Great Weekend

My new job allows me to have access to a cabin located on a lake one weekend in a year. We got fortunate last weekend and it was available.

What a great time! Even though it was cool and rainy, we still had a great time.

M caught a fish - granted, it was too small and we had to throw it back, but to see the bright shiny face and excitement of catching her first fish - what a great memory. She was so excited and was the only one who caught anything. Lots of fish interest, but no bites.

I also got to take the family and friends on to the lake spillway. We were spilling water out of the spillway gates and we were able to see the water go under the gates while standing over them on a grate. Wonderful and exciting. I love my job.

Oh, and I'm not a praying type, but I'm really pulling for a local lake to go one foot over full - it effects how we operate our pipeline and puts some pressure on our crews, but we can rise to the occasion.

I was also successful with grilling my first burgers with charcoal. I never have grilled on a charcoal grill - always have on a gas or electric. They were terrific. Simple pleasures. Simple pleasures.

Came home after a wonderful weekend and brewed a batch of German Light beer. I'll have to bottle the Cream Ale sometime this week.

I also want to say that I'm terribly impressed by the people I work with. They are really outstanding people and incredibly smart. I'm very lucky to be where I am.

As far as knitting - I did a quick Grandmother's Favorite dishcloth and a Housewarming dishcloth. I'm still working on my black Susan Undulating Wave scarf and have knitted the required 14 repeats - but need to make it longer - it's currently on hold. I also did a quick burp cloth that I thought was a Mason Dixson burp cloth, but it wasn't. It's done, I just have to weave in the ends and wash it. I also have a golf club cover done for a friend and need to weave in ends and make a pom pom.

I don't have photos and need to get some, but I'm SO unmotivated to do so.

I also agreed to supply my aunt with a Gnome and a Robot for a November fund raiser. I haven't even started and need to. Buh.

Saddest news ever

"We will not be holding a Maker Faire Austin this year primarily due to the economy."

Truly a sad, sad day.

I guess I'll have to try to go to the one in SF in May, 2010.

2009 Knitting Calendar

Today I am the featured designer in the Knitting Calendar!

Whoot!

It's the baby halter top pattern and also covers tomorrow, too.

Double Whoot!

Windmills

The family and I are down south for the weekend to see my folks. J & I got a room so we could be a little more comfortable sleeping. One of my favorite geeky travel things that I like to do is flip through the local hotel three ring binder. In the past I've found some really fun and memorable things to do in those things.

So I found this at our hotel:

"The Windmill Far at Tolar, Texas"
See History in Motion; 26 Windmills on 26 Windmills on 26 acres in a country setting. Drive through, walk around, always open.

I read this and though Wind farm - hey they have those really cool wind turbines. I want to see these up close.

We drove up and I kept asking J if he'd seen the turbines. No

We turned in - and saw 26 old windmills - which were in really great shape - but weren't generating any electricity. And it was a bed and breakfast. Very cute, but history in the making, not. History in the past - yes.

It was funny and we got a great giggle out of the whole trip.

Then we went back into town to shop at the local Walmart. Found some iCarly panties for M. One of the panties have the word "blog" written all over them. M thinks having blog panties is cool.

I also finally got a visual confirmation that the wedding garter I knitted fit and the bride wore it on here wedding day. I was really pleased. As soon as I have a photo of it, I'll post it here.

Yay!

My cousin is happily married and THE GARTER FIT!! My mom has promised that she'd get a photo of it. As soon as I have a copy of it, I'll post it.

I've also been working on squares for an afghan that we're knitting for the local knitting guild. I volunteered to do two, and a friend ran into some trouble, so I'm currently knitting the final square. It's going quickly. I'll post a picture later.

Well, life has a funny way of changing directions on you. I keep pinching myself because I truly feel like I won the lottery.

