RAR MADE THIS!

ontheneedle.net

I'm moving... this site will be down in about two weeks, but posting over at ontheneedle.net has already begun.  Update your bookmarks, my friends.  (again ;)

New year, new yarn

So now that we're eight days into the new year, I've finally found myself with the time to take stock of my life, knitting-wise. I've been more prolific already this year than was in 2007... I'm on the home stretch on a pair of socks and I'm a few inches into a fair isle hat.

The Ravelry queue is nice and tidy, with deadlines and stash yarn picked out for each project. I've got a lot of fun projects planned, and I'm excited. You've got to love a clean slate.

Currently, the socks on the needles are the Merino Lace Socks from Interweave's Favorite Knitted socks. Just before I sat down to type the post I had finished the third gusset decrease on the heel of the second sock, and I'm loving it. The first sock is beautiful, and it's currently resting on the new sock blockers I picked up from The Loopy Ewe. I'm knitting them out of Fleece Artist's Sea Wool, which has been an interesting experience. The yarn just feels like luxury with it's 70% merino, 30% sea cell content. However, when knit up, it's not as soft as I expected. The yarn is also a bit splitty which sometimes makes me bonkers. The yarn and the pattern are a nice fit, though. I'm sure the feel of them will be much improved after their first wash.

Merry merry Christmas

The sun is going down on Christmas.  Emily and her sister are napping downstairs.  I spent the first half of the day with family swapping gifts and hugs, and I must say... I'm glad the magic of this day never dissipates.  I'm glad that no matter how stressed or tired I am by the time the twenty-fifth rolls around, that I still have those butterflies in my stomach.

I hope that for years to come, I still have as much love to be thankful for as I did today.

I hope you all a peaceful, beautiful day.

In my element

I keep hinting about change.  There has been a lot of it here lately, which tends to be almost a constant in my life.  These past few weeks have been scary, exhilarating, freeing, and prolific.  I have been knitting on a more consistent basis than I have in years.  I've been dyeing yarn like a crazy person.  I've been spending time with friends.

Three weeks ago, I quit my job.  "The Job" as I always referred to it here, consisted of working as an inbound customer service representative for a major wireless phone service.  It was awful.  I did it for just over a year, and I cannot begin to express to you how thrilled I am to be out of that place.  I feel, oddly, like I got myself back from some dark place that I was trapped in.  I spent my days doing something I hated, and each morning as I arrived there, I had that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that can best be described as the way it felt to show up at high school without having done your homework.

I walked out on a Saturday and only went back to turn in my letter of resignation.  I have since gotten my job back at The Knaughty Knitter (best LYS ever) working a few days a week and teaching scattered classes.  I'm also working at a bookstore, and have finally found the time to set up my own Etsy shop. I've been having a good old time over at Ravelry, and I have finished several things. 

Sometimes I can feel people not understanding when I try and tell them how much I love knitting, yarn, and the rest.  My goal now is spend a bit more time with people who get it, and spreading the love as much as I can.

These have been some of the best weeks I've had in a long time.  Welcome me back.

Changes!

This is our new cat, Mary Louise.  Her presence is one of several new and exciting things around here, and I'm super excited about all of them, and I plan on sharing it all, but I'm waiting for a few more things to fall into place.

Let's just say The Job... is no longer my job.

No more nesting on the couch!

I signed up for Weight Watchers today.  This is something a bit foreign to me, as I've always been one of those people who claimed not to care about weight. Turns out I didn't care because I was happy with the way I felt.  That's changed.  I stepped onto a scale today for the first time in months and it was quite the eye opener.  I've got an initial goal of losing ten percent of my body weight which equals to about 17 pounds.  That seems like such a huge goal for me right now, but I'm going to try it.  Consider this my first official leap into the world of dieting.  Wish me luck.

In other diet news, I am officially on a yarn diet until the end of the year.  My stash has been sitting stagnant for months now, and I've become more of a yarn buyer than a knitter.  I've got too many projects in the works to count, but as soon as I find the charger for my camera's battery, you people are going to start seeing some progress.

I'll probably attempt to document the weight loss effort here as well as the stitching progress.  Right now I'm trying to focus on getting out of the funk I've been in where all I do is work and complain about work.  Somehow I've let The Job become my life.  The problem with this is, I hate The Job.  I would leave, but the benefits/pay are something I couldn't find anywhere else.

So... I'm going to do more things for me.  I'm going to start going to knitting group once again.  As soon as I get a firmer hold on my bank account I plan on starting up with some yoga classes.  I am going to knit for at least one solid hour a day.  These things aren't hard, they just demand that I shed the layer of laziness that has been covering me lately.   I'm pushing it off, though.  I'm knitting lace, socks, and sweaters.  I'm getting off of the couch more often.

I'm listening to more music.

Funny how easy it is to forget yourself sometimes, isn't it?

Post-vacation

Emily and I returned last night from a three day vacation/Pride extravaganza in Atlanta.  We left Thursday after I was released from the claws of The Job, and made the three and a half hour trek down to my favorite city in the south.  The point of the trip was to attend Atlanta's wonderful Pride celebration, which we did in full force.  Besides baking at the sun in the park and watching the parade, we (plus the East Tennessee contingent of Tiffany, Nick, and Clarence) made our way to Zoo Atlanta and it was absolutely wonderful.  Flamingos, gorillas, otters, pandas,  warthogs,  rhinos, orangutans... I didn't think I would have nearly as much fun as I did. 

Also, on Sunday morning, Emily and I took a tour of the CNN Center, which was mega-exciting.  Emily is a huge CNN junkie, and she's managed to turn me into one as well.  We spend our time at home snuggled up with Anderson Cooper and greeting each correspondent by name.  It's pretty ridiculous.   Needless to say, our trip "behind the scenes" at CNN made us both pretty giddy.  Especially when we got to see the newsroom (!!).  No pictures from that part of the trip unfortunately.  No cameras allowed.  I did pick up some things at the gift shop though... I know own a tank top that I says "I love my CNN."  How ridiculous.

Pride itself was a blast.  We sat in the park both Friday evening from 4:30 to about 8:00pm, and then again on Saturday from 9:45am to after 6:00pm.  We had a perfect, shady spot, met some fabulous people, and basked in the glory of being in a place where we were the MAJORITY for a change.  I'll be honest... I never realize how hard it can be not to feel comfortable showing affection to the person I love most in this world until I'm actually in a place where that discomfort disappears.  It was perfect, and it was hard to come home.

As for the knitting?  I worked on my Jaywalkers for a bit while sitting in the park.  Right now I'm getting ready to head to my LYS to (perhaps) order some yarn and pick up a thing or two.  The summer fibers are yelling my name.  I think I might be getting ready to go cotton crazy.  First up?  Blouson from Interweave Knits Summer 2007.  I've already gotten the yarn, now it's time to cast on.  More on that one in the near future.

She returns

I disappear a lot.  These last several months have been a period of serious change for me.  I began a new job, fell in love, got promoted and then engaged.  Life is good.  Also during this time my camera died, which seriously inhibited my posting desires. 

I got a new camera.  And I got an account on Ravelry.com.  I have been knitting like crazy.  Let's see if these leads to more posting here....

one can only hope.

I still have the knitting.

Tomorrow marks my last day working at the store as more than a teacher.  For the past ten months I've been lucky enough to work at a knitting shop for thirty plus hours a week, and now that it's over, I can't help thinking about the huge amount of knowledge I've accumulated since I started here.  Before this job, I was knitting scarves and hats.  Now, I'm into the world of sweaters, toys, and socks.  There isn't anything I'm really scared to attempt now, and that's amazing. 

So now, I'll still be teaching at the store on Saturdays (thank goodness), but knitting will go back to being a much more private affair.  Most of it will happen at home.  Gone are the afternoons knitting with the regulars and ooohing and ahhing over the latest shipment (this week it was Crystal Palace wools and a visit from our Louet rep). No more seeing the yarns as soon as they arrive. No more freaking out the UPS guy with my excitement over a box from Blue Sky Alpacas or Interweave.

I told Doyle (co-owner of the store) this morning that this job has been such a gift.  I went from someone who wanted to knit to someone who was absolutely in love with and immersed in the world of the craft.  It's been intense and exciting.  It sounds geeky to say, but I love knitting.  Seriously.  I love everything about it.  The yarn.  The needles.  The perfect little stitches.  Watching lace patterns grow.  Working on a sock while sitting in a waiting room.  Casting on.  Color.  All of it.  I'm hooked.

Boo.  This post just got really depressing.  This is just one of those times in life  when I had to make an "I have to" instead of an "I want to" decision.  The new job will provide stability and insurance.  These are good things.  And I still have the knitting.  I won't let go of the knitting.  You can count on that.

Define "grown up."

The time is now 1:26 a.m. and I have just returned home from an eight hour babysitting stint at my sister's house. Tonight I took care of my six year old nephew and three year old niece, and let me tell you, I always forget how selfish I am until I spend some time taking care of the two of them. The constant "go! go! go!" that is needed when you're taking care of children is so exhausting, I hate how soon I start longing for my quiet house that holds me and my dog as its only tenants. I love my nieces and nephews, Lord knows I do, but WOW. I like quiet too. And privacy. And not having to hold back a curse word when I stub my toe.

The whole time I was worrying about Girl (my dog/child) who had thrown up three times in the past thirty-six hours. She was acting perfectly fine, but something is wrong when a well behaved-will hold it all day while Mom's at work animal heaves all over your sofa. So tonight, I'm building Lego castles, reading bed time stories, brushing baby teeth (I remember how crazy I thought it was the first time I was told I had to brush thier teeth for them), and hoping that Project Runway's not turned up too loud after the kids are in bed, and I'm thinking, "Are these really the only responsibilities that define 'adulthood'?" Because I've got my share. There's the dog with an upset tummy. There's the fact that I start a new job on Monday that is throwing an insane schedule, my first ever real salary, and dental insurance at me all at once. There's the bank account that is always and forever entirely too close to being empty. Why do all of those things fly out the window in a huge WHOOSH when my nephew let's me know from the back seat of the car that, "Umm.. Rachel... there's a lighter on the floor."

At the end of the evening, when my sister and brother-in-law arrive home from the concert they'd been busy grooving at all evening, I inform my sister who is three years my senior that the kids behaved pretty well, but that the younger one tended to ignore me whenever I tried to stop her from doing something "bad." Her response? "Well, I hate to say it, but she's just like you."

Thanks.

I arrive home, and there is no dog throw up anywhere, thank goodness. As I'm outside at 1:15 in the morning walking my frolicking animal, I try to remind myself that this single life I'm living (and WANT, thank you.) is nothing to be ashamed of. It's okay that I don't want kids. I'm a darn good aunt, and I am -- say it with me -- AN ADULT. So there.

Not much knitting today. I worked on Backyard Leaves for a little while after the kids where in bed and as insults were thrown on Project Runway. I LOVE that show so hard.

Tomorrow I'm going to mow the lawn and knit my little heart out. It's my last night hosting knitting group at the store before I started my teaching only schedule there. After that, the knitting store will officially be labeled my "other job." Now how grown up is that?