Graduation

Friday, I graduated. It was a remarkable day. It's been a phenomenal weekend, all around. But no time for knitting. That's for sure. I did ask for some various knitting stuff (including lessons at Patricia's Yarns) and people didn't get the knitting stuff for me. I'm sort of surprised... At some point, I'll get to knitting again. But not too much between now and the end of July when I take the bar.

Bryant Park: A non-knitting post

A few pictures from my stroll down sixth avenue this morning.



The magnificent Empire State Building

The Maju Tank Top -- a perfect fit!

I finished Mom's tank top in plenty of time for Mother's Day and gave it to her yesterday. She was *so* excited about it. I made her try it on right away and it was a perfect fit.
Not too much more to say about it... I'm just glad that I didn't have to rip it!

Finished with Law School

Three years. Gone. Done. I don't know how I feel about it yet. But it is what it is. And I'm going to go with that for a while...

Patricia's Yarns in Hoboken

This afternoon, I went to Patricia's Yarns in Hoboken (Fourth Street & Washington for anyone who wants to visit). I've been there before, but just to buy yarn a few times. When I went in, there were a bunch of people in the store, just hanging out, knitting. It was fantastic. Patricia herself was out of town this weekend, but her husband Adam and their dog Riley were manning the store. Margaux helped me find the perfect yarn for the tank top that I wanted to make for my mom. It's blue sky alpaca yarn in the thistle color. I love it. Look how inviting it looks in the adorable (and environmentally-friendly-because-it-is-so-strong) Patricia's Yarns bag:

And how gorgeous is the yarn itself???

Here's a closeup:
At Margaux's suggestion, I did a gauge swatch. It's a good thing, too, because the yarn I originally chose would have been much too small. Apparently, I am a very tight knitter. The pattern called for size 8 needles and the thinner yarn. I wound up working on size 9 needles and this much thicker yarn.

I'm excited about the tank top! The yarn is so soft and fabulous to work with!

Yes. It's Saturday night. It's 9:20 pm. Do you know where your yarn princess is?? Yes. That's right -- in the library. Boy oh boy do I love finals...

The Times Square Shuffle Revisited

For those of you who thought I was kidding:

A Change of Plans

I decided that I am not going to be able to finish the Asherton purple scarf by Monday afternoon, both due to all of the studying that I have to do this weekend and due to the fact that it is Passover this weekend and my time will really not be much my own. So I picked up another ball of the lilac color and started to make just a 2x2 rib on size 5 needles. I figure I can sort of fly through that a little bit. I think I will be able to finish it by Monday. And then I can always give her the other one later if I finish it. I think the Asherton scarf really is so pretty, and would hate the work I have done on it to go to waste, but I just don't think it's going to be finished by Monday. Maybe if it weren't finals time...

This morning, I also made sugar cookies because a few of us were all going to have our last day of work. The cookies were because my one friend wanted "Last Day of Work Cake." I didn't have all of the ingredients in the house for a cake, but I did have the ingredients for these cookies. They are quite possibly the easiest cookies I've ever made and I just love the way they all crinkled. They're crispy on the outside and nice and smushy in the middle. And everyone who tasted them loved them. Not what I should have been doing this morning, but it worked out.

Hugs on the 2 Train

I got my Smile Cards in the mail on Thursday of last week. There were ten of them. In much the same way that my mom always used to say my brother’s birthday money would be “burning a hole in his pocket,” the Smile Cards were truly burning a hole in my pocket. I found myself thinking about them – to whom would I give them, what would I say, would I have to create a reason, or would one present itself? As of yesterday, I still hadn’t given even one Smile Card away. It was frustrating me, and I was thinking that I might just not be looking hard enough for the right SO (Smile Opportunity). Then yesterday, when I went into the post office to mail my taxes (I’d only been carrying them around with me for 10 days…) the woman working there, finding herself confronted with a long line of people, was, well, not her usual bubbly self. I handed her one and said, “I know people must be driving you crazy this time of year – whenever they do, you can look at this and it can help make you feel better.” I felt okay about that SO, but it wasn’t phenomenal. I was wondering if maybe I wasn’t doing something right.

But then, this morning happened. I entered the 2 train at 72^nd Street, and grabbed onto the middle pole. The train was crowded, with many people standing, but it wasn’t packed, certainly no one was squished into the car or holding a flat palm against the ceiling in the hopes of anchoring themselves. A woman got on and was holding onto the pole near the seats and a man got on behind her. There was plenty of room for him to hold onto that pole, or the pole to which I was attached, or the pole to the left of him. For whatever reason, though, he thought this woman should have moved so he could get further into the train and could hold onto a pole on the opposite side of the car. He was curmudgeon-y (though not all that old) and kept mumble-yelling at her. I couldn’t hear what he actually said. She was able to move and he pushed through, knocking her into the walls of the train car and he moved through and away. Another young man and I tried to chuckle with her and roll our eyes at the nerve of people on the subway to kind of make it all better. “It’s just been that kind of morning,” the woman said. “Well,” I said, reaching into my bag and pulling out a Smile Card, “maybe this can help make it a little better.” The woman was visibly moved. She showed it to the man, and I reached in and grabbed one for him as well. He said he was going to get some to give to all of his friends. She said she was going to buy them right away. They were both so excited about helpothers.org. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me,” she said, and she hugged me. A random person hugged me. On the 2 train. In New York City. I didn’t pay her bills or give her food or shelter or clothing. I didn’t do anything to change the problems in her life, or eliminate them in any way. And yet, she told me it made her day. Which of course, made mine.

I'm bored with my blog

I'm not bored with the content of my blog, though I feel now like I have been working on this purple scarf for a while and because it's a scarf you can't really tell too much about the progress. As a result, I feel like it isn't really worth taking new pictures of it and posting them. But maybe I'll take some later. The real boredom with the site, though, seems to be the design. I feel like I need to shake it up a little bit -- maybe even just change the color scheme. But maybe later. I guess this is me just feeling antsy before finals... Two weeks left of classes (officially 14 classes left in my law school career) and then it's finals, and the bar. But you know, one step at a time.

And, randomly, I'm craving milk.