Oh god I feel so busy!

I'm not though, I think I'm just combining the art of procrastinating with my current inability to start writing an essay... (edit; I've started! Yay me!)
From September up until now, I use Dodopad inserts. I'm not terribly happy with them though, it feels cramped! If I would have had an a5 I'd definitely use the dodoinserts, but in a personal it just feels useless... I'm not a very doodly (that is a word now) person and I like to have dedicated areas for my things because I'm easily overwhelmed - my current state of mind - and it's easier for me to just go with the inserts. I don't like how it feels like I'm wasting a loot of space, which I am.

The reason why I chose the dodoinserts at all is because I want colour and decoration in my filo. Right now I'm contemplating getting LimeTreeFruits inserts for next fall, but I may end up buying them sooner. I like the LTF-inserts because they are fun, don't waste much space on the pages, really pretty and I support an independent artist. Nothing can go wrong with that combination! I don't really have a clue on what the pages will look like, but I can say that the small thumbnail I've seen for the week per view lay out is purrty. I liked the month pages for this year that she made, and now she's improved them by putting mon-fri on the same page - loved it!

For the upcoming weeks I will regress to the cotton cream week on 2 pages from Filofax. I have more appointments than I thought I had since I have two jobs without a fixed schedule, as well as studying full time. It will be easier for me to have a W2P and use a to do-list on the side. I will give you an update next week on how I have set it up (have not decided yet which format, video or pictures).

Have a great week!

My week and what I made.

I crocheted a shawl for my cousin's cristmas present.
Busy week, I have two exams this week and one exam next week. I feel swamped..

My week!

Less busy than usual, still quite busy. I need to write stuff up more often!!

EMERGENCY!

I just received an invitation to celebrate J's cousin's son's second birthday! (Wow, that is a lot of genitive S:s... So much sss). Panic. No birthday present. And no holiday gift either. Ouch. So where do you turn? To Ravelry of course!
I will get some yarn on Monday and start this hat as well as these mittens for the birthday party. I can make those in two weeks, no problem! Right! Right? Please tell me I can! *panic!*
For Christmas though, I will make this sweater. A little more time, hopefully I can finish it.
I am going to bed now.

Quick recap of the week

Oh gosh, this week has been terrible. I was afflicted by a cold from HELL! (Yes, the logic works. Read the Divine comedy if you do not believe me ;) ) I still have a few symptoms and it is my tenth day ill. Sucks. This means that I am behind on my studying, which is never a good thing, but it is a really interesting course (history of the Swedish language) so thankfully it does not matter that much because I will not have a problem with studying a couple of hours extra per day to catch up.
I did go to Uni this Thursday because I had an exam that day. Or so I thought. Turned out that I had written the wrong date in my calendar, the exam was actually on Wednesday... That kinda sucked too. You know, had it been written down on Tuesday it would just be funny, now I will have to wait a month to do the exam. I can say that I am extremely thankful for the Swedish universities' system, if you fail you can always take the test again (and if you write it up to two years after the course, you can still use the old literature).
Knittingwise I have started a pair of socks for S which she will get for Christmas. I use Järbo Raggi Multi which is a woolen blend yarn in a purple/grey/black/white colour mix. I like knitting with it, it is a little rough but it gives just the right amount of friction on the needles for me to be able to watch TV at the same time. The pattern (see link) is an awesome pattern, I have a pair of my own which I love. I have designated the living room sofa for this project - I felt since I have carpal tunnel syndrome that I need to have a few projects of different methods to switch between (I also have a crocheting project, a skull shawl for my cousin, to work with "on the go").
My boyfriend J is a very practical man and have an extreme love for hardware and tools of different sorts, unfortunately, he is organizationally challenged. I have, over the years we have lived together, bought him plenty of tool cases and alike to give him the resources he needs to not have all the tools in the living room. Finally he got the hint and managed to have one case extra. I stole it. It now holds knitting tools. :3

In that yellow tube I have all my aluminium jumper needles. I inherited most of them from J's grandmother who passed away. I got a whole moving box of yarn as well, but sadly I found fur beetle larvae in the bottom so we burnt it all. I did not even want to try to keep some of the yarn after that because I have a lot of woolen LARP-clothes that I do not want to be afflicted by those yucky animals (most of the yarn was acrylic though so I did not regret it that much, not a huge fan of acrylic). In the black pen case I hold my Knitpro (is it the same company as Knitpicks? It's the European version anyway..) interchangeable circular needles, cable needles, crocheting hooks, needle size/ruler/stitchmeasure-thingamabob etcetera.

