Jeans and Sneakers

Ugh.

I got the job I interviewed for.  Yesterday was my first day.  So far, I haven’t really done anything, it’s been kind of a crazy week for the people who already work there, and it’s only Tuesday.  I’m already starting to question how long this job will last, but we’ll see.  I have some reasons to want to hold on to it (in a semi-but-not-completely prioritized list):

• I have at least two person to person debts I have to pay back.
• I have a maxed out low limit credit card to pay off
• I have a $200 yarn wishlist (I know this seems kind of ridiculous, but seriously, I’m getting back into knitting, so I think this is a good thing)
• I need a new winter coat and boots
• Saving up some money would be nice
• Paying off my college loans from SJC would be REALLY nice

So I have some incentive to try and make it work.  I need to cut back on the coffee though, and get back on a normal sleep schedule.

So I started a new knitting project, and I don’t even know if it’s going to work out.  I fell in love with the Norwegian Totoro Mittens, but I absolutely hate mittens with thumbs that come out of the palm.  After thinking it over, I gave in and finally bought the Anemoi Mittens pattern, and used Eunny’s blank last page template to redraw the Totoro graph.  The only problem is, I had already bought DK weight yarn for the Norweigan mittens.  I’m trying to make it work with smaller needles, but I’m not sure how it’s going to come out.  The most frustrating thing is not having any time to knit!!  Between work, school, homework, and freelance work, I’m pretty freaking swamped right now.  :[

Plus, I dyed some yarn for a Thermal.

See?  Isn't it gorgeous?  There's another issue with this though, I only bought one order of Henry's Attic Kona Superwash Fingering. According to blumunchie on Ravelry, the amount of yarn I have is not enough for a full sweater.  She made hers with 3/4 sleeves.  3/4 sleeves are nice sometimes. . .I don't know if I'll be happy with that, but I'll try.

Anyway, I have no time for this stuff, and this is just the yarn I HAVE.  Last night I may have ordered four patterns from the Twist Collective.  And I have a skein of sock yarn on the way from 100purewool.com.

How else am I out of my mind you ask?  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, midterms start next week, I'm planning on participating in NaNoWriMo next month, and I've got two research papers to do this semester.  :]

I’m pretty excited about it.  My final dress fitting is on Thursday.  Everything else has been all settled and planned for months, so now it’s just waiting.

We went to go see StaticX tonight, they put on a pretty good show.  What a pain in the ass it is for us to get to the city though!

The house is coming along well.  We’re ready to sand and paint the lower level, at least some of it, but we should start painting later this week.  Things are happening so quickly now.  I have to contact Stony Brook soon to see if there’s room for me to attend this semester or what.  I’m not really holding my breath though.

I keep slacking on getting my portfolio site done.  There are a few things left to do, and then I can just update it here and there, but for some reason it’s really hard for me to sit down and work on it.

I’ve been listening to audiobooks lately, and knitting.  I started a Baby Surprise Jacket for a friend of mine in AZ who’s having a baby boy soon.  I might be late with it, but I don’t think she’ll mind.  I don’t even know when she’s due, I should probably find that out, along with her mailing address.

I need to start running, now that my treadmill is fixed.  I also should start doing situps and stuff again, I kind of slacked off hard with that. And trying to get to sleep at a normal time.  Now is no exception.

Now that everyone got theirs, I can post about it:

Wedding Invitations

I made these to send out to the few people we’re inviting to our destination wedding, previously an elopement, but now we’re inviting immediate family.  I wanted something different and crafty, I saw someone else had made these on Etsy so I copied her, and voila, the invitations were born.

They came out pretty good too.  Everyone loved them and my mom even thought they came from the hotel where we’re having the wedding.  We invited a total of 14 people, and so far my family and Rob’s parents are definite.  Though there may be some issue with my dad (hopefully not).

I’ve been on a retarded sleep schedule that’s been making everything difficult.  Work is flexible, so that’s good, but it’s also bad, because if I’m the only person awake at 4am working, and I need help with something. . .I’m SOL.  I keep trying to fix it, but recently I haven’t even been fully waking up when I shut off my alarm clock, so it’s kind of hard to force myself to wake up early.

School is going. . .midterms are coming up already.  I still haven’t heard back from fafsa about next semester.  I hope I get more than I got this year.

It’s time for Cinderella too.  I already had to cancel my first rehearsal. . . I think I’m scheduled to go in on Sunday.  This will be interesting.

