Baby blanket

I finally finished the baby blanket I'd been working on for my coworker Jason, whose wife was pregnant. I started months ago, figuring I had plenty of time, but I am a genius at procrastinating. Then, as her due date came and went, I was racing against the clock. Each day I would walk in the office and see Jason there, I thought, "Whew! I have another day!" Well, I brought the finished blanket in on Friday, and of course that's the day the babe wanted out. She was born Friday night and weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz, named Carly Elizabeth. Cute, no? Jason came in to the office briefly today (unfortunately I was out doing a training) and picked up my gift. I wish I could have seen him open it, because he has been kidding me about knitting for a while now. He once said, "I know the perfect place where you can knit! There's a retirement home just a few miles down the road..." Ha, ha. He sent me an email saying he likes the blanket, so maybe he'll be convinced that knitting is not just for old folks these days! Here are a few pix:



I chose yellow and white because that's the color scheme of the baby's nursery. I used Bernat Baby Coordinates and knitted with double strands for thickness--and so I could get away using 15US needles (circular). I was very pleased with the loft of the weave. Nice and squishy. I did not measure the blanket when I was finished, but it was much closer to actual baby blanket size than my last attempt. That time I cast on 100 stitches using a thicker yarn, and the blanket ended up being like 7 feet long. This time I cast on 75 stitches using a thinner yarn, and it turned out more appropriately sized. In fact, it was even a tad small.* So it's more of a "blankie" than a full-on blanket. All the better for carrying around when she's a toddler!

* Please do not lecture me on gauge swatches--I do not believe in them! But if I did it again using the same yarn and needles, I'd probably cast on 90 stitches.

My first hat

I finished my first knitted baby hat yesterday, thanks in no small part to wonder-knitter Tammie. She held my hand through the whole process, and without her I would have been completely lost after the first 20 rows. I am so happy with how the hat turned out (aside from the fact that it is kind of large) and hope to start #2 without delay. It was my first non-scarf project, as well as my first attempt to follow an actual pattern (Ann Norling #37).


It was an incredibly simple one that even I didn't have trouble keeping up with. The decreasing was even manageable, until I had to start using two sets of circular needles. That's where it got tricky.


I suspect that if I had started and finished that part of the hat in one sitting, I would have gotten the hang of it a little better, but it was done in fits and starts. Hopefully I've retained all of what I was taught, and #2 will require less assistance.

Weekend and first day at work

In case you were wondering, I am still alive. Took a short break from blogging because I simply didn't feel moved to write. But some people have insisted that I hurry up already and write about my weekend. I went with my parents up to Ennice to visit my brother and his family. My older niece and my nephew have very close birthdays in February and March, so there was a combined birthday bash at the Burger King playland in nearby Sparta. It's a good thing they are only turning 3 and 4 because if they were any older they might have been disappointed in the turnout. Upwards of a dozen RSVP'd saying they would come, and only a handful actually showed. But at their age, they were oblivious. They got cupcakes


and presents


and a big plastic tube-y maze thing to climb around in,


so they were content. We should all take a page from their book, I say. One upside to the lower attendance was the leftover party favor bags. Later that night my parents and I had a little silly fun with the toys.


We were going to get a family portrait taken in nearby Galax, VA, with all eight of us, but with the party and all it turned out to be too hectic. One munchkin was sick, one was sleepy, and the other is eternally cranky (will the terrible two's ever end?!) so it just wasn't meant to be. Instead we ordered Chinese takeout and watched movies on HBO. I snapped limitless photos, as usual. If I'd been using a film camera, I'd have gone through 10 rolls of film. Of course, I always took less when I had a film camera. But that's part of why I love digital--you can take as many as you want (well, as many as your memory card will fit). It frees you up to take many more, increasing the likelihood that you'll get that perfect shot.


I finally gave Cassidy the baby blanket I knitted for her. She seemed to like it.




It turned out really huge.


