Strides of March

Congratulations to Sarah the volunteer coordinator at Chattanooga Cares. She did a great job organizing this year's march. I know it must have been hard for her considering this was her first year organizing things.

Of course no one could foresee how cold it would be today. The ground was wet from the rain we had yesterday and the wind kept blowing making the day a little colder than necessary. But everything went well and I couldn't help but smile seeing all the walkers crossing the walking bridge shortly after the start of the 3.1 mile walk.

Consider donating to the organization. HIV/AIDS affects us all.

What I Have Been Up To

Lots going on. I've been doing a lot of knitting. You can see some updated pictures and project info in Ravelry and on my flickr page (link on the side). Sorry for not posting more details at this time.

I wanted to get a quick post in before heading off to bed. I am attending a writer's conference this weekend and it starts early in the morning and I don't want to miss anything tomorrow.

Sunday, I'll be volunteering for Chattanooga Cares down on the river front for their annual Strides of March event. It should be a great day for all and a great day to raise money for AIDS/HIV awareness. If you are in the area, come on down. I'll be working volunteer registration from 9:30-1:00 and then I'll spend a couple of hours hanging around after that. ANYBODY WANT TO KNIT OUT THAT AFTERNOON??? Let me know!

So, more about the conference and my projects soon.

Take care!

I Screwed Up

I don't know how. I followed the directions exactly, but I checked Ravelry and no one else has mentioned having problems so it must just be me. I'll go back and check all my measurements against the pattern later. In the meantime, I am not going to rip this out to fix it. I'm going to pull a Tim Gunn and make it work. I don't know how but I am open to suggestions.



HELP!

The edges that have not been banded are rolling distorting things a bit, but the result is still the same. My collar doesn't line up. Basically it's just way off. I'm still debating on adding the sleeves. I may have to now. The asymmetry may make more since if it's a long sleeved cardigan. HA! I know I'm kidding myself.

Suggestions please!!!

It’s Storming in the Southeast

I actually love rainy days. Even stormy days are acceptable as long as the damage is minimal. Unfortunately this weekend has brought several doozies our way. Here in Chattanooga is not nearly as bad as Atlanta but the thunder, high winds and lightning at four o'clock in the morning will make anyone think their roof is about to fly off. I hope you all are staying safe. Stay off the streets if you can. People here in Chattanooga tend to get a little crazy on the road in the rain.
To keep myself entertained, I've been watching horror movies. I'm watching Village of the Damned as I typed. Last night was the Omen trilogy. I love the Omen, but I've never seen Omen II and III until last night. There's nothing better than horror movies on a stormy day to get your heart going.
If you've got DirecTV, check out the Chiller channel (#257). You're sure to get a good fright in.

Sock Madness

As promised, here are the pictures of my socks in progress.

The Koigu Socks (second sock almost done)...









The Dana socks (sadly I haven't made much progress on these just yet)...









I've gotten really ambitious and doing two socks at once; from different skeins since I didn't want to separate the Berocco Sox into two balls...


I'm enjoying the sock knitting and I can't wait to have several pairs to choose from!

I Hate Interviews

I've had two interviews this week. I'm not the best at interviews (my opinion), although I do manage to make an impression. I think it has more to do with my honesty more than anything. I don't lie about anything and in an interview; I think people find it refreshing to see someone be honest.
So I made it through the interviews and now I'm in the process of negotiating salary on one of the jobs. It's a fantastic job and I would love to do it although it will require me to work in another city for a couple of years. So, more time on the road away from home. (Insert sarcastic YEA here) I'll have to get an apartment in this other city to stay in during the week and I'll come home on the weekends. I can live with this (I think). We'll see how things go. But I hate the negotiating portion of the process. The only reason I do it and try to get a higher salary is because women tend to get paid less than men doing the same job and; being in a field dominated by white males, I am going to continuously fight for equality in pay. So far I've been successful in getting paid what I'm worth but I still worry about people's initial reaction to my salary. But you know what. I'll get over that when I'm able to buy more yarn at the LYS.
So, during my time off I have gone sock crazy. I'm determined to knit up a week of socks before I start the new job so I can have my custom socks on. Kind of like a security blanket to give me a little boost of confidence while working. I'll be wearing trousers and loafers most of the time so having some pretty colors on my feet will be great. I'll upload pictures tomorrow of the four socks I have going right now. And they are all different. Can you believe it? I'm crazy, but my feet will be gorgeous.
So to those of you out there negotiating through life, I wish you the best. Get what you deserve and always make sure you deserve what you are asking for.

Journal Love

I have an addiction to journals, notebooks, paper and anything else made to record one's thoughts. I probably have hundreds of them. Some are completely written in, some are still blank, some are only half used. But that doesn't stop me from buying more of them.

When I discovered ETSY, I immediately looked for sellers of handmade journals and I found MyHandboundBooks. I ordered a small leather covered journal and I absolutely love it. I don't know what thoughts it's pages will hold but I can not wait to write the first words.

My love of journals has probably been a clue that I should have pursued a career in writing. I have always loved the idea of leaving a legacy behind and I'm finally going to start working towards that goal. I hope you all find your passion in life and choose to pursue it.

Happy writing, blogging, scrapbooking, making videos or whatever else suits your style of legacy preservation.

Trying New Things

Wow, it's been a roller coaster of a week. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail right now as I am trying a new blogging method. I am using Microsoft Word 2007 to compose my post. I'll then see how things work. I'm trying to be able to do as much as possible off line so I can move around the house more. No I don't have wireless at home.
In addition to a new method of blogging, I am trying something new on the job front. As of leap day I am unemployed. I still can't quite get my head around that, but I'm going to use this time wisely and not stress out too much. I'll have a new job soon enough.
In my free time I am going to get a lot of knitting done and I'm also considering starting an Etsy store. More on that soon. I hope you all are doing well. Write to you soon!