Well It’s About Time

Life has been… well…

Let’s just say today was kind of terrible.

I spent a good portion of today confused and frustrated and a whole myriad emotions. I had an interview today for a job I thought I really wanted. I agonized over my outfit only to settle on a cute dress and a blazer with sleeves rolled up and the only pair of heels I own. I got up early, did my make up and hair, went to FedEx to print my new and improved resume and felt really confident about myself when I showed up 20 minutes early for the interview.

I met with a woman in HR and she and I clicked really well, spent a half hour talking and I felt really happy with the position and the choice I made by applying.

Then the two people in a hiring position came into the room. I’m sure they decided on good cop/bad cop, but I spent the half hour of my interview with them defending a barrage of questions. I answered as honestly as possible, spent a good time talking about my passion and occasionally cracked jokes “He’s sassy today!” to bad-cop’s snarky comments on occasion.

“To get to the point, we find your ambition and drive appealing but we have a couple red flags in that you don’t have direct experience with the programs we use, and that learning curve might just be too much. We need you to come in right away with this skill set.”

“I’m more than willing to do outside research to learn as much as necessary to be as best prepared for the demands of the position. Don’t count me out just yet!” was my response, which brought out the slightest chuckle from the two of them.

They then decided it was time to be done, so they walked me out of the office, shook my hand and I said “I’ll speak with you soon!” before walking out myself, feeling really down.

I’m almost positive that this was a test; in order to make it clear that I was able to handle myself in these situations with an angry client, something they simply could have just asked me about which I would have ample situational anecdotes rather than just fending off the man who could potentially be my boss. It sets a poor precedence for the future of us working together, but I still liked the job and would definitely do it.

So I came home and did some laundry. And I fretted. And then I laid out the Leaflet sweater. It had been crumpled on the cedar chest for the last few days and I was feeling bad that I hadn’t given it a proper blog post. It is the first sweater I’m really happy with after all.

I love the lace, especially once I figured out the centered double decreases (and one crazy scary event of dropping stitches down). I love the color and I love the fact that I made it in four days. I started it before bible class on Sunday morning and was done by Thursday night. I wore it to church, hated the sleeves, took it out the next morning and lengthened the sleeves so they actually reached my elbows.

I wore the soft Tosh Chunky in colorway Oak to work on Saturday after it had been through a good wash and it was so comfy and cozy even though the weather was in the 70s. I received countless compliments on it and everyone was astonished when I said I finished in four days.

So I sent them an email with my thank you’s and I’m looking forward to speaking with them etc. But even four hours later, I’m still feeling really uneasy with my options. If he had given me a razz at the end of the interview like “Thanks for putting up with my shit, I just wanted to see how you would react” it would make things easier to deal with, but I’m almost positive I’m not getting it. At least I always have my knitting.

Another Year Older

Probably not a whole lot wiser.

My birthday is tomorrow and I don’t really feel like celebrating. My year has been terribly unsuccessful in many parts of my life, though I do have some highlights.

I fell in love. 

Without Boyfriend I don’t think I’d be here in such a sane way right now. He is my rock, my one, my everyday smile and my hero. He makes everything better and I don’t want to know what life is like without him.

I found CrossFit and Paleo. 

I’d still be that fat girl who hated her body if I hadn’t. 50 pounds, three pant and dress sizes down and I’m wearing a freakin’ bikini this summer. Seriously.

I left a toxic friendship for an amazing apartment I pay way too much for.

When roomie decided it was time to kick me out in favor of her cousin, it was a total blessing in disguise. I hated her for it but realize that moving out on my own made me realize all the things I love about being alone. Boyfriend feels at home in my apartment whereas he never felt comfortable in the house. I ultimately found my true independence by living alone. The underground parking is pretty rad too.

I got so much knitting done!

During my terrible bouts of no-job-ness, I’ve been knitting like a madwoman, working on limiting my stash considerably as I don’t have much money to spend on yarn. I’m making the giant wedding blanket (chugging along, thanks for asking), I’ve made at least 10 cowls, a few pairs of mittens, countless hats, a sweater later ripped out, baby clothes for Coach and so many other things of which I’m infinitely proud.