I cast on 100 stitches and used four skeins of Baby Clouds yarn, switching colors when the skeins ran out.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So today was my first day at my new job. It went fine. Everyone is very friendly. My supervisor is really on the ball, which is something I appreciate. And my boss is very reasonable, which I also appreciate. For instance, if you want to take a longer lunch, just stay late. If you don't get to take a lunch because it's too busy, leave early. As for learning my duties, naturally it's overwhelming at first, but I think I'll be able to handle it. I get to observe an on-site training tomorrow at a school here in Raleigh. And then Friday I get to observe a couple phone trainings. The system is pretty simple. Of course, by the time I learn this one, the new one will be ready to launch and I'll have to learn everything all over. But the new one is supposed to be ten times better, to help reduce the amount of time-consuming data shuffling. Actually, there are two systems, one that our clients use (the one I'll be training them on and the one that will be upgraded soon) and then the system that we use internally to keep track of all our clients and trainings and the like. The internal system looks pretty powerful but also user-friendly, so that's good.

I sat in the conference room all day because they don't have a desk for me yet. Due to the un-ergonomic setup, my shoulder is killing me. I hope they get me a desk soon! I think I will be sharing an office with the one lady who comprises the customer service department. She was showing me how to do a few things today and we were chatting about this and that.

I got a sense today of how fast this company is growing. Everything is kind of in flux, and up for grabs in terms of changing it to make it better. On one hand it's a scary environment, but on the other it's exhilarating. It will be interesting to see where this new job takes me....

Scarves and jobs

I finished my purple scarf last night. Not because I was particularly motivated to finish it; but rather, I was motivated to get it off my size 10.5 needles so I could use them to start a different scarf. One that will be a gift--my first that I will give to an adult, so it has to be good. No mistakes allowed! Or, more realistically, only a couple mistakes allowed! Can't say who it's for; it would ruin the surprise, even though this friend isn't a regular reader. So far it's looking good. I've only got a few inches, though. It's very thin yarn.

So back to the purple scarf. I'd been working on it for ages, and when I pulled it out last night I was delightfully surprised to see it only needed a few more inches! So I finished it, and wore it out to breakfast today. Of course, it was like 85 degrees, so I didn't need a scarf at all, but gosh darnit, I spent hours knitting the thing, so I'm gonna wear it! I kind of like how it turned out, with the makeshift pattern I came up with.


After much hemming and hawing, I've decided to apply for a job that qualifies as "settling." It's basically scoring student essays for a big testing company...I may be delusional, but I think I'm a shoo-in because the only requirement is that you have a bachelor's degree and can write a decent essay. So since I have that, PLUS I was a teacher and scored essays for five stinkin' years, if they don't hire me, I might as well go jump off the nearest bridge. The pay isn't great, it's only 35 hours a week, and there are no benefits, but hopefully it will get my foot in the door, so to speak...this would be a good company to work for in a permanent capacity. Assuming I get an interview, I'll have to find out if this can be used as a stepping stone job. If not, it's probably not worth it...I'd be working three weeks just to make rent, the fourth week would almost cover my Cobra premium, and then the rest of my expenses for the month (including all the gas for the commute to downtown Durham) would come out of savings. Gosh, I'm not making it out to be a very attractive opportunity. I don't know. We'll see what happens. I have applied for other jobs this week, better ones, but haven't gotten any calls.

I must take leave, now, and go enjoy this gorgeous weather. I'm thinking Umstead. You'll see photos, no doubt.

More deer, but innocuous this time

Saturday, I went to visit my parents. After the usual rundown of what's new (granite countertop replaced for the third time, new oven b/c last one was chipped inside, etc.), my dad was just about to point out the goodies he'd left in the backyard to attract deer, when lo and behold, a deer appeared!


We spent the next hour staring out the breakfast nook windows, first at the single deer, then after the corn was replenished, at two of them.


