A lovely present!

Look at what an awesome present my Auntie Allayne sent me! It's like it was made for me!

 

So many fun sweaters to make... I always have such fun looking through a new knitting book. There is so much potential in each design and I try to imaging what each sweater or cardigan would look like on me, or in a different colour, or even how I could mix and match the texture from one cardigan onto the shaping of another. So many possibilities :)

My Olympic Challenge

Jason isn't the only one who can blog about his knits!
During the Olympics I set myself a challenge: To knit up my Two Cassandras Socks.

Despite being Greek and therefore Olympian (see this blog about the socks if you are unfamiliar with Cassandra and Apollo), these socks are knit in a crazy manner! First the laurel wreath pattern is knit in a triangle and then the triangle is curved around the leg and the rest of the leg is filled in. The foot of the sock is then knit on the bottom of the laurel wreaths and finally the braided cuff is knit on top! phew!

After much struggling this weekend (due to weird bias knitting and a few crucial typos in the pattern), I have made it through the braided triangles and have knit one set of laurels together, but I still have a long way to go this next week!
TRIANGLE!

Zoom zoom

Knitting at break-neck speeds, I am now past the armpit in my Fishermen's sweater:

More Fishy Sweatery Goodness with a Small Job Hire Progress Update

Perhaps, I'm getting a little too excited about this, but the sweater is still progressing really well, so I figured I'd post a few photos of where I'm at now.

So I'm now have way through the 6th row of diamonds.  Figured it was time to try it on (I last tried it on just after the ribbing at the bottom), and it's still looking great.  I've pulled it snugly around my waist for the photo, but infact there is a few inches of ease, which seems to me to be a perfect fit.  Still a long ways to go, but it's going well!

Concerning the hiring, it's been going a little slower than hoped for, though perhaps not slower than expected. Anyways, I got news that we're now only waiting on one more thing before everything can be sent of to the Internation Services here at USC.  So, we're still around 2 weeks away from having my VISA and officially starting, but in the meantime I've been learning and training myself as much as possible so I can hit the ground running.

New Photo of Dutch Fishermen's Sweater

Taken fresh this morning, here's the latest on the sweater I'm knitting.

I watched "The Butterfly Effect" 1 & 2 while knitting last night.  Number 2 is nothing great, but the first one is very interesting.  Not a happy story, but as something of a SciFi/Drama it is a bit of a mind bender to think back on and wonder what's all going on.

I'm making a sweater too!

Hey Look, I'm making a sweater too! It's called Vivian and my mum gave me the yarn for Christmas!

 

Oh and I finished some socks too!

Update: The Fisherman's Sweater

So far, so good.  The simple pattern I have chosen has proven itself to be an excellent choice thus far.  I am definitely enjoying knitting with sweater and it is going VERY quickly.  "Very quickly" that is, in terms of a sweater knit to fit me on fairly fine gauge needles.  The photo below is unfortunately a little old now, I'll try to get a more up-to-date one soon.  I am currently almost done a second row of diamonds.  I tried it on and it promises to be a very good fit for me.  The yarn I have chosen is wonderful to knit with.  While perhaps not the softest yarn, it runs through the fingers smoothly and feels like it will be very durable.  Maybe I'm a little crazy, but I also kind of like the rough/rustic feeling of a good sturdy wool.  It likely won't be worn directly against the skin anyways.

*edit: I just realized that I hadn't posted to the blog when I start the sweater, so here's a photo of the swatch I knit, as well as the pattern I have chosen.

Deemed Suitable for Hire

The background check was completed incredibly fast, and I have been "deemed suitable for hire".  I guess I don't have a big criminal record or anything... but we already knew that ;)  What does this mean now?  Well, assuming the required signatures have been gathered, then everything can be sent off to OIS, and the final processing can commence.  If that's the case, then everything should be in place in about (or less than) 2 weeks for a short trip to Canada, which should result in a VISA for me!  Huzzah!

Update: Job for Jason

A small forewarning: this post will be fairly wordy, with not many pictures to keep you entertained.  For those with short attention spans or for whom reading more than the dialogue boxes in a comic strip is a bore, I have included paragraph summaries.


Just thought I'd let everyone know where the job application process is at.

The University of Southern California (where I will be working) has been plugging away at my application.  Last night I was told that I had not yet applied for the job online, and as such they hadn't even started on the background check.  So, today I filled out all of the requisite forms and hopefully that is now underway; the background check is estimated to take 5 days (though I have heard varying accounts of how long this has taken for other people).  This development was a bit of a disappointment for me.  I had applied to the position online previously (back in December), so I thought all of that was out of the way.  Something must of changed though, because the online job posting had a change in ID number and title, which means I needed to reapply for it; sadly no one told me about this.  Still it's all taken care of now, and hopefully the delay won't be too severe.  Paragraph summary: the job application is being processed; one small delay, but no major problems; background check is underway.

Also today, we (an administrative guy from the department I will be working for who has been handling most of the paperwork, a woman that has lots of experience with Canadian VISAs, and myself) met with the director of the Office of International Services (OIS).  Since the background check wasn't done, which also means we don't yet have an offer of employment letter, there wasn't much she could do.  Fortunately, except for the background check and a few signatures on a form, everything is in place to hand off to OIS.  Once OIS has the package of information, they'll process it, fill out some forms, double check the forms, and then finally give me the go-ahead; this should take them about two weeks.  By go-ahead, I mean, they'll hand me a pile of papers, which I'll take with me on a trip to Canada.  Upon returning to the US, I'll present this package of papers to the border guard and I should have my work VISA.  Paragraph summary: Once the background check and offer of employment letter are in place, it will take two-weeks before I can go and get my VISA.

Based on the times required for things to happen, I estimate that this should all be done in 3 to 5 weeks.  I think 3 weeks is definitely a best case scenario, and anything faster than that would be a miracle.  5 weeks gives lots of room for delays and things happening slower than expected.  Paragraph summary: 3 to 5 weeks and Jason should have his TN-VISA.


That's all for now.  I'll try to post updates as they happen.

Oh, and in case I haven't mentioned it yet: I will be working in a research laboratory at the University of Southern California as a "Research Lab Technician".  More specifically I'll be managing, operating, and maintaining an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer.  Paragraph summary: Jason will be working with a "science machine" at a university.