Why must the week after a relaxing mini-break always be one of stress-inducing madness? It seems somehow wrong. But there it is.
Work has been nuts this week. So much to do, not enough time to do it in, and everyone else has finally developed a sense of urgency as far as my leaving goes. Nice timing. But oh well. At least they finally got me a laptop so I can work from home and on the shuttle bus. Hurray for more productive hours! Of course, this means my sad workaholic geek tendencies are being enable in the extreme but whatever, at least the work will get done.
Anyway, I’ve been working in bits and pieces on the new orenburg shawl. I got the bottom boarder done over the weekend, and had to rip back the first few rows of the body because I had made a mistake in charting on another on the corner section which was driving me nuts. No huge deal though, I only ripped a few rows and things are already looking better.
The next step it to make a nice tidy chart of the whole thing. I did it in excel for the last one, which worked out pretty well, so I need to work on that some tonight on my break today (if I take one, blegh). It much easier to copy and paste the repeating elements to figure out what my final row count needs to be than doing it all by hand on graph paper and erasing everything 47 times. Hurray for efficiency!
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Monday, June 27, 2005
Madness!
What an insane day, marathon meetings and annoyances pretty much non-stop. Right now I want to curl up someplace warm and cry. But I will remain strong, keep it together for another half hour, and get out of here at 8 and go home and pass out and start again tomorrow even more behind than I am now. Lovely.
The weekend was nice though. Harbin is a great place. Kind of a lot of hippies in not a lot of clothing, but it was peaceful and quiet and relaxing and I got a wonderful massage and feel so much more at peace with the world and with what I'm doing with my life. Hopefully I can hang on to that feeling long enough to get me through the move.
I spent most of the weekend lounging around, soaking in mineral pools, and knitting. I manged to design and start knitting the orenburg shawl for my brothers finance. Hurray! So far, so good. I really love this lace technique. It's so simple yet so elegant! And very easy to memorize. Which is a good thing.
And in even more exciting news, I found an apartment in Virginia! It's a little over 2 miles from campus, 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, townhouse that looks out over a nice meadow thing. It's very cute, and I'm very excited. I'm already deciding which rooms need cable and which rooms I can just run wireless from. Very sad geek type behavior, I know, but it's fun.
The weekend was nice though. Harbin is a great place. Kind of a lot of hippies in not a lot of clothing, but it was peaceful and quiet and relaxing and I got a wonderful massage and feel so much more at peace with the world and with what I'm doing with my life. Hopefully I can hang on to that feeling long enough to get me through the move.
I spent most of the weekend lounging around, soaking in mineral pools, and knitting. I manged to design and start knitting the orenburg shawl for my brothers finance. Hurray! So far, so good. I really love this lace technique. It's so simple yet so elegant! And very easy to memorize. Which is a good thing.
And in even more exciting news, I found an apartment in Virginia! It's a little over 2 miles from campus, 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, townhouse that looks out over a nice meadow thing. It's very cute, and I'm very excited. I'm already deciding which rooms need cable and which rooms I can just run wireless from. Very sad geek type behavior, I know, but it's fun.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
All I ask...
is for a warm home and someone to buy me a laptop. Why is this so difficult? The financial aid people are lovely, they really are, but would I be asking for a computer loan if I had the wherewithal to buy a computer and then submit a receipt? I don't think so. Someone out there must think I'm cute enough to get a laptop for me. One with wireless, and a big hard drive preferably.
And I won't even press the issue and ask for a car on top of it.
It's been a long day. I was stuck at the office working on a hellish test schedule, and all the engineers went off to do some fun off-site thing. Which wouldn't be so bad really, except that the PM who went with them started hounding me for status reports 15 minutes after I got in and then took off for the happy fun time event before dealing with my problems. feh. It's a gross miscarriage of justice is what it is.
Maybe if I weren't so ticked about the whole stupid laptop situation...
