I am not a math queen, and I do like to be certain I have enough yarn- do you think I was on target, or stunningly off-base when I placed this order?!

I am not a math queen, and I do like to be certain I have enough yarn- do you think I was on target, or stunningly off-base when I placed this order?!
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Kiddy Print mohair from Borealis Yarns, St. Paul, Knitpicks Sierra from

Knitpicks of course! So far I have used one and a half skeins of Sierra

for the back, and not even a whole skein of mohair. Oh- did I tell you

my mohair traumas? After a LONG day of work I came home with a friend

and saw that the puppy had knocked the gate down in the kitchen. The

gate was used to keep her out of trouble, and out of the rest of the

house. Somehow she freed herself, AND unzipped my knitting bag. Yes, it

was tightly zipped when I left it at the start of the day (what was I

thinking leaving my knitting at home?!) and unzipped at home. Mohair

was strewn up and down the steps, Buster had some strands cascading

across his back and one in this sharp teeth happily playing tug of war

with the puppy. I rescued it with my friend providing distractions, and

put it away. About 2 weeks later I was in the bathroom for about 3

minutes, and the mohair was in the same state, dogs playing in it,

tangled hopelessly.



Fast forward- a week out- while waiting for a friend at Cafe Latte I

began the tedious untangling process. Two older ladies stopped to chat,

and encouraged me, "You'll get it untangled, use knitters, we always

do." After Cafe Latte we went to Starbucks where I did indeed get it

wound neatly back up. I think I only had to cut out about 8 inches

total. No worries, and I have been fine and on-guard with my knitting

ever since.



Oh- happy turkey day to all knitters, and happy knitting time If you're

not the turkey cooks!

In progress...

In progress...
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

The back!

The back!
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

At SnB (which I attended for 45 min. instead of the usual 2 hours) I

finished the armholes. I came home and had about 8 rows left till the

back was done, and now it is. Super fast lovely knitting. Wow! Do you

think I can get the front done this weekend?

Yay! for affordable yarn! does this place have gift certificates?

Yay! for affordable yarn! does this place have gift certificates?
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Any tips for yarn dying at home? The red and blue will be my husband's

shovel snow socks once I make them. They are by request.

Plight for the perfect work bag. Search ended at Patina in Uptown with the Milano series.

Plight for the perfect work bag. Search ended at Patina in Uptown with the Milano series.
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Trendy, but not stuffy. This carry-it all will take you breezily from

one appointment with rowdy children to another with the same. That's

what I thought when I looked at it and decided to make it mine. It

would also make a rockin' knitting bag. I might have to buy

another...There are 2 large deep pockets on either side, a small zip-up

pocket in the middle, and another small non-zip up pocket, and lots of

space with sturdy handles. Yup I think I want another.

This pic's for you beth blue blogger

This pic's for you beth blue blogger
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Irresistable Color yumminess!

This is a prayer shawl for a dear friend with kidney problems

This is a prayer shawl for a dear friend with kidney problems
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Say a prayer for her today.

Yippee~ three "firsts" on one pic!

Yippee~ three "firsts" on one pic!
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

My first thesis, my first thesis award, and my first Koigu hand-painted

yarn skein

Halloween's Chino Latino time- mix your own mojito

Halloween's Chino Latino time- mix your own mojito
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

With spooky vials of berry puree- you can tell I liked it!

I am now a master of the universe

According to a fellow blogger and friend. I just had an awesome wicked cool surprise graduation party. I am currently typing while sitting on my husband's lap so the keyboard angle is a bit off. We had Buca food, and hand-made circle decorations, frozen mojito mix, lots of friends and family. I was definitely surprised to see all the people in our house. I was with my Mom and Dad taking my brother to the airport. I was wearing new boots and my feet hurt, but we all walked back and forth between the checkin terminals, and even waited to see if my brother "beeped" when he went through the security detector. Then we had to wave to him. I thought it was a little over the top, but now it all makes sense in the grand scene of things.

I owe a ton of thanks to lots of people for this super duper surprise party. Thank you Mom and Dad for buying Buca for us all and the lovely flower arrangement, thank you Elizabethan for your premium party planning, and decorating skills, thank you Amy for your magnificent chai, thank you Sam and Nat for picking up the Buca food, and Troy of course. I have to admit that I "challenged" him by saying that I didn't know if he could pull off a surprise party- which he felt up to the task to do bless his heart! Thank you all for coming who made it! It was a memorable time for sure, and I LOVE to celebrate!!!

So, by the way, not only was my Master's degree conferred upon me today but more than that happened. I was sitting in my row with other graduates just listening along to the program and watching a few awards getting bestowed on grad school staff. Then it was time for the outstanding thesis award. Rather than announce the winner simply, the faculty decided to create a lot of suspense by reading excerpts from a student's admission statement.

The first line was read and I thought, hmm...that sounded a lot like something I wrote once, like 3 years ago or so. Then the faculty read more stuff, like telling about where this student had traveled and worked in the past. By now my heart was nearly racing out of my chest. I think that is me, I thought. If it is me will I have the strength in my legs to accept the award or will I fall over or something embarassing like that?

Well, it was me. I won the outstanding thesis award. That was the one award given to a student this year, out of the school's largest graduating class. Another student came up to me later to ask my name to "check out" my thesis. I think she wondered how I got the award, and not her, because she is a really scholarly-like person. It felt like she was assessing me, to see if I really could write a good thesis or not. She went on to tell me about her thesis, it was a cross-cultural thesis also (as is mine). All I have to say is that I did work really hard on it, and I definitely appreciate my thesis advisor Roger Ballou who pressed me to do my ultimate best. I figured, I'm writing a thesis, why not write it the absolute best that I can?

graduation day

Tomorrow at 1pm is graduation from my grad school. Yippee!! We are going out to Epic in Eden Prairie for Sunday brunch beforehand. It doesn't feel real that tomorrow is grad day. I just feel tired from my physically and emotionally exhausting job. This week ended a little tough instead of being a light day to send me of into the weekend. I am trying to relax though, and tomorrow I will CELEBRATE!

I have been knitting on my Mom's sweater. I was nearly done but then realized there was a goof- way too many stitches. So I ripped it out and have begun again. It was about 9 inches that I had to rip out, but it knits up fast when I have time to knit on it. I am trying to wait to start my sweater- the Vogue Knitting v-neck with a big cable down the middle until my Mom's sweater is done. I think I will be needing the knitting needles that are currently in use for her project. So I am w..a..i..t..i..n..g...

Tonight we (Dh and I) are making shrimp with ginger sauce from my favorite Thai cookbook. This morning we went running, DH made french toast and we watched last week's Smallville, and went to church. It was a relaxing day.

Buster news- he had to go to the vet Wednesday because he had a lesion near his tail. At the clinic they shaved his fur in that spot, cleaned it out, gave him a shot of penicillin, and sent me home with instructions to return in 10 days, give Buster benadryl, fatty acid capsules, spray his lesion with hydrocortisone spray, and give him amoxicillin twice a day. He had been licking and biting that spot in the middle of the night at 4am on the dot. It was keeping me up at night with all the noise he made. I didn't even know what the spot looked like until we brought him to the vet because his tail is usually up in the air curling and hiding that area. He is now a lot of work, but it seems that he is feeling better.