NotScarlett

Catching Up

Other than using a tiny hook to crochet mass quantities of granny squares, I've been keeping busy doing all kinds of stuff, like: 

Test knitting a gorgeous hat for a blog/twitter/flickr pal

Dressing up like David Bowie

Working

Fishing in our yard with Nina, her man Eric, & Brian

Having a love affair with all things chickpea

Reading all about some adorable children & a dear friend I miss terribly

Wishing another dear friend a happy birthday

And of course, appreciating every single amazing moment with Brian (and The Sammer, too!)

Life is wonderful.  

Knitting? What knitting?

I'm hooked.

Horrible pun intended.

April Update

Whew. Another long stretch with no blogging. I'm still deciding whether or not to keep this thing going. I haven't had much to say lately. Actually, I just haven't felt much like blogging. I had an incident which kind of discouraged me. I'd just like to say this: my blog is my blog. If you don't like what I say or how I say it or the words I choose to use or the pictures I choose to share or the things I decide to knit, etc., there are lots of other blogs you can read. Please move on to one you find more to your liking rather than complaining about mine. I promise, you won't miss much if you stop reading my random ramblings.

While I haven't been blogging much, I've been playing elsewhere on the internet. Twitter is always up & running on my computer if I'm on the internet, and Flickr has become one of my favorite places...you can find me here. My Project 365 is still going strong, and I'm feeling more confident and inspired with every passing day. There is a great community on Flickr, and I'm enjoying this project more than I ever expected I would. I'm also dabbling in a few new things thanks to Flickr inspiration, like hooping and improving my crochet skills. Thanks to a very generous birthday gift from Brian last week (new camera!!!), I'm taking better pictures than ever, and having a great time while doing so.

I've been in a bit of a knitting slump recently, and have put the needles down to focus on spending more time outside, or um, sleeping. Adjusting to being back at work kind of wore me out for the first month...sad, I know, but I think I've finally got myself on a regular schedule. I have been working on a few things here and there, like this sock:

Pattern: Charade, by Sandra Park

Yarn: Yarn Pirate Merino Sock in Cannon Beach

Raveled here

and this sweater:

Pattern: Hey Teach by Helene Rush

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Stone

Raveled here

Hopefully I'll feel more inspired to knit now that I don't feel quite so much like a zombie when I get home in the evening.

In the past week, I also managed to celebrate my 29th birthday. 

I'm still kind of in shock, not because getting older is a big deal to me, but because it doesn't seem like that long ago when I thought 29 was a long way off. Time flies, especially when life is pretty damn good.

One more thing...my dog is still ridiculously cute.

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself!

Celebrate!

A year ago today, something awful happened, and we almost lost a little furry family member.

I'm happy to report that Cricket is happy, healthy, and 100% back to the speedy, smiling, sweet pup she was before her accident. Today my family and I are quietly celebrating her spirit and her amazing energy, and are so very thankful to have her in our lives.

Just wanted to say thank you to all of the wonderful folks out there who helped Cricket out this time last year, and let you know I think of you all every time I see Cricket's happy tail wag.

xoxoxoxoxo

Kreativ Blogger Award

The lovely Gadabout Knitter tagged me/awarded me a KReATIV Blogger. Thank you so much!

The rules of the Kreativ Blogger Award are thus;

List 7 things that you love and then pass the award on to 7 people…tagging them and letting them know they won! You can copy the picture of the award and put it on your sideboard letting the whole wide world know you are KReATIV!

Things I love:

1) Brian-I went out to my car at  lunch today and there was a note on my windshield. Apparently he had been near my office earlier and decided to stop by and leave me a love note. Random gestures like that remind me that I am a very lucky girl...I've found the person who truly is my other half.
3) Sampson-My sweet, snuggly, hilarious pup makes every moment of every day better, and has truly taught me what unconditional love is. It is impossible for me to be in a bad mood when I look at his sweet face. Tied with Sam is Cricket-Another pup love of mine...I wish B & I got to see her more often now that she and Nina moved out. Tomorrow marks one year since her accident, and I am so thankful she is alive and thriving.
4) My friends-Near and far, I've got some of the best pals a girl could ask for.
5) Unsweetened iced tea-I could not make it through a day without it. I wish I could quit you, tea.
6) My sister-We may not always see eye to eye, but I don't know what I would do without my little sister. She's an amazing person, and I am so very proud to know her.
7) Ravelry-I remember when Ravelry was just an idea Jess had, and I'm so thankful to her and Casey for making her vision a reality. Team Rav is made up of incredibly kind, generous, intelligent folks who have the patience of saints. Ravelry has given me the organizational and research tools to become a better knitter, and I love, love, love the site. While I try to stay out of the groups, I know that there is a whole network of knitters and crocheters and fiber craft lovers all over the world who are able to come together in a variety of groups to share knowledge, opinions and friendship.  I love Ravelry, and want to put some positive thoughts out there since there has been a bit of unfortunate & unpleasant drama going around.

I'm not going to tag anyone because there are way more than seven blogs & bloggers I adore and admire...if you are reading this, feel free to consider yourself tagged!

Great.

New job=new germs=I have effing bronchitis. What. The. Hell.

In other news, B & I have a special guest at our place for the next few days.

Yay Cricket!

Oh, and I made a few hats recently.

Star Crossed Slouchy Beret, in Malabrigo, Ravelled here.

Basic Cable from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, in Cascade 220, knit for a bandmate of B's, Ravelled here.

It's 7pm, and I'm off to bed. I'm determined to get rid of this crap I've managed to catch. BOO to germs.

Starting Over

I'm having a lot of fun with Project 365. I'm hoping to save up for a "big girl" camera and start taking better pictures. My ancient Nikon point & shoot has been good to me, but it's been on its last legs for quite some time.

