Shamrock Knits

Beautiful Blogging and About Me

Someone nominated Robin for a Beautiful Blogger Award, which is definitely desired. She then nomiated me for some unknown reason. LOL

Here are some things that you may not know about me.

1) I have low/no self-esteem. I was fat as a child (nicknamed Miss Piggy) and grew out of it somewhat as an adult. More on the chucky and curvy side than fat. My weight fluctuates like a yo-yo.

2) I don't like to talk about myself much or like to be in pictures. This probably relates to #1.

3) I was recently layed off. I don't have any bad will against my former company, but items #1 and #2 are definitely a hurdle in a job search. It has made me realize how bad I was with keeping in touch with people. That's something I'm working on improving.

Enough with the Debbie Downer items ;)

4) I'm a collector. I collect first edition hard cover books (mostly mystery), DVDs (have about 300 movies), yarn and now fabric (as most knitters and sewers).

5) I support the troops through BooksForSoldiers. I used to be more active in sending care packages, but I got a little burnt out. I've got shelves of paperbacks, puzzles, games. pens, used DVDs in my basement ready to go. Each box is about $15 for shipping, which is not bad, but financially not a good time for me right now.

6) I'm a Facebook game addict. Right now I can't stop playing crazy quilt software. Ironic, right? I don't post very often (like here), but I go and play the games too often.

7) I'm an only child with an extended step family. I have a stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, and two stepsisters. One of my sisters has been my housemate for over 5 years and we're three months apart in age. Made for interesting coversation during college bar days (same last name).

9) I've been trying to exercise over the last couple of years. I was doing extremely well between my personal trainer and starting to run on my own. My #3 item has put a dent in that schedule. You would think I have all the time in the world to exercise, but I find myself less motivated. I think it's a mix of guilt that I should be doing something more productive (looking for a job), no regular daily routine anymore (go to gym after work), and I really hate working out. I did feel better overall and was definitely looking better than I have in the past. I haven't stopped all together, but sometimes it's weeks before I get back to the gym.

10) I take pictures of flowers when I go on vacation. I'm having difficulties with my computer, so this is the only picture I can post right now. This is a picture from a California winery. They plant flowers and roses near the grapes as an early frost warning system. Effective and beautiful.

Update: My computer is feeling better now. This picture is from Arizona. My sister and I were walking up Camelback Mountain and this was on the way there.

Can't have flower pictures without one from Hawaii. This was in a strip mall parking lot.

Here's one from House on the Rock. There's a small, but beautiful, Japanese garden there.

 

Goals? Check!

I'm checking off my personal and work goals. I'll start with the non-fun work goals.

1) Found out in December that I'll be losing my job at the end of May. - Check

2) Update resume. - (Have semi-decent draft done) Check

3) Posted resume and/or sent out - Nope - I've been procrastinating on this since December. I was in denial before since I've been with the company for 20 years. Now I think it's just fear of my self worth and trying to find a new job "out there".

Now on to the funner personal goals.

1) Lose 2 dress sizes - Check! It's taken a year with personal training, but finally there! I was at a size 16 pants and now in between a 12 and a 10. YAHOO!

2) Start running - Check About 2 months ago, I started running for 30 second intervals with walking in between. I added 30 seconds of running each week for awhile and then started adding 1 minute. I just surpassed my first goal of running 10 minutes straight (I did 12 min yesterday).

3) Finish Ravelympics project - Pretty much Check - I just have to do the seaming and weaving in ends. I haven't had much knitting mojo and have only been knitting during my Thursday night group.

4) File taxes - Check (after tonight) - I started last night and will have it finished tonight. For some reason, this year and last year I waited until April. I usually have this done at the end of Feb or beginning of March.

Future goals:

1) GET RESUME OUT AND LOOK FOR A JOB! - I've only got a month and a half of work. I'm getting some severence, but I don't want to count on that and unemployment. I'm afraid it may take a year to find a job. God, please prove me wrong.

