Things happen fast!

I’ve been out of work since the beginning of May 2008, a result of a merger with my former company, left my former work headquarters obsolete, thus everyone was out of a job. On one hand it was nice to get a break after 7 years of service, on the other hand, I would’ve liked to have been able to keep my $$ from my monetary packages I received, but it didn’t quite work out that way. I’ve been actively searching for work, been on many phone interviews, on-site interviews, questionnaires, etc., I’ve been doing it. Each time coming oh close to landing a job, but never actually panning out in the end.

Early last week I got contacted by an agency for a 3 month contract job, with strong possibility for extension and/or permanent status, and was told the job could literally be needed the next day. I was eager and ready, I really hate not having a purpose everyday, although I really forged ahead in the knitting/fiber adventures 8-)…anyways, I got a call the next day from the agency to find out that another agency beat them out, thus I being their candidate was A** out. And I thought I was going to have something to celebrate for 4th of July.

This was the Wednesday before the 4th, then late Thursday, Kathleen from the agency calls to tell me everything fell through with the other company, and turns out they’d like to meet me, but since the next day was the 4th, they felt sometime this week would work. So, I had alot to look forward to over this holiday weekend. Plus, the job was almost right in my back yard, Palo Alto, only about 30 minutes from my home.

On Monday, I felt that I would sleep in for a bit, until about 9:30 a.m., usually I get right up with my husband and never go back to sleep. So I set my cell phone timer, and in the middle of my dreams, I kept hearing my phone vibrate. I have a Blackberry, so I kept thinking, who’s emailing me? I check it out and it’s Kathleen to tell me that the company would like to meet me before noon! I rushed, got ready, and was on-site for an interview at 10:30 a.m. sharp. The interview went good, and I was told I would hear something soon.

Now, I can tell you, I’ve been through my share of these types of interviews, I feel there the worst because everything goes good, but yet you never hear anything? So Monday is over, Tuesday comes, and about 9:30 a.m., I get a call, they want to hire me and asked if I could start same day! I’m happy, yet annoyed because I’d like to be prepared. After it all, I made it for my first day of work, noon sharp on Tuesday. Today, was my official first full day of work, and the IT Lead for the site I’m supporting is going on vacation for a week starting Friday, which leaves Lil’O me for a week on my own after only being on board for 2 1/2 days. It’s a nice biotech company, and the people are nice too. I’m liking it and only hope that I can handle the job solo while Bob (my co-worker) is out on vacation.

With all this going on, my knitting has taken a back seat for the first time in a long time….but I had the best presents waiting for me at home, courtesy of my local Mail Man. My VillageSpinWeave order for my Large Umbrella Swift & Ball Winder, arrived!!! I love these! So awesome! There are many projects that have been deterred because I didn’t have a winder to make a yarn cake out of my skeins. I didn’t care how hot I was, I set everything up, and picked up the Black Malabrigo skein, destined to be a beanie for my husband, and started winding! I purposely bought the Large Umbrella Swift for my frequent purchases of those large skeins. I took some pics of my new tools, and I know there a good investment for a yarnaholic like me. And I’ll listen to Marisol good advice and not get “yarn cake” happy. I can’t say which is prettier, the skein or yarn cake form? What do you prefer?? Why? I’d love to hear?

Stay cool everyone…literally!

~~Rocky

Stuff to Share

Well I hope everyone had a good 4th of July weekend! It’s obviously winding down now, and the new week will be once again.
For those of you who didn’t get your fireworks fix, I recorded the ones my family & I watched on Friday, only about 30-40 seconds worth. My husband made a boo-boo and used a curse word, so just warning you, guess that makes this a PG-13. See below for the fireworks.
Well, I said on Twitter that I got a shipment from Scout, and it was my new book, “New Sock Pathways for Sock Knitters” signed by Cat Bordhi. This is an awesome book, and I will need to order Book #2 soon. I also go the “mini-crochet” keychain hook for knitters on the go who have a dropped stitch emergency It’s so cute & tiny!

Here’s my new book

Here’s a shot of the signature

Here’s the Stitch Saver

Here’s the Fireworks, please caution, my husband used a curse word at the end, so sorry!

