Sunday, November 6, 2011

{Holy Crap an FO}

Yep, you read that right: I've finished a project!


  When I found this yarn for sale on Ravelry, I pretty much fell in love with it.  Then when I went looking for a pattern and couldn't find one that excited me, I pulled out this book of patterns. It's super handy!  The patterns are all very basic and given in table form where the gauge is down the vertical axis and the size is across the horizontal axis. Pretty brilliant!

  But just because you have a pattern for worsted weight gloves doesn't mean you SHOULD knit them.  The fingers are different lengths (doh) and I didn't manage to close the gaps between the fingers very well.  There are too many hand stitches and not enough finger stitches, too. lol  I'll wear them because they're warm, and I like the yarn, but geez.  I think the next gloves I try will be in fingering weight. lol

Warning: Whining about School Ahead
  So, you may have noticed that I've been missing for a little while too.  Do you want me to tell you about my last month? hehe  This semester has been a KILLER. More than any before. I am a math major, and I never thought it would be *easy* but I seriously considered dropping it as my major and I only have 1 semester left to go.  I just didn't think I could do it anymore.  I've spent fits crying and I've been stressed out of my mind since pretty much the second week of class.  In order to finish on time, I had to take 3 math classes this semester, which is just too much. 

  I came to this University with a perfect 4.0 GPA from my community college, so I'm used to being above average academically speaking.  More than that I'm used to above average coming to me fairly easily.  This has been a real struggle to face a task where no matter how much effort I put in, I don't get the results that I've become accustom to.  In all my other not-math-courses I have earned A's, and they have been harder to get than Community College, but dang.  These math courses are kicking my ass.

  So I was freaking out about my plummeting GPA, knowing that someday I want to go to Grad school.  I also would kinda REALLY like the latin honours on my diploma, which is questionable now whether that will happen.  I spend about 3 weeks not thinking about anything else other than if I want to drop this math - a goal I have worked toward for almost 3 and a half years.  I talked to top women CEOs in the Roanoke area that I had made connections with at a conference, and they all told me to follow my heart and no, they really wouldn't care if I had a math minor or a math major beside my business degree.   But Mr. Pie was still holding out that he believed I would be disappointed if I quit now, but he understood and was supportive of whatever decision I landed on. 

  I was all set to walk in to my math adviser's office and tell her that I was dropping it but after talking wit her she strongly urged me to consider it for another night.  I was only two 2-credit classes short of a bachelor's degree, and no, they really wouldn't be as hard as I was thinking, and do I really want to quit so close to the end?  So I did what all rationally-thinking adults would do and I called my mommy.  She pretty much didn't even let me finish my sentence when I told her what I was thinking of.  She made an analogy that made sense to me: I'm like a marathon runner in the 21st mile and according to her, I couldn't be trusted to think rationally about this right now because I'm so tired and so stressed. 

  So with the opinions of the two people who know me best in the whole world, I decided to have faith in the system and stick it out.  This is going to be so. so. hard and I'm so scared that I'm not going to be able to do it.  Next week I'm registering for my last semester of undergraduate classes EVER.  I'm not sure how I feel about it - not excited, but maybe more resigned to my fate?  If I can make it through just ONE more 12-week stint and I'm done.

May 20th (graduation day) can not get here soon enough for me.

9 comments:

  1. You can do it! :o)

    I cannot even begin to understand the mathiness, but I do understand the aftermath of making the 'easy' choice...it's almost never good, dude.

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  2. College sucks at this stage. I'm actually in the exact same boat as you, graduating May 20th from Smith College, currently applying to PhD programs and praying that I can get in somewhere and graduate with latin honors and a complete honors thesis.

    My GPA is not perfect either and we all worry about it because yes it will follow us around forever. But don't worry too much, you are obviously really hardworking and intelligent, and you also have a great support network of people to help out. You also have an advantage because you will be graduating from a college with a great reputation.

    It might be difficult now, but you will make it! Whenever you feel stressed, pick up your needles because obviously you kick butt at knitting!

    Good luck!
    --Pumpkin

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  3. Congratulations on having an FO, the yarn is gorgeous.

    And I'm glad you made a decision about what to do, that's often the hardest part. But make sure you life isn't all about maths in the next semester, you'll need breaks as well.

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  4. Agreed. When you're this close to being finished, just put your head down and do it. Later, you'll be glad you did.

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  5. Gloves in worsted are so hard... I have about 3 half pairs unfinished because I hated the holes between the fingers...

    Good for you for sticking with school. Sometimes it does take a phonecall with the mama to sort things out. Just keep swimming, and keeping your head above water. It doesnt matter really what grade you get, as long as you just get through it. We're all rooting for you! xxx

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  6. Have just come across your blog, so don't want to jump in and act like I know what your situation is, but I did want to wish you all the very very best - finishing an undergrad degree is really hard work, even if it is very rewarding in the end. I know people who had reserved library table spots and were the ones kicked out at midnight from January... but then the time is up, and you're free :)

    I'm with Laura - we're all rooting for you (I'm bookmarking your blog now :)

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  7. You're going to look back on this in just a few months and be baffled that you thought about quitting. Rock the last semester!

    The gloves look awesome, natch.

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  8. Hang in there!!!

    I love the gloves.

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  9. hi to all studentknitter.blogspot.comers this is my first post and thought i would say hi -
    regards speak again soon
    garry moore

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