Overdue for a post, that is. Things have been a wee bit crazy in Pins & Needles land lately, what with quitting a job (tougher than I thought it would be), starting a job (very exciting), trying to sell a house (frustrating in this market), moving into a corporate apartment (how do people actually live in 500sf?), searching for possible houses to buy (scary, for a number of reasons), and temporarily living in two cities once again (no fun at all). It’s a pain, and truth be told, things are not going as smoothly as I’d like with the transition. Pretty much everything outside of my actual job is completely up in the air right now. But all that is going to work out. Eventually.

I took a week of vacation in between jobs. While I was off, I managed to get half of a baby sweater knit for a good friend who just had her first baby. Initially, this was going to be a Dale sweater, but somehow in getting the house packed up and ready to sell, I managed to lose my Dale pattern book. Oops! I think it is for the best though, because the Dale sweater was knit on size 1 needles, and would have taken years for me to finish at the rate I’m knitting right now. This sweater (from Adorable Knits for Tots) is on size 8s - much faster! It seems larger than it should be for a 6-9 month size, but hopefully when it is all seamed up it will be the right size.

Now, I just have to figure out how to find time to finish the sweater!

Lots has been going on around here lately, very little of which has had anything at all to do with knitting, sewing, or other crafty endeavors. Instead, it has been lots of worrying, lots of packing, lots of house cleaning, lots of apartment hunting, lots of driving, and lots of freaking out about whether a huge decision I just made is going to completely ruin the generally nice, happy little life I (and even more so, my husband) had here in Sacramento.

Yes, had. Past tense. Our days here are numbered. I’m leaving a job that I found interesting and challenging (for the most part), working with people that I liked at a pretty darn good company, and I’m off to another very different job that will hopefully be even more interesting and challenging at another pretty darn good company. It’s exciting, but also scary. I’ve been at the same company for almost 10 years now, and always assumed that I’d be there for much longer. It’s hard leaving someplace that is so familiar to me and going to a place that is completely unfamiliar. Having to sell our house and move is even more difficult than leaving my job. I love my house - it is pretty much the perfect house for me. But it will only be mine for a few more months at the most. And we’ll be moving into an apartment. An apartment that is less than half the size of my house and costs 1.5 times as much to rent. Ouch. Every time I think about it, it brings me to tears. I’ll miss my house. And I’ll miss my friends. There are definitely some things that I’m looking forward to about moving. We’ll both have a much shorter commute to work, we’ll live in an area where there is more to do, and we’ll have new places to explore and new friends to make.

I’m still not exactly sure how this all happened. There was a call from a recruiter. A conversation that evening about how it wouldn’t hurt just to submit my resume - what the heck, I may not even get an interview and if I do, then at least I’ll get some interview experience for the first time in ten years. And then came an offer, for basically my dream job. An offer that I didn’t expect to get, and an offer that I couldn’t refuse. And now, chaos.

There will be very limited knitting and posting for a while, at least until things calm down a bit and we are settled into our new, downsized life in the south bay. For now, I’m planning to keep up the blog, but no promises. If there is no knitting, it kind of defeats the purpose of having a knitting blog.

It’s been forever since I’ve updated my blog. There are a lot of reasons… it’s summer, I haven’t been doing much knitting, I’ve been spending several nights a week at the gym, and I’ve been very preoccupied with work and my career in general (more on that another time, maybe).

My diet/workout regimen has been going great. I feel much better about myself now, and treated myself to a shopping trip last night to buy some new clothes in a size smaller than I’ve ever worn. When we met our personal trainer, he looked at me and said that following his plan would get me down to this size, and I completely laughed at him - I did not think it was physically possible. For those who are curious, I’ve been doing a somewhat modified version of the glycemic index diet, and generally trying to cut out processed sugars and junk foods. Basically, I try to eat as much lean protein as possible (chicken breasts, shrimp), healthy carbs (whole grains, brown rice, etc), and pretty much whatever fruits & veggies I want. I’m also a huge fan of the peanut butter Zone bar for snacks. Yum!

