One Crazy Fiber Lady

Another week, another post.  There’s been alot going on.  Including spending Saturday with our favorite BronxGirl to celebrate her birthday.  Met/Saw again some wonderful knitting/blogging people.  It really was a wonderful time.

I spent the remainder of the weekend cramming and reading up on VB.Net so I could sparkle on a tech test Monday.  The results came in today.  I did very well on one portion, so-so on another and downright poorly on a third.  Oh well.  Not up to snuff for the senior position the company was looking for so that option is over. 

It isn’t all bad news.  I’d told my headhunter my concerns regarding the law firm who then, very diplomatically I might add, communicated those with the firm.  Tuesday afternoon the I got a call from the fellow I’d interviewed with at the law firm.  He wanted to answer any further questions I might have had and to clarify the misconception I had.  After getting the no today from the preferred place, I realized that any company that would be calling/meeting to give me more information must really want me.  I gave the associated recruiter the go-ahead.  I would like to work there.  There’s flexibility, independence and room for growth.  And hell, if it sucks, I’m not married to them and can always move on with the explanation that I took the position wasn’t what it was billed to be.  I should hear tomorrow.  The hiring fellow needs to get signoff for upping the salary range for the position to meet my requirements.  Good huh?  I might just be able to go back on Monday and give notice.  That would be sweet!  4 days of vacation (kids are off this week) and then end it.  Ahhh.

Yes, there’s been knitting!!!

Yesterday, sandwiched by a long outing to the mall, I started and finished this sock.  It is my standard recipe toe-up (you can see its mate started), on US1 over 52st.  The yarn is STR Lightweight in Red Rock Canyon colorway that I bought last spring.  Don’t think I blogged it though, but I remember ordering it after reading about the STR event at MDSW.  The couple of clicks was way easier than standing in line.  Remind me to show my MDSW 2007 t-shirt that I ordered off their website a few weeks ago

Also on the needles still is the Essential Tank.  I’m just shy of the armpits still though getting awfully close.  I really should work on it, but the whole SOS2007 has me distracted by socks.  Not to mention the timesuck that is Ravelry.  I finally got my invite on Friday and have been terribly distracted!  My name over there is, not surprisingly, crazyfiberlady.  Go figure.  I’ve opted not to upload all my finished projects, but like others, will be treating as tabular rosa and will start new there. 

That’s about it for now.  I have to go fish the monkeys out of the pool so they can go to bed.

Craft on!

I’m an Auntie!  Well, not for the first time.  My middle sister (we’ll call her RJ) has two boys so I’ve been an auntie for a while now especially since the oldest is, dare I say it, going to be 11 in December. 

No, my baby sister, RL, just had her first child.  A little girl.  She was due on July 2nd but had been starting to dilate about a week ago.  Yesterday’s checkup showed she was just about fully effaced and up to 3cm.  Her OB gave her the roto-rooter treatment and from experience (I delivered the twins a scant 12 hours from experiencing the same thing) we knew it was imminent.  The phone rang at 7 this morning, she’d been admitted to the hospital.

I just got the call from my mom, who is heading out there with my dad to be with the new grandbaby.  The little one was born at 2:30pm weighing in a good sized 7lbs6oz.  Both mother and baby are doing fine.  I’m pretty sure my BIL is recovering.  He had a trip to the emergency room after passing during the epidural.  Hehehe.  And he comes off as such a toughie!  Geez.

Anyway, I have to leave work early to pick up my monkeys who were granted an extra day of school this week just in case this happened.

I want to thank everyone for their well wishes and good lucks for yesterday.  Both interviews went very well and I’m pretty sure that the law firm job would be mine for the taking, all I have to do is tell my recruiter that.  I’m just not sure that the job is something that I really want.  I seems to be very similar to the job I’m currently doing minus the good employee discount but also minus the evil/a-hole boss and add in that I’d be on a team instead of being an island unto myself.  I know there are no sureties in this working thing, but I’d hate to have to explain to prospective employers NEXT year at this time why I only spent a year someplace else.  Not very good.  Is it work that I can handle and a job I can serve well?  Yes.  But a great deal of the responsibilities are things that I just absolutely abhor about my current position. 

As for the other interview?  I haven’t heard any feedback via the recruiter so I don’t know if they are seriously considering me.  I do know that before they make any decision, I need to take some kind of technical test and will have to go back to their office to do it.  I was hoping to arrange that for tomorrow afternoon as I do have summer hours to take advantage of.  Next week is going to be tricky, depending on how long mom and dad are staying out with RL and the grand.  The kids are on vacation Wed-Fri and I’ve pre-arranged to take Tues-Fri off to be with them.  I can come into the city to interview if necessary on Mon and Tues, but after that, I’m stuck, potentially alone, with the monkeys.  UGH.

I’d really hate to turn down the law firm for the prospect of the other place that would never materialize.  But then again, if I got an offer this quickly after entering the market again, I’d suspect that there would be others also.  One of the advantages of being employed while looking is that I don’t HAVE to take the first job to come along.  I do have the luxury of waiting a tad to find the right place.   Grrrrr.

Any wonder that I’ve spent the last two nights spinning???!?!?!  I managed to fill up two bobbins on the Vermont Wheel (Juno) and offloaded one already to a spare majacraft bobbin using the electric bobbin winder.  Oh so cool that baby is!  I’ve spinning the black corriedale that was fondled at NYSW, shared with Marcia and then processed by Spinderella recently into some gorgeous roving.  It has a small amount of lanolin left in making it supernice to work with.  I’m spinning it long draw to what will probably be a fingering to sport weight plied though it might bloom viciously after washing.  I can’t tell yet.  But yum!

