First Week at Work
No pictures today. My first week on the new job is almost over. It's been great, but tiring. Monday I learned a little bit about my actual job, but the last three days I've been working in the sewing room, packing orders. The idea is that it will make me more familiar with our products, but what I've really gained is a whole new respect for the people who produce them.

These folks are hard workers, and the work they turn out is amazing. They clock in at 6:00 am, and leave at 2:30 pm, some stay until 4:00 pm and work Saturdays to catch up. I can't imagine spending eight or nine hours a day sitting at a sewing machine or operating a cutter or staple gun, but they do it with relatively little bitching and moaning. I folded and packed hundreds, maybe even thousands, of bedspreads, curtains, and pillows since Tuesday morning, and very few needed any fixing. I lost a couple of pounds, and gained more than a few aches and pains. Whatever they're paying these folks, it's probably not enough! Next time you buy new curtains for your home, take a good look at the craftsmanship and spare a thought and a good wish for the people who made them for you.

Tomorrow: 'lambrequins'...I think they're the padded, fabric-covered thingies that go at the top of the windows. I'll let you know when I find out.

A Picture of Our Grandbaby!
Nici had her first ulstrasound today. Thor(ina) isn't big enough yet to see if (s)he's a boy or girl, but they saw ten fingers and ten toes (all in the appropriate places) and everything is right on track. The baby is very active and has a strong heartbeat. (S)he danced and waved at Mom and Dad.
This is so cool! I wish we'd had an ultrasound when I was pregnant for Nick, but in those days the technology was very new and they only did that if they suspected a problem.
Edited 3/29/06: Sonogram photo removed

I went to open knitting night at Ewe-Nique Knits in Goshen, Indiana, tonight. About a dozen women were there, at all levels of knitting skill. It was a lovely evening!

Their grand opening is later this week. Stop in and check them out if you're in the area. The store is owned by a very nice group of ladies who are trying hard to build it into a first-rate yarn shop. Be sure to check out the floor in the restroom!

We went to Ohio to visit our friend Peggy over the weekend. I finished a sock and got a lot done on another that I finished this evening. Peg and I learned silk ribbon embroidery while we were there. I have visions of beautiful baby things dancing in my head...little dresses with ribbon-embroidered embellishments, and tiny matching baby shoes...just what I need: another hobby!

Benefits of sleeplessness...
...so I'm performing my normal stupidhumantrick of waking up every two hours during the night and I decide (sigh) I might as well get up and do a little 'net surfing until I'm sleepy enough to go back to Zzzzz-land.

I was running through my list of Yahoo! groups to see if there were any new posts and found that the March issue of the Opal Chatters' Newsletter is up (see sidebar for a button linked to info on joining). I've been Blogspotted! Every month three bloggers from the group are chosen to be spotlighted (spotlit??) in the newsletter and each receives an Opal yarn prize from Soxie. I can hardly wait to see what she sends me. Thanks, Dearie!

I bet I'll have some visits from fellow Opal addicts, so will post THIS link to my archives. Scroll down to October 4th to see my very silly "Ode to Opal" and a picture illustrating my shameful addiction. Hello, OpalChatters!

So, why the odd sleep habits? Stress, I guess. In the past ten months, I have had four-count-'em-four different jobs, and will begin yet another new job this coming Monday. I have changed jobs more in that time than I had in the previous EIGHTEEN years, and this from a person who hates-despises-avoids changes at all cost doesn't really care for change much. At the same time there have been some family problems causing me great sadness and frustration, as well, I suppose, as the continuing goofiness of the "M" that happens to all women around my age. Ah, well, all will be better with time.

In the good-news file, Baby Thor(ina) is growing apace. DearDaughter-In-Law Nici has been experiencing the tiny flutters that signal the baby's movement and is feeling less tired these days. I did some Grandma-shopping this week, hitting the winter clearance sales in the KMart baby department. I loves me them little baby duds. Cute little shirts, sweet little pants, adorable little snowsuits!

