Domestic Geek

I don't know what's going on with my subconscious lately. The last two nights I've been having really bad dreams involving work. Hello, these are my days off. Don't think about this stuff. They are those kind of dreams that even if you wake up from it, you go right back into it when you fall asleep again. I hate those. I even remember them vividly, which is also weird because I usually can't remember what I dream a few hours later unless I write it down.

The night before last, the company had purchased a new digital printer of some sort because a new client demanded it. Well, it didn't come with instructions or any kind of support to teach anyone how to use it. They made me go try to figure it out, but I wasn't having any success. The plant manager came and yelled at me because I couldn't make it work. I yelled back that if he was so damned smart, he could figure it out. Don't know if it got me fired or not, as Marcus' alarm woke me up at that point.

Last night, they decided to hold a company BBQ in the room where we house the digital printers. They had a George Foreman grill set up next to one of them. Never mind that there was a live job that needed to go out the door in the midst of this and the grilling burgers was splattering grease everywhere. As soon as we all ate, we went back into the prepress department to discover that all of our Macs had been replaced by tiny little netbooks and they had hired 3 more operators and crammed us all onto one tiny bench. They wouldn't give me a mouse and some kid kept kicking my chair. Turns out one of the new hires was allowed to bring his kid to work because he couldn't afford day care. I was just getting up to walk out the door when I woke up this time.

It's no secret that I don't like my job or the way things are run at the company for which I work. The sad thing is, as ludicrous as the dreams were, they're not too far off from some stuff that has been happening lately. I'm angry and frustrated at work because I don't have any input because those in power really don't care. I know things will never change. I was hoping the scare of this bad economy would help, but it hasn't. In fact, it has caused even more ridiculous things.

I came to the sad realization on Saturday that I have been putting up with this crap for almost three years. For some reason, I thought I had only been there two. I know, for my own sanity, that I either need to find a new job or start my own business. I don't want to be one of those people, like some of my coworkers, that have worked there for 10 years or better complaining about the same stuff.

Well, I've way behind everybody else that was participating in the She-Knits Mystery Bag KAL on Ravelry. People began posting finished pics to the group about six weeks ago (dang, where does the time go?).

I started working on the last clue (handle straps) about 3 weeks ago. First, I was knitting them on too small of a needle. I wanted the stitches to be tighter so they wouldn't felt as much as the rest of the bag. I'd been knitting on a 10.5 circular and as I didn't own anything in a 10, I tried my 9 circs. Too tight. Rip 1. I gave in and bought some size 10 double points. My LYS only carries bamboo, so I got those and cast on again. It's a cable pattern and about halfway into the first strap, I realized I had jacked up the pattern. Rip 2. On try 3, I got to the midway point and realized these handles were going to be too short for my liking. Back to the forum to find a finished one with handles I liked. The participant had put an extra cable repeat in and had doubled the amount of the center i-cord. Rip 4. I got to the midway point again and decided I didn't like where I had put the repeat. Rip 5. The day before yesterday I realized I hadn't knit on these straps in almost two weeks. So far I was liking where I put the repeat and was almost halfway done with the first strap again. I take this project with me everywhere, but kept putting off actually working on them. Now what was the problem?

As I was wandering around Strawberry Tree yesterday trying to find something I might like since they are having a 40% off going-out-of-business sale (last day of business is today), I saw some metal Addi double points. Got me to thinking that now maybe my problem is the bamboo. I went home and tried them...Hooray! Definitely working much better now.

Another problem I've been having is the darned yarn tangling up. This bag has been knit holding two strands and I've been working from both ends of the same yarn cake. Someone on a forum I read suggested putting the cake on an empty DVD spindle. So far that's working like a charm. After I finish the straps, I've got to sew down the four pocket sides and felt. Maybe I'll actually get this darned bag finished before She-Knits Mystery Bag KAL 2 starts September 23rd.

Speaking of Strawberry Tree, in addition to the needles, I only bought one small ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino to make some Fetchings (not sure there is enough yardage for my fat hands) or an iPhone sock. Frankly, I was a little shocked when I went in there. You'd never know the place was in its final days with as much freaking yarn is still in there. That's always been one of my peeves about that place and why I never purchased stuff there — too much stuff in too small of a space (and none of it is priced - you have to look it up in a binder). I was really hoping to score some yarn for the next mystery bag or for a hat I want to make for my father for Christmas, but no luck. Even at 40% off, the yarn was so overpriced to begin with that it wouldn't have been that great of a deal even if there had been something that struck my fancy. I overheard one of the employees telling a customer that the owner was going to move all the remaining stock to her basement. I hope her basement is huge.

OK, enough yapping. I've got knitting to do...

From the "Just When I Think I've Heard it All at Work" file:

Our company hired a new out-of-state salesman. Since his new laptop hadn't arrived yet, he had to access company email via webmail. Unfortunately, until the company upgrades Exchange, webmail doesn't work in IE 7 or above. The woman who oversees the sales staff sent Marcus and email asking what the salesman could do. He sent back a reply that he could use any other browser, i.e. Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, etc., to check webmail. She shot back another email asking if he could put that into layman's terms. Um...yeah.

I've been a very bad blogger. I don't know why I haven't been able to make myself write here. I've had a new post window open many times. I know my stand to not be negative here anymore is one reason I didn't post as often and I was badly burned-out on blogging after doing all of that sponsored crap, but I've had a lot of good things happen that I can't seem to get in writing, either. Maybe my friend Laura is right — Twitter and Facebook are ruining blogging. I realized I need to stop writing on those as much and start writing here more. I use my blog not only as a vehicle to spread news to friends and family, but as an archive of my life. More than once lately, I've gone back to the blog to see when something happened only to find that I hadn't blogged it. Dang, that is so frustrating. I'm sure I wrote about them on either Facebook or Twitter, but that stuff is not archived by me, so eventually that will all be lost. I'm sure those sites won't archive my posts indefinitely. Instead of doing a big catch-up post, I am going to be backdating a few posts as if they had just happened. I'm going to be going back through Twitter & Facebook and see what I've left out here. From here on forward, expect more posting. I've really missed writing here.

I don't know what I was looking for the other day, but I ended up on The Loopy Ewe web site and found the cutest vinyl car decals:



I saw these and I had to have them. I mean, I'm a geek/nerd, I have glasses, I knit & crochet...they're perfect!

They're made by a company called Vinyl Wall Art and they have a whole bunch of other craft themed car decals, too.

I was going to put them on my car today, but it was too darned hot and by the time evening rolled around, it was trying to rain. Hopefully, I can get them on tomorrow. In the mean time, I'm still plugging away on my She-Knits Mystery Bag. It's been kind of hard to keep motivated on it with as hot as it has been. Nothing like trying to knit with wool when it is 90°F and you're sweating all over your project. Ick.