Multitasking! (Day 11 KEDfaY)

I still don't have a job.

I knew that this was going to be a problem and the Boyfriend and I have talked about it so the situation is not a surprise to anyone.

I decided before we moved, since I would be jobless for presumably a long period of time, I decided I was going to workout every day. And why not? I don't have anything else to do. There are only two of us living here and a cat and while we do go through a surprising number of dishes, we have a dishwasher. We are also the very first people to live in this apartment so there isn't even residual dirt from previous tenants or lazy landlords. To clean the apartment, top to bottom, would take me about 3 hours and that's if I swept and mopped. Twice. 

So I have a lot of free time. I fill it with knitting, mostly, right now. And some writing. I have a few pieces that I would like to polish and start sending out to actual publications in hopes to make a few bucks. 

But I told myself I'd workout everyday. There is a gym in our complex and I've seen less than ten different people in there ever so I don't even have to worry about it being crowded or full of people looking at the jogger's wedgie I got going on.

I almost didn't workout today. I didn't work out all weekend but I decided it was the weekend and I would much rather sleep in than go and workout. I mean, who wouldn't. Today I was going to get up with the Boyfriend when he went to work, workout then start my day of knitting and watching syndicated sitcoms. Instead I laid in bed and read for two hours and fell back asleep before waking up and watching syndicated sitcoms and eating Doritos for lunch. 

It was when I was eating the cheesy residue off of my fingers that I decided I should probably workout today. And maybe eat some fruit. 

I used to knit and walk all of the time. I haven't had a car for a few years and this makes it very difficult to find a job especially in cities that have terrible public transportation. A few summers ago, I was jobless and bored and living by myself. Most of my friends seemed to be too busy all summer and so I was left to my own devices most of the time, which, don't get me wrong, is awesome, but can get very lonely when you don't see anyone or speak to anyone besides your dog for days on end. So I would take walks. I was walking about 3.5 miles every day and getting almost a whole washcloth done. (I think I've told this story before but it ties in to my day today.) 

I decided I was going to knit while I was working out today. I don't really need washcloths right now but I needed something simple to knit. So I started a hat. I figured I could get a jump start on Christmas presents. If I do one hat a month until Christmas, I'll have enough for everyone I'm planning on making a hat for and since I know I can whip up a hat in about two hours, I think this is a completely reasonable goal for me.  

The Boyfriend is constantly grumbling about me watching TV and staring at my phone. He complains that I'm not even watching TV so he should get to choose. I then tell him I'm multitasking and that I am too watching TV but I just so happen to be reading Wikipedia too. It's not my fault he can't do both. 

At least I learn... (Day 10 KEDfaY)

After about 3 or 4 hours of ripping and picking up stitches and fighting with my lace and at one point I ended up just ripping out one repeat back about 8 rows so I could fix my mistake. You know what it was? I simply forgot a decrease. One little decrease messed up my lace so much that I couldn't save the pattern at that point. Again, I don't pay attention. 

But I've learned my lesson! Instead of just hoping I don't make a mistake like that again, I actually used a lifeline! That's what the light pink line through my knitting is. I'm pretty excited that I used my brains in my head to attempt to fix any future mistakes I might have. I don't use forethought very often. I probably should try that more...Hmm...Or not.

I'm currently working on the second to last chart of the Aeolian shawl  and dammit, I'm pretty excited. It's actually making me want to do more lace shawls. I actually looked at cones of laceweight yesterday to see if I could get a deal and then realized that even if $42 for a pound of laceweight is a deal, I don't have the money to pay for it so then I stopped looking before I depressed myself further. 

I was worried about posting my progress/proof every day. I'm not planning on a trip any time soon but there will be some in the future where I just don't have time to sit at my computer or won't be able to sit at my computer. But, there is an app for that! I found an app and yesterday's post was published on that. I'm pretty excited because now I can blog from ANYWHERE MUAHAHAHAHA! Not that I really go anywhere or do anything but just in case! 