They were quite tiny, and their fur is an unbelievable camoflage. If they are standing still in the trees, they really do disappear. I tried to keep at bay thoughts of my previous encounter with a deer, especially because these were so cute. The smaller one was either very hungry or very gluttonous, because he (she?) ate and ate and ate,


while the larger one did not so much as take a nibble of any of the treats. (In addition to the corn, there were apples cut in half, and peanut butter smeared on a tree--supposedly they like it but there were no takers Saturday.)

On the way out to visit my parents, I drove through quite the downpour, which is no big deal except that my windshield wipers were not functioning properly. I thought the blades had shifted or something, but upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the wipers were on backwards. The long one was on the driver's side and the short one was on the passenger side and it should have been the opposite. This resulted in the windshield not being fully wiped in the the appropriate places, and one wiper kept hitting the edge of the windshield and trying to go further. The only possible explanation was that the body shop had taken them off during the repairs, and then put them back on incorrectly--although I'm not sure why they had to take them off in the first place since the repairs were to the fender and door, not the hood or windshield. Anyway, today I took the car back to the body shop and they fixed it for me on the spot.

Afterwards I went to Target to do some grocery shopping. I miss Trader Joe's like you wouldn't believe. They had certain items that you couldn't get elsewhere, and their prices were always unbeatable. Well, I was delighted to see that Target carries some similar items under their premium brand, Archer Farms. For instance, mint chocolate cookie clusters (imagine Junior Mints and Oreos in a chocolatey clump) and parmesan sourdough twists (imagine the subtlety of parmesan cheese in the crispiest cracker you could ever taste!). Another thing that caused me to squeal with glee (albeit under my breath so as not to appear like a freak) was the discovery that Viva now comes in select-a-size! Viva paper towels are the best, but I was a devoted Bounty girl because I prefer using the smallest amount of paper towel possible. Waste not, want not, right? Now I can have the best of both worlds. Yee haw!

Movies
Watched Closer, with Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Jude Law, and Clive Owen. Should have known from the lousy rating on Netflix (two stars) as well as friends' reviews that I would hate it. Very crude and just all around sleazy and dysfunctional.

Also saw Ladder 49 again. I love the score. No surprise, since I'm a sucker for an Irish penny flute. It's such a riveting film, and although I am not married to a firefighter and thus am no expert, it seems very realistic. I couldn't imagine being married to someone who risks his life on a daily basis like that. There's enough risk in the mundane things, like commuting, let alone running into burning buildings and what not.

Knitting
Started a new scarf, another two-yarn effort. It's coming along nicely. It's only ten stitches across but it seems so wide.


Must be an illusion created by the Bernat Disco yarn. The fibers are longer and straighter than eyelash. They also have the appearance of being sparkly although there is no metallic in the weave. It comes across as rather dressy, which probably means I will hardly ever wear it. But you never know.

Also, I'm continuing to work on my purple scarf.


I started it weeks ago. I was going to do it all stockinette (one row of knitting, one row of purling). But I took it to knitting group, and wouldn't you know, I got distracted talking to everyone and I forgot to alternate. So I decided to invent my own pattern: alternating blocks of stockinette and straight knitting. It looks kinda cool, but it's taking forever. The yarn is the thinnest I've worked with, and the needles are the smallest (even though they're only 10's). I can't imagine doing something with 8's! I haven't the patience. But I am making progress and hopefully will finish in the next week or two.

Latest Geeky Game
I'm relatively new to iTunes. I used Real Player for a long time, but when I got an iPod around the middle of last year, it made sense to convert. I will never look back. iTunes rocks! It is so clean and simple and user-friendly. (Duh, Melissa, it's like everything from Apple!) So my latest thing is to play with the search box. I type in random strings of letters and see what songs come up. For instance, just now I typed in "rst" and it showed, among other things, the tracks from Erasure's greatest hits album, "Pop! The First 20 Hits." "Ghts" gets you REM's "Nightswimming," Matchbox Twenty's "Bright Lights," Faith Hill's "When the Lights Go Down," and Jewel's, "Leave the Lights On." Silly, but when you have over 2100 songs, so many of them go unplayed unless you pluck them from obscurity like this. The party shuffle feature is also good for bringing up random tunes, but I like finding wildly different songs that have something in common, even if it is as meaningless as a series of letters in their title or album name.

