Another day...

Oy, over a week since my last post! I haven't really been busy, just away from the computer. Frankly, it's been too sunny outside to stay indoors (although it still isn't particularly warm, which is sad). Basically, I've been going to the park, sticking my nose into various books and not resurfacing until class time. (Since Tuesday, I've reread all three books in Kristin Britain's Green Rider series. I finished the third book yesterday morning - I had to take a day off to go down to LA on Thursday. The next book cannot come out quickly enough! The series is great, but the usually 3-5 YEAR wait between books kills me!) This might not make sense to some people, but I have never been one who can only read a chapter or two at a time before bed or whenever. I don't nibble on books - I devour them. It's just how I am.

Only six classes this past week. Like I said, I had to go to LA on Thursday to do a face-to-face interview for my security clearance, so I missed both kickboxing and FIGHT that night, and the dojahng is closed this weekend for the holiday. I did, however, get to help Mrs. S with the kids' class last Saturday morning, which was fun. There were four probably 7-12 year olds and Mel's younger brother, who is in the adult class (I think he might be 14 or so). The odd number meant I got paired up with him, and we did a PT class, basically. I can do eight adult classes in a week and not get any sore muscles (they might be TIRED, and my elbow might hurt, but the muscles aren't sore) - one kids' class and my legs were sore for the next two days! (I blame it on the jumping. We don't do a lot of jumping in adult classes, unless we're doing jump kicks of some kind.) It was fun, though, and it was nice to get to work with Mrs. S. I still haven't had a chance to really assist with any of the classes, but I am allowed to help people with generic questions about their forms now. Or, at least, no one has said told me I shouldn't do it. Still haven't started the ssahng jeol bang form yet - we've been working mostly with the jahng bahngs in instructor class, since that's what they're working on in the kids' weapons classes - and I'm pretty okay with that, although it does mean that it's going to be a longer time before I can midterm/test again. Still haven't gotten my new jacket back yet, either. I hope I get it this week - I'd like to have it by the time we move to the new school next weekend!! (We're all super excited, although I do have to say that I'm a little nervous - we're pretty much going to be constant visual advertisements for the school, since anyone who is in the mall can watch us through the windows, but I guess that's not really any different than where we are now. Plus, they're going to start doing an "open gym" in the afternoons where people can come in and work on forms or whatever. And it will be nice to only have to go a couple blocks to and from class instead of all the way across town, although I'm going back and forth on the wisdom of walking, particularly at night after classes. It's not a dangerous area or anything, but still...I'll have to scout a bit.)

And, in knitting news...12 more rows left on the baby blanket (I'm using four cable needles at this point - one for each side), and I'm having trouble deciding on a border. I really like the garter stitch T-twist from Knitting On The Edge (p. 153, top). It took some playing with to figure out, but I think it will be perfect - not frilly, and in keeping with the straight lines of the rest of the blanket, but enough visual interest for a border. Unfortunately, it seems like it's a border you need to do at cast on, not bind off. I suppose I could figure out how many stitches I'd need, cast on that many, do the border, and then sew/graft it onto the edge. It'd be live stitches, so it wouldn't be as much of a headache as some other borders I've done. (On a side note, if they'd used knitting problems in HS algebra, it would have made a LOT more sense: A baby blanket has 12 rows left to knit. Every other row is an increase row, which adds 8 stitches each. If s is the number of stitches currently in the blanket, how many stitches total (t) will be in the finished blanket. Answer: if there are 6 more increase rows adding 8 stitches each, then 6x8=48. Therefore, s+48=t.) However, and I JUST thought of this, in order for the border to fit, it's going to have to also increase outward or, rather, decrease inward. I don't think that should be a problem (I would have to cast on t+24 stitches (another 3 increase rows would be involved) and then decrease down to t, do the twist row, and then sew the border and blanket. Yes. I think this could work!

But, before I do that, I need to finish getting my term paper formatted (the presentation last week wasn't the due date for the paper, it turns out, so we're all taking the time to polish things up) and do my take-home final (both are due on Tuesday). Luckily (I guess), I have a lot of free time right now...sigh...