Anyway, Project 365 has been a great way for me to document my days, especially when I wasn't working. This is my self-portrait for today, taken bright and early this morning. It was my first official day at the new job, and I was being a very good girl, eating a sensible breakfast.

Work is good so far...I've learned my lesson about being overly enthusiastic about a workplace before the "honeymoon period" wears off, so I'm just trying to take everything in and not be too excited at this point.

I am SUPER excited to be working with a good friend of mine again though. We've kind of lost touch over the past few years, and today we just keep looking at each other saying, "it is SO GREAT to see you and be working together again!" Bonus: she's a knitter. Extra bonus: there are even more knitters in the office. A knitter-rich environment has to be a great place to work, right??!

Funny how it all works out....

Not working has been a trial for me mentally. I've been employed in some fashion or another since I was 15, and if you count babysitting, 12. It's been difficult for me to be home so much, to not be working and not having an income of my own. I'm very lucky to have a wonderful partner who has supported our household financially through this time, as well as been my emotional rock. Things could definitely be much worse, especially when I consider that they aren't bad for us at all financially. The worst part of the entire situation has been my emotional reaction to staying home.

I'm not a stay at home mom, so I don't have a child or children to focus on. Sampson is a great companion, but I think even he is sick of me being here all the time. As I mentioned in my last post, there is only so much cleaning one person can do. There have been some really bad days over the past few months where I've felt pretty hopeless, wondering if I'll ever find a job in this crappy economy, in a town where it's hard enough to find a job when the country isn't facing huge economic issues. What would I do if I wasn't working? What would people think of me? For reasons I won't get into on this blog, I'm unable to go back to school as I had planned/wanted until some more time has gone by, so I've been feeling really lost.

Something wonderful has come out of what my mom refers to as my  forced life of leisure. I came to realize that I was placing way too much value on whether or not I was working. As B so brilliantly pointed out, my employment status has no bearing on who I am as a person. It doesn't define me, it doesn't make me good or evil, it doesn't tell the world anything about who I truly am. It should not impact the way I view myself nearly as much as it did. Realizing this took away a lot of my guilt about not working, and really allowed me to embrace this time off as a time to focus on myself as a person, rather than Sarah the Worker Bee.

I still have rough days where I beat myself up from time to time, but overall? I can honestly say I like myself a lot more today than I did when I was gainfully employed at my last job, where the work environment had turned me into a version of Sarah that I really did not like. I've found a level of happiness I didn't think I could have in a situation like this. I've learned to be more financially responsible. I've learned to listen to my inner voice that tells me to try things I've always wanted to try, I've paid more attention to my intuition, I've rekindled friendships that had fallen by the wayside because I was "too busy" while working. I feel refreshed and renewed. I've developed a different outlook on life. My self-esteem is moving away from being centered on who I work for and what I do to being based on who I am.

I'm planning to carry my new outlook and this spirit of renewal into my next adventure. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I let go of all my negative feelings about myself and realized I am more than a paycheck, I was offered a job with an organization I've been admiring from afar for quite some time. I'll be doing work to support values I truly believe in, and I'll have the privilege of working with a dear friend of mine. As hokey as I think it sounds, it is true...you get what you put out into the universe. Negativity brings negativity. If you want to change your life, change your focus, and put joy and positivity into all you do.

Socks Ravelled here.

Pattern: Spring Forward by Linda Welch, from Knitty.com, Summer 2008
Yarn: Great Adirondack Soxie in Rosewood
Needles: US size 1.5

Nothing to see here....

As much as I'd like to tell you I haven't been blogging because I've been too busy knitting, that would not be true.

I have no reason for not posting other than there hasn't been too much to post about; my unemployment is stretching into an unending series of days filled with cooking, cleaning, and playing on Flickr & Twitter. I'm starting to go a bit stir crazy with the lack of activity. Sometimes, in between my compulsive baseboard dusting and my cooking experiments, I actually do knit. In fact, I've got a few FO's to show you this week, the first being a cozy pair of socks.

I can usually squeeze a pair of socks for my US size 7.5 women's feet out of one skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, but knitting at a tighter gauge this time crushed my plans for a one skein pair of socks.

 

I finished these off with some leftover yarn from the Jackson Scarf, the wonderful Glacier in Johnny Cash from the now-defunct (but reborn in other incarnations) Cider Moon. The fit is perfection and the colors blend quite nicely.

Next up: more tales of dusting, polishing, and even BAKING...as well as some more socks. Perhaps I'll even tell you the sad story of that sweater I was knitting...

Perfect Day

After catching a chill during an ill-advised trip to the dog park on a day we experienced record setting temperatures, I spent a few days swaddled in thermal blankets sipping TheraFlu and watching bad reality TV. Today I woke up feeling human again, and knew I had to get out of the house.

Fortunately, today's blue skies were accompanied by temperatures in the low 70's.

It was a perfect day for getting out and enjoying my surroundings. I managed to convince B and Sampson to join me for a day of outdoor fun.

Our first stop was Lake Ella, home of scary ducks and scarier water.

We walked around the lake for a bit, Sampson sniffing everyone and everything he possibly could, while B and I spent some quality time people-watching.

Our initial plan was to head home after our lakeside stroll, but we decided to head to Tom Brown Park instead. Sampson was not at all interested in the dog park, and after a futile attempt at getting him to play with other dogs, we decided to walk some trails.

We spent a long while walking and talking, then loaded up and headed home, where we decided we weren't ready for the delightful feeling of sunshine on our skin to end. B & I dragged a blanket out to the back yard, grabbed some reading material, and proceeded to bask in the sun a bit longer. Sam had no problem with the extended outside time, and promptly joined us in lounging about.

It was a gorgeous day spent with my two favorite living things. Life is good.