28 August 2006

I am Meme

Do other people actually calculate the percentage completion of WIPs?? I'm just looking at mine squinty-eyed and basically taking the measure of how much I feel I've made progress. I wonder what the difference between this, and the actual percent complete might be. I'd find out, but I'd have to do math, and I only do math if I'm going to get a sleeve or some nice bust shaping out of the deal. This issue could have some significance, however, in that I'm "measuring" the percent complete of my diss the same way I'm measuring it for my knitting. And telling my profs the number like it means something, ha! Of course even with math I couldn't know the real percentage on the diss, because there's no way to ever know when it's done. There's no final form it will ever take that says, "there's nothing more to be done but to wear it proudly." Even when/if it becomes a book, then you spend the rest of your life explaining to people how "research constraints" prevented you from doing the 900 things they think you should also have done, which are of course unreasonable.

No wonder I knit.

Thank you to everyone for the lovely comments. I love comments. Special thank you to my friend at The Purloined Letter for much-needed encouragement, as always, and congrats on your own progress!! I really think my new resolutions are helping already...I feel so much better, and my chapter seems better, but I think the weather may also be a factor! :-P

And I'm thinking about a "friends of Scandinavia" ring, but I think I may have an even better idea...will get back to that.

Palette Sampler is proceeding apace, despite a small glitch in the pattern. Details on that, and my experiments in two-handed knitting for next time. (But note to those who may be starting the pattern right now: black, black, ash, ash, bark, bark - NOT black, ash, bark, bark, bark!)

Before I leave you, it's meme time:


What kind of yarn are you?

You are Mohair.You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that's okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes.
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code



I came across this one over at Tygher Knits:

I AM: procrastinating.

I SAID: enough already, but I can't stop.

I WANT: more time to knit.

I WISH: I lived somewhere nicer, and quieter.

I HATE: extreme noise, dirt, and nasty smells - too bad all three are constantly right outside my window.

I MISS: fresh air.

I FEAR: random acts of violence.

I HEAR: screeching, fans, kids trying to kill other kids on bicycles, my husband whistling.

I WONDER: whether it's possible that someday I'll actually finish my dissertation and get a job.

I REGRET: having wasted so much time.

I AM NOT: sure why I can't make myself do certain things that need to be done, like answer the phone, catch up on (e)mail, finish my chapter, do the laundry.

I DANCE: not at all.

I SING: extremely badly, and only when no one else is around.

I AM NOT ALWAYS: so grouchy, but mostly I am.

I MADE: my own dollhouse out of shoeboxes when I was a kid. It was spectacular.

I WRITE: loquaciously.

I CONFUSE: even myself.

I NEED: more time, more sleep, more money, more peace.

I SHOULD: get in shape.

I START: new projects almost daily.

I FINISH: projects only occasionally, but with great fanfare.

I BELIEVE: we should all spend more time reading and thinking and listening.

I KNOW: a few things about knitting, a few things about early-nineteenth-century- Russian-cultural-and-gender-history (i.e., my diss), a few good writing tips, and a little bit of Russian. I've forgotten everything else I might ever have known.

I CAN: think of ten things I'd love to do right now, but none of them are what I should be doing to get my life in order and my work on track.

I CAN'T: imagine how I'll finish my dissertation anywhere near the deadline, but I know nearly everyone feels this way, and they usually do finish.

I SEE: how easy it would be to just knit all day, every day…until the checks stop coming and the rent can't be paid…

I BLOG: more often and more thoroughly than I should

I READ: more blogs than I should

IT PISSES ME OFF: that I lose several days of every month to migraine. If I'm not working, I want to be having fun.

I FIND: all kinds of things that I thought I lost - nearly every day.

I LIKE: slow, peaceful, quiet days of reading and knitting, somewhere nice with fresh air, with my husband for company.

I LOVE: many people, places, and things, but my husband most of all.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd love to join your "Friends of Scandinavia" ring if you decide to do it. I'm half Swedish, and have been to Scandinavia twice. Most recently in early summer of this year.

This Weary Traveler said...

You'd get big time participation in a friends of Scandinavia ring around here. As the only Minnesotan not of Scandinavian descent, I couldn't join. I think when you finish your diss you should take a week off to just knit and enjoy.