No pictures, just a resumé

I know I promised that once I'd attached the two parts of my Mrs. Beeton wristwarmers I'd take a picture and show you. But I didn't even get to that until really late tonight so no picture. What did I do with my day you ask? I rewrote my resumé, that's what I did.

I've been saying I'm going to update my resumé for at least a month now, ok longer. Long enough that I called my good friend and "keeper of the hard copy of my resumé", Michele to get said hard copy. That was months ago. Apparently I put it in a very safe place because for the last month, when I got really serious about updating it and trying to find a new job, I couldn't find it. I also couldn't find the copy I had on disk. Believe me, I've looked. Today was the day I had to get it done. So I took one more look at my old 3 1/2 inch diskettes. You remember those, don't you? We were all so excited when they arrived on the scene, almost indestructible and small. I still have some in a case in my office. Why I've kept them I'm not sure since my current computer can't read them. Lucky for me, my laptop which is several years older does have a drive for them since today I found my resumé on one of them!

So, my drama is over. I found it, I've updated it and I've even sent it off in the hopes that I'm the perfect candidate for a job here in town. Short term, consulting job doing what I used to do, which is Quality Assurance and testing of software. Tomorrow I'll be talking to the consulting firm I'd actually be working for. We'll see what they think and go from there.

Let me just say that it's nice to have friends who support you and are willing to help you when you need it. The whole reason I even know about this potential job is because of a friend and the only reason my resume looks as good as it does is because of friends who helped me out today with wording. I admit that I'm pretty confident in my abilities, those of you who know me in "real life" know that. (My friend Kathe says it's because I'm a Cancer...ok, that works for me.) But when it comes to writing down what I do, or what I've done, I can tell you, but I can't seem to make it sound right on paper, or really on a resumé. So, to Kathe and Heather who helped me today; talked me off a ledge in some respects, I send my thanks and gratitude. You are both great and I'm proud to be your friend. (Enough mushy!)

Tomorrow I'll make time to take a picture of the Mrs. Beeton's. They are so adorable. I'm totally in love with this first one. Oh, and pictures of some of my other projects that need updating too.

What Valentine's Day is good for

In my book the best thing about Valentine's Day is the day after when all the chocolate candy that's been packaged for that particular holiday is put on sale for 1/2 off. There's my haul. The tin is going to be repurposed at some point in time when I've stitched this adorable alphabet I saw stitched on one of the Yuku boards I'm a member of. (If you can't see the picture, just know it's the heart alphabet and you'll be fine.) It apparently will fit on this particular tin. My plan is it stitch it in a pretty brown overdyed except for my own initials which I'll do in a pink that will match the hearts on the tin. It's just to adorable to pass up. I'm sure I have fibers in my stash to do this with and probably even the material. Should be an easy stitch too, so who knows, I might start this one soon so I'll have it to put out next year.

As promised...

A picture of the surprise I've been talking about. I made it for my DF Jean's "big" birthday this year. She turned one of those numbers that's supposed to be a milestone. I thought it was deserving of something special. Take note of that everyone. I'm too slow to make things like this for every year and for each of my friends. The whole reason she got this has to do with the motif in the lower right corner, and if you'd been on the receiving end of the phone call I got this afternoon when she received her package you would have heard something along these lines... "IT'S GOT A WEINER DOG!!!!!" Couldn't resist when I saw it. For informational purposes, this is a reproduction of a piece in Germany. The original, I believe, is part of Lorraine Mootz's collection. I do know that it uses motifs from the very popular Sanjou albums, since Lorraine had copies of several in her own collection to show us. I took the class with her July 8th where she gave us the pattern and spoke to us about the Sanjou albums and how young women would use them to create these samplers. (On a side note, Lorraine works at a museum in Germany and you can see all the wonderful samplers they have here.)Mine is stitched with a red NPI. I did personalize it with both my initials and Jeans as well as the year. I'm not sure you can see it in the pictures as I used a fiber almost the same color as the fabric.