Knitting update

At knitting group this week, I had a somewhat rude awakening: I've been doing it wrong. (Anyone else think of Mr. Mom whenever someone tells you, "You're doing it wrong"?) Seems I've been "knitting into the back of my stitches," for whatever that's worth. Since I'm only doing scarves right now, it really doesn't make that much of a difference, as long as I'm consistent. But I'm told that when I start trying to follow patterns, like for sweaters and stuff, knitting "my way" will simply not work. Good to know. So one of the ladies in the group, who teaches knitting classes at a yarn store, taught me the "proper" way to knit. She also taught me the "best" way to cast on. That's all well and good, but when it came time to start a new scarf a couple days later, I did it the old "wrong" way because it just felt more comfortable. Oh, and in case you're wondering--and why wouldn't you be?--my purling is just fine.

I don't know why I'm in such a "quotey" mood today. I've used (overused) this bit of punctuation so much I feel like Joey in that episode of Friends where he puts air quotes around the most inappropriate of phrases, like "I'm sorry." I haven't seen that episode in ages. I need to get the Friends boxed set of all ten seasons on DVD. Such a bargain at $299...ha...it's on my list for when I start getting a paycheck! That, along with good computer speakers.

Anyway, back to knitting. I finished two scarves this week.


The green-ish one is half "my way" and half the "right way." You can kind of see a difference if you look hard, but it's not really obvious. I used size 13 needles, with one skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease yarn in Willow, and one skein of Moda Dea Jai Alai in Raffia.


The pink one is all "my way." I love it because it is so soft, and not bulky at all. So I can wear it as an accessory all day long, not just with a coat. Which is good, since it's like 68 degrees here today! It's colder back in Santa Clarita! Unreal. But I'm loving it. For the scarf, I used size 11 needles, and only one skein of No Boundaries yarn in Panda Space. Strange name for pink and white yarn.

And just because I never reported about my first foray into two-yarn knitting, I thought I'd post a picture of the scarf I knitted over Christmas. It's hard to picture what two yarns will look like together, so I was very pleased with how it turned out. I used size 13 needles, and one skein of Bernat Boa Furs in Soft Mink, along with a bulky cream-colored yarn (I think it was Wool Ease but I can't find the wrapper).

Another scarf...my favorite so far!

Finished another scarf tonight. I quite like it, if I do say so myself. It is very soft, and the color is lovely. Plus it is very long, the better for doubling up and looping for extra warmth. Definitely worth the extra time.


But I must learn to crochet, pronto. Carlee whipped out a scarf in 40 minutes last night as I watched with envy and disbelief.

Various and sundry

You know something's not quite right when the Yahoo weather report for Apex says the low today is 39, but right at this moment it's 36. Hmm. According to weather.com, it's 35, but feels like 28. And did I mention it's raining? There were ice warnings last night, and the city was all geared up to dispatch salt brine trucks. At least two districts closed schools today, while others opened two hours late (I suppose to allow the ice time to melt once the sun rises?). I don't know if the ice ever materialized, because lucky me, I don't have to be anywhere.

I have to say, I'm getting very accustomed to this life of leisure, which is b-a-d. I've become a champion at staying busy doing nothing. I spend a LOT of time on the computer. I don't watch that much tv, which is an interesting departure for me. I bet if I had a DVR/TiVo, that would be different. I've done a lot of knitting. Finished two more scarves.

One for me, in fall-ish colors (perfect now that
it's winter!), complete with tassels (ooh, fancy).


And one for my niece, done in a fun eyelash yarn, in girly-girl colors.












Alas, the things that need getting done, like writing out my Christmas cards, go ignored.

Heading back to the daily grind is going to be a shock to the system, no doubt. But I won't entirely hate it...there's something to be said for putting in a good 40 hours and then relaxing on the weekends. Makes you feel more like a productive, hardworking citizen and less like a sloth. It certainly makes the weekends more special, whereas now, Wednesday is no different than Saturday, and there's a sadness in that.

