Check it out!

This is my way cool high school friend/co-Stitch N Bitcher's blog! Check it out! She's such an incredible woman.
New Kid on the Blog.

iiiiinteresting....

So, I came across this in this online diet group thingy I'm doing:

Finish the following statements however you'd like.

I am...
I will...
I won't...
I do...
I don't...
I love...
I hate...
I think...
I care...
I don't care...
I can...
I can't...
I feel...
I laugh...
I cry...
I want...
I need...
I'm passionate about...

And here were my answers:
I am... going to law school!
I will... get back on the wagon starting NOW!
I won't... get any time to myself this weekend.
I do... really like the way I feel when I work out regularly.
I don't... like my job or my boss.
I love... feeling strong and capable- physically, professionally, emotionally.
I hate... being a bum and wasting time.
I think... too much.
I care... about respect- giving it and getting it.
I don't care...
I can... do whatever I set my mind to!
I can't... seem to stay focused on one thing for a long time.
I feel... energized when I take good care of myself, which spills over in to all areas of my life
I laugh... frequently at myself.
I cry... frequently these days- change and stress bring that out.
I want... to know when I will loose my job so I can start planning my move.
I need... to have a better picture of what the next 4 months will look like.
I'm passionate about... a lot of things. Taking care of myself, knitting, and being a good person.


I feel like I just learned a lot about myself. I'm really bogged down in details right now on a lot of fronts, unable to see the forest for the trees. I don't like feeling that way!

At work, I'm stuck in really boring detailed editing work. It's all nitpicks stuff that my boss has changed her mind on 5 times. Which is frustrating, when it involves changing 400 pages of documentation for stupid little changes.

In my personal world, I have no details about timing for the major events in the next 4 months, so I'm feeling really uneasy. I don't know when I'm going to lose my job, so I can't give notice on my apartment, sell all my stuff, plan on starting work for my Mom in NM, plan going away parties with my friends... I want to have a "game plan" so I can kind of picture how the coming months will look, but I have none of that right now. I could leave here in May, it could be August. Hard to start saying goodbye when it could be 3 months, yet it's hard to ignore when it could be 3 weeks.

I'm also feeling very selfish with my time. I can look at the next 10 days and see that I will have very little time to myself. Which makes me cranky. It's all stuff I want to do... But... tomorrow I have to work. Probably all day. Then I have to take care of the BF's dogs. Sunday I have church, a baby shower, and a dinner party at a dear friend's house. Monday night I will walk with a girlfriend. Wednesday night I'm taking BF's sister to see the bats. Thursday night is dinner with a girlfriend followed by Stitch N Bitch. Friday night is likely dinner and a movie, Saturday will probably go to the BF's parents' house for Mother's Day. And so on and so forth.... When can I spend some time reading? Or knitting? Or cooking? Or cleaning, working out, relaxing, reflecting??? I get frustrated when I feel like my time is being spent for me, which is precisely how I feel right now, especially since my job is sucking my soul out. :-) Yes, I'm a little on the dramatic side!

Slowly but surely...

I've started the armhole shaping on the Onde Lilith tank:


No picture of the Muppet- she's about 6 inches from being done. Tonight, I swear!!! But I DO have a kitty photo:


That's my Scooter. What a weirdo.

SNB last night was really fun. Two new gals came by- one wants to learn to knit/crochet and the other is already a stitcher. She was there having coffee wiht her folks, but may come back next week.

I am sorely tempted by the Charlotte's web colorways at Threadbear. Maybe I'll stop by the LYS this weekend to fondle some Koigu....

In other news, I called my landlord to give notice this morning. Too bad I have no idea when I'll be leaving!

On no! No pictures!

I did knit last night- 2 rows on Onde Lilith and a whole lot on the Muppet. Must. Finish. Muppet. I think I can wrap it up tonight- fingers crossed.

In other news, I am feeling very blah. I have a lot of work to do. My house is a mess. My life is going to change quite dramatically at some point in the next 4 to 8 weeks. And I can barely drag my keister out of bed in the morning.

PICTURES! It's a miracle!

Allllrighty then... click to get a larger version of the picture in a new window:

Here's the alpaca hat for my boss, right before I ripped it:


Note to self: Do NOT knit 2 strands of hairy yarn together if there is even the SLIGHTEST chance that you will someday want to rip the item. I ended up with a hairy tangled mess.

And here's the muppet, in all its Paton's Pixie glory:


This is turning out decently. I don't particularly like it, but I think the mother will. It's going to be about 31x31, and will use about 4 balls of yarn. In the future, I'd knit it on smaller needles to get a firmer, more plush fabric.