Anyway, I'm taking tomorrow off work to take the kitty to the vet. I need to get her regular check up and get anti-anxiety meds for her for the road trip back east. That should be interesting. After that, I'm going to a hot springs retreat up north of Calistoga for a couple of days to regroup and rest. I'm really excited about this, it'll be nice to just get out of here for a little awhile and be away from all the mad boxes in my house. I'm bringing knitting, a couple of books, a spindle or two, and my iPod. Should be a good time. Who knows, maybe I'll find some naked hippie benefactor who will buy me a laptop!
And I won't even press the issue and ask for a car on top of it.
It's been a long day. I was stuck at the office working on a hellish test schedule, and all the engineers went off to do some fun off-site thing. Which wouldn't be so bad really, except that the PM who went with them started hounding me for status reports 15 minutes after I got in and then took off for the happy fun time event before dealing with my problems. feh. It's a gross miscarriage of justice is what it is.
Maybe if I weren't so ticked about the whole stupid laptop situation...
Anyway, I'm taking tomorrow off work to take the kitty to the vet. I need to get her regular check up and get anti-anxiety meds for her for the road trip back east. That should be interesting. After that, I'm going to a hot springs retreat up north of Calistoga for a couple of days to regroup and rest. I'm really excited about this, it'll be nice to just get out of here for a little awhile and be away from all the mad boxes in my house. I'm bringing knitting, a couple of books, a spindle or two, and my iPod. Should be a good time. Who knows, maybe I'll find some naked hippie benefactor who will buy me a laptop!
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Holy crap, I'm tired.
Just flat out exhausted really. It's absurd. I have no idea why I'm this tired, I slept in this morning and took a latter shuttle, figuring that I could use the sleep after staying up past midnight chatting on line with a boy. Hopefully this is just post-lunch coma and I will revive a bit in an hour or so.
The good news is that I only have one more dress project to do for other people before I go. Hurray! It's a somewhat scary one, but once that's finished I free of commissioned sewing for a very very long time. Which is am very very happy about. Having to sew specific things for other people, especially things I find hideous and scary, make the whole sewing thing more of a chore than an enjoyable way to relax.
Anyway, I'm having a terrible time motivating myself to get much done at work at the moment. Apart from the whole sort-timers disease/senioritys I seem to have developed, one of my testers brought in his 2 month old shitzu puppy. This is the cutest little doggies I have ever seen. He looks like a baby ewok. Very distracting, but in a good and cuddly kind of puppy way. this little dog is 1/3rd the size of my cat though, it's kind of ridiculous.
Not much knitting content just now, I've been working on the interminable green lace weight shawl on the shuttle. It seems to not be getting any bigger, but I know this is just an illusion. I want this thing done. The current plan is to bring that and the orenburg to the hot springs this weekend and work on it on a deck someplace while relaxing in between dips in the hot tubs. Once I get going, the knitting is fairly mindless, so it should be a good project for relaxing and being quiet and mellow.
The good news is that I only have one more dress project to do for other people before I go. Hurray! It's a somewhat scary one, but once that's finished I free of commissioned sewing for a very very long time. Which is am very very happy about. Having to sew specific things for other people, especially things I find hideous and scary, make the whole sewing thing more of a chore than an enjoyable way to relax.
Anyway, I'm having a terrible time motivating myself to get much done at work at the moment. Apart from the whole sort-timers disease/senioritys I seem to have developed, one of my testers brought in his 2 month old shitzu puppy. This is the cutest little doggies I have ever seen. He looks like a baby ewok. Very distracting, but in a good and cuddly kind of puppy way. this little dog is 1/3rd the size of my cat though, it's kind of ridiculous.
Not much knitting content just now, I've been working on the interminable green lace weight shawl on the shuttle. It seems to not be getting any bigger, but I know this is just an illusion. I want this thing done. The current plan is to bring that and the orenburg to the hot springs this weekend and work on it on a deck someplace while relaxing in between dips in the hot tubs. Once I get going, the knitting is fairly mindless, so it should be a good project for relaxing and being quiet and mellow.
