Must knit faster, too cold

It is official, the reports are in, my new job IS actually located at the North/South Pole. It is friggin cold in the office!!! And to make it worse, I have 2 locations that I work from now and I affectionately call one, North Pole and the other South Pole. I am sitting at work minding my business (yes, I can do that) feeling comfortable temperature wise when one of the other girls jumps up and yells, "I can't stand it, I am about to sweat!!" and she flips the AC on HIGH. I can't feel my toes or the tip of my nose at the moment. But when I go out side for lunch, it is hot. Layering, that is the only way to combat Mrs. Freeze and the current outside temperature. There are only a couple of the girls that get warm very easy and they are wearing sleeveless tops and skirts or crop pants. No, they are not "going through the change" at least I don't think so, but all I can say is I need to finish the Wrap Cardigan Top down # 263 from Knitting Pure and Simple and then start some Fetching fingerless gloves to complete my work attire. I am almost 17 inches into my cardigan, I am using Cascade 220 in a very gorgeous brown heather #9408 with a hint of red, yes there is some red. Just be proud that I am knitting something other than a totally red object, I have branched out.

London Calling

I have been going home every night for the last 2 weeks saying to myself, "Self, you need to post a blog entry," but that has been just as successful as cleaning out my spare room! NOT. And I really am not prepare to write a proper update on my blog tonight either, but just want you all to know that I am alive, I appreciate your emails and I am not ignoring anyone, I have just been busy, really busy. And I have been behind on reading the other blogs that I read, really behind. But I saw this little fun thing on Lori's blog and I had to participate. This week I will be writing about the new job and my trip to San Diego.

You Belong in London

You belong in London, but you belong in many cities... Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sidney. You fit in almost anywhere.And London is diverse and international enough to satisfy many of your tastes. From curry to Shakespeare, London (almost) has it all!

http://www.blogthings.com/whateuropeancitydoyoubelonginquiz/">What European City Do You Belong In?

New Beginnings

Today was my first day at the new job. It was less than eventful but I guess that is a good thing right? However it was not really that great either. I found that the other employees were very nice and warm to the new girl, that was a relief to say the least. I did get to see how fierce my new boss can be. When I arrived at the dealership the computer was not set up for me to use, no email set up, access to the network, access to the DMV program etc. So the new boss called the IT guy and unloaded on him and rightfully so, they had two weeks to get this done. So most of my day was wasted with waiting to get everything set up. But the funniest thing about the new job is that I am now one of three Lisa's working in the dealership, one is not in the office with me regularly but the other sits right behind me, it is going to be interesting. They spent half the day trying to figure out what to call me other than Lisa because it will be way to confusing for all of us. Any suggestions?

And as some of you know about me already, I don't always do things the easy way in life and today was no exception. I started the new job and decided that today would be the first day to start karate training again since my hospitalization back in October, my recovery has taken some time. I really needed to just do it cause my weight has gotten out of control and I am severely out of shape. So after work I went to the dojo and put my gi on and did class. To be quite honest, I felt really good after class, tired but felt good. And I am thankful that my Sensei (who happens to be my SO, huh!) pushed me but not to hard for my first day back. The reason for the lengthy absence is because when I was in the ER back in October, the doctor attempted a spinal tap no less than four times, yes, that is right, four times which has left my lower back in a horrible state. It has gotten better over the months and now with this training, I am working on strengthening my core which should help my back problems.

At this point, it is 10:15pm and I would like to apologize for writing a less than entertaining blog, but I have been up since 5 am and I am to tired to be witty. Let me get some sleep and I will try to amuse you later.

Happy Ovarian Day

I know that it is Mothers Day, but in my family we started calling it Ovarian Day sometime when I was in my early 20's. My fathers mother made little baskets of bath stuff for all the "mothers" in the immediate family and myself also. So to justify me getting a gift that day also she decided to call Mothers Day Ovarian Day since mothers have ovaries. I called my Mimi (paternal grandmother) and wished her a Happy Ovarian Day! Sadly this year it is not a true Mothers Day for me, but I have great hopes for next year if all goes well. But I am very thankful to have my mother a 2 time ovarian cancer survivor, my maternal grandmother "the crocheter" and my paternal grandmother "Mimi." They are all such strong women each in their own way and I owe a great deal to each of them.




This past Friday was my last day at my job at the Honda dealership. I had mixed emotions. On one hand I am excited that I have a new opportunity one the other, I am leaving a place where I made good friends. Speaking of good friends, this is what I saw when I came to work on my last day...

I did have the sweetest desk in the office, it was all the way in the back with full view off the hole office. Love the signs hanging over my head all day!

When ever there was a tense moment in the office I would just look at a couple of the girls and whisper Zoom, Zoom Zoom, telling them that it was not going to be long before I didn't have to deal with the "issues" there and I would be a my new job, working at 2 different Mazda stores, hence the Zoom, Zoom, Zoom.

So tomorrow morning I will be at my new job and I am so excited. I will let you all know how it went.

Surprise...Its a jacket

Forgive me now, I am about to speak not so nice words regarding a pattern that our mother of knitting has created. What the hell was Elizabeth Zimmerman thinking when she wrote the Baby Surprise Jacket pattern? I know that she was not thinking of beginner or novice knitters when she typed that newsletter. I will say that she is an evil genius (term borrowed from one of my fellow knitters, Mary) But this pattern was not the easiest to follow, EZ leaves much to assume. Besides all the assuming that is required, there is an enormous amount of the counting stitches, at least I felt that I had to continuously count every stitch in every row. Because if I didn't and checked it a few rows later, I was off!! This little sweater was started no less than 3 times.

So real details about this FO:

Kraemer Yarn Tatamy Tweed 50% Cotton 50% Acrylic in Walnut Tweed color using a US5 Addi Turbo needle. Buttons with bear detail, not sure what metal type but they looked cute so I got them. I wanted little wood buttons but could not find the right color and size.

This was a gift to friends of my SO and I, they had a little boy this past April and his name is Sol, yes, Spanish for Sun. It fits cause his big sisters name is Cielo, cute huh? What I learned from this project is several things, first, if you knit a BSJ for a baby out of DK weight yarn make sure that you have done "before" the child is born otherwise you run the risk of it not fitting. He was about 4 weeks old when this was done. Second, just because summer is approaching does not mean that cotton is a good idea, this thing is quite heavy and it was a 50% cotton 50% acrylic.
Third, doing a 3 needle bind off at the shoulder seams is quite nice especially since I do not have good seaming skills. I am really glad that Chloe talked me into that option. And last but not least, fourth, if you are not sure that you really figured out how to do the pattern well, cast on right away for another one....I MUST be a masochist I have another one completed now.

Free at last, Free at last....

Thank God Almighty, I am free at last. I have found a new job!!! Does this mean that Lisa will be driving a sports car? No. Does this mean Lisa gets to travel to Italy? No. Does this mean Lisa will get up every morning and NOT dread going to work? YES! My current sentence will be over May 11th and I start my new job May 14th. So I am excited to have the opportunity to grow within a company that appreciates hard working loyal people. And everyone says, Amen (or what every your thing is.)

I know I have not posted anything for a while. I have the Baby Surprise Jacket to show you and the lady Eleanor too. I really should do proper postings for each of these FO's and I will soon. On the needles right now I have several things, 1. Another Baby Surprise Jacket, Sock in Little Bunny Foo Foo, Log Cabin Blanket, Mothers Day gift for my mom that will NEVER be done in time for Mothers Day!, my red sweater (I don't want to talk about that one) and something else that I will remember once I hit the publish button. Oh well. More later, I have a date with some cocktails to celebrate my new job.