Not Entirely Unexpected, But Still...

I lost my job a couple of hours ago. I'm not totally surprised, as mentioned in the post title, but I was hoping we could hang on there for a little longer. I don't want to give too many details, but I worked from home taking care of client invoices. It has been very nearly the perfect job for me, because the hours are were so flexible. I had certain days to drop the invoices off to the clients, and other than that, I could do the work pretty much whenever I chose. Trust me, when you're coping with fibromyalgia, flexible hours are a blessing. But we lost a client last week, and one today, so the whole thing's folding. Tomorrow is my last day, but I'll have very little to do other than close the post office box and set up mail forwarding.

This comes on the heels of DH's job overtime being cut back, which comes out to around $100 less per paycheck. So I'm not sure what we'll do now. With what's left of his paycheck after expenses we can manage--if we have no emergencies, and you know there are always emergencies!

I could look for a part-time job, but besides the difficulty I would have with set hours (which I would just have to find a way to manage) there are other considerations. I would need new clothes since I only have one pair of good jeans, one pair of grubby jeans, and a few nice tops. (Wasn't it Thoreau who said to beware of any enterprise that requires new clothes?) If I get another job, I will most likely have to drive quite a ways to get to it, and there will be no mileage reimbursement like I get now. I mean, like I did get (haven't gotten used to the idea of being unemployed yet!) Those things aren't small considerations. If I don't get a job, we could sell one car, and I'd be without one during the day. That's not as horrible as it sounds, because I really haven't been going much of anywhere during the day unless it's been work-related. So I could do any errands in the evening. If I had to do something during the day, like a doctor's appointment (not that I'll be able to afford that now!) Missy lives close by, and I know she'd let me use her car. She's kinda nice like that.

Well, anyway. I'm thinking on computer right now, just trying to adapt to the situation. Things will be fine, I'm sure. Now I really do have to knit from the stash! There won't be much yarn-buying going on here!

Putzing Along

As usual, I've neglected the blog. But that was partly because I was so busy finishing things! Yes! I finished three projects in one day--Saturday, August 1st. That got me on schedule with the "52 Project" goal, so I was quite happy about it. Here are the pics:

Yes, the Girasole is finished, and I absolutely love it. I used Wendy's blocking technique, which worked very well (the instructions are at the end of the post, after the picture of her kitty Lucy.) I think it would have come out slightly larger if I had done the whole pin-blocking thing, but since my back has been giving me fits the past couple of weeks, bending over a king-size bed and using a bazillionty pins for this was a no-go. Next time I'll put the ironing cover on my cutting table and iron it on that. I should be able to stretch it a bit more than I could on the regular ironing board.

If you look closely, you can see the change in color on the border, but Daniele was right. She commented on my last post that it probably wouldn't be noticeable, and it's not. I think that's mostly because the odd skein had to be joined right at the border, and the change of knitting direction and pattern helps hide the difference in shades. If I'd had to use it 50 rounds earlier, it would have been a problem. (BTW, Daniele was also right about my ill-fated attempt at a schedule. How'd you know, D??)

So the Girasole took three and a half skeins of Ranco Multy, at 376 yards per skein, therefore between 1300-1400 yards. If I did it again, I would use one size needle larger (I used a size 3/3.25mm on this one.) BUT. Though I love the shawl, I find round shawls a little awkward to wear. I don't see why it can't be made as a half-circle instead. Yeah, that means purling on the wrong side, but I can handle that. It also means that I have enough Ranco Multy in another colorway to make a half-circle (must...not...start...) BUT. I've made the Girasole, and would like to try something different but sort of the same. Enter Wendy again. She has just finished designing two cool round shawls (here and here), so one of those will be going on the list.

Next item:

This is the 2003 Collector's Heart from Heart in Hand (Celia Turner, designer.) It's another small cross-stitch destined for our bedroom wall.

And we have this:

It started out as this, from Zarzuela's Fibers:

I spun it into a fine singles, and I think it turned out really well. Now I need to figure out how many yards I have so I can decide what it will become. I'm anxious to see it knitted up. I hadn't done any spinning for a long time, and now I remember why I love it. I'm poking around in the fiber stash now, trying to decide what to spin next.

