Life Lessons

Just a really quick note as I really am working feverishly on my Olympic Knitting sweater. The back is done, the front is 1/3 done - maybe it'll be a vest?? We'll see - closing ceremonies are Sun.

BUT

What I want to write about - check your bank account often. I got home tonight to a letter from my bank telling me they'd transfered all my savings funds into my checking account to cover debit payments I'd made. Now, I keep my checks / debits in Quicken...I love it, quick, easy, accurate. And I'd just updated a couple of days ago and according to it - I had plenty of money to last till payday. I did NOT check my actual bank balance - or I would have noticed the discrepency. As soon as I read that letter, I logged on - and discovered a $450 payment that I HADN'T authorized!!!!! I was on the phone to the bank - they checked things out while I was on the phone with them and discovered that it had been drawn on the wrong account!

I still have to jump through a little hoop tomorrow to get it totally straightened out - probably paperwork to show that I know what's going on and approve of the fix or something.

But this is definitely a wake-up. Don't just trust that because you're pretty sure that your bank never makes mistakes - remember - banks are made up of humans. And they make typos and transpose digits. Check your balance more than once a month when you reconcile your checkbook.

And now - I'm off to knit...I promise to post pictures this weekend. Not only of the Olympic Sweater, but the other projects that have distracted me.

the 'confession'

Quick update - I've finished the corkscrew scarf out of my handspun. I've worked a bit on the Olympics project - pictures soon...

the confession - I've cast on 2 more projects while I'm supposed to be focused on the Olympics challenge! I can't seem to help myself...I'm beginning to wonder if I'm one of those 'process' knitters. I love starting, I love watching a new stitch take shape, I love seeing a new pattern emerging. I don't love so much the knit-knit-knitting till the end. I'm like that with quilting too. I love making the blocks. I love doing the quilting. I don't love so much putting the blocks together to make the quilt - or loading it on the frame to do the quilting.

I've noticed tendencies towards that in other parts of my life. I LOVE moving to new towns. New people, new stores, new scenes. I even actually enjoy new jobs, new skills, new co-workers, new commutes. I think that might be why I really enjoyed working food service in my younger life. I lived in a tourist area - the Black Hills of SD - so everyday was filled with new people, new questions. Since a lot of our employees were high school and college students - it was new co-workers all the time too.

I'd like to think that it's because my mind is just itching to learn, learn, learn new things. But I'm afraid what it actually means is that I have the attention span of a gnat and I'm easily bored. But I'm also easily deluded, so I'll stick with the learning new things interpretation, if that okay with everyone.

Maybe the biggest part of the whole Olympic challenge for me will be to just finish the project. Starting is always the easiest, right?

Knitting, knitting, knitting...

As usual, busy around here. Getting ready for some new classes I'm taking, held at Burien Yarn Stash out here in WA. The 3rd Sat of every month, we're going to have Sock Club, this month is a spiral sock. And in keeping with that (I guess, not sure they planned it that way) following that is the Project of the Month - a corkscrew scarf. Is this a hint they think we're twisted????

Anyway, couldn't wait on the scarf and I've actually started 2 versions of it. Tons of fun. This one pictured I'm making with my own handspun. Also making one out of Marble Chunky so there are color changes all through the scarf. I'll post that when it's done.

Signed up for YarnHarlot's Knitting Olympics on Fri morning. Spent Thurs evening picking out the pattern and most of Friday evening swatching and rejecting yarn. All beautiful yarn, but just not for this sweater. It's a cute t-shirt style sweater done in basketweave with a notched v-neck. The yarns I tried were really pretty, but the basket weave got lost in them...and I'm NOT going to do all that work of counting 3 -3 -3 - 3- 3 if it's not going to show! Finally settled on a very pretty bluish - Merideth Bay from Patternworks. I think it's going to work up nicely.

The point of the Olympics is to challenge ourselves as knitters. To try something a bit beyond what we do on a day-to-day basis. And actually - just to finish a sweater in the 2 weeks allowed would be a challenge for me (We cast on during opening ceremonies and are supposed to be finished by the time the Flame is extinquished.) But this sweater is done in pieces and sewn together afterwards. The garments I've done previously have been basically seamless - topdown sweaters, a vest that only had 2 tiny shoulder seams. So the challenge for me is going to be getting this 'together' and having it be wearable - and last more than one laundering.

So to document:

Olympic Challenge - beginning of Day 3:

More in a day or 2 (along with a little confession...)

Tax Time !@#$#@!!!

