mamacate

Knitting right along, and a visitor

Well, slowly but surely, the fair isle continues.  I'm done with the ribbing!  (I'm done with the ribbing! I'm done with the ribbing!)

Here's a photo update (sorry for the yucky flash photo). 

I know, it's still just a very small start, but folks, this is very small yarn.  Believe it or not, this is progress.  I think what I'm learning is that with fair isles, you can't totally judge until the pattern is done.  Which is hard, because if it sucks, you've just knitted a few thousand stitches of it.  I'm not adoring what I've got so far, but I'm trying not to be too derivative, and when I really thought about it, that swatch was pretty darned derivative.

So I'm working on some different color progressions and some different patterns.  And I don't really know how they'll come out.  I tried to pick patterns that would come out even with my number of stitches, and you know, they're not.  And I'm going to choose not to care--the fronts won't match, sue me--but hey, what's going on?  Maybe I counted stitches wrong?  I don't know.  I should probably re-count them.  Yah.  Uh huh.  Well, I'm not going to rip them out, but I suppose I can pick the right number of repeats or at least put blanks on either side of the button band.  The good thing about this whole bottom-up knitting business is that, at least one hopes, by the time you get up around the face where people actually see the pattern, you have figured some of this stuff out.  Humor me, will ya?

In other news (yes, even though it often seems otherwise, there are other things going on in my life besides the fair isle), I finished sock #1 for the sockapalooza.

Sock #2 is about an inch into it.  Mail date is 3/15.  I think I'm okay, though there may be some crunch knitting.  I figure I'll get as far as I can on the fair isle before the next Ethnic Knitting class this weekend, then go whole hog on the sock.

And hey, we had a visitor in the backyard this weekend.    Well, not actually in the backyard, since s/he was just behind the fence.  But we have a coyote in the neighborhood.  This picture was taken from my dining room window; the coyote was probably 100 feet from my back door.  I have seen this critter around 2 or 3 other times, but never this close to our house.  My cat stays indoors all winter (not because we make her do so, it's because she's a wimp; she sniffs the air at some point in November, then gives me this look like "excuse me, why don't you do something about this" and stalks back indoors).  Come spring, we're going to have an issue.  Hopefully the coyote will sumer at the lake or something.  Pet worries aside, it was pretty cool to see close up.  It's a big one; we weren't sure if it might actually be a wolf, but then when I checked, it turns out there are no wolves in Massachusetts, so that made identification easy.  We've seen tons of rabbits, deer, hawks, a tortoise, and even a bear behind our house, but this is a new one.  And it's somewhat more menacing than a bear, just because bears range for miles, and coyotes really keep a close territory.  Ah well, we'll just talk very seriously to the cat about staying out of trouble.  I'm sure that will work.

Work is wacky.  I'm having some trouble keeping all the balls in the air, but nobody has yelled at me yet (close, though, with one big screw up at my old job), and I'm hoping things will even out.  This week is the first week Rhys is taking any time off, so that makes a huge difference.  Wow, it's pretty neat to kiss your kids and wife goodbye at the breakfast table, and it's a far cry from the emotional and logistic insanity of everyone going off to their own thing in the morning.  I'm not saying being home with little kids is easy (ha!), and neither is having responsibility for supporting an entire family on your own, but there are some aspects of the one-income, SAHM family that are pretty darned appealing.  In other words, it's nice to have a wife. :)  I stayed at work today...until I was ready to leave.  Imagine.  Back to juggling tomorrow, though: possible snow day, one sick kid, both of us have to work.  Sigh.  September, when I become essentially unemployed, can't come too soon.  On the good side, I calculated my first bill for the new job and yeah, I did a good deal.  Yay me.

Off to watch the rest of the finale of Project Runway, even though I read a spoiler on the GLB-Knit list.  And knit.  All fair isle, all the time.  Except when I'm spinning...

TV Meme

So, here's that TV Meme.  Chrissie tagged me.

1. How much space is left on your TIVO?
I just got TiVO.  I have no idea how to find out how much space is on it, but I don't think any is.  I told it to record JoJo's Circus and Bear in the Big Blue House for my kids, and the next day, literally, I have approximately 36 hours of kids' tv on the thing.  When I told the kids we had TiVO they were all excited, even though they didn't really know what it was.  I had to explain that it just meant we could watch shows we like whenever we wanted, kind of like a video tape.  Since Henry really likes to put the tape in and take it out,  this is not necessarily an upgrade in his book.