I can't tell you how good it feels to actually be finishing things. (Ok, technically the Tropical Fish yarn isn't finished until I knit it, but it's still progress!) I have to fight the urge to start new things--I think "startitis" will always be an issue with me--but seeing results makes me happy. It's especially true since the fibromyalgia has been flaring up the past couple of weeks, so my life feels very limited at times. I don't get out much unless it's to go to the post office for work, but I at least have something I can do that makes me feel useful. It's not brain surgery or the cure for cancer, but I make pretty stuff, and that has to be worth something, right?

I'm Falling Behind

Since I joined the Ravelry "52 Projects in 52 Weeks" group, I had hoped to be able to finish at least one project a week, and had clung to the faint hope that I might be able to finish more than one per week. It's not a contest--there's neither prize nor penalty for how many projects I do manage to get done (or not get done, as the case may be), but it still gives me something to aim for. In theory, I should have finished eight things by this coming Sunday. I'm up to six, so that goal is not likely to be reached.

I don't want to get totally neurotic about this. I make things because I love to make things, and I don't want to turn my love of needlework into a JOB (which is why I've gave up trying to earn money from my needleworking skills after a brief fling at it.) But as I have chronic startitis--a horrible affliction--it's good to have a goal. Problem is, so many of the things that I've already started are big projects. I'm still clinging to the plan that I can switch off small projects with large ones, but I can tell already that I'll run out of small things and still be slogging away on the large UFOs when May 31, 2010 rolls around.

Still, it does give me some structure, which I badly need in my life. I kind of ooze from one day to the next, and end up wondering where the week went. I admire people who are able to create structure for themselves and stick to it. Remember the old "Wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, bake on Wednesday..." plan? I don't know who came up with it, or how many housewives actually stuck to that program back in the day, but I need something like that. Not that I do much ironing. Or baking, for that matter.

I suspect I need a school-day type of schedule. Say, from 9:00-12:00 I do my paying work. Then from 1:00-3:00 I do housework. 3:00-4:00 could be violin practice, and so on. I think I'll draw up a little schedule and see how it shakes out. Every day won't be the same, because my paying job has kind of random hours. But I'll work something out.

Oooh, gotta post a couple of pics and get outa here. Rugrat and her mommy just pulled in the driveway!!

Here's the latest finished project. This is the 2004 Collector's Heart from "Heart in Hand" (Celia Turner.) I'm making several small heart-themed pieces in these shades for my bedroom so you'll be seeing more like this. 

Here's the Girasole still in progress. It doesn't look like much, does it? It's all in the blocking!!

 

 I'm a little worried that I'm going to run short of the right shade of yarn. I have seven skeins of this yarn, all the same color from the same dyelot. Three are like the photo above; three are the same colors, only darker; and one only has a slight family resemblance. I'm on the third skein of the paler shades, and I have a feeling that it will end before the shawl will. I'm hoping I can squeak out the shawl and do the edging with one of the darker colors. That might help disguise the mis-matched shades. At any rate, it's not open-heart surgery, so I'll just let it go the way it wants to. I don't know how well the picture shows the change in color, but the skein lying on the shawl is definitely darker.

Now I really must run. Rugrat has discovered my peanut butter M&Ms. She was kind enough to stomp up here and share one with me. It was a little sticky, as was the kiss I got, but that's ok!

Oops, I Missed It!

Yesterday was "Ten on Tuesday" day, and I didn't get around to posting. The list was supposed to be your ten favorite songs from the 'eighties. To tell the truth, I missed posting accidentally on purpose, because my ten-favorite-songs-from-the-'eighties list would probably have been even shorter than my ten-guilty-TV-pleasures list. Now, that's not because I hated 'eighties music quite that much, though a lot of it was lame. Or grody. Or whatever term we were using back then to indicate contempt. And therein lies the problem. I can't remember songs from the 'eighties.

That's not exactly right, either. I guess it's just that it's all blurring together. See, I know that Led Zeppelin and John Denver were the 'seventies, because I can remember listening to them while I was in school. (Yes, I listened to both, and yes, that's probably the first time you've seen both names used in the same sentence.) But I have no specific memories to hang music of the 'eighties and 'nineties on. I had kids. It's all a blur after 1982.