No knitting pictures - I haven’t completed anything recently, but hopefully will soon. I’ve started a baby Dale sweater for a friend who is due any day now. Thankfully winter is still a few months away, because the baby sweater is knit on size 1s, and has a higher stitch count than any sweater I’ve ever knit for myself!

A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time for a change. I wasn’t feeling great about myself, hadn’t exercised in weeks, and was just feeling generally blah.

So, I joined a gym, hired a personal trainer, and decided to completely change my diet and my lifestyle. I spent an entire Saturday cleaning out my pantry, fridge, and freezer, and tossing all of the unhealthy food. I was truly amazed at how much junk we had. Lots of bad carbs (not whole grains) and lots of things with processed sugars. Yuck. [I had no idea that corn syrup was the second ingredient in ketchup. Or the third ingredient in Prego spaghetti sauce. The things you learn when you actually read labels!]

Since that day, I’ve taken my lunch to work every day (spinach or mixed greens with grilled chicken or shrimp, lowfat cottage cheese, and fruit), have been drinking lots of water (no soda!), and have been exercising at least 6 times a week, either weights or cardio. Quite a change for someone used to eating out for lunch every day, and whose idea of exercise is getting work after 8:30 am and having to walk all the way from the far reaches of the parking lot.

Even though I’ve yet to see any results, I’m feeling a lot better about myself already. Instead of just being miserable because none of my summer clothes fit me anymore, I’m doing something about it. Hopefully it will work, because, damn I want a hot fudge sundae already!

I’m also going to try to find some more health & fitness oriented blogs to read to keep me on track. (Not that I won’t still read knitting blogs, but those of you who post frequently about cooking - I’ll be skipping those posts!) Christine started a great blog about how she lost 30 pounds. Lolly has also posted occassionally about her quest to get in shape. Anyone know of any other good health & fitness blogs or other resources that you’d like to share?

Wow - now there’s a post title I never thought I’d write! I pretty much hate baby showers. I’m not really one to fawn over cute baby stuff, and am easily annoyed by people who can’t stop saying how adorable something is. I mean really, it’s baby stuff. It’s inherently cute. Does it really need to be repeated over, and over, and over, by a dozen people? When it comes right down to it, that’s pretty much what a baby shower is. Fawning and stupid games. Ugh.

On Saturday, I hosted a baby shower for a friend. I wanted to keep it as un-annoying as possible. Of course I knew that there would be some of the requisite fawning, but wanted to try something a little different. Inspired by Stephanie and Kathy, I thought it would be fun to have each of the guests stencil a onesie for the baby-to-be using freezer paper stencils.

I cut out the stencils ahead of time, and let the guests do the ironing and painting.

It was a huge hit! Everyone loved the idea, and had a great time being creative with the paint. The mom-to-be was thrilled with all the neat onesies, and I was thrilled that I didn’t have to make people smell baby food in diapers. :)

I’d definitely recommend this as a get-the-guests involved baby shower activity. It would also be great for a group of kids, as a birthday party activity or a girl scout/boy scout/4-H activity.

Yet another weekend full of plans, most of which were half accomplished.

Baby quilt: Surprisingly, I got a lot accomplished on the quilt in just a few hours today. I might end up liking this quilting thing after all. It’s certainly faster than knitting.

I managed to finish all the blocks. Now, to sew them together, bind it up, and quilt. Sounds easy enough.

Entrelac socks: I’m closing in on halfway with the first sock, and am not bored yet. It’s just a matter of finding the time to work on them.

Salina: Still going… Finished the cuffs, but didn’t get a chance to seam it (see baby quilt, above).  Who knows when I’ll actually get around to seaming it.  It should probably be soon though, if I want to wear it before spring arrives.

