I'm in a very happy mood today and I'm over-caffeinated, so I'll probably be overly generous with exclamation points in this post. Sorry! (See, there I go already sprinkling in exclamations where they don't belong.)
This post accidentally morphed into a school update, so feel free to skip this wall of text to the knitting at the bottom of the post!
Today is the first day of my spring break, which I desperately needed. In the last four days, I took four exams and my brain feels like pure mush. This ridiculously cram-packed week is why I didn't have time to write a WIP Wednesday post or photograph my existing finished object from Tease Tuesday. I know I did well on at least two of my exams, though I don't have my grades yet.
I managed to register for my fall 2014 classes and got the exact schedule I was looking for, which is a great thing! As I get closer to graduating, the availability of my advanced courses gets smaller and smaller. Most of the classes I'm now taking are only offered in one lecture and lab time per academic year with a maximum enrollment of 24 students! I'm actually very excited about my schedule that includes evolutionary biology, ecology (with lab), vertebrate zoology (with lab) and most exciting of all, primate biology (with lab)!
The primate biology is a special topics course taught by my faculty advisor, who I'm currently taking for behavioral biology. He researches the evolutionary origin of the physical ability for speech in humans by studying bonobos and chimpanzees, the effect of vocalizations on group behaviors in chimpanzees and the use of combined vocal and physical communication (Do you ever talk and gesture at the same time? So do chimpanzees and bonobos!). He's an engaging lecturer with a laid-back style and a sense of humor and his passion for the subjects he teaches is clear, so I love attending his classes.
I was also offered the opportunity to be a peer leader in chemistry because of my high performance! Peer leading at KSU is basically being available as a tutor for credit instead of pay. I took the offer as a huge compliment, since that means a person in a leadership position thinks I actually know what I'm doing (though I do, of course, know chemistry 101 and 102 well enough to score all As in lecture and lab). It's also possible I was recommended by a wonderful professor that has been casually mentoring me for about a year. Sadly, she keeps trying to recruit me into the biochemistry major, but that's just not for me and I think my refusal causes her a bit of disappointment. I will not be taking this opportunity, since I have a 15 credit hour course load and I don't need the class. I'm also a horrible teacher so I wouldn't really be much use to those students.
Finally on to the knitting content!
Fridays will be used to highlight anything fiber related that has caught my eye, be it yarn, a pattern or designer and maybe even a specific project.
This week's favorite is Anthi by the fabulous Hilary Smith Callis.
How adorable is this sweater?! From the keyhole to the ties to the slightly puffy cap sleeves, I just adore this pattern. It's a free pattern in the 2014 Spring + Summer Knitty and my size requires less than two skeins of fingering weight yarn, making it possible to use a luxury yarn and still be economical. I'll definitely be looking for yarn to knit this at Stitches South in a couple of weeks!