As all of us, the economy has absolutely hit my company. In order for my traditional clients to get projects going, they have to be able to borrow money. I knew things were hinky after the big crash in October and we had gone into super serious conservation mode at home. No new yarn purchases (GASP!!), just buy stuff to survive. And I resisted it, but went along with it anyway because I understood that things were about to get ugly - but I never understood just how ugly.

Fast forward to April. I knew things were going south. Clients who used to tell me to get stuff done started to say things like, "we really don't need that done." I also noticed all the people I worked with were starting to be moved to other markets - not here.

I started floating my resume on April 1 - just in case. I also kept calling past clients to see what's coming up - nothing. Everyone was in survival mode.

Luckily, I have really good friends.

I ran into one of those friends back in November at a conference in Las Vegas. I casually mentioned that I really loved working at the place she still worked at and if I had to close my company, that organization would be ideal to jump to.

She said she'd keep an eye out.

I got emailed in May that the department was about to expand. I asked her out to lunch and during lunch, met up with my old boss and several former co-workers. Oh, and did I know about a potential opening?

Forward to today. I am now gainfully employed at a job that I used to work at 12.5 years ago. Looking back, I definitely wonder why the hell I left, but still feel that I needed to go out on my own. I have learned SO much out on my own. It's one of those bittersweet feelings. I'm just glad to be back.

After two weeks of working for someone else, I have to admit that I love what I do. I definitly work for the nicest man ever. He's one of those people who sees the diamond in the rough - and you, being the rough diamond, want to polish yourself to a billiant shine. (hokey, but very true)

My co-workers are hard working and kind.

I really am very lucky.

It's an adjustment. I hate commuting and it really eats into my knitting time - but isn't that really what everyone has to struggle with?

So now it's getting to be State Fair time. Do I have anything ready to go and to submit?

Not really.

But I plan on entering the following:

Knitted toy from a pattern (a Sheldon Turtle)
Knitted toy - original (not sure on this one - I have two ways I can go on this one_
Original item (thinking about the baby halter)

That's about it.

I'm not going to specify on this blog where I work. I just think it's not a good idea.

Garter

Well, the garter is blocked and starched. Now I need to sew the darn thing together. I looked in my craft supplies and don't have a white spool of thread. I need it to sew the bias tape to the back of the garter. It still looks too big, but I know it'll shrink down once I have the elastic sewn in.

Knitting update

I have finished knitting the garter but now have to wash and block it. I've never blocked lace before and am dawdling - gotta stop that.

I'm also playing with writing a new pattern. It's based on Mo Willem's Pigeon character.

Of course I'm in the throws of creating it right now - complete with knitting and frogging and re-writing my pattern as I go.

So far I am really woring on the butt to get the shape right.

M's Summer Story

Since summer is in full swing and M is home, we are doing our own form of pseudo homeschool in the morning. On Monday, M has to write out her story in printed letters. On Wednesday, she rewrites it in cursive, and on Friday she types the story into a Google Doc.

Well, I'm a terribly proud mom and have to share. So here goes the story so far:

Chapter One:

Once upon a time...

There lived a little penguin. She was a pink penguin.

Everyone thought she was the cutest thing! By the time she was 5, she was able to play guitar really well. She even got her own show...Rock On Toddler! The only thing is, she never talks. The only one she spoke to was her mother.

Chapter Two:

The only reason she didn't talk was that her mom died, and her dad was King.

But she couldn't go into the castle because it was a "no kids zone".

On her birthday she got a guitar and became famous!

She took the bus while making herself look like a high school cheerleader.

She lived in an orphanage and went on lots of field trips.

Her FRIENDS knew she was Princess and kept it secret.

Chapter Three (this week's installment):

"My dad killed the queen," she said. "The King killed the Queen!"

Everybody looked at her and screamed with joy.

"Why are you soooo happy?"

"Three reasons," said Beca. "One, the queen was bad. Two, you spoke. Three, we get to name you."

"Bella?" asked Trixie.

"Mary?" said Jackson.

"No. Katie!" she said.

"Katie sounds great," said Ms. Oak

Stay tuned, and happy summer!