Recap - March Madness

Last month I went a bit nuts with the dishrag cotton. I found out that there would be a new baby in the family, and I went to work. Unfortunately, this little one wasn't meant to be. Nature sometimes makes that decision, but it's still a hard thing to accept. So I will put them away for the future.

I had a huge stash of Sugar n' Cream, and a lot of little balls of the same and Peaches & Creme. I was determined to put a dent in that stash. Using my favorite patterns from Mason Dixon Knitting, here are the results:

Bibs O' Love



Between these two, I used up 5 balls of leftovers. The one to the left includes solid yellow and white stripes interspersed with the variegated yellow/green/white.





I was shooting for a dozen in total, but settled for ten. I had better luck in the scrapbook section finding buttons that I liked than at Joann's. I very much miss the old fabric stores.

Baby Genius Burp Cloths







I have more of these I would like to make, but they will be done at another time. I still have about 6 balls of Sugar n' Cream set aside for burp cloths.

Ballband Dishcloth













What I like about these is that I can mix and match and use leftovers, which I did. I want to make more of these, as they make great gifts and of all the washcloths I have made, I like these best.

So, that is my March Madness recap!

A Full Plate - job hunting, a new car and endless squares

There are days when I would love to say that I am swamped at work, or work has been keeping me really busy. No such luck. Those close to me know that I have been looking for work for some time now. It has been very stressful, very depressing, and very aggravating.

OFFICIAL RANT

Why is it that common courtesy has gone out the window? For every 10 jobs I submit an application or resume I receive some type of response, such as "we've received your resume". Of all the jobs that I have applied for, I have received less than two dozen letters/emails saying thank you, but no thank you. How difficult is it to just send off an email saying that they have received the resume and will contact if interested? At least I would know that someone looked at it. Idiots.

I have been in the mortgage and real estate industry for 15 years. My last position was as a Vice President of Operations for a Mortgage Brokerage. I think I have industry leprosy. I am overqualified/under qualified. My background is too "specialized". They won't be able to pay me what I was accustomed to, so I won't be happy. Because of my previous position, a manager may feel that I will not be happy as a subordinate. I would be happy just getting a job, and if I didn't want to do the job I applied for, I WOULDN'T HAVE APPLIED FOR IT!!!!! As a grown woman, I find it slightly annoying that so many people are concerned for what would make me happy. Idiots.

Every morning, I start my current job of finding a job. I have several search engines set up within the various job seeking websites. These are emailed to me, sometime several times a day. I review them, send out the resumes with the customized cover letters, and have come to expect nothing. I have created 8 different resumes, so as to appeal to that specific employer or industry. On only one of the resumes does it mention my VP title. Otherwise, I list it as Operations or Office Manager. I can't change the company name or the industry, but I don't use industry lingo on 6 of them. I don't know what else to do. Idiots.

If anyone has any suggestions, email me at solslett at gmail dot com, or post something here. There's something missing and I need fresh perspective. And yes, I have gone the route of Employment Agencies, and even they have waffled on what they can do. 40,000 people in the mortgage industry have lost their jobs THIS YEAR. That doesn't take into account those laid off last year, or those that were on commission only. In the SF Bay Area, I would say that close to 10,000 industry related positions have gone by the wayside since Summer 2006. It's worse than most people think, and we're not done yet.

RANT OVER

So, what else is new.....

Kevin got his new car! Here it is .....

It is so pretty, with all kinds of modern gadgets like key less entry, cruise control, power windows, car alarm and an iPod Jack. I think this iron works and pottery shop were in American Canyon, but if we had enough "throw-away" money, we would have a T-Rex in our yard. Kevin thinks that a mail box in his mouth would be pretty cool. It would be the talk of the neighborhood.

As part of our day trip to the Napa Wine Country this past weekend, we visited my favorite winery, V. Sattui

and tried Taylors Refresher in St. Helena.

Contrary to the expression posted here, Kevin was enjoying himself. We did have to stand in line for almost 45 minutes, but how many places are there that serve Ahi Burgers? If you didn't catch it on the Food Network, Taylor's has the #2 rated Hamburger in the US. That's what I had. It was tasty. It was a lovely day. The car is a dream. If only there weren't car payments.