I bought a wedding dress but it didn’t fit. . .so I sent it back and I’m waiting for an exchange.  I have a feeling though that this other dress they’re going to send me will be sort of cheap.  I might just end up going to Nordstrom and getting a dress they have for a reasonable price.  Who knows.  I have time though, so that’s good at least.

I feel so scatterbrained.  I started a new knitting project just to give me something to look forward to. . . I don’t think it’s actually working out that way, it’s more like I just feel guilty for not giving it more time.  Anyway, it’s a Darkside Cowl, made from the last of my pigeon colored Malabrigo.  I’ll try to take pics if I’m ever awake during good daylight.

I bought a treadmill off Craig’s List!!  I need to get some lubricant for it, and then I can start (hopefully) using it daily.  I want to get more toned and less bleh before the wedding.  MoAr Cardio!  My endurance for anything, including but not limited to climbing a flight of stairs, is ridiculous.  I can hardly get up a flight without getting winded.  And if I *DO* do any physical activity, I’m sore for two to three days afterwards.  This is crazy, I need to fix it.

Has officially started.  My first class, Computer Programming, was this morning.  I’m pretty excited about it, since the teacher of this class doesn’t seem like as much of a douchebag as the guy who taught the intro to programming class.  Time will tell though.

Work gave me my first big, big assignment, so I’m pretty excited about that.  And off to a head start on it also.  Getting back into the flow of writing web pages is interesting, but I’m sure I’ll acclimate easily enough.

I finally finished the Long socks!!  Check it out:

I didn’t realize I started these bad boys in MAY.  I kept putting them down for long periods of time, especially during the musical.  I don’t think I really touched any knitting during that.

Well, I’m back on my knitting game and these came out better than I expected.  Well, I guess I really mean I like the finished product way better than I thought I would.  They’re warm, soft on my skin, and long enough to either pull up or slouch down.  The colors are vibrant, and the stripes kind of grew on me.  Yay new socks.

I also finished Rob’s hat, that was a very quick knit, I just needed a movie or two to keep me in one place long enough to knit on it.  And that means, it’s time to cast on something new!!  Actually, I’m working on the other endpaper mitt but I do have plans to make another anthropologie inspired shrug in grey.  Wooooo!

Rob decided he needed a new winter hat (mostly I think because he can’t find his old winter hat) a few days back, so we picked out yarn and a pattern and he ordered the yarn.  It came in today, of course, malabrigo, and I cast on.  This was my first time using the long tail cast on, and most people probably wouldn’t believe me, but I found the Italian tubular cast on easier!  I did the Long Tail for this because it’s a hat, and the hat begins in 2×2 ribbing, something I couldn’t find any info on for the Italian version.  Though now that I think about it, I probably could have done it that way too.

Anyhow, new project cast on, Turn A Square, by BrooklynTweed.  It should be a quick knit since I’m not doing any stripes or anything, Rob just wants a plain black hat.

I finished the first Endpaper Mitt. . .and I’m not sure if I have enough CC yarn to make another one.  I’ll probably try anyway, but I want to go to a yarn store tomorrow and see if I can find one of those finger yarn guide things.  I’m also planning another pair already, to help me loosen my stranded knitting technique, and so that I can make up my own chart, dunno what I’m going to do yet, but the idea is there.  I really should finish those socks.  There’s not much left, I just got so bored with them!!

The first day at my new job was pretty mellow, but all that really happened was I got setup with everything and then started reading some tutorials.  The work seems pretty straightforward, we’ll see when I actually start doing things.  I haven’t done enough yet to not be worried about it.  I do plan on trying out some of the things I learned today on some of my sites.  Maybe redo tot.  We’ll see.

Happy New Year!!

My internet new year’s resolution this year is to try to blog more, and not about boring stuff that no stranger on the internet would want to read.  So in keeping with that, I’m writing today, and I bring you this:

My very first stashbuster (Endpaper) mitts, the first one anyway, nearly completed.  The second photo shows all of the progress I made yesterday, showing just how much I can get done when I really put my mind to it, or when I’m trying my best not to fall asleep.  Lol.

I’m excited about these, but this one is really tight, I’m going to have to try and ease up my stranded colorwork.  Hopefully I can, or I’ll have to find someone with ridiculously skinny hands and wrists.  My hands and wrists are pretty darn skinny, so that’ll be difficult, especially since I don’t know of anyone with a 7 year old girl.

