What's New......... - originally posted 11/10/10 - last post on old blog

Well, since I last posted I have completed my last days at my former job. The last day was kind of hard. The office manager had gone to visit her oldest daughter & granddaughter in SC and so I spent my last 4 days there in the main office by myself. The last day, every time I did something, it would cross my mind that this was the last time I would do this task. But I made it through and have been unemployed since leaving work at 5 pm on October 29th.

I have applied for unemployment and if I am doing it right, I expect to see something next week. Through this week it is saying that nothing has been processed, but I think that is because there is a 1 week waiting period & last week, which I applied for on Sunday of this week, was my 1st week of being unemployed. I don't know for sure, it's extremely hard to get through by phone and I have never applied for unemployment before!

I have also emailed my resume & letter of recommendation to several companies for consideration. I told the temp agency that they could submit my resume for 2-3 companies in addition to the ones that they submitted it to prior to my last day at my previous job.

I have been doing more cooking than I had been prior, mostly because now I am at home during the day, so even when D works evenings, I can cook before he heads to work. This is something I haven't done a lot in the last 5 years - mostly because I hate to cook for 1 or 2, but I am not miding having left-overs right now. D also has been kind of picky about what he would or wouldn't eat for a while, checking everything to make sure it didn't have hydrogenated stuff in it & so on. But he seems to right now at least, not be being so picky about things.

I also have done some more knitting, crocheting & just plain resting up a bit. I have even turned off the alarm. Am still waking up about 7-8 am, was 5-6 before, so not sleeping in too badly. I have had to fight with myself some to keep from staying up quite so late at night. My more natural inclination is to stay up until about 4-5 am, then sleep in until at least about 10 am.

I took my sister out for her 47th birthday on November 4, made her a cake (wanted to make it look like siamese cat, but after giving it to her & the looking at the pictures I took I realized that I forgot to trim the bottom of 1 ear with black icing) & gave her a crocheted scarf as a gift. I am going to be going out to brunch this coming Saturday with 2, maybe 3 women I went to school with from grade school. We have all reconnected on Facebook (at least 3 of us have, the other is not on FB, but I keep running into her around town, so trying to get her to join us, but she doesn't have a phone) and have decided to get together. It's been 33+ years since we all graduated high school. I remember the one being in class with me in 10th grade, but she left to have a baby. The other I don't remember seeing her at all in high school and she says she doesn't remember either me or J from high school. That is kind of what happens when you combine about 8 grade schools into 3 junior highs, then all into 1 high school of about 1500 people total for 3 grades.

I have had 2 of the granddaughters for their visits with me. The oldest wanted to go to Wichita to the Museum of World Treasures and wanted to invite my youngest to go with us there. We ended up getting in on an "opening" of a redone exhibit. The youngest decided she wanted to go to the movies to see MegaMind and to the Kansas Cosmosphere to go through the museum. I ended up losing a knitting needle somewhere between an Apollo 13 exhibit & going through Wal-mart, so guess it was a good thing I had also tucked in some more yarn & needles just in case. I was able to start a scarf for the youngest during the movie. I got home and was able to transfer the 1st scarf to another set of needles, so have finished it now, except for double checking sizing as soon as I see the kids again. I have decided that at the moment, at least until unemployment kicks in, my time is more plentiful than money, so I will try to use stash yarn & make things for the kids for Christmas this year. Maybe will make a meal or 2 for our adult kids as our gift to them.

I saw a picture of a scarf online that the designer was selling the pattern. But I could tell by looking at the scarf pretty much how she had done it. So I decided to try casting on & duplicating it for the most part. I added 1 more hole to the design on each side, then I decided to try adding a hood to it. The orange one is the 1st set that I have finished. The multi is made from yarn I had left from a project for the same granddaughter from about 5 years ago. She still likes the yarn. I decided to make hers a bit different since I now had a real feel for the design, so I turned every other one upside down & did it in reverse. I think she will like it! I have thought on & off for years about trying to add a hood to scarves so that they are all in one.

I also finished weaving in the ends on a baby blanket that I had done a few years ago. It is now being used by the latest new family member - my sister's newest grandson that was born October 18th.