My Onde tank, about 10 or 11 inches up the back...


I think this will be SUPER cute when it's done....

And the washcloth!

socks?

I must be nuts. For some reason, I am obsessed with the idea of knitting a pair of socks in really loud yarn. Where did this come from? I have never knit socks! I did get past the heel on a pair of toe up socks using Wendy's Generic Toe Up Sock pattern and some of this yarn in highland heather. But I ripped it for some reason. And now, muted purple and brown just ain't doing it for me. Why knit boring socks when you can buy boring socks?!?!?

Check out THESE babies over at The Keyboard Biologist... I LOVE the color. I'm even tempted to pick up a copy of the book for inspiration.

Oh yeah, I've decided the boss hat must be ripped. Double stranded alpaca in Texas is a baaaad idea. Might as well just hand him a blow torch, right? Here, dude, warm your head with this! Maybe I'll just buy him a book or something and keep the alpaca for MEEEEEE! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Camera! YAY!

My camera just arrived. Hurrah! Joy! Exuberance!

Alas, you'll have to wait till tomorrow for pictures.

Had a great night last night. Dinner with the BF, a little CD shopping, and some knitting. I feel like the muppet has a very good chance of being finished and washed before the baby shower on Saturday. Pictures tomorrow!

Oh yeah!

I ordered two knitting books- Rowan 27 and Debbie Bliss #5 from The Knitting Garden in Boston. HIGHLY RECOMMEND them- fast, great communications, and my books came nicely wrapped in tissue paper! I was really impressed and will definitely be back for more.

Have you seen the incredible colorways for the Charlotte's Web Shawl that Rob has been posting? You can check out his blog, Black Dog, for fibery goodness. I've never ordered from ThreadBear, but they have a rather cult-like following. I do wish they'd post color #s with the pictures of the Koigu, though... I think I will definitely have to make one of these shawls.

Another day, another dollar.

Well, I went home after work on saturday and just felt like junk- borderline sinus infection. So much for Hot Date with the BF! Our hot date consisted of him driving me to the grocery store to buy drugs and Kleenex. Woo hoo!

Got a lot of knitting done on Sunday, though, while doing laundry. I'm about 2/3 done with the Muppet, which is due for the baby shower this coming Sunday. I'll really need to focus on that for most of this week.

I'm about 9" up the back of the Onde tank. I sure hope it fits!

Also worked on the alpaca hat for my boss, and the black felted bag for a friend. So exciting!

I'm also culling my magazine collection. Manged to reduce 50 foodie magazines down to about 2 magazines worth of clippings. Now to tackle my Real Simple, In Style, and Martha Stewart collections.

Camera is due to arrive tomorrow- YAY!

Saturdays spent at work are kind of stinky.

So, I'm at work today. Why? I don't know! I'm about to get laid off AND I'm leaving to go back to school. So why am I wasting a perfectly good Saturday of perfect knittnig weather in the office? Because the cow dumped a ton of work on my plate at the last minute and the Big Boss wants it done ASAP. Sigh.

I did get some good knitting in last night. I'm about 8 inches into the back of the Onde tank- I'm really liking it! Almost to the halfway point on my muppet blanket, too. Which is good, since the shower is in a week. I guess I need to put down my "me" knitting and finish the muppet this week.

Will you still like me??

I'm suddenly worried that you will be very disappointed with the progress I have made on knitting projects since my camera was stolen. Ah well. I don't know why I feel like I should have been more prolific...

By the way, I LOVE seeing incremental pictures on other people's blogs. So many seem to say, "well, it doesn't look much different so I won't bore you with progress pics." BORE ME! I want to see your progress, even if it is just a few rows!

Scratch that... I luuuuuurv amazon!

I just bought a digital camera! Got a smokin deal on amazon (almost $100) less than the current price at Target). Should be here Tuesday, and then we return to our regularly scheduled Woman Obsessed with Pictures. Woohoo! And I can start selling stuff on eBay again.

NO knitting last night. Very sad. But we did have Girls' Night, and it was a clothing swap. I cleaned out my closet of too-big clothes and picked up some really cute stuff for free! WHEEEEEEEE!

luuuuuuuuurv eBay

Wait! I may be able to get a BETTER camera for LESS than the sale/floor model combo on ebay. I MUST have a camera.

Didn't get much knititng in last night, and I can't make it to SNB tonight because it's GIRLS' NIGHT with some different friends. Probably no knitting tonight, either.

Curiouser and Curiouser...

So. The digital camera I want is apparently going on clearance next week. And because it's the last camera they have, I'll get an additional discount for buying the floor model. I wonder if I can buy it now and take the receipt back for sale reimbursement next week? I REALLY want this camera!

