Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Blogging.

Okay, so after my little brush with idiocy on the 'Net...


I finally finished my first 'big' paper of the semester. The first two were smaller, really reviews; first of a library periodical and then of a library association. This time up, I had to write a paper on Valuing the Information Professional. I had to research salaries, take a good look at what the profession does and means to people, and put a price tag on what I'm worth. Never having to look at what I've made, but feeling free to bitch about it all the time, this was a challenge to me and I do feel, having spent the last two weeks of my life devoted to this, that I've learned quite a bit and come away with even more respect for this profession.


Naturally, I hope I did well enough in my professor's eyes, but I do feel like I've learned something from this assignment. I also had a crash course in learning a new writing style, which took years off my life as I formatted my paper last night. Lord, the reference list always destroys me. I've already started getting the research together for my next paper, due in a few weeks; something tells me I'll be creating the reference list first - I can always delete sources if I decide not to go with them.


Other than that, there's been reading and knitting like mad. I think I'll refer to this summer as my Summer of Socks since they seem to be my pet project this summer. I finally finished the Circque socks from Spring Knitty, which were so much fun! I loved the heel, I love the twisting cables, and the only complaint I had was that the yarn, while gorgeous, was VERY splitty. Thankfully, it doesn't show up in the socks themselves. LOVE. This yarn is Crystal Palace Soy Silk, and I have to say, I'm loving these new, sustainable fibers. I tried bamboo a few months ago, and fell in love immediately. I may try another soy or silk blend and see if they get splitty again - I'm hoping not.

I also finished sock #2 on Roza's socks from Spring '07 Interweave. I FINALLY used the yarn I bought during our Savannah-versary last year, and this pattern ROCKED. It's so simple, but so pretty when knit up, and the variegated yarn took nothing away from the pattern. The brioche stitch was a perfect variation on the K3, P3 rib; it kept me interested but was easy enough to remember that I didn't need to cart the magazine around to refer to constantly. LOVE.

Roza's Socks

Circque socks

What's next? I started my 'Pay it Forward' projects from Facebook, but the yarn I bought recently apparently does NOT want to be what I had in mind. Back to the drawing board, I guess. The Pay it Forward project was a sweet idea that started when a friend of mine tagged me. You agree to handmake projects for the first five people that respond to your post, with the guarantee that they will do the same. I'm looking forward to my goodies, so I'm going to make these good!

Books, books, books - I've been sneaking some downtime reading in while working on schoolwork so that I don't burn out. I finished off two Jen Lancaster books, Bitter is the New Black and Bright Lights, Big Ass. God, I could read her constantly; she is outright hilarious. From spoiled dot-com princess to newly minted author, she never fails to find the insane side of life.

I finally finished Warriors: Into the Air, and Heartbreaker and I had a great book discussion! He's trying to get me to read The Secrets of Dripping Fang: The Onts, which I'd love to read, but I'm pushing The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, since it's on his summer reading list. Stay tuned to see how this Mexican standoff goes.

Since I'm working on a paper discussing the image of the librarian and the transition from a bun-headed spinster to a tech-savvy cyberpunk, I decided to tap my cyberpunk side and picked up Neuromancer by the Big Daddy of Cyberpunk, William Gibson. It's been a while since I first read it, so it really is all new to me and I find myself enjoying it like I did the first time I stumbled on it. More on it as I go, since I haven't been able to read much the past couple of weeks.