I’m a D20 girl!

And I’m an editor for their magazine. This will help in getting a permanent job ultimately and will also help with my cosplaying job as it’ll need to be much more spot-on than it has been previously. Now where’s the gold duct tape?

 

I wish I could say that things had been fantastic this past year but among the contracts ending, the appendectomy, the migraines and violent illness causing me to leave a job, getting kicked out of residence and being forced to move on a pulled calf muscle, the broken ankle, the sprained ankle, sliding my car into a ditch, the constant lack of money and the general malaise I feel about being unemployed and mildly undesirable as a writer, I know that this year is going to be looking up. It has to. I’ve been telling myself so often that it has to be better that the power of positive thinking and my good-juju-snow falling on my birthday will definitely be steering me in the right direction this coming year. I have 365 days to make my life something fantastic. Ready…GO!

80,000

I know it’s been two months since I last wrote– I’m terribly sorry about this. Life has been kind of crappy. My contract ended in January and I’ve been dealing with unemployment since then on top of my part time job. I’ve been, futilely, applying for jobs and trying to come to terms with the fact that dreams change and my next job may not be writing full time.

This idea really sucks. I don’t like thinking about it.

So I’ve been knitting to avoid it.

I knit a hat, another hat, a few cowls and I’m working on two blankets, one of which has a deadline.

Boyfriend’s Cousin is getting married in approximately 90 days and, rather than spending money on a present, I decided on Sunday that I would knit them a blanket with what I had in my stash. I cast on 500 stitches with the hopes that it would be big enough but realized that it would only be about 3.5 feet wide, which would not cover two adults in knitted warmth. So I cast on another 300 stitches.

Yes, ladies and gents: there’s 800 stitches on my needles. Stuffed doesn’t even begin to explain it.

I started with garter stitch with one strand held and was done with the first skein after about 10 rows. I then picked up a second skein and started in the round (on two 40 inch cables. Holy crap) and I’m about half way through the two skeins with four or five rows. I’m decreasing 4 times per row, meaning I have 200 rows until it’s done, making it 80,000 stitches about.

This blanket has a grey base and I’ve got three heathered colors to include stripes. I only have 5 skeins of grey to begin with (I have four more in the box just in case) and five skeins of the colors to include as small to big stripes. I have no idea what A&A’s color theme is, but I don’t really care as it’s going to be awesome when done– it’s also going to be at least 13 feet around, 5.5 feet across and soft and enormous. I would take a picture but right now it’s a mass of grey garter stitch. I’ll have something figured out in a few days. The stitches are currently smashed onto the 40 inch cable so I’m just going to keep decreasing in the hopes that it’ll fit more comfortably in a few days.

Boyfriend, in all his nerdy glory, figured out that it’ll be approximately 94 days if I knit for 60 minutes a day. At the rate I’m going, I’m knitting exclusively on this blanket for at least three hours a day and right now, it takes me approximately 50 minutes to knit a row.

I’ll let you know how things go in a few days. This should be interesting.

Snow. Or Lack Thereof

I really do like snow. You all should know this by now, considering I go practically apoplectic whenever it finally snows in Wisconsin. Then I find that I can finally bundle up properly and make hot tea and cocoa and cookies to warm the place and it all feels right in the world.

We’ve had one blizzard and only a little bit of snow this winter. It doesn’t feel like  I’m living in Wisconsin right now. People in this state don’t seem capable of handling themselves on the road when it snows either. It’s like we’re not used to the snow… that white stuff falls every day. Yeah it’s a little bare this year, but that doesn’t mean you should have completely forgotten how to drive in it!

The blizzard occurred the day before Mom, Boyfriend and I left for Seattle before Christmas. It was pretty epic, if I do say so. I made it home and worked from there for a half day and narrowly made it home before the snow hit. Boyfriend’s plan A was to work from home the whole day and it was good because he woke up to snow.

The other day it rained and was up in the 40s for the rest of the week so the snow was gone; it left behind brown grass and a general feeling of ew. Then the freezing rain came down and the state was covered in a dusting of heavy-as-crap snow again. Most of the city froze over so it was like a big ice rink wherever you went and we slid our way to home and work. Luckily I haven’t wound up on my butt lately.

My subdivision STILL hasn’t been cleaned properly. I saw cars covered in ice and the roads are still slippery in places. My parking lot has one clean strip down the middle because people don’t park properly (honestly, how hard is it to park on one side of the lot at night and the other side during the day?!) so the place looks like ass and I slip every time I park there for a short time to run into the apartment for something. I’m going to be leaving a note for management tonight.

With all the snow, I’ve been knitting up a storm. I knit up the seed stitch cowl in a matter of a few days before going to a funeral for Boyfriends’ grandmother earlier in December, I finished Chevry just in the nick of time before the end of the year, and I just finished the first sock of a pair, which are destined to be frogged because they don’t fit me…

They fit Boyfriend. I told him to put it on, he did, he almost didn’t want to take it off.

Now this isn’t some sort of ploy to knit Boyfriend a pair of socks and/or give him knitting before the one-year mark because believe me– not happening. His time will come, in a month. I fully intended on these things being for me. Unfortunately my gauge decided to lie to me and the heel was too big, they’re too big around and, while I love the color, I’m not about to make my first knitted item for Boyfriend be a pair of socks that were supposed to be for me. So they’re going to be ripped out and re-knit with 10 stitches removed and the heel to be started much earlier. I like my socks to fit snugly. These would bug the crap out of me. So they get attached to the winder.

I’m knitting up a pair of simple legwarmers to wear this Saturday and I’m about half way through the first one (yes, I’m well aware it’s Tuesday).

I’m also working on the Rowan Drift mittens and hat that were supposed to be for the Packers game but I ripped them out because they were a. too tightly knit to be cute and b. two different sizes. These are purely for me because I need new mittens and I need a beanie hat to wear on really cold days, like we’ve been having this past week. It’s the kind of cold that freezes your lungs and makes your eyes hurt and your fingers and nose tingle in the cold. It cuts straight to the bone when the wind picks up. The sun shines so brightly during this time,  and because it’s so white, you get a headache just driving home because it’s so blindingly white outside.

So I knit. I knit to relieve stress, take time for myself and to just BE. It’s sort of like a bubble bath… only not.

The Mittens Don’t Match

So it’s been pretty ridiculously crazy lately at work and with the holiday so I’m happy to be back to normal this week. Here’s a few random things for you to enjoy today.

Chevry was finished on December 30, blocked on the 31st and worn to the Boyfriends’ family Christmas on the First. It was admired by many, stolen by his Aunt Heidi and I grew even more in love with it as it kept me nice and warm for the next few days at work. It has had many photographs taken of it but none that are worth showing to anyone as the colors suck and didn’t show up in my little apartment that apparently doesn’t get enough light when the sunlight is covered in frozen ice/snow.

I won tickets to the first Playoff Game of the season at Lambeau Field through work last Friday. Boyfriend and I drove to Green Bay and enjoyed the game along with 71,000 other people. We gave the Minnesota Vikings a sound butt-kicking and it was a great night with Boyfriend, his sister and brother in-law.

I needed mittens and a hat for the game so I bought three skeins of Rowan Drift while at work on Saturday with the sole purpose of knitting a pair of mittens and a hat by the 7 p.m. game. Then work got crazy and I finished only one mitten by 4 p.m.. I knit like a crazy person and wound up with two differently sized mittens when all was said and done. They kept me plenty warm so I didn’t mind that they were two sizes, but I ripped them out when getting to work on Sunday. They’re now still in the ball and one mitten has a cuff. I have other priorities to get to. Boyfriend was the only one who had any cold-ness as his shoes, made of mesh on the top, let in too much cold so he had some hotties in his shoes. I was fine in similar shoes because I was wearing knit socks. Because I’m clever.

I’m knitting socks. I’m almost done with one (just the heel to do) and will be starting the second promptly to avoid second sock syndrome. I’m trying not to draw too much attention to them as they’re an anomaly for me to be knitting. My toes have been exceptionally cold lately with this cold snap and the fact that I keep my apartment cold so I want some socks to bum around in. They’re knit with MadelineTosh Tosh Sock in the color Lapis. They’re beautiful and I almost am sad that I decided to knit socks with them.

I have the yarn to knit Boyfriend a hat in a month. He needs socks, too. Especially if he’s going to the Boundary Waters in the spring and it’s going to be awfully cold. His boot socks did nothing for him at the game, so I think knit socks will suit much better.

Boyfriend is currently plagued with that stupid cold that everyone and their brother has. He’s stuffy and feeling generally crappy though still upwardly mobile so I’ll be shoving mug after mug of tea and soup at him whenever he comes over.

I guess that’s it from me this week… I’m so dull. I’ve been working like crazy, going to CrossFit, knitting when I have a spare moment and then working some more. I guess one of these days you’ll get a proper post out of me.

Don’t Mind Me

I’ve been out of range of the blog for a very good reason:

My hands have been on a pair of needles almost every minute they’re not eating, drinking coffee, sleeping or wandering around town in the rain.

It’s been five days since I was last at work and I’m having a tough time adjusting to the whole ‘sitting at the desk in the mildly dark lighting trying to organize the 80 million things I have to get done.

[may it be known that it took me two days to write this post.]

I’m writing emails, email writing (get the difference?) proofing emails, filling out requests for barcodes and proofing site creative along with the 10 million other things. My knitting sits next to me, spilling out of the bag, staring at me. Judging me. Whimpering at me to be knit.

So. Seattle. It rained a lot. We left a snowstorm and came to a fresh mist of rain that kept the ground wet for the entire visit to the city.

I knit Brother’s Huskies hat on the plane(s). I previously had finished the fair isle so I felt confident leaving the cream color at home and just finishing with the purple. I did finish with about 10 minutes left and pulled out the Chevry shawl but found that the yarn was tangled into a mess that rivaled some of my most serious yarn barfs so I put it back and sulked for the last 20,000 feet of the flight.  I realized I left my darning needles at home so I would need to make a purchase upon getting to the yarn shop.

I’m quite proud of my knitting prowess, and was very nervous to give it to him.

 

I have a tendency to get extremely flustered when flying and when people ask me where to go when I possibly know less than the person asking about that city, I get frustrated and snap every so often. Mom would ask where we’re supposed to go (as if I’m supposed to remember from a year ago) and Boyfriend bounced ideas off me and I clenched my jaw and walked a few steps ahead of them to avoid freaking the frak out at them(even though I did anyway). Boyfriend, in all his amazing intuition, found the rental car place, we got a car and Siri brought us to the hotel.

By 3 p.m. we were in the hotel room (sans view, even though we asked for one) chilling out for a bit before we decided to go venturing out. Mom chilled out at the hotel while boyfriend and I went to a yarn shop near Pike Place Market. The yarn shop (So Much Yarn, in case anyone wants to know.) was little and the owner/woman working there were sweet. They immediately asked to look at my hat, asked if it was a certain kind of yarn and was baffled when I told her it was MadelinTosh. It’s like she didn’t believe me. She then spent the better part of 20 minutes showing me the most expensive yarns in the place. I found the sale yarn (it’s a sixth sense, I swear) and got three skeins of Prism Symphony in a Marina blue and a sea green.

Of which there is no image. I didn’t get home until 10 p.m. last night and yarn was last on my mind.

The green was an impulse buy as there was only one skein and it’s 120 yards but it was too gorgeous to pass up. I got two skeins of the blue with the intent of making myself some flip-top mittens. I also got some size 6 circular needles from Knitter’s Pride. They’re purple. That’s all I really cared about. I forgot the darning needle and boyfriend created a notification for when we got to the next place.