Started on the black bag for my friend last night and made good progress. I was knitting while watching BF referee a soccer game. I tried to work on the Muppet, but it was too windy and the Muppet was catching the wind like a parachute- not conducive to knitting progress.

Anyway, I hope to spend some time at home tonight... KNITTING!

I know! I'll work at a yarn store~

Hill Country Weavers, my LYS, is looking for PART TIME HELP for the summer. Hmmm. Perhaps if I wait tables by night and work in a yarn store by day.... No. No. NO. Though tempting....

I exhibited great restraint during my lunchtime trip to HCW the LYS. I went to pick up some black yarn for my dear friend's purse. I'm going to make a larger version of my purse (see an ancient entry for details) except in black with lime green stripes. I plan on using the same pattern from Stitch 'N Bitch, except using smaller needles and expanding the dimensions. This way I'll get a bigger bag that shrinks a little less. In theory, anyway.

The restraint part of this? I only bought the black yarn- 2 hanks of Cascade 220. I had in my hands some Lorna's Laces sock yarn, Koigu, Cascade Sierra, Any Blatt eyelash yarn on SALE(!), and some other stuff. But in the end, I just bought my black yarn. Sigh.

I think I'll console myself by buying myself a new digital camera tonight...

Tuesday Tuesday...

Too bad it still feels like Monday!

I went out to dinner last night with a dear friend and she went bonkers for my felted purse. She wants one, too. I've actually gotten that reaction from 3 girlfriends now- I guess I know what to make them for birthdays!

I'm now almost 7" into the Lilith Onde tank. The colors are starting to change. I WISH I had a digital camera so I could show you! Maybe tonight is the night I live irresponsibly and just buy another one....

I also worked on the cotton ease tank. The P2K1 ribbing is wonderfully spongy in cotton ease- it feels so good and springy (both in the spring like a coil sense and the spring like the weather sense). I can't wait to see how this one wears. Although I'm thinking of sewing it up inside out- I like the look of the K2P1 ribbing better than the P2K1 ribbing. If I had a camera, I could show you exactly what I mean!!!! Dang!!!

I MUST get cracking on the Muppet. Baby shower in T minus 12 days..... Ack!

Oh Happy Day!

I don't know why, but I am in a deliriously good mood about getting laid off. This is such a blessing! I now have a chance to have a low stress, really fun summer!

I'm thinking about doing the following:

• Applying for a contract position that may pay a bunch of money- 1.5-2 times what I'm making now. I have a lead on one that may work out perfectly. I think this will be the only desk job I'll apply for- why sit inside for crappy money when you can screw around and have fun for crappy money???
  
• Maybe look at weirdo jobs like cruise ship work, Club Med, park ranger, and other random things. How fun would that be?
  
• Possibly work for my Mom's estate sale company. That's always a blast, free room and board, and decent pay...
  
• Who knows what else. The possibilities are endless!
  

The guy who we laid off this week told me he got 3 weeks plus a week's vacation, so not TOO bad a package. I don't know if mine will be quite that nice, but we'll see.

Anyway, I did knit a lot this weekend. Made great progress on the nummy alpaca hat- I'm about 4 inches into it. Also worked on both tank tops some more after yesterday's post. Have not yet picked up the spaced out bag, but I do have bobbins wound for the correct intarsia this time around. Wish me luck!

Ack....

Well... I got some interesting news Friday after my last post. My boss (the wonderful one, not the woman to whom I report, who is a cow) pulled me aside to let me know that I will probably be laid off in mid-May. I have really mixed feelings on this.

First, some background. When I was hired here 3 years ago, I had a REALLY unstable employment history. So my boss said he wouldn't lay me off or fire me for 2 years if I promised not to leave for another job in that time frame. Our interview was great because he took time to learn about me, my management needs, and my work style, and made sure I understood his management style. We've worked together really, really well. I'm very grateful that he gave me a month's notice. I told him about law school, and he is really really supportive. He may try to extend my time here to line up more with my school plans, but his hands are kind of tied. He said I should bust my butt so the woman to whom I report will have good things to say about me if anyone asks, thus extending my time here. But she's gunning for me anyway, so I'm not holding my breath on that front.

I had just gotten comfortable with the thought of leaving Austin in early August. Now I'm not sure if I should stick around here after my job ends, or just head home then. Tough decision. If I go home, I'll have free room and board and a great job working for my Mom's estate sale company, which I love. If I stay here, I'll need to figure something out. I have a couple leads on contract/temp work, which is nice. I'm also considering retail work (clothing stores, nursery/gardening center), catering/restaurant work, and maybe calling the camp I went to as a kid to see if they need help for the summer.