I also made this...
For those who've never seen one, it's a project roll and I used this one to protect Jean's sampler during shipping. Now Jean can use it to hold a project while she's working on it. They are a wonderful little invention and we have our DF Judy to thank for the first ones our "group" received.
Here it is all together with the sampler safely inside.

So, now you've seen the surprise. Kind of anti-climactic huh?

It was worth a picture

I know, it looks like the top of a desk, and it is. And I know some of you are wondering why I would take a picture of the top of a desk. Because, you silly people, that's my desk and I'm here to tell you this is the cleanest you'll ever see it. At least it's the cleanest I've seen it in 6 years. That's about 3 hours worth of work I might add. And that small pile, that my dear people is nothing. That's a few thins that I haven't figured out how to deal with, but rest assured I will. You will notice there's not a picture of the desktop that runs the width of my office that's behind my desk. Oh no, that's not been touched yet. That's coming though. But first I must find a copy of my resume, or I have to write it from scratch. And now you know the reason for my clean desk, I've been on a hunt for a single piece of paper that is in my house somewhere and I'm fairly certain it is in this office. Daunting task, but I'm game. Tomorrow I'll spend some more time looking. Not long, since my goal is to have my resume re-written by Tuesday morning at the latest. (I was going to say Monday, but that's not at all reasonable.)

In other news, knitting related this time, I've discovered that I need 2 skeins of the yarn I'm using for the Water Bottle Sling. I think I only have one. I've got to look for that tomorrow, or maybe tonight, and make sure. If so, then my only hope is someone will be willing to sell me a single skein from their stash. Otherwise, I'll have to start over or do the strap in a solid color that matches. We'll have to see what I can manage to do. (Edit: - I actually did have 2 skeins of the yarn so I'm ok. Just a minor panic attack. Please return to your stitching/knitting/reading o' the blog.)

Tomorrow I go in search of 1/2 price chocolate!

Black Thursday and some other things

Yep, in just a few short minutes it will be "Black Thursday" a.k.a. Valentine's Day. Being single, and not even dating someone, this is one of those holidays I could easily skip...if it weren't for all that chocolate in the stores. I'm just waiting for it to go on sale. Although there is a specific tin I want so I may have to break down and go purchase it tomorrow. For those with sweethearts, and you know who you are, enjoy the day with them for the rest of us.

So, I keep saying that I've actually finished a project, but won't show you any pictures. They are coming, but as a preview I'll show you this and let you try to figure out what all it might be. You should be able to see a full view by Saturday since I mailed it off today to my DF Jean. It's a late birthday present. I also mailed her another little surprise, which of course I can't show you because she is one of the 10 people that actually read this blog. I'm sure I'll know when she gets is and I promise I'll put up more pictures then.

Last night I planned to watch the Dog Show on TV. I did watch part, but didn't see who won best in show. I did start another knitting project, but this is for a gift, so I'm totally justified AND I'm using some yarn in my stash. Yarn I didn't even have listed on Ravelry.I'm probably going to shorten the strap, but otherwise I think it's kind of cool. The yarn is some Patons that I found I don't know where. I think I found it when I was last in VA for a family reunion. It'll be interesting to see how the pattern shows up. So far I've got the bottom done and have started the 2" of stockinette in the round. Mindless knitting is good.

Friday night I managed to find some more sock yarn to place in my stash.Let me first show you this lovely Sockina Cotton from Schoeller & Stahl. They don't name these colors, but it's pretty with cream, green, rose, a darker burgundy and some brownish color. I hear this yarn feels yummy, and since it's cotton I hope so. Have no idea what pattern I'll use, but I've got plenty to choose from.

Then there's the Jitterbug...
This stuff is additive. I'd love to be able to afford to make the "Swing" jacket from one of the Colinette books out of the colorway I bought, but right now that's a little beyond my budget. Let me just say that when I get a new job, and I have a paycheck or 2, I'm splurging on that bad boy! And if that isn't a reason to find a job, I seriously don't know what will motivate.

