I have been told that I don't update as much as I should. Well, I have been very busy in the past month or so. Between my 2 jobs (one that is turning into an ugly mess and one that is enjoyable but not lucritive enough to live off of), trying to balance some what of a social life (and failing pretty miserably) and now helping out with a new knitting book (very exciting and fun), I don't even have enough time to sleep these days. Okay, maybe a little, but not much.
So the new excitement is working on a couple of projects for my friend, Debbie's new knitting book. I am very happy to help out as much as I can. And I like working on projects that have never been made before. It's kind of cool.
Anyway, I'll try to be better with the postings, but please forgive me if I am not very regular. I hope it will get better as the summer goes on.
This weekend has been all about getting back to spending time with myself. I cancelled my plans for this weekend, or they were cnacelled for me. That means I had time to dedicate myself to things for myself. So, what did I do?
Well, I got back to the walking the loop in Central Park. Although I didn't have anyone to join me, I was armed with my iPod and a playlist of "walking music." I did take my life into my own hands as today was the infamous Puerto Rican Day Parade. For those of you that haven't heard, a couple years ago at this parade, numerous (I think 13) women were accosted by parade goers as they were exiting Central Park. Sometimes, i like to live on the edge, But there was nothing like that for me this year.
I also got projuects underway, finished and close to finished. First, I finished this little project:
This is something that I have been working on off and on for the past couple of weeks. One of the bartenders from the theatre has been asking for a bikini since she saw the one I made ofr myself last year. So, I thought I would use the oattern in Stitch 'n Bitch. I had the yarn from trying out a sale yarn from knitpicks.com. They have one color of a specific yarn on sale for a considerable discount every month.
Second, I have everything but the blocking for this project:
This is a scarf that I am making for one of my coworkers. She helped me out with my blog (which I am trying to upgrade...soon) and was there when I went through the stash reduction box. She liked the cashmerino in olive and lavander. Since there wasn't enough for much more than a scarf, that's what she's getting. Not bad for a little bit of html help!
Another project that I have in the works also uses yarn from the stash reduction box:
This is going to be a shell of sorts. I like the simple eyelet pattern. My plan is to have off-white crisscross bands through the top part. I'm still working on the details for that, but maybe I'll get some sort of idea in the near future. In the mean time, I am just winging it.
I just realized that all of these projects are either green or purple or both! Interesting.....
As for the Stitch 'n Bitch II book project, I have the entire piece finished except the colorwork that is supposed to be added as duplicate stitch. The chart that I was given was too big for the sweater, so it's being resized, again.
I think that brings be to this eveing. I am currently watching Lost in La Mancha about the making of "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote," a film by Terry Gilliam, where everything that could go wrong did. It makes me feel a little better about everything that I am putting up with. Not much, but a little. But at least I can take it off my Netflix list. (By the way, if you don't have a Netflix list, get one!)
Last night, I went out to dinner at a restaurant about 3 blocks from home with a friend. Before the meal was over, the lights started to flicker and finally went out along with the air conditioning (considering it was still in the high 80s with humidity, that was the more noticable part). I had yet another one of thos dejavu moments.
Someone said that it was just a black out on this block, but being one who trusts no one's judgement on these scenarios, I started to get a little worried for my feline friends that could be stuck in the heat without the comforts of my lowly ceiling fan, only 3 blocks away.
I managed to get my feelings of panic across to my fellow diner and we left the restaurant. I was happy to see that there were still lights on Broadway (literally...no singing necessary). As I walked closer to my block, the lights were all normal, and my panic subsided.
In other news, I decided to give my No-Sweat Pants to one of my theatre co-workers. She was eyeing them as I was working on them a while back. She noted that in Capezio stores, these type of pants would run about $70. And for me, they were from free yarn. I really only made them because I wanted to see if I could make pants. So, they are going to a happy home, to be worn in dance class.
I am about at my wit's end these days. Between having my boss go totally insane on me and dump all of his issues in my lap as a form of power trip, having friends chastize me for being too busy to call them or hang with them and just being too busy to do much of anything these days other than what has been scheduled weeks in advance, I am in desperate need of a vacation. Sadly, that option is still a couple of weeks away.
I have decided that there must be something that is going on with my karma that has everyone around me in a total turmoil. I don't know what it is that I did. I can't figure out if this is something that I should have control over, or not. I just want people to stop dumping their problems on me. Is that asking too much?
So I am trying to focus on my pending vacation. But, I'm afraid I am putting a lot of pressure on myself to find a form of nirvana in a week's sabbaticle to Sin City. My most recent concern is deciding which project will be joining me in Vegas. Something for the plane and other hours of non-gambling and -carousing. It is something to keep me relatively sane....
Here it is Tuesday after a long weekend. I already feel like the week has run me over with a truck. I couldn't fall asleep last night so getting up for my earlier-than-usual morning was really difficult for me. I am feeling the pain of insomnia right now. I may have to cut out of the office for a while for a little nap.....
In brighter news, I got the e-mail telling me who my Secret Knitting Buddy was. Jayme was the wonderful person who managed to get those great little gifts to me right when I needed a bit of a pick-me-up. Thank you very much Jayme. You are great!
I also revealed myself to the Knitting Buddy I was sending gifts to. I had Annie as a Secret Knitting Buddy. Unfortunately, the latest gift has not yet gotten to her. I got an e-mail saying that the order was processed late last week. So she should get a little surprise (that she knows is coming) this week. Sorry about the delay.
Over the weekend, I got a chance to see Livingston Taylor perform on Saturday at B.B. King Blues Club. If you don't know (which I did not), Livingston is the brother of James Taylor. It was quite a treat to be invited by my dear friends, John and Aaron. Not only did we get into the VIP section with food and champagne, but Livingston stopped by and chatted with us before the show.
Oh, and in very interesting news about my Vegas trip, I found there will be a whole plethora of friends and family in town while I'm there. The trip started with some family renting a house for a week and inviting me to join them. Then a couple of friends that I know from the days that they lived in NYC decided to join in the fun. Well, I found out this weekend that a friend from high school is getting married in Vegas that same weekend. So that means that there will be a lot of long lost high school buddies hanging around town. I am starting to think that the last week of June is hang-with-Marney-in-Vegas week. Anyone else want to drop by?