Back to bed for a couple more hours.

Comments...
Thanks, y'all, for the good wishes on the new job! I'm very excited and more than a little nervous.

Nancyj said: We love stopping in Shipshewana...Shipshe is a great town to shop! This is the second time I've worked there. The first time was in the late 80s-mid 90s. I managed a cluster of shops on the north side of the feed mill, called Quiltmakers/Shaker Legacy/Depot St. Shop. Later they added a Christmas store, too. Shaker Legacy was my favorite. We sold beautiful custom-built Shaker-style reproduction furniture that was built in an Amish woodshop north of Shipshe, and my husband built some here in his woodshop, too. Lovely, lovely stuff, in cherry, oak, and maple. Sad to say, those shops are long gone now. I can still weave traditional Shaker chair seats, though, if you ever need it done!

Jayne said... I love your cat (a siamese was my first ever cat and I am so tempted to get another one -...It's an odd thing about that cat. There are no Siamese on the place, and never has been one anywhere near, as best we can tell. We live in the house that was my grandparents until they both died in the 70s. There was a barn cat here named Cherryl Kitty (named by Grandma after my sister, who rescued the cat and brought her out to the farm in the mid-70s) when we moved to the farm in '79. She had a couple of litters every year, and a few litters had kittens with Siamese markings in yellow, grey, or tan. We've never kept one long enough for it to breed, but the markings keep showing up in Cherryl Kitty's descendants! It's funny how we never get a pretty gray/brown/white tiger like Cherryl Kitty any more, but we keep getting these.
The kittens with these markings are usually born a sort of dirty-white color, and the markings begin to show when they're a week or two old. As they get older, the colors get darker. Hershey is the first one we've kept this long -- people always want the 'siamese-y-looking' ones, so we end up giving them away. When Hershey was born I laid claim to her and wouldn't let anyone take her.
Time to go clean something or knit something...hmm...I wonder what will win out???

I have news!

I have a new job! I love my job in the store, but have no benefits: no health insurance, no paid holidays, no paid vacation, no lunch breaks (yes, I said no lunch breaks -- weird, huh!). The store is beautiful, the owner is very nice, but I need to have insurance, at the very least. Rich currently carries me on his job's insurance, but what if something happened to him?

So I applied for a job with Artisan Interiors in Middlebury, Indiana, and I got it! The pay is better, and I have all the aforementioned benefits. I'll be starting March 6th. I'll be doing order entry and customer service. I'm very excited, and more than a little nervous.

We had visitors... friends from the GL1800 Riders' Forum came up on Saturday and we did tourist stuff. They brought their son and daughter-in-law along, and our kids joined us, too. We did some shopping in Middlebury -- two words: Knudsen's Caramels! -- had lunch at Das Dutchman Essenhaus, then went to Shipshewana to see some of the shops there.

We stopped in at the shop in the Davis Mercantile where I work and the 'kids' tried out our life-size resin pig statues:

Nick & Nici and Jeff & Tammy with pigs...cute!

We had a great time, made some plans for camping and riding together, and shared a lot of laughs. You really do "meet the nicest people on a Honda!"

There is knitting: I have a couple pair of socks on the needles, and am re-knitting another for a pattern picture. I've started a baby blanket for little Thor(ina) and bought yarn for a little snowsuit-like-thingie, too. Yes, I fell off the no-stash wagon, but it was on sale!

