Knitting

 

I knitted two hats so far.  Actually I knitted three, but I ripped out the first one because I didn't like it – it looked too boring.  

I was actually not planning on knitting this winter.  I left all my needles, yarns, and unfinished projects in Taipei at my parents' place.  It all started when my sister gave me a Joseph's Coat gift certificate for Christmas.  For those of you who do not live in Missoula, Joseph's Coat is a beautiful little local yarn shop located at the Hip Strip in downtown Missoula.  I always love going there, but I can rarely afford the high quality yarns they carry.  But this time, I went in with a gift certificate!  While I usually like to save gift certificates, I am uncertain when my next visit to Missoula will be, so I just went ahead and bought some wool.  I decided to make hats because they are fast and easy.  And I can improvise as I go, ripping out whatever I do not like without shedding a tear.  I should also say that I am no where near being a highly skilled, hard-core knitter.  I just recently figured out how to knit with two colors and was excited to try it out.  I made up my own pattern/motifs as I went and had lots of fun with it.  I liked deciding what to knit next after finishing a round.

I am trying to decide how to best make use of my last ten days in the States before I leave for Vienna.  It suddenly occurred to me that I should probably make some summer plans, at least apply to some summer internships while I have time.  I really have almost no idea what I want to do for this summer.  I don't even really know when I want to leave Europe after my study abroad ends.  But I feel like I should make some effort to at least send some internship applications this year, and maybe apply for summer research grant as well.  If I am to do an internship, it should ideally be one in library (preferably special collection), cataloging, museum, archives, that sort of thing, but I have doubts in what I can do with an in-progress music major.  I think I should try to whip up an application in Chinese and apply to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, too.  It would be amazing if I can get it!

I am cooking with a friend later today.  I am actually quite looking forward to it.  She said she got a new cook book for Christmas so we are going to look at it and decide what to make!

Missoula: 1º F, sunny blue sky