June Sucks

Here are some photos of the things I finished lately. Thermis and Honey are cowls I finished back in May.

Thermis

Two, count 'em, two knots in Calmer. Thank goodness I was only a couple rows into Thermis!

Wonderhorse modeling Honey

Zoz I finished when we were in Mountain Home, Idaho, to pick up my car after having its clutch replaced. I have been working on Mandel since mid-May, but after knitting the body and most of one sleeve, I ripped it out. Since we were in Mountain Home (the weekend my clutch went out), I didn't have anything to knit after ripping out the sweater. I've restarted it now, but I didn't want to risk being without knitting, so I took along Zoz. It was so fast! I knit it all in one night.

Wonderhorse modeling Zoz

Mandel, take two

Why does June suck, you might ask? Work. My clutch went out. Money woes. Mysterious doorbell ringing at 2:30 am when I'm home alone. Brian away in San Francisco. Messy house. No time for grocery shopping. And much, much more.

There's a major deadline coming up at work. It's always a struggle to get everything in by the deadline. Some of it is just communicating with artists, some is interoffice disagreements and strife. A big part of it is total disregard for established deadlines. For whatever reason, I'd like to just skip over June and head into July.

I don't think anyone from work reads this blog, and I don't think too many colleagues read it, either, so I'm going to put this out there: I need a new job. The WFC has had us on furloughs for the three years now. I simply cannot afford to live in Elko anymore. Add in the trouble like I described above, and I'm ready to leave. It's rather disconcerting that I'm deeper in debt living in a small town than I was in Chicago, where I actually pulled myself out of debt enough to buy a condo. I'm also done with the desert. I want to be somewhere lush. We're mainly looking at San Francisco, but at this point, if there's grass, a lake (or ocean), and it's in a city (or very, very near one), then I'll consider it. So if you've got leads for work in the cultural sector, please let me know. Or if you know of a well-paying retail job or office work. I can do that, too, as long as I can afford to eat.

Luckily, I have vacation planned for the end of the month. I'm so excited to make it to one of my uncle's pig roasts. Not for the pig, of course, but for the fun and family. We're then heading to a wedding and spending some time in Toronto. Where there's grass. And a lake. And a city. I can't wait.

Oh, and one more thing!


That's me with the blue knees!

Sheep and Knitting

Last week I was in Ketchum, Idaho, for the Trailing of the Sheep. There was lots of wool and plenty snow.

Most of the progress on this mitten was made in the car to and from Ketchum and while at the festival.

I also worked on this sock during the festival.

I bought some great yarn at the Puffy Mondaes booth. I wish they were closer. I have to take pictures of the yarn yet, so I'll post them later. In the meanwhile, here are the sheep. They were supposed to go straight down Main Street, but those photographers you see in my video weren't staying to the sidewalks, so the sheep took the first opening they saw and headed down the side street instead. (Isn't there some sort of professional courtesy about not getting into another photographer's shot? You should see my other video--it's mostly this one guy's head as he's "ducking" to stay out of my way.)

Anger Like I've Never Felt Before

Does the USPS train its employees to be uncaring, unhelpful, and disinterested? I am so angry with them. All I wanted was the woman to walk the fifty feet to the Automated Postal thingamagig's box and crouch down to look inside. Would she? No. Why make a customer happy?

I made DG three pairs of fingerless gloves last week. Two were quick garter stitch squares made from ugly yarn (the blue pair) and not-fun-to-knit yarn (the black and white pair). One pair was made especially for DG from a nice wool tweed accented with a linen-wool blend. I ribbed these and made a thumb. I spent a full two days knitting this pair.


And then the post office goes and loses them. Perhaps it is my fault in the end for not checking the seal on the envelope, but please just help me out and check that they didn't fall behind the bin in the box. The gloves are brown. Maybe no one saw them. Maybe someone did see them and they are so good the mean postal worker kept them. Given the attitude at this post office, I wouldn't put it past them. Don't forget my Interweave issue, too. Do they have it out for me?