2) Run 20 minutes straight. Then 30 minutes. Then try a 5K run. We'll see if I can stick with running and accomplish this by the end of summer. If not, I'd like running/walking to be part of my workout routine. Now that I'm done with personal training (last session was tonight), I need to try to keep up with it on my own. I don't want to be a 16 again. My whole life has been yo-yoing up to 16, then back down to 14 (if lucky a 12).

3) Declutter the entire house. I soooo need to get rid of stuff. I have too much clutter. I feel paralyzed in my house surrounded by everything. This will be on my unemployment "to do" list.

4) Break out of self esteem issues. I have negative self esteem. This is not going to help my find a job or a man for that matter. One of the things I gave up for lent was negative self talk. I need to keep that up and move on with my life. This and the exercise thing are my mid-life crisis issues. At least I'm finally working on them!

5) Start secret crochet project and get back to the trim on my never-ending shawl (started in July).

6) Finish log cabin quilt (sewing) and, in general, get back to sewing. I have plenty of fabric (big surprise). I just need to get at it. This will be an unemployment "to do" list too.

7) Keep in touch with friends and get in touch with ones I haven't talked to in so long. I'm absolutely terrible with calling people. This is not a good thing. I feel like I'm letting friendships slide. I should move this up to number one because it could help with all the others!

Catchin' Up

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted. I feel like my life has been a bad country western song. Work has been hectic, I had to put both my cats down (within a week and a half of each other), and have had news of a few friends and family members that have cancer. I'm going to try to be positive, so one to better things.

I went on a short trip to Savannah with my mom. That was pretty relaxing. The city has so many squares and they're all beautiful. Basically, the squares are little parks every few blocks or so. Some are simple, with just landscaping and benches. Some are more elaborate, with statues or fountains. I left my camera in a public restroom and thought I lost it. I went back about 20 minutes later, and some kind women brought it to a check-in area. I couldn't believe it. I thought my camera was a goner for sure. I'll definitely pay that kindness forward when the opportunity arises.

I finally finished the crochet bag I was working on during the Vegas trip and completed the Adult Surprise Jacket. The only thing left for the ASJ is a bath and to sew on the clasps I bought. I went to a knitting retreat that was fun. I started my first lace shawl (first lace project). It's going pretty well. I make sure to count the stitches after the yarn over rows. I've messed up several times, but I catch the problems right away. I'll post more and add my pics shortly. I have to get the pics off the camera - that I still have. LOL

Special Olympic Scarves

At one of my Thursday nights with my knitting group, we came across a request for scarves for the Special Olympics. Our group decided to knit or crochet some and we'll send off in one package. Betty has knit 2 scarves already. She's such a fast knitter.

These are my contributions. One is a crochet wave ripple and the other is my cable knit pattern. I did this pattern for a gift last year or the year before. I'll probably buy 1 more skein in each color and make a couple more. There's also a Ravelry group for the scarves.

SP Question Catch Up

I'm finally catching up on my weekly questions.

Week 4 :

1) What yarn (that you don’t have/haven’t used) would make your stash “complete”?
2) What yarn do you never want to be without?

Those are tough ones. I don't think I have a yarn that would make my stash complete. Unless it's a never ending supply of yarn. In today's buzz words, a renewable supply of yarn would be great. I guess I would never want to do without a squishy wool blend; a light cotton blend; and wait for it.... acrylic. I know there's a gasp out there, but I like acrylic for afghans. With my cats, I need to constantly wash and prefer to dry my afghans.

Week 5:

1) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday?
2) Where is one place you’d like to go?

My favorite place vacation spot is San Diego at my aunt/uncle's house. I love the SoCal area and they're great to hang out with. The one place I'd love to go is Ireland. Ihaven't been anywhere in Europe, but I'm longing for Ireland.

Week 6:

What is your favorite type of project to take along on holiday/vacation?

I like to bring a crochet project. It's more portable and you don't haave to worry about airline security issues. I have brought sweater projects before, but not in my carry-on luggage.