Here is the Grande Finale.

Cool stuff

knit_tagging

Originally uploaded by RockyMoreno

Did everyone get to see the Knitty Gritty Knitsters show on DIY Network the other day hosted by Vickie Howell? I read about the show on Vickie’s blog, and quickly set my TIVO to record it for me. It was an hour special on Knitting, Community, and the diversity Knitting has. One of the cool things was “The Knittas”, which is a really cool gang out of Houston, Texas. Their mission is to cover odds/ends around the town with knitting material. Once they’ve covered their target, it’s officially a “Knit Tag”. They’ve knit tagged everything from basketball poles, shoes hanging on power wires, tree trunks, door handles, all done quick & fast. It is pretty cool to see. One of the knitters, “Mascuknitity”, actually knit tagged a brick from the Great Wall of China! After seeing this special, I remembered my weekend at Knit One One in Berkeley, CA where I took a Dye Class with Scout, and there was a Tree with a branch that was “knit tagged”! I remember telling Marisol to please take a picture cause I thought it was so cool! My camera was on the fritz, so she was kind and emailed me the picture. I took a few, but none came out good. I don’t know if this tree was tagged by the Knitta gang from Texas, but it’s a pretty good specimen. It almost compels me to “knit tag” my tree in front of my house…hmm….should I?

Another cool thing was a contest held where one women, Lisa Gentry, won by knitting 209 stitches per minute! Amazing! She also won the Crochet contest as well, crocheting 100 stitches per minute! I can’t even imagine how she got that fast! It looks crazy watching her knit & crochet.

The special was an hour, and really enjoyable. Vickie is a great host for the special. Her primary goal was to collect knitted squares to donate to Warm Up America for afghan blankets. After seeing this special, I’m now inspired to contribute my own squares to the organization.

Check out the special, it will air a few more times, the remaining airings are:

All at 12:30 p.m. EA
7/8/08, 7/16/08, 7/31/08

Adding to my Arsenal

Well folks, I’m adding to my arsenal, 2 NECESSITIES for any yarnaholic, like myself *-) I’ve been wanting to make these purchases for quite sometime now, and what drove me to actually making the buy? Well the last straw came this weekend when I bought Scout’s newest Swag in Peach Pit, and of course it came in a beautiful braid/skein, and I loved the color so much that I started to knit the Elm Row pattern I just purchased from Knitspot.
Anyways, since I don’t have a winder, I decided to manually wind the yarn into a ball, I wrapped the skein around a chair, and started winding. I was ok for a minute (I’ve done this before with no issues), and suddenly started running into all sorts of problems. Well several pain staking hours later, there I was caught in tangle after tangle after tangle, ruining my new precious Peach Pit yarn. I was able to carefully get rid of a majority of the tangled mess without ruining the yarn, and by the time I was ready for my next class, I was down to a small amount of tangles. By this time I was tired of dealing with it, and made the decisive decision to cut the thread, although reluctantly.

So, after this disaster, I’ve made the purchase, and will be getting these 2 new treasures to add to my arsenal in my “Mini-Fiber Studio” I’m putting together.

I’ll be getting in about 5-10 days, this large Umbrella Swift

And also this Plastic Ball Winder

I can’t wait for these to arrive! I’ll be ready for any skein that comes my way! When I think of all the yarn cakes I can make with these 2 tools, ahh.. I’m in heaven! I did do some searching on pricing, and found that VillageSpinWeave had the best deal, offering the Umbrella Swift & Plastic Ball Winder as a bundle, great pricing!

I know I sound crazy, but if you’ve ever had precious yarn in a tangled mess, you feel my pain.

Elm Row pattern knitted with Scout’s Swag Peach Pit

Elm Row pattern knitted with Scout’s Swage Peach Pit

Originally uploaded by RockyMoreno

Since I scored some of Scout’s latest Swag colorway, I decided to knit the Elm Row pattern from Knitspot using the Peach Pit skein. I like this colorway because it’s mellow, and has speckles of color in it. The yarn is soft and lightweight, perfect for a summer knit. I can’t wait to wear it.

Here is what the pattern photo looks like finished:

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