Don't Mess with Texas?

I'll second everything Jill said, but I'm not making any moving plans quite yet. UT was HUGE, the campus was gorgeous and very impressive, and the geology department building and facilities were awesome.

However, I also got a lot of bad vibes about my potential advisor. For example, the first thing I learned was that he is the "antichrist", he is a bad communicator and will not form relationships outside a very official advisor relationship with students (they didn't even know he was having a child until it was born), he treats his male students a lot differently, and he can throw some very stinging comments at you about your work, which makes it difficult to talk to him about problems. But, I will say that those opinions come from two students that I believe are also crazy. What it really comes down to is that I don't think I really want to do the research he does. He does work with eruption dynamics of volcanoes and the project I could work on would have to do with why some magmas (continental volcanoes) form bubbles as they rise and degas CO2 and other volatiles while other magmas (mid ocean ridges) do not. The actual work would be running experiments and then counting the bubbles and measuring their size and surface area to try and figure out if there is a pressure and temp or a time (rate of ascent) cutoff to form the bubbles. I think it's interesting, but my true interest lies more in the area of mantle dynamics and deeper processes.
Thankfully, I just received notice that I was accepted at Oregon State, who has a person who does things more along those exact lines. The package wouln't be as sweet, and the facilities (and everything else that comes with being the richest geology school in the country) probably wouldn't be either, but I think it is worth it to be working with someone I get along with and doing something I actually want to be doing. I also was accepted to University of Missouri, but they guy there does things more with magma viscosities and eruption dynamics also, so I'm not sure about that. I applied at a broad range because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do exactly, but I have become more focused since I applied 3 months ago.

Otherwise, it was a great weekend. I met a bunch of really cool people, including this hilarious southern girl from Auburn, and of course the "its a small world" requirement of two guys from Minnesota, one of whom I had actually run into once before without really knowing it. I'll probably see them again around the city this semester, so that's cool, since more friends are always good.


The photos show some of my highlights....
1. Cupcake, anyone?
2. Cutest girls in Texas
3. Austin at night
4. Texas Hill Country
5. Thrift shoppin
6. Green Texas?
7. Park
8. Texas Hill COuntry -- The *other* Colorado River


Oh, and i've been a bit busy to knit lately... but I am almost done with one sleeve of KAL II

Lone Stars

Molly & I had a fantastic time in Austin...we could definately live there, but if I did, I would probably spend way too much money and eat way too many beans. So, I'm still not sure...

Most of our weekend was spent doing one of the following things:

Thrifting and vintage shopping,

My vintage treasures: super-cool red shoes,

interesting alarm clock, embroidered dress,

green and yellow fabric.

consuming delicious pasteries, coffee, and various entrees containing tortillas or black beans (or both),

and hangin out with Hillary and Barak.

While we did manage to find an absolutely devine (and incredibly large) yarn store, which was in fact a bit overwhelming, we spent no time knitting. Molly brought her KAL II sweater along & I tried it on... fit perfectly, so I measured it... 14" across at the bust. Mine is 17". Not good. So, I tried mine on when I got home and indeed, it is much too large. So, I must rip back and start again from the cowl. Ahhhh... well, I'm glad I figured it out now & not later, but I think it might be spring before I finish it! I am also working on some blue cabled socks. The yarn is Kollage Lucious, a cotton sock yarn I've had for a while. And last night, instead of doing school work, like I should have, or working on the sweater, or even working on the sock, I decided to cast on for two (yes, two) new projects. I have determined that cast-on-itis is a definate side effect of me being too stressed out. And so I shall end this post and get back to the work at hand (only ONE MONTH left. help.)

Oh, and I uploaded some more pictures from our trip to my flickr account if anyone is interested.

Tid Bits

I made a couple little Valentine's gifts this year... these mitts for Molly. I've always thought that fingerless mittens were rather silly, and I guess I still do (especially in Minneapolis), but for some reason I really thought these were cute, and I had the yarn (Rowan Felted Tweed) in my stash, so I whipped them up and sent them out. I think they were well received.

And then another cowl, this one for my Mumsie. I am always hearing about how cold her room is at school, so I figured this was definately the answer. It was another stash-busting project, made with ancient Lion Brand Wool-Ease (and by ancient, I mean a couple years). The verdict: cute & warm. Fashionable and functional - always my ultimate goal.

My KAL II sweater is coming along... I'm about 5 inches into the pattern on the body. Its going super quick! I hear Molly is already onto the sleeves! How is yours coming, Jamie?

Here's my progress...

Tree Jacket
Originally uploaded by wickjill

done with the cowl, but that's as far as I've gotten. I'm using Cascade 220. I'm going to add the grey border to the top, bottom, and sleeves. I love how that looks.

Sneak Preview

Here's a sneak at what I've been working on....

Like how it looks like i might be done? i'm not. Good news! I was admitted to the graduate program at UT Austin with full support of a research assistantship! And they're flying me there to visit at the end of February! Pretty amazing. I'm still waiting to hear from the other 5 schools (Oregon, Oregon State, U New Mexico, U South Carolina, & U Missouri) To celebrate, I am procrastinating....


Which included the creation this afternoon of this vanilla-almond sour cream pound cake. After major lessons learned on my behalf about the concept of bunt cake pans, it turned out gorgeous, and I only sacrificed about a fifth of the batter to the bottom of the oven, and the kitchen only stank too bad for a half hour......

Back on the Knitting Wagon

Pattern: Baby Yoda

Yarn: Plymouth Jeannee

Needle: US 7

This little sweater is for my friend's new baby. He was born one week ago today and I am sure he is anxiously awaiting his hand-knit sweater! This took me way too long... it was a kind of boring knit & I couldn't get motivated to finish it. However, the baby wasn't due until February 12, so I thought I had a bit more time! Now I can't decide if I like the turtle on it or not. I made the turtle out of felt, thinking that the sweater need a little 'something', but now I'm not sure. What do you think?

I also finished this cowl thinger last night, I am thinking I might send it to someone special for Valentine's Day. I just have to figure out who that someone special is....

Pattern: Razorshell Neckwarmer

Yarn: Tahki Cotton Classic (found at the thrift store!)

Needle: US 6

Started: 2/2/08

Finished: 2/3/08

And in other news:
I have finally started my KAL II sweater... I've got two rows completed!