Yesterday I started rearranging our bedroom. I need to move a few more things & then I think I may take the recliner in there as well as a corner desk. Set the desk up so that D can have his typewriter set up all the time (he refuses to learn to use a computer, but is always wanting to make copies of things to keep - just cannot convince him that things would be so much better if he had it on the computer) and the recliner will allow me to have a place to sit & crochet or read in the bedroom, if I want. Because of D's back, he prefers to lay down on the bed than to sit in the living room in the evenings anyway, so I could sit with him.

I have also done some knitting on another shawl for my mil, but I find it hard to work on in the evenings when the light is lower. So it isn't getting as much progress as the scarves are right now. I have 5 grandkids to get something done for, so that will take a bit of time.

I am also trying to figure out exactly how to add Ravelry Progress Bars to my blog of the projects that I have up on Ravelry. I seem to be missing something because I copy the api info & put it into the bigger box for the widget, but the only thing that shows up in my title for that section. Guess I am going to have to do more digging to get that set up.

Well, probably should get around & get something done for today! Hope you all are having a good week!

Friday

Today is Friday and unless things change before about midnight, I will be spending the day mostly likely with just the dogs!  My dh said on Wednesday that he should be working 15 hours today, so I have put a small crockpot of vegetable beef soup on for myself for dinner.  I had picked up a roast on Tuesday when I was at the store & cooked it all day in the crockpot & now I have put some in my soup.

I may have to put on some socks or else close some windows!  My feet are cold today!  Right now, weatherbug is telling me that it is 59 degrees here, at 12:40 pm!  Quite a change from a month ago & definitely has a feeling of Fall in the air.  That part I don't really care for since I am more of a Spring person, but the cooler weather is nice!

No grandchildren this weekend, but the oldest granddaughter does have a tennis match on Monday afternoon.  Actually, I think she might have more than 1 next week, but I will have to check my calendar again to make sure.  I do have it set to pop up each morning with a reminder of what is going on that day.  I love my calendar on my computer!  It helps to keep me organized, although in some ways I don't need it quite as much these days - my dh's work schedule is usually M-F 8 - 4:30 unless he has over-time.  He used to work a combination of days & evenings & was on an 8 day rotation, so I always had to keep his schedule on my calendar to know if I was going to be alone in the evenings or not.

We had some rain over the last couple of days.  Still need a lot more to make up for the drought that we have been in for a couple of years, but it is definitely a start.  The yards around here are all looking pretty green again!  They had turned mostly brown way back in about May, so this is unusual for us!

I finished 1 pair of socks this week & have started another.  I decided to make up my own design & it seems to be working out all right.  I do wonder about when I get to the leg & start going around the leg.  Since I will be working in the round, it might throw the diamonds off a bit.  I decided on the following pattern rows:

O - Knit
X = Purl

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OXOOOXOOOXOOOXOOOXOOOX

XXXOXXXOXXXOXXXOXXXOXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXOXXXOXXXOXXXOXXXOXX

OXOOOXOOOXOOOXOOOXOOOX

This is over 22 stitches & then will continue the pattern over the remaining 22 stitches & the only thing that might not come out right is that since I am working in the round, it might not line up 100% on the last stitch & the 1st stitch of each round.  The new pair is in an olive color that my oldest granddaughter decided she liked when she saw it.

 
After I get all these socks done, I am thinking about taking the leftovers & making some crazy socks using all or at least some of the colors in stripes.  I've seen where another blogger has done this, but I believe with the smaller sock yarn & they have looked great.

I mentioned the other day that I was hoping to be able to find the reality TV series Amish in the City to be able to watch it since when it was on the air, I didn't have cable TV & so wasn't able to watch it.  I still don't have cable, but I had been able to find a way to download the new Dallas series, Breaking Amish & Meet the Hutterites series through Amazon's instant video option.  But I have searched & searched looking for a possible way to get the Amish in the City series or at least be able to watch it online.  Well, I think I have finally had success, but I won't know for sure until the 1st episode finishes downloading.  I kept finding snippets on youtube, but they weren't the complete episode.  Last night, I found the following site - http://www.general-files.com/files-a/amish-in-the-city/ & while I had issues with Firefox crashing repeatedly as I tried to download, Internet Explorer seems to be working fine right now.  It means it will probably mean I pay extra for my internet for this month, but guess that is the price I pay.  At least this site gives me the option of not having to register & not having to pay.  I found several sites that required me to register & even wanted me to put in a credit card # & then wouldn't even having the series on the list afterwards.  After 1, which I then cancelled, I never went through with the others since they all started to look alike.  This site that I am using says it has 9 episodes, which is the correct number of episodes for the series and while it will only let me download 1 at a time, at least it is downloading them & I am not registered, nor did I have to pay.  I would have, if I could have just found what I needed, but this is the 1st time I found what looks right.  I will let you know, maybe before I actually post this post today.

