Monday, July 24, 2006
My baby, Kasie, turned 2 on Saturday, just 1 day after my birthday. I went into labor on my birthday 2 years ago, but too late in the day for her to come on my birthday. It's probably just as well...that way we each get our own special day, even if they are close together.
The Birthday Girl!
Kasie and her sister, Kelly
I myself turned 39 this year so the guys at work were cheated out of throwing me a black balloon party for 1 more year. Some of them wanted to try and say that I was turning 40, but the truth wins out every time.
The Birthday Girl!
Kasie and her sister, Kelly
I myself turned 39 this year so the guys at work were cheated out of throwing me a black balloon party for 1 more year. Some of them wanted to try and say that I was turning 40, but the truth wins out every time.
Monday, July 10, 2006
I know that it's time I got the camera hooked up again as it's SOOOOO boring to read a knitting and spinning blog without pictures! Anyway, here's the body of the Hanne Falkenberg Mermaid sweater that is patiently awaiting the sleeves...
This is colorway #1 and I'll have to say that I'm very impressed with the way this garment is knit and shaped. Wait until you see the sleeves! I am almost finished with the first sleeve and I'll get a picture snapped soon.
I've also been knitting some socks. I decided to do 2 socks at the same time...something I don't usually do. I'm using the 2 circular method this time. The main reason I'm not using dpns is that I'm porting this project around in my purse and there's way too much opportunity to break my needles as I like to use Brittany's.
This yarn is just like the Cascade Fixation yarn. It's from Elann.com and it's called Sock It To Me. It's a cotton and elastic yarn and this will be the second pair of Fixation-type socks I've knitted. The first pair of Fixation socks I knit were these about 5 years ago. I've discovered I don't particularly like having patterned socks inside my shoes so will be knitting plain stockinette stitch on the instep from now on.
I actually bought this blue yarn from Elann in April 2005 and am just now getting around to knitting it up. I decided I wanted some solid color socks and this yarn, once you get used to knitting with it, makes nice tight fitting socks. I am using 3.5mm needles and cast on 44 stitches using PGR's short-row toeup method.
I'm hoping to get my knitting pages all fixed up and indexed, but I'm sure that it will take me some time.
This is colorway #1 and I'll have to say that I'm very impressed with the way this garment is knit and shaped. Wait until you see the sleeves! I am almost finished with the first sleeve and I'll get a picture snapped soon.
I've also been knitting some socks. I decided to do 2 socks at the same time...something I don't usually do. I'm using the 2 circular method this time. The main reason I'm not using dpns is that I'm porting this project around in my purse and there's way too much opportunity to break my needles as I like to use Brittany's.
This yarn is just like the Cascade Fixation yarn. It's from Elann.com and it's called Sock It To Me. It's a cotton and elastic yarn and this will be the second pair of Fixation-type socks I've knitted. The first pair of Fixation socks I knit were these about 5 years ago. I've discovered I don't particularly like having patterned socks inside my shoes so will be knitting plain stockinette stitch on the instep from now on.
I actually bought this blue yarn from Elann in April 2005 and am just now getting around to knitting it up. I decided I wanted some solid color socks and this yarn, once you get used to knitting with it, makes nice tight fitting socks. I am using 3.5mm needles and cast on 44 stitches using PGR's short-row toeup method.
I'm hoping to get my knitting pages all fixed up and indexed, but I'm sure that it will take me some time.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
At least I didn't wait 4 months this time between posts! I'm still plugging away S---L---O---W---L---Y on the Mermaid sleeve. I'm now halfway through the first sleeve . Why didn't someone tell me how much time a second child would consume??!! She definitely doesn't see me knitting like Kelly did when she was 2 years old. Kelly, I'm sure, thought that Mommy came with needles and yarn permanently attached. Kasie thinks Mommy comes with HER permanently attached! She's a trick, that's for sure and she doesn't like for me to be doing anything that doesn't involve her. She likes to grab the needles and yarn any time that she sees me with them and supplant herself in my lap instead. But, that's OK...she's only young once and there's nothing more snuggly than a 2 year old laying in your lap giving you kisses.
Work is still spiraling downward and I'm trying to plan for an end soon. I want to go out on my own terms and not theirs. Makes it so much more palatable that way. It's way past time to reinvent myself anyway so we'll just have to see what the future brings. One thing I know for sure is that it will involve more time with my girls. I just have to make sure there's enough money in the coffers to pay for things first, but hopefully very soon. Maybe even by the end of the year.
