That Bad Mood

I’ve never been to New Jersey before and I was looking forward to starting my new job in a new place. Now that I have arrived, the bottom has dropped out of my optimism. I flew in a day early to give myself some time to get around and figure out my way around this place. About four hours after stepping off the plane at Newark Liberty Airport, my attitude became quite foul. The traffic is atrocious and I’m not one for getting road rage. I can usually turn up the music and sing my way through the traffic jams. Not here. It could take awhile to get used to the way the exits and U-turns are arranged. And just so you know, a U-turn here is not really a U-turn. It’s a loop. Where I’m from, a U-turn is actually shaped like a U.

I got here on yesterday (Saturday) and had dinner at the hotel. After finally finding this hotel, I was not about to venture back out into the unknown, but as the hotel is right next to a mall I figured all would be good for the rest of the weekend. To my surprise this morning, I found the mall and just about everything else around here CLOSED. I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen a mall closed on a Sunday. It’s been years, probably over a decade. What century have I gotten pulled into? I drove around for over an hour today before I found a Boston Market open where I could get food. I’m waiting for the hotel to bring me a fridge before I venture into the one grocery store that I saw. I found it shortly before I found that Boston Market. I was happy to find a CVS were I could pick up a couple of things that I forgot but I have to say the staff there was a little on the rude side. So far, there have been no random smiles. I don’t like to get into comparing the North and South, but when someone makes eye contact with you on the street, we typically smile in the South. Not here.

I wasn’t able to fit any knitting in my suitcase so I was hoping to find somewhere (like a Michael’s or Hobby Lobby) to buy some needles and sock yarn. No luck. If I had, it would probably have been a Hobby Lobby since they are closed on Sunday. Fits the apparent theme of this place.

I’m assuming this place will come to life tomorrow when the mall is opened and everyone heads to work. I hope the people I’ll be working with are nice and pleasant and can point me to some eating places around here, because right now I’m not seeing many choices. The hotel has a nice restaurant which I absolutely love, but if you’ve ever been to a Bone Fish Grill then you know it’s not the most economical place to eat every day for a 14 day hotel stay.

Pray for me people! I’m in need of an attitude turn-around. And to all of you living in a place that is turning your mood foul, please move. Just pack up right now and move. The world could be a much better place for us all if we weren’t living in places that made us miserable.

Wouldn't You Know It

My month of unemployment is coming to an end and wouldn’t you know, at the end of it I start to get sick. My throat is sore, my sinuses are draining on overdrive and I am constantly freezing. I’m getting on a plane in 4 days. I would like to do so without being sick. I’m hoping it won’t last long.

It’s time to go back to work as last week I made a serious impulse purchase. It wasn’t much of an impulse because I’ve been looking at getting a new one for about two years. I just wouldn’t have expected it to be this one.



But I love it and sad as I was to see my Jeep go, it was time for us to part.

Mountains of Unfinished Knitting

I go back to work in one week and I am longing to finish these two projects before I go back. I doubt that is going to happen as I have so much to do this week, but I’m going to try.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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I started attending yoga last week and so far I love it so you will see some yoga related projects on these pages in the near future. If they turn out well, they’ll be offered in my Etsy shop as well.

Baby Joy

I have two babies to knit for in my time off work (not including the nephew). These are two little girls that I am so happy to have around to knit for. One is here already and was a preemie so I was not able to get any projects done before she showed up. The other is yet to be born. She is due in December. Today, I found the perfect little knit for both of them and I have just enough yarn to do two. The first was completed in a few hours. I’ll start the next one in a few days.





I have to take a moment to reach out to all of you knitters out there and beg you not to model your baby wares on your pets. Every time I see a cute little baby sweater modeled by a dog, I start to itch. Be mindful of the allergens, please and keep the baby knitwear off the pets! It’s not cute people. I’m itching just thinking about it. I urge you to find other models as I have done. That is my public service announcement for the week. I promise not to do it again.

And More...

Still more sewing....




And a little cooking. Game hen, buttered spinach and corn on the cob. Sweet tea washed it all down quite nicely. This was my first time cooking hen and I was quite pleased with the outcome. I’m trying to figure out what to cook tomorrow. Cookies are definitely on the menu.

