A Little Yarn On The Side

I did our taxes this weekend, and instead of the usual refund, we owe a HUGE extra amount in taxes.  I know the "party line" is that the smaller with holdings were supposed to make some people pay less, but we are not among them.  Our tax percentage took a huge jump, and this is before all the middle class tax "cuts" fade out.  Next year the Trump Tax will be even worse for us because I drive my own car for appointments, and while my last job had a car allowance to reimburse me for it, the new job has NO such programs, and Cheeto Voldemort took away the ability for salespeople to write off mileage even for business purposes, so automatic pay cut for all outside salespeople.  So, the rest of the weekend was spent in NOT spending any money, which will be the theme for the rest of the year to make up for how much we have to come up with. The creeping phlox is starting to fire up, one of my hellebores finally bloomed,  we have two azaleas that I didn't know...

Today kicks off the third Race to the Bottom in the Ravelry Stashdown group:  an 18-month challenge to either use up the rest of one's stash or to decrease it by a goal amount.  Last time I rocked  the Dryer Lint level, but this time I'm in two additional challenges, fabric and sweaters, so I'm hoping to reach "Alpaca," or 15,000 yards.  To be fair, I've done that amount in a year in the past, but I've dropped off the knitting bandwagon a bit, so I'm hoping to get reinvigorated by the challenge.  And I just might have been dragging on finishing the second sock to give myself an early yardage boost, just in case.........

I'm going into the third week at the new job, and so far it's a bit mixed.  I think I'll like the actual job, but it comes with some baggage:  almost daily emails to the sales department emphasizing selling more, which are ridiculous and never work; team members blasting basketball on the television the instant management isn't there; and on my second day of training, the managers all went out of town for meetings so most of my training got blown off by people who didn't even show up to work.  But I've always been good at marketing and advertising, so I think the actual job is a good fit, but we'll see.  Last weekend we had company, and in case you were considering it, don't have company during your first couple weeks of a new job.  It's too exhausting.  So I was REALLY excited to have the house to ourselves this weekend.  Yesterday I attended the new owner classes for my machine.  The machine weighs 35 pounds, and the suitcase isn't exactly ...

But I'm ready to start the new job.  I think it's going to be a fun place to work, which would be a nice change.  Vacation has been lovely, and everyone should get a two-week vacation when they get a new sewing machine.  :) I finished the shirt from 2015, and am pretty pleased with myself over it.  Now I know to use temporary fabric stiffeners when working with horrible fabrics, but this was started prior to that knowledge, and because the fabric was cut in such a wonky manner, I had to go back to Joanns to get more fabric and even the extra fabric didn't allow for the other collar piece.  Usually when something is this frustrating, it stands a good chance of learning what the inside of the food processor looks like, but I put it away until I could face it again, then actually found it after the move!  There's hope for my sweater wips yet! There was a trip to my Bernina dealership to pick up the table I ordered, and two fabric panels might have ...

One week of vacation gone, one to go, and I'm feeling pretty good about it.  I'm excited about the new job, so I'm not dreading the end of vacation, but I'm enjoying my time off enough that I'm not restless enough to be distracted and prowling.  While Theo helped prewash fabrics, Venus has been helping me with quilting the dragonfly quilt,  while Valentino enjoyed making gift bags: In spite of With their help, I now have 6 finished gift bags, and a new appreciation of kitty nap time: They're so cute when they're not helping.... When using fat quarter sets for the Spicy Spiral runners, there's a bit of fabric left over from each set, but in differing amounts, so it's not terribly useful for much else, but Andy really liked the brown fabric set, so yesterday I made a new rope bowl for his office: I think it's my first attempt at this shape, and I'm really pleased with how well it turned out: The zigzag stitch was...

Thank heavens it's two weeks, not just one, as I still have a very long to-do list.  Like about a 6-year one, in point of fact, which I might not really get through, but so far I've 1. finished all three spiral runners: and love all of them.  The floral one is definitely for us, and the green one initially was going to be, but I'm going to try it out on the dining room table before deciding.  We do have just a few table runners already........... I would try it out now, except 2. I have been blocking long-finished scarves on the dining room table:  there aren't many places that are kitten-proof in the house, but the table is one, and I finally ordered blocking mats to be able to block finished lace somewhere without kitty "assistance."  I found 3 scarves to block so far, but I think there are a couple shawls somewhere as well.  As you might have guessed, the organization of the sewing room is going slowly... 3.  I have been washing an...

I'm on vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Friday was my last day at work, and I was so relieved and excited that I was up at 4:30 yesterday morning.  Not that I want that to be a habit or anything, but I got all three spiral tops sewn together, and then went for a long walk because after the last couple weeks of late winter, it was sunny and beautiful.  While everyone is usually pretty friendly on the walking path near us, everyone was so relieved to have a spring day that the mood was positively exuberant--everyone chatting about the great weather and how beautiful it was.  It's the first time it's taken me two and a half hours to walk 4 miles.  :) The latest sock got a bit of attention as well,  though this morning I've been working on one of the sweaters.  I won't be able to make a visible dent in the stash in 2 weeks, but I am hoping to locate the stylus for my new machine and my left quilting glove.  I think Venus probably stole my stylus as ...