February's A Short Month . . .

And there's so many things I have to work on. Sorry for my brief absence . . . I've been really busy the past few weeks. Remember that second job interview I had last month? Well, it didn't quite work out. I was disappointed, and relieved at the same time, since I knew it wasn't really a good fit for both of us.

I had an interview earlier this week with a consulting company. I don't know how that one will turn out since the interviewer said he was going to be interviewing other people, and you know there's a good chance of someone else being more qualified than you. Yes, it's really frustrating to go on all those job interviews and not getting a job offer. Especially when Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is just 2 months away.

Meanwhile, I've been busy knitting. I made two caps, as promised, for C's kids and will deliver these Sunday at church. I'm looking forward to taking pictures of them wearing these, and I hope to get permission to post the picture here. And, I'm working on an EZ seamless saddle-shouldered sweater. Remember that Ridgeway Lite sweater that I had to rip out? Well, I decided to use the yarn salvaged from the project for the sweater. Cast on at the beginning of the week, and I now have 10 inches on the body - not bad for mindless stockinette knitting. I'm going to put in a hem and I'll put in my Russian name and year, along with a secret message. These will be knit using the Cyrillic alphabet. My name is simple enough, since most of the letters are the same as in the Latin alphabet, but the secret message will be a bit trickier. I'm looking for a graphed Cyrillic alphabet but haven't been able to find any so far. There's a Dover publication that may have the alphabet, but I'd like to find something online first, if I can (instant gratification, ya know . . . ).

Meanwhile, I've been working on my sewing. I found this Simplicity pattern - S4542. All these items are designed for the knitters - a tote with needle roll, backpack, fanny pack, bag, and yarn caddy. Here's the fabric that I chose for the fanny pack and yarn caddy. I found the paisley fabric in the store room at the recreation center where I'm taking the class. I have the pieces all cut out for the fanny pack. There's one item which I can't seem to find at the local fabric stores, even G Street Fabrics - 1/8" piping. It seems that they think everyone wants to use 1/2" piping, even for small items. This is mildly irritating, of course. I did get the larger piping, but I'm still not happy. And it's a good thing I have quite a bit of the paisley fabric, because I had a brain fart and got confused on what I was going to use for the main and contrast fabrics. I also cut one piece lying the wrong side. Oops.

Here's another view of the pattern. I really like the tote, but I'm going to have to figure out how I'm going to redo the needle roll since I use circular needles. And I got the corduroy fabrics for a great price at JoAnn's - they're clearing out the winter fabrics. I'm going to use this for the backpack.

I found this really cool McCall pattern - M5283. The tote pictured on the top is just what I've wanted but couldn't find. Lots of pockets inside, and plenty of room for projects. G Street Fabrics has a lot of home decorating fabric remnants for a great price and I was able to find a lovely piect. I wanted tapestry with lots of roses but couldn't find one. So I went with a geometrical fabric where the main color is dark blue/blue purple. I like my totes to be of a dark color so that these don't show dirt too easily.

Of course, I need new clothes, but I can't find anything I really like at the stores. So, got to make my own. Here's some corduroy that I got at JoAnn's in the clearance section. And here's the pattern that I'll be using. The shape will be like the green one pictured on the bottom left corner. I'm hoping to get this cut out this weekend, and it shouldn't take me too long to sew together - hopefully. Need to work on getting my sewing straight and even.

Sewing class is coming along okay, but it's getting a bit frustrating when the teacher doesn't understand what I'm trying to say, because she's not used to my speech pattern and I sometimes have a hard time expressing my thoughts when I get frustrated. Someday I'll take classes at G Street Fabrics. They do have individualized classes (for a price, of course). There's a session being offered for spring where you get your body measured - I'm thinking about signing up for that. It will be nice to have my body measurements taken by someone who has a lot of sewing experience.

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