That was quick

I love the pattern for this sweater--I've never really made a sweater for myself (except for one shrug/vest), because they seem like such a huge time commitment, but this went together so much faster than I expected that it gives me confidence to try a larger sweater pattern.  Although I've already started a second project with the same pattern in a different yarn with a different lace pattern, so a big sweater will have to wait.

The first picture is probably more representative of the actual color, but I wanted to show off the back lace detail.  I like this pattern because it has good spaces to play around with lace patterns which don't change the stitch count, and it goes so quick.  It's cast on from the neckline and worked down, with the sleeves worked separately when the underarm is reached.  The other reason I like this pattern so much is that it doesn't require seaming, which I hate.  The pattern as written calls for seaming the sides of the sleeves together, but I picked up a few stitches in the underarm and worked the sleeves in the round--seamless!  

It's a nice feeling to finish something when so much else is in limbo.  Besides the move, I feel kind of adrift in my research right now.  I had a direction before going to New York, both in planning the trip and because I had a colloquium (workshop) deadline to meet, and before that I had the fellowships to work on cranking out.  Part of the problem is summer--my first summer in grad school I had a finite research project to work on, and my second summer I had exams to prep for.  Now I have a master's and I'm supposedly qualified to figure out my own research direction (that masters supposedly qualifies me for a lot of things I don't feel prepared for, but that's another post).  

I've spent the weekend (and really, the last few weeks) kind of bouncing back and forth between transcribing/spreadsheeting what I already have, reading secondary sources, and trying to track down primary sources.  (Part of the problem with trying to write a dissertation which breaks old paradigms with new research and new sources is that you can't just raid old footnotes to find your sources).  My dissertation covers about 300 years, and I haven't got a clear chapter deadline to work towards.  

Knitting, sewing, and garden projects seem so much easier to start right now because they have definite start and end points, and gardening time comes up whether you're ready for it or not.  And the end of grad school (or at least my funding for it) will come up whether I'm ready for it or not, but I have to find some way to break the next few years without teaching or outside deadlines up into manageable chunks, because even right now, at the beginning of the gathering stage, I already feel overwhelmed by my sources.  Organizing my bibliography and primary sources helped make it feel more manageable, but cataloging it all isn't the same as finishing going through it.  Would that research projects could go together quickly and seamlessly.