Monday, June 20, 2005
Virginia or bust
The moving plans have shifted in over-drive. I have a month, plus 3 days (I leave July 23rd), before I load up a truck and start driving back east, like some sort of wagon trail or pioneer in reverse. The better part of the weekend was spent packing and sorting and repacking, but I am glad to say that all the nooks and cabinets in my living room have been unloaded and packed, and I have a massive heap of cloths, books, fabrics, and other stuff to get rid of. Hurray! Getting my fabric collection down to 2 25 gallon bins was quite an accomplishment. Now if only I had been able to reduced the yarn and fiber stash some, oh well. At least that will all get put to good use. Knitting and spinning keep me sane, I'm going to need that while in school.
The people I've been talking to to find apartments back there have been so freakishly nice! I don't get it. Of course, the whole world isn't like it is here, but these people have been so genuinely caring and helpful, I'm not quite sure what to do what myself. I have a lead on a good sounding townhouse, and a complex that's trying to find me a one bedroom that will work with my move schedule and budget.
I finished my pink sweater thing from White Lies. The crochet edge was sort of intimidating, and not made any better when I realized the written out pattern was missing a row, and I couldn't decipher the last row on the graphed version. Never mind that it doesn't really flow and ripple down the front like in the picture. Oh well. I figured it out, and it looks really cute. I just need to find something to wear it with. A little black dress or something would be very cute. The whole thing is more cropped in front that I thought it would be, possibly because my boobs are larger than the pattern models (which seems to be the case most of the time), but it should still be ok with jeans and a tank top.
I've made very little progress on the actual charting for the new orenburg shawl project. I do have some ideas, so that's a step in a direction anyway. The theoretical part of the design process always takes me the longest. Once I've worked out what I'm trying to do, it goes pretty fast. So far, I think I'm going to do a double border palatine with an all over design in the middle section. I'll use interlocking hearts and a snowflake pattern for the boarders, and then something open and airy for the middle. I just need to chart out the borders so I know what kind of stitch counts I'm working with in the middle section.
The people I've been talking to to find apartments back there have been so freakishly nice! I don't get it. Of course, the whole world isn't like it is here, but these people have been so genuinely caring and helpful, I'm not quite sure what to do what myself. I have a lead on a good sounding townhouse, and a complex that's trying to find me a one bedroom that will work with my move schedule and budget.
I finished my pink sweater thing from White Lies. The crochet edge was sort of intimidating, and not made any better when I realized the written out pattern was missing a row, and I couldn't decipher the last row on the graphed version. Never mind that it doesn't really flow and ripple down the front like in the picture. Oh well. I figured it out, and it looks really cute. I just need to find something to wear it with. A little black dress or something would be very cute. The whole thing is more cropped in front that I thought it would be, possibly because my boobs are larger than the pattern models (which seems to be the case most of the time), but it should still be ok with jeans and a tank top.
I've made very little progress on the actual charting for the new orenburg shawl project. I do have some ideas, so that's a step in a direction anyway. The theoretical part of the design process always takes me the longest. Once I've worked out what I'm trying to do, it goes pretty fast. So far, I think I'm going to do a double border palatine with an all over design in the middle section. I'll use interlocking hearts and a snowflake pattern for the boarders, and then something open and airy for the middle. I just need to chart out the borders so I know what kind of stitch counts I'm working with in the middle section.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Do I get a lollipop with that?
So, last night at about 5:30 the job offer finally came through. Nothing like timeliness, eh?
