Don't forget to breath!

Less than 24 hours till the exam. Am I freaking out like last time? Hmm, not sure. Yesterday evening there was a little voice in my head screaming:"OMG YOU DON'T KNOW XYZ!!! YOU'RE GOING TO FAIL AGAIN!". But I ignored it, pushed it far away and kicked its a**. I know, I'm a lot better prepared than last time. All I have to do is stay calm and listen to the other voice, that says things like: "Wow, you're smart, you can do it!!!"
I'll go back now to my notes and ask myself questions and answer them. Good thing nobody can see me ;-)

continuiously added Part 2

1. Been knitting like mad the past few days inbetween learning. I learn a bit, knit a bit and then write down or recite what I remember, then check, learn.....
It's a nice method and I have most of the topics covered now, though I still need to memorize a few arguments. That's one of the harder parts if you ask me, not only knowing what, but why and formaly correct!

2. I knit a pair of socks and started some wrist warmers with the self-dyed sock yarn. I made 1,50m hanks and dyed half of it in one color, the other half in another. It makes a nice one row stripe pattern! I also knit a silk scarf out of some Hipknits silk I still had and used the "seafoam" lace pattern for it. It's really soft and will probably be worn all the time now!

3. I already heard from my Knitty SP and she sure sounds nice! This will be so much fun!!! I didn't had much time for my downstream SP yet, but I brought some yarn for her.

4. How can it be, that half of the jobs offered on the university page(from companies outside of the university) are part-time jobs with more than 20hours per week? Which serious student can do them? Also, why are the working hours in the morning to midday? Atleast I have lectures then! The best of all are job offers for full-time!!! If I work full-time, I can't be studing at the same time now can I?

5. Yes, I'm searching for a job at the moment. A small one with not too many hours, preferably not on the other end of town and so not in retail. I'm not allowed to earn more than 350€ per month or else I lose atleast part of my federal student support. Around 100€/month would be just fine with me in order to save some more for the new tuition fees.
So far I haven't found any, there was always a twist, like it was only fee-based and that means a whole lot of paperwork for me at the beginning of the year for the tax office.

6. My dad is back and he brought some present with him! Apart from some black hair shampoo(the best in the world, really!) and a bunch of pyjamas he got me these fabrics:

I see bags and skirts in the near future!
He also got me these three coordinate fabrics, they are black and gold! Three pieces because that's what you would need for a traditional skirt-top-shawl-combo. It's a really nice woven fabric, but I'm not sure what to make out of it(and no, traditional is out of questions!).


7. OMG, I could...I mean my dad could be rich! Ok, let me explain a bit here first. My dad's dad, my grandfather whom I never met cause he died before I was born, owned a lot of land in and around my dad's home town in Indonesia. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot! He never really sold any of it even when money and so food was tight cause you might get money now, but it leaves faster than land(clever man). When my aunts(I had five!) married they all got some of that land to build their own houses and start a family. Nevertheless the bigger part of those lands was passed down to my father as the oldest son of the family. Most of these lands are somewhere in the middle of the island or around(and on top) of a mountain where nobody wants to live anyway. But among the lot is also a small island near to the coast line and a bit of the coast line too! For years now there had been talk about various people wanting to buy it for different reasons among them building a hotel... apparently some of these people offered my dad a whole chunk for the land this time...but he refused!!!
One day when I have more time I'll tell you about the lands that my grandmother passed down to my dad...in singapur!

continously added

I don't have much time to blog, but a lot to blog about, so I thought I would just start a post and add to it whenever I have the time. Starting this now on sunday, we will see when it's really published. Edit: published on monday, so not too long, though no photos, sorry!

1. The Sesam sweater
It's almost finished! I really love the color combo and the pattern is a rather quick knit despise the needle size(3mm). I made a mistake in the sleeve cap where I forgot to change color once and will have to rip back. Of course I noticed this after I already bound off... one should probably not knit after 23.00 after a long learning day.
Even if I manage to reknit the cap the next week, I won't be able to complete the sweater since I have no buttons for it, so I can't knit the button band yet. I want some contrasting buttons in the burgund/red that the yarn is which will probably be a little problem. I'll have to compare buttons and probably visit many stores to find some which is not going to happen before the exam.

