Thursday, March 25, 2010

Reasons Why I Like School (Because I Really Need to Be Reminded Right Now...)

  1. I enjoy learning; I really do.  Reading a book for a class is fun to me because it means that we're going to take it apart and discuss it.  The problem lies when I don't get anything out of the discussion as a result of a variety of reasons.
  2. I like being with a group of people who also want to learn.  When you actually have a good group (like I have with my Early American Literature class at the moment), I feel useful and we actually get something done.  In the end, I think we all come out of it understanding the topic more thoroughly.
  3. The professor has a certain amount of expertise in the subject you're learning.  As a result, being in a class taught by that person means that you get to hear an expert talk about their field of study.  The issues only begin when that person cannot effectively communicate that expertise in an understandable manner, which is disappointing because, and I said in #1, I enjoy learning.
  4. I've had the opportunity to meet a variety of different people from all different backgrounds.  When we all come together to work in a group, that means everyone has something to contribute, even if it's simply a different perspective on the assignment.
  5. I have some awesome people to call friends.  Between the groups that are or were in my classes--such as my Art Ed peeps--or the people who live in my building or from Getaway Weekend, I have some fun people to talk to and hang out with outside of class.
  6. I have fun stuff to do outside of class.  No more hanging around at home for me.  If I tried, somebody would probably drag me out to do something fun.
Unfortunately, I must cut this short as I need to finish some things for the aforementioned Early American Literature class.   Don't stay up too late tonight, peeps.  There's places to go and people to see tomorrow.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Hat-ness

Alright, I'm not going to lie... I've become a little bit obsessed with hats over the course of this school year... Not only have a made a few of them, but my cousin gave me one she made for me for Christmas, and I rediscovered one that another friend of mine made for me for Christmas last year.  Let's recap my year in hats, shall we? 
 Hat #1: Imagination Beret

I started this back in August, about two weeks before coming to college for the first time.  This hat was one of my safety-net projects.  For at least the first month of my first semester, I had a knitting project in my backpack.  I made it with KnitPicks Imagination yarn in "Unicorn."  It took one skein and US 6 circulars.  This is the first hat I've ever made and opened up the doors for the other hats that I made over the course of this school year, as well as the hats that I want to make.


 Hat #2: Winter Hat

This hat was inspired by the cold weather that we had this year.  It suddenly dawned on me that it was cold . . . and I need to walk from one building to another in order to get anywhere on campus.  As a result, I need something to keep my head warm during the commute from one building to the next.  It's not a difficult hat to make . . . it's really just a whole bunch of ribbing . . . and fuzzy stuff along the hem.  I made it during the time before Christmas Break.  When it was done, it was just missing something, so when I got home, I found this fuzzy eyelash-type yarn that was perfect.


Hat #3: Slouchy Hat

This is my most recent hat.  I felt the need to make another hat towards the end of Christmas Break.  The only challenge about this hat was what colors to make it in.  It called for worsted-weight yarn, but I only had one wool yarn that I wanted to use, everything else was the wrong weight or wrong material or something to that effect.  However, I realized that, when I hold two lace-weight yarns together, it forms a thickness that was pretty similar to the worsted weight.  The colors were kind of a shot in the dark; I wasn't sure whether the blue-purple combination would work.  Fortunately, it did and it's one of my favorite things to wear.

So those are the hats that I've made.  I also want to make a few other hats . . . at the moment, though, I'm embarking on another sweater.  It's going to be really nice.  I'm using Paton's Classic Wool Merino in the colorway "Dark Grey Mix."  The sleeve-length of my sweaters seem to be gradually getting longer.  My first sweater (the blue "Diamond Mesh" sweater) was short-sleeved.  This one is three-quarters length.  I'll upload pictures soon, hopefully.  I'm almost done with the first sleeve.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

10 Things I've Learned at College

College isn't just about what you learn in class . . .
  1. The world does not revolve around you.  Period. Some people just haven't learned this yet.
  2. Life would be miserable without good friends there to pull you up when you're down.
  3. Courage and perseverance are necessary if you want to get anywhere in this world.
  4. Being drunk is overrated.  Being able to go up the stairs without stumbling is such a good feeling.
  5. Overthinking only makes things worse.
  6. Crying doesn't solve any problems, but it definitely makes you feel better.
  7. If you want something to happen, you need to make it happen.
  8. Life's tough; get over it.
  9. There are some people you can be friends with, and there are some people you can life with.  These two groups don't always overlap.
  10. Enjoy where you are in life; you never know what may happen tomorrow.