The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good
Thank you, DH for your message on my blog - you stinker!
After Christmas, I was catching up on my blog reading and I ran into a picture of a cool felted cap in And She Knit's Too!'s December 26th post Gifts for Knitters. My DH decided that he wanted one, too. It didn't' matter that I had just lovingly completed my fourth pair of fuzzy feet and hadn't knit anything for myself in eons!
"Could you make me one like that?" he asked. "And could it be blue and gold, St. Louis Ram's colors?"
I fell for it. I mean, how could anyone turn down such a challenge? No pattern, specific color requests? Puppy-dog eyes and begging voice? Surely there would be some great payback for me! Uh-huh... well I e-mailed and asked And She Knit's Too where she got her pattern from. She didn't have a pattern. Ok. I could wing it, too! Her's looked great, so maybe mine could, too!
I dug around for a basic pattern to follow, and ended up using the idea of a felted cat bed pattern. First attempt... I increased way too often and ended up with a curly ribbon instead of a flat cap top. Rip and reknit. Second try worked perfectly. I eyeballed where the turn should be, included some rings to use up both of my colors, and then I searched for a pattern for the front of the cap. I wanted something that would use both blue and gold (turns out the color I picked was actually a tan, but it looks gold), would be a thick banded, masculine looking pattern, and have big blotches of color so that the pattern wouldn't disappear when I felted it. I found the perfect pattern in my Latvian Mitten book. After it was knit up (with about 2 feet of blue yarn left-over.. no lie! Talk about lucky!), I nervously felted it. I was so afraid that it wouldn't felt to the right size, that it would end up too small, but it didn't.
As DH said, he is getting looks and compliments everywhere he goes. The women in the LYS almost fell over themselves when they saw his cap. The kids he works with comment that it looks cool, too. Mega compliment! The only place the cap really didn't fit in was when we went to watch our friend at a bowling alley tournament. Maybe with some beer stains it would fit in better there, too.
Finished Project:
The Bad
This week at work. Terrible! Every day was a nightmare.
Monday... car problems. I was thrown all around, bounced up and down as I drove on the highway. I nearly threw up. I pulled over, and thought that I must have at least 300 flat tires. Turned out the tires were fine, but the tire wells were so clogged full of ice that when I hit a bump there was no place for the wheel to go so it threw me around and up and down instead. I chopped and chopped and finally cleaned them out. Result? 20 minutes late for work.
Tuesday.... I was supposed to go to an annual conference (which is free), but as I started driving I remembered that I had not gotten my permission slip back from administration. I called in to make sure the request had been approved. About 10 minutes later my boss left a voice mail message on my cell phone telling me that it had been denied. I had turned it in too late. She told me that I should continue to the conference anyway and we would talk about it after I got back. There have been big union issues recently regarding her, and my name has been listed as a spokesperson... I didn't tempt fate. I turned around and went back to school. Result? 1 hour late.
Wednesday.... Staff meeting at 8:00 sharp. At 8:05 I had just dropped off two bratty girls at their school and headed off to my school. It was one of those mornings.. "Where are my socks?" : I need that permission slip signed." "Where did you put my swim suit?" Result? 15 minutes late to a meeting where item number two on the agenda was?? Show up on time for meetings. Crap!
Thursday.... Received a letter from my boss writing me up for attending a conference on Tuesday that I didn't have permission to attend. I guess 1) she forgot that her voice mail message (which I have saved) told me to go anyway, and 2) that I turned around and went to school. I was PISSED! I have never been written up for anything... this is definitely because of the union issue. My principal called her and left her a message telling her that I did come to school on Tuesday. She was out for the day.
Friday... After a lot of phone tag, I finally talked to my boss and she thanked me for having come in on Tuesday. She said that she was upset that I had gone without permission and that was why she had written the letter. She said that she would rip up her copy if I would rip up mine and the principal would rip up his. I agreed, but I'm having second thoughts. She has not followed through on other issues verbally, so I'm thinking it might be smart to get her to write a retraction.
The Ugly
Cough, sneeze, wheeze, splutter. I caught the crappy sinus infection DH had, even after sleeping on the couch, and being careful to avoid anything he may have touched or spluttered on himself. Now my asthma is kicking in. Here we go again!
Oh, and did I forget to mention that our refrigerator and freezer died last Saturday? We are living out of coolers. Suddenly I'm thankful for the cold weather in Wisconsin in January.
Thank you, DH for your message on my blog - you stinker!