Okay, back to counting now.

I really can't count. (Day 9 KEDfaY)

So...I can't count. Or I can't pay attention. Or both. Probably both. And I also don't do things that would make my life easier, oh no! What's the fun in that? Life line? Who needs it? Definitely not this gal. Nope. Not at all...

If I have learned one thing is that life lines are our friend. I've spent probably an hour already ripping back and trying to figure out what is actually a stitch and not just a yarn over on a row that I'm ripping out.

I have a Woodchuck and my lace and bad movies on cable. Who said that I don't know how to have fun on a Saturday night.

What has gotten into me? (Day 8 KEDfaY)

I hate lace.

I am really bad at counting which I know, at 24 years old, is probably something that I should have mastered by now, but alas, that's not so. Being bad at counting is a problem when knitting lace.

I also tend to not pay attention while I'm knitting and this project is already the perfect example. I actually started this last night and got through about 9 rows of the first chart before I ripped it out. Why? Because I didn't pay attention to the decreases and just presumed that all of them were k2togs even though the key for the charts clearly says otherwise.

But for some reason, I have to knit lace right now. It's like when you have to have a steak right now or you have to go for a walk or you have to watch reruns of Friends again. There's no rhyme or reason as to why you HAVE to you just do.

So I'm knitting lace.

I'm not even knitting simple lace, I'm knitting something relatively complex. Why? Probably because I'm officially insane.

I also knit on my sock prototype #2. It's getting close to begin done. I probably have another inch or so to knit before the ribbing and calling it done. That's sorta lacy but not enough to squash this craving of lace.

Maybe it's because my brain is telling me it's bored and wants something challenging to do. That would make sense since I haven't really done much since the semester ended. I've had the mental break I needed and now I need something stimulating.

Or it could be that I've finally had the break in sanity that I needed to become completely insane and decide lace is a good idea. We'll know for sure if I decide to try steeking next.

Waking up on the wrong side of the bed (Day 7 KEDfaY)

Everyone has those days when they don't quite get enough sleep or their head twinges just a little bit, enough to be annoying but not enough to need to take medication, or you can't quite get your underwear to fit right. Because of this small inconvenience, the whole day you get annoyed by every minute detail that isn't quite perfect.

Today is one of those days.

Last night I went through my yarn stuffs and various projects because I got the urge to do so. I was debating on starting a Hemlock Ring blanket  and was trying to distract myself from actually doing that. It's a beautiful blanket and I will make it some day, I even have the yarn in mind right now, but I told myself I need to finish some projects first.

While going through my yarn and organizing my side of the hobby closet, I saw my log cabin blanket. I pulled it out to see where I was on it and how much more I needed to do and I realized that it was ugly. Super ugly. So ugly that I can't even pretend that I like it. Now I could frog it but it's really close to being baby blanket size and I do still have yarn that I've set aside for it so I decided to finish it and put it in the donate pile. I'm sure someone somewhere will need it for something, even if it's just a blanket to put on the floor for the baby to play on.

I got a good chunk of a strip done last night and finished it up this morning and picked up for a second one. But today I hate everything.

This blanket that I already didn't like, I hate more. The yarn that is OLD Red Heart variegated that I set aside for this blanket? I want to set it on fire.

Again, I hate everything today.

