Learning new tricks

Most of the people in my family are very skilled when it comes to things like knitting and sewing, etc.  No, I am serious, they are super, super skilled.  My aunt is a vendor at many of the craft shows in the Pacific Northwest, she is also married to a fellow crafter, and my mother is a hatter with her own store and supplies Disney is 100+ hats a year.  Yup. Super talented people.

Me, well I can barely knit more than a scarf, and my sewing machine collects dust unless I am hemming a pair of pants.  So, in truth, I am pretty darn proud of this hat I finished. 

 

I only ripped it out twice while knitting it to start over.

I was a little worried about not having enough yarn to finish it, but I managed to pull it off. 

I just mailed this hat off yesterday as it is perfect for a friend's baby.  It is super soft and oh so white, so I do hope she has a few cute moments in it before trying to eat it or spit up on it.

Exploring The New - Victrola

I still have trouble with a solid working routine. Some days I am productive at home.  Other days productive looks like doing house-stuff and surfing the web for articles semi-related to what I do.  While that is useful it really is not work.  Or, rather, really not the work I need to be doing to get the dissertation done.

So from time to time I try working elsewhere.  I am at my best  in the library, but my favorite library is 2,962 miles away.  The one which I've found that works for me here is not super convenient, but when I muster up the energy and pack up absolutely everything I need and hop on the bus, it generally is a fairly good day of work. 

Being able to drive to a working spot is always better for me -- I can take more books, food, change of clothes, etc.  But being at at GIANT state school means paying for parking, and I am just opposed to that on principle.

One of my Bread Loaf friends introduced me to an excellent tea place.  I have had some success working there, but yesterday I wanted to try somewhere new in my continued push to do one new thing or go one new place each week.  Plus, ScoutMob, another one of those daily deal sites (this one is hyper local and indie) has a 50% off deal going on at Victrola Coffee & Art.  I am all about the deal!

The chai was good, I was easily able to get a table, nice environment, and I was actually rather productive while there. All pluses.  The big minus was the noise - it was super loud.  I am not sure whether or not I will be heading back there to write this week, but for me the most important part was getting out and exploring a bit more.