I hope I get a decent severance package. That'll make things a little easier.

I'm still trying to figure out if I should get another digital camera. I want one, but my income is evaporating earlier than anticipated, so I may wait.

On the knitting front, I'm really liking the Onde tank. I'm about 3 inches into the back and have started the waist shaping.
The cotton ease tank from SNB is coming along really well, too.
I finished the flower washcloth I started on Friday. (Did I tell you about that? The one from "Weekend Knitting"?)
Also started a knit watch cap in some gorgeous grey alpaca from elann.com as a good bye gift for my boss. The yarn is daaarn soft- may have to go see if there's more lurking on elann! I'm using a great pattern from Fig and Plum, which is a great pattern. I made one of these for the BF this winter and it turned out really nice.

Anyway, that's all the news that's fit to print. Be forewarned, though- expect wild vascillations in mood and thoughts on the situation approaching over the next few months! :-)

Whew!

Meeting 1 lasted 30 minutes instead of two hours. Sweet mercy!

UPDATE: I have decided I need to self-censor a little better re: work.

Meetings, meetings, everywhere...

Yikes, lots of meetings today. This will be brief.

SNB last night was fun. Made good progress on the muppet. I also ripped a lot.
I've decided against the Bella bag- I think it's going to be to flimsy. So I ripped.
I also decided against the Kitty Pi. Scooter has a perfectly acceptable store bought bed that he rarely uses.

I think that's all I ripped... :-)

Cast on and completed one petal on a flower washcloth from "Weekend Knitting" in Sugar and Cream cotton- blue and white.

Also cast on for the tank top in Stitch N Bitch using Lion Brand Cotton Ease in pistachio.

Yes, it was a productive night!

More later.

Yarn is ALWAYS a good deal!

I love it! I stole this little bit of wisdom/justification from Knitting Sisters:

"Of course yarn is always a good deal. Katie read this logic somewhere. If you go to the yarn store and buy yarn for a sweater that costs you $90 and it takes 90 days to make the sweater, that is only a dollar a day for entertainment and you get a free sweater at the end. No, how is that for justification. You can extend it by thinking of all the horrible things you could consider entertainment alternatives. "

Damn straight! :-)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Dang it all! I keep waiting to buy yarn from Patternworks amazing sales until payday.... And they keep selling out of the things I want! First it was the KPPPM grab bag, now it's the Point 5 grab bags. DOH! Oh well. It was not meant to be. And no one's fault but my own.

Dreaming of Knitting...

Ok, this has gone too far. :-) I actually DREAMT about knitting last night. I read Lisa's post about her Dale #10706 sweater and dreamt that my Mom had knit the sweater with yellow foxes. Yeah. That's normal! :-)

I got in 4 rows on my Lilith tank last night. I do love the Phil Onde yarn. I think this pattern will be great. If not, I'll just rip and fondle the balls of yarn for the rest of my life. :-)

So not much knitting last night. I did go to Book People, a FANTASTIC local book store, and picked up a copy of The Knitter's Handbook by Montse Stanley. What a treasure trove of information!!!!

Tonight is SNB. Looking forward to it!

I hope to pick up a new digital camera sometime tonight or this weekend... So pictures soon!

Much happier camper today.

Hello! I guess I was a tidge cranky yesterday! Today is a much better day, I assue you.

I finished my project last night at work. There will be plenty of revisions, but the first pass is done. Which is a relief. I have a 2 hour review meeting with our marketing people on Friday to make sure all the terminology is up to date with their messaging stuff. Wheee! Then we have a 3 hour company meeting to review Q1 in each business unit. Can you say KNITTING TIME? I need to find something basic and fairly brainless to work on during that meeting- will keep you posted.

I did almost no knitting last night. I did rip the side of the spaced out bag. Frogging stranded intarsia=lots of tangles.

BF and I discussed law school again last night. I'm going, he's not moving with me. Which is fine. And strangely enough, this doesn't seem to be affecting our relationship all that much. Very interesting.

Ode to a frog.

I totally did the polka dots on the spaced out bag wrong. OOOOPS! I carried the blue yarn across the back of the dots and I ended up (1) totally bastardizing the intarsia technique and (2) totally puckering the front of the bag. Oh well. I like frogging. I really do. It's very theraputic and educational.

Bastards!

Well, I finishe the first row of dots on my Spaced Out bag. I'd show you what it looks like except SOMEONE STOLE MY DIGITAL CAMERA YESTERDAY. I left the car unlocked with the camera and a portable CD player under a coat in the floor of the front seat while I ran into Hancock Fabrics for some yarn. I was gone less than 5 minutes. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

I had skipped the gym to check out the yarn selection and I guess the moral of the story is, don't skip the gym to shop for yarn!