A bigger joke I have never seen in my life. Bad enough that they offer me, in real terms, less than I made right out of college, bad enough that I couldn't rent a decent apartment close to work on that sort of salary, but the job title! It's actually offensive. They expect me to take a job as "quality analyst level 1" which amounts to some bone-headed recent graduate who couldn't test a paper bag. Currently, I lead (more like manage) a team on one of the highest priority project going, manage a test case management system used to ensure compliant testing methodology, and train people on what compliant testing methodology means. In the nine months I have been here, I have spearheaded changes that are being felt across the company. I have built testing organizations from the ground up in past jobs. And they think I belong with a pile of useless recent grads? Please. Give me some credit.
The offer is sad. It would have been less sad had they handed me a lollipop to go along with it. It's hardly any wonder they can't find people to work in testing around here, with crap offers like that. Any self respecting, well qualified professional tester would happily take fewer lunches in exchange for an adult salary at a company willing to treat them like the professional adult they are.
Not that I'm pissed off or anything, it's actually very funny.
In some ways, I am actually thankful they came up with such a stunningly bad offer. It made rejecting it very easy, and remarkably guilt free. I am sorry that my teammates are getting screwed by their employer, but there isn't much I can do about that. Not if they are going to make offers like this one.
As far as knitting goes, I accomplished nothing last night so I threw a lace shawl I've been avoiding for months into my work bag and will be carrying that around on the bus to work until I get my pink sweater sewn together. Hopefully I'll get that done this evening, or at least this week.
A bigger joke I have never seen in my life. Bad enough that they offer me, in real terms, less than I made right out of college, bad enough that I couldn't rent a decent apartment close to work on that sort of salary, but the job title! It's actually offensive. They expect me to take a job as "quality analyst level 1" which amounts to some bone-headed recent graduate who couldn't test a paper bag. Currently, I lead (more like manage) a team on one of the highest priority project going, manage a test case management system used to ensure compliant testing methodology, and train people on what compliant testing methodology means. In the nine months I have been here, I have spearheaded changes that are being felt across the company. I have built testing organizations from the ground up in past jobs. And they think I belong with a pile of useless recent grads? Please. Give me some credit.
The offer is sad. It would have been less sad had they handed me a lollipop to go along with it. It's hardly any wonder they can't find people to work in testing around here, with crap offers like that. Any self respecting, well qualified professional tester would happily take fewer lunches in exchange for an adult salary at a company willing to treat them like the professional adult they are.
Not that I'm pissed off or anything, it's actually very funny.
In some ways, I am actually thankful they came up with such a stunningly bad offer. It made rejecting it very easy, and remarkably guilt free. I am sorry that my teammates are getting screwed by their employer, but there isn't much I can do about that. Not if they are going to make offers like this one.
As far as knitting goes, I accomplished nothing last night so I threw a lace shawl I've been avoiding for months into my work bag and will be carrying that around on the bus to work until I get my pink sweater sewn together. Hopefully I'll get that done this evening, or at least this week.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
It's so Pink!
I've decided that my main difficulty with this whole work mess is that they have yet to give me an offer to reject. So I still have this tiny little out if I chicken out on the whole school thing, and I am worried that I'm going to wuss out at the last second. Not good, but at least I'm getting some clarity into my current state of mind. I just want everything to be settled and all the doubt and running around here is not really helping with that.
Anyway, lack of progress as far as this whole work debacle goes aside, I've been managing to get stuff done. A truck has been reserved, my dad has time off to help me move, I'm collecting leads on apartments, and trying to nail down the last bits of financial aid and hopefully get some more so I can pay for a new laptop.
I finished all the knitted parts of my pink sweater on the way in to work this morning, so tonight I will try to sew it together and get going on the crochet bits. I'm very excited about doing this part. Crochet patterns kind of freak me out for some reason, so actually following one should be an interesting challenge. Not that I think it'll be hard. It will just be one of those overcoming mental blocks things.
Anyway, lack of progress as far as this whole work debacle goes aside, I've been managing to get stuff done. A truck has been reserved, my dad has time off to help me move, I'm collecting leads on apartments, and trying to nail down the last bits of financial aid and hopefully get some more so I can pay for a new laptop.
