Final Countdown

I've spent the last few weeks busily preparing for my semester abroad, which kicks off this Sunday at 6:30! I've been joking that I'm flying out of the Meadowlands (aka Newark Airport) right as the Superbowl starts, so folks should root for my plane getting out on time as well as their favorite teams :)

I had a chance to visit Rochester over MLK weekend, which was absolutely wonderful. I had a great time seeing friends and watching Frozen (which I highly recommend to anyone who still hasn't seen it). Once I got back, I've had a hectic pair of weeks trying to get everything done before I finally leave. I hit the mall to pick up an adapter (so my laptop will function in the UK) and a few sweaters (it doesn't get as cold as in Rochester, but it does get chilly). Today I hit the salon for a quick haircut ("quick" meaning it took 2 hours instead of the usual 3).

Right now, I'm tying up the last of my loose ends - literally! As I had mentioned, I've been taking regular breaks from my first ever sweater to knit my own mug cozies, including one that's pictured here. I haven't sewn it together or added the button yet, but other than that it's done. The fire engine red (poor photo quality doesn't do it justice) wool yarn came from my extensive donated stash and the button will be from my collection of random buttons. Side note- yes, I have a collection of random buttons.

I've been keeping up my advocacy work while I'm home as well. This week was especially tough because it was Eeva's birthday. For those who don't know, Eeva was a classmate of mine growing up. We were in the same second grade class, and though we weren't close in the years that followed, I still distinctly remember the day she joined my group of friends on a field trip. On January 27, she should have celebrated her 21st birthday. However, she passed away in May 2009 after a lifetime battle with Leukemia. She was only 16 years old. 

Tomorrow, I'll spend one last Friday night with people from home. Saturday, I'll go to lunch with my family and pack up my life. Sunday, my adventure across the ocean begins. 

But tonight, I'll just remember Eeva.

Ribbon Ready

It's hard to believe I'm already moved in for my Junior year! I had quite the whirlwind summer, and am finally settled in for my newest challenge - being a freshman RA!

I've been busy all week with training and preparing for move-in day, but I wanted to write a quick little note about my keychain project. My newest shape may be my favorite - awareness ribbons. Pictured here are multicolored ribbons for autism awareness, which can be made as either keychains or pins. Because I've created the pattern, I can make these ribbons in any color. Whether it's Gold for childhood cancer, Teal for tourette syndrome, or another color, I can create ribbons for all your awareness needs. Ribbons are available either with or without the tail shown in the larger photograph.

Please remember that all the proceeds from my keychain sale will go to Natalie Grace's fundraiser, the information for which can be found at www.willyousendusadollar.com. Interested? Contact me at www.facebook.com/PerfectPurls for more details! 

Intro-to-Crochet

Week 2 of my internship, and still going strong. I've been hard at work learning about the programs my department works on, and the other interns are all fantastic. I've also started working on social media for The Truth 365. I now manage Pinterest boards and the Tumblr account for the organization, as well as their Twitter handle.

Next week, I'll be traveling to Clinton, Tennessee with my department at the Childrens Defense Fund for a national training institute in child policy advocacy. In addition to our training, there will be over 2,000 young leaders training for the Freedom Schools program, which provides literacy support to underpriveleged children across the nation.

Of course, I'll have plenty to keep me occupied during my 10-hour journey on a bus. In addition to bringing my latest book, I'll certainly have a crochet hook and a ball of yarn. I've decided that to learn to crochet, I'm going to make small squares of various colors throughout the summer. Each 6" x 6" square will be a chance for me to learn a new stitch or pattern. At the end of the summer, I hope to have a large enough collection of squares to be able to compose at least a small blanket out of them.

To create the squares, I'm using yarn that's been left over from previous projects. Right now, I'm working with the red yarn that's left from this pair of legwarmers:

This pair of legwarmers was fun to create and quick to finish. Knit on straight needles in a double rib, I simply had to make sure that I counted the correct number of rows before switching colors and increased evenly on both sides. I love working with red and yellow together (there's a little Gryffindor in everyone), especially when I find the two colors with such strong contrast. By itself, the yellow is nearly blond and the red has a bit of an orange tint, but together, they are the perfect combination for fall, when this photoshoot occurred.

Pictured here is Olga, who has been a wonderful friend to me since I began my freshman year and has been incredibly supportive of my endeavors in knitting. The photos are by Emily, who I feel the need to mention is studying abroad in Vienna right now (mostly because I'm incredibly jealous of her). You can read all about her adventures here.

As always, check out more of my knitwear on my Facebook Page.

Seasonal Knitting

This year has been a rollercoaster, if nothing else. New friends brought new adventures. I had a chance to reevaluate a lot of things during my recovery, and I'm so ready to take on another year. Right now, I'm home for a week before heading off to my summer internship. I'll be working in Washington DC for the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), which is an incredible organization advocating for children's rights. Look out for my posts about my experiences, as well as how it's shaping my opinions, this summer. That, of course, and my knitting. 