Guess what kids - it's tax time. Adding up all the expenses, tracking down receipts, making sure that all the government required forms are all in one spot...but you know what is the hardest part of the whole process? Trying to figure out which software to use.

I have a small quilting business out of my home. But the variations in how the software treats a home business are HUGE! I have no employees, it's just me. I DO take up a large part of my home to do my quilting/sewing - and now knitting. But all the tax forms are written in governmentese and designed for larger businesses. Translating industrial manufacturung supply language to yards of fabric and skeins of yarn is tricky.

So I spent last night preparing, getting everything together and totaled. Now I'm on a mission to pick the software. In the meantime, I might just go knit...heard there's a yarn sale a couple of towns over (does milage count if you're in pursuit of a sale???).

if you don't get the beginning right...

The rest isn't going to magically perfect itself. This past weekend I worked on my new quilted jacket, one of those where you use a sweatshirt as the base and then do the flip/sew technique to cover it with the fabric of your choice.

A couple of life lessons:

It was recommended to start with sweatshirt that's slightly large on your body. 2 good reasons - it will shrink a little with the stitching/quilting; you'll be wearing it over other clothes as a coat, so you'll need room for the other garments. They did NOT say to start with a sweatshirt that was HUGE on your body. It doesn't shrink that much.

Hard to tell on this picture - but there's about 5 to 6 inches from where my armpit actually is to where the armpit of the jacket is. I have room for half a body in there, not just clothes. The same goes for around the jacket. In the picture, I'm wearing it over another large sweatshirt and I can still pull the front and overlap it by 4 to 5 inches. Probably should have tried to adjust all of that when I did the side seams - but I know next to nothing about garment making - could you guess?

Next life lesson: If it sags and bags and you're using it as the baseline for a straight seam...your seam will follow the bags and sags.

Note the intriguing slant to the right side. And the slightly chopped off left side. For some reason in my frantic effort to finish this in a day (which might have been a bit ambitious for a non-garment maker) I thought once I got the binding on - everything would look okay. And believe it not - I did cut 2 inches off the length of the sleeve. Still covers most of my hand...I'm must be a lot shorter in person than I am in my mind.

The back is nice and straight tho. If I just back into rooms and then face the wall I can get away with wearing this. And actually at quilt shows that might work. I could pretend I was talking to a friend in the lobby as I entered the showroom, then immediate turn to face the quilts. As I got through the vendor aisles, I'd just have to keep a totebag full of purchases in front of me. I think I could make that sacrifice for fashion.

On to the next part of my life...

Good morning...this entry isn't about knitting or quilting - tho they may get mentioned. This is about life changes. I'm just about done with my job with the payphone company. I've only been very limited hours for the last few months...but I really hate finally cutting the tie. This job was really a home to me. I found friends there and work with databases that I really enjoyed doing. What a concept - having a good time at work!

I've moved on to full time at the hospital, and I've already made friends there, but I don't know that it will ever be the home that the phone company was. There's a lot to be said for small business where you really do know everyone in the shop. It's more painful when things take a downward turn, but that feeling of closeness is treasured.

I'll miss them all...

Well, it's the new year, and I don't feel a damn bit wiser or older...but I DO feel more organized. I hit the sale on plastic bins, etc. at Fred Myers and I've tackled the quilting room. Seems like more and more yarn is drifting into the quilting room and it has to be contained or it breeds over-night. I swear to God...I didn't buy that much wool, so it must be breeding on its own.

Anyway, first order of business was some shelves...move things up off the floor. Second order was bins.Also bought a little case with drawers for holding quilting thread and bobbins. Bought 2 big bins, one for roving, one for batting. Those bulky items need containment...they both tend to s-p-r-e-a-d out if you're not careful.

this corner used to be just a mound of batting trimmings. I won't throw them away as they can be pieced together to make a batt big enough for your project..but while you're waiting for the magical point when you have enough...they get a little unruly. Now they're contained. The other corner of the room still needs a litte work, there's some containers that need sorting through, melding and tossing, but it's greatly improved...

Note the tote bags hanging from the doorknob...those were all full of yarn that has now found happy homes in plastic bins. So it's still a work in progress, but so much better than before. I can walk all the way around the frame now. And to celebrate, I got Casey's school colors quilt on the frame. It's going to hurt to give this one to him as I've fallen in love with it. The colors are just wonderful. This is a picture of it on the design wall...before being pieced to gether. I'll post a picture of the finished project once it's all quilted.Sooo, it's Sunday evening and I've worked hard enough for the weekend...off for some knitting and tv viewing.

Happy and Safe New Year to you all.