a little life

Tonight I got home from work and found that my landlady had taped a note on my door.. that she had written on a paper plate. Apparently when you live in a cottage, everything must be adorable.
Not-so-adorable are the mice. They really haven't been too much of a problem- I haven't found ANY evidence of a mouse eating my food- but they're leaving their, well, leavings, and it's a bit gross. Mostly inoffensive, on the scale of poop, but still not cool. I've stuffed a few holes in the walls with steel wool, as I read that they can't chew through that. Soap-impregnated steel wool pads were what I could find cheapest at the grocery store, so my cottage now features sparkly tinsel like corners, filled with soap!

I am finally getting some good responses in my new position as a recruiter at my therapy staffing agency! I don't want to take on too much more, though, because next week is my last week before I will leave for an extended period and try to get a car and etc.

I am withdrawing from the Master's program I was in because I was overwhelmed and I didn't feel like the school was the right fit for me. I am still going to finish out one of my classes, but I feel better already. I won't feel better about paying my student loans, but at least I'm in America to do so- and I am not adding to them, which is very important to me right now.

I am looking forward to not being tired ALL of the time.

I met another person who can never work for Target again. Apparently it's called "redlining."

I am partway through War and Peace (still in the War part). I picked up a lovely copy at a yard sale and don't really feel much of anything about it right now.

I joined the public library and it's great! I've been watching a lot from their randomly-large selection of British shows and movies. Pie in the Sky is about a detective chef, and it's sweet but a bit unsurprising (for a mystery show!) and the characters are a bit flat. I have been ALL ABOUT Agatha Christie's Poirot. I've resolved to ride that Orient Express one day. It'll make up for not being able to fly in the Concorde.
Funny how free books and DVDs inspire me to save up several thousand dollars to blow on a luxury train trip!

I also started volunteering with Meals on Wheels. Just once a week, but it's been fantastic. Most of the volunteers are very nice to me. One wasn't.. but it worked out fine, because instead of riding along with her, I got to ride along with a fantastic guy in this fantastic car:

Definitely one of the coolest rides I've ever had. It's up there (I do indeed have a list). The man still has the original manual!

Knitting: getting there.

Eeee! My sweater on Ravelry just got two hearts! One from someone in Germany that I don't even know! The other from a woman I met in knitting circle in New Zealand. I ought to have gone more, those women were so nice to Steph and I.

I'm working on a sweater I started in August, when I was in DC. I went to Looped Yarn Works, picked a pattern out of a book and a bunch of yarn to go with it. It's probably the most I've spent on yarn for one project, but it's also probably the biggest project I've undertaken! Aside from the Baby Blanket That Never Made It. But, you know, that one never made it. Quite unfortunately, the sales associate at Looped Yarn Works didn't suggest a yarn gauge quite anywhere near what the pattern I had picked out suggested. I had this suspicion, but I thought I would try it anyways, and even picked up two different needle sizes. The needles are the only think I have some buyers remorse over, because I have the cords and a few needles from the Knitpicks interchangeable set and I should just buy tips, but I was on vacation!

I ended up making a different pattern in the book, Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel. I have mixed feelings on my much the title describes the patterns in the book. Some are fitted due to simply a lot of ribbing, while some really aren't fitted at all (the Crisp Rectangle Tunic Top is in fact a RECTANGLE, and the Cozy V Neck Pullover is a great classic masculine sort of sweater: you know, boxy and unfeminine..). The pattern I first saw from the book (on the internet) was the Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties. I liked the pattern because I liked cropped cardigans and I love leaves (more on that later). But would I call this pattern fitted? This pattern, that is shown dangling off the torso of a reasonably non-rectangular model? It doesn't look unflattering, it simply doesn't stand as a pattern meant to emphasize custom fit.

In the author photo, Stefanie Japel is not even wearing a fitted garment. Perhaps that should tip you off.

I still like the book, though, personally- a lot of it falls in line fine with my fashion aesthetic. I will probably be making that Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties, if I can figure out how to make it look like I didn't knit a top that was fitted in the sleeves and way to loose in the front.

I am working on the garment that made the cover page, Textured Tunic with Side Buttons. I might not have started it if the book included good pictures of what those side buttons actually look like. Ravelry to the rescue! I am only knitting small side slits.

This is my progress so far, minus about 4 inches on that sleeve in progress because I was increasing like a madwoman and had to rip it all back:

Prettier in person, and on a person, I promise.

 You can see here how I really like a flared sleeve... But I didn't plan very well how much I wanted the sleeve to flare. I am starting to think it is TOO MUCH FLARE. I am not tickled by the prospect of ripping out both sleeves, however. In addition, I didn't like the given texture of the Textured Tunic, and experimented with many other stitch patterns. I found nothing that worked!! It is another challenge all together to convert a stitch pattern to being worked in the round. Maybe someday, but I just wanted this sweater done, and besides, it's my first sweater. I should probably keep it simple.

So, I am justifying my dramatic sleeve choice with the reasoning that I lost the textured band that kept it interesting, so I ought to have SOME part of the sweater's construction be unusual.

I am liking the top-down-raglan style of making a sweater. I may make this again with the textured band as a short sleeve sweater. I'm not sure on short sleeves because I'm afraid the band part would be too "HEY LOOK AT MY CHEST" and yet I would try to make sure it hit directly above and below my chest, because I'm not particularly busty and I don't want an oddly placed band to make me look flatter.

Anyways, I'm making good time with properly timed increases on the second sleeve, and I will be ripping back the bottom and knitting it longer. This may be more difficult because I'm working with a set amount of yarn but I like the idea of small side slits, so I don't know how much I can actually increase the bottom length by. I think I am going to rip, save the ripped yarn in a separate ball, and knit until I run out of yarn- the separated ball representing exactly how much yarn the current side-slit and garter-band hem takes up.

Then I got kind of excited about taking pictures of my knitting, and this "digital macro" function I have on my new-to-me camera. My sweater probably looks way more appealing in close-up:

mmm, Malabrigo.

Of course then I stared taking pictures of anything I thought looked good when I held it up to my face really closely:

not-so-lush Acrylic of indeterminate origin.

 This is a sweet little leaf whose pattern I made up on the spot, and I describe it on my Ravelry page.

It's probably going to be sent to my botanist friend because I never figured out what I wanted to do with a little leaf, and I can whip up another in a few minutes. Unlike its inspiration, this leaf will not biodegrade, which is why I generally try to stay away from plastic yarn like acrylic.

I also have a lot of weird close ups of my thumb, couldn't help it.

I'm kind of hoping she tucks it into some actual plant in the herbarium she works at and see how long it takes anyone to notice. Kind of like this:: "A museum curator with a sense of humor, spotted at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History."

Oh boy! It was grey all morning and then poured for about half an hour. Just now the sun burst out!