Well, now that you've been lulled by the pretty yarn I will leave you to your Black Thursday celebrations. Eat some dark chocolate for me!

How important do you think a book is?

I've always loved books. As a very small child I was lucky. My mother read to me from the time I was born. By the time I was heading to 1st grade all I wanted to learn to do is read. My maternal grandmother had fallen during the summer before I was to start school and my mother and her sister had brought all us kids together while they dealt with her illness. The fall was so serious that the doctors said she'd never walk again, mainly because her vertebrae had collapsed. We were still in WV when it was time for school to start so they took myself and my aunt's three sons to enroll us in school. Her youngest and I are only months apart in age, but his birthday fell a few days beyond the accpetable start date and unfortunately they wouldn't make an exception. I wasn't too happy, it was like breaking apart twins. So on the first day of school I cried the entire way on the bus. My other cousins promised that if I'd stop crying they'd do anything. All I wanted to do is learn to read, if I couldn't be with Steven. No problem, I'd learn if only I'd go to school. Unfortunately I thought they'd teach me that day and when that didn't happen I was angry. So angry that I decided never to go back and explained it all to the very same cousins on the ride back home that afternoon. They figured they would be blamed. Apparently I went through the front door, saw my mother, said, "I quit. I'm not going back. They didn't teach me to read. They didn't even give me a book. I quit." (You have to imagine this with a trace of an English accent as we'd only been back in the US from England for a little over a year.) My mother didn't say anything other then turn to her sister and say, "You handle this one." My aunt, ever the pragmatist, sat me down and figured out what was going on. Explained the teacher couldn't plug me into a cassette recorder (I'm showing my age) and teach me to read. I'd have to go back. My next line of defence was the no book part. She promised that if I'd go back I'd get a book the next day. As I found out later, she told the teacher that if they didn't have a book to give me, she'd go buy one at the 5 and dime and bring it for her to give me, but I had to have a book to carry home and to school or there would be no way to get me to come back. Thankfully the teacher had sometime and understood. Thankfully I had a grandmother, aunt and parents who would, and could, get me a book. Not all children are so lucky.

So, how important is a book?Important enough for you to take a few minutes and send a note to the President, VP, your Senators and Congressmen or women? Most of you know me and know that I'm not one to deal with politics on this blog, it's just not what this blog is about, but this isn't politics in my book, this is about the future of children. I believe that more children are encouraged to read by receiving a book of their own then any classroom or library full of books. There's something about having a book of your own, especially as a child. For many years RIF (Reading is Fundamental) has provided a free book to children who are at the lowest income levels in our nation. The proposed 2009 federal budget eliminates the RIF book distribution program. That means that 16 million books would not be given to children in this country who are at the most risk to never learn to read. I am the first to believe that there are many places our federal budget could and should be cut, but for me, this isn't one of those places. If you feel the same way, please go here to send a message asking that this program be placed back into the budget. If you're a US citizen, a reader and have a love for books, please think about how this could adversely affect the young children of our country who may never be able to afford a book of their own without this program.

You can also find other ways to help this great organization on the same website. They, like most every non-profit organization in the world, can always use volunteers. Maybe you've been looking for a way to give back to your community and maybe this could be it.

I'll return to stitching and knitting tomorrow. I hope to have something to show if I get to attend Sampler Guild tomorrow.

What do you mean it's almost Thursday?

Seriously, it's crazy how fast this week has gone. I spent most of the weekend sitting on the couch feeling pretty sick. Thankfully not so sick that I couldn't knit or stitch while I wasn't sleeping.

Yes, I said stitch! It seems I've found the stitching mojo and it is all my DF Heather's fault. She finished this and I couldn't resist bringing mine out to work on. I actually made some progress on it this weekend and this is what the outside looked like when I picked it up on Friday.
And this is what I looks like as of this morning after I worked on it some again last night.
Pretty good if you ask me. I'm booking right along. Of course I haven't worked on it today since I spent most of the day at a doctor's office, running errands, in a meeting, church and then band practice. Oh, and I did some "work". (My use of quotes will have to be explained at a later date, this post is all about the stitching and the knitting.) The pattern is a class piece from Catherine Theron. If you click on over to Heather's blog (link above) you can see what it will probably look like finished. At least I hope it will look somewhat similar since we're using the same pattern. I also have the stitching done for the scissors fob. Just no picture of that yet and I've not done the finishing.