Work is still spiraling downward and I'm trying to plan for an end soon. I want to go out on my own terms and not theirs. Makes it so much more palatable that way. It's way past time to reinvent myself anyway so we'll just have to see what the future brings. One thing I know for sure is that it will involve more time with my girls. I just have to make sure there's enough money in the coffers to pay for things first, but hopefully
Friday, May 19, 2006
I can't believe that it's been almost 4 months since I last posted! Yikes! I've been so swamped with work (see the previous post under Work and sure enough, there's more to do than I can handle) that it's all I can do to keep the home maintenance up, kids fed, etc. I had been off of the Flylady methods for some time but have reinstated them in my life several months ago and they've been a lifesaver! It's amazing what a difference routines have made in my life and only concentrating for "15 minutes at a time" as Flylady likes to say.
Knitting
I've finished the body of Mermaid and am now starting the first sleeve. So much for my desire to finish this sweater by the end of March. I did start knitting a new dishcloth as my older knitted ones are wearing out after about 4 years of use or more. Other than that, not much other knitting has been accomplished.
Work
Well, the people keep jumping ship by the droves. It's to the point of being ridiculous. I have more work than I can handle and it can never seem to get done fast enough to suit people. I don't think that it's because I work particularly slow either. It's just that people want stuff done NOW and in advanced engineering, there are no cut and dry procedures to do things. Hell, we're the ones who discover and create the procedures to do things and it's hard to put a timeline on that kind of work. It's more event driven than timeline driven although I am the first to admit that you DO have to put some kind of timeline on us eggheads or we'll spend our whole career engineering one thing to death. But on the other hand, we aren't genies and can't just snap our fingers and figure something out in a day or week either. So somewhere in between a single day and an entire career is a happy medium on an acceptable amount of time to complete a project. If anyone knows what that timeframe is, I'd be happy to hear it so that I can just put that in my planner and know that that's the amount of time I have to come up with a solution for any given problem.
Knitting
I've finished the body of Mermaid and am now starting the first sleeve. So much for my desire to finish this sweater by the end of March. I did start knitting a new dishcloth as my older knitted ones are wearing out after about 4 years of use or more. Other than that, not much other knitting has been accomplished.
Work
Well, the people keep jumping ship by the droves. It's to the point of being ridiculous. I have more work than I can handle and it can never seem to get done fast enough to suit people. I don't think that it's because I work particularly slow either. It's just that people want stuff done NOW and in advanced engineering, there are no cut and dry procedures to do things. Hell, we're the ones who discover and create the procedures to do things and it's hard to put a timeline on that kind of work. It's more event driven than timeline driven although I am the first to admit that you DO have to put some kind of timeline on us eggheads or we'll spend our whole career engineering one thing to death. But on the other hand, we aren't genies and can't just snap our fingers and figure something out in a day or week either. So somewhere in between a single day and an entire career is a happy medium on an acceptable amount of time to complete a project. If anyone knows what that timeframe is, I'd be happy to hear it so that I can just put that in my planner and know that that's the amount of time I have to come up with a solution for any given problem.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Well, the good news is that I got on the scales this morning and saw a loss. The bad news is I’m sure that I’ve lost lean body mass as I haven’t been lifting weights at all. I didn’t take my body fat measurement but I probably will this week. My depression has been rearing its ugly head some and I’m sure that the lack of exercise and poor eating habits are contributing to that. The work situation doesn’t help either (see further down). It's a big ole catch-22...if I get depressed I don't want to exercise...if I don't exercise I get more depressed...Life's not fair.
SPINNING
On the spinning side, I started plying my orange singles this weekend. I used my ball winder to wind the singles and am 2 plying from that ball. It gives me quite a sense of accomplishment to get this yarn going again as it’s been sitting here on the wheel for I don’t even know how long. I plan to spin the red up next and then onto the TON of taupe color. I also need to find my Spin-Off magazine issue with the sweater pattern in it. I can’t get started on it in any case until I at least get SOME taupe spun up but I want to have that option when I get to that point!
