Gads!

Work is great and I enjoy the hell out of it. It definitely has put a crimp into my knitting and blogging time.

I've made a couple of scarves to wear to work. I'll get a photo and get them posted.

J called and told me they were running late at the dentist. She's going to get braces put on her front four teeth - man that's young. She'll be 8 in February.

Generally, she's going to do it in two stages and we're looking at wrapping it up by the time she's 12.

On flood watch this weekend. Looks like one of our lakes will hit conservation late tomorrow afternoon. First time for me! Years ago I did man some telephones on a mini event.

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!

Bird

For the past few weeks we've been visited by a strange bird - he comes and tries to get into our home every day around the same time - 11-ish in the morning. I think he's trying to attack a bird that just happens to look a whole lot like him (i.e., the reflection in the window).

I finally looked around the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site to try to identify it. We initially thought it was some kind of wood pecker - mainly because the beak was long and thin.

But I finally figured out that it's a Great Crested Flycatcher. It's really a beautiful bird.

My Brute

M and J got into this absolutely silly web site called My Brute. I finally got involved and now have two.

If you want, you can sign up here:

http://queenmargaret.mybrute.com

I'm trolling for pupils!

It's super simple, and I have to admit, a little fun.

Salsa!

Our good friends who also make stuff (cheese, beer, wine, yogurt, etc.) had us over to dinner a couple of weeks ago and opened up their most recent experiement - Salsa.

Oh, man. It was the perfect kind of salsa. I don't like my salsa chunky and I like a little heat - not something that will scorch your mouth, just a little kick.

Last Saturday, J went and picked up the Jebus food and they had lots of veggies that are salsa compatible. I asked our friend for the recipe and proceeded to make my own yesterday.

I got 6 wide mouth jar's full of salsa.

Here's the recipe (I'm putting it here so I won't lose it - I also added cilantro to the batch 'cuz I loves me some cilantro).

El Fenix hot sauce

8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained
2 1/2 cups onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups green peppers
1 cup jalapeno peppers, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons pepper
1/8 cup canning salt
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste

Mix all together and bring to a slow boil for 10 min.

(Note: The batch seems like it's not very liquid-y when you first mix everything together and you're gonna want to add some water - don't. The heat combined with the vinegar will break down all the veggies and it'll get nice and soupy)

Run in batches through a blender (or food processor) and then pour into canning jars.

Seal in jars and cook in hot water bath for 10 min.

FO - Baby Surpise Jackets x 2

These are for twin boys of someone I know.

I wasn't happy with the way one of my BSJ's turned out so I ripped back and re-knitted it. This one is done with stockinette instead of garter. I think I like the garter a little better - which surprised me.

Just need to sew on the buttons - which I find to be tedious.

FO - Hemlock Ring Shawl

Yeah, I know I just said I don't understand the whole shawl thing, and here I go, knitting another one.

I cast on for this shawl during the hemlock ring rage on Ravelry. I do like it. I just HATED the bind-off. Really. Hated it. It took me months to do it as I just lost interest every time I started working it.

I still need to block it - I've never blocked lace so this will be a new thing for me. I'll post a photo after I have washed/blocked it.

FO - Self Fringing Bias Shawl/Scarf

I now understand why people rave over the Brookes Farms yarns.

They are just lovely.

The Mas Acero I bought just shines in the sunlight. It's really pretty.

I was afraid of dropping the stitches for the fringe, but it worked out great.

I'm a little luke warm about owning shawls. They're pretty and all, but I just don't know how to incorporate them into my wardrobe - I live in Texas for goodness sake.

But this little shawl/scarf is really perfect. It fits in my purse and I use it now when I go into a building that has the AC on a little too low.

Yes, you cold weather people. It's almost manditory to have a sweater at your finger tips during the summer down here. You go from 90+ degrees outdoors to 60 degrees indoors - you'd freeze, too.

Socks!

I broke out my CSM machines because I have too many socks to make as I've promised a lot of people a pair of socks.

I made a pair for a church auction - and forgot to get a photo (buh) of the finished item. I made them on my LeGare.

Then I made a pair of socks on my AK - and it's interesting. My AK likes making socks on the 72/36 combo better thank the 60/30 combo. I set up my AK and had no problems with ribbing the men's sock. The yarn I used is luscious - truly. Virgin wool, cashmere, angora - man are these socks nice. They're for a friend whose son is graduating from high school and going off to college (TAMU) in the fall - hence the maroon.

School, of course, is coming to a close. I made socks for the teacher and teacher's assistant.

I also whipped up a pair of socks for me - these are made with the hand painted yarn I made from a knitting retreat in February. I am so happy with the colors. I think I have enough yarn to make a low cuff pair for my mom - shhh. Don't tell her, it's a surprise.

On the three socks I knitted on the LeGare, I've learned on my 54/36 combo to put all my needles into play on the ribber dial and have every third needle removed on my cylinder. This makes a 1x1 rib. Do the selvage the normal way you do a 1x1. On the hand painted socks, I knitted 1x1 for 20 rows, transferred the needle that is located between the two cylinder needles to a cylinder needle for a 2 x 1 rib.

