Andrea's Scarf!

This is the scarf that has been occupying my life for the last few weeks. I can't believe it's done. What will I do without it? Oh, I know...everything I haven't been doing!

My cousin ordered this custom scarf for a friend of his. It was supposed to match a hat she has - he took a stealth photo of this hat with his cell phone, and that's what I went off of.

She wanted "easter colors," for it to be "flat, but not ribbed," "soft but not fluffy" and with no fringe. I did my best! I ended up doing seed stitch to keep it flat without the ribbing, and I laboriously taught myself how to do intarsia to get the sort-of-almost plaid look that her hat has.

My cousin is giving her the scarf today - I don't think I've ever been so nervous about a custom order in my life. :)

The first photo is me with the scarf covering my face, the second photo is my little sister, and the last photo is my sister with her boyfriend. I kidnapped them last night after karate and made them watch the WoW SouthPark episode, then we watched The Office until I fell asleep.

I am so looking forward to working on my other projects now that this scarf is done. I need to totally finish JW's bag, which means I need to sew the lining, and then I can start listing the things I've been neglecting!

This Saturday I will be going to the Irvine FAC so I can do ceramics - I want to include some of my pieces in a corporate gift basket that AbbeyLane is putting together.

Friday morning

Today I apparently have allergies. I have never had allergies before. I am not sure what to do about it, other than just sneeze and sniffle a lot. Maybe it's not really allergies and I am getting sick. I don't know which would be better. :P I need to drink a lot of water today.

It's a hard day to be at work - the sky puts crayola cerulean to shame - *leaves* are actually falling. It's warm outside and so cold in my office. It's Friday, and there are very few people here.

I am making some progress with Alex's scarf - it's very cool. After this one I am excited to use my new intarsia skills and do all sorts of images and patterns. Although I do think my first order of business after this scarf is to knit myself some fingerless gloves. Holy moly it's cold in here.

Yesterday my big afternoon project was cleaning out The Closet of Doom and organizing my desk to make it more ergnomically friendly. My intern and I did great things - she tackled The Closet of Doom with a verociousness that I lack when cleaning, and I timidly approached my desk drawers. I have to admit, that it was all worth it this morning when I got to my office and was surprised all over again by how nice and uncluttered it was. Just another reminder for me that I really do work better when I am organized and uncluttered - the physical clutter feels like it messes up my brain. Sadly, being organized/not messy does not come naturally to me, but it's definitly worth being conscious of it and making it happen anyway.

I really like my job, but I am looking forward to the day when I don't have to work fulltime. This is a huge motivator for me to get my master's - I want to do what my mom did, which was be at home with her kids during the day, and teach nights. That sounds just about right.

It's time for me and my puffy eyes to go do some work - yesterday I mailed the first notice regarding our next big trip - the 2009 Walt Disney World Resort and Cruise! I am anticipating many a call for that today. I'm excited - this will be my first big trip that I orchestrate from start to finish, and I feel really good about it. We've got a year to plan (we'll be going Nov. 2009) and I learned a lot from the Alaska cruise.

I also have a newsletter to finish, so that's what I am going to go do now. (the photo is one I took of a bald eagle in Sitka, AK when I was there on the Cruise.)