him and what not.

This Wednesday will be my language proficiency test for my Master's. It will consist of four hours of translating in a small room with just me and my dictionary. I really hope they didn't choose something that's in archaic Chinese. I told them I could handle either simplified or traditional Chinese, but if it's written in ancient dialect, I'm screwed! But other test takers have said that the excerpts were always relevant to their field, and I have made it clear that my field was post-Qing dynasty. So hopefully the chosen material will be... understandable!

I came to an uncomfortable yet inevitable conclusion yesterday... I have too much yarn.

It's finally gotten to a point where the amount of yarn I have is overwhelming me. I am also no longer excited every time I look at my stash because ... it's just so damn huge! There's only two more things I want come September, but until then, I'll start destashing by working on my queue.

So here are some updates!



Well, I guess it's just one thing. It's my first attempt at socks! I tried it leg first before, but after looking at Mel's project, I was intrigued by the toe up method. I have to admit, it's a million times easier! I already started on the second sock, albeit with a different pattern, but Joey doesn't mind if his socks don't match.

Here are the new yarns I got over the weekend!



I bought this for my friend's daughter's scarf. She bought the same thing but in alternating colors for the other daughter. I'm so happy that the brand is carrying cotton yarn now! They are a lot smoother and softer than the Sugar 'n Cream brand, so it'll be more suitable for a light garment such as a scarf. The beads are so cute also!



The goldish yarn is actually from the scarf exchange. It's so soft! I've been really interested in a ruffle scarf lately, and the image of a gold ruffle scarf look the best in my head!



This! I have no idea what to do with this yet, but it was so pretty that I had to get it. At Woolie Ewe, there's a small section by the knitting tables with these caked up lace weight yarn, and it looks so delicious there. It's about 630 yards, so I think I can make a substantial shawl from it as long as it's not overly huge.

Finally!

I joined the Ravelympics yesterday with Team Woolie Ewe. This sounds so fun, I'll finally feel obligated to finish something in a set amount of time. Cast on is August 8th during the opening ceremony and I have to finish before the closing ceremony.

The project I chose is a pretty shawl intended for Jeff's mom. She baked our groom's cake for our wedding and I feel that I never thanked her properly. So now I have my chance!

The yarn I'm planning to use is this:



Maybe I'll wind it up tonight...

Boy Bands Galore!

Seven gory movies later, I'm finally zombied out. So let's turn a 180 and move on to....

Asian boy bands!

I stumbled upon a Japanese boy band named Arashi last Thursday and am now infatuated with their catchy tunes and mediocre dancing. They're so embarrassing to watch, but I can't help it! Their songs are just so.. catchy! Their Chinese counter part is called F4. Literally, they're counter parts of each other! Both groups acted in the same TV drama, but just in different languages.

The dramas were based off a Shojo manga with a reverse harem... one girl and four guys, and they have high school romances and live happy lives.

I can't talk about too much anymore, or I'd lose my street cred.

I got a new haircut!



It's so short now! The hairdresser did a fantastic job, and I'm really satisfied with it. It's now so easy to take care of after showers, and brushing is a lot faster now. I might grow it out just a little longer, but not by much.

And finally... here is the biggest news over the weekend....



My yarn came in! With every order of yarn from Knit Picks, they'll give you a free Maomao. I got quite a bunch this time, my yarn mountain is getting a bit higher now. I gave Amee one of the hanks from the Seaview sampler, but everything else is mine!

Mine mine mine!

I don't have that many updates as far as projects go. I'm still working on the same things, but none of them were really picture worthy. I can't spread out the shawls for pictures lest I lose my stitches again. Sometimes it helps to be extra paranoid.

Now that I have my yarn, I can show my top 5 queue list!



All the yarn I need for those projects are in the pile of yarn shown above. Ravelry's Woolie Ewe group is thinking about participating in the Ravelypmics where you have the duration of the real Olympics to complete a new project. I think I'll join!

Whee!

It's Monday morning and I'm unusually giddy!

I ... I... I want lots of yarn! So much that I can pile it up and perch myself at the top. And if anyone tries to make me do something I don't want to, like mopping, I can hurl knitting needles at them from the pile.

Sometimes when Maomao sleeps on top of my stash, I get really jealous because it just looks so... hedonistic! So carefree, and she's completely oblivious to her conventional bed that was so lovingly cleaned and placed under the window for her. I tried it by sleeping on top of clean (and warm) laundry and it was bliss, but Joey, aka, The Man, always tells me to fold it up.

:(

I'm working on a blue shawl right now, and it's coming along fantastically! I'm almost afraid to say this, but I haven't messed up too seriously yet! Hopefully I won't get too cocky.



This pretty yellow shawl is for my Grandma in Shanghai! Of course, the pattern actually called for lace weight so it'd look delicate, but Mom suggested that Grandma would appreciate something warmer... so ta-da! The yarn used is the Lion Wool, color Goldenrod.



When Joey and I went to Woolie Ewe the other week, he asked about the swift and the baller... so... after some deductive reasoning, it has to be for me! (You won't ever outshine me, Maomao!) It has to be! Joey doesn't need no swifts for Warmachine, and as far as I can see, he has shown no interest in yarning. It's fun to be presumptuous.

The following yarn has been a dilemma for a while...



I bought it from Knit Picks for a couple reasons ... 1) it was cheap! and 2) I wanted to see what type of quality the site provides. Of course it's hard to tell from just two skeins, but I was satisfied.

However... now that I have it, I have no idea what to do with it. It's not a color that I would wear... and it's too thin to be really useful, and now I have over 800 yards of it! Ah!

Amelia came to the rescue though! She suggested accessories such as headbands and belts to accent an otherwise conservative outfit.

She's so smart!

Another A-con missed......

Ever since 2000, I vowed to go to the Anime convention in Dallas. Each year something comes up and prevents me from attending. The reasons are always lame, but I have not come to the point of admitting self-sabotage. This year, the reason was ... we did too many fun things already in May.

So in celebration of not having gone this year, here's a picture of what could have happened:



We had so much fun cosplaying! Yea!! .............. :(

On a happier note though, because I was moping, Joey took me to Woolie Ewe! The yarn embargo was lifted half a month ago, and I could get lots of nice things until the end of the year. Here's some of the loot:





Well, the green variegated was from Hobby Lobby. I realized that all the projects I've made so far, I've never really made anything for myself, so I got that one for a potential scarf ... for all the cold winters we have.... -__-;;

I started a scarf with the brown one, and Joey unraveled it when I wasn't looking because he wasn't satisfied with the stitches. "It's for your own good" he said... Well, I admit, it was good for me because now I have something more satisfying as a result. But returning to an unraveled scarf was quit shocking, especially when it's done by something you trust. Ahh!

There's not that many updates this time.. mainly because I haven't done that much! I worked on a lot of things, but none of them for too long. But maybe by the end of this week I will...

Supplies

Here is my current stash. I believe I have a plan for almost every skein. I promised Joey that I will not be getting any new colors until I finish everything I have currently. So that means I can restock when I run out of colors, but just not get new colors.