Underneath the grey lift-out part, I have my stash. Not very much, but it keeps my knitting-need in check. I will probably not buy any yarn until new years when I will start (two, lol) afghan-projects. I will make a birthday present for S (by the way, my bestest friendsis in the whole world :3 ) and one for myself. I am going to use this pattern because we both love Harry Potter. Very much. Oh so much. Love. (Did I say I love Harry Potter?).
My Filofax has been an issue for me for a couple of weeks. I use Dodopad's Acadpad in personal size in my personal spring green Chameleon. Love the Dodo-designs, but... It doesn't give me enough room in the right places. Sort of buying an off-the-rack suit. I thought that I did not have to have that much space for the days, and more for the week, but it turns out that I was a little mistaken. Right now, and a month ahead, I would have done well with a day per page insert, preferably an Franklin Covey type. I think I will roll with the Acadpad until the academic year is up and use my Paperblank notebook/journal to help out when it it too crowded in the Filo. I've been thinking about having a to-do section as well, as a master list or something, but I am a little scared about it... Tried it before and it did not really work... I do not know. I may try it again just because I have to.
During the upcoming week I will have a couple of detailed posts on my current projects as well as a round up post for my beret. (love it!). I will also have a post which will hopefully be featured in Husmorsskolans "symöte", a collection of Swedish blogposts on the bloggers' current projects. We will see if I can make that happen, in that case, that post will be in Swedish.
Have a beautiful weekend everyone!

The paperless society - RANT

I was reading Well Planned Life's blog post about Evernote and Post-It collaborating, and this quote here made me think of the paperless society and its implications:

One thing about CNET’s article that threw me though is the quote from Evernote’s CEO [Phil Libin]: “’Paperless as a concept is stupid… The goal is to get rid of stupid uses of paper.’” 

Let’s break this down.  I agree with the first part—I don’t like the concept of an all or nothing approach to paper versus technology.  [...] However, the second part, that just doesn’t make sense to me.  Who is to say what is a “stupid use of paper”? 

 Mr. Libin's statement actually resonated with me on numerous levels. First and foremost as a lover of all things paper. I am an avid user of Evernote, Dropbox and many other digital and electronic tools such as Kindle, a smartphone etc., but there is just nothing that can replace my beloved paper notebook for class, Filofax for external-braining (yes, now it is a word) and Post-Its for those small reminders that normal people, for some reason, seem to remember without any issues (like bringing lunch, or use floss... It is not just me is it?). Emotional side, check!

Second, I work at a national agency as a registrar, so I am surrounded by paper all day long. However, they are slowly but surely (trying to) convert to all-digital communication within the agency as well as with citizens. As a whole I am a skeptic, I understand what they are coming from, but I am not convinced that it is in the citizens' or the country's best interest 100% of the time. In this aspect, the "stupid use of paper"-part is the best approach I think - and there seems to be a stirring amongst the registrars of my agency to try to eliminate the stupid uses of paper. (Unfortunately I do not want to go in to details of what I do exactly, first of all it would be very boring, very time consuming, and the post would just go on and on.. And my privacy of course ;) ) Work, check!

Third, when it comes to studying, I rarely learn if I do not write it down! I am primarily a tactile learner, I learn by doing. That does not help when you are enrolled in university studying linguistics. The only way I am able to learn what I need to learn (if it is on the boring side) is by writing. It. Down. When I do, I get pretty good grades. When I do not, I fail miserably. Paper all the way it is. School, check!

To respond to Well Planned Life, I think a stupid use of paper is wasting a piece of paper. As an individual, a stupid way of using paper may be to have several copies when there are ways of only using one. A practical implementation of the Evernote/Post-It could be if you have an opportunity to work from home but know you use Post-Its as reminders at work, upload it to Evernote and you do not have to write another to have at home/take it with you/write it down somewhere else. Or if you need to share the post it with a colleague... I could go on. Though I do think that the one who is to decide if it is a stupid use of paper or not is the person using it. If you use Evernote for everything as many people do, it may be an efficiency thing to keep it all-in-one-place without going through the trouble of writing it down yet again.

Ranty McRantRant. I do not know if I make sense. Rant.

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Christmas Rose Hat #2

I finished the beret yesterday, and I am quite pleased with it, with the exception of two things which I am still pondering about... First of all, the ribbing. I just think it's too loose. If I have my hair down, it looks semi-ok, but if I have my hair up it feels like it will be a saggy mess! I have already bound it off, but I think I will rip up the ribbing and downsize half a mm, (or maybe a whole?) to 4 to get it a lottle tighter. Second, I noticed that I knitted instead of purled a part of a row. It is right of the middle of the beret, but it is not very noticeable so I consider leaving it. And honesly, I really cannot be arsed to start all over again :D

While we are on the topic of correcting mistakes, I were knitting a sweater last december, but I felt the arms were just too wide! It is not alot, maybe one, one and a half centimeter too wide, but still.. And the ribbing at the ends of the arms were too loose as well... Mental note, downsize more than the pattern say!

I have not blocked any of them yet, will that fix the looseness somehow?