I'm trying to shake my anger so I can make another pair. I don't want to infuse the yarn with anger--I want DG to be happy. I don't have enough of the brown tweed left for two more pairs, I don't think, so I may have to improvise or alter the color scheme. I'd buy more, but the yarn was a mystery yarn from a friend's stash.

In other knitting news, I'm going to put aside the something for Jen and work on other projects for now. The something for Jen is no longer seasonally appropriate, and I keep messing up because I'm not giving it my full attention. Unlike her children, Jen is not going to grow out of this (oops, did I just let slip that it's a garment?), so I can work on it in between projects. What a relief.

I made two "feely hearts," inspired by Pegotty, for a friend who's having surgery soon. I hope they give him and his wife some small comfort. I'll show a picture soon, but I still have to sew them up (I knit them in a hotel room Wednesday night and hadn't taken along a needle). I used the softest yarn I had in my stash: a 50% cashmere, 50% yak by Rovings that I bought at Stitches Midwest. It really is luscious yarn. The label suggests using 4mm needles, but I used 3.5mm (size 4) and still had to double the yarn so it wasn't holey.

I got a contrast color for Joseph's sweater, so I can get back to working on that. It's cotton, so he'll still have time to wear it. Renée will be able to wear it eventually, too.

I am so tempted to drop everything to make Isabella from the new Knitty. I like the way the collar doesn't go all the way around the neck. The only yarn I have in my stash that would work is light blue, but I think I'm also drawn to that yellowy-green that would look horrible on me. Wait, did I just say me? That's right, I'm thinking of making it for myself. I may hole up this weekend and just knit. If only I'd done laundry last weekend.

Falling Off the Wagon

So I caved. Sure, I've been traveling and enjoying the warm weather in southern Illinois, but now I'm back in the wet cold of Chicago. Yarn is the perfect remedy, of course. I had to return a rental car this morning, and, lo and behold, Loopy is just around the corner. I stopped in to see if they had something to use for a felted bag for Jen (she knows about this project). They did. I've wanted to try Karaoke so I was glad to see Loopy had some. I also spied some Nashua Wooly Stripes Tweed in a color that Jen will probably like better (Jen, please let me know, the bright colors on top or the browns to the left?). The red is some Lamb's Pride Bulky for a project I can't yet disclose.

I like Loopy, but I have one complaint. I don't like the giant price labels they put over the name of the yarn. I like knowing what the yarn is and who makes it. It frustrates me that the names are covered. I do like the very friendly, pretty, and soft dog that came and stood beside me for a while. I'm a big fan of shop animals. Oh, I also got 25% off. They are having a sale on their winter yarns. I basically saved the cost of one ball of yarn. Yee haw.


This picture represents some of the projects I have on the docket. The gray and the red are for secret projects. The green is for Joseph's sweater--I still have to find a contrasting color for tis project. The blue and brown is the Artyarns Ultramerino 4 for Stefan's socks. The purple is to swatch for Crumpets, for Renée. I've already told you the Nashua is for a bag for Jen. Yep, projects for Jen's family are still the majority.

While hanging out in hotel rooms, I worked on the something for Jen and another secret project. I didn't really make much progress, due to a headache and a full schedule. I did make some progress on the train today, after returning the rental car. The trains are only running on one track for about four stops worth. We sat in the tunnel for a good half hour. I got a bit of a cramp, from trying to avoid moving my left hand too much. I didn't want to poke the woman beside me. I got a couple inches finished on the something for Jen, so it wasn't too miserable.

I have to be a "knitting expert" for Winter Delights this afternoon. This time it's beginners. I love teaching beginners. I always say that making new knitters is my favorite thing. The challenge is going to be what they learn in two hours. The description says they'll learn to cast on, knit, purl, and bind off. Whew. That's a lot for two hours. There are 15 students. That's a lot, too. Hopefully, this means that the students will want more attention and will sign up for a class at The Needleshop.

Nooooooooo!!!!!!!

It's a good thing I don't need any project ideas right now.