Just checking in...
No knitting pictures to show, so here's one of Dash and Hershey napping. This was taken last summer, and Hershey has gotten much darker since then. Well, I guess it's kind of a knitting picture, too. That mess in the background was my first exploration into the Haley's Roses pattern.
Gosh, I guess it's been about a week since my last post. Sorry to worry you, Chelle! All is just fine here. The smoking cessation is coming along nicely. Rich says he's down to maybe 4 or 5 a day, and I haven't had one since Saturday. The meds they have him on for the acid-reflux thing are working well.
I didn't sign up for Olympic knitting, but have been knitting while watching the games (off and on...Rich does still control the remote, LOL). I did some swatching for grandbaby-knitting, and have been working on a new pair of socks in Opal Prisma yellow.
The most wonderful baby bootees book came for me this week, via inter-library loan (thanks, Decatur library!). 50 Baby Bootees to Knit is by Zoe Mellor and the patterns are adorable. And speaking of booties/bootees, one of the shops in the suite where I work is now carrying these. They're Robeez baby shoes and booties, and are they ever cute (but pretty expensive). Little Thor(ina) might get a pair, though!

ER...our very own reality show!
When Rich came home from work last evening, he said he didn't feel good. I asked him what was wrong, and he shrugged. When pressed, he said, "My chest hurts."
Well, you can imagine, that brought things to a standstill. It seems his chest had been hurting for several days, and he just hadn't mentioned it to me.
Long story short, we headed for the hospital. Rich insisted he felt well enough to drive! He spent the night there in the Chest Pain Observation Unit, and had a stress test this morning. The good news is that he has acid reflux disorder, NOT heart problems. The REALLY good news is that his heart is in wonderful shape: the ER doctor said Rich should take the images they got during the stress test to our insurance company and demand a discounted rate because he has absolutely no sign of heart disease.
The bad news is that his chest X-ray shows the beginnings of emphysema. We will both be quitting smoking...

The good thing about hospitals is you can knit there for very long periods of time while you wait.
These Jaywalkers are finished. I kitchenered the toes in the ER while waiting to see if they were going to keep Rich overnight.

The generic make-it-up-as-I-go socks in the really lousy picture are begun. I started them this morning while waiting for Rich to finish his stress test. The yarn is vintage Lady Gault from Kroy. It's very, very, very fine, almost laceweight. It's nice and soft, though, and a lovely color of green...I believe I have had carpet this color of green in every house I've ever lived in!

Haley's Roses (new cuff)
Here's the new version, finished, and a closeup of the cuff. I love the stitch definition of the Lang Jawoll. The roses actually look a little like roses!
I think Jawoll is my new favorite sock yarn.

Jaywalkers Progress
I found my knitting bag at work today. There is a little progress on my Jaywalkers:

I've completed the gusset decreases, so I shouldn't have any trouble finishing them in the next week or so.

Haley's NEW Roses
OK, here's version 2, with narrow bands of pink on the cuff to set off the rose panel. Better? I think so. This one is in Lang Jawoll. Beauty!

Was going to post a progress photo of my Jaywalkers, but I can't find them! I think I either left the bag at work, or carried it to a restaurant over the weekend and left it there. This is what happens when you have too many projects going on at one time. It's a good thing I only had one child...

So my niece posted at her blog that her son (6 years old, I think) decided to move out. Read about it here. It reminded me of a story my husband's aunt told me many years ago.
Said aunt has three children about my age, each more wonderful than the last. One of them, let's call him 'Will', came to the decision when he was about five years old that he had had enough! and it was time for him to move on. 'Will' packed a bag, with his mother's help. He took no food, but he included a stocking cap, in case it got cold (it was summer!). He packed no underwear, because he didn't know where he would be staying, and he "...didn't want to have to change his underwear in front of people". 'Will's' mother helped him fold his clothes neatly, closed the suitcase carefully, told him to be careful and write (when he learned how!) kissed him good-bye, and sent him out the door (it was a different time then, and little kids could walk down country roads carrying small suitcases without ending up on a milk bottle). Of course, as he left, his mother said, "It's too bad you're leaving before supper -- we're having your favorite tonight!"
'Will' made it about half-a-mile down the road before he reconsidered. When he returned to the house, he informed his mother that it would be a shame to waste all that food, and he guessed he could still run away tomorrow. She agreed.

He never did, though!

Nici Knits!