Upon returning to the hotel at one point during this day, I noticed that there isn’t a 13th floor in this building. The elevator just whizzes past 13 on its way to 14 and there’s no button.

But seriously. Those people on the 14th floor KNOW what floor they’re really on.

We met Brother for dinner right down the street from the hotel and about a 10 minute walk for us from the yarn shop. We drank, had a great meal and drank some more while Brother got to know Boyfriend and we all caught up with everything going on that side of the US.

Saturday we slept in late and got to Emerald City CrossFit for our WOD. If you want to read more, head over to KnitEatLift.

We headed back to the hotel, cleaned up and set out for the Monorail, which took us to the Space Needle

Better than the crappy free photo they took of us before we got on the elevator.

Then went to Pike Place Market where I found some raw honey and dark chocolate covered bing cherries.

We then went back to the hotel and made the attempt to go to the Freemont Troll and the yarn shop out there, but it turned out to be too dark too soon (4 p.m.. Seriously) so we put the troll off for Sunday but still went to The Fiber Gallery where I hit the motherload.

Upon entering the shop, I instantly made a beeline to the notions rack and picked up a packet of soak in Aquae (I figured unscented would leave me with a wet-dog smelling hat, so Aquae seemed masculine enough) and a set of darning needles. Then came the real shopping:

I got two skeins of Sincere Sheep for a second Chevry. These skeins, while pricey, have 330 yards of DK weight yarn and look at the colors!!! I’m not sure if there’s going to be enough yardage for it, but I can fib it a bit as the B color uses significantly less yardage than the A color. I’ll figure it out.

I also got two skeins of some gorgeous Malabrigo Rios without a plan to knit anything with them but because they’re so gorgeous I couldn’t help myself. I finally got one skein of blue Malabrigo Worsted for a blue beanie for boyfriend(It’s a web-developer thing). He liked this color best after going through all the colors in the shop to find the perfect blue for his hat. He won’t be getting it for a while as I have stuff to knit for myself first, but I’m sure he’ll appreciate it when it’s actually finished. It’ll be the first thing I knit for him and, not to worry, it’ll be at least February before I knit it up.

Sorry, no images of this stuff either. Again. 10 p.m. and sleepy.

Bag stuffed and belly empty, we went back to the hotel and had a delicious dinner at the restaurant at the base of the hotel (no room service, so annoying).

I don’t know what that dressing was, but it made me so happy!

Sunday was a fun day indeed. Mom, Boyfriend and I went to the cafe across the street (same one we went to two years ago… killer pastries) and went to a Green Bay Packers bar for the game (10 a.m. game. oy to the vey). I knit the Chevry for the entire game and made good progress on it. No pictures, though… sorry.

After the game, Mom and brother went shopping and boyfriend and I went to a brewery tour.

The blurriness has nothing to do with the beer… Seriously.

It cost $1 and you got 5 samples of their brew AND got to keep the glass. Red Hook is nationally-distributed and did I mention it’s pretty delicious?

I knit whenever in the car and we took the scenic route back to the hotel. We had Potbelly for dinner and didn’t see Mom until the next morning.

Did I mention Seattle at night is really pretty? The Space Needle features a green top and a lighted tree from the spire as it does every year. It’s pretty cool.

Christmas Eve was interesting. All three of us didn’t want to do anything so we bummed around. I realized I had effed up Chevry and couldn’t figure out how, but, after taking the entire shawl off the needles and ripping out five rows, putting all the stitches on the needle, I figured out my idiot problem of knitting too much.  I fixed the issue and kept merrily knitting along.

See that? Blue on bottom and orange on top. NOT SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE THAT!

Mom, Boyfriend and I went for a walk to the market and saw the fattest pigeon ever.