I am generally annoyed by the yarn snobbery people display. I have moments of it myself. Trust me, I'd rather knit with 100% cashmere, but my budget and skill level don't quite make that possible. One of my favorite posts on the subject came from Beware of the Bunny, a GREAT blog I started reading simply because of her post on yarn snobbery. I am really impressed by her!!!

Anyway, I'm still al tidge behind at work, so I'm going to get back to it....

Sage advice...

Wise CLAUDIA said (scroll to the April 7th entry)

If you wouldn't go into a store and buy the garment ready-made,
you've got absolutely no business knitting it.

I have been thinking about this a lot in the past few days. There are a few patterns I've seen that I think would be fun, but that I would never buy in a store... Therefore I will probably not make them. I'm glad Claudia laid it all out in such plain language for me!!!!!

However, I have noticed my taste in knitwear has/is changed/changing since I have started knitting. I'm suddenly looking at cabled garments. I'm fascinated by friend's sweaters.

I picked up a great Calvin Klein knit sweater at TJ Maxx for $10 and I LOVE it! It's a raglan with slight bell sleeves, very fitted, and it has really cool stitch detail around the yoke- I think it was done with cabling techniques... I should takea picture and post it here....

Anyway, I have a spreadsheet of patterns I've seen that I'd like to make. The spreadsheet includes info like yardage, original yarn, gauge, needles, etc etc. I actually keep a printed version in my wallet so I'm not at a complete loss when I walk in to a yarn store. Yes, I'm a dork. Yes, I got endless flack when I pulled out my list at our last SNB. But I like knowing I have it and it will be useful.

Anyway, I think I need to purge the list based on whether or not I would buy the sweater/tank/purse/whatever if I saw it in a store- I think this will help ensure that my knitting projects end in happiness and use, not in shame and hiding/donating to charity.

What the....?

It has been in the 50s and raining since Saturday afternoon. It's normally 70s or 80s and sunny. What's going on??? I'm not complaining though, since it has been PERFECT knitting weather.

Got no knitting done on Saturday as I was scrambling to find a cardigan and a pair of tan shoes to wear with my Easter dress. I did make time to go to the LYS with my buddy who has a new blog (I'll get the URL later!) but did not buy a single thing. SUCH restraint! Actually, this yarn store never has what I want in stock. I guess I'm doomed to be an internet yarn buyer until I move to a town with a decent yarn store.

Sunday got in lots of knitting- drove with the BF to his parents' house in Bryan, TX, an hour and a half each way. Then also knit Sunday afternoon while everyone else napped. Here's my progress.

Kitty Pi:

I'm not sure how this is going to turn out. But, it's leftover yarn so we'll see. If it's a total failure, I'm out $7.

Spaced Out bag:

I finished the base, shown above, and picked up stitches for the first side after I took the picture above. It looks more or less the same as what you see here.

Onde Along:
I finally decided what to make! I'm going to give the "Lilith" tank by Berroco a try. It's knit flat, which I like with this yarn...

I'm about an inch into the back. VERY exciting picture, no???

Well, the BF and I started our conversation about law school. I didn't tell him I'm for SURE going, just started the dialogue. We'll see how the conversation progresses.

I've noticed that whenever I talk about the law school thing I couch it in terms of "IF I go..." I know inside I'm going to go... So why don't I just say it in conversations?

Well shoot!

It's 4:30 on Friday afternoon and I somehow managed to get behind on a project due at the end of the day today. Dang! I think I can wrap it up pretty quickly...

Our Easter weekend forecast went from 80 and sunny to 60 an rainy. Now I have to figure out what to wear to Church on Sunday with boyfriend's fairly conservative family. I went to Banana Republic at lunch time to look for a cardigan to wear with my dress and was sorely disappointed. Their spring stuff was so cute- what the hell happened with their summer line? Yucky.

Anyway, back to work for me. Here's hoping I can finish and get out of here...

Thanks for last night!

The SNB last night was really fun. There were 4 of us, only 3 stitchers, but it was nice to sit and have girly talk. My best friend from high school and I stayed late and had a chance to catch up one on one. I'm so glad she's still in my life. She really is an amazing gal. I'm so in awe of the woman she has grown up to be- still very true to herself and her passions, yet mature and wise in ways I can only hope for. She's way cool. We're going to Hill Country Weavers, our LYS, tomorrow for yarn fondling. Good times. :-)

I worked on the Muppet last night, and finished my first ball of Paton's Pixie. I think this is going to be a 6-skein project. I also worked on the Spaced Out bag- close to finishing the base. I had to un-knit and re-knit one row 3 times because I got the seed stitch messed up somehow. I'm getting really good at fixing these kinds of errors!