I finished all the knitted parts of my pink sweater on the way in to work this morning, so tonight I will try to sew it together and get going on the crochet bits. I'm very excited about doing this part. Crochet patterns kind of freak me out for some reason, so actually following one should be an interesting challenge. Not that I think it'll be hard. It will just be one of those overcoming mental blocks things.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
huh
I've been having a hard time posting the last few days. I try to start, and can't get the words out in any sort of order...
Work never did come through with an actual offer. I am told one is forthcoming, I am told they want to hire me, but I still have no letter. Wednesday came and went, and I have begun to move on. The funny thing is that everyone is now in absolute hysterics. But what am I to do? I have already delayed too long, I cannot delay any more. They have known this was coming for months, and chose not to act until now. And it's just too late.
Somehow I feel lighter. It's a strange thing, but I feel finally free of the hideous weight of this decision. I am free. Free to move on with my life, leave this state, and begin a new and wonderful adventure. But I am so very tired. The last few weeks have been so draining, so much work just to keep myself going. I am deeply and profoundly exhausted.
Dad and I are going to drive across the country at the end of July. I'm actually really looking forward to this. I have not seen much of this country, taking the chance to do it now seems like an exciting thing. It'll me, my dad, and the cat in a bag driving across the country with all my worldly possessions in the back of a truck. And I am excited about this! For all my exhaustion, I have just enough energy left to get excited about this.
Work never did come through with an actual offer. I am told one is forthcoming, I am told they want to hire me, but I still have no letter. Wednesday came and went, and I have begun to move on. The funny thing is that everyone is now in absolute hysterics. But what am I to do? I have already delayed too long, I cannot delay any more. They have known this was coming for months, and chose not to act until now. And it's just too late.
Somehow I feel lighter. It's a strange thing, but I feel finally free of the hideous weight of this decision. I am free. Free to move on with my life, leave this state, and begin a new and wonderful adventure. But I am so very tired. The last few weeks have been so draining, so much work just to keep myself going. I am deeply and profoundly exhausted.
Dad and I are going to drive across the country at the end of July. I'm actually really looking forward to this. I have not seen much of this country, taking the chance to do it now seems like an exciting thing. It'll me, my dad, and the cat in a bag driving across the country with all my worldly possessions in the back of a truck. And I am excited about this! For all my exhaustion, I have just enough energy left to get excited about this.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Still nothing
...at least as far as the job situation goes. Today was my deadline. Which I guess means that I'm heading for Virginia. Unless something amazing occurs this afternoon and they have a very large number in the salary slot on the offer letter anyway...
I find the whole situation really depressing, but oh well. At least I've got a direction, I can set an end date (hopefully), make truck reservations, and find an apartment. I'll start getting excited about this soon I hope, in the mean time I'm just sad and sort of demoralized.
In knitting news, I've finished the body of my scary pink sweater and am on to the sleeves. The sleeves are kind of short, so this should be fast. I got half of one done on the way in to work today, so I don't anticipate the knitting take much beyond this week. Then I get to start on the crochet part. that's going to be harder to do on the bus I think, but once I get going it should be fast. I'm looking forward to being able to wear this thing, and starting on the next project of course!
I find the whole situation really depressing, but oh well. At least I've got a direction, I can set an end date (hopefully), make truck reservations, and find an apartment. I'll start getting excited about this soon I hope, in the mean time I'm just sad and sort of demoralized.
In knitting news, I've finished the body of my scary pink sweater and am on to the sleeves. The sleeves are kind of short, so this should be fast. I got half of one done on the way in to work today, so I don't anticipate the knitting take much beyond this week. Then I get to start on the crochet part. that's going to be harder to do on the bus I think, but once I get going it should be fast. I'm looking forward to being able to wear this thing, and starting on the next project of course!
Sunday, June 05, 2005
How much more can I really take?
