Adrift

I was catching up on some other blogs yesterday and many of them had apologies for not posting in a while.  I guess I'm not the only one who let February get away from her!

There has been a lot of soul searching happening around here.  I did have a revelation or two, and I took some time to express gratitude to people who have made my life a little easier.  I also got a part-time job to help with the bills.  This is completely a throw-away job (no offense to the people who work there for better reasons than mine) that may not cover all my expenses (only about half) but it gets me out of the house and interacting with people.  It's just what I needed.  Now I need something a little more meaningful.  Smiling while handing over the receipt for clothes that cost more than my weekly paycheck is getting depressing.  I don't think I ever thought about how poorly paid everyone in retail is.  Only the managers make a living wage, and I'm guessing that it's not a great salary either.  There are no holidays, and no holiday pay, at least for the part-time workers.  I only make about a dollar more than minimum wage, so the saying "at least you have a job" really gets under my skin.  Is it worth it to spend even four hours peddling something I can't afford?  I could be job hunting for something better during that time.  I feel really sorry for the people who work three of these kinds of jobs just to get by, especially because this is really a forgotten area of our economy.  We talk about how consumer confidence is up, but we don't really look at what cost to the worker.  I definitely appreciate anyone who is working part time in a low-wage job much more than I did before being that person myself.  The bright side for me is that I know that it won't last forever.  I am not stuck in this job.  It gives me what I need for now and I will move on when I have the chance.  I know there are many others for whom this is not the case.

Back to knitting.  I'm still following my no new yarn rule, but the last time I was able to buy yarn I bought for two projects.  I am trying to decide whether that's cheating or not.  Perhaps I'll make seven or ten things before the next purchase, to appease my self-imposed guilt.

Here are a couple of the latest FOs.

Made from leftovers from a cowl and some baby things.

More of the same leftovers, plus some other stash yarn.

Legwarmers for Sarah.  One of these days I'll mail them to her.  The pattern is Laced Legwarmers by Jenise Reid.

Speaking of Jenise, I won a copy of her new pattern book, Between the Trees!  It is beautiful.  I always joke that I'm not a winner, but this is the second thing I've won in the last six months (and about ten years, but who's counting?).