Talked to the BF late last night. It sounds like it has been a great week for him up in Dallas for the refereeing stuff. He is probably coming home late tonight or early tomorrow, which is nice. I'm looking forward to seeing him. And we'll talk about the law school thing at some point this weekend, I'm sure.

Sorry I don't have any pictures for you!


Anyway, I should work.

Onde-along update

I'm still trying to figure out what pattern I'm going to end up using for my Phil Onde... I've got the pink colorway and I love the yarn, just not sure what to do with it yet. I plan on starting something this weekend..... Stay tuned!

Decisions, decisions...

I am really struggling with my decision to go to law school. Well, not struggling with the decision, as I am definitely going, but struggling more with my feelings about the decision and with the implications of my decision.

I am excited about the opportunity to learn new things, and to use those new things in a career that I am more likely to enjoy than the one I am in. I love reading blogs and blawgs by current law students and attorneys because it gives me a peep into their lives. There's one in particular, Stay of Execution, that makes me feel like law is the place I'm meant to be. So I'm not worried about that part of it.

I'm also not worried about opportunities post school. If I'm in New Mexico, I have tons of family connections and professional connections (I worked for the state's senior US Senator in Washington DC for a while). This networking will virtually guarantee a great job after school, provided I don't screw it all up before then.

The things that worry me are:

• Moving back to Albuquerque. I have never liked Albuquerque. I have never been happy in Albuquerque. We moved there from Santa Fe right as I started high school. Enough said. Right when we moved, my dad became deeply depressed, resulting in him divorcing my mother by the time I graduated from high school. So... not a lot of happy memories in Albuquerque. Besides which, the whole city just feels kind of dull and off kilter to me. It's hard to describe.
  
• Leaving my friends here. I can move to new towns and make new friends. I have done it over and over and over again. But I don't want to this time.
  
• Leaving my boyfriend. He is wonderful. I don't see him moving to NM. And I definitely don't see me skipping law school, even for a wonderful man. So in the very near future I have to wrestle with these feelings. And eventually, he and I will have to figure out what we're going to do. Combine that with leaving friends, moving 900 miles, and starting law school- definitely not a cake walk.
  
• All change is hard. But even if I decide NOT to go, I have some serious issues here to deal with. I don't want to be a tech writer forever, so I'll need to be looking for a new career fairly soon anyway. The bf and I will probably be breaking up eventually regardless of whether I stay here or not, so more change there.
  

I guess I'm just feeling... maybe trapped? Like no matter what path I choose, even staying where I am, things are going to change in big and significant ways. Not that I want them to stay the same, just that I'd like to feel like I have a little more control over the process.

I also feel like I want it to happen NOW. But nothing is going to happen for a while. I'm not planning on telling people at work until I'm about a month away from moving. So I can't even talk about it. I'm a good 4 months away from actually leaving, which leaves a lot of time to obsess and agonize over the whole thing. I'd rather just go now! And get started in law school NOW.

I really am excited, I'm just trying to acknowledge the other feelings that are gurggling up alongside the excitement.

Does any of this make sense?

SnB

Tonight is our weekly Stitch N Bitch. My best friend from high school lives here in Austin and we get together once a week to knit. She and I are considered the experts, which I find hilarious as we've both been knitting less than 6 months.

Anyway, if anyone is in Austin and would like to come, we'll be on the porch at Flight Path Coffee House near 51st and Duval from 7:30ish till 11:00ish. Come on down!

I mailed the baby cardigan to it's destination yesterday. I finished the cardigan 2 weeks before the baby was due, mailed it 1 week before the baby was due, and found out that the baby arrived 3 weeks early. Ah well, at least I was close to on time with this one.

I did get some knitting done last night- I'm now at about 3 inches wide on the Spaced Out bottom. I also started "Kitti Pi" by Wendy of knitblog fame. Scooter loves my green Cascade 220 so much that I figured I should make him something with it. I have some green Lion Brand Fun Fur to go on the edge...

Gratuitous kitty pictures to make up for my lack of knitting pictures:

In the second picture, Scooter is graciously modeling the first baby blanket I ever knit. It's a diagonally knit blankie out of Bernat CottonTots, which I actually really liked- very very soft.

Yahoo! News - The latest fashion must-have: eyeball jewellery

Yahoo! News - The latest fashion must-have: eyeball jewellery
Um, GROSS! I don't think so.

Bragging on me.