This post is a few days overdue, but I wanted to try to get some pictures of my purchases before posting. Alas, that is not going to happen, so you’ll just have to make do with my overly wordy description of the day. There are no pictures of Stitches itself, because there were no cameras allowed in the Market, and I was worried about taking pictures in my class too.

Lynette and I headed down to Santa Clara on Friday morning, and made it to the convention center just as the market opened. Our first stop of the day was the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. I was looking at all the gorgeous yarn (truly, the colors on their website don’t do it justice), when I heard someone say my name - it was Angela! She was there with Steph and Amy (blogless). Even though we’d been planning to meet up at some point during the day, I was pleasantly surprised to run into them right away.

I did some damage at BMFA before heading to Cookie’s booth to buy a couple of sock patterns. Then it was off to get my Victorian Lace Today book signed by Jane Sowerby. Meeting Jane and talking to her briefly was one of the highlights of my day. She was wearing a gorgeous Curved Shawl (my favorite pattern in the book!), and gave me a few tips on yarn selection and knitting/blocking the shawl.

After lunch was my Norwegian Knitting class, taught by Beth Walker-O’Brien. The class was outstanding. Beth had everyone knitting with their non-dominant hand (continental style for me) in about 20 minutes, and knitting two handed in under an hour. Along with teaching techniques for two color knitting and weaving floats, she also gave a great overview of the differences between Norwegian Knitting and Fair Isle (main differences are color/design and finishing techniques), and some brief tips on reading patterns and finishing. I have to admit, I was hesitant about the class and was worried it wouldn’t be worthwhile. I’m happy to say that my worries were completely unfounded - the class definitely exceeded my expectations. Next year I’m hoping to take another class from Beth at Stitches… perhaps the Norwegian/Fair Isle finishing class. (and now I have my eye on this Dale of Norway sweater - is this a bit too ambitious for a first Norwegian project?)

I’ll try to get some pictures of my Stitches schwag posted later this week. I managed to get everything on my list (STR, Sea Silk, and a few patterns) without going too crazy. My biggest unplanned purchase was a super cute knitting bag/purse covered with brightly colored appliqued flowers. Oh, and a couple skeins of Koigu and some inexpensive laceweight merino may also have made their way home with me. Still, not bad!

PS. Steph, thanks for the reminder about my Weekender - watch for a finished bag, zipper pocket and all, soon!

- Making sloooow progress on Salina. Less than one sleeve to go, plus finishing. Salina may see the light of day before spring arrives, if I’m lucky. I’d post pictures, but they wouldn’t be terribly interesting… red. stockinette. lots of red stockinette.
- I ran a mara-FUN on Sunday. 2.62 miles. Whee! And I felt like a total slacker at the end, because at that point, three of my friends were at about mile 11 of the California International Marathon. It was great to actually do the run and prove to myself that I could do it (and in a terrific-for-me time of 23:47), since I haven’t exactly been preparing for it. Now I’m having some crazy thoughts of training for a half-marathon in the spring and a full marathon in the fall. Apparently I have too much free time on my hands. Ha.
- Can’t believe it’s almost Christmas. Only 19 more shopping days. Yikes. Thank goodness I’m not knitting for anyone!
- Finally, in the “I can’t believe I’m putting this on my blog for everyone in the world to read, but I think it’s important enough to openly discuss” category - I had my annual womanly doctor appointment today, and the nurse practitioner recommended that an IUD might be something for me to consider. I’ve spent the last hour and a half googling it, with very mixed results. There are some scary stories out there, but I love the idea of not having to think about it every day, and not being reliant on hormones that give me horrible acne and affect my moods. Anyone out there have any first hand experiences (good or bad) they’d be willing to share? If so, please comment or send me an e-mail (link is above, in my header). Thanks!

First of all - thanks for all the comments on the socks. It blows me away how beauty really is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to hand knits. Personally, the socks aren’t my thing… but apparently some of you think they’re perfectly OK - perhaps even pretty. So, here’s the deal - I’m going to finish knitting the second sock, and give the pair away to someone who actually wants them. The only caveat is that you have to have feet that are similar in size to mine. I’d guess that these will fit feet that are between a size 7 & 9 (US women’s shoe sizes)… my feet are a size 8.5, but with the stretch of the ribbing, they can easily go up or down in size a bit without affecting the fit too much.