KNITTING
An interesting knitting story. My youngest, Kasie, had tubes put in her ears this past Tuesday. While we were waiting for her to come back from the procedure, I was knitting on Mermaid. The doctor came in to tell us how things had gone and she immediately said, “You’re knitting a Mermaid!” Come to find out, she’s been knitting for as many years as I have and she is also currently knitting a Mermaid through a class our LYS is holding! Small world
. What with the kids and work and everything, I haven’t had time to get to our LYS for months and I didn’t even know they were doing a Mermaid class. Nice to know that great minds think alike!
I’m also trying to decide what my next knitting project will be. I could finish up the Tartan Jacket that I’ve started although that is a slow knit with the slip stitch pattern. I’m almost done with the back so it’s not like I’m just starting. But it might be nice to do something that would be quick and easy and let me see some progress immediately. I might decide to finish up the pair of Jawoll Jacquard
socks I have on needles right now as they always go quick, especially when that is the only thing I’m knitting. I can always use another pair of handknitted socks!
WORK
Work has just been a big stressful pain. We just got a new CEO whose main goal is to “whip us into shape” and basically sell us off. Translation: slash and burn, polish it up, sell it and run with the money before the buyers figure out what they have bought. While I made it through the first big round of layoffs, I’m not so sure about the multiple ones that are imminent. I know it doesn’t help to have a negative attitude, but after being in this corporate game for 16 years, you get to the point where you have to “call a spade a spade” as an old mentor friend of mine used to say. Granted, being an engineer doesn’t help me buy into all the political spin and BS; I’m used to facts and data. And I’m not saying that I’m not up for a challenge when it’s legitimate but just don’t think I’m stupid enough to believe all of the “rah rah” hype when I know that you’re just in it for the money which I’ll never see. The execs make poor business decisions and instead of fixing those mistakes, they lay off all the worker bees. They then expect those of us who are left to get the same amount of work done as before but now we have less people and have generally laid off or retired the expertise we had to do it. These executives and CEOs make millions on the backs of us who will probably never get to see a pension. Oh well, life’s not fair.
SPINNING
On the spinning side, I started plying my orange singles this weekend. I used my ball winder to wind the singles and am 2 plying from that ball. It gives me quite a sense of accomplishment to get this yarn going again as it’s been sitting here on the wheel for I don’t even know how long. I plan to spin the red up next and then onto the TON of taupe color. I also need to find my Spin-Off magazine issue with the sweater pattern in it. I can’t get started on it in any case until I at least get SOME taupe spun up but I want to have that option when I get to that point!
KNITTING
An interesting knitting story. My youngest, Kasie, had tubes put in her ears this past Tuesday. While we were waiting for her to come back from the procedure, I was knitting on Mermaid. The doctor came in to tell us how things had gone and she immediately said, “You’re knitting a Mermaid!” Come to find out, she’s been knitting for as many years as I have and she is also currently knitting a Mermaid through a class our LYS is holding! Small world
. What with the kids and work and everything, I haven’t had time to get to our LYS for months and I didn’t even know they were doing a Mermaid class. Nice to know that great minds think alike!I’m also trying to decide what my next knitting project will be. I could finish up the Tartan Jacket that I’ve started although that is a slow knit with the slip stitch pattern. I’m almost done with the back so it’s not like I’m just starting. But it might be nice to do something that would be quick and easy and let me see some progress immediately. I might decide to finish up the pair of Jawoll Jacquard
socks I have on needles right now as they always go quick, especially when that is the only thing I’m knitting. I can always use another pair of handknitted socks!WORK
Work has just been a big stressful pain. We just got a new CEO whose main goal is to “whip us into shape” and basically sell us off. Translation: slash and burn, polish it up, sell it and run with the money before the buyers figure out what they have bought. While I made it through the first big round of layoffs, I’m not so sure about the multiple ones that are imminent. I know it doesn’t help to have a negative attitude, but after being in this corporate game for 16 years, you get to the point where you have to “call a spade a spade” as an old mentor friend of mine used to say. Granted, being an engineer doesn’t help me buy into all the political spin and BS; I’m used to facts and data. And I’m not saying that I’m not up for a challenge when it’s legitimate but just don’t think I’m stupid enough to believe all of the “rah rah” hype when I know that you’re just in it for the money which I’ll never see. The execs make poor business decisions and instead of fixing those mistakes, they lay off all the worker bees. They then expect those of us who are left to get the same amount of work done as before but now we have less people and have generally laid off or retired the expertise we had to do it. These executives and CEOs make millions on the backs of us who will probably never get to see a pension. Oh well, life’s not fair.