When I last posted (which I thought was longer ago than it's been), I had hinted about a new job and even some knitting-related work. Well, all of that has come to fruition. Two weeks ago I left my full-time job of 17 years, and this week I started a new job where I will be working from home, selling advertising and marketing solutions to suppliers in the library industry. I'm really hoping that this will give me more time to relax and fit in my knitting and other crafty pursuits while remaining engaged in meaningful work. Will let you all know how it goes!
I had secured a once-weekly job at a LYS, but that is now on hold for a few months. I hope it does happen, as this is something I've always wanted to do. In the meantime, I've been doing quite a bit of contract knitting throughout the summer. It's fun and provides a very small extra income, but I want to make sure it doesn't overtake my time and preference to knit for myself, my family, and my Etsy customers. So that will be another variable to watch this fall.
After finishing the contract knitting, I went back to the Braided Gem Socks for my son. Finished last night, and they are beautiful. I love the pattern and the yarn, and I think they will keep him very warm when the cold Michigan winter inevitably arrives.
As soon as I bound off, I wound my next ball of sock yarn--a Socks That Rock Lightweight skein from the 2008 Rockin' Sock Club! After this one, I have one skein to go from that club. I can't believe it's taken me so long to get through it--I guess I've had other sock yarn skeins sneak in between. I'm going to make Cookie A's Monkeys with this skein--I wasn't wild about the pattern that came with the yarn (a reason, along with my inability to keep up with the shipments, that I stopped renewing membership to this club), so I will do the Monkeys, a pattern I've been wanting to make for years.
To wind this yarn, I used my new and improved Royal Ball Winder. I think I had had my old one for 30 years and it was just "tired." This new one works like a dream and the skein wound up in no time. A nice little treat for myself.
With college football and the NFL this weekend, I'll have lots of knitting time and can make a dent in my current projects before my next round of contract knitting kicks in.
Hope to be more frequent with the blog posts now that I have all of this free time....hahahaha!