N.B., I realize this really trashes my attachment parenting image.  Yes, my kids watch TV.  No, not very much of it.  Ah well, I does me best.

2. Have you ever bought a DVD of a tv series and if so which one?
I have the first two seasons of The West Wing, and I bought "The L Word" but we haven't watched it yet.  I, um, don't have a DVD player yet.  It's a long story.  I watch TWW on my computer.

3. What was the last tv show you watched before reading this message?
Well, I watched 30 minutes of the Oscars last night.  Before that I watched a few movies.  I would say the last SHOW show I watched was, um, Survivor.

4. List five shows you won't miss:
Okay, here goes any semblance of intellectualism--wow, I didn't realize how bad this meme would be for my image!  LOL.

The West Wing, Project Runway (so sad it's over and really, Project Greenlight?  I hate horror movies!), Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Daily Show.  I really have gotten into "reality" TV haven't I?  In principle, I think it's awful.  In reality...I'm a sucker.

5. List your favorite shows of all time:
The West Wing,  Friends, Ellen, Star Trek: TNG, Star Trek: DS9.

Edited to add:

[OH NO!  Keith has totally called me out.  OF COURSE I need to include Mary Tyler Moore.  I claim temporary insanity.  It IS the best show of all time.  Yes.]

So the TiVo thing is great and I love being able to watch stuff whenever I want and not worry about recording it and stuff, but last night I went to bed early (I just can't deal with awards shows, especially since I haven't seen any of the movies), and DP and MIL tried to turn off the TV.  Now, you'd think that would mean clicking "power" on the TV remote, but apparently great lengths were gone to and now I can't see the satellite TV at all.  I have pressed like every button, and I'm stumped.  I haven't had time to call DirecTV, but ugh.  I used to be smart about technology stuff.  Now it all just gives me a headache.

Oh yeah, I'm not passing this on, but if you feel moved to post about TV on your blog, consider yourself tagged.

Meme-time and Spa Stash

This funky little thing was over at Deb's.*  I used to be rather proud of my state visiting stats, though I've stagnated lately and I frankly find it hard to believe I've never been to Oregon but it might be true.  I lived in Alaska for 6 months so I'm not sure it counts but I figured what the heck.  I signed a lease, had a bank account--that's more than a vacation, right?  I worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week in a fish processing plant.  Doesn't sound like a vacation to me!  I didn't include my summer job on an island in Maine, because it was more transient.  Ah, salad (actually, salad-girl) days.

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

*btw, Deb is the mystery RAOK-er who sent me some really fun sock yarn and a cool grocery bag kit.  I've already cast on for the socks, so expect pics soon--thanks Deb!

Chrissie tagged me for the TV meme, and I'll get back to you on that one.  There's this whole TiVO part of it, and I just got TiVO (I know, it's insane, the people at Amex are going "huh?"), so I'll have better answers in a few days.

To add to the mailman's burden, my good friend Sara sent me an RAOK of a whole bunch of Hanna Andersson training underpants.  JUST what the doctor ordered.  We are constantly on the *edge* of running out of undies for El, who, I can proudly tell you, recently decided to start using the potty, and who has been doing WONDERFULLY.  (Parents of toddlers, it really is true that when they're ready, it's a breeze--at least for girls...)  A rather unusual RAOK (and Sara is like family to us, so I'm not sure it was a web-ring thing, but whatever), but hey, it's fiber, right?  She also enclosed a gorgeous handknit sweater hand-me-down that I think is for friends with a baby (no?), because it was packaged separately with some little mittens.  Gorgeous, though.  I have no excuse other than laziness at this point for not taking pictures do I?  Huh.  Tactical error, that camera-getting business.

I don't have a photo of this either: I FINISHED THE RIBBING ON THE FAIR ISLE.  Yes, I'm shouting.  It was annoying, okay, and 348 stitches of annoying times and 17 rows of that is...well, I don't have a calculator.  I am looking forward to stockinette in the round.  Ah, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit....repeat.

I DO have a photo of what I got at the Spa.  Looky.

A close up of the yarn, you say?  Happy to oblige.

I have already gifted the purple Fleece Artist Stretto to my friend Jenn (whom I taught to knit, thankya very much).  Those colors are so her.  She was all over it.  The green silk Lady Godiva from Fleece Artist is meant to be some sort of shawly, scarfy thing.  We'll see.  I'm already spinning the bunny.  Only the Indigo Moon brushstroke batt is languishing.  Yes, I *am* dying to spin it.  But I will press on with my deadline knitting: fair isle and sockapalooza.  I can resist.  One day at a time.

