Well, I survived my first week of work. The job is pretty good - everyone I’ve met is really nice. The work itself isn’t too bad either - primarily data entry for bills, but I get to pay other people now and then, so it’s not nearly as monotonous and boring as the data entry job I had for a magazine publisher (where I stared at people’s addresses 8 hrs a day. ugh). And I’m starting to get the hang of it and remember how to do things after the data entry part on my own (ok, do this little bit on the ‘puter, print the checks, get them signed, make copies, staple things, etc and I’m done for the day).

I’ve been taking a bus/train combo to get to work (the blessing of living so close to the Mall of America - lots of bus options!). Which means I’ve been getting a good 30-45 minutes of uninterrupted KIP time twice a day. Excellent excuse to learn how to make socks! But first, I’m finishing up the Voodoo Wrist Warmers that have been in progress ‘forever’.

The red arrow is where I started the beginning of this week - right at the start of that white section. Note the shaded area to the right. That’s what interrupted my KIPing on the way home Friday. Yes, my friends, that is a knot in my yarn. The first I’ve encountered. The frustrating thing - I do not travel with a scissors in my purse, so I had to wait til I got home so I could cut it out to continue knitting on. The annoying part - two extra bits to weave in when I finish. I hate weaving in ends. I mean really - neither of the monster skeins of Red Heart & RH substitute have had any knots - and I’ve probably used over half of those monster skeins at this point! oh, well. not the end of the world really, just a bit annoying.

* for the non-knitters, KIP stands for Knitting in Public

so, after slowly attempting to un-bind-off the Nakiska, I decided to frog it. It only took a few days to knit up the first time - I figured it’d be quicker to just re-knit it. =]

I have been making progress on the Mother Bear bear - made it thru the head and the back of the sweater - just the pants and feet left, and then sewing it up and stuffing it.

Not much else going on knitting-wise. Everything else is kind of idling - I’m in a ‘can’t start new projects til somethings finished’ state, so I don’t really want to work on anything! gotta love those moments…

so people on the lists have been chatting on and off about Stitches (I think West is happening now or soon)… went to the site only to discover that Stitches Midwest is the same weekend as Irish Fair (which I’m hoping I’ll be dancing at) *sigh* maybe next year

in other news, yesterday I finished the 1st of the Voodoo Wrist Warmers - just need to finish weaving in the ends. Pics to come eventually. =)

so, my computer’s been ’screaming’ a bit lately - it’d freeze up and kind of squeal. so dh took preventative measures and upgraded me. yay! I’m now in the ‘modern age’ - usually my upgrade still leaves me a bit behind the times, which is fine. the upgrade meant that I was ‘offline’ Friday night and most of Saturday. I still need to add a few programs back on, which means that updating with photos will not happen tonight, nor will I get the FO/WIPs updated tonight.

so, in knitting news, since I had not much else to do the last couple days, I finally looked at the snowflake, realized that I could ‘read’ the piece and figure out which was the knit side, which was the purl side, and exactly what row I had ripped back to. what a difference a couple months makes, eh? so I put in a ‘lifeline’ and started knitting away, and it turned out great.

I also made progress on the Bear. decided I was frustrated with where it was (almost finished with the first side of the sweater) and some of the mistakes I’d made, so ripped it out and started again. I’m now past the sweater and working on his head - almost half-way finished.

and I alternated that with the dice bag. I’m almost done with the increases.

so lots of knitting accomplished this weekend. =]

well, I finished Nakiska the other day, only to find out it’s too small for me, and my bind off edge is way too tight. so I’ve been un-binding it slowly, and then I’ll finish it and send it off to my sister - maybe it’ll fit one of my nieces! at which point I’ll measure it and add a few repeats in an attempt to get it to fit my head. (yes, I’ve learned I should swatch, but really, at that size, it’d probably take me just as long to make a swatch as it would to make the darn thing. for larger projects, I will definitley be swatching)

last night, on a bit of an impulse, I decided to detour a bit on my way home from dance class and stop in at the Three Kittens - luckily they were still open for about an hour. my gawd, the store is huge - I think I got lost a couple of times! well maybe it seems huge, I dunno. the yarn shelving is placed at various angles, etc, so there’s a few spots that dead-end. it just seems huge! and I found another sparkly mohair yarn that I’m contemplating. I think it’s called Paris something-or-other. and they had a sample sweater knitted up that felt really nice - if I read the tag right it was made with Gedifra? I may have to pursue that a bit and see if it’ll work for Mariah.

after procrastinating and missing out on the Knittyboard Secret Pals, I decided today to join SP4