SP Question 2

This week's question is: As a kid, what did you look forward to most about summer vacation/break/holiday?

Not having homework! When I was little, I spent at least half the summer with my grandparents in Arkansas, grandparents in Chicago, my dad in northwestern suburbs, and at camp for a couple of weeks. This gave my babysitter, who had 4 kids of her own, some time off. I started working part time when I was 15.

During high school years, I had more time for socializing with my friends. Since I home, I got to hand out with my friends more than when I was younger. One summer, I worked at Sunny Hill Beach in Wauconda. The beach next door, Phil's Beach, was in the Blues Brothers movie. They drove the car around in the sand announcing for their concert. Anyway, I got to work at the concession stand on the beach selling snacks, drinks, ice cream, etc. That was the year La Bamba came out. (A long time ago, I know.) Someone would play the sound on the jukebox, which was hooked up to outdoor speakers at least once an hour. If I never hear that song again, I'll be happy.

Prego Vest

No pictures today, just griping. I have gauge issues. Apparently, I don't know how to count. I'm trying to work on the Back To School Vest from Fitted Knits. I'm a loose knitter, but for some reason, I swatched with the recommended needles (size 7). This wouldn't be a problem if I could count or see that my gauge was waaaaay off. For some reason, I thought I was ok.

I was in between sizes for the pattern. Usually, I would go up to give myself some room. I say "usually" lightly here since I've only made 3 garments. ;P Anyway, I'm almost finished with the bottom border and am thinking that this looks really big. I mean REALLY big. The last time, it was a hunchback sweater. This time, it's a trimester pregrancy vest. The thing was at least 6-7 inches, unstretched, bigger than my belly. That's even bigger than my thunder thighs! Strike one.

So, I go to the frog pond and swatch again with size 6 and size 5 needles. On the size 5, the 18 inches were just slightly larger than the 4 inches required. I'm thinkin' that's fine. Well, it probably would be fine if I'd gone down a size instead of up a size on the pattern. I've even been knitting with the buddha marker. Strike two.

I'm going to post some questions on the KAL group Robin moderates, but I'm going to pose them here as well. First question is regarding the yarn. I'm using the recommended Cascade 220. After this is washed and does any "blooming" (whatever that is), would that make the garment larger or smaller? This will help in deciding which size to knit.

Question two regards the pattern. I'm not sure if I understand this correctly. If I decide to make the finished bust size of 41", the picture shows 23" for the bust. This means the bust will be 46", right? Even after knitting on the size 5 needles, I'm about 4-5 inches bigger than my belly. Does this mean that I'm ok? Does the 5 inches mean the pattern gives that much room for wearing a shirt underneath the vest? Isn't that a bit much? I know the ribbing section will be smaller because of the stretch and will hug the body, but I didn't think the bottom border (alternating stockinette and reverse stockinette) should be that much bigger.

Oh knowledgeable world of knitters - please help me! Gracias!

Greener Pastures

I'm moving along on the Cozy V. I was getting sick of knitting the body ribbing, so I took a bring when I finished a ball of yarn. I completed one sleeve. I've gone back to the body now and have about 2 inches left to knit. Then I just need to knit the second sleeve and finish the neck band. Woo hoo, I'm on the home stretch!

I think part of my success this time is that I put on my buddha stitch marker for good luck. Monica had mentioned this about a year ago. She was having trouble with a project (hard to believe I know) and needed some good luck. The beads came from Knitche in Downers Grove (aka crazy bead store).

For the sock update, I've knit up to the point of turning the heel. I started and ripped out a couple of times because I wasn't paying attention to the short-rowing. Kathy says that she doesn't knit the heels until she has enough time in one sitting to complete both of them. I think I'll take her advise on that.

