I apologize for the delay. Every time I sat down to write, one more task interrupted me. The up side of all the delays, however, is that taxes are done, refunds received, everyone in the house has new beds (including the cats and dog) and school finals are over.
In theory, I know have a few moments of peace before the next term starts. My next two classes should be interesting. I have Federalist Period, which should take care of my upper class history requirements. I thought it would be an interesting viewpoint on ancient Greece until I read the description. It is actually a study of the American Federalist period. Which is good, because I happen to like that time period; some very exciting events happened during that time period. I am not sure what happened to the fashion world as the clothing is some of the most impractical and silly clothing I have ever seen, but the politics are interesting.
My second class is an IT Project Management. Not a requirement, but it does use one of the random elective slots that need to be filled. It is very useful for work, or at least will be when I have completed it.
On the work front, I have another contract. I would not mind contract work, except for the complete lack of benefits. If I were younger or older, it would be an interesting mode of work. You certainly never get bored moving from contract to contract. There’s little need to engage in politics because you are not participating in the internal review system. However, as a parent of a tween, the medical insurance would be nice. I am not sure what real benefits the new health care bill will provide in the long run, but it appears affordable health care is not one currently on the list.
On the knitting front, I have begun a new project. My tween stated to me that I have been knitting items for everyone but her. It’s true. So we discussed potential projects. I have two problems knitting larger items for her. First, she literally grows overnight. One day her jeans fit just fine, the next day they are an inch too short. One day her t-shirts fit, the next day they are too short or too tight across the shoulders. The second issue is that her idea of fashion has about a four month span. One item that is cool, in fashion today, will be stuffed in the back of the closet (current avoidance technique), never to be seen again. Or at least until I brave cleaning her closet. Coincidentally, 4-6 months tends to be about how long clothes last. After that time frame they are either too small, too short or out of season. Not that Texas has real seasons, but it was a tad on the nippy side of what they call winter here for a few weeks.
Then end result of all this is that we decided on a pair of socks. I do believe her feet have stopped growing. Or at least slowed down enough that the socks may wear out before she outgrows them. In that case, I just un-Kitchner the toes and make them a different color. She could not find the ‘proper’ color orange for her socks, so we tried the Kool-Aid method of dying some white sock yarn. I think it turned out rather well. It’s been some time since I have dyed anything. We used my soup stock pot, lots of packets of orange Kool-Aid and white sock wool. Because she wanted a variegated yarn, I did not soak the wool first. You can find the directions we used here:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html
And the sock yarn can be purchased from Knit Picks here:
http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Bare_Stroll_Fingering_Sock_Yarn__D5420145.html
We also did a hank of red yarn, for the next pair of socks. So far, I have finished the cuff on the first sock. I had one cuff completed, with about two inches of the sock, but when my tween tried it on, it was too large. The sock yarn has quite a bit of stretch to it. So, time to rip it out and try again. I just finished the cuff last night. Once I have about two inches of sock, she will try it on again. Hopefully, second time is the charm with this sock.
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