The latest news from the job front is that I can't expect an answer of any kind until the 14th at least. Even if they tell me something by then, which isn't likely given their pattern of dragging things out, it's just too late. I'm not sure I can defer at all at this point, 8 weeks before the semester starts is just too late. So I told them I needed to know by Wednesday.
I've essentially quit my job. I just don't know when my last day will be at this point. If they follow their usual pattern, I may have two weeks left, but I seriously doubt it'll be much more than that. After being out of work for so long, walking away from a good job I actually like it pretty unbearable. I've felt physically ill since Friday. And I am terrified. The fear is nearly paralytic.
In spite of the disaster that was last week, at least as far as my work life goes, I had a pretty good time yesterday in Napa. We went wine tasting, had a picnic at Viansa, and then had dinner at Brannan's in Calistoga. Brannan's is a wonderful restaurant, very good food, nice atmosphere, and in a very romantic setting.
I'm making good progress on the pink sweater. I have the back and one front section done. I'm really looking forward to doing the crochet collar/peplum thing, that should be fun and interesting. I also picked up the Loop-d-Loop book on Friday. This is a great book, and not just because one of my knitting group friends did one of the samples! Some of the designs are a little strange and the hair styles scare me, but the ideas are great, the photograph is really quite nice, and it's very inspiring. I think I have a handspun wool I can use for one of the jackets, and I'm shopping for wool to do a couple of the other designs. I figure that some good sweaters will be an important thing to have back east, it's not as cold in Virginia as it is in, say, Boston, but they colder winters I am used to and than my wardrobe is equipped for.
I've essentially quit my job. I just don't know when my last day will be at this point. If they follow their usual pattern, I may have two weeks left, but I seriously doubt it'll be much more than that. After being out of work for so long, walking away from a good job I actually like it pretty unbearable. I've felt physically ill since Friday. And I am terrified. The fear is nearly paralytic.
In spite of the disaster that was last week, at least as far as my work life goes, I had a pretty good time yesterday in Napa. We went wine tasting, had a picnic at Viansa, and then had dinner at Brannan's in Calistoga. Brannan's is a wonderful restaurant, very good food, nice atmosphere, and in a very romantic setting.
I'm making good progress on the pink sweater. I have the back and one front section done. I'm really looking forward to doing the crochet collar/peplum thing, that should be fun and interesting. I also picked up the Loop-d-Loop book on Friday. This is a great book, and not just because one of my knitting group friends did one of the samples! Some of the designs are a little strange and the hair styles scare me, but the ideas are great, the photograph is really quite nice, and it's very inspiring. I think I have a handspun wool I can use for one of the jackets, and I'm shopping for wool to do a couple of the other designs. I figure that some good sweaters will be an important thing to have back east, it's not as cold in Virginia as it is in, say, Boston, but they colder winters I am used to and than my wardrobe is equipped for.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Serious funk
Still no news about the job. This is annoying. If I am going to go to VA, I need to be ready to go in 6 weeks. So do I just say to hell with this and go? Or hold out for another week and see? Part of me feels like I'd be running from something if I were go now. I just which I had some idea which set of wrong reasons was the best one. Or least wrong, or whatever. I hardly understand my own thinking on any of this right now, how can I hope to explain it to anyone else?
I miss M. More than I am really willing admit to myself too. There are things about my life I really want for him to understand, I don't know why it matters to me at this point, but it does. He seems to have little or no interest in making time to know these things, unless he's just busy or something. He seemed really nervous and uncomfortable the other day when we were talking (after he gave me a pair of boxer shorts, which is just a strange thing to give a woman after you dump her if you ask me). I have no idea what that's all about, but I'm really trying to not think about it. Thinking about it won't get me anywhere.
Anyway...tomorrow I'm off to Napa with a new friend for wine tasting and a nice dinner. It should be fun. I'm actually quite looking forward to it. I love it up there, and I always feel much better about life when I come back, even if I was only gone for the day. Sunday I'm supposed to drink beer and play Grand Theft Auto with some of the guys from work, which should be a good time. I love GTA. Nothing like it for getting the aggression issues worked out.
