This and that

Hi, all!

Not too much to report (not that that has ever stopped me from rambling), but I didn't want you to think I didn't care anymore. ;-)

Crocheted sleeveless top news: I got the trim crocheted on the neckline and one armhole last night. I also sorted through papers and filed. Big night! :-) Tonight I'm going to finish the other armhole before Bill gets home, go through my credit card receipts that got unearthed last night in the paper frenzy, and then we're on to the next top (with the adjustments I wrote down). I bought enough yarn for three of the same top, and since this next top is the second experiment, it's with the second more expensive yarn... not that any of it was really that expensive - that's for when I get REALLY good (ha) and get some debt paid down (ha). After this top, I have a variegated yarn that's going to look great with denim, so I'm looking forward to that and hoping it comes out just great with the practice I'll have had. Did I mention that I bought some [inexpensive] yarn to try out for a cardigan? Sleeves.... DOH! LOL! It's also a different stitch (as in not as simple) as the ones I'm doing now, so it will be an adventure. I'll probably end up making a couple of those, too. I've also been wondering if I make the next size up on the sleeveless top or delete the sleeves on a cardigan if it would work as a vest. I have some short sleeve shirts that are too small to wear alone [and not show my true body contour, which no one wants to see] but work fine under other things. It's a thought, anyway. There are a couple tops in the book that I would LOVE to do, but I need way more practice (and a little more money) first. The weight yarn they require is only found in baby yarn at Jo-Ann's and Michael's, and I look horrid in pastels (and I don't wear white much). Doesn't anyone want a baby afghan in a nice bright purple or turquiose? :-\ I'm not ready to pay yarn store prices yet. The author can afford to do that - I can't. Unless I start selling crocheted sleeveless tops on eBay. ;-)

Yarn shopping is interesting... I was looking for something on sale to make the sweater out of, and the color combinations for variegated year can be pretty funny. There was one yarn that was cream, pink, and brown... neopolitan ice cream! LOL! I saw a great black, white, and gray that I wanted for another sleeveless top (can you tell I'm gearing up for summer and like making the easiest project in the book?) but there wasn't enough for the project. I'll have to keep my eyes out for that, and maybe try another store.

I'm also getting the nibble to work on some jewelry projects. I can kit things up and work on them at work at lunch instead of shopping online :-) but I haven't gotten to that point yet. I really need to know where a project is going or I end up not having something key that I need and it ends up being a really short work session. I found a design online that I want to copy - I might start with that one. I saw it and had to buy the components - even though I have very little that the ensemble with go with. I'm such a dork sometimes. I'm better about that now, but the ensemble was just SOOOO cool! :-) I also have something I want to do in purples, which I actually have a couple things I can wear with and I have all or most of the materials from when I made a badge lanyard for work. I have one necklace I made in silvers and blacks which is pretty cool. Problem being I made it too small so it has an extender and I may or may not tear the necklace apart one of these days and make it the right length. Then I made the same type of thing in browns, and I made it too long. Some days I just can't win. ;-) I'd like something in black that's a little more subtle for summer, so I'll have to work on that.

On the work front, Bill still really likes his job and is able to do some reading on the bus. He likes his walk through downtown from the bus stop to his building. There's a coworker that lives not to far from us, so he even has someone to talk to on the bus now and then. There are a few regulars at the stop near our house, so he's been getting to know them a little bit, too. I've still been able to get up and get to the vanpool (though some days are closer to departure time than others), and I love being able to relax on the ride, and sometimes listen to music. I like to do that more when it's daylight so I can see to untangle my earphones on my iPod. It's not daylight either way quite yet, but it's getting closer on the ride home where we don't arrive in the dark.

Work for me has been a little slow - kind of like the calm before the storm. We've been delivering airplanes more than putting them together, and I'm way upfront in the process (we tell design engineering what to design). February looks like it's going to be busy, so I'm holding out for that. Layoffs are also supposed to start in February, too, and the good news is that 50% of the group will be going before me if things stay the way they are. Unfortunately, they're going to be doing what I call a "rack and stack" where they decide who is going out the door before whom. I was told not to lose any sleep over it, but that's what I was told right before I got bumped out of a job in 2003. So, I'm not losing sleep, but I'm also not feeling invincible, either. I do trust this manager more than the one I had in 2003, so that's something. ;-)

I got an email about the temperatures beck east where I'm from originally... lows of near zero degrees F. I'll take our 35-45F any day over that stuff. :-) I love the Pacific Northwest! It's even going to be dry and partly sunny for the next three days - good news for the flood-filled areas. I think most of the roads are open now and back in business (at least we're getting more mail now).

Looks like this is the end, as the narrator for the Underdog Show would say...

Blessings!
Kristin