Summer seems like an odd time to knit, don't you think? When we think of "knitting," we think of scarves, and blankets, and curling up at the fireplace with a cup of cocoa. We can't imagine knitting when it's warm out. I used to be one of those seasonal knitters, but not anymore. Pictured below is one of my favorite summer pieces: summer shawls. This particular shawl was knit from one corner, increasing to center and then decreasing back to the other end. I especially love the yarn color, called "Denim Mist." If you look at the piece up close (the lower center image) you can see the different colors woven through, ranging from a blue so pale it's nearly white, and one that's so dark it's just about navy. Looking from further away, though, reveals the beautiful texture that these colors create when combined. 

The photographs above are from last summer. Pictured is the lovely Lori, one of my wonderful dancing friends who came out on a summer afternoon, walked around the block with me, and trekked through the field. While wearing high heels. Kathryn, another friend from my studio, also came out and took the beautiful photographs you see in this image. Lori is also an accomplished photographer, whose work can be seen HERE. Many thanks to both of them for joining me for this summer afternoon.

Midterms

Originally, I decided I was going to post this blog to chronicle my travels through knitting and college. It seems fit, therefore, that I would go from my injury in November to midterm season, which it fell in the middle of.

Personally, I'm not really a fan of midterms. Not only because they all seem to occur during the same time in the semester, or because suddenly the library is packed, or because I can study for days and still walk into the exam feeling completely unprepared. While those are all valid reasons to despise midterms, they aren't mine.

Midterms have become the sole method of evaluating students' understanding in most college courses. While elementary, middle, and even high schools have begun to move away from formal midterm exams - allowing teachers to decide how they wish to evaluate students at the mid-way point - colleges still rely on them heavily. For many classes the midterm and final exams make up the entire grade for the class. No other assignments, no essays, just exams. This isn't true for smaller discussion-based classes, only for larger lecture classes. However, when your classes fall between "big" (over 100) and "small" (20 or less), the evaluations tend to lean more towards examinations, which most of my courses have done so far.

So that's the problem. What's the solution? Consider what some of my Psychology professors have adopted:

We have exams that evaluate our understanding of the material. There are three during the semester, and each covers 4 chapters of our textbook, paralleled by about 4 weeks of lectures in class. During these 4 weeks, 3 smaller assignments are administered. Each is about 1.5-2 pages in length, and tests our ability to apply the material we have been studying. The material goes beyond the classroom.

However, the system isn't quite where it should be. While these smaller assignments are extraordinarily valuable, they count for very little of our grade. In fact, all of the smaller assignments combined are worth less than a single exam. In some ways, this makes sense - on average, students spend less time working on a smaller assignment than studying for an exam. On the other hand, by valuing the exams - which only occur 3 times during the semester - over the more constant smaller assignments, universities promote cramming & other forms of last-minute studying. By increasing the value of the smaller assignments and diminishing the impact of exams on grades, students may not need to cram as much, having reviewed and applied the material prior to exam period.

That said, let's get on to the fun part of my blog: my knitting.

The scarf pictured above was my project during midterms. The yarn came from my former dance teacher, who donated much of her yarn to me before I left for my sophomore year. The entire collection is made up of wool and wool blends - this particular yarn is virgin wool. The red caught my eye as soon as I first spotted it - not too bright, but still distinctly red. I designed the diamond lace pattern on a study break, experimenting with different ways to create the corners and different sizes for the diamonds. After playing with a few different options, I settled on a pattern that was 12 stitches across and laced it on a stockinette background. I love the way that the scarf curls back when I base my pieces in stockinette. I had considered blocking the scarf, but decided that I preferred the additional warmth that comes from a scarf that curls in on itself. Overall, not including the design stages, I spent about a week on the scarf, including putting on all the finishing touches. For more information on this scarf and my other works, check out my Facebook Page

Pictured is Alesa, one of my closest friends ever since I started college. Special thanks to her for coming out on a chilly day (there was snow on the ground the night before and the night after, but it was gone when we took the pictures around midday) and to my wonderful photographer Emily.

Birthday

It's hard to believe that today, I turned twenty years old. It's two decades, but I don't feel any older because of it. Sometimes I think that birthdays are just arbitrary ways of marking the time. There are plenty of other times that can make you feel older. Moments that you stop and think about how far you've come. For me, one of those times occurred a few months ago.

A bit of backstory: I'm a dancer, and have been for longer than I can remember. When I came to college, I joined the Ballet Performance Group. I now serve as the fundraising coordinator for the group. Through BPG, I've made some incredible friends (including many of the wonderful individuals who photograph and model my work), and I don't really know what I would do without it. Case in point:

Every semester, the executive board is required to stay after dress rehearsal to put away the costumes and clean up. Everyone takes on a different task, and it doesn't take too long. I was assigned to help Sydney, our Vice President, in the largest dressing room. My back began to bother me, so I stepped outside to sit down somewhere out of the way. Though I tried to reassure everyone that I would be fine, within minutes the pain of spasms in my lower back reduced me to tears. Although we tried to send me back to my room, eventually (at about 2:15 AM) I contacted a few of the other board members and they arrived to take me on a trip to the ER, where we remained until the spasms stopped just before 6 AM. Without the amazing friends I have, I'm not sure where I would be right now.