After Christmas, I was catching up on my blog reading and I ran into a picture of a cool felted cap in And She Knit's Too!'s December 26th post Gifts for Knitters. My DH decided that he wanted one, too. It didn't' matter that I had just lovingly completed my fourth pair of fuzzy feet and hadn't knit anything for myself in eons!
"Could you make me one like that?" he asked. "And could it be blue and gold, St. Louis Ram's colors?"
I fell for it. I mean, how could anyone turn down such a challenge? No pattern, specific color requests? Puppy-dog eyes and begging voice? Surely there would be some great payback for me! Uh-huh... well I e-mailed and asked And She Knit's Too where she got her pattern from. She didn't have a pattern. Ok. I could wing it, too! Her's looked great, so maybe mine could, too!
I dug around for a basic pattern to follow, and ended up using the idea of a felted cat bed pattern. First attempt... I increased way too often and ended up with a curly ribbon instead of a flat cap top. Rip and reknit. Second try worked perfectly. I eyeballed where the turn should be, included some rings to use up both of my colors, and then I searched for a pattern for the front of the cap. I wanted something that would use both blue and gold (turns out the color I picked was actually a tan, but it looks gold), would be a thick banded, masculine looking pattern, and have big blotches of color so that the pattern wouldn't disappear when I felted it. I found the perfect pattern in my Latvian Mitten book. After it was knit up (with about 2 feet of blue yarn left-over.. no lie! Talk about lucky!), I nervously felted it. I was so afraid that it wouldn't felt to the right size, that it would end up too small, but it didn't.
As DH said, he is getting looks and compliments everywhere he goes. The women in the LYS almost fell over themselves when they saw his cap. The kids he works with comment that it looks cool, too. Mega compliment! The only place the cap really didn't fit in was when we went to watch our friend at a bowling alley tournament. Maybe with some beer stains it would fit in better there, too.
Finished Project:
The Bad
This week at work. Terrible! Every day was a nightmare.
Monday... car problems. I was thrown all around, bounced up and down as I drove on the highway. I nearly threw up. I pulled over, and thought that I must have at least 300 flat tires. Turned out the tires were fine, but the tire wells were so clogged full of ice that when I hit a bump there was no place for the wheel to go so it threw me around and up and down instead. I chopped and chopped and finally cleaned them out. Result? 20 minutes late for work.
Tuesday.... I was supposed to go to an annual conference (which is free), but as I started driving I remembered that I had not gotten my permission slip back from administration. I called in to make sure the request had been approved. About 10 minutes later my boss left a voice mail message on my cell phone telling me that it had been denied. I had turned it in too late. She told me that I should continue to the conference anyway and we would talk about it after I got back. There have been big union issues recently regarding her, and my name has been listed as a spokesperson... I didn't tempt fate. I turned around and went back to school. Result? 1 hour late.
Wednesday.... Staff meeting at 8:00 sharp. At 8:05 I had just dropped off two bratty girls at their school and headed off to my school. It was one of those mornings.. "Where are my socks?" : I need that permission slip signed." "Where did you put my swim suit?" Result? 15 minutes late to a meeting where item number two on the agenda was?? Show up on time for meetings. Crap!
Thursday.... Received a letter from my boss writing me up for attending a conference on Tuesday that I didn't have permission to attend. I guess 1) she forgot that her voice mail message (which I have saved) told me to go anyway, and 2) that I turned around and went to school. I was PISSED! I have never been written up for anything... this is definitely because of the union issue. My principal called her and left her a message telling her that I did come to school on Tuesday. She was out for the day.
Friday... After a lot of phone tag, I finally talked to my boss and she thanked me for having come in on Tuesday. She said that she was upset that I had gone without permission and that was why she had written the letter. She said that she would rip up her copy if I would rip up mine and the principal would rip up his. I agreed, but I'm having second thoughts. She has not followed through on other issues verbally, so I'm thinking it might be smart to get her to write a retraction.
The Ugly
Cough, sneeze, wheeze, splutter. I caught the crappy sinus infection DH had, even after sleeping on the couch, and being careful to avoid anything he may have touched or spluttered on himself. Now my asthma is kicking in. Here we go again!
Oh, and did I forget to mention that our refrigerator and freezer died last Saturday? We are living out of coolers. Suddenly I'm thankful for the cold weather in Wisconsin in January.
1 Comments:
At 6:28 AM ,
Elaine said...
Definitely get the boss to write a retraction - it doesn't sound like she's all that organized. I love that hat - did you happen to write up how you made it as you did it?
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