A Little Yarn On The Side

Between looking for a job and trying to get the house ready for to sell, my stress level is just a wee bit high right now, as I think most people would guess.  I say "most" because there are always those family members who never think you're doing enough for them no matter what is happening in your own life, but everyone has at least one of those relatives, right?  Anyway, the hobby party turned out to be both a nice break AND a really fun event. We had a "display" table of things that people had made for us that weren't going to be eligible for any voting, but were still fun.  I have a pair of pillowcases my favorite grandmother made me, tin can furniture from my other grandmother, both of which were made from old Band-Aid boxes, a doily one of my volunteers gave me, a ceramic owl Andy's cousin made, a ceramic Santa a friend painted,  a quilt from Andy's great-aunt and one from my grandmother,  and a rock table made by my great-grandmo...

So interview #1 is over and I did not get the job, but rather amazingly, they called me to tell me this.  That's a first--usually it's a form email or letter 6 weeks later when you've basically already figured that out.  I thought that was above and beyond, so very high marks to that gentleman.  The next one is on Monday, so hopefully I am not spending the rest of the week curled up in the back of my closet--but I will take knitting with me if I do. Tomorrow we are hosting a Home Hobby party.  Many of our friends are amateur musicians, and there are regular "house concerts" for people to perform, which is fun, but it occurred to me that we have lots of friends with OTHER hobbies, so everyone is invited to bring something to show, and there will be prizes for favorite, most unusual, and just general door prizes.  I've been able to see some of the things our friends do, but they're always surprising me with new talents, so I'm very excited about this a...

Andy hauled off a bunch of stuff to donate this week, and there were FOUR yards of costume satin in the pile!!! I am SO proud of myself for this.  I have never managed to donate fabric before, and was only able to give away fabric that I had been given and didn't think I'd use.  And even more exciting, I've set aside TWO MORE yards of fabric to give away!  And lots of crafting books and magazines as well.  Not a huge dent, of course, but every little bit helps.

I don't know........does this remind you of anyone?

I'm always ready for spring, but after this winter, I'm even more excited. And...........I HAVE JOB INTERVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!  2 to be exact.  One this week and a final interview with another organization next week, so I might be back to work soon!  Conversely, if I go through all of this and don't get either job, I might be spending April curled up in a ball in the back of my closet.  Ah, the possibilities...... I finally have a picture of Andy's new shirt with buttons, and started my next project,  which you might notice isn't pajamas.  It's another one of these which is what I'm wearing for Me Made Monday today.  At least this is also a very old piece of fabric--probably 2006/2007.  It's a fine-wale corduroy, and I bought it to make a shirt for Andy, apparently before I figured out how much fabric it takes to make a shirt.  Since the jacket involves a LOT of pieces, it takes less fabric, so it's almost the only option for thi...

So Me Made Monday was fairly easy this week, as it was freezing and spitting snow.  This is one of the most comfy things I've ever made.  Being spring in Idaho, of course, it was 60 degrees yesterday  It's supposed to be almost 70 degrees this week, then heaven only knows.  Layers are our friend. With the assistance of Callisto, who has a passion for laying on sewing instructions, I have been working on Andy's shirt in little bits all week, getting everything finished yesterday, and adding buttons today: The job hunt continues in both states, but slowly.  Job.no job/moving/not moving is a FABULOUS way to get stressed out, but luckily we realized that most of the things we would have to do to prep our house to sell are things that need to be done anyway, so this week I started with the closet in the master bath.  Besides just a general cleaning and sorting, it really needed to be repainted.  We'll have been in this house 11 years thi...

It's now been 600 days since I last purchased yarn.  I think because I've been so busy with work, job hunting, and everything else, I haven't really felt the yarn-buying urge yet, which is surprising.  Shocking, really.  Okay--astounding.  Now if I just did more knitting............

If one is cutting out a thick fabric--say, a thinner fleece perhaps--if the layout instructions say to cut out 2 matching pieces on the fold, the squishiness of the fabric could be an even bigger factor than one originally thinks.  Between the two collar pieces and the interfacing, I have three separate sizes here.  REALLY separate sizes.  Luckily, if I can get it away from Callisto, I have enough fabric to cut out more collar pieces, and this time laying the pattern piece flat so the two pieces will, I assume, come out to be the same size.  One never knows for sure with sewing, but there's always hope in my heart that the Sewing Gods are in a good mood.  Or have someone else to bother. Aside from this fairly major collar issue, Andy's Valentine Shirt progresses,  and could actually be done by Saint Patrick's Day.  We're flexible like that with holidays. So, I might have gotten so excited about all the cool new designs that I ordered more...

As I'm sure all of you know, looking for a job can be a very depressing and frustrating process, and I think it's made far worse than it need be by receiving no notification or acknowledgement at all when one has taken the time to apply for a job.  I'm always grateful to receive notice when a position has been filled, but today's made my week: " After considering your submitted application materials, we have decided to offer the position to another candidate." Ha!  Glad I could help.  And tell that other candidate he/she owes me lunch. :)

Yesterday was the last day of the "Race to the Bottom" challenge on Ravelry, which I helped moderate.  An 18-month challenge to potentially use up all one's stash (if possible) or an estimated 30,000.  Several people cleared out over 100,000 yards of yarn.  Me, I did an astounding 7,474.1 yards over a total of 18 months.  415 yards a month--that's just pathetic.  It did earn me the funniest badge ever, The Dryer Lint Level participation badge!  We'll be starting another 18-month challenge on May 1, and at least I'll have nowhere to go but up.