Speaking of knitting...I've been working on the re-knitting of my "I Dreamed of Africa" socks. I love this pattern and I love the yarn, especially now that I'm fairly certain they are going to fit when I get them finished. Here's what they look like so far.
Unfortunately this picture doesn't show the stitch to it's best advantage, but you get the idea of the colors. Really pretty.

That's all. But I'm happy with how things are going. I'm stitching and I'm knitting and I might even manage to accomplish something in the long run. I think I'm going to have to come up with a day or time or something to work on finishing at least once a month. I've got a stack of things to do and it seems to get bigger not smaller. I know I've complained bitterly about finishing in the past. It's not that I don't love the end result, it just gets in the way of doing actual stitching. But I'm resigned that it's a necessary evil and must be done so I can enjoy some of my pretties. Now to find and schedule a time.

I'm not going to think about that now though. I have yet another meeting at church tomorrow night. In case anyone is keeping count other then me, that's 4 nights in a row if you count Monday's which is really a class. I think that will almost take care of the month though. But tomorrow may just be the beginning of more meetings. Oh well, I didn't say no when asked so I only have myself to blame. I won't complain too much if we can get some things accomplished, emphasis on the "if".

to finish "Winter Garden Gate". I don't have an updated pictureWait, this is about stitching...oh, I know what I was going to post so I'll have it in writing. I want this is the last one I have.I may have actually done some more on this, but not certain. It's actually close to being finished so I'm going to bring it out to work on this month since it's from one of my favorite designers. I'll keep you posted.

Guilt-free Jan. round-up

Well, as I was reminded "guilt-free" can mean anything. So I really embraced the theme this month!

I managed to finish a surprise for my friend Jean's birthday (which she's probably tired or hearing about and not seeing but it's coming, I promise!) I also have been knitting a lot. I worked on the Lynton sweater and have to say it's closer to being done then it was 2 months ago. I've also been knitting on Print o'the Waves. I've been making it for my mother for at least 2 years. It's high time it was finished. You work this in2 parts, then graft them together then put on the border. I have one half completely finished and passed the mid-way point on the second half last night. If I can finish a repeat a day I should have it done in about 8 days I think. Seeing as that's an insane goal, I'll probably try to have that done in 2 weeks. Then I'll have to deal with the grafting. I think that may take some hand-holding at my LYS.

I've also restarted my "I Dreamed of Africa" socks. I'm into the leg pattern, so they will come along nicely now I think.

February last year was all about finishing. This year it's all about your favorite designer(s). I have several, but my all time favorite is Rae Iverson of Moss Creek Designs. I have almost everything she's ever designed and have several pieces that are WIPs and/or UFOs. In other words I have lots to choose from here. But she's not my only favorite. I've been blessed to take classes from some wonderful designers over the years and have to say that many of them have become "favorites". Ellen Chester, Catherine Theron, Sherri Jones (Patrick's Woods), Eileen Bennett...I really don't want to bore you here but I could go on. Plus there's the designers and companies that I just enjoy stitching or looking at for any number of reasons, Just Nan, Shepherd's Bush, Mirabilia, Needleprint...well you get the picture. My tastes are diverse to say the least. One of the things I discovered when I recently went through my stash is that I still like the things I bought 15 years ago. I may not have worked on them in that long, but I still like the designs and would enjoy finishing them and displaying them at some point.

So, how am I going to approach this month? Well right now I have no idea. I think I'm just going to see what yells. I know that a class piece from Catherine Theron has been doing some talking lately and Winter Garden Gate from Rae has been getting kind of loud as well. Wouldn't mind working on those two for awhile and see what I can accomplish. I'll keep you posted!