Ok, I do know that Wham-with-an-exclamation-mark was definitely an 'eighties group. But they don't make it on my ten favorite songs list. And, of course, unless you've been living on a desert island or are in a vegetative state (in either case you wouldn't be reading this anyway) you know that Michael Jackson released his "Thriller" album in the 'eighties. But as heretical as it may be, that doesn't make my top ten list either. (Since I'm confessing all my bizarre music tastes, I may as well admit here that I don't really care for the Beatles. So sue me.) Was Whitesnake the 'eighties, or were they early 'nineties? See, I can't even remember song names, so I have to fall back on bands. Nirvana is 'nineties, right? Or were they late late 'eighties too?

Wait, Bruce Springsteen. "Dancing in the Dark." I liked that song. That was definitely 'eighties. There, that's one. Though I really don't know if it would be one of my top ten songs of the 'eighties. That's a pretty narrow field--one song per year. So I got nothing.

Except this. This was the 'eighties, and while I liked the song the first couple of times I heard it, you know how it is when you hear a song for the 4,763,928th time. But this song has been brought back to life in a new and totally exiting way. To make up for my FAIL at the music list, I give you "Total Eclipse of the Heart" as you've never heard it. Enjoy. This just may have made the 'eighties worth living through.

Ten on Tuesday--TV

10 Guilty Pleasures on TV

1. Clean House

2. ER reruns

3. Law & Order reruns (except the "Criminal Intent" series. Can't stand the guy doing his "Columbo" imitation.)

4. Ummm...hmmm...well...

Huh. Ten on Tuesday FAIL. I just don't watch much TV. And honestly, I don't feel any guilt about the above list. OK, "Clean House" is a reality show, which I sort of object to just because I think reality is wayyyy overdone, but I do like seeing everyone else's mess. And it always, always spurs me into cleaning out a cupboard or a drawer or something. So I think that counts as educational TV. No, make that "inspirational" TV. The other two should go into the "educational" category, because how else would I know about basic police procedure or what to do in a trauma room: "Bag him, cross-type, C-spine & chest films, chem 7, glucose and BA levels, and call a surgeon for a consult. Someone get me a cut-down tray!" (Well, it might be useful someday.)

Occasionally I catch part of "Mythbusters" while hubby's watching, and I end up getting sucked in purely for the fun of seeing the unmitigated glee with which the one guy blows things up on a regular basis. See how much I pay attention? I don't know what his name is, but the bigger the blast or wreckage for him, the better. It's fun to see someone enjoy his job so much.

I'm slogging around today with "brain fog" due to fibromyalgia. I've noticed that I had a spell of feeling better a couple of weeks ago, but it's slipped away. Oddly enough (sarcasm here because exercise is the one thing that you MUST do with FM,) the good spell coincided with the few days that I went to the ice arena and skated a bit. Not much--only about a half hour each time. I have no leg or core muscle strength, so no jumps or spins like I used to do. Plus I'm terrified of falling. So all I did was go slowly around the rink. After the first time back I got up the courage to skate backwards a little, but my balance is still shaky. I feel old.

So I'd better get back on the exercise wagon ASAP. At least ice skating is something I enjoy, and it's cool in the rink! That's always a plus!

Finished Projects!

Yes! I have five, count 'em, FIVE finished projects for the 52 Projects in 52 Weeks group on Ravelry. What a great group. It meshes so neatly with the blog and may actually cause some major finishing activity on my part. Shazam!

Here we have the Blue Heron Bulky Chenille scarf. Again, it's one of those colorways that just doesn't do well in photographs, especially with all the texture. I got this at a discount from my LYS because it was a tangled mess and the owner gave up and sold it to me for half-price. I love a deal, don't you? It was well worth the time spent untangling it, and was a quick K3P3 pattern that I knitted a little loose. I washed it and threw it in the dryer, so it shrank and softened into a lovely kittenish feel. Definitely a success.

Here are the finished Numma Numma Toasty socks. I showed them a few posts back, and you can see the color a little better here, but it's still not perfect. The other picture was too dark; this one is too light, so imagine it in between, and you'll have it. These socks feel fabulous on my feet, and I keep stalking The Loopy Ewe, hoping to grab more. Though more sock yarn is not something I really need right now!

