Sigh.
I dont' talk much about work here, but....
I had one of the worst experiences at work today.
I was interviewing a candidate for a job. As I was asking questions, noting down answers, and figuring out what to say next - my stomach started getting upset. And more upset. And more upset. I'm getting to the point where I'm splitting my concentration between asking good questions and figuring out the most polite way to say I have to run to the bathroom....
Halfway through my scheduled time, I have to admit lunch didn't agree with me, and I have to cut this short. I felt terrible. (Physically and mentally...) Then, I got him over to the hiring manager and ran to the restroom.
Sigh.
When I returned, I called and apologized profusely to the hiring manager. And felt terribly embarrassed.
I couldn't even knit to make myself feel better - I had (gasp!) left my knitting at home!
All Picture Thursday!First up:
Me! With my new, shorter hair. My new, darker hair. And, a pretty darn good attempt to mimic what the hairstylist did yesterday! Woo-Hoo!!
Next...
Finished Gauntlets. Made from black Cashmerino Aran. Yum! I _love_ them!
My new office toy - Spud Trooper. Guarding Darth Tater, of course. Look closely at his weapon - its a potato masher!!!! Too cute.
And, how far I've gotten on my new fingerless gloves - if you look really closely, you might see the eyelet holes.
So. Today sucked at work. That's all I'll say about that.
I did get my hair cut and colored today - I love it. We'll see tomorrow if i can actually STYLE it, though!
And, i'm starting a pair of fingerless gloves for those moments that I want to knit but need something more mindless than Birch2...and I'm kinda designing them myself.
First, a finished object I forgot to mention yesterday - I finally finished my Natalya gauntlets, and LOVE them (it was a pattern from
Savannahchic's blog,
here). They're so warm and comfy that I thought I'd make more!
Then... I picked up Leigh Radford's new book
Alterknits, and there are a great pair of
fingerless gloves in there that lace up the back (from the bottom to the wrist). But, I wasn't up for the rest of the pattern. (more futz than I wanted)
While looking at that pattern, I remembered an interesting pair of fingerless gloves in
Weekend Knitting, but when looking at the pattern, I decided that I wasnt' big on the short rows around the hands.
(
Here's a picture of the gloves from Sknitty's blog)
But, why bother with the short rows? The garter stitch should stretch enough, and it doesn't have to be completely snug around the wrist, right?
So, I'm making Garter Stitch fingerless gloves in the round, and am going to make them so they stretch around my hands. And lace up the backs.
I'm using Noro Kureon, and size 5.5mm needles. (Don't ask me the US size, I go by mm.)
Currently, I've cast on 32 stitches. I knit 4 rows (2 ridges), then knit 4, yo, [k2tog, k, yo] 3 times, knit to end. Knit until piece measures about where your thumb would go if you stretched out the knitting (I'm getting to this part next).
When I figure out the rest, I'll post it.
When I take a picture, I'll post it.
wow.
Feels like I dropped off the face of the earth.
I have been knitting - I finished 2 iPod nano cozies (I know... so difficult) - but no pictures of the finished items. (and, one is in Seattle this week, so no pics for a while).
I'm almost done with my first sock, it has only taken me a year and a half :-).
And, I've restarted Birch2 - cause I screwed up.
See:
See that twist? Nasty, nasty.... not fixable. Ripped back and restarted - I'm glad I bought the fourth ball of yarn!
And, today's big news: I started teaching 14 kids how to knit today.
My church does a Tuesday after-school program for 3-5 graders, called Logos. This year and last, I've helped with the Worship Arts section of the program. Last year I participated in a play, directed a play, worked with Readers, and directed a choir (the best part of helping with this program is I get to do _so_ much stuff!). This fall, we're doing knitting. The kids are going to knit
bandages for the
Global Health Ministries. This is a great project, especially for a church group. Combines stewardship and a project that can be... well... less than perfect!
Fortuantely, I brought the wonderful Sabrina with me to help - because we had 14 kids in the knitting group (19 were interested... the other 6 got their second choice). 4 of the kids had knit before, another 5 or so got the hang of it really quickly, and there were the 2 or three that were having issues. A good group, I think - this will go so fast.
If they get tired of knitting bandages, we will knit hats - the kind where you cast on 40 or so stitches, knit in garter stitch until you have a rectangle long enough to go around your head, then seam up the back and seam up the top - hat! Tassels are cute on the corners, too. Sabrina thinks that this is a good project to teach purl as well - instead of all garter stitch, they can do sections of garter and sections of stockinette. (There are days I think she'll grow up to be a knitwear designer)
I like teaching kids to knit - and I've got kids back in this group that were in my choir and play last year, which is great fun, too.
I'm back!
I had a great time - my French is much less rusty.
I've posted some
pictures on my
Flickr account - but here are some highlights:
We stayed at Salolampi, the Finnish village... beautiful place.
The Main building:
The store:
My Cabin:
The Sauna building (we didn't use it :-( )
A great walkway:
A couple nice views:
And, a sky for
Sandy:
We learned a lot, had AMAZING food (oh, my did we have amazing food...), and a great time. What more could you ask for?
I highly recommend the program :
Concordia Language Village's Adult Immersion program : held in French, Finnish, Spanish and German - no previous language experience required.
Knitting news? Gotta save something for the next post :-)