But I haven't completely resisted the bunny.  I had to try out the new wheel, right?  For research purposes?  Yeah.

When it's two-plied it will probably be a light fingering or a heavier laceweight.  Again, a shawl.  I've never tried lace, perhaps a nice, light summer project?  Eh?  Under it is some brown llama spun by the person who sold me the wheel.  There's only one bobbin on this baby, so I just kept going.  It's going to be purty.  The batts are from The Woolen Rabbit.  All in all, I think I was pretty restrained.  Um, except for the whole wheel-buying incident, I guess.  Yeah, that.

Once again, it's too late.  I'm off to bed.  Nighty night.

A picture is worth a thousand words

  The spending spree continues: I have a new computer.  I wrangled a loss-leader out of Circuit City, despite their attempts to tell me it was a piece of crap and sell me something that cost twice as much.  I also have camera software for my old camera, and have downloaded pics off that camera.  I haven't installed the new camera software yet.

Here's the new computer.

Did I already show you my FO pics of the Aran Sandal Socks?  Well, if not, here they are.   They actually felted in the wash, so now they fit perfectly.  This gives me pause, since it was supposed to be superwash yarn (Colorado Vail on closeout at Webs), but it was good in my case.  Bummer I have to hand-wash from now on though.

A couple pics from the Spa.  What a blast.

Do you see the whole booth full of Fleece Artist yarn?  Oh my.

Before leaving town, I went to Webs to pick up my own donation of a door prize (it's a free event, so I figured I'd do my part).  I donated a tote bag that said "Knitting: Low in Calories, High in Fiber."  I asked if they wanted to donate anything from the store, and they put together a lovely package of a mug, needles, a skein of malabrigio (manos-like kettle-dyed yarn), and a cute little bag.

It was very cool, because the Webs prize was won by someone who had lost all her addi turbos earlier in the day, and who was very broken up about it.  Hopefully this helped a bit.  People also took up a collection to help her.

A lot of the time at Spa was just spent sitting around knitting and spinning.  As I said, I spent a lot of time playing with the Merlin Tree's wheels, but I also met some other knitters and spinners.  Frances and her friend Edith were particularly cool, and I gave Frances a quick spindling lesson right before we left.  Frances was so quick that I was able to do it with Eleanor in tow, and you know that means QUICK.  Here she is, with her very first yarn and her lovely Grafton Fibers spindle.  Spinners, you know that smile.

Eleanor even picked out some yarn herself.  I am now required to knit scarves for the short people.

I have pictures of my plunder on the other camera.  Soon.

Until then, here are pics of my WIPs.  The fair isle, along with its swatches.  Obviously, the one on the left is the one I'm really going for.

Here are all the colors I'm using.  It's a bit washed out, but this gives you an idea.  Do you think I have enough yarn?  LOL.

Finally, my socakapalooza sock (broadripple) and of course, Clapotis, which keeps stealing my focus from the other two projects.

Do you notice a color theme?  I gotta branch out.

Off to bed so I have some chance of not being an ogre tomorrow morning.  Every Wednesday, Rhys goes out of town, so the early mornings are definitely better if I get a reasonable amount of sleep.  That ship has sailed, but I can do my best.

Ciao from you friend, newly re-wheeled, re-wired, and re-imaged Cate.

A trail of dead computers in my wake

I can't believe it.  I killed another one.  Despite my recent money-spending binge, I was waiting to buy a new computer for home (my old one--vintage 2001--dead in late January) until I left my job.  I have a laptop there, and I figured I'd just bring that home at night and use it as my primary computer.  And then it just stopped working Thursday night.  I mean, I could hear it booting up--you know that little windows ditty--but nothing on the screen.  I did the little CRT/LCD toggle thing: no dice.  I actually plugged it into a CRT monitor and did the CRT toggle thing: nothin.  So I brought it over to the tech repair people at work (another nice thing about using the work computer--there ARE tech repair people), who said it would need to get fixed by Dell and with the holiday weekend, well, it was going to be a while.  Of course, I just got hit with a sudden and big freelance deadline on Saturday, a bunch of stuff for that project is on that computer, and I have ZERO time to work on the freelance job anyway.  Rhys' request to reduce her hours, submitted two weeks ago, has not yet been approved.  So I'm on kid duty all day tomorrow.  And the two jobs.  And the freelance thing. 

