Week of April 9th-15th

I had a very nice lunch with my husband and his lovely grandmother today; however, I had too much coffee over too short a time span and I'm still quite visibly shaking. Oy. Still, I need to blog.

My pattern for this week was my Crocheted Napping Cat. It was inspired by a toy cat I had when I was a kid; the toy was fabric and more floppy, but the style is similar. I started a crocheted toy dragon earlier in the week, but I've made a detour to knit a custom Mossy Jacket for a family member. I ordered enough Trendsetter Tonalita yarn to make myself one too, which I've been wanting to do for a long time. I've knit this jacket in Mossy Tree and Ocean and Sky Blues; the one I'm making now is in Starry Night. And because subdued colors aren't really my thing, mine will be in Pink Zebra.

Finished The Hunger Games last week; now onto Catching Fire, book 2 of the trilogy. So good!

Week of April 2nd-8th

This weekend finds me in a good place. We've had family in town for Passover, so lots of socializing. Also, I've gotten a seasonal job at the excellent Joann Fabrics, which I think will be a good fit for me. I've never worked there before, but it's where I source a lot of my yarn and I'm certainly a fan of the store.

And here's the project I mentioned last week - a crocheted toy bunny. I suppose you can call it amigurumi (I think it simply means "knitted or crocheted toy," which this is), though it's not really in the amigurumi style. I wanted something non-clothing that's appropriate for babies and small children, and I've been long meaning to expand my catalog of crochet patterns. I'm in the midst of another toy design right now - it's always exciting to take off on a new creative track!

Week of March26th - April 1st

It was a nice and productive week. I made and listed a new sari silk necklace, plus some sari silk bracelets. Three very fine bears have been completed, as you can see here; I might still do some more before I send these off. I'm in the middle of a significant crochet design project at the moment, which is why I put off blogging till this late and why I'm going to quit now and go work some more. We'll see if it's presentable by next week, and if so, I'll write about it then. Design time now.

Week of March 19th-25th

It was kind of a rough week; I realized that if I want to make it through the summer, I'm going to have to get a second part-time job. (Or give it my best try, at least.) It's funny how even a slight alteration of your future plans can throw you so off-balance. Job searching is such a mess; I can't remember what it was like before the recession, but it sure isn't fun now! Still, I've had good luck in the past.

I photographed and listed a bunch of new items - some men's gloves and mittens for next winter, a handspun infinity scarf, and some new sari silk jewelry. I've been wanting to get into textile jewelry for a while now, and spring is the time to do it! The infinity scarf was a test run for one of my favorite handspun yarns, and it was so lovely I decided I'd try listing it. It was a lot of fun to make, and I love the finished look.

Otherwise, I'm back on my Mother Bear Project bears - knit two this week, no pictures yet. I finished reading The Overlord Rising: Dragon Touched and loved it; you can see my Amazon.com review here. (I'm Anne, obviously.) Started The Novice: A Story of True Love by Thich Nhat Hanh, one of my favorite Dharma teachers.

Busy week ahead of me. Let's hope that by the end of it, I'll have gotten some results from my job search. Fingers crossed.

Week of March 12th-18th

What have I done this week? A fair amount, I guess, but not a whole lot to show for it right now. My grad student husband is busy paper-writing, and he has so much to do I haven't wanted to interrupt him so he could model gloves for me. This week I've knitted two pairs of fingerless gloves and two pairs of trigger mittens, finished a pair of socks, crocheted some Irish roses, and done assorted other things. Read some more, took some walks in the beautiful Lakeview Cemetery, which conveniently runs alongside Little Italy. (I can see the top of Garfield's monument from my apartment, in fact.) Spring has come early this year, though everyone's praying there won't be another freeze, because here you never know! The balmy weather, combined with the fact that my Etsy sales have slowed to a halt (why?? it's not even summer yet!), has left me highly unmotivated. I just want to lounge in the sun like a cat.

Week of March 4th - 11th

As of Friday, the gray vest is finally finished! Rather nice, I think. I was going for something conservative but not too boring; something you could wear over a casual long-sleeved shirt or a dress shirt. I spent a good bit of yesterday afternoon working on resizing it so I can offer it in men's sizes S through XL. Think I succeeded - I should have it typed up over the next day or so.

I had a few skeins of handspun I was being lazy about, so today I went ahead and photographed, edited, and listed them. The handspun is currently a labor of love; I've only sold two skeins ever, and one was to a family member. I wish I could just knit it all up myself, but I doubt it would sell then, either, so I'm still working on it!

I've started reading more regularly, by the way. I've always loved to read, but I got out of the habit of reading regularly for fun in high school and college - there was so much school reading that I never had time. Since I graduated, I find I still work pretty much all the time. Old habits die hard. However, now I'm putting longer hours in to knitting, I have to force myself to take regular breaks so I don't wear out my hands - perfect reading time! I took the liberty of rereading one of my favorite books, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. It's possibly the most riveting nonfiction book I've ever read. Next on the agenda is a fantasy novel, The Overlord Rising: Dragon Touched by E.W. Scott. I'm particularly excited about that one because I, in fact, know the author! She's a very fun person and an excellent writer.

Week of February 26th - March 3rd

Since Filene's Basement went under for good in late December, I've been down to one part-time day job. That has enabled me to throw myself more fully into my textiles, as well as reclaim my social life and joie de vivre. (That's not to say I didn't like my cashier job, because I did, and I'm sorry the company went under; it's just that shuffling between two day jobs while trying to be an entrepreneur and a human being on the side can be exhausting on a profound level.) I've increased my focus on designing, joined Twitter, Artfire, and Pinterest, and now it's time to reboot my blog.

So, this week. While the husband has been engrossed in grad school, I've been busily designing and knitting a vest in his size. I'm lazy with the camera and therefore don't have any pictures yet, but it's a marled light gray with a double moss stitch design. Finished the front (v-neck), and now I'm toiling away at the back. It's attractive but not too thrilling to knit, so thank goodness for Netflix.

Finished and listed some new men's hats, knit in Peruvian wool ordered from KnitPicks. I know it's only March, but I'm already stocking up for next fall and winter.

Went to a talk at Case Western given by Robyn Ochs on gender and sexuality. She's a great speaker, and I think I can safely say that it was the most fun two-hour lecture I've ever been to.

And, perhaps best of all, I found some more of my teddy bears on the Mother Bear Project site! There's one from Mali and the rest are from South Africa.