so, dh and I want a house (our neighbors are morons. usually they just talk loudly so you can hear thru the paper thin walls at 10pm when we’re trying to get to sleep. last night, get this - they were VACUUMING. at 10pm at night. when we were trying to sleep. the WHRRRing of the vacuum was bad enough. it was even better as it THUMPed into the wall a number of times - I’ll assume they were trying to get the edges. but really - could you not have vacuumed 30 min earlier? the landlords and whoever else works here are also morons. people like to park in our spot, and there’s no street parking. whenever we call them to get the car towed, they tell us they can’t do anything. what? hello? the policy is don’t park in someone’s spot or you’ll be towed - what do you mean you can’t get them towed?!).

this means that my life of bored unemployment needed to end. so I did the job hunt thing. which is very depressing when all the ads say they want someone with a Bachelor’s degree (I have an Associate’s) and 2-5+ years of experience. um, I just graduated - I don’t really have experience. but I can’t get any cuz all the jobs want someone with experience. vicious circle. evil. depressing. but I persisted. and I’ve actually had a few people show interest and set up interviews. yay! so Monday afternoon I had an interview (I also had one on Tuesday & today). Wednesday I got a call saying they wanted to hire me! woohoo!

so, about the job:
it’s for a law firm in downtown Minneapolis. said law firm is on the 51st floor of one of the mega-tall office buildings. which means fun ear-popping elevator rides every day. across the walkway is a Barnes & Noble’s, and there’s also lots of other shopping nearby (did I mention said tall building is in/on the Nicollet Mall?). hehe, guess where I’ll be after work… thank goodness there’s no yarn shops there (to my knowledge). and it’s a part-time position, which means I don’t have to completely give up my bored-stay-at-home-with-the-cat lifestyle.
bonus: the bus stops one block from my house and almost directly in front of work (bus fare x2 is about half of what parking was for the hour or so I was there for the interview. not to mention the gas savings). or if I want I can hike over to the MoA and take the train up and walk a few blocks to my building. always good to have a back-up option. ;-)

so after I got the call, I was so excited, I was actually dancing - I think it was a reel step… I start on Monday.

any other knitters working in that area? any knitting groups meeting around lunch there? I’d love to join you if the timing works out.

now, onto the next great adventure - buying clothes and shoes… (I HATE clothes shopping. and I also HATE shoe shopping. is there something wrong with me? I am so not stereotypical when it comes to shopping…). hmm… maybe I should knit my self something. a cardigan might be good…

After hearing that there was interest on the TCSnB yahoo group, I started up a webring for MN knitters. It can be found here.

I’ve been in a bit of a funk since I finished Miss Dashwood. I’ve tried to start Branching Out a couple times, but I got frustrated with the length and slippy-ness of the metal size 8s I have, and my DPN 8s are currently in a project. I almost bought a set of short bamboo needles last week, but opted for the Box of Sweater Patterns which was on clearance.

I’ve contemplated continuing on the legwarmers I started (I have the two rows of ribbing so far - woohoo!) and working on a couple other WIPs, but just don’t feel like it.

Was watching HP2 on tv Saturday night and then my Sunday TV addictions (Desperate Housewives & Grey’s Anatomy) and told myself I should knit while I watch (the HP scarf is the current TV knitting) but I couldn’t be bothered to go upstairs and fetch it. (in other TV news, my weekday addiction is Starting Over - I’m excited because the newest houseguest Karen knits. I busted out laughing on Friday - her ‘assignment’ was to call her daughters, but before she could, priorities - she had to go buy yarn! lol! at any rate, I had a job interview today and forgot to tape the show! argh! I’ll have to check the spoilers on the boards to get filled in)

so yeah, get home today from the interview and my needles I ordered from the coop came! yay! they’re bamboo dpns in sizes 7 & 8. so first things first, open up the 8s, and start Branching Out! (it’s about time too… I signed up for the knitalong about a month ago) It’s going much better - the yarn isn’t sliding and there’s not too-much-needle to get in the way. I was making good progress too - finished the garter stitch rows and was cranking away thru the first repeat. somehow I managed to add an extra stitch on one of the purl rows (row 6, I think), so figured I’d try to hide it. get to row 7 and somewhere in the middle started following row 5. ARGH! 45 minutes worth of work, and I couldn’t figure out how to put a lifeline in there to save it, so it’s frogged back to the garter stitch. *sigh* well, at least we’re making progress, even if it is backwards… I’ll try again after dinner.

I’ve figured out my sock yarn obsession, thanks in part to Snooze. Quote from her: “I mean, you never know when they’ll stop making it…” That must be why I feel I MUST buy it, especially when it’s on sale/clearnace! Um, yeah… and one of these days I’ll learn how to actually knit socks and put it to use…

so, dh and I go outside earlier today to take a walk around the neighborhood (and attempt to avoid the tail end of the racers/walkers for the RACE FOR THE CURE event - of which our apartment complex is trapped in the middle of the race route for this year… good thing we weren’t going anywhere til after noon), and on the way back in, I notice a white shopping bag that someone decided to leave as litter in front of our door (more or less). In it, I see what looks like a packet of Kool-Aid. I contemplated rescuing it, but decided to leave it so dh wouldn’t think I was crazier than what he knows I am… so, he’s gone, and I’m coming home from dance class… I must rescue the Kool-Aid (before it rains again). So I rescued it and added it to my collection of oddball packets designated for yarn dyeing. (dh will usually make 2 packs at a time in a large pitcher. so after hijacking a few to send to one of the overseas Knittyboard members, we had a few orphans that he told me to designate for yarn dyeing.) I figure since I’m dyeing yarn with it, I really don’t care too much about where it has been… if I were drinking it though, then I probably would have tossed it. am I crazy, or would you have done the same?

I found out the other day who my SP4 is/was: Brooke in CA. and there’s still one more item on it’s way to me (maybe if I’m lucky it’ll be in the mail today…). I’ve loved everything I’ve received so far (well, except the chocolate was a little TOO dark. but it was a learning experience, and I’m planning to throw it into some baking item, so it’s still going to get used one of these days!)

I was giving to Darleen, who’s also in CA. She doesn’t have a blog, but if she ever starts one up and I find it, I’ll add a link. Her final gift is also winging it’s way - I hope she enjoyed all the spoils!

Being part of the SP group was lots of fun - both buying stuff to send out and the anticipation of what’s on it’s way! I’m not sure what’s going on with my schedule this summer, so I’m planning to pass on SP5, but intend on participating again in a future round. A big thanks to Jacqueline for organizing/hosting this SP round!