This is a sampler I started about five years ago, in memory of my best friend who was killed in a hit-and-run accident back in 1993. Since I started it, several other close friends have passed away, so it's kind of a memorial of all those I've loved and lost. I do have hope of seeing them all again in the resurrection promised in the Scriptures, so this has not been a sad project--more of a reminder that we can enjoy each other's company again in the future.

I'd already made one of these Noro Striped Scarves, and I haven't the faintest idea where, when, or why I bought more Kureyon to make another, but this is another easy, quick project. I do find myself sort of buried in scarves, so I may have to think about who might like a scarf this winter. Or I may be a selfish pig and keep them all for me me me!!

As I was working on this scarf, it occured to me that I could spin my own two colorways and get the exact shades I want for another of these scarves. I must put that on my to-do list. I foresee a pleasant afternoon spent at the local fiber shop (and yes, I live close to a LFS that has a terrific fiber selection) choosing the colors to spin for My Very Own Striped Scarf In Exactly The Shades I Want.

Last, but absolutely not least, I have actually finished a sweater!! Staggering, isn't it? This was started on May 11 and finished on June 27, so that's a pretty short length of time for me, at least when it comes to finishing big projects. True, I might have gotten it done sooner if I hadn't been knitting socks and scarves and whatnot, but the 52 Project thing means I have to whip out a quickie project now and then to stay on track.

The pattern for this called for two colorways, just like the Striped Scarf, but I had these 12 balls of one color, so I just juggled the two balls a bit as I was knitting so the colors wouldn't fall next to each other. Sometimes it didn't quite work, especially as there's so much orange in this colorway (note the bottom of the sleeve--that's what I mean) but I love how it came out. It looks very Kaffe Fasset-ish to me. I'm not thrilled with the neckline (because I knitted two extra rounds, and it's too much) and I made the sleeves too long, but I'm still happy with it. I may get up the gumption to rip out those two extra rounds on the neckline and cut off an inch of the sleeves, but for right now I'm just going to pet it.

I feel quite pleased with myself. Finishing is such a kick! Oh, and just wait until you see the Girasole! The Ranco Multy was an inspired choice (ok, not so much a choice as the only thing I had in the stash that I thought would work. Close enough to inspired for me.) I have my slant issues worked out, so it's proceeding at an unusually rapid pace. That's my kind of knitting!

It's All Wendy's Fault

I tried to resist this, I really did. I'm supposed to be finishing projects. You know, that whole "52 Projects in 52 Weeks" thing I've been writing about? But after following Wendy's progress on her Girasole shawl, and finally seeing the finished project I could hold out no longer. I rummaged through the boxes of yarn stacked in the stash room, and finally found the skeins of Ranco Multy I bought on sale last year from Little Knits. * (Naturally, it took quite a bit of rummaging because they turned out to be in the one box I set aside because I knew that yarn couldn't be in that box, because that box was specifically for lace yarn, so there was no possible way I could have put fingering weight/sock yarn in that box because that box was clearly the laceweight box, so of course the Ranco would not be in that box. It was in that box. Right on top.)

Sooo, I paid for and downloaded the pattern, did a small swatch that clearly was not correct, said the heck with a swatch because it will block out fine anyway, tossed those needles in a box and put the pattern, new needles (guesstimating the correct size this time), and yarn in a basket, took my sleeping pill, and tottered off to bed.

I put on the iPod like I usually do, and waited to drift off to the sweet strains of Joshua Bell's violin. But I couldn't stop thinking about that shawl. Finally, I got up, retreived the basket and cast on.

Oh, it was blissful. I sat cross-legged on the bed, listening to the violin, knitting, frogging the first circular cast-on and casting on again without even muttering under my breath, working my way through round after round. I finished Chart A and started Chart B before my brain gave out somewhere around 1AM. Sometime around 4AM I woke up and thought about the shawl, but forced myself to resist the temptation. I'm not totally insane.

I woke to someone pounding on the door at 10AM to tell me the power company was going to be trimming our trees. Ok, whatever. I staggered back to the bed, picked up the basket, rubbed away the sleepy dust in my eyes, and started working the rest of Chart B. Before coffee. (Anyone see where this is going yet?)