2. dyeing yarn+socks
I got my order of Ashford dyes this week and have been dyeing quite a lot even before it arrived. I dyed some beautifull yarn, if I might say so. Already knit a pair of socks out of the first yarn I dyed and they are nice to wear. A bit softer than regular sock yarn.
The second batch of dyeing didn't come out that great and the two different colorways came out quite alike. I might offer one of them up for swap, though I'm not sure yet.

3. Knitty SP
Yes, I'm participating again. I just love the Knitty SP and the nice folks I've met through it. The last one was real fun and I hope this one will be too.
I thought about it for a longer time whether or not to join, because of my exams(of which there will be a number shall I pass the next one, otherwise I'm stuck...), but figured there's always enough time for shopping and sending emails. Might not be able to knit much for my downstream SP as I did for my last, but then that's not really a requirement.

4. exams
I'm worried to say the least. I really have to pass this next one. Granted everyone thinks it's the hardest to pass for your "Vordiplom", but that's not what I'm really worried about. I'm worried that I'll mess up, because I'm too nervous during the exam and will have a black-out again. Or that I don't understand the questions right etc.

5. wanted list
There's a couple of things I really would like to buy including yarns to test. I don't have a strict new years resolution, but I want to knit from my stash for awhile, so I'm not going to buy any of these just now. Still thought it would be a good idea to write them down so I don't forget about it.

• SWTC Karaoke
• Noro Kureyon
• a messenger bag big enough to hold my university folder; I could sew one myself, but I'm not in the mood. On the other hand I can't spend a fortune on it either.
• hand carders
• SWTC Tofutsies
• more spinning fiber
• Hello Kitty cotton fabric

6. needle felting
When I ordered the ashford dyes I got some needles for felting and a foam pad too. I've been wanting to try needle felting for awhile. Well, it takes a lot of time and you have to concentrate on it or you will hurt yourself, but it's fun too!

7. sewing
Awhile ago I brought a bedsheat and pillow case for cheap at ikea. It's all black and white ith swirly motives on it. Back then I had the idea to color it and sew it up into a skirt. Well, it had been laying around since then, but when I saw blog post(can't remember which one) about coloring ikea fabric(though a different one) with fabric markers, I remembered it. Coloring it was a lot of mindless fun, felt like beeing a little kid with a coloring book again! The skirt is almost finished now.

8. podcasts
Ever since I got my Ipod nano for birthday, I've been a podcast addict! They are a lot of fun and it's nice to have something to listen to besides music when knitting or having to clean up etc. My fav knitting podcast are CastOn, limeandviolet and Sticks&Strings(mainly because of his voice ;-) ).

9. blogs
I am subsribed to way too many blogs on bloglines! I found that I'm not really reading every post but mostly just look at pictures... Once I find the time I'm going to seperate the list into blogs I really want to read + follow and other blogs.

10. oh boy, this is really getting long! Anybody still reading?

11. youtube
In the past I sometimes wrote down at the end of a post what music I currently listened to. I don't always do that cause I'm not always listening to music.
Anyway, thought I would share some videos, especially of bands/musicians you probably don't know.
Gentleman-Superior
Farin Urlaub-Zehn
The Staggers-Wild Teen
Bela B. feat. Charlotte Roche-1. 2. 3....
Seeed-Ding
Jan Delay-Klar

short, shorter...

...the shortest presentation in class: approx. 30 minutes, probably less. I'm just not able to speak slowly when confronted with a room full of people listening to me. I just can't slow down! And therefore my rather short presentation was a lot shorter than it should have been. I also tend to oversimplify and leave out lengthy explanations, especially when I think that eveybody should know what I talk about. Definitely happened today. Anyway, the organizers were nice, gave a few suggestions for the next presentation and said that that is what this course and univesity in general is for, learning!
Now it's all learning for the exam!
In crafty news, I got some superduper cheap undyed sockyarn for 2.40€/100g and will order some more dye for it. Sesam has grown quite a lot, mostly in the evening while mindlessly watching tv. Sewed a few shopping bags in the wee hours one morning and can't wait till my dad comes back from his 2-month(though VERY rainy) vacation cause he brought a bunch of batik fabrics for me!

taking a break...or two

I know I said I wouldn't post for a month, but everybody has to take a break sometimes ;-)
Though it's only a short break inbetween preparing a presentation I have to give next monday. As always I'm a bit late, should have seriously started earlier and asked my seminar instructors earlier for advice on what to include and what not to include...Now I have to basically rewrite everything and read a whole lot of new info plus I would like to complete it today so I can concentrate on my exam learning!
...a day later:
Still working on that stupid presentation! It's almost finished and I decided I will leave the structure as it is now. I don't have time to change it yet again. I still have to write some slides new or add a few slides plus the style of the presentation(background etc.).