I have officially, as of this morning, lost 25 pounds. Yes, it has taken me 15 months to get this far, but I'm here and I'm still going. This feels REALLY GOOD! I'm also under 170 for the first time I can remember. Congratulations to me!

I did get a little knitting done last night.

Here's my progress on the "Spaced Out" bag:

This is the base of the bag, done in moss stitch. It's about an inch wide, and it needs to be 13 cm wide (5 inches?).


And the progress on the "Belle" bag:

I've completed the base and picked up stitches for the sides.


And my super brainless knitting, a diagonal baby blanket in Paton's Pixie. I'm affectionately referring to this as "The Muppet" becuase it's fuzzy and pink.

Living on the EDGE!

I'm now a member of TWO knitalongs. WOOHOO!

I think I'm going to do "spaced out" as my bag for the purse-along. And I might be an overachiever and include my modified Bella bag, too. But I'll just start with ONE bag.

Even though they're both officially on the needles.

I really like this idea...

My pre-knitting obsession was cookbooks. I have probably 50 cookbooks, and I have pruned my collection several times to get to that number.

This woman is "exploring her collection of cookbooks, one recipe at a time". Perhaps I need to divide this blog into subblogs:
A woman obsesses about knitting...
A woman obsesses about cooking...
A woman obsesses about reading...
A woman obsesses about getting fit...
A woman obsesses about shopping...
A woman obsesses about law school...

I just don't think I have that much to say. One blog it is!

Yarn Diet?

I'm doing enough dieting elsewhere in my life that I really don't want to claim a yarn diet. But I'm sort of on one... I agonized about whether to splurge on stuff at Patternwork's sale. I'm constantly watching eBay auctions for yarn. I have half an order e-mail composed to Threadbear for the Charlotte's Web shawl.

The problem is twofold. I feel like I should be saving money, especially since I am going to be a jobless and savingsless student again in a few months. I also get paralyzed when it comes time to make a decision. There are too many things I want to knit. There are too many yarns to choose from. I feel like my skills aren't quite high enough to warrant decent yarn, though I'm dying to feel it move through my hands! I also fear that I'll totally botch yarn substitution or fail to order enough yarn.... So for now I am going through what I do have (which REALLY isn't THAT much....)

Yarns that I find particularly tempting right now... in no particular order:

• Noro Lily, but only because it was half price at patternworks. No, I am not going to look and see if it is still there in the hunter color that would look killer on me.
  
• Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere to make the Classic Jacket out of Book Five.
  
• Rowan Calmer. For no good reason. It just sounds scrumptions. I have fondleded it. I have no idea what I would do with it....
  
• Anything by Colinette. I made a Point 5 hat in the Toucan colorway that I loved and lost.
  
• KPPPM. Mmmm, the colors.
  
• Mission Falls 1824 cotton.
  
• Ribbon yarns. A friend of my Mom's found one that goes from hot pink to charcoal grey and back again- anyone have any idea who makes something like this?
  

Enough- I'm trying to write through the binge desire instead of indulging... Must... stay... strong....

My uber cool Mom.

So my Mom owns an estate sale company in New Mexico. She sells the house and everything in it. Needless to say, she comes across some pretty cool stuff.

Her upcoming sale is for a woman who was a fiber FREAK. Apparently there are SHEDS of unspun roving, spinning wheels, and lots of handspun fiber. I wish I was in NM right now! I'm not interested in the spinning stuff (blasphemy, I know), but I'd love to get my hands on her yarn stash.

If anyone lives in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area, you should watch my Mom's website, www.landmark-estates.com, for details on the sale, weekend of April 16.

Wowza.

We had QUITE the thunderstorm roll through around 7:00 this morning. Rain blowing horizontally, claps and clashes, major storm.

Didn't get TOO much knitting done last night- walked around my neighborhood getting exercise and looking at gardens (should have taken my camera with me!) and then did some laundry. VERY exciting, I assure you.

I did get about an inch of moss stitch done for the base of my "Spaced Out" bag, and am almost done with the base of my "Belle bag".

It looks like the ladies over at the Audrey-along are having a fabulous time. Almost makes me want to like that sweater! :-)

Law school

OK. So I'm 99% sure I'm going to law school this fall. I'm actually really excited about it! It's nice to have something to look forward to. Even if it does involve leaving all my friends and my favorite city ever. Be prepared for lots of mixed emotions on this one...

Check this out! Wombatty is hosting a Purse-along! I so need to sign up. Details HERE.

More on real blogging.

There's so much I want to do with this site- Java, categories, etc etc etc. I'm reluctant to spend any money on a hosted service right now because I'm about to be a student again and will have no pesos with which to finance such a thing. I'm also not sure how much I can do for free and how much I need advanced features for. Perhaps JavaScript will be among my new obsessions....

When I grow up and become a real blogger...

I promise to get a fancy site with really useful information, links, and better photo hosting.

In the mean time, I'll make due with blogger's free service. :-)

So here are some recent projects (click for a larger picture):

Lacy baby blankie:


This was made in some random acrylic I got on eBay. I used the free pattern available HERE.

Baby cardigan:


This was made with Lion Brand Microspun, using the free pattern available HERE.

Felted Bag:


This is the felted tote from Debbie Stoller's "Stitch and Bitch" book. I used Cascade 220 and I think I felted it a wee bit too long- it shrank more lengthwise than I expected, but I really like the texture of the bag. I do really like it, though.

Nothing to show...

Had a lovely, not much going on kind of weekend.

I did rip 11 inches of the ChicKami I'm knitting in Phil Onde for Bonne Marie's Onde Along. I had to fudge the pattern numbers to make up for the change in gauge. My math was right (I think) but the tank was 4 inches too big all around, and that simply will not do. So I RIPPED. I'm not sure that the ChicKami is the right pattern for this yarn, so I'm going to let it sit while I try to figure out what to do.

I felted my first ever project! It's the felted tote from Debbie Stoller's Stich N Bitch. I promise to get pictures up later.

Other than that, I started, frogged, started, frogged, started, and frogged the base for the "Spaced Out" purse from Rowan 35. Must start that again. Glutton for punishment? Yes, that would be me.

Also shared an incredible but totally not healthy dinner with two great friends. Amazing mushroom risotto, fruit stuffed pork tenderloin, and an indescribable fallen chocolate cake with blood orange sauce. Mmmm mmmm good.

An ode to knitting.

I freaking love to knit.

Apparently my Mom tried to teach me several times when I was a kid and I would have none of it. NONE. She tried to teach me again around Christmas 2002. I picked it up about 7 months later and have not stopped stitching since!

There are several things that I love about knitting:

• Knitting gives me something to do with my hands. This is a plus because it keeps me from snacking at night. Huge plus.
  
• Knitting produces a tangible result. It is immensely satisfying to pick up two sticks and some string and end up with SOMETHING. In this computer focused world of mine, it is really nice to have something tangible to show for my time.
  
• Knitting is very relaxing. There's something about the rhythm of the stitches, the tactile pleasure of yarn slipping through fingers, the visual joy of watching colors and tidy grids of stitches emerge. It's almost meditative.
  
• I'm a very visual person. I am drawn to tidy stitches and patterns, yarns that yield crips results. I like watching color progressions of variegated yarns. I'm drawn more to color and pattern than texture. A good knitting buddy of mine loves the tactile side of knitting- fuzzy yarns, soft yarns, squishy yarns... It's interesting to see the different kinds of projects we choose.
  

I know I'm not saying anything earth shattering here. Just some observations I wanted to capture for myself.

A little background

A little about me. I live (for now) in Austin, TX. Austin is such an amazing town! I moved here in 2000 after working for a ski season in Vail, CO. I'm 27 years old, live by myself in a run down but very cute duplex in the central part of town, and I have a cat. Scooter is quite a piece of work. I have trained him to give "high five" and we're working now on more mundane tasks like "sit" and "don't eat my yogurt."

I currently work as a technical writer for a great start up company. My Boss is fantastic, though the woman I report to is a weirdo. As far as technology companies go, this is a great one to work for. The people are smart, friendly, responsive, and professional, though very laid back most of the time. However, I firmly believe that all software companies do business totally the wrong way. Software/code is nearly impossible to treat as a widget- instead of being concrete, well-defined, and managable, software is abstract, nebulous, and constantly changing. These things make it really hard to structure the work environment in a way that makes work/life balance possible. It's hard to see a talented group of people continually run into the ground by obscene schedules and inane goals. But such is the life of a technology worker.

I'm at a point with the tech writing where I will basically have to learn to write code if I want to go any further. And I really don't desire to go any further. Hence my desire to go to law school! At least I'll give a hoot about the content of the work I'm putting in insane hours for.

Speaking of work, I'd better get to it. I'll be back!

I am a woman obsessed!

Right now my current obsessions are:
Knitting
Eating right
Working out
Reading
Getting in to Law School
Be prepared to hear a lot about these things in the near future.


Other minor, past, or potential obsessions include:
Cooking, food, and wine
Moving from Austin, TX to Albuquerque, NM
My crazy cat Scooter
Downhill Skiing
Reading
Gardening
Good music