3 new FOs

So many Finished Objects!

The first, and most important, is that I finished a draft of my thesis "section" (was a chapter by grew). It weighs in at 110 pgs with 50 pages of illustrations. I'm hoping to chop it into 3 chapters after all is said and done (will need to expand a few sections to do so). This is my first big finished chunk and hopefully will represent 1/3-1/2 of the analytical sections of my dissertation (everything except the intro, conclusion, background, etc). It's a big first step.

I also finished 2 knitting projects
This one is knit to be a sample for my SIL's shop:

       

I never would have picked out the pattern or the color myself, but I'm sure as hell glad my SIL has better taste than me. I'm so pleased with the final result that I'm sad to have to send it to MT to be shown off in her shop.  On the other hand, it's in the 70s and 80s here already so it's not like it would get any wardrobe time until Oct anyway.

 I also finished my first pair of socks! These are Knitty's Broadripple converted into Tabi socks. These are intended as a gift for my youngest BIL and his GF (hopefully they don't read this blog or they won't be surprised). They are transplants to CA from NJ for grad school. When visiting us in Dec I noticed they spent the entire weekend trying to jam their socked feet into their flip flops. The problems called for a solutions: flip-flop/tabi socks. Their birthdays are also right around the same time so I decided to use the opportunity to venture into the world of socks. This one is a self-patterning yarn with a lace ripple effect and intended for the GF. I'm using L's feet as a model for his brother's socks - which will (somehow) feature colorwork that outlines the shape of a molecule. Yeah, he's a Chem grad student and I'm making him ultra geeky flip flop socks. Clearly I missed a calling in life to knit for a grad student's sense of humour....

Oona approves

Finally, just to brag, the weather is bea-u-ti-ful here and we've been getting a lot of hiking in. This was taken 2 weeks ago at Sahuaro National Park. As you can tell, I'm sporting my hiking-mega hottie look - boots, purple socks, hot pink and black running skirt, green 55 spf patagonia shirt, and Central Coast Running hat, pasty white, 70 spf slathered legs - seriously, L and I had to beat the men away with stick. No small feat considering every stick was covered in cactus spikes! But fashion aside, the views are fantastic and the terrain is really fascinating.