This Post Brought To You By ...

... the slightly confused but extremely generous Cookie! Why is Cookie confused you might ask? Well Cookie was unhappy with her Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in "Black Purl." Black Purl is one of my favorite colorways. So I told Cookie to pick something from my stash on Ravelry and we could trade.

The more observant of you will notice that there is more than just yarn in this picture. There is also the cutest pair of ladybug scissors IN THE WORLD. There is a ladybug .. ummm .. hankie? Bandana? Cat sarong? I'm not quite sure what it is. But it's from Hobby Lobby! And I want to go to Hobby Lobby sooooo bad I can hardly stand it. And it has ladybugs on it and I love ladybugs big time so woohoo me! There was also a bag of Cookie's very own dehydrated banana chips which seem to have mysteriously disappeared. Of course, we are blaming Andy for this.

Don't you wish you had a friend like Cookie? Who not only trades you awesome yarn but sends you fabulous prezzies as well?!? Well too bad, she only likes ME. ME ME ME. OK, maybe she likes one or two other people as well but she likes ME best. ME ME ME.

It may be time for April to go back to work.

The Week In Review

Here we are with the weekly update. Notice how it's changed from the bi-monthly to the weekly? Aren't you impressed?

So. The porn job. I pulled the plug on it before it even started. Since I'm a newbie to this whole "unemployed" thing, I naively thought that I could make a certain amount of money before it would affect my unemployment check coming from The Governator. Because you know, I thought maybe the government wouldn't mind if I tried to live on more than $450 a week. WRONG. Nope. Not happening. I guess the logic behind this is that they're trying to ENCOURAGE me to find full-time work ASAP. As in, "Find full time work NOW or live in a box under the highway 280 / 17 interchange." To which I reply, "Fuck you, I have enough yarn to knit a HOUSE, you can keep yer stinkin' box. Neener, neener, neener."

So in preparation for my house knitting, I've been practicing with other things.

Hat #4 for Kristy's Hat Drive. This is Ann Norling's Spiral Rib Hat which I happen to like very much. In Lamb's Pride Worsted. Which I also happen to like very much but wasn't expecting to. Two paws up from Andy and DeeDee.

My first sock for the Summer Of Socks '08. So already I'm ahead of where I was when I finished the Summer Of Socks '07! I didn't expect to like this yarn either, it's Univeral Yarn's "Ditto." It's a bit scratchy even after a nice bath last night but not horribly so. I think this yarn would make a lovely pair of men's sock. 75% Superwash / 25% Nylon. And it's only $6.00 a ball so for $12.00 you've got a decent pair of socks.

Speaking of sock yarn (I am the Segue Queen) there's yarnage for sale on my Ravelry trade/sell page. Mostly sock yarn, some Blue Sky Alpaca stuffs. Yarn. Like for knitting stuffs.

The Bi-Monthly Update

The pace continues unchecked over here at Chez Insanity. I have a part time job starting on Tuesday for a company up in the City (also known as San Francisco). Twenty hours a week, not including my choo choo ride up there and back. However, they have an "office dog" and a jeans and t-shirt dress code so it's all good. The job itself ... well ... well basically I'm updating a porn star database. No, I'm not kidding. Really, this should come as no surprise to anyone that reads my blog on a regular basis. Normal is not in my vocabulary. It's a perfectly ordinary office, it's not like THEY FILM RIGHT THERE. And besides, it makes me giggle. I am 12.

So in between interviewing for bizarre jobs there has been some knitting.

Charity Hat #3 is done. Feel free to tell me you think it's ugly, as the kind lady at Knit Night on Friday did. Or as she so eloquently put it, "You know, this doesn't do anything for me at all." I happen to like pink, orange and red together. And she had an ugly haircut so she's hardly in a position to criticize.

More knitting ...

The Tofutsies Store Sample. What can we say about this sock? Well nothing really. It's pink, it's purple and I've about had my fill of plain stockinette socks for now. So I cast on for Aija's "RPM" socks using Universal Yarn's Ditto. Yet another store sample. Although I'm not sure about copyright infringement. If I knit a sock from a published pattern and it is put on display in a yarn store with a tag that states where the pattern comes from, is that bad? Aija, are you out there? Does anyone else know? I'd hate for my porn star career to be interrupted by a stint in jail.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well not really, but it's good to remain optimistic. The job market in the Bay Area seems a little tight these days so thank goodness for Unemployment Insurance which will at least cover minor things like oh ... rent ... car payment ... a box of cereal. I'm debating putting some of my stash up for sale on Ravelry because really, do I need all this yarn? Probably not. And Andy and DeeDee seem very reluctant to get paper routes. Ingrates.

But even though I'm not working, I'm still trying to make myself useful. Kristy, over at Ravelry, is trying to collect 300 hats for an orphanage in the Ukraine that she will be visiting in September. I've signed on with a lofty goal of making a dozen. HAHAHA. I've done umm, two. Actually I've done one.

This is the Seaman's Cap in Malabrigo and Wooly Stripes. I made another one of these last year. It's been sitting in my stash so I'll send that along to Kristy as well. Don't ask me what's up with the pointy top, I followed the directions and EVERYTHING.

I'm also knitting samples for the new store. This is the Not So Plain Jane Sock from South West Trading Company in Tofutsies. Do I like Tofutsies? Not really. It's a bit splitty for my taste but I do love this colorway. I'm Magic Looping it. I have fallen hopelessly in love with the Magic Loop, just in time for the Summer of Socks '08. Perhaps I'll be able to bypass the number of socks I knit for last year's Summer Of Socks. The total I knit last year was ... zero. Yay, me!

I Mean Really ...

... what are the odds that in the space of 3 weeks I'd get laid off from TWO jobs? Am I on a roll or what?

Today at 3:00 my supervisor, Arnold, came up to me and said, "C'mon, April, we need to go to an Operations meeting" to which I replied, "But Arnold, do I really need to go, I frickin' hate meetings." Arnold chuckled nervously and replied that indeed, I did need to go. Little did I know that when he said "go" he meant as in "out the door."

So .. where does this leave us? Well, I've picked up another yarn store job at Green Planet Yarn which is a new yarn store that has opened in my little town of Campbell. If I feel really energetic, it's actually within walking distance of my apartment. I have some freelance writing I can do, there's always unemployment insurance and goodness only knows what.

But for now, let's all look at a picture of Andy. Just because.