Nevertheless I started a new knitting project. Everything else including the spinning wheel has been put far away, so it doesn't distract me from learning. My new project is "Sesam" from Magknits, an easy enough cardigan. I only knit a few rows inbetween learning and in the evening. No picture though as my mum has the camera and anyway, I have to go back to that presentation...

Goodbye

This will probably be the last post for a long time. Remember that exam I did not pass last year? I will give it another try on 2. February and therefore have to learn lots and lost for it. I really have to pass this time, in order to not have wasted a semester as no credits I will gain will count if I fail to pass this exam before the credits are given! Yeah, talk about pressure here...
Anyway, there are a few things I would like to blog about before I will drop from the bloggers world(will probably not read many blogs either).
First two projects I finished. I really love tams, the Reggae kind. When I saw this pattern over at knitandtonic, I fell in love. I immediately searched through my stash and found some yarn in the right gauge, casted on and was finished within a day...it did not look that great. It was ok, but the yarn was much too heavy and wouldn't really drape, therefor creating pointy bits where the decreases are.

So I took the pattern and hat with me to my LYS to ask for a more approbriate yarn and found some Lang Yarns "Tosca" in the sales bin! It was the perfect yarn texture-wise, so I brought all of it and recalculated and knit and was happy!

Here's my beloved childhood doll modeling them both:

The blue one is a bit slouchier as I increased far more stitches, but I like them both.

I've completed a few other small things like socks and wrist warmers, but don't have the time to blog about it. Neither the time to blog about the fabulous things I received in the mail lately. Sorry!
But here's a link to a competition I participate in. You can see my contribution here . You can also vote for me folowing the first link, clicking on my project picture and then on the stars. Of course you can also vote for others ;-)

need yarn?

I spend two hours yesterday to take pictures and prepare the auctions on Ebay! So much knitting time has been wasted recently, it's quite sad...
Anyway, shameless plug for my auctions: look, yarn! (if this link shouldn't work, look for seller's name cloudpurple on ebay.de)
You know, you want it ;-)

Done!

The attic is tidy now as is my own room and I'm totally done. It took me almost the whole day, over five hours to clean my room. I've got 1 big blue platic bag full of junk and 1.5 big blue bag of yarn to be put up at Ebay tomorrow. But my room has not been this kind of clean and tidy and walkable(yes, it was up to the point were you had to go on tiptoes) since two years atleast.
Too tired to write much more, so projects have to wait a little longer still.

Happy new year!

Wow, 2006 really went fast, didn't it? I consider it a good year despise the not-so-good things that happened. There weren't many of those things and most turned out well in the end. For example my dad's last employer going bankrupt, but him finding a new one without really intending too.

I didn't went out for New Year`s Eve instead I stayed at home with my mum. I didn't even called anyone to ask what they would be doing, cause let's face it, the last New Year`s Eves weren't so great and I can very well live without it. Besides it rained rather heavily yesterday night which didn't stopped people from lightening fireworks...
...especially that skyrocket that landed on our balcony which is packed full of stuff that probably is inflammable was "fun". Don't worry though I got there in time with a bottle of water(yes, the rocket was still sparkling!). There are three things I learned from this incident:
1. people are stupid and should not be given firework
2. we should move the stuff on the balcony elsewhere
3. my mum is no good in stressfull situations
oh, actually there are four:
4. I would have made a good firefighter, I think ;-)

Not much else has happened the last few days as we cleaned up the attic. Let's just say that it's astonishing what a family can accumulate over the years! I should have taken before and after pictures, though we really aren't finished yet. I have already driven three times to the recycling center and atleast two more drives will be needed to get rid of junk we didn't even know we still had! A couple of things will be auctioned off at Ebay though among them my keyboard(yes I had one, no I can't play...) , 3(three!) editions of Trivial Pursuit and yarn.