My plans for today consist of making waffles, finishing my laundry, watching Rob play video games, and finishing at least this mitt, if not starting the other one.   I should be finishing my socks, but I’m so ridiculously bored with them, I needed something else.  These mitts are fun, the chart is easy to follow, and mostly I just take a quick glance at it and make sure I know the pattern of the row, and then I don’t look at the chart anymore.  I can already see me making another pair of these with my own custom chart.  That’ll probably come right after this, even though it’s 2009 and no longer the year of the stash for me, I’m broke until probably February, and I still have stash yarn to keep me happy.  :]

Oh, another quick note, I removed the progress meters from my blog.  I figure I can write more about my knitting rather than just updating the meter, and besides, my projects are all on Ravelry anyway, complete with progress meter.  This blog is overdue for an overhaul, I’ll see if I can come up with something soon.  I start my new job tomorrow!!  I’m nervous about it but I’ll probably be fine.  There’s no rest in sight, as my cousin might want to hang out on Saturday and Sunday I’m getting my hair done all day (pics when I get them).  That’s all for now, enjoy the day off!

Finally done with this!!  Well, after I take it off the pins, I’ve got to weave in a few ends, but I’m not trying to rain on my own parade.  I probably should have woven them in first, but I don’t really care at this point.  I’ve started an Anthropologie Inspired Capelet to celebrate.  I’m really using up my stash yarn this year, it’s awesome.  I unraveled a tube top I knitted in my first year of knitting that didn’t work out, and I’m using it for the capelet.  I still have most of a cone of it left. . .and I have a sweater in mind for it.  It’s half merino half acrylic, so it’s really squishy.  I hope it doesn’t smell like the Cascade 220 smelled when I washed it.  It smelled BAD. I should invest in some wool wash.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day.  I’m going to Rob’s grandma’s house for dinner, and then to my mom’s house to hang out.  Should be a packed day (I’m going to be so sick, dinner, and then cookies at my mom’s, lol).  Today I have to go pick up some flowers.  I think I might get my mom some too.  And I have to start my trial run Magic Loop socks so that I can show my mom tomorrow how that works.

I’m in a pretty good mood today.  It was sunny out before, but the clouds have come in now.  It’s still a good temperature and I opened some windows to get some fresh air in the house.  I also cooked the greasiest breakfast ever, and I’m kind of regretting that.  But what can you do.

Things are in the works, I’m still broke, but trying to figure out ways to compensate.  We’ll see if any of it pans out.

I guess with everything that’s NOT been going on, my life’s been pretty boring lately.  With no job, I was hardly leaving the house, and here at home I was only looking for jobs and watching tv at night.  I don’t even know if that’s going to change now that I got a job. . .

See, horrible blogger, I GOT the job I wanted, Marketing Assistant for a German company in the Wind Farming industry.  I start on Tuesday.  While I’m happy that I’ll be working again, and that I’ll have money coming in, I’m kind of worried about being back out there, working. . . I’m sure it’ll be fine.  I’ll be fine.  But I’m a worrier, so worry I will.

I did get out this weekend though.  We went to go visit Rob’s Mom’s new horse at the barn.  And by new, I mean new to us, since she’s had him since sometime last year.  He was a big sweetie, always hungry and liked to give kisses.   :]  There were other animals there too, I especially liked the goats, sheep, and donkeys.  There was one goat there who totally wanted to be my friend.  They were all really curious and made the cutest noises when the barn people were bringing out their food.  It was a fun time.

I’m going to be pretty broke for awhile, so I don’t really see me doing much of anything, especially since the prices of gas are ridiculously high.  Maybe I’ll stop by the library and pick up a book to read, or start watching Voyager.

I started knitting a different sock pattern with the springtime sock yarn I have, the one that was giving me issues with the Dream Sock pattern.  But wouldn’t it just figure that I went and messed up already, and pretty far down, I’m either going to have to live with the mistake, or rip it back to just before, and knit it all again.  It’s frustrating.  Maybe I’ll wind up some cascade 220 and start on the Hemlock Ring blanket. . .I miss bigger yarn/needles.

A friend from high school requested I post up new pictures on my myspace, he said he wants to know what’s going on in my life.   Well, I haven’t taken any pictures.  I don’t really have any friends I hang out with, and I don’t really go anywhere or do anything, so there’s nothing to update about.  I posted up a pic of the house in reply.  That was kind of snotty, since it’s bigger than his house, but I really don’t care at this point.

