Was that midterm break?

Well, midterm break flew by. I found myself dogsitting for a friend of the family the whole week. That's right. Two straight weeks of dogsitting. These pups were geriatric French bulldogs. The characteristic raspy breathing of French bulldogs was helpful during the week. At night I just listened for their labored breaths to make sure they were both still alive. I'm not usually a small dog person, but they grew on me as the week went on. It's hard to complain about dogs that sleep 90% of the time.

Mr. Biz and Ms. Brighton

I've spent significantly more time with dogs than with people during the past few weeks. It's likely my social skills have begun to suffer. On the bright side, I was able to get a ton of knitting done and watched every romantic comedy movie on HBO. I'm pleased to present my finished Sedum:

I'm very pleased with the 3/4 length sleeves. I was terrified that it wouldn't fit in the end but was pleasantly surprised with the final product. I'm most proud of the color. Mustard yellow is so bold for me.

I received exciting news over break that I was selected for a summer internship in Boulder, Colorado. Aquatic mountain ecosystems might not interest you, so I'll stick to knitted related things: I've already searched for yarn stores in the Boulder area. There are three.

On Sunday I cast on for a hat.

This one is for a friend. I warned him that if I made a colorwork hat for him, we would have to be friends forever. There was no escaping it. He seemed fine with this agreement. When I realized I wouldn't be able to travel with the project easily (too much yarn to juggle) I panicked and cast on for a new shawl. Yes, I'm using the 11th Doctor sock yarn. I'm quite excited.

You might think, "Okay, Kaylin's knitting two projects. Whatever." But whatever is not an appropriate reaction, dear reader. I have never worked on two projects at the same time. Sure, countless knitters do it without incident. I'm just worried that I'll neglect one. In fact, I can't work on one without feeling guilty about the other for a second or two. I know this sounds strange. I'm working through it.

MOOG

There's yarn, and then there's yarn.

Anna's aunt mailed her some yarn. Actually, it was more than that. In my opinion, it was a Magical Orb Of Goodness (hereafter referred to simply as "MOOG"- sorry if you thought this post might be about a synthesizer).

We don't know who made it or what it's made of. We just know it's magical. How could it not be? Rumor has it there are more MOOGs on the way via the US Postal Service. Of course the MOOGs could probably just levitate all the way from Oregon to Missouri, but they don't want to freak everybody out.

Another treasure appeared at SnB. It's completely unrelated to knitting/crocheting, but humorous enough to warrant a mention.

"How to Defeat the Huns"

It's in black and white to enhance readability (yes, that is an actual word). The creator is obviously a humorous sort of person, so I'll excuse their affinity for hot pink ink on hot pink post-it notes.

I finished the Risk Management Hat but have yet to mail it off. I love receiving mail but, as a rule, I am very bad at sending it.

Perfect hint of slouch.

I'm dogsitting this week and it turns out Bella and Tilda don't like to be left out of photographs. They are skilled at popping into the frame.

Sometimes it was affectionate:

Other times it was just sneaky:

Creepers be creepin'

I relocated to the dining room to capture a shot of the Calorimetry I finished last weekend. You might recognize the K'acha yarn of Ugly-Cute hat fame. I considered referring to it as the "Phoenix from the Ashes" headband but thought that might be a bit much. A simple relocation could not deter the pups. Can you spot Tilda's nose in the photo below?

I also started a sweater over the weekend. I'm really enjoying the top-down construction. The seed stitch is yielding a wonderfully squishy fabric.

The pattern is called Sedum. I'll admit that it was the name that first caught my eye. Sedum is a large genus of succulent plants commonly known as stonecrops. They were some of my favorite plants to see last summer in Montana. I spent several weeks intrigued by a mysterious plant I kept spotting during field work. I knew it was a succulent, but no one could tell me exactly what it was. Finally my co-worker brought a field guide with him and the mystery was solved. It was roseroot, or Sedum integrifolium. Unfortunately the only picture of the plant I captured all summer was from the field guide.

I'm so excited that my midterm break starts in 24 hours. I plan on devoting much of my time to this sweater. And Doctor Who. Yup. Pretty much a repeat of Christmas break.