So Smart!

So, Jason got me this pattern, right? It's beautiful. Ilga Leja's Sea Urchin.

I swatched for it. Really swatched! Washed it, blocked it, everything! And I got gauge! So .. the now daunting process of knitting the thing is all I have left. And I was all ready to begin .. when I read the pattern. Increase every second row, fourth row and sixth row .. huh? What is this, German?

*sigh*

I was determined though, and after casting on and knitting up to the point where I needed to actually figure out the increases, I knew I couldn't just stop. So I took out a lovely little journal I found on my bookshelf, and began to write the pattern out. Once I got to those pesky increases, I wrote out every row. All 39 of them. And started trying to plot the increases. Including how many stitches they would leave me with.

Three revisions of said writing later .. thank goodness for pencils and erasers .. I'm pretty sure I've got it written out correctly. At least now my written out destructions mesh with the pattern and the errata to the pattern that I found. I end on the correct row, and with the correct number of rows knitted after the final increase. I'm trying to decide now if I want to make the sleeve just a little longer.

I feel so smart!

PS: If you're interested, I posted in my boring blog a very very long, photo-gluttonous post about my flowerbeds.

Success!

Look! I swatched something! And to make it even more astounding, I swatched it right!

This is the gauge swtach for my next big project. I'm going to make Ilga Leja's Sea Urchin, a very open top with 3/4 length sleeves and a Sea Foam Wave pattern that moves in two directions. It looks rediculously easy to knit .. which probably means it won't be, but hey. Can't blame a girl for dreaming, right? I'm making it out of some of the Peruvian Baby Silk from Elann, which is an alpaca/silk blend.



I finished the bag at last. It's a lovely little thing, too. It'll definitely get plenty of use, especially since it's stretchy. And it has renewed my desire to knit bags out of grocery bags, too. Talk about the perfectreusable grocery bag!

I have gotten many compliments on my Peacock Bag though. Granted, most of them were from family members .. but they count too! I know they wouldn't tell me if something looked like crap. But still .. it's nice to hear something really looks good.

Ravelry Details - Peacock Bag
Ravelry Details - Sea Urchin Top

Saturday Jason took me to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. It was a lovely time. If I hadn't managed to drain my camera battery for the third time by leaving the camera attached to the computer, I could show you some of my favorite pictures. But since the battery is dead again ... I have to charge it. Again. I have to be able to take pictures of the flowerbeds in the front yard anyway, now that those are completely planted.

Go me!

So. I've been working on a stretchable shopping bag for a while. I set it aside for a time, working on finishing up other projects and busy with school and work, and it had laid in my car for a while. I picked it up the other day, since I had nothing else to work on .. it's my only WIP at the moment! .. and the worst thing ever happened.

I screwed up the pattern. It'd been so long since I'd worked on it, that I messed up a whole round before I realized, because I got around to the start again and realized the pattern wasn't working, that I'd messed something up.

The stitch calls for a YO, then a sl1, k2, psso. Well, I didn't do the sl, and didn't psso. And so I added something like 40 stitches to the row. -Not- a good thing. And while I'm glad I caught it when I did, I was at a total loss on how to fix it.

I put it away for a day or two, working on classwork and my annoying teacher issue and other things. I glared at the little pile of half-finished bag. I moaned about how evil it was going to be to fix. Basically, I put it off, until I was in a better frame of mind to tackle what I feared was going to be an impossible repair process.

I sat down today to watch the new Martha shows on my DVR, determined that her influence would allow me to get through the task. It's a rainy day, perfect for sitting and watching TV and knitting, after all. So I started to try to tink. It wasn't working. I made some tea, and sat it down in my lap again. And declared to Brandon, my knitting and Martha partner, that I was going to have to frog.

He cringed. And shuddered. Visibly.

I pulled the circular needle out of the stitched, and started ripping back. And at the time, I was fully prepared to frog all the way back to the stockinette, which forms the very bottom of the bag .. which would mean frogging a full 7 inches of the bag. But as I pulled the yarn back and exposed the rows below, it began to look like I could salvage at least most of the finished work. I worked it back a few repetitions, and sat the fabric in my lap, took a sip of tea, and began the painstaking process of trying to pick up the stitches.

About halfway through Martha, I joyfully announced that I had picked up all the stitches, and proceeded to continue with the pattern. By the time the second episode of Martha was finished, I had knitted back to where I was, and with no apparent interruption of the pattern. I did it! I fixed a possibly horrible mistake! And without having to start all over again!

Good News - Not Knitting

As you probably know, I have been jobless since February of 2005. At the time, I was very happy about it, but lately .. in the last six months of so, I've been getting anxious. I know that until Jason gets through another year or so in the car business, money might be iffy at times .. because it's the car business, and it's often shitty like that. So I've been trying to find something part time, that'll pay for my car and maybe give me a little spending money ..

.. but nothing has been going well. Even the grocery store I applied at didn't want me, and it had been getting very disheartening. It's hard being told you're not even good enough to work at a grocery store for Lady's sake. So when Jason sent a posting to me last week .. wait .. 4 days ago actually ... I wasn't very hopeful, but I sent in my resume anyway. Yesterday, I got a phone call from one of the company's recruiters, saying that I had the qualifications and he wanted to have the District Manager call me. So I waited for her to call .. and when she finally did I was very happy. We arranged an interview for today, and the usual anticipation and nerves began.

I was late .. only a couple minutes but still late .. for the interview, but luckily it was understandable, as I was driving in an unfamiliar area, and she didn't seem troubled by it. The interview went well, I thought. I was personable, charming, and not too needy. And to be honest, the job is something I actually enjoy, merchandising, so I appeared interested .. because I am. So we filled out the paperwork (I-9's and W-2's and such) she'd need to get done and she gave me the form for the drug test I'll have to take, and told me she'd be mulling things over on the way home, and that I'd know by tonight.

So then, I drove home and began the arduous wait for 'the phone call'. I tried not fretting about it, but I hate getting my heart set on a job only to not get it. It's hard for me. 5pm came around and I started getting anxious. But I knew she had a bit of a drive, and I tried to not think about it. I finished my Booga bag I knitted, and started working on Brandon's Booga. Jason's dad called to find out how the interview went at 6:15 pm, and then three minutes later, the district manager called .. offering me the job!!!!

Yes, that's correct, I got the job. It's permanent part time, 12-15 hours a week, working Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, no more than 4 hours a day in the local Best Buy store, handling their DVD department. My title is Merchandising Specialist. basically, I make sure the DVD department and any other displays in the store are arranged according to plan, and that stock is kept on the floor as it should be, and keep track of the ordering and such. I have to have a weekly conference call to discuss the weeks focus and challenges, and a weekly review of the plan on the company website and a quiz on said site. And I get paid for my mileage if I end up covering another store other than my own. I already know that coming up in September I'll have two projects coming up that will be more than the usual hours, which will be nice for money too.

It will be nice to have something to do. Nice to have something going on in my life other than .. well .. lounging around the house. It's no more than 4 hours on any given day, which means I can easily keep the house still .. and with Jason's change in schedule, it'll be nice because I am flexible in the time I need to go in.

So tonight I filled out the online paperwork I needed to get done, and now I wait for them to get me my employee number, and then I can go take my pee test, and then I wait some more, but only for them to send me my shirt, and my little inventory gadget, and my nametag and such. Then I get some online training, and then 2 days of in-store training, and then I'm on my own!