Weeks of October 17th - November 6th

Yes, I know it has been three weeks since my last post. I was distracted first by being sick (better now), then by being busy, then - the best by far - by adopting a cat! For the first time in our married life we're in a cat-friendly apartment, and on a cold, drizzly Friday a couple of weeks ago we went to the Cleveland APL and adopted a handsome 4-year-old tabby we're calling Teddy:

He was picked up as a stray on the west side and brought to the shelter. Though he shows signs of living on the street for a while, I suspect he started out living with people because he's adjusted so well to our home. He's still fond of hiding in corners, but he loves being petted and is quite playful. Teddy is a quiet kitty, but he purrs readily and he's learning to ask for what he wants - he has a tiny meow that sounds like a squeak! He's been with us just a week and a half, but we're already finding it hard to imagine life without him. He is just the best cat.

As for work - I've been knitting mostly shop stuff, but last week I made a couple of hats and a pair of mittens for the new Afghans for Afghans campaign:

I now have some custom orders to keep me busy over the next few days.

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.