One Crazy Fiber Lady

This is what it looks like when you remove the screws from the case of a MacBook Air. I’m replacing the 128gb SSD with something far larger. I repeatedly ran out of room and found that a 480gb upgrade kit – which included the necessary screw drivers and an enclosure to continue using the old SSD as an external – was far cheaper than buying a new Air. The replacement was easy and took about 10 minutes. Cloning the 112gb is taking a tad longer.

Might as well work on my new mittens while I wait until bedtime, though I wouldn’t mind calling it a night early. I think I might.

– Craft on!

Once again I’ve moved hosting to a new provider.  This time, instead of just a host, the engine is changing as well.  No more WordPress and PHP but now BlogEngine.net.  I get to mess around with it in my native language, C# 🙂

Once again I have a new phone and I am trying the mobile version if WordPress 😉

I hints at something in the air last week but was waiting for some things to finalize before I let you all in on the news. Well those things have now settled so now I can share with you what the latest the winds of change are bringing my way:

I’m changing jobs. Again.

There I said it. This time, like the last, is also by choice. Initially I really liked this company and my job. That changed when I was traded to a different team, without consultation, to do stuff that I just don’t like doing. This is a team of consultants working on a huge new product with a few token employees. Well I was cherry picked by them to replace another employee who’d been fired (some political nightmare) as a new token employee. Add in that the corporate environment has changed considerably since I started here and a global reorg was announced last week that I predict will have trickle down streamlining effects.

So in the setting, my fired former coworker and I have been in contact over Skype since he left. A couple of weeks ago he said hello from his new spot. A spot in a location 8.9 miles by car from my home. I casually inquired as to whether they were still looking for senior developers. Oddly enough they were and after he verified with his superior, I decided to update my resume and give it a shot.

A week later, my buddy skyped me, could I be available for a tech phone interview the next day. Thanks to a number of Starbucks locations (can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Starbucks) I had my screen call. I had very mixed feelings over my performance. Always hard to tell.

Two days later I get an email, they would like me to come in for a face to face panel interview and write some code. This meeting was last Tuesday, starting as 9am. Three questioned me for an hour and then I wrote an web app. I left there at 11, home by 11:23. Phone rang at 11:56, they would very much like me to join them. However since they only use consultants on this open ended indefinite contract, did I have a company or would I like to be in contact with one of their preferred vendors, I went the vendor option, worked with them to set my hourly rate, which was approved. I gave notice on Wednesday after getting a countersigned contract. My last day is 7/3.

So there you have it. I’m divorcing NJTransit, whom I’ve been married to since 1997. I will miss the knitting/reading/detox time but I won’t miss being on their schedule. Not to mention, I’ll jut be closer to home! And working as a consultant, hours are going to be fixed, anything over 40 needs approval, I’ll have more me time. My hourly rate has time off built into it so I won’t resent holidays and can still take a sick day or vacation or two.

Oh and my boss fist-bumped me when I handed him my resignation letter!

So taking advantage of the remaining train time, I’ve been knitting and reading, sock one just about done. Actually I finished last night at a baseball game, but I took this picture on the way in yesterday with the intent of writing this post yesterday.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

In order to keep up with the steading incoming supply of sock yarn, I decided that I need to knit at least one pair a month.  Towards that end I have two pairs of socks that are complete.  The first is a the last FO for 2011:

These socks are Cherry Tree Hill Supersock.  I’m pretty sure this is my first completed pair out of that yarn.  I’ve purchased other skeins, but I don’t recall actually finishing anything before.  These are pretty nifty.  I actually finished these guys on New Years Eve, shortly before midnight.  That made my total production for 2011 higher than it has been in a long time.

I just finished these socks this evening.

I would have finished these earlier, except I futzed up the second sock.  For some odd reason, while I had no problem increasing the toe to 56st for the first sock, I couldn’t quite manage that on its mate.  Took me to having finished the heel to realize it though.  I ripped it out and started again.  The yarn is Pakokku sock yarn from ITW in Minotaur color way. I picked this up at NYSW this yearn and really liked it.  The base is a fine multi-plied yarn which reminds me of Lorna’s.

Finally, another FO to show off, but not knitting this time.  Most know that I’ve been working on a iOS version of my KnitCounter app.  I submitted it to the Apple App Store on 1/2 and it was approved.  It is available for $.99 (just like the droid version)

It is available here.  I’m quite proud of it and would welcome comments and suggestions!

Now to decide which yarn is next.  Will be important as on Friday we’re off on our annual family vacation on the Explorer of the Seas.  The trip is very similar to this one, but one day longer and with one stop different.  We’re going to St. Martin instead of Dominican Republic this time and the islands are in a different order.  Labadee, Haiti is our first stop.

Craft on!

This would explain the sneezing and stuffy nose.

Work actually continues on Peasy. I haven’t abandoned it yet. Though it does have to share my out of office time with my Air and the learning to code for iOS books. I’m a couple of chapters away from beginning to code an iOS version of my Droid Knit Counter. Yay!

