Thanks for all the nice comments for my blogday. They are much appreciated!*


Many apologies for my sporadic posting as of late. It seems like I just can't seem to keep up between the job, the commute and life in general. I'm not supposed to use my computer at work for this type of thing either, so that doesn't help me stay on top of blogging. I'm hoping things will calm down soon so I can get back to more of a routine in the blog world.

So the job is going well. Hard to believe I'm already four weeks into it. My bosses are very happy with my performance so far. And while I'm getting a bit tired of cataloging nothing but Pop CDs, I'm basically liking it. There are a few things to work out still. I just finally turned in my health insurance forms today. I also had a little snafu last week where I cashed what I thought was my check only to find that my direct deposit finally went through. Turns out what I cashed was not a check even though it looked exactly the same. Go figure. The commute really isn't that bad. I think I've decided the thing I mind is that I have to be up at an unholy hour and I don't get home until 7pm most days. It's not the commute I mind, it's the timing. But I'll just have to live with that at least until August before anything changes.

As for life in general, last week was insane and a bit upsetting. A week ago Sunday night I went to New Jersey with HWJF to look at the area where he was offered a managerial position with the company he is currently working for. On Wednesday night he accepted the job, which was a bit of a shock. I think I've adjusted to the idea, but it definitely means big changes for both of us. We are both willing to do what we have to in order to make it work though. That's the important thing. He finally secured housing today and now it's just a matter of figuring out if he will actually be starting on Nov. 21st or waiting until after he can move on Dec. 1st.

I do have to say I had a great long weekend. Friday was my first paid day off in my entire life. It was pretty damn cool to think that while I was lying in bed at 8:30am I was getting paid anyway! Not bad I must say. I spent the day with HWJF and we did basically nothing which was totally fine by me. Saturday was spent doing the mundane things that one must do on their day off like cleaning. Saturday night I got to have dinner with knitbuds Robyn and Sami which was great. Between me starting a new job and life in general I've hardly gotten to see the two of them and we certainly haven't had any casual hang out and knit time in a while. It was definitely nice to catch up with them both. After that I went out to the after show party with HWJF (he's been doing a production of the Music Man for the last couple of weeks). Sunday was the cast party for the show and I ended up going up early to help get things set up only to end up setting off the house alarm with the other woman that was with me because the owner's forgot to tell us it was armed! Luckily we got it turned off and the cops didn't give us too much of a hard time so all was well. The party was a really nice end to the weekend and I really enjoyed it.

So in between all of this "life" I have been doing a bit of knitting. I finally finished up my Socktoberfest socks when I finished the Winter Socks:


These will become a Christmas present. I didn't get them done as fast as I might have liked since I was doing more sleeping than knitting on the train last week, but they are finished and ready for a wash. It's still pretty amazing how fast worsted weight yarn can make a pair of socks after using sock weight for so long!

I've also decided to make three Sophie bags for Christmas gifts for some friends. I have a gig at the end of this week which will be keeping me out until 10pm. When one has to be awake by 5am after a night like that, mindless knitting is the name of the game!

The first one is close to finished:



I'll make another in this color and the third in the green. The purple is Cascade 220 but the green is Lamb's Pride. I haven't used it for a felting project before so I hope it works out ok.

I also managed to make a stop at the Fabric place this weekend to finish acquiring yarn for Christmas gifts:



The blue is some Patons Canadiana for the Christmas gift (for someone who, I think, reads the blog and I will therefore not give more details) and since I just had to by $25 worth to use my coupon I ended up with more sock yarn. Shocking I know.

So that's the update for now. Don't expect much from me this week considering the crazy schedule. If I can see straight by the weekend maybe I'll have something worth posting by then. Have a great week everyone!


* By the way, if you don't hear back from me on your comments it may be because your message isn't coming through with an e-mail address. I'd love to respond to you if I can, but I can't do that if I don't have your e-mail. Sorry!

Was my first real blog post. So........

And I even have the day off...although that's not why I have the day off.

Next time, a real post. For now, back to relaxing on my first paid day off of my life.

Last Sunday HWJF and I got up early, had breakfast at Panera and then went here:


for a beautiful morning hike. The first bit was straight up hill and kind of tough but then things leveled off and we walked along the ridge. We saw this from one lookout:



Yes. Pumpkins. Hundreds of them. In some serious water. We have had a bit of rain around here but I just found this awfully amusing for some reason.


The weather was phenomenal and the colors were still quite beautiful.



When we got to the end of the trail we then had to climb up to the top of this:



To get a really amazing view of the surrounding area. I'm sure you could probably see NY and Mass. from up there if you knew what to look at. The one thing we did recognize was this:



Doesn't Hartford look tiny from there?


HWJF took this pic when we got back down:




Kinda makes me look like I'm short or something! It was a great day and I'm really glad we got out to enjoy it. While it is still freakishly warm around here, the colors and the weather aren't nearly as nice now. Winter is coming whether I like it or not.


And for something completely unrelated:

File under: Who knew?

Back to work tomorrow after a little side trip tonight. Have a great week everyone!

Hard to believe another week has gone. Week two of the new job went pretty well. I'm getting a bit tired of cataloging Latin Pop CDs (have you ever heard of Reggaeton, cause I hadn't until this week!), but I should be moving on to other things next week. I think I am still in denial that I'm really doing this. Maybe that's because of the crazy warm weather we've been having around here. I usually have lunch inside and then go out for a walk on my 30 min. break in the afternoon, but yesterday I went outside for lunch. I got a panini at PAX and then wandered over to Bryant Park to sit and eat. As I sat there looking around me at the tall buildings against a clear blue sky and the hustle and bustle of NYC swirling all around me, I really felt like I was in a dream. It just doesn't seem like it can possibly be real. Add to the mix that it was Nov. 4th and it was over 60 degrees and people were still ice skating in the park and I think you will understand. Very weird.

On my break yesterday I took a walk over to Times Square. Still can't believe how close it is to where I work. And I can't help but think that come the holidays it is going to be very cool to take a quick walk over to see the prep for the ball drop. Another day I took a walk past the Yarn Connection. It was kind of a trial run to see just how close it is should I need something. But after noting their hours and that it's only about a 10 min. walk, I kept on going. Still waiting for that third paycheck. How's that for self control?



Train knitting this week saw the completion of this:



Yep. It's the boyfriend scarf blocking as I type (on the floor because it was too big for the bed I might add [which only confirms my need for a bigger bed as I've been saying for ages]). The lucky recipient should receive it tonight (now that its supposed to be 70 degree today, sheesh). Now if I can only get him to pose for a pic for the blog... Well, maybe the fact that I have enough leftover to make a hat can be used as a bargaining chip.... ;)


And while Socktober fest is officially over, I did cast these on Halloween night in anticipation of the scarf being finished:



They are the "Winter socks" from the Magic Loop book in Lion Brand Woolease. I don't know the color name since this is leftover that's been in my stash for ages. This sock would probably be done already if I had the measurements of the recipient. And I won't say who that is since it is supposed to be a Xmas present and they *might* read the blog. I should be set with that soon and then I'm almost sure I can finish these off by the end of next week. Making socks with worsted weight yarn sure goes quick!

Next post I hope to share last weekend's hike providing someone *cough* HWJF *cough* gets me the pictures. For now it's off to run a billion errands and get the laundry done. Ahh the life of a working girl. ;)