They got sweatshirts and we all got lunch at a cute little cafe. After we cleaned up and went to Christmas Eve services where I belted out Silent Night via candlelight and we both got to pull out our German. It was a very nice service and maybe next year we’ll get to see the live-nativity thing everyone keeps talking about.

After services, we drove back to the hotel to find that EVERYTHING WAS CLOSED. Seriously. The entire city had shut down in observation of the holiday. We were starving and didn’t even care what food was available. Pizza places were closed, the restaurant downstairs was closed, and everything seemed dark. We went for a walk in the hopes we’d find something and, miracle of miracles, we found a Subway. Dinner was had and it was all well and good.

The next morning, Christmas, was a slow one. We got lucky and had breakfast served to us through the hotel (as everything was still going to be closed) and went to Brother’s for an extremely paleo dinner and presents and hanging out. Brother got me a Paleo slow cooker book and I gave him his hat and the Leg Lamp from A Christmas Story and a bunch of other little tidbits from A Christmas Story. He gave Boyfriend a couple large bottles of beer. We watched A Christmas Story (sensing a theme here?), ate a delicious dinner and then watched Ted and Kung Fu Panda (We’re nothing if not immature at times). I knit for the entire day. We left shortly before too-late and went to bed early knowing it was going to be an early morning.

Mom’s birthday(HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMY!) was a day of travel. We packed, I in a frenzy as always, and we made it to the airport, sat in the ever-growing security line that was about 800 people long and made me want to have a panic attack in the hopes it would let me through security faster. The flight was cramped and we watched The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King as soon as we hit 20,000 feet. I knit and knit and knit. I finished the fifth and final chevron and started the last rows before the border only to find out it’s a 24-row border. Ever-growing.

I used the flash to blow out the colors a bit. It’s now getting so big that the bag can’t really hold it. 24 more rows to go!

So.
Many.
Stitches.

We unpacked, started laundry and went upstairs to finish watching LOTR. I knit some more. I finished the four rows before changing colors and put it away. Today I sit at my desk, Chevry staring at me.

I can’t wait to knit you tonight.

Did I mention all the ends to be woven in?

My hope is to finish this thing by the end of the weekend(I do realize it’s Thursday and I work a lot over the next three days) because I want to wear it. Now.

Must Knit All the Things!

It’s been a stressful week at Chez Amanda so I’ve been knitting a lot. I’ve also been drinking a lot of (STRONG) coffee so I’m running at a mile a minute.

I knit to the middle of the foot on the stocking before I got bored with it. It’s on the floor in my apartment waiting to inspire me to finish it.

I finished the seed stitch cowl and bound off with a super-stretchy bind off late last night, which is the reason there are no images to be found of it yet. I’ll weave in the ends and take another photo when it’s fully done tonight.

I wound the skein of Merino Tencel I made a WHILE ago and stuck a knitpicks interchangeable size 7 needle in there to make another cowl/neck thing.

Realized I didn’t want to knit any cowls on Ravelry so I’m creating a neckerchief-thing that starts with casting on 300 stitches and decreasing from there.

No, I’m not crazy. Just highly motivated.

And I need this to be done by Monday, so I’m hoping to knit very quickly. This yarn is so soft and shiny and I lurve it more than any of my other handspun. It’s also very evenly spun, too. And it’s 3-ply. And did I mention I lurve it? I’ll post pictures of that, tomorrow once I start knitting on it.

I have every intention of casting on some flip-top mittens in a gorgeous teal color with size 2 needles.

I should probably also be working on the hat for a Christmas present. I planned on being up to the chart by the time I left for Seattle, but it looks like I’ll be knitting the whole thing on the plane. This isn’t a problem for me, but I’d much rather be knitting Chevry. The plane ride home will be dedicated to that as I’m determined to finish it by the end of the year.

For anyone who reads KnitEatLift, the ankle is doing better. I’m off to visit the good Chiropractor tonight to get a quick adjustment and then it’s home for knitting and cooking burgers. Blah, I know, but they’re good with a honey mustard dressing and some broccoli slaw on the side. I’m salivating at the very thought.