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I must admit that while I really enjoyed my droid, I had really missed my iPhone. I thought getting a touch would quench the desire, but it didn’t. I could finally withstand it no longer. Last night after knitting I spent some quality time with eBay and found a great deal on a verizon iPhone 4g 32gb located a few towns over with local pickup an option. This morning the seller called me and when I offered to pay him cash he said they could drop it off. Yeah I liked that option very much. I ran to the bank and got cash. Around 4pm there was a knock on my door. I’ve been giggly since. Takes so little to make me happy.

Now is anyone interested in buying a gently used Droid X or an ATT iPhone 3G? I seem to have a few phones too many.

Testing to see if this can be done 🙂

It struck me that I never showed a picture of Adrift in her finished state.  I kind of suck like that 🙂  I can say that it is just about perfect.  Honestly I would wear it every day if I could.  I sort of force myself to dig out one of the many other sweaters I’ve knit and wear that, or in a pinch one of my souvenirs from that year of hell working at JCrew.  Anyway, this is not the bestest of pictures but you’ll get the idea of how very wonderful the drape is.

My current project is moving along and still secret. I can say that I have finished the upper back and one half of the upper front.  I need to pick up the held stitches for the second half, and that should progress quickly.  I’ve also broken out of my recent monogamous knitting pattern and started a sock.  Hopefully more on that soon, before I finish it.

My droid app is selling pretty well.  The little deposits in my bank account from Google make me smile.  I’ve since written a second app, this one a spinners toolkit.   I only released it this weekend so we will see how it goes.  I do have some major additions to make to it including a log section where you can record info about the resulting yarn and add a picture of it.  I have to say that I am really enjoying coding again.  Must also admit to the deep love I feel for my Droid X.  Love it as much, or more if that is possible as my old iPhone.  Have the next app figured oh as well.  Came to me as I was trying to sleep the other night:  a knitters toolkit.  This would be a collection of things like a yardage calculator, an increase/decrease calculator, kitchener definition.   Maybe even a pattern generator for simple stuff like socks or top-down raglans.

Train is almost in Hoboken.  Time to upload and put this away. 

Craft on!

I thought I had missed it yet again, but evidently today is my blogiversary! I can’t believe its been six years, and I’m still at it (well maybe not as frequently – but work is getting in the way of the best posting time 😉  I’m also somewhat surprised that I didn’t totally miss it like I did last year.  I know that it is around the time of the kids’ birthday, but never remember the actually date.  Talking with Carole last night, I was convinced I’d blown it again.

This is a recovery day, besides being Columbus Day.  Happy day to those who celebrate.  To me it is a day off, one where the kids are actually in school!  This past weekend was a very busy one.   As I mentioned before, blogiversary is around the time of the twins’ birthday.  Well that was Saturday.  I can’t believe they’re 7 already.

This year we held the party at BounceU on Friday night.  There were 12 kids, including my pair, bouncing, climbing, sliding and otherwise having fun.  This was followed by pizza and ice cream cake.  By the time we got home, opened all presents and finally settled down for bed it was almost 11pm.

Saturday, I treated Kat to her first manicure and hopefully started a new mom/daughter birthday tradition.  Heck, maybe we started a new bi-weekly tradition.  I have to admit, I like having polished nails.  I think the last time I polished them myself was during my staycation a year ago.  Last manicure was for my sister’s wedding in 2006.  I think its time.  We spent a good deal of time chasing Alexander’s new remote airplane, tracking it down from various neighbors yards.  I spent some of the evening hours revising Knit Counter and adding features/functionality that Android board members on Ravelry suggested.  Unfortunately I found there was a problem for those who newly installed the new version rather than upgrading.  I fixed that problem last night, but I’m getting ahead of myself here now.  Anyway, I added features, and flubbed it for the new installs, and uploaded to the marketplace.

Yesterday was a very long day, covering many miles.  It was Jessalu and R’s wedding!  I headed up north at 10am and didn’t get home until 12:30 am.  A long, but beautiful day indeed.  The wedding was sweet.  The reception was lovely and the food was yummy.  I got to hang with a table of other knitter/spinners whom I all know well.

Unfortunately I wasn’t tired after getting home, and had found a complaint from a new purchaser of the app, so I sat down to see if I could find the problem.  Fortunately, before too long, I had narrowed it down and was able to upload a new version to the marketplace.  So whew.  I feel badly that I had released it that way.  I guess I’m used to having a team of QA people at work and not accustomed to doing more than the unit testing that I normally do.  I am my own SQA team here!  This won’t happen again.

I tossed and turned last night after finally going to sleep, having decided that the geek stuff needs its own home, and not here.  You guys kind of fuzz over when that side of me pops out.  So this morning after the kids went off to school, I got busy and set up a new blog for the software dev stuff (might notice it in the navigation at the top), change the page that you hit if you just go to crazyfiberlady.com to be a main screen rather than the default redirect siteground put there.  Sadly, my browsers are caching the page that had been there, but that should expire shortly I hope.

So now, I have two hours before the kids come home.  I’m going to spend the rest of the day relaxing with a spinning wheel.  I’m hoping the down time will help me shake the cough that’s been with me a couple of days now.  Maybe i should nap.. hmmm.

Craft on!