The kids came over for supper tonight, and Nici started a blanket for Baby Thor (or Thorina). She's doing a great job, and I'm so proud of her!
I taught her to knit several years ago and she knit a blanket for her impending baby brother. She hasn't knit anything since then, but it came right back to her as soon as she picked up the needles tonight.

Asleep on the Bike
From the comments:
CountryVariety said...
WOW - that is awesome - you can knit and SLEEP on the bike ! okay now I am worried that you'll fall off - see now you made me worry too much....
and
e's knitting and spinning blog said...
Sleeping Becky!?! Please I just am having nightmares of you sliding right off the back!

Aww shucks, you guys, thanks for worrying about me! Falling asleep on the back of the GoldWing is actually quite a common thing. Here's a thread from the GL1800 Riders' Forum where it's discussed: http://www.gl1800riders.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24633&highlight=asleep.
The topic comes up pretty regularly during the riding season. As I mentioned in the thread, Rich always says it's not fair for me to sleep on the back of the bike because I won't let HIM sleep on the front!
Honestly, I don't sleep hard on the bike. I usually just doze (sometimes I snore!), so any unusual movement will wake me. The seat is wide and comfortable, the backrest wraps around me and comes up quite high, there are adjustable foot pegs so I can put my feet up a bit, and I have armrests. It's relatively secure.

In knitting news:
I'm working on the re-do of Haley's Roses. Just turned the heel and picked up the gusset stitches. I like the narrow stripes on the cuffs much better. I have to make the change in the pattern, then will send it off to a test-knitter and should have it ready for sale by mid-February. I'll show you a picture later.

Oh, an advertisement for anyone close enough to make it: the annual Pajama Sale is next Saturday morning at the Davis Mercantile in Shipshewana (if you're close enough to make it you already know about Shipshewana, LOL). There will be special deals from 6 am to 7 am for everyone who comes shopping in P.J.s! I've seen lots of 20% off and 30% off sale ads for the event posted all over the building. I don't know what our store will offer yet, but I've heard rumors and it sounds good!

Knitting on the BigYellowBike (BYB)
The moderator of one of my online knitting groups asked to see pictures of me knitting on the bike. I've tried, but I can't knit and hold the camera at the same time, LOL! I'll have to have one of our riding friends take one for me some time.
Here are a couple of pictures I took on our trip to North Carolina last fall for Wings Over the Smokies (WOTS). I knit three hats for the South Bend domestic assault shelter while on the road.
This was hat number one. The picture was taken on State Road 9 just a little south of LaGrange, Indiana, on the first day of the trip. The odd, ropy thing coming up from the center of the picture is my yarn. Knitting on the BYB is most challenging because I have to pull out just a small amount of yarn at a time. Oddly, the wind currents on the bike cause the yarn to blow forward instead of back! If I pull out too much, it blows up around Rich's face...not a good thing.


This was hat number two. Here we're in Kentucky on the third day of the trip. That's our friend Bash and his wife on the beautiful yellow bike ahead of us. We got to know them through the GoldWing Riders' Forum. Rich and I met up with them at their home in southern Ohio, and travelled the rest of the way to WOTS with them. What a nice couple! He'd hoped to have a large number of BYBs travel to the rally together, but we couldn't get anyone else's route to match up with ours.

The hardest thing about knitting on the bike is yarn vomit...you know, when you pull out more yarn and the entire center of the ball comes out. When that happens, I have Rich lean forward a bit and tuck the extra between his back and the backrest, and re-wind it.

I only do mindless knitting on the bike so I can still enjoy the scenery. I've knit several pair of socks and a few hats while on the road. If I'm not knitting, I'm usually sleeping...sorry, no pictures of that, either!

Something's up!
There's news: our son called the other night, and when I answered the phone he said, "Hi, Grandma!"
He and his wife are going to be presenting us with our first grandchild somewhere around September 22nd! There's a little counter thingy at the bottom of this page where you can keep track of the days until little "Thor" (Nick's choice of prenatal names) arrives.
We appreciate all good thoughts and prayers for an easy pregnancy and a healthy, happy baby.