So, what else have I been up to since my last post? We took a trip to Sacramento to see my prize winning entries. Here I am with my first place winner..

The ribbon is huge!!! And it is so cool!!! The 3rd prize winner was in the same display as the Best in Show. It was a seasonal keepsake box; the lids were interchangeable. I know what I have to do to get Best in Show next year. I have it in me!


I've been knitting squares again. This time in the shape of dishcloths, burp cloths and small 4.5" squares for a blanket. They look something like this:

There were also the hats:

There were more, but it starts to look the same after a while. And I worked on a blanket for the Linus Project, am trying to finish up a pair of socks (I'm turning the heel tonight on the 2nd sock), and in general trying to reduce the stash. I am making progress, so I have no complaints.

If you want to see some more photos, check out Flickr, or if you are a member of Ravelry you'll find me there under the user name solslett.

I promise it won't be two weeks before I post again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Burp cloth - Peaches & Cream

Burp cloth
Originally uploaded by solslett.

I love Mason-Dixon Knitting. I have gotten so many ideas from this book, and the patterns are easy to remember. I have fallen in love with this slip stitch garter pattern, and have used it primarily for the squares I have been knitting for Warm Up America.

I wanted some mindless knitting the other night, and figured I would pull out a ball of dishcloth cotton and knit something. The yarn, Peaches & Cream, was purchased at Walmart for $1.29. A few hours later, tada, a burp cloth. It goes into the emergency gift pile. One can never know when such things come in handy.

Big Blue Blanket - Log Cabin - Mason Dixon Knitting

Big Blue Blanket - Log Cabin - Mason Dixon Knitting
Originally uploaded by solslett.

I love Mason Dixon Knitting. I have made many projects from this, and have been inspired to create other things. This would be an example of that. Based on the Log Cabin Afghan, I made this Queen sized afghan. I used Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick. It's huge. It's heavy. It's very warm.

It all started back in January with 8 skeins of T&Q that I got on sale for $2.98 each at a Michael's that was going out of business. We had just returned from our yearly Christmas visit with my Mom, and when I saw these I thought "I can make a nice, warm blanket for us to use at Mom's". My mother believes in hypoallergenic everything, so we get to use this fiberfill duvet that retains no heat. And we sleep on an air mattress because the sleeper sofa is almost 20 years old and will render you unable to walk if slept on. I have offered to buy her a new couch, but after looking for almost 2 years, she doesn't like anything. So, in a nutshell, we freeze our what-its off sleeping on the floor. Did I mention she won't run the heat at night or use electric blankets? There could be a fire or we could be electrocuted. Can you tell this is an old gripe?

Where was I? January. 8 skeins......

I figured I would see how far I could get with a Log Cabin Afghan with these 8 skeins of Sky Blue T&Q. I got bored. I found some skeins of Wheat and thought a splash of cream would make it more interesting. Husband liked the way it was going and started putting his feet under it while I was knitting. I ran out of blue. I bought some more. I ran out again, the weather became too warm, so it was relegated to the corner and stared at me.

This past week, I was determined to get it done. I made a goal in April to finish a number of UFO's, and this was one of them. I finished it on 6/15/07. It ended up being 18 skeins of T&Q, and with the leftovers I made three hats for the Dulaan Project. Just turning it towards the end was an icky undertaking, and the weather had warmed up to nearly 100F. I picked a great time to finish this up.

Here are the stats:

Yarn: Lion Brand Yarn Thick and Quick
Color: Sky Blue and Wheat
Pattern: Mason Dixon Log Cabin Afghan
Yardage: 108 yds per skein - 4 wheat, 14 Sky Blue = 1,944 yds
Needle: 13US
Stitches per inch: 2.5

I am so glad to be done!

One Burp Cloth

Sometimes I just want to knit something easy. This is very easy. I love the book Mason Dixon Knitting. There are many great projects, and they are fun. After you are done with one of the projects, there's like this "wow, that came out really nice" type moment.

I made a couple of these as a gift earlier this year, and figured knitting up some more to stash away for future opportunities wasn't a bad idea.

Now for the particulars: Lily Sugar 'n Cream 100% Worsted Cotton, 3 oz. ball knit on US 7 needles using the Burp Cloth pattern from Mason Dixon Knitting.