Maybe I should just quit knitting

Everything seems to be going badly. The lingerie didn't fit. The purple baby sweater really is huge. My koigu hat is too big. (Duh, shoulda swatched in pattern stitch, huh?) The sleeve I finished for Mist seems way too long. Putting in the buttonhole may require taking out a few rows of the front. Maybe it's time to quit.

Or maybe it's just time to start something new!

I want to start something simple, like a nice sock. Except that I should finish the random lacy socks, first, but I left the yarn at home and will get it back in two weeks.

But what's really calling to me is Gyrid from Elsebeth Lavold's Designer's Choice: Book 1 in her Silky Wool. Made a little swatch, will wash it, and then get started. This beautiful shell is primarily stockinette with a viking cable motif in a diamond in the center. Mostly mindless, with a nice little section of paying attention. Sounds like just the thing I need.

Grad School

Ingrid asked about my grad school plans. I will be attending Boulder for a PhD in Analytical Chemistry. I'll be working with Jose Jimenez and Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometers to study the components of fine particles that make up air pollution. The instruments can examine particles as small as about 35 nanometers and the research goals involve understanding how particles form from gases. I'm excited to go work for a great advisor and with a great group of students. Just 9 weeks of work and three months total until I head out of Boston. There will be things I'll miss, but for the most part, I'm feeling ready to leave. It's been a long 10 years here, and I'm looking forward to going home.