Back to school blues

It's well into September now. Kids are back in school, teachers are teaching. My former fellow graduate schoolmates are all working diligently, most within the profession we trained for. Whereas I am here, at home, still.... waiting! It's truly fantastic. What amazes me more than the fact that I am still here and unemployed is that I can manage to do so little with the time I have. It seems that the less I have to do, the less I do overall.

I have been knitting though. My knitting ADHD is still out of control, but I have been knitting nevertheless. A few weeks ago, I began a project with some yarn I had in my stash... label-less but I'm certain it's acrylic. I don't have a picture yet of the results up to date, but here's what she looked like a week or so ago:


The pattern is from this website and can be found here. I knitted mine with my Denise Interchangeables size 5, with the worsted weight purple acrylic from my stash (which came from my mother's stash.... and who knows where it came from before then). The intent is to line it with some sort of material (maybe a black satin-ish type....), find some antique-y silver buttons for the closure at the top, and give it to my sister-in-law for Christmas. As of right now, the body of the bag is completed, bound off, and seamed along the bottom, and the handles are almost complete. All in all a relatively quick and easy project... and my first attempt at cabling! Not as hard to do as it looks, for sure. I like the bag so much (as well as the color... I'll have to be strong to give it away), I've already chosen another selection of yarn from my stash (wool, I think) in a light tan/beige color for a similar bag of my own. I have to be STRONG and not begin it at least until I finish the purple one!

I've also been working on a small bag for a friend, who requested a "flat, square, brown bag with a longish strap." It just so happened that I had some chocolate brown (as requested) yarn lying about, and a severe case of knitting ADHD to prompt me to begin swatching RIGHT AWAY. After attempting several stitch patterns unsuccessfully (holes too big, too intricate to be seen with the dark brown yarn) I settled on a relatively simple pattern and began the bag in the round. Pictures to come. Now we've been discussing closure options (she opted for no flap, open top with a snap). I've never done a snap before, so I'll have to do some research to decide what would be best for this type of thing.

I finally finished the purple gloves a few weeks ago, as shown here:
No, I didn't manage some funky circular light/dark purple pattern... the flash did some funky business. But I am quite pleased with my first gloves... particularly since they fit, and they are the same size! Success!

I also started a pair of purple/blue socks using Lion Brand "Magic Stripes" yarn. Just because I didn't have enough projects to work on.

To keep me busy otherwise, my husband indulged me a bit a few weeks ago with a new Yamaha keyboard, with a very nice Grand Piano voice that sounds very much like a piano. I had said for a long time that I wanted to learn to play the piano someday, and while browsing in the stores we came across a similar model to the one I have, played with it, and that got the ball rolling. Several weeks and a few "Intro" books later, I am attempting to learn in the "classical" way, reading notes and understanding music, how it's written, etc. I've also got a few books that I think might be considered "fake" books, geared toward keyboard playing (as opposed to piano playing) that allow me to delve right into playing "Yesterday" and "Supercalifragilistic" melodies. I have been doing pretty well with playing at least every other day, if not every day, and love the fact that I can see progress from day to day. Unlike with exercising for weight loss... you just don't see those immediate and satisfying results. Probably explains why I play piano WAY more than exercise. One of the many reasons, I'm sure.

Summer's gone

We have returned from a successful, week-long trip to Waves, NC in the Outer Banks on Hatteras Island.
The weather was relatively cooperative, especially compared to last year! This year, it was in the 80's most days, low humidity, and sunny for 5 complete days. The other two days were cloudy and rainy in the morning, but generally clear by the afternoon. The rainy day gave us a chance to visit the North Carolina Aquarium in Roanoke Island.
The ocean was gorgeous... it felt a bit chilly at first but was comfortable to stay in and get thrashed around by the waves for a while.



All in all, a very relaxing and appreciated vacation by me. It was nice to get away from the stresses of not having a job yet, with the upcoming school year approaching in less than a week. I've resigned myself to understanding that I will not be jumping right into my dream job, as school psychologist (preferably in an elementary or K-12 setting). Instead, I find it more realistic at this point to be working in a "related" type of job in the area, at least for a year or two. Experience seems to be the big word in these interviews. But enough about that.

I wasn't very productive in my knitting while on vacation. I brought along my newest project, the Candle Flame Shawl, but since I'd stupidly left the chart of the pattern at home in the car, that didn't get very far. I did attempt to do a row (ONE ROW!!) using the written out directions, and found that to be so disastrous and difficult that, after unknitting the entire row (b/c I'd screwed up big time), I put that away for the rest of the trip. I also brought along my Frozen Lake shawl, which I did work on for a bit on the way down, as well as the Picovoli still in progress (2 inches to go, give or take). But I felt very ADHD on this trip, and couldn't seem to concentrate on any one thing for too long. I had, up until that point, been one of those people who could sit contentedly in the car for hours reading a book without caring if we stopped. However, on this trip I couldn't get into ANYTHING, even magazine articles were too long to hold my attention. Bizarre.

However, since my return back to reality, I have been a knitting fiend (while watching Season 2 of "Sex and the City" on DVD). I have finally finally finally completed those damned purple gloves I started many months ago, as well as "Hitler's Scarf." Hitler's scarf is a black scarf, made with an entire skein of Lion Brand 'Homespun.' It's for my friend's mother, who so admired a similar scarf I made for my friend out of 'Homespun' in a blue colorway. I did that scarf on size 13 needles, about 25 stitches across I believe, in garter stitch all the way. A very EASY and simple scarf... she didn't even want tassels or a fringe. So that'll get sent in the mail sometime next week.

I also worked on and finished the Frozen Lake Shawl. It is currently being blocked, but here it is pre-blockage (on the floor, attractive).

It is now blocking, with just pins. If I don't like the way it turns out (which I won't, I can say that already) I'll have to move on to some sort of wire or something. Not that it really matters, as I don't wear shawls...

That's pretty much it... Now I leave you with a picture of where I'd like to be right now: