Shamrock Knits

Machine Knit Baby Shower Gift

I haven't worked much on the crochet baby blanket or the quilt lately. I seem to go in phases of what I work on. Instead, I've been reading some books on time management and transitioning into a new environment for supervisors. I did, however, work on this baby blanket for a former coworker. It was done on my knitting machine (LK150) in about 5 hours. I could have shaved off some time, but it's been awhile since I worked on the machine.

I used Bernat Baby Jacquard yarn, so that's the striping you see. Instead of the garter stitch borders, I did ribbing. That's easier to do on the machine. I'm off to the baby shower this afternoon, so I hope she likes it.

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.

 

New York in a day

Robin mentioned that she was going to New York and back in a day for a fabric-filled day. Basically a fabric crawl (think pub crawl with fabric). I was able to use my miles so I tagged along. We had an awesome day! We started out at Starbucks, shopped at two fabric stores, had lunch, shopped at two or three more places with another Starbucks break in the afternoon. Here a couple of pics from the day.

This is a charmuese fabric and a shell top pattern. I got this fabric for 50% off at Paron's. I also bought a cream 4ply silk for a similar top. That fabric was pretty pricey, so maybe I'll try it first on muslin and then this fabric.

 These are knits that I got at Spandex House. Our trip was in the garment district. It was so cool walking down the street and seeing so many different fabric stores, notion/trim stores, etc. At one of the places we went to, a prior season Project Runway designer was working there and helping Robin with her fabric choices. I also bought some knits from Metro that will be shipped to my house in a few days. It was starting to get too heavy carrying around all this fabric.

It was so great listening to all the women talking about their sewing projects, lives, offering tips and advice. Some of the great people I had the chance to talk with are Carolyn, Andrea, Sheila, Elizabeth, Jen, and Rachel. There were so many more, but I'm so bad with names and didn't write them down. :)

I'm working on getting my spare room more organized. So far, I put in these drawers from Ikea in my closet. I love them. They're filled with fabric so hopefully, I'll be inspired and organized enough to start working on some projects! I have so many on my to-do list right now. The sad thing is that the shelves are pretty filled up. We'll see if I can squeeze in my recent purchases.

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!

San Fran

I went to San Francisco on a work trip a couple of weeks ago. Attached are a couple of pictures. This one is the curviest/windiest road. The streets to get to it are pretty steep. I walked around alot that day and boy, did my calves get a workout!

The next couple are from Alcatraz. We did the audio tour at night. That was pretty cool. The one thing I love about digital cameras is that you can switch from color to black and white photos in a snap. Most of the black and white pics looked better.

On the audio tour, one of the former inmates said that his niece or daughter taught him to crochet. He then, taught the other inmates. In the front, left corner you can see a pink crocheted blanket.

These last couple are from our day trip to Napa Valley. The morning started out gloomy, but by lunchtime, the sun came out and it was gorgeous. Some vinyards plant roses or other flowers at the end of the rows. They're a beautiful combination, but the flowers are an indicator for weather/soil changes. If the plants die, then there will be a problem soon with the grapes.

This vinyard is where we had lunch. The family that owned it lives on the vinyard as well. The wife is also a sculptor and had pieces throughout the property.

 

I'm resting in front of one of her pieces. It looked like a good place for a snooze.

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

Workin' on it

I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted. I have been working on some of my resolutions. I knit 2 machine knit squares for a wedding afghan. I've started throwing out old bills from my office and bedroom. I'm not done with that though.

I have been doing some knitting. I started the Adult Surprise Jacket. Of course, I had some gauge issues and had to rip out and start over. Now, I'm about half way done. I'm using Silk Garden. Overall, I like it. What I don't like about it is coming across pieces of twig while I'm knitting. The colors are beautiful though and the picture doesn't do it justice. Some of the lighter colors are rows of green.

Resolutions

I don't think I would've met very many resolutions even if I set any last year. Maybe if it was to say sane, then ok. This year I'm going to try.

1. Declutter office - get rid of old papers, books, etc.

2. Declutter bedroom - get rid of old clothes, and non-bedroom things like bills etc.

3. Declutter basement - go through charitable items and donate/throw out, organize yarn stash, get rid of old holiday items.

(seeing a trend yet?)

4. Machine knitting - make more projects on the machine.

5. Crochet - write up pattern for mom's blanket.

6. Hand knitting - knit more garments, try to visit the frog pond so much (rip it, rip it).

Well, I think those are enough goals for now. If I get some of those done, it'll inspire me to do more. I hope everyone has a much better year than last year was!

Mom's Tribute Blanket

I finished my mom's tribute Colon Cancer blanket. It feels like it took forever because of the charts. The colon cancer ribbon is a ribbon, star, person. It's called the Blue Star. I'll be writing up the pattern and creating a tribute page in my mom's honor to raise funds for awareness. My mom loves the blanket, so that's what really matters.

This is a picture taken while she's getting a chemotherapy treatment. It's cold in the office and there are blankets everywhere, because the patients get really cold during their treatments. This was her 11th out of 12 treatments. We're pretty excited that there's only one left! The extreme cold this week has been rough on her side effects. I hope the cold doesn't last too long for her sake.

Merry Christmas!

It doesn't feel like it's Christmas already! Last year, I didn't put up any decorations. This year, I bought a smaller tree that's prelit and got at least that up. I've been doing some crochet. When my mom started her chemo treatments, I decided I was going to design a blanket for her. Colon cancer has a ribbon/star, so that's what I'm using. There will be one smaller star in each of the four corners. One bigger star in the middle. Then I'm going to have "Colon Cancer Survivor" and the date of her surgury at the top, and her name at the bottom. This is what I have so far.