So, leave a comment and let me know if you want the pair when I’ve completed it.  On Wednesday, 11/15, I’ll pick someone at random to be the recipient of the socks.  Be forewarned, I’ll probably be sending them out after the first of the year because I still need to finish the second sock.

Now, if you’ll excuse me - I need to go soak my tired, aching muscles in a warm bath. I spent two and a half hours today on a jog/walk with a friend who is nearing the peak of her marathon training. She ran the whole time, and I lagged behind, meeting up with her on the way back. I probably did 10 or 11 miles (60%+ walking), to her 15. I’m fairly impressed that I was able to do as well as I did, given my general lack of fitness right now.  There’s something about doing a long run/walk along the ocean that makes the miles go by a lot faster than when you’re exercising in the ‘burbs!

I’ll try to keep this short, with a knitting update tomorrow. I actually didn’t get a whole lot of knitting done on the trip… I guess vacation knitting isn’t really my thing.

Favorite country visited: Canada! The highlight of our trip was spending a day in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. I could have spent a whole week there.

Number of overpriced not-very-nice-actually-kinda-yucky motels we ended up staying at: 2 - one in Gold Beach, OR, and one in Castle Rock, WA. And one of those was after I had turned down an even more scary room in a nearby motel. Yikes.

Worst time to take a drive up the Oregon coast without hotel reservations: Labor day weekend. Hotel rooms are sparse (at least rooms that I’d want to stay in), and the weather was so foggy that we didn’t see one bit of scenic coastline on our drive.

Favorite new-to-me yarn store: The Web-sters, in Ashland, OR. A big thanks to Ms. CG for leaving a comment recommending the store… I would never have known about it otherwise. They have a huge selection of gorgeous yarn and very friendly service too. I got some Diakeito yarn for myself (enough for a hat, and either socks or gloves), and Todd picked out some sock yarn for me to knit him socks.

Places I loved: The beaches of Olympic National Park. I have never seen such a flat, wide beach. Even with the fog, it was amazingly gorgeous.

Victoria.

Seattle - the water, but not the traffic.

Place I hated: The Tillamook Cheese Factory. It might have been better if we hadn’t stopped on a Sunday that was also on a holiday weekend. All the machines were offline, and there were hordes of people in line for cheese samples and ice cream. Very disappointing. We skipped the line for ice cream and headed to the Dairy Queen down the street. Also, didn’t care for Pike’s Place Market. Way too many people, and lots of people selling touristy crap. The fish tossing was amusing, and the flowers sold at the market were gorgeous, but since we were staying at a nearby hotel, we had no need for fish or flowers. Again, disappointing.

Things I enjoyed doing the most: Watching boats and sea planes on Lake Union in Seattle. Visiting friends and family, some of whom I had not yet met. Climbing the sand dunes at Oregon Dunes National Park.

Wandering around downtown Portland, guidebook in hand.

Craziest place we ate: A bowling alley in South Bend, WA - it was surprisingly good food, but slooooow.

Best boutique clothing store: Alley Cat Boutique, in Port Angeles, WA. The best find of the trip was from here… my new Silver jeans. They fit like they are made for me, and cost just slightly more than Gap jeans. These jeans are perfect for curvy figures (large hips/small waist). (not really travel related, but I know how much of a struggle it is to find great jeans when you’re not shaped like a supermodel - hopefully this info is useful to someone.)

Most amazing geologic feature: Mt. St. Helens. Wow.

Things we missed on this trip that give us an excuse to take another vacation sometime soon: The entire Oregon coast, due to fog. Crater Lake. The Ashland Shakespeare festival.

Where I am glad to be right now: Home! As much fun as the trip was, two weeks is a long time to be away.