March comes in like a lion, goes out... with a layoff?

Yeah, I said layoff. Last Tuesday afternoon I was laid off from my job. Position elimination as a part of cost cutting due to declining revenue. It was unexpected, but not entirely so. I knew that the job I was in could be considered something of a luxury (no direct reports, no hard deliverables), and with so many of the big law firms laying off lawyers and dropping print subscriptions to our products, it really was inevitable that they would start making cuts.

So I've spent the last few days cleaning out my office, gathering my belongings, and--absolutely the worst part--saying goodbye to my friends. Actually losing my job has not been that upsetting. Being unemployed, yes, but the actual job itself--something of a relief. Today I'm turning in my laptop and BlackBerry, and saying my final goodbyes.

Tomorrow I head up to Vermont for a week. I've already started my job search and will spend more time on that. I've got my final two paralegal classes going on, so I can concentrate on doing well there. I actually have several different options career-wise, and I'm pretty excited about that. So, there will be no staying in bed for me--too much to do--but I will now have the time to stop and look around and embrace all the blessings I have. And no more crappy meetings!

And there will be blogging! And knitting! And spinning! And dare I say it--even yarn dying!!!

The last few years on the job have been rough. Jim thinks that ultimately this will probably be the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I have to agree. So I'm off to tie up those loose ends. Be back in a few days...

Eye Candy Friday

Friday, March 20 @ 10:50am, Jacksonville, Vermont

At the same time I took this picture it was snowing in New York. WTF?

Happy Spring!

Eye Candy Friday -- the Happy Hour Edition

Cheers from Ms. Moosie!

Eye Candy Friday -- Proof of Spring!

Yes, despite the recent Nor'easter, spring really is almost here.

Taken Wednesday night at the LIRR Station, Forest Hills, NY

My Moosie has arrived!

You know, I ought to be sleeping. After all, I have my last project management class bright and early this morning. But...

Would you want to sleep if you just received this?

Part of the March herd. I was lucky enough to receive my first choice in whorls:

26 g, 1.825" whorl
Gray, heavy mauvey mottles,
nibbles, gray-green undertone,
peppery speckles

This lovely Moosie has a Kingwood shaft.

And yes, in just minutes we have bonded. I [heart] my Moosie!

Moosie and I are heading up to Vermont this weekend, so there will be more pictures of Moosie in her natural element.

A very special delivery!

What a week for deliveries! First was the timely delivery of a textbook for my new Wednesday night paralegal class (Elder Law). Then my lovely Fibership made her way home with a big beautiful batt of fabulous fiber...

And today, the bestest delivery of all should take place--my very own Bosworth Moosie Spindle!!! Words cannot begin to express how thrilled I am, especially since I was supposed to be part of the July herd. (Thank you, Sheila, for the bump up!) When I checked Thursday afternoon, my Moosie was making a pit stop at a postal service facility in Bethpage. I'm so hoping that I'll find a well-rested Moosie waiting for me when I get home from work today. Fingers crossed...

And before anyone gets the wrong idea, there will be pictures.

Lots of pictures... :-)

Eye Candy Friday

From Grafton Fibers--a Fibership spindle (freshly notched--Thank you, Linda!) resting on a gorgeous Grafton Fiber batt.

This makes me very, very happy!

Yay! I got a finished beret!!!

It's warm and soft and I luv it! Malabrigo rocks!

So how long does a One Day Beret actually take to knit?

If you're me, it's about a week. It doesn't help if you takes you about a day just to get started on it because:

1. You left all of your circular needles at your house in Vermont (so no Magic Loop for you) and all you have on Long Island are DPNs.


2. You have a difficult time distinguishing which needle comes first as you move each of your 4 cast on stitches to a separate needle, and your knitting looks more like some pointy medieval torture device.


3. You finally get going with the increases and you're going around and around and you've got a hat about 2 inches in diameter when you suddenly realize that you skipped one of you DPNs way back at the beginning and it's now dangling below your 2 inch beret. (On the plus side, your knitting buddies find this very funny and just giggle all over themselves.)

So throw in a few longs days at work, dozing on the train (and at home) the one short night in the office you have, and assignment deadlines for your new Saturday class, and you have the recipe for the One Day Week Beret.

And, of course, I don't have time to take a picture of it. It's so close--just an inch of ribbing and then end weaving! So unfortunately you'll have to wait for an FO photo.

But for now, I'll leave you with an early picture of the beret--and it's body guard.

I can't get into the whole story behind the bodyguard thing right now. Let's just say there was a fibernapping, threats to the fiber's safety, and ransom demands, and I became a little concerned about my Malabrigo...

More freakin' snow

I know that it's still winter, but really--I'm tired of the snow and frozen stuff that's been falling here on Long Island. (I'm also tired of the snow up in Vermont, but snow up there is normal this time of year.) So, since more snow's on the way, I think a new chapeau is in order...

That's the beginning of the One Day Beret, which I'm making in some lovely Yarn Crack Malabrigo I bought last year at The Village Knitter.

Now, there's no way that I could finish this in one day--I just don't knit that fast. But I'm thinking with what I got done today and will probably get done on the train tomorrow, this could be done by Tuesday morning--just in time for the next snowfall.

Today I went to Panera to knit with my Ravelry buddies. Kelly commented on the icicles in my last Eye Candy Friday picture. Some of those icicles would make really scary spears. Well, here's a close up of another one--just for you Kelly!