Dum dee dum dee dum...Chart B was a breeze, and I finished it and decided it might be a good idea to have some coffee and get dressed before noon at least. I got dressed, made my tea (not coffee because the coffee pot was still dirty from yesterday because some slob around here spends more time knitting than housekeeping), and carried the tea and the basket into the sun room and settled in to start Chart C. Dum dee dum dee d...WHAT THE...???

Now let me say that this is a terrific pattern. The charts are clear and large, and the instructions are well-written with plenty of helpful tips. Anyone could make this pattern. Seriously. Anyone, that is, who can read and follow instructions and remember that a right-slanting slash means "knit 2 together" and a left-slanting slash means "slip, slip, knit" (or is it the other way around?) It's an important distinction (and I strongly advise that you look it up for yourself because I truly cannot remember at this point), and I have certainly done enough lace in my life that I should know by now which slanty line means what. I got it exactly WRONG for all of Chart B, which I found out as soon as I started Chart C.

Oh, the wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth!! Well, not really. Since I had no coffee onboard, I simply didn't have the energy. I just muttered under my breath, figured out where Chart A ended, and ripped back to that point. Which is why you can see what appears to be an entire skein of yarn that has exploded in the basket in the photo above. It's really the former part of the shawl I was going to blog about, and that post was going to have an entirely different feel to it. The joy!! The delight!! But it was not to be.

By the way, I have now carefully written on the chart exactly what a right-slanting line and a left-slanting line mean. And I certainly don't blame Wendy for my slant issues. It's just that this wouldn't have happened if she hadn't made such a pretty shawl, and that wouldn't have happened if Sheri hadn't started the KAL, but it's really Jarod's fault for inventing beautiful patterns that contain those pesky slanty stitches.

*I would have bought the yarn from Sheri for this shawl, since she's the one that started the KAL, but I'm trying very hard to knit from my stash. (Mostly that's so I can rationalize that since I'm knitting from stash, I'm not really violating the spirit of the "52 Project" plan.) So, Sheri, I apologize. It's tacky to be KALing with one shop while using another shop's yarn, I know. But trust me, hon. I'll make it up to you, especially if I can ever hit the website at the exact same moment the Wollmeise gets put up!

Ten on Tuesday

Ok, I'll play along. These are in no special order, just typing them as they come to mind. Oh, and I know that figure skating and gymnastics are not considered sports by some people, but I don't think two guys getting in a ring and beating the living crap out of each other is a sport, so to each his/her own.

 10 Favorite Sports Moments Ever:

• Al Michaels screaming, "Do you believe in miracles? YESSSSS!"
• Sarah Hughes coming from nowhere to win the gold medal in figure skating in the (what year?) Winter Olympics
• The first time I saw Olga Korbut's backflip on the uneven parallel bars in the 1972 Olympics
• Seeing Hank Aaron hit the home run in 1974 that took him past Babe Ruth's record
• Seeing the Cincinnati Reds sweep the World Series in 1990
• Franz Klammer's amazing and scary all-out downhill skiing run for the gold medal in the 1976 Winter Olympics
• Jennifer Capriati's ace for match point in the finals of the Australian Open against Martina Hingis (what year??)
• Pretty much anything Roger Federer does. The guy moves like a cat. He's a joy to watch.
  
• Pete Sampras' serve that literally blew a hole through the racquet strings of Pat Rafter in an ATP match 
  
• The drop shot I hit in a doubles match that left our opponents standing open-mouthed six feet from the net wondering how the heck that ball hit the court and died the way it did. (Hey, nobody said they had to be professional sports moments, did they?)

As you can see, I have an extremely limited frame of reference for sports. I'm sure I've seen some other great moments, but I can't put names and times to them. So I guess that's what "memorable" means, eh? I would have included Torvill & Dean's gold medal-winning performace to "Bolero" in the 1984 Winter Olympics, but if figure skating is iffy for some folks as a sport, ice dancing is really questionable. I don't care one way or another, but it was a beautiful performance (which word is probably what disqualifies it as being "sport." Whatever.)

The funny thing about the first one is that I never watch hockey. I just happened to be home that evening, sick with strep throat. My parents were gone, and I was lying in the recliner too sick to care what was on TV. The Olympics were on, it was hockey, what the heck. I'd watch. It didn't take long for me to forget about the strep throat. That was one amazing game. Ya gotta love it when the underdog wins!