Baby Yours

A little while back, the world welcomed a new baby. At the time I was embarrassed to admit that I had not hand crafted anything for the little tyke. Not only was he the child of one of my best friends, but the child of a knitter too. Oh the shame. It wasn't that I hadn't planned ahead. Within hours after finding out he was coming I publicly announced that baby knitting would ensue*. Within days I had dragged the grad student I was staying with to the local Hobby Lobby to search for something that I could make, and this beauty was both in my Rav queue and the pattern was purchased. I would not knit, I would crochet! I'm faster at it anyways, and Noah's Ark is just perfect for this recipient! But I was squatting in a grad apartment miles away and I was already going to have to ship stuff home since the travel plans had changed from driving back to flying back, and more yarn didn't fit into that plan at that exact moment. It's ok, I have plenty of time.

May: Orlando, New Mexico, Job Offer, home finally, for a week. It's ok, I have plenty of time.
June: Stockholm, Boulder, house hunting, car accident, house on the market, yarn is being packed. It's ok, I have plenty of time.
July: Packing, providence, house hunting, visiting, finishing post-doc. It's ok, I crochet fast.
August: Well, I don't really know what happened to August. We started it off there and now we're here. There was a trip to the craft store somewhere in there, but I didn't bring the pattern, didn't know how much, what colors, etc. The magazine had been packed somewhere...
September: Hurricane, back to to the field, setting up an office, unpacking boxes. Not ok, I don't have time.
October: The blanket just isn't happening, what else can I make....


Well this particular baby lives in Texas, and he'll be heading home to a cold New England for the Holidays, and it seemed wholely appropriate for him to be wrapped in Christmasy goodness of wool.

Here we go.
Pattern: Baby Yours, by Stephanie Pearl McPhee (aka Yarn Harlot)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepard Sport color cranberry (under two skeins) purchased on ebay from emtnestr
Needles: US Size 4
Size: 6 Months, I made the bigger size sort of just on feel since I haven't seen the kid yet in person, and I'd rather it be a little big than too small.
Buttons:purchases at my LYS.


This pattern was easy to follow and quick to knit. That's the really great things about kids being so small. The yarn is gorgeous, it's a "solid" but it has beautiful tonal changes in it. It is soft and squishy and wonderful to work with. I've heard lorna's referred to as the yarn equivalent of crack, and I'll admit that it could become an addiction. It did shed quite a bit of color when I wet blocked it, but everytime I've worked with a red yarn that has been the case. I think that where I sewed the sleeves to the body it's a little wonky, but I'm critical of things like that in my own knitting. I'm in general not a big fan of cabling, but on a small item like this, the cables were just enough to keep me interested, and not too much to annoy me.
Overall I hope that the little guy likes it. Hubby says it looks like an old school Star Trek uniform. While I'm not that big of a fan, I'm sure that the parents will appreciate the similarities.

*Side note: scrolling through some of those old posts is giving me a new appreciation for my current situation, one home is so much better then that chaos of last spring.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

My nephew turns one today! I can't be there to celebrate, and that makes me a bit sad. He is by far the cutest kid in the world and I can't wait to go home an hug him in person, rather than waving at him through the video chat. His party will be happening as this post goes live, so I'm publicly sharing my love to feel involved.

One year is a big milestone in a little guys life, and I could not let it go unmarked without gifting the way I know best. With a little homemade love.
Our new house has a fabulous space for me to sew. I'm loving it!!! I started this quilt when my sister was pregnant *hangs head in shame*. I know that I'm a very slow quilter, and I have sporadic problems with my sewing machine and sewing space, so I don't usually make "gift" quilts. Babies grow faster than I can quilt. That may change with my new set up, but we'll see. The fabric for this one was a complete impulse purchase which deluded me into thinking I could finish a quilt in time for his arrival. One of those cute little packs of fat quarters in coordinating fabrics that you just have to have and three hours later you are walking out of the fabric store having finally found enough of the other fabrics to actually let you complete the project...



Almost all of the blocks were actually pieced before he was born, and well, it just didn't happen. So here it is in time for the birthday. Happy birthday buddy. Some crafts from Auntie and Some Rock n' Roll from Uncs. Party on little dude. Love ya!

An Early Christmas Miracle

I just found my Christmas spirit, and feel just a little less displaced.

The Two Body Problem

Here. We. Go.

For those non-academic types who read this blog, let's start with a definition. The Two Body Problem is what the academic world refers to as what results from the marriage of one PhD to another PhD. I'm using "marriage" here as an all encompassing term which includes, but is not limited to civil union, committed relationship, life partner or any legal or not legal term indicating the commitment of two PhDs to spend the social/non-professional aspects of their lives together.

Some of you unfamiliar with the Two Body Problem may be asking yourselves, what is this crazy girl talking about? Marriages are not a "problem". Ah yes, in the normal world a marriage is generally a good thing, it promotes happiness among the members, in some cases procreates the species, and fosters love and understanding in a society which could use more of that. You see, it's not the marriage per se that is the problem. Smart people, even those who have been silly enough to spend years in school and get a PhD, generally recognize the benefits of marriage, as long as it it with another non-PhD. In fact, I've had more than one full professor tell me that I better find a wife if I plan to get tenure. Wife in this case meaning someone who will take care of all the non-academic aspects of my life, because while on the tenure track we should be so focused on our work that we need someone who will remind us to perform normal functions like eating and bathing. Personally, I have always managed to eat and bathe at regular intervals, although I will admit that what consitutes a meal in my world would not be considered so by "normal" people standards.


The Two Body Problem, refers not to the actual union of PhDs, but to the academic worlds inability to be flexible enough to allow for the employment of both members of the union. Don't believe this could actually be a problem? Think that we just find jobs like the rest of the world? Well, we don't. I invite you to read all of my prior posts concerning the topic of my own job search. Don't want to take my word for it? Don't. Take theirs or theirs or theirs. Don't think it's a big problem? Well there's been books written about it, and the statistics are staggering. I'll let you google around a bit and not bore you with the numbers.

So if it's so well known why am I bothering to write about it? Well, because it's on my mind, and it's my blog to talk about what's on my mind. I don't have any solutions. I have ideas, but no solutions. I'm not going to give advice, for two reasons: 1) we haven't figured it out yet so I have none to give and 2) none of the advice given to me has done any good so I'm not sure good advice exists. I guess I'm just putting some personal thoughts and experiences out there in the hopes that someone will gain something from it. Also, our current situation may jade the conversation a little bit, so you are fairly warned. Since this post is pretty long as it is, I'm going to let it serve as merely an introduction and a bit of a blog interactive process.

Over the next few weeks I'm planning posts on the following topics.
1) Options commonly presented to two-body couples and my thoughts on their practicality.
2) What Universities are/should be doing about the two-body problem and where I think they are failing.

and...here's were we get interactive...what do you want to hear about? Is there something that you want to know about becoming a two-body problem? Something I might know, something I might want to consider/research/explore. Leave a comment. I'd love to know what others think up front.

oops

I just realized I never changed my address on my Interweave Knits subscription. I thought I had, but it turns out I didn't. I've been awaiting the latest issue and when many finished projects started popping up on Ravelry it finally occurred to me that I might have screwed up. Well, let's hope that the postal service will forward it. :(