Sigh, the freelance thing is the biggest problem, so I wrote to the freelance people a few minutes ago and said they would need to cancel the Saturday meeting.  NOT something I like doing.  But I think I'm justified.   a) I had told them I was available on a list of weekend days (they need our meetings to be on weekends) in March.  Is Feb. 26th a weekend in March?  Not the last time I checked.  b) They had major budgetary constraints so I reduced my reporting budget and told them I'd be giving them a brief summary, plus tables and data they could analyze themselves.  They loved this idea before, but the call to meeting made it sound like I was going to be giving a stand-up presentation.  Big sigh.  I have been through this before--when you deviate from the standard to reduce the budget, people always wind up expecting the standard anyway.  It's a losing battle.  These are good people, though, and I have an established relationship with them, so hopefully it will all work out.  But it's some fancy footwork at a time when I am doing a lot of other dances for a lot of other people.  Just trying to do my two main jobs while Rhys is still working full-time is enough to make me want to cry.  Adding in the freelance puts my head quite thoroughly under water.  Sigh.

The computer situation at least absolves me from any guilt about how I spent my weekend, though, since I couldn't have worked anyway.  We just got back from a whirlwind trip to Maine, where I went to the NETA SPA.  The SPA is basically a free, unstructured version of Stitches or SOAR, where a bunch of fiber people just take over a hotel in Portland for the weekend and knit and spin and hold impromptu classes and have vendors and swap goodies.  It was so very nice and relaxing.  Rhys took the kids off to the children's museum, where she met up with a friend who moved to Portland a few years ago, and I spent all day Saturday playing with The Merlin Tree's Canadian production wheels and chatting with David Paul, shopping for fiber, learning all about my Mongolian cashmere from Linda at Wild Fibers Magazine (this woman knows her stuff--get this mag!), and meeting nice people.  It was a little odd to be there all by myself, but it was a wonderful, relaxed day.  I have pictures, I swear (I was too chicken to bring the new camera, but I have software for the old one so as soon as I have a computer...).

I wound up not buying a Canadian production wheel, despite extreme wheel lust, because I simply don't have space in my teeny house for a 30" wheel.  But I am seriously considering building an addition just for it.  David says he's coming to Cummington.  So, hey, 3 months to build while doing all this other crap.  No problemo!  Maybe it will wait a bit longer.  Instead I got a used/restored Finn wheel at the swap.  I'm not sure it was the wisest move, but I'm having fun spinning laceweight (and practicing long draw) angora/merino on it, and it temporarily satisfies my need for a fast wheel.  And once I get that cashmere dehaired (Linda told me where to send it), I'll have a good wheel for it, right?  I'm falling a little out of love with my Lendrum and may trade it in for a different traveling wheel at some point.

It's late; I'd better sleep if I'm going to chase the short people all day tomorrow.  I hope to have a computer to show you pictures.  I'm trying, I swear!

In which money is spent like a drunken sailor experiencing a manic episode, and very little knitting is done

In the past week, I have spent a lot of money.  Despite being paid handsomely for my services, I'm only working at this job 12-20 hours per week, so it's not like I'm going to be retiring on this money.  Yet, it has spurred me to finally trade in my 1993 Subaru with the seat belts that are starting to fray and the leaky sunroof that's not worth fixing and the broken gas gauge that occasionally gets me stranded by the side of the road when certain preschoolers who shall remain nameless reset the trip odometer in between fill-ups.  I suppose all in all this was not an unwarranted purchase.   We had actually planned to get a new-to-us car this February ever since last summer, and, right on schedule, Henry and I went and picked one out on Sunday.  It's a 2002 Mazda MPV.  Yup, that's right.  A minivan.  I guess I'm not as freaky as I thought I was.  I wonder how it will look with 15 bumper stickers slapped on the back of it, lol.

I think I made a good deal.  Last summer we were talking with a friend who at the time worked at a used car place, and she strongly encouraged us to wait until the dead of winter to buy.  I have to say, I think she's right.  The last two cars we have bought have been purchased in February, and both times the negotiating was relatively easy.   Sure, we had the whole "I'm going to go present this to my manager, but I don't think he's going to like it" thing, but the starting point was much more reasonable and the end point was much more to my liking.  So, in future, all cars will be bought in February.   Not being a big fan of buying cars unless absolutely necessary, I expect to use that advice next in approximately 10 years.

