Knitting Frenzy!

Assuming all goes well tonight or tomorrow, i will have 3 FOs this week! On Tuesday I finished Tempting with a cable neckline modification I found on Ravelry. On Wednesday I finished "My so called scarf" for L. I still have to block both projects, but the knitting and finishing on both is done. I also sewed in the first side of my zipper for Rogue and hope to finish the second side either today or tomorrow. After that, all I have to do is sew up the hem and I'm done! Now I need more projects... I've been drooling after Knitty's Cherie Amour and will probably order the yarn for the by the end of the week. I'm looking at a red colorway at handpaintedyarn.com (likely the homespun merino rather than the merino bulky - better colors). I'm also considering getting into some stash-busting plush patterns. I have a bunch of odds and ends I really need to use up. I'm currently looking at Bob, Nautie, and have fallen head over heels in love with hansigurumi patterns. However, considering I've never knit a toy before, I think I'm going to start with something a little less complex, such as Bob.

Camping was excellent. If you live in Northern California and are willing to sit in the car for a little while, Lake Alpine is absolutely beautiful. The lake itself is good-sized with ample room for swimming and boating. On Sat we did the Bull Run Hike -7 miles round trip to a lake. The terrain was varied and beautiful and the warm rain that fell on the way back kept us nice and cool. There was some stress as we realized we hadn't put the rain flap on our tent and despite the cooling effects of the rain during the hike we really didn't want to sleep in puddles. Fortunately when we got back things were a bit damp, but generally alright. The weekend offered a good opportunity to get to know some of the kids at Stanford and Berkeley. I'd love to do something like this either between departments at UCSC or between history depts in the Bay Area.

I'm nearing the end of my class and looking forward to it. This week's lectures - wine and opium - went better than last week's, but I'm still looking forward to returning to nation-state based chronologies in the fall. Because I'm planning on doing research in summer of 2009, I'm not sure when my next opportunity to teach will be. Whenever it is, I think I'll stick to a more traditional class and teach by myself. I need to be a little more grounded in teaching a basic class from start to finish, and next time I won't try to cover so much ground. That being said, I think this class has a lot of potential. That being said, it also needs work. Over the next year I'm going to crash the UC Davis Food in World History conference this fall(spring? not sure), and look at other people's syllabi for suggestions.