As with any pivotal moment in my life (as well as any moment that forces me to stay in bed for long periods of time), the experience inspired a knit pattern. Here's one of the pieces I made while recovering:

I decided that I wanted to make an infinity scarf, because the experience truly wrapped me up. It took over everything I was doing. On the other hand, I was surrounded by friends for the evening, wrapped in their protection. Embedded in this scarf are small hearts, a tribute to the love we all carry with us everywhere we go.

Modeling this piece is Stephanie, who also dances in the same group. We were supposed to share the stage in the performance I ended up missing. Emily, my wonderful photographer, serves on the same executive board and was present for the entire night. I'm truly grateful to both of them for joining me on this journey.

Spring break!

I really did mean to write last semester. And earlier this semester. And generally in college. It looks like time has gotten away from me again, and now I find my self on Spring Break, about 6 months after my last post. I'll be spending some time this week updating this blog with everything that's been going on, and the pieces I've created since I last posted. Until then, knit on!

Sophomore Year!!

September rolls around again, and I'm back at school ready for another crazy year of classes, dancing, and of course a ton of knitting! I've got a new supply of wool yarn and am super-excited to start knitting with it :) First things first, though, is my summer.

I spent most of my summer sitting in an office, so I wanted to do something a little more dance-y. Most of my pieces this summer were scrap yarn projects, but I did make this awesomely fuzzy pair of legwarmers:

They were a lot of fun to make and are now up on my facebook page under "current inventory". With any luck I'll be able to update this blog once a week with an update and a featured piece. Check back in for more information!!

Summer Shoot!!

I had my first ever summer photoshoot today, and even though it was boiling out, it was really fun! My photographers/models (they played both roles) looked gorgeous, and I can't wait to get the pictures back and pick out the ones that will be going on my facebook page! Look out world, here I come!!

Summer vacation

After a crazy year, I've been relishing my time home. It's hard to believe that I'm done with my freshman year of college, but it's true. I've knit two light summer wraps in different shades of blue, and I'm nearly done with a lavender shawlette (it's a small shawl). I've also started working on a shrug with some yellow fuzzy yarn. Pictures to come!

Secret project

I'm working on a special new project. It's not ready to go just yet, but here's a sneak peek. Any guesses?

Charting!!!

The concept of charting has always fascinated me. I loved the idea that you could knit an image, not just a pattern. Below is an image of me holding my first ever charting success!! Let's just say it's for a friend... ;)

The image is the logo of the dance group I'm in at school, BPG. I created the pattern a few months ago but just had a chance to use it. I spent about 5 hours creating the pattern, and then around 6 hours knitting it. Though the project is now on size 10 needles, I did the knitting on size 4. The pattern is 38x66 sts, and comes out to about 5"x9"

Quick shout-out to the amazing dancers of BPG, love you all!!

Relay for Life

It's been a year since the day that changed everything. A year since we sat together in the orchestra room, trying to digest the news. A year since we committed to doing something more. A year since we found our reason to Relay.

Two years ago, Hanna Monte was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer while studying abroad. Though doctors initially diagnosed it as terminal, saying she didn't have long, she chose to fight it anyway. For a year, Hanna battled the cancer, refusing to give up hope. The last time I saw her, she was leading STAT (our Social Action club, which she had helped to found a few years before) in making Valentine's Day cards for members of the community who needed some cheering up. She refused to take any home.

When she passed away a month later, the members of our orchestra who had known her best came together to grieve. We reminisced for much of the day and remembered the bright spirit we had lost. Two months later, I participated in my first Relay for Life in Hanna's memory.

This year, to gather donations, I created a bookmark project. I'll be selling bookmarks for $3 each, and all the proceeds will be part of my donation to Relay for Life. More information can be found on my facebook page, facebook.com/PerfectPurls

So here's to Hanna. Cancer may have won the battle a year ago, but it won't win the war.

The scarves that started it all...

I first started this business during my senior year of high school, between the first and second Harry Potter 7 movies. My friends wanted Harry Potter scarves, but they weren't too excited about paying $30 or more for them. From there, my knitting business was born. Heading to college, I still had one Slytherin scarf left.

Pictured here is Sheldon. Photographs courtesy of Isabelle. They both live on the floor below me and were gracious enough to come out for me one chilly Sunday afternoon as we begged the snow not to melt. The photos came out great from the shoot, and I can't wait to share the rest! I'll be uploading this photo, along with a few others, to my facebook page:

facebook.com/perfectpurls

Logo!

While I like to think that I'm doing this all on my own, I can't forget my friends, who have been cheering me on to this point. Many of them have been helping me along the way, and today I want to give a shout-out to the first of them!

A big thank you to my amazing friend Simone, who designed an incredible logo for me!! She's an art student at the Pratt Institute in NYC, and you can check out more of her work at http://thethirteenthour.deviantart.com/

Welcome to Perfect Purls!

Welcome to my knitting blog!! I'll be using this to chronicle my knitting adventures in conjunction with my new business, "Perfect Purls"! I'm really excited to get started, so look out for plenty of new posts as I get started!