In addition, in an effort to better serve you, gentle blog reader, I have purchased a functioning digital camera.  (By the way, do you know about Cheap Stingy Bastard?  He does come up with some good deals, though the constant onslaught of Sale Items You Must Have is sometimes counterproductive to the whole cheapskate thing.)  I will NOT carry this one around with me everywhere I go like I did the last (thankfully cheap) digital camera, which I managed to lose, because this one is gonna be sweet, and despite getting it via CSB, it wasn't exactly cheap. 

So, at some point I hope to show you finished Aran socks, a Clapotis in progress, and my meager start at my 348 stitch fair isle lumber (that's a cardigan for those not initiated into Shetland knitting lingo).  Oh, and my swatch for the fair isle, which, in the end, I've decided, is gorgeous.  I am choosing to stop stressing out about the color progressions, since, after I actually make it all the way through the pattern, they just look great.  Maybe not perfect, maybe not as subtle and smooth as they might be if I spent the next 6 months swatching, but honestly just really darn purty.  And that's really the point, now, isn't it?  So, I've cast on and done, and don't get too impressed here, I've done one whole round of corrugated ribbing.  June deadline?  No problem.  Hahahaha.

Update: The car passed my mechanic's inspection with flying colors  Anyone know if you have to pay your parking tickets before you can transfer your registration?  Yeah, I know,  I'm busy, okay?   I just timed the fair isle ribbing.  Twenty minutes to do one round.  It will get faster when I get to the stockinette portion, but damn.

Dude, I'm PUBLISHED

Hey, check it out, I'm a columnist!  My first column in "Parenting Life" is in Bay Windows this week.

Call me a lesbian. Call me a mom. Just don't call me a role model.

I don't know, I re-read it and it seems all choppy and blah, but hey, it's in print.  Maybe I'll do another one soon in my spare time, LOL.

Just swatching for this Fair Isle is kicking my butt.  I feel like I'm going to end up with a mile of swatch (and I didn't make it big enough to be a sock, darn) before I get the color progressions right.  I was talking to a friend last night about the ways in which how we knit reflects our personalities.  She and her partner just learned to knit and her partner jumped in and has almost completed her first sweater.  My friend is slowly and deliberately working along on garter stitch scarves, repeatedly ripping and reknitting the only item she's making with shaping, a hat.  Me, I'm biting off more than I can chew, in knitting as in life.  I have to finish this Fair Isle by June, and they're expecting me to come to the next class, which is in early March, with the sweater knitted about up to the armholes.  The way I'm going, I'll be lucky if I've cast on by then.  I am almost certain to miss the deadline, but I want to make a traditional fair isle, in a traditional gauge (7 sts/in),  and damnit, I'm sick of knitting sweaters and giving them away, so I'm making this for me.  Just like my life.  I want to do everything, and I just don't have time, so I wind up running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  Maybe I should call this the chicken with its head cut off sweater.  How gory.  LOL.

Anyway, the column is just more good stuff career wise.  Maybe this is my year.  Actually, it is: the year of the Rooster, and I'm a rooster.  Happy Tet and Chinese New Year to all who celebrate.  In my kids' preschool there is one kid who is adopted from China and one of the teachers is a mom to a child adopted from China, so they had a great snack of Long Life Noodles, and talked about the holiday.  I'm hoping to go to a mini-celebration at a local chinese restaurant this weekend.

One other thing.  I feel really stupid about this, but can the Deb who sent me a wonderful RAOK of sock yarn and a string bag kit please stand up?  Your URL wasn't on the card and I think the box got recycled so if it's on the return address, well, I missed it.  I LOVE the yarn and I really want to thank you directly, not to mention link to you.

And I apologize about saying I have too much yarn.  Even non-knitter Impetua knew I was full of shit.  And of course I was.  I just feel overwhelmed with this Fair Isle, and if I had one more project waiting in the wings, I would probably explode.  That doesn't mean I don't need more yarn, though.  As penance, I think I will go buy some yarn.  I know, I'm hard on myself that way.

