Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

Okay, sorry for the old David Bowie reference....

I've had a lot of changes in my life i the last few weeks and they've all finally come to a head, decisions have been made and communicated and the stress if finally somewhat lessened. So, of course, now I'm sick. :-p

I decided to leave Social Work and go back to Corporate America for several reasons but the short version is that my original goal of a private practice was no longer feasible (or reasonable) with my outgoing personality, so I've gotten a new job, quit my old one and given my notice. I'm really going to miss all the folks I've become friends with as a Social Worker and I'm hoping many of us will still be friends, but the paper work is abhorrent and the pay abyssmal for the amount of stress involved in the job. So there you have it. That's my big decision, so sorry for the lack of bloggedness lately.

As for knitting, boy have I been busy. One of the ladies in my LYS asked me if I have Project Completion Phobia (or some such non-medicatable issue) and I think she's probably somewhat right. Course, when you see what all I've been working on lately you'll understand.

Big sock (size 3 circs)... made for Auntie. Too frappin' big on even DH's ginormous feet. Un-knit-- little sock (size 1 circs)... Looks too small for my feet which are smaller than Darling Auntie's. Next step, medium sock (size 2 circs). I promise to swatch next time.... no, really.

Next I continued work on the Market Squares bag which Darling Auntie doesn't know I'm making (she saw Big Sock and was not very enthused, but then no one's ever hand made socks for her before--so soft....).

I'm up to Tier 5 on Market Squares. Irisheyesknitters asked me how much this bag is costing me to make. I must fess up that this particular bag is around $80 (yarn, needles and pattern). But then I bought too much yarn and it's Jo Sharp. I got it from www.elann.com but I figured out that if you used Wool of the Andes from www.knitpicks.com, shared the pattern cost with someone else, then the cost of the bag comes down to about $38. Which for a handmade bag of this size isn't so unreasonable. (okay, so I can't seem to get the friggin' picture to load, guess it'll have to go in a post of it's own).

Good news in the stash department, I just reorganized this weekend. Or should I say I finally organized my stash this weekend. Here are the before and after shots:

The only problem being that I just recieved a shipment of 20 skeins of two unreleased colors of Jaeger Shetland Aran in Aqua and a dark Amethyst from Jeannette's Rare Yarns (http://stores.ebay.com/Jannettes-Rare-Yarns_W0QQssPageNameZl4QQtZkm). Sorry I'm sick and I don't have the energy to figure out how to make a clickable link without the addy right now. Anyway, I've just received it and I'm going to make Seamus from www.Knitty.com with the Amethyst and with the Aqua I'm going to make this......

I had to go all over G-d's Half Acre to find the book because Jo Sharp, as an entire line, is being discontinued. Course, I went to my LYS and (here's why I love them, you can even see one of their bags in the After Stash pic) they had ONE LEFT!! I snatched it up! I'm so excited.

Course, I couldn't wait for that yarn to show up so I picked up my Manos (color Bramble) that I got at Stitches and cast on for a sweater jacket that I'm making up using the Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd. I'm making a seed stitch border and a stockinette stitch body (yes, 'Lyssa, a St st body!). Then I'm going to add a collar to the top. Boy, this jacket is going to cost me a pretty penny since I'll need about 12/13 skeins at $14.50 each in order to make the jacket big enough for my enlarged size. Course, that's still cheaper than the $270 that I spent on yarn for the Giotto ribbon jacket for Darling Mummy. I'm going to call this Manos Jacket "Greed" because I got tired of knitting for everyone else and wanted to start something for myself....


Frankly, I had to get a new job to support my yarn habit. .

Off to bed with my sick self,
Jen