Time to get out the baby knitting books...

Tag! I'm it!

Madalyn tagged me with a meme. Here you go:
4 Jobs you have had in your life — (best to worst) Elementary-school library aide, paint department at Montgomery Ward, U.S. Census ennumerator, Agricultural irrigation parts warehouse.

4 Movies you could watch over and over — The Sound of Music ( the little bald-headed violinist on the left side of the orchestra in the scene after "So Long, Farewell" was my uncle!), Field of Dreams, It's a Wonderful Life, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

4 Places you have lived — White Pigeon, Michigan, Swansboro, N.C., Middlebury, Indiana, White Pigeon again, but half-a-mile north of the first time.

4 TV Shows you love to watch — CBS Sunday Morning, House, The OC, American Idol.

4 Places you have been on Vacation — London, England, Disney World, Cape Hatteras, N.C., Niagara Falls.

4 Websites you visit daily — Yahoo! mail, GoldWing Riders Forum, The Yarn Harlot, Stitches of Violet.

4 of your favourite foods — Pizza, chocolate, fresh fruit, chocolate (I can TOO use it twice!).
4 Places you would rather be right now — Can't think of any!

4 Bloggers you are tagging — Chelle, Sarah, Laura, E.

Haley's Roses
This is a new pattern I'm working on. I'm calling it "Haley's Roses" in memory of our little great-niece, Haley Rose, who died just two months after her second birthday. She was the victim of neuroblastoma, a particularly vicious soft-tissue cancer.

The socks are coming along nicely, although I think I'm going to change the pattern so that the main color of the cuff is the same as the main part of the sock, with just a narrow band of the contrasting color at top and bottom. Yarn is Opal Uni-solid on size 0 needles.
Tell me what you think!
My Jaywalkers have been on vacation while I work on this design. I should be able to get back to them soon.

Feeling Sheepish?
I don't know how this happened. I didn't set out to collect sheep.
This year, while decorating our Christmas tree, I thought it would be fun to put a couple of sheep in with the regular stuff. Just one or two would be cute.
But I kept finding more, and more, and more. How did I get so many?
I guess I just picked them up here and there. There's the one I bought at Harrod's of London in December, '04, and the sweet little guy with the zip-off sheepskin that my mom gave me years ago. There are two, count 'em, two Lambchops. The newest ones are the two "sheep-herds" at the top. They have the cutest tiny sandals on their dangly feet!
I seem to have developed a sheep collection.

Sock Blockers
I've had a couple of comments on my sock blockers. I got them from Rosemary Chapman, aka 'Chappy' and she has given me permission to pass along her email address to anyone who's interested. Mine are "Wooly the Ram" but she has several other designs. You can contact her at: chappywoman(at)yahoo(dot)com. She also makes beaded stitch markers and designs knitting patterns.
I love my blockers!

There has been knitting...
Here is a picture to prove it: Jaywalker socks, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Socknitter's Fall Sunset, past the heel turn and into the gusset decreases














I found the 'real' RedSweaters.org button, and have changed the icky one I designed (see sidebar). I am sad and more than a little ashamed to say I have not completed one red sweater for the installation, although I had one nearly done before Christmas. I can't find it now. sigh. I am even more sad to say there will probably still be a need for more sweaters in the months to come.

Yikes...


The JenLa blog is having a meme to see who can create the ugliest avatar. I am unworthy. This is ugly. It's very pink. She's wearing cowboy boots and cutoffs. She has a poodle. JenLa's avatars, however, are in a whole other class of ugly! I think I'll stick with my mildly weird South Park avatar. Here's a link to the avatar-creation place. Go. Create. Have fun.

Edited 1/5/06: I've deleted this avatar from Yahoo. because it scared me when my email account opened. No chance of seeing the poodle dance now, sorry.