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I’m finding out how just how much junk can be accumulated over a number of years. I have been in my house for 6 years now and I have more junk that I would like to admit. Not all junk though as much of it will be going to charity. Just a lot of stuff that I don’t need taking up space.

Still More...

This one is plain muslin on the reverse side. I didn’t have enough of this fabric or any coordinating fabric to put on the back. This was much simpler to make and since my brain was working much better than before, I was able to put it together rather quickly with no re-work.

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And...back to the knitting. This socks are done!!! YAY!

More Sewing

Since I’m feeling so adventurous today, I decided to experiment with some flex clutch closures that I bought during Stitches South. I’ve never made a clutch so I decided to go for something that could be a little more useful. I used two fabrics lined with fusible fleece for a cushy bag. I think ultimately it will be used for holding electronics when traveling.



I’ve never done any hand embroidery before but I may try some now to add a little flash to the front of the bag.

What Was I Thinking?

I set about putting all those fabric store goodies to good use and this is the first completed project that has come about. But what was I thinking? This took all day and I had to redo quite a few stitches. But in the end, it turned out fabulously.



It’s an apron of course. Fully reversible and padded with fusible fleece for those times when it’s necessary to hold a hot pan close to you. I’m going to make at least one more but I’m done after that. At least until I can write out some clear instructions. It took a lot of thought to put this together. Well worth it though. I’m hoping to get a few more simple one’s made before the holidays. I love having these hanging around in the kitchen for general use.

More Goodies...

I paid a visit to the fabric store today. I went in to order a small embroidery hoop for my machine and walked out with all of this.

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Don’t worry. I didn’t spend too much. Most of the fabric was free. I used up the last of my store credit from the purchase of my Bernina machine. I will spend the weekend sewing and getting ready for the next class I will be teaching at the shop.

I’ll be teaching how to sew a box bag. Perfect for gifts for the holidays. I will be knocking out quite a few for my own family and a few to list in my Etsy shop. I also picked up larger fabric pieces in fall motifs for aprons. My grandmother made me a couple last year and I’m going to use those as templates for mine. I’m also going to make them reversible and interface them for a little more body. I’m really excited for the fall. I love this time of year and even though it’s still hot outside, I’m going to keep channelling the cooling winds of the coming season.

My embroidery hoop will be in next week and I will be full swing into the holiday mojo.

I’m so conflicted getting ready for the holiday season considering I’m looking into selling my house. I do love this house but I am traveling too much to really be able to keep up with all of the stuff involved with maintaining a home. But I’m still also looking into other options that will allow me to be able to keep the house up like I want to. We’ll see how that goes. I’m going to put due diligence into researching both sides of the coin.

Tomorrow, I’m shopping for a dishwasher.

More of The Same

My hands hurt like crazy but I am making pretty good progress. I’ve gotten to the sleeve section of the bog jacket and I’m working my way down the foot of the sock. That’s good for a few days of work.

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My alarm is set for the first time this week. I’ve loved having these lazy, wake-when-you-want-to days but I do have things that must get done before I head back to work at the end of the month. My schedule is full of errands tomorrow and the more I get done, the more time I’ll have to continue on with my knitting.

Halfway There

I started these socks some time ago, but I had to put them away the last few weeks. I picked it up again last night and finished the toe of sock #1. I will start sock #2 tonight. I was afraid these wouldn’t stay up on my foot but I wore the one sock around the house last night for awhile and it didn’t come off. On the next pair, I will add a couple more stitches to relieve the stress at the join point at the top of the foot. When the pair is done, I’ll reinforce that area with some of the leftover yarn. Because these socks don’t use a lot of yarn, I have to figure out what to do with all the yarn I will have left over in this skein.

Back to The Knitting

I have one month of unemployment in front of me and I am going to enjoy every bit of it. I have started the month off by knitting a baby bog for my nephew. This an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern from her Knitting Around book.



The yarn is Schachenmayr nomotta Extra Merino Big that I bought from Webs during the Atlanta Stitches event. This is some fantastic yarn. The stitch definition is beautiful and it really have a nice feel to it. It has enough structure to ensure the two year old I’m making it for doesn’t destroy it but soft enough that he should enjoy wearing it.

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Best of all, this yarn is machine washable. I’ve got to get back to the knitting. I hope all you employed people have a great working week.