Here's a tip for bargain-hunters out there...at my first knitting group meeting the other night, I found out that if you sign up for the Borders email newsletter (click Borders Mail in the upper right-hand corner), they send you 30% off coupons that you can print out over and over again. The only restriction is one per day. I just bought a $25 book there, and I'm considering returning it and then re-purchasing it with the coupon...that's $7.50, man--that could buy me a good skein of yarn!

My first scarf!

I finished my first scarf! I would have been done earlier, but I'd forgotten how to cast off, or finish the thing. I went online and found directions, and it was actually pretty easy. So here it is, ladies and gentlemen. I know you've all been waiting for it, my debut piece:


And Mother Nature was kind enough to provide prime scarf-wearing weather. Muggy and 68 degrees today. Cozy.

The big THREE-OH

Okay, so I never did post about my birthday. Being jobless and such, I have tons of time, but I've gotten really L-A-Z-Y. Nicole's trip out here was super fun! She arrived early in the morning, so we stopped at Waffle House for breakfast. New for both of us. Pretty much like a Denny's. Later we explored the shops on Salem Street in downtown Apex. They were all very charming. That afternoon we got pedicures. My guy took extra special pride in the design he painted on my big toe...kind of funny. He stared at the blank toe for a while, and made some brush stroke motions, as if planning out his masterpiece. He made me promise not to look until he was done, because he wanted to surprise me. It turned out to be kind of like a firework, with sweeping lines of gold and white bursting from the upper right corner of the toenail. But my interpretation was wrong! He told me, without a drop of sarcasm, that it was a depiction of the sunrise at 6 am. Mmm-hmm, whatever.

Anyway, the next day we went out to see the progress on my parents' house. Then we drove up to Chapel Hill to explore, and stopped at Southern Season because I'd read it was like this huge awesome store. It was fun to browse but all we got were some Kindersorpresa chocolate eggs (a reminder of Italy!). We drove all around just checking everything out, and Nicole played navigator. We almost made it to Duke, but using the Rand McNally street map while driving can be tricky. We wrapped up the day at the Streets at South Point in Durham, which I'd also heard was fabulous.


Fabulously crowded!! It was INSANE! The wait for The Cheesecake Factory (always long anyway) was two and a half hours. We opted for Firebirds Rocky Mountain Grill because it was only 90 minutes. While waiting, we sauntered over to the Bose store and listened to their top-of-the-line demonstration. Pretty cool, but also pretty pricey! When we finally got seated, the food was great, and I got a happy birthday creme brulee (sans the embarrasing singing) for dessert.

Sunday we went to the movies to see Dreamer with Dakota Fanning. Very heartwarming. I love me those happy endings! I also learned to knit. Nicole was incredibly patient with this clumsy student. It was so humbling to feel completely incompetent at something I know is so simple. But, I'm catching on, and can even watch TV now while I knit without having too many dropped (or added) stitches. So far I'm about halfway done with my first scarf. It is far, far from perfect but I'll still wear it with pride. "Dude, I made this!"


Yeah, that whole widening part there, totally unintentional.

Monday we hung out and relaxed, knitting and watching Fever Pitch. We'd watched Mad Hot Ballroom her first night here, which was so-so, cute but not a keeper. Unlike Fever Pitch, which was totally a keeper! I love romantic comedies, and Drew Barrymore is one of my favorite actresses.

All this fun kept me so busy I didn't really have time to reflect upon turning thirty. It's kind of weird to think I'm in that decade, but whatever. I can't help but feel a little behind, though, considering when my mom was my age she already was married with two kids. But there's no sense in brooding on it--if it's meant to happen, it will happen. If not, well, there's a LOT to be said for living alone! I am in love with my new apartment, it is so roomy and comfortable.

Well, that's it for now. To all my loyal readers (ha!) stay tuned, because I have updates on my parents moving into their new house, as well as the saga of assembling my birthday present--a new entertainment center!