My life

Robin tagged me in a recent meme last Saturday. It's taken me this long to think of something. This is 10 things I've done that others may have not. I was trying to think of things in terms of that "mass amounts of people might not have done". LOL

Here goes:

1) I'm a CPA and MBA. I feel like I've been a perpetual student sometimes. I'm always taking classes to learn new knitting techniques. Maybe that's why I've felt in the past that I haven't made many FO's.

2) I've worked at the same company for 18 years. I started as a part-time teller for a bank, when I was in college. I then moved on to Assistant Manager, Trainer/Internal Auditor, Staff Accountant, Branch Operations Manager, back to Accounting for Instore branches, then Consumer Lending Functional, and now I'm back to Retail Reporting. I can't remember when I became a Vice President, but I know it was by 30.

3) I'm a collector. Over the years, I've collected shot glasses, glass paperweights, nutcrackers, tea pots, and first edition, signed hardcover fiction. Some collections are now gone or dwindled. I only continuing on the signed hardcovers now. Since I've been knitting, you could say that I'm collecting yarn and knitting books as well, because my stash seems to be ever growing. :)

4) I a machine knit, hand knit, crochet, and sometimes bead. I haven't done as much machine knitting lately, so I need to try to do more of that. I also want to try some chain metal bracelets. I bought a book at Michael's recently and there's a bead store in Lisle that has some gorgeous metal jewelry. They have classes there, so I'll probably sign up for one soon. (see, perpetual student)

5) I have a tattoo. One of my sisters gave us a family cruise right after her divorce was final. She got her belly button pierced and I got my tattoo. I'd been thinking about one since I was in college, but the opportunity never presented itself. I have a small shamrock, of course, that cannot be seen even if I have a bathing suit on.

6) I'm a clutz and bruise easily. Not a good combination. When I was little, the doctors used to question my mom about every bruise. I've vowed to have a party the day I don't have a bruise somewhere on my body. It hasn't happened yet.

7) I've had lasik surgery. Without my contacts, I was blind. Now I can see the clock in the morning, go snorkeling or swimming without worrying, etc. It's great. The surgery was a little freaky, but I'm so glad I did it.

8) I'm getting invisible braces. I just had the molds done and now waiting to get the braces made. Even though I'm 38, I want to get them for myself. Hopefully, they'll help with my TMJ a little.

9) I have a 300-disc DVD player. My original intention was to put all of my DVDs and all my CDs in there. When I put my DVDs in there, there were 100 (including the extra DVDs that come with some movies). I decided I'd see if I can fill it up entirely with DVDs. There are about 250. I don't buy as many as I used to, but I'm going to take the supplemental discs out of there and see how many are just movies. I guess you can say I collect movies as well!

10) I send care packages to deployed soldiers. I've been doing this through Books for Soldiers for about 3 years now. During the holidays, I try to send more care packages and hold drives at work. I try to send a couple care packages a month.

If at first you don't succeed....

One of the cardinal rules of following a knitting pattern is probably to R E A D the pattern. On my Cozy V Pullover, I was about to the point of putting the sleeve stitches on hold. I wasn't following the pattern exactly because I had a different gauge. It's a basic top down sweater, which I did once before, so I thought I could handle that without any problems. All of the sizes start with the same number of stitches and increase to a certain point. You repeat rows 3 (increase knit row) and 4 (no increase purl row) until the desired point.

My problem was not reading row 3 correctly. The crucial row in this case. I was only increasing before and after each stitch marker and didn't read the part that said to do an increase in the first and last stitch as well. The result was that there was waaaaay more stitches in the back section than in the combined left/right front sections. This would be ok if I was a hunchback. So I ripped out the 2+ balls of yarn and started over. I've just reknit 1 ball so far. (Sorry for the dark picture.)

I was so mad at myself that I took a break before starting this over and knit some washcloths. The round washcloth pattern is here and the ribbed washcloth pattern was on the ballband.

They knit up pretty quickly, and gave me enough time to get over my frustration. What I learned is that I need to write down what I think the pattern says and see if it results in the correct number of stitches. I should be able to stand upright now when it's finished. :)