Updates and a sale!

It's been a long time since I've blogged (again, I know). But work and teaching at the University have really taken most of my time last months. Now, I'm temporarily only teaching one seminar at the University, because my workplace had some economical issues. Not the greatest moment to not have a day-job, but hey, at least I can do other things for a while. Like crafting! And I'm quite positive I will find a new and even more interesting job soon.

Meanwhile, I've been updating my Etsy shop. You can find for example this... (Yes, it is a real fossil, an orthocerus fossil).

...this...
these cute earrings...

.... these crocheted snowflakes...

... and many other things, like stitch markers and knitted toys. And the best thing is that everything will have 10% discount until Wednesday 30th of November! Just use a coupon code "November" if you shop, and you'll get the discount automatically.

Doctor Colibridreams, I presume?

I wanted to blog about my graduation, and show you some pictures of the exam (and mostly, the graduation shawl I knitted). But. All the pics - except the above pic of the lovely roses he gave me - are in boyfriends computer and apparently it is very difficult to send them to me... Yes, I took the exam in the end of March and yes, I have been constantly reminding him of sending me the pics. So, if I waited to get the photos, this blog might be silent for a long, long time.

But - the good news is, I'm a doctor in Latin American studies! I was so happy to finish the studies. The last months before March I kind of hated my thesis, I was so tired of it already. Don't get me wrong - I still love my research subject and plan to write about it more and go on with the research at some point. I just had enough of the thesis and didn't want to work with it anymore, even though I knew it could have been better.

The exam went fine. Well, one of the Committee members was really hard on me. But I already had seen it coming, so it was no surprise. Besides, I know that she is kind of crazy and was pissed of with me for personal reasons. She bashed my work because I hadn't cited her enough (I don´t think there is much to cite, really). So when she tried to question and criticize me, I didn't feel nervious, because I could despise her. I can't really respect her as an academic because the reason she was so difficult with me before and during the exam, is mostly vanity on her part.

Well, the good thing I don't have to try to cope with her anymore. And if I ever have to work with her again, at least it will be on completely different basis, as iguals.

For now, I'm quite happy to work outside the University. It's good to see the "real life" too, although my plan is to go back at some moment. I might be giving some lectures next semester, but that will be something extra, in addition to my real life work.

Finally blogging again

My good intention to blog more often has been complicated by the fact that we still don’t have internet in our home. I hope there will be some kind of change in that in very near future; I’m tired of going to the University every day just to check my mails. But well, we’ll see.

Otherwise everything is going fine. I finally got a job last week. You can’t imagine ohw happy and relieved I am! Especially because my new job seems to be interesting and challenging. I can’t start until I get my working permission, but at least I don’t have to look other jobs anymore. It also seems that I might graduate some day! The tesis has been practically ready from the beginning of December, but due to the vacations, university bureaucracy and especially some problems with one of my Committee members, I haven’t been able to get through all the necessary procedures. But it seems that next week the biggest problem could be overcome and I could go on with the process. So, if I’m lucky, I might have my exam by the end of this month, or in the beginning of April at least. Wish my luck!

I have also been knitting quite a lot. Boyfriend got a new sweater as a Christmas present (yeah, in January ;-). I made it with Tuulia’s Tailored Sweater Method, but the spreadsheet gave me some pretty strange numbers, so I just made up the numbers. The yarn is an old yarn granny gave me last summer; it must be from the 50’s or something. I’m not completely happy with the sweater. Maybe it’s the neckline. (sorry about the bad picture, but it´s the only one I have!)

In January, I also finally finished my own Tangled Yoke Cardigan, started in February 2010. It became a UFO (unfinished object) when I had to think how to make the sleeves top down and not bottom up, as in the instructions. The yarn also seemed to pill a lot already while I was knitting, so this cardigan was left to wait for months. Finally I decided to give it a try in December.

Well, I’m happy I finished it, but I’m quite disappointed with the result. I love the colour, love the pattern, and the yarn is really soft and has a great stitch definition. But. It pills like hell. I have shaved it many, many times, and it seems that the moment you stop the shaving, it starts to pill again. I wanted this to be my “good cardigan”, something I could use in public, but it looks all worn out. That´s why the sleeves are short too - I didn´t want to buy any more yarn for them. Definitively will reclaim to the yarn company, because the yarn is not that cheap either.

Welcome 2011

I hope you don´t mind seeing some Christmas pictures, even though it already middle of January. It´s just a bit hard to update the blog - I still don´t have internet at home.

The Christmas evening´s dinner was sooooooo much fun...

No, really, we had good time. The nephews (boyfriend´s, not mine) were just a little tired after playing all day and after opening the gifts.

And here´s the welcome to the year 2011 - with the 12 grapes of course!