My Brilliant Career

Okay.  Deep breath.  I did it.  I was in grave danger of doing the flop sweat thing, but I had to wait for the guy for about 15 minutes and that totally calmed me down.  I also just get along with him quite well, and he was just as uncomfortable with the whole thing as I was.  I told him my number.  He wrote it down.  He gave me a key to the office and introduced me to everyone.  I don't have a signature on the dotted line or even a handshake, so the director of HR may knock on my door at some point and break out a box of thumbscrews, but I kind of doubt it.

I could have asked for more.  The first number that came out of my mouth was more like 60% of my consulting rate, and he started to write that one down, while I stopped myself and corrected my math.  You know, if they pay me 50% of my consulting rate as W2 income (and it would be tricky to pay me as a consultant for this job anyway from a legal perspective), I'm getting a good deal.

And Oh. My. God. the office space.  It's in the top floor of the main admin building of this rather posh college (my current employer is a posh college too, but I'm in the basement of the main admin building).  There are skylights, these gothic windows with wood detail work that looks vaguely churchy (man, I know NADA about architecture), and vaulted ceilings.  The space is cut up in a rather strange way, and they have saved every piece of paper that entered the office since approximately 1982, but it's all stored nicely and oh the light. 

And dude, it's so close to home (I'd better watch out here, I am giving way too much information and we all know what happened to Dooce, but I promise, no bitching about the boss and no proprietary information).  I tell ya, if I could do that job in 20 hours per week (and it's scary since I'm replacing 2 people, but on first glance I probably could if I could have an assistant), I would actually do it just for the office space.  Of course, I'm sure that space will get taken over by someone with a larger staff and more need for it.  But ahhh, it was so nice to be in such a big, airy, light environment.  Even though I have a window, living on the "garden level" among the squirrels and spiders can get a girl down.  And my space is really not that bad as these things go.

So I'm proud of myself.  I asked for more money than my scaredy-voice said I deserved.  And I think I got it.  And I think I can do a good job for them, and it's just nice to have some work that's not ill-defined, open-ended, and for which I am not terribly well-trained.  The stuff I'll be doing here I can do in my sleep, and they really need it to get done.  And they'll pay me well to do it.

All together, a nice day.  To celebrate, I'm buying something.  It's not yarn, because, and don't let this get out, but right now, today, I actually have ENOUGH yarn.  In fact, I may possibly currently have too much yarn.  This won't last, but I have so many projects going and in the queue that more yarn would just stress me out.  Don't worry, this won't last.  But I'm going to get the kids a couple of really fancy chairs that I have hesitated buying for a while because getting two of them is so expensive.  (BTW, if you happen to be in the market for one of these, the link above seems to be the only place you can get them with a discount--10% with code cabin10, you're welcome.)

Yay me.  Thanks so much for the support and for the encouragement to ask for the big bucks.  I hope this doesn't just sound like I'm totally focused on money.  It's more about trusting that I'm worthy of it, if that makes sense, not selling myself short.  Anyway, I did it.  Now, for the amazing race....

Phew!

TONI

You are caring and generous, a pillar of your
circle of friends. And even the cartoonist
doesn't understand you.

Which Dyke of 'Dykes To Watch Out For' are you most like? (beta version)
brought to you by Quizilla

Thank goodness I didn't end up being Sydney.   Truth be told, I might have been her if I had been a little more honest.  I think the kids saved me.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you are missing out big time.  Go read some DTWOF.  Even you straight people will like it, as long as you're not a straight republican (we got rid of her, right?)

Your employer can thank me later for wasting half your day if you just discovered this strip.

Speaking of employers, I go into THE BOARDROOM (no, not really) for my salary negotiation at 1:30.  I have decided to ask for half my consulting rate, paid as salary (so I don't have to pay the payroll taxes, etc.).  It's still more than double what I make now, and I feel very satisfied with my salary.  This is going to be a big PITA and even though I'm not committing a lot of hours, I'm going to get a lot done.  Since it's only 12 hours a week, it's not going to break their bank at all, it just feels weird to be asking for that much.  I'm going to steel myself, though.  I much prefer submitting a written proposal with a firm quote.  This whole throwing numbers out one-on-one just gives me the willies.  I'll take the good advice you gave me, say my piece and then SHUT UP.  Make them talk next.  I have practice with that from moderating focus groups.  I know I can do it.