Craft on!

First, yes, I am alive.  I know its been a long while since my last post.  Things have been seriously nuts.

Work seriously sucks.  And it sucks more and more each and every day.  I have two ridiculously crappy issues that I just can’t get rid of including one that is caused by the security software they’ve installed but somehow all complaints still come to me.  Screw it.  It is only a matter of time.  As I was wisely advised, accept no counter offers and don’t bother to negotiate from strength:  there is no such thing.  And whoopee, today is my one year anniversary with said employer.

On the upside, I’ve had a number of interviews, including two second rounds tomorrow.  The earlier of the two is actually the first face-to-face as the first interview was a quickie on the phone.  The latter of the two is ironically in a very large law firm.  Full circle indeed.  Right now, as odd as it seems, that would be my first choice.

All in all, I’m really freakin exhausted.  I’ve been interviewing without letting the current jerks know that I am.  Which means a lot of leaving early, long lunches and coming in late.  Thank goodness for summer Friday’s, which at least allows me freedom after 1pm.  I’ll be happy when this is all over as my stomach is in knots and I have one continual headache.

Knitting time has been minimized.  I did finish Spring Things, but need to block her.  The monkey socks have been tossed aside and are living on my dresser while I carry around a small paper bag with interview shoes and a knitting project in it.  I’m working on the Essential Tank from Lace Style.  I’ve seriously modified the thing.  I subbed in Louet Gems in the fingering weight in Eggplant for the laceweight alpaca the pattern calls for.  I’ve also converted it to knit in the round.  I’ve been pretty much knitting on this exclusively since last Monday night and have hit the last pattern repeat below the armpits.  I’ll be, naturally, converting to knitting it flat at that point.  The pattern is easy to remember and proving to be somewhat soothing as I give my metro card a good exercise traveling all over Manhattan.

Hopefully things will return to a more normal state.  Soon.

Craft on!

At the risk of seeming to join the bandwagon, I pretty much have. Monday evening on the ride home, I joined the crowd and started knitting monkey socks too. (sorry no linky love over the treo) The yarn is from Fearless Fibers (etsy) in the Chocolate Pink Cherry colorway. Nice yarn that I am enjoying knitting with. I’m just at the heel now and will sub in my normal short row heel.In other developments, what I had been hoping for at the office will not be coming to pass. At least not without a lot more complaining and bumping things up the corp ladder. At this point, I am not sure if it is worth it. So I contacted my head hunter and told her I was looking. That was monday afternoon. Tues morning I got an email from her that she had something for me already. I talked to her and it sounded good. I have an interview tomorrow at two.In the meantime I had applied for a couple of positions that I saw on one of the boards. I got a call from the recruiter and met with their team today. They have a couple of prospects that they will submit me for.I think it is just a matter of time before I am out of the unpleasant situation. It is a shame as I really did love the job when I started. I might try and bargain from a position of strength when I have an offer om the way and try to report to a different director. We’ll see when the time comes.Tonight is PT followed by the weekly high point: the beloved SnB.Craft on!

There is no place better than NYC during a warm, sunny day for lunch. I’ll be knitting in the sun in a few moments.

In a very rare two-fer posting day, here’s the second   I had the computer, cameras and a free block of tv time.  Figured it was time for a real posting.

First up, a couple of finished objects.  No time to toss em in the album if i want to finish this before Hell’s Kitchen starts.

The knee socks in the STR Silkie – Walk on the Wild Tide colorway.  I actually finished them  Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend.  I just got around to taking the photo.  In th end, each sock took me about a week to finish.  I got both socks out of the one 100g skein of the very yummy and highly recommended Silkie.

In the quickie pile is this baby blocking last night.  It is a Flower Basket Shawl (small/shoulderette size) in one skein of Louet Gems fingering weight, Crabapple Blossom color.  I started it Thursday at the SnB and finished it yesterday.  I needed something pink

Do you think the spinning thing is genetic?  I’m really glad I have multiple wheels.  Not to mention these folk are providing a use for the DT wheels!

Finally…

Just to show that I do provide these children with the proper clothing!  I do have to admit that they both wound up in the pool quite naked not to much after these pictures.

And for some excellent news.  The boy is potty trained!  Woot!  He went for the first time, the Thursday before Cummington (too tired to dig out the calendar).  He skipped using the potty for the rest of the holiday weekend but started back up late Monday.  Surprisingly on Tuesday, he went to school wearing panties!  And didn’t have any accidents!!!  He’s been in panties since with a minimal number of accidents!  (Except he did pee on my bedroom floor this evening but we won’t mention that.)

He started going potty the same day that he got that big boy summer buzz cut.   Maybe it was the haircut.  Maybe it was going in the pool later that same day that spurred him on.  Whatever it was, amen!

Time to go relax with my knitting and Hell’s Kitchen.  Not too sure what the computer situation will be tomorrow as we’re going FIOS.  We’ll see if I can get my wifi devices back online.  Down side is that the conversion is happening before the final episode of the Sopranos next week.  Should I add that we aren’t getting HBO?  Crap.  It’s going to be a L O N G wait for the DVD’s

Craft on!

Some things you can rely on: death, taxes and that I won’t nupp. I opted for the bead alternative on Spring Things! Slooooowwww going but I think it will look nice when done.Oh yeah, photo and post courtesy of my new moblogging platform, an unlocked Treo 680 that I got on ebay. I really missed my old work one and having seen Cate’s, well it ws time. Ahh back to being connected! Now I just need better cell signal in the house!Craft on!

Naked and sitting on the jetski.  Only a pre-schooler (or two) can get away with something like this.Have a good weekend.