I can say that I honestly don't see a difference unless I look really closely to the 1x1 to 2x1 and it makes a nice tighter cuff on the top. I'm really pleased with this combo and it'll probably become a standard for my smaller socks.

I do love my LeGare - it's really a great little work horse.

Difficult times

I had a really great weekend with my parents. My folks are great. M & I ran to Granbury and had a great time at D & G's Bed and Breakfast (my parents). They put in a pool in their back yard last year and their place is truly beautiful. They have outdoor speakers and can play music in the pool area. M told us that she'd fire the grandparents if they'd ever make the pool public - turns out she loves to skinny dip.

We had a great time.

But I have to say that this was a welcomed bright spot in a difficult time.

Professionally, I work in the land development industry. Work is tough lately - mainly because I just haven't had a lot of it.

I work in four different arenas:

• Municipal
• Residential
• Commercial
• Natural Gas

All are experiencing a major down turn lately.

I have to admit, I've been feeling a little down lately - but J is wonderful. He had me list out all the stuff my company has done over the last 9.5 years - and I get amazed. It was amazingly good for me to do that.

You see, I've been applying to various governmental jobs lately. It has been truly humbling. I've probably applied to over 60 positions - and have been over the past two months. I am used to getting good feedback from employers and many times I get the dreaded "You were not referred for this position. Your resume did not reflect the highly qualifying criteria the selecting official identified as necessary for successful performance in the position."

Bullshit.

I am a damn good engineer.

Fucking good.

(sorry for the language - I'm just frustrated.)

So, the dilemma. Try to keep my company going, or get a job with another one.

It's a hard decision. I've been self employed for almost a quarter of my life.

For an Air Force Brat who moved on average every year of her life until she was 21, this is true commitment.

It's hard to give up.

The freedom.

The excitement.

The hard work.

I almost gave it up 4 years ago.

Work started to slow down and I didn't think I could sustain a full payroll anymore. I did one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do - I let someone go who I knew needed to continue to work for me. I cried many, many nights and still wonder how my former tech is doing. I interviewed with a couple of consulting engineering firms - got some offers and turned them all down.

The pressure of a full payroll came off and I had enough work to cover me. I worked very hard for a long time.

Scan to now.

I hate waking up and going up to my computer with very little work.

I also am starting to miss working with people - you know. Waking up. Commuting. Getting to work. Drinking coffee. Conversing with co-workers.

I miss it. I really do.

But I love being self employed. LOVE IT.

"sigh"

So, I'm going to keep on keepin' on with my business and try to find some more. In the mean time, I'll keep floating my resume.

Who knows what will happen.

I still haven't had a firm job offer. I can't just stop working. My family needs me. I need to do it. I want to do it. I love doing it.

And you know what the irony is?

My company has more invoices paid to date than I've ever had paid without spending it. We've been on super conserve mode and just stick to basics - and it's working. We're actually doing okay. So we don't go out to eat as much as we used to. I don't get to buy as much yarn as I once did. I don't buy books anymore (I go to the library).

Life is still good.

I have a supportive husband. Loving and beautiful daughter.

I am one lucky woman.

And you know what?

I just know it will all work out.

It will.

No matter what happens, my husband will always support my decisions and my daughter has told me that she will be happy with whatever decision I make.

It just doesn't get any better than that.

Mother's Day

Had a great mother's day.

M brought me a marigold flower that she planted in a pot she decorated.

She also wrote a nice note:

Translation:

You are the nicest mommy in the world! I Love you so much! LiFe is great with you! Ice creame is good. SuGar is sweet, But Not A Sweet as you! you always heLp with fun iDeas! You are the one Who is nice and sweet so I love you so much. Every Day you are sweet!

Oh, and this is a peace sign:
Then we went to church and had a lovely pancake breakfast. Church had a guest speaker, Marc Adams of the HeartStrong, Inc charitable org. He was great.

Got home and J gave me a note:
It came with a $25 gift certificate from Joanns. Whoot!

Knitting update

My cousin is getting married this summer and I offered to make her a garter.

I have 12 inches knitted - 9 more to go. Made with cheap crochet cotton I had on hand. Free pattern is the Knitted Lace Wedding Garter by Diane Willett.

Also, I think I mentioned my aunt has breast cancer. I have knitted 6 pi topper hats. One I donated to the Fiber Fest last weekend, so I'm about to send 5 of these to my aunt today. I was able to run by the Knitting Nook on Saturday and get some cute buttons.


Speaking of Fiber Fest. I was able to pick up a skein of Brookes Farm Mas Acero. I cast on last night for a self fringing shawl.


And here's a close up because the photo above does not do the color justice.


M is finding that she likes to make things. A neighbor girl had some Capsters and showed M (and me) her necklace. We had most of the supplies and she made her own. I don't have a photo, but will post one later.

For some reason, it really sparked her creative side and I was presented with an early Mother's Day gift yesterday - this is supposed to be a bag.
Yes it's paper and I can't do much with it, but I think I'm going to have to really try to figure out how to fix it so I can use it. She was so proud - I will never forget the look on her face.

Hannah Montanna's Number One Fan

At least that's what M told me when she wanted me to take her picture.