My first master knitter class was this weekend.  I have planned the most overly ambitious fair isle cardigan (lumber) in history.  Way over the top.  And I know it.  But I'm doing it anyway.  I took this class to make a real fair isle, and that's what I'm going to do.  Probably not by the deadline, though.  Still swatching.  I'm reading Feitelson and McGregor.  Any other must-reads for fair isle design?  I'm still trying to figure out how much regularity in pattern height.  Like 15-5-15-5 all the way through or should I do 13-6-16-4 and mix it up.  And more importantly, should all my smaller bands have the same progression of background colors and all my wide bands have the same progression, or should that vary as well?  Feitelson's chapter on color theory is great, but I'm still trying to stuff it all into my little tiny brain.  The timing sucks.  But I figure, this is the fun stuff.  I'm not going to let all this work craziness get in the way of the fun stuff.

Famous last words.  Wish me luck.  And strength.  And the power to keep my mouth shut.  That's a skill I think I could often improve on.

Barely Human (warning: whiny!)

I am just barely functioning.  My computer is not.  I did go into the office on Thursday (mamarhys stayed home with the kids for the day), and brought my work computer home, so I'm not completely cut off, but almost, since my work computer can be pretty pesky about connecting to my home network.

As near as we can figure, I had the flu, and everyone else just had a nasty virus.  So guess what?  I got the virus too!  Fun!  So we were back to the fever and chills routine last night, but I'm starting to be more human now.  Well, if you can call being dependent on a pill cocktail of sudafed, tylenol, and dextromethorpan while going through a jumbo box of tissues a day human.  But I have some small hope that I will survive.  This is new.  Yesterday I was pretty much sure I was going to die.

The other fun thing about this virus is that it seems to have a psychosis component.  I've been freaking out about a bunch of relatively petty stuff, and the kids have been--where do I begin? We're talking 30 minute all-out screaming tantrums about such evils as "the cracker is broken put it back together" and "I wanted to flush your pees."  Now, I get in trouble for these sorts of transgressions all the time, but the all-out SCREAMING of the past week has been unparalleled.  At one point Rhys was ready to take Eleanor to the hospital because of the way she was screaming.  She was just mad that I cut off the nursing session after oh, 20 minutes.  I'll tell ya, feeling like I've been feeling, and being home with these guys like this was no picnic.  Eleanor seems to have snapped out of it, and I think Henry is coming around.  I feel a lot better now that I'm realizing it's a part of the virus and not some a) enormous and invisible parenting error I have recently committed or b) demonic possession.  Phew!

In knitting news, I finished the Aran Sandal Socks.  Love 'em, though they're a pinch too big.  I haven't put them through the washer/dryer yet (superwash wool) so maybe that will help.  Not way too big, just a little bunchy in shoes.  I think because of all the texture in this pattern, it would have been better to make them on the small side so they're a little stretched.  Anyway, I do love them.  I hope to have the picture thing figured out at some point.

I have also been working a bit on the socks of doom sockapalooza socks, and they seem to be behaving themselves.  I'm almost done with the gusset decreases, and, well, it looks like a sock.

So, there I was, sitting on the couch, thinking of all the partially-finished projects I should be working on.  And staring at a big honking hank of Brooks Farm Harmony in Iris.  So, yeah, I have no control.  I started Clapotis.   I'm making it with two fewer repeats than called for in the pattern, since I don't think one skein of Harmony would have made the full pattern, and I wasn't really ready to spend $64 on a freakin' scarf.  It seems plenty big to me.  I haven't even measured the gauge, but the size looks nice.  I'm just about to drop the first stitch.  Whee!  That Brooks Farm yarn, though?  I'm thinking it would make a sweet Klaralund.  Hmmm.

Okay, well.  I'm hoping to have a normal life again at some point.  Probably not, though, since I have just agreed to take on a second (ok third) job, doing the same stuff I'm doing at my current (part-time) job at another college.  I'll be working nearly full-time--more than full-time with the freelance work.  Rhys will be home one day a week with the kids, though it will take a while for that to kick in.  It's going to be a wild ride.  I think it's a good move in terms of making career connections (never mind that I'm trying to leave this career, but it's good to keep options open, right?), and it's only for 6 months.  We still haven't talked money, but I already have a computer account and they're forwarding all the emails to me.  Let's just say the timing of this illness was not ideal.  Hey, if anyone has any experience negotiating salary for an interim job, particularly as a consultant, let me know.  Since I've had to turn away consulting work, I'm thinking of asking them to pay my consulting rate, though it's a little hard to imagine them paying that much every week.  I need negotiating help!

Anyway, I'm rambling.  I may be a bit spotty until I figure out my computer situation...and my life!