I've decided to make my future sister-in-law and Orenburg shawl as a wedding gift. I did one for my mom last year, which she loves, so it should be a good gift. Plus she can use it at the wedding if she wants to. I've ordered yarn from Handpaintedyarn.com. One of the women in my knitting group was working with some of their lace weight wool, and it's really lovely. I got it in natural, and ordered the Damask Rose for something for myself. Probably the rose will turn into a lace shrug I can wear at the wedding myself. Once the yarn gets here, I can start swatching. In the mean time, I'm working on my silly pink cardigan from White Lies (pictures soon) and coming up with design ideas for the shawl. I know I want to use a linked hearts border, but aside from that I have no idea what stitch patterns I'm going to use. Maybe something with large diamonds like I did for my mom, or a bunch of nested border sections...
I miss M. More than I am really willing admit to myself too. There are things about my life I really want for him to understand, I don't know why it matters to me at this point, but it does. He seems to have little or no interest in making time to know these things, unless he's just busy or something. He seemed really nervous and uncomfortable the other day when we were talking (after he gave me a pair of boxer shorts, which is just a strange thing to give a woman after you dump her if you ask me). I have no idea what that's all about, but I'm really trying to not think about it. Thinking about it won't get me anywhere.
Anyway...tomorrow I'm off to Napa with a new friend for wine tasting and a nice dinner. It should be fun. I'm actually quite looking forward to it. I love it up there, and I always feel much better about life when I come back, even if I was only gone for the day. Sunday I'm supposed to drink beer and play Grand Theft Auto with some of the guys from work, which should be a good time. I love GTA. Nothing like it for getting the aggression issues worked out.
I've decided to make my future sister-in-law and Orenburg shawl as a wedding gift. I did one for my mom last year, which she loves, so it should be a good gift. Plus she can use it at the wedding if she wants to. I've ordered yarn from Handpaintedyarn.com. One of the women in my knitting group was working with some of their lace weight wool, and it's really lovely. I got it in natural, and ordered the Damask Rose for something for myself. Probably the rose will turn into a lace shrug I can wear at the wedding myself. Once the yarn gets here, I can start swatching. In the mean time, I'm working on my silly pink cardigan from White Lies (pictures soon) and coming up with design ideas for the shawl. I know I want to use a linked hearts border, but aside from that I have no idea what stitch patterns I'm going to use. Maybe something with large diamonds like I did for my mom, or a bunch of nested border sections...
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Because yesterday wasn't bad enough
At least as far as technical problems go, today I find I have been locked out of documentation site once again. Pages I wrote, I can no longer read. Gotta love it. Is this a subtle hint that my job prospects are not looking so good? And people wonder why I am paranoid...I swear something like this happens at lest once a week. I get locked out of some area of the network I need access to do my job, spend half the day running around like a lunatic trying to get it fixed, or find a work-around, only to be told that my non-personhood is the root of all evil, and there's nothing much to do. Grr. The gremlins of access control are out to get me!
Anyway...I finished my sweater! I have buttons, I have pictures, I am happy.
According to mom, the new alpaca fleeces are about 2.3 pounds each, one is ivory with a bit of grey, and one is a creamy brown. Yay!
Anyway...I finished my sweater! I have buttons, I have pictures, I am happy.
According to mom, the new alpaca fleeces are about 2.3 pounds each, one is ivory with a bit of grey, and one is a creamy brown. Yay!
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Workstation purgatory
Very bad start to the day...within 10 minutes of attempting to log into my workstation, I had crashed the X server, mozilla had freaked out and sucked up all my CPU cycles, and I had rebooted. Nice way to start the day. I'm not sure what sin I committed against my workstation, but I have been suitably punished. I hope.
As if freakish technical problems aren't enough, I have a whole army of people coming after me personally for application support questions. We have a support email address these questions are supposed to be routed to. I freely admit that 90% of the time, I answer these mails, but also filter my mail so that I find these support questions. If people don't send the question to the address, it gets lost in between rrandom bug reports, Venezuelan spam, and strange messages from my mother. How friggin' hard is it to follow a simple instruction? Really? You people are in testing, how can you be that illiterate?
Anyway...I have fiber news! Wonderful, beautiful, fiber news! All I lack are pictures and sewn on buttons, but the Lacy alpaca cardigan is done, assembled and blocked. And it is lovely. Really really lovely. I love this sweater, it's soft and light and luminous and fits beautifully, and did I mention how lovely it is? Tonight I will sew on the buttons and take some pictures.
And it gets better! What can be better than a truly triumphant FO? How about enough yarn left over for a second truly triumphant FO? I have enough to do another sweater or even a shawl, which I think is what will becomes of the rest of the yarn. I'm planning out a modified Shetland shawl and should get started on that as soon as I'm done with the pink cotton sweater I'm working on. To add to all this fiber related joy, I got a message from my mom last night telling me that a friend of hers just sheered her 2 alpacas (or maybe llamas) and wants to give me the fleeces. Two whole fleeces! All for me! Hurray! One is white and one is some sort of tan color. Cleaning and carding 2 whole llama (or maybe alpaca) fleeces should be an interesting task, but I think it should be ok. I have a drum carder, and this might be a good excuse to get some good combs.
Now if I can just get though this week...the latest news is that the hiring gods are waiting on feedback from some recalcitrant person who remains unknown to me, but this person is being pestered, and if the universe is kind I *might* have some kind of news tomorrow or Friday. Hurray! My new boss is amazing, she's taking the whole leaving for school problem very seriously, and seems to have convinced other people that this is a problem as well. So I'm keeping all the fingers and toes crossed and trying not to panic while I plow through this week.
As if freakish technical problems aren't enough, I have a whole army of people coming after me personally for application support questions. We have a support email address these questions are supposed to be routed to. I freely admit that 90% of the time, I answer these mails, but also filter my mail so that I find these support questions. If people don't send the question to the address, it gets lost in between rrandom bug reports, Venezuelan spam, and strange messages from my mother. How friggin' hard is it to follow a simple instruction? Really? You people are in testing, how can you be that illiterate?
Anyway...I have fiber news! Wonderful, beautiful, fiber news! All I lack are pictures and sewn on buttons, but the Lacy alpaca cardigan is done, assembled and blocked. And it is lovely. Really really lovely. I love this sweater, it's soft and light and luminous and fits beautifully, and did I mention how lovely it is? Tonight I will sew on the buttons and take some pictures.
And it gets better! What can be better than a truly triumphant FO? How about enough yarn left over for a second truly triumphant FO? I have enough to do another sweater or even a shawl, which I think is what will becomes of the rest of the yarn. I'm planning out a modified Shetland shawl and should get started on that as soon as I'm done with the pink cotton sweater I'm working on. To add to all this fiber related joy, I got a message from my mom last night telling me that a friend of hers just sheered her 2 alpacas (or maybe llamas) and wants to give me the fleeces. Two whole fleeces! All for me! Hurray! One is white and one is some sort of tan color. Cleaning and carding 2 whole llama (or maybe alpaca) fleeces should be an interesting task, but I think it should be ok. I have a drum carder, and this might be a good excuse to get some good combs.
Now if I can just get though this week...the latest news is that the hiring gods are waiting on feedback from some recalcitrant person who remains unknown to me, but this person is being pestered, and if the universe is kind I *might* have some kind of news tomorrow or Friday. Hurray! My new boss is amazing, she's taking the whole leaving for school problem very seriously, and seems to have convinced other people that this is a problem as well. So I'm keeping all the fingers and toes crossed and trying not to panic while I plow through this week.
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