I am thinking I will hold this post for a bit & maybe I can get the current Sangria shawl to a new chart & so get a picture of it to add here & maybe a picture as well of the newest socks on the needles.

I went through my Ravelry projects today & changed a few more names so that all the items that are alike now group together - like shawls, scarves, bulky socks or just socks, baby blankets, etc.  I also a while back had figured out that if I added some spaces in front of the name on the ones that are wip's & then take those spaces out when I finish a project, that they will sort with the wip at the beginning & all the finished items will slow up below that.  I decided to use 10 spaces, but don't know, it might work with less spaces.

 I decided to go ahead & close the windows in the living room, dining room & the kitchen.  The dogs seemed to be trying to get warm.  They still don't have a lot of fur since I kept them short through at least mid-August.  Usually by now they have nearly 2 months of growth to their fur.  So then I got to watching the dogs - Ginger had gotten out of the bed (they do have 2, but never use both at the same time), so Fred took the bed.   Then Ginger decided she wanted the bed back again, so I watched her go over, nudge the side with her nose since Fred didn't immediately take the hint by her just being there.  Then she waited while he got out of the bed & moved, so now she is in the bed sound asleep!  He is such a whimp when it comes to dealing with Ginger!  Can't decide if she is mom or gf!

I ran across a note recently that my son had made in 2004 of some movies he was loaning to a friend - Alive, Halloween, Ramblin' Man & Speed.  I decided they are probably long gone, so I looked on eBay to see if I could find replacements - which I did & I am waiting on them to arrive now.  I was able to upgrade Ramblin' Man to a dvd version, but VHS was all I found for the others.  I don't personally like horror movies, so that is something Don has to watch alone.  The others are ones that I am eager for them to arrive so that I can watch them again.  I had forgotten about the note being put on the corkboard & wondered what happened to these movies.

The tablecloth that I have started for my niece has gotten me to wanting lace valances in the kitchen & dining room, so I have found a book with some patterns that I like & will try to restrain myself on starting any of them until after I get some other projects done.


Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Ravelry receives warning letter....

First off, I have never participated in the event on Ravelry that is labeled Ravelympics.  I have never really had any interest in watching the Olympic games either!  I am just not a sports fan & only watch a sporting event if my kids or grandkids are involved or if I have no other choice - as in visiting somewhere & the sporting even is on TV & the person I am visiting leaves it on.

But I just found a link a short time ago on my Facebook feed that drew my attention.  Ravelry has received a letter advising them that their event named Ravelympics is a copyright infringement & that they need to cease & desist.  Evidently this event was started to coincide with the Olympic games & involves a crafter - generally a knitter or crocheter, I suppose, who creates 1 or more craft items while watching the Olympic Games.  Evidently there have been different categories like Afghan Marathon & Scarf Hockey, which seem to me to connect it to the Olympics for interest alone.

I'm not sure what I think about the letter they got.  I can kind of see it, but it still seems to be stretching things to claim that by doing this Ravelry is demeaning athletes that have been training for many, many years in their sports.  I mean, to me, I think from what little I know of the Olympics, that things like table tennis & curling are already doing that to skiers, bobsledders, swimmers, etc.  And instead of ticking off all these crafters which might only be looking for something to do to occupy themselves while a spouse is watching so that they don't feel like a widow or widower of yet another sport, why can't they see that they could be costing themselves a lot of sponsorships by these crafters maybe boycotting their sponsors entirely?  And have they also warned groups like the Special Olympics or do they have special permission to use the word Olympics?  Since I believe the word Olympics comes from Mt. Olympia, can it truly be copyrighted like that?  I don't know since I am not a lawyer, but it sure seems to me to be big brother flexing his muscles over a little bitty thing that is no real threat.  Read the article & tell me what you think of it.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!