Oh the Woes of Designing

I'm attempting to design. It isn't going very well. I love the project that Chris made me, but it just takes too long. I'm gonna ask him if he can add a "fill" type button so I don't have to click on each square in a 42*42 grid in order to see my design. I tried using it this morning, but it just takes forever. And the stitches are sideways. They should be wider than they are tall, and they are reversed in my program. That won't take more than a second to fix. The fill button, on the other hand...That could be a while.

I'm also beginning to realize that I'm not the only person with this idea. Several people on Ravelry have this type of pattern for sale. I don't know if I plan on making them available, but it makes me nervous that maybe I'll give these things out for Christmas and no one will think it's special. I mean, I know they're just dishcloths/face cloths/whatever...But I'd like to know that I designed them myself and made them special for each person.

It's just now occured to me that I haven't even mentioned what I'm trying to design! I want to come up with a chart for each letter of the manual alphabet so I can put them on dishcloths for people. I want to make a letter for everybody at Christmas. I even counted all the names already! I need:

3 Ds

4 Ms

4 Gs

3 As

2 Cs (incidentally, they are both named Chris!)

1 T

1 J

4 Ss

1 B

1 K (and no, that one's not for me...Trust me. I have plenty of "test" Gs for myself.)

This sucks. I hate knitting with cotton. It makes my hands hurt really bad. Maybe I should test knit with something a little less intense. I have a pound of Caron Simply Soft. Maybe I'll use that. It's nice and neutral white, and it's a lot less abrasive than cotton on my hands.

I was doing a bit of research to figure out what kind of cotton I should make these out of. Apparently Hobby Lobby has cotton yarn that's not a complete misