A Little Yarn On The Side

Idaho got it's first confirmed corona virus case Friday, and we're already at 9 confirmed cases with at least 37 people being monitored.  Most cases were from people bringing it in, though I think 4 cases are untraced and are all in a pretty small population base, so it in the population in general in some areas.  Being a state that loathes government, the governor is leaving everything to counties and cities. so things are uneven and confusing with some cities acting quickly to stop the spread and others still pretending it's a hoax, so I'm sure THAT will turn out well.  Andy's company and my new company have already sent everyone home to work, so it's nice to be part of organizations taking this seriously.  Meanwhile, Andy's Valentine's Day shirt is finished except for some hand stitching and buttons.  Clearly, not exactly on time.  I'm still on the Spicy Spiral marathon, and will be frantically finishing this one for a charity auction f...

And we're already into March. WOW. Updates in no particular order: * I was offered a very exciting job on Friday and also had an interview for another great job that morning, so it was a REALLY great day.  *  Charlie has now experienced catnip: * My parents are moved into their new house and are loving it.  Their housewarming gift is in progress: The colors are a bit more subdued than the picture.  For the most part, I like my new phone, but the picture colors are overly intense.  *  While trying to find fabrics that I thought would work for the fall colors they wanted, I found some fat quarter sets on clearance, so I'm on a Spicy Spiral binge, this being the latest:  Charlie is helping:  *  We're gone through so many gifts lately that I've been working on bowls as well,  including working out some new shapes: * I finished the socks I was working on, and immediately cast on a new pair: because self-patterni...

I'm not sure I'll have a prouder accomplishment all year--or a more surprising one.  I think I have a few fingerprints left. Andy is gone for the weekend, so the kitties and I are having a crafting weekend.  With their help,  I finished the first project of the year. The colors are a bit more subdued in real life, but I don't know how to reduce the intensity of this cell phone's camera.  I also cut some more strips for other projects, and wound another Hank from Hell:  A couple years ago I bought some Feza Rio that was on clearance, and for a cashmere/merino blend, it's not at all soft, and until this yarn, I didn't know one could hank yarn badly, but there does seem to be a way to do it so unevenly that permanent kinks are put into the yarn, and if that weren't enough fun, rather than being normal human beings who tie the ends into the threads holding the hank in place, these deranged maniacs tied the two ends together and snipped off the end...

Happy new year everyone! So, I didn't reach either of my crafting goals for last year, but I did use up 96 yards of fabric, which would really be making a dent in the stash if I hadn't also bought quite a bit of fabric last year.  Oops. There were a few late-finish projects, like another teal rope bowl, more flannel pajamas which I am currently wearing, and another rope bowl which was promptly gifted: Since I had to work the day after and day before Christmas, we decided to not have our traditional open house & game night, and instead had fun making homemade falafel and pitas--with Charlie helping herself to a pita, hanging out in the trees, helping organize the sewing room, and enjoying some new toys from a friend: Valentino has been slowest to warm to Charlie, probably because HE was the baby before her, but she's determined to wear him down: For New Year's Eve, I won a trip for two to Phoenix to attend a Jim Brickman concert (enter to...

It’s hard to say when a house starts to really feel like home, but if it’s when one starts having to fix things, then this was the year we settled into the new house.  2019 started off with a roof leak into our dining room, the death of my old washing machine, and a leak under the sink, so we’re very, VERY settled into the new house. And just in case we weren’t, in August we adopted a stray kitten we found (Charlie) who is busily tearing apart anything left standing.  For those counting, Charlie brings the feline population to 4, though some days it feels more like 9 or 10, especially during shedding season.. Andy continues liking his new job, and is enjoying being close to Bogus Basin and ran to work regularly in order to train for the Mesa Falls Marathon in August (in the mountains, so not as hot as that sounds).  For those not familiar, Mesa Falls is in eastern Idaho near Ashton, where the interstate gives up and goes back to being a highway.  We found a very char...

December 1, and yesterday I finished projects 40:  41: and 42: and I am taking a vacation day tomorrow.  There's a shirt I finally got cut out in spite of Charlie's help, and there could be some machine embroidery..... Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.  We went to the family ranch for what will hopefully be the last Thanksgiving there.  Theoretically, the ranch is finally sold, though it was supposed to close last week and didn't so one never knows.  We only spent one night there, partly because with the television on all the time and my family's tendency to squabble over even little things, it was loud and exhausting, but also because Charlie was spayed last weekend and we were attempting to keep her quiet.  which is a lot to ask of a kitten who has just discovered that she can climb the 9-foot Christmas tree.   You can perhaps guess how far up the smaller tree she gets:  It seems this tree is the perfect plac...

As you might have guessed from the general lack of activity on this blog, the new job is pretty demanding.  October was our big "sale," so there was tons of pressure to get everything signed leading up to it, but of course now that it's over, the pressure hasn't let up.  Plus they're remodeling the office to an "open office" design--throwing out, of course, the egalitarian origins of no offices for management--and just taking away all personal space from the sales team.  Originally, they were just going to send us home to work during the remodel, but then no one could micromanage, so even though there's no real space,we're expected to show up and work in the office, regardless.  Did I mention that I think we're up to 11 or 12 people leaving just since I started? I've been knitting a lot to reduce stress, which really isn't helping, though I'm getting a sweater out of it:  The back and now both fronts are done, and I'm wor...