Of all the things I hate today though, I hate my bank the most. If you follow my personal account on twitter, you've read about my battle, 140 characters at a time. I was supposed to get a new card at the end of May because my debit card expired then. The last time it expired, I was sent a new one without me calling or asking and it was wonderful. This time though is VERY different. Four phone calls with a 5th coming up to challenge a replacement fee that I shouldn't have been charged in the first place, 6 weeks after I started this fiasco, and I still don't have a debit card. Good thing I don't have bills to pay or groceries to buy. They told me I could go to a local branch and have it all taken care of in no time. That'd be great except Jacksonville, FL, one of the largest cities in the US, doesn't have a branch of my nationally recognized bank. So I get to sit and wait for this card to hopefully show up this week and then call them again. And because it's a bank and not like a store or a restaurant, they can't do anything to compensate me for their massive fuckups. I get to sit and wait and call them and deal with their shitty service. It took four phone calls for anyone to apologize to me. Four. And all I got was an insincere apology that was hidden in a script for the customer service person to follow. I know it's not the individual's fault and I haven't yelled at anyone except myself in frustration because they get paid the same amount whether I'm nice or a complete bitch to them and really, who wants a stranger yelling at them? I know I don't, hence why I don't do customer service.

Like many other things in life right now, I'm frustrated because I can't do anything. I get to sit and wait. That's what my life is right now, sitting and waiting, waiting to hear back about a job interview, waiting to get my debit card, waiting to get a job. Sitting and waiting. And it sucks. I am awful at waiting.

/rant

Bi-craftual (Day 6 KEDfaY)

I, like many of my fellow crafters, have dabbled a bit into the world of crochet. I am by no means an expert and it isn't something I make a habit of but every once in a while, I feel the need to crochet. 

So I did. Don't worry! I knit today as well. I worked a few rows on the sock prototype but today I just felt like crocheting. I finished a blanket that I've been working on for a while. It is a scrap blanket, made up of leftovers given to me mostly and some that I had left over from my own projects. I'm planning on giving it to charity because, while I do love blankets, I like mine to be big enough to cover more than my lap, especially since I now live in Florida where it doesn't get below 75* ever. (Don't try to argue me on this. I am now an expert on all things Florida. I have been to the beach and live in a swamp [sorta]. Seriously, there was a wild boar big enough to eat me killed less than two miles from where we live and there is a hurricane that is coming [nowhere] near us later this week. I think I can call myself an expert now.) The lap/baby blanket is going to be donated to a local cancer center because I figure they will find someone who can use it. I think I'm going to do an edging on it because, like I said, I'm no expert and my edges look atrocious. 

The hexagon blanket that's also pictured up there had some work done on it the other day. I'm about 7 hexes away from finishing it! Whoo hoo! 

So here's my proof! 6 days in a row of knitting and I didn't even fake it! I did like 10 whole rows of this sock! Whoo! (I had coffee late today so excuse the extra excitement.) I'd like to finish this sock this week and start writing up the pattern and possibly start the third sock in a third yarn to see how it works with variegated yarn. I think some of the patterns will work but the cables might get lost. We shall see! 

My name is Leigh, and I have an addiction (Day 5 KEDfaY)

So that small mitered square I made yesterday? I blame it.

It's probably my fault since I'm the one that decided to knit it and I'm the one who actually knit it and I'm the one who picked out more yarn and made a small log cabin-type square out of it but I blame that little square.

I have a problem.

For any of you who don't know me, I kinda have a problem with scrap blankets. I love them. I love everything about them. I love picking out the colors, I love going through my stash of scraps, I love finding new patterns. I just love them SO MUCH. I save every bit of yarn I have, no matter how small it is because if it isn't going to one of my numerous blankets I have started then it's used for stuffing toys if/when I ever make one. You could call me a hoarder or obsessive but really I'm just being smart. I'm using all of the bits that others don't want or would throw away and I'm using them to make blankets. I have at least four right now (all under the Charity Blanket project title) that I'm planning on donating as soon as I finish them. I'm also saving money because as a broke ass-post-college grad who has no job and still can't find one, my yarn budget is nonexistent. I don't buy yarn, especially not for myself or for any project that I want to make for me. All of the yarn I buy goes towards presents for other people.

You could say I'm selfless but really I'm just broke.

So instead of working on another prototype sock so I can type up another pattern and get it out to test knitters, I am playing with scraps and making squares for a completely new blanket.

My name is Leigh and I have a problem.