Been thinking about painting too, but haven’t gotten around to sitting down to do it.  And every time I see a skein of hand spun, I get an itch that says “I WANNA SPIN!” but I’m still kind of scared to really try. . .that woman did a number on giving me a complex.  They’re not even in business anymore.

One more day of “freedom” until I start working again, and I don’t really know what to do with the time.  I can’t even relax and try to enjoy it because that’s just not my style.  I guess I’ll just try to distract myself.

I have a second interview with my first choice company.  It’s this Friday.  Tomorrow, I also have a second interview with a different company that I’m not so interested in, but it’s good to have a backup plan, right?

I’m kind of nervous, the person I would be working under is also the woman who interviewed me, and she sent me some links on “How to survive your second interview” when she asked if I could come back.  I’m wondering if she’s pulling for me or if she thinks I need pointers.  Either way, I plan on being fully myself at the interview, any “preparing” or anything like that on my part makes me feel like cheating in a way. . .or more accurately, fooling them into believing I’m their gal.

Actually that bothered me a lot when I was reading the articles she sent me.  They were entirely geared towards a generation of people who are taught how to learn to pass tests, but not how to learn.  The articles advised to prepare for every possible question or tactic, as if telling the reader to be ready to fool the fooler.  That’s not how things are supposed to work.  If I can’t be myself at an interview, then I can’t be myself at that job, and I don’t want it.  I am not such an imbecile or delinquint that I do not know how to conduct myself, nor do I have to “prepare” my answers.  If you ask me a question, I’ll tell you the truth, that is how I work.  No preparation necessary.

She also asked me to bring more examples of my “creativity”.  Then specifically asked me to bring a brochure I’ve done, if I had one.  I don’t have one.  I’ve never made a brochure before, and I told her that at my first interview.  Whatever, I’ll bring what I have, and if that’s not good enough, oh well.

My plants are growing, and that’s good.  I fixed my hat, but now I have nothing currently on the needles.  I frogged the springtime sock because I hate the yarn, and it was making hideous holes despite wrapping in the short-row heel the pattern was calling for.  I need to do something else with that yarn, I just don’t know what yet.  Maybe still socks,  just a better pattern.

I’ve been pretty hormonal lately, and it’s not too fun.  Kind of hard with my current schedule to keep myself from thinking too much, or sleeping too much.  And I lack the motivation to do the things I always said I’d do if I were home all day.  Eventually, I’ll get a job, and things’ll balance out for awhile.

I had a kitchen onion that started growing. So I decided to really let it grow and get a pot and everything! While we were at Home Depot picking out a pot and some soil, we decided to get some seeds and grow some other stuff too. I got Sage, Basil, Thyme, and Oregano. Rob got Spearmint and Broccoli!! I can’t wait till they germinate and start poking their little heads out!! YAY Plants!

In other news, I have a job interview tomorrow. It’s for a company that’s pretty close by, so I hope they’re offering decent pay. We’ll see when I go tomorrow. It would be nice to have steady incoming cash again.

This weekend my dad and sister came over for dinner. We had a pretty good time. There’s things going on with everyone that concerns me. . .but there’s not much you can do about other people’s lives. You can just let them know that you’re there.

Rob got some Perfect Shot Wiimote guns, and I can’t wait to get some games that we can use them with. House of the Dead II and III is coming out for Wii soon, and that’s just going to be awesome.

I started knitting Koolhaas, out of some of the leftover Malabrigo I have. . .mmmm, I love this stuff. I have another skein too, and I’m going to try and make matching mittens with it, I think. I also want to start the Hemlock Ring Blanket out of the leftover Cascade 220 from my dad’s sweater. I’m not thrilled about having a navy blue blanket, but maybe it’ll surprise me and look really good. Worst comes to worst, I can probably dye it some other dark color that has blue in it. Lol.

Actually, I have a lot of knitting projects I want to get started, and most of it would use up yarn in my stash. I have two designs I want to make, a leftover-sock-yarn blanket, and either Monkey or Pomatomus socks out of some sock yarn I have, not to mention some kind of knee-high socks out of some Henry’s Attic Kona I have that would have to be dyed, and a female Cobblestone sweater with a possibly modified boatneck. . . all which should technically help me to not spend any money (I HAVE the yarn for all of these projects. And I thought I’d never accumulate a stash, lol), along with the help of the full series episodes of DS9 and Voyager. And then I can finally get my washer and dryer! But I’m getting ahead of myself. I need to land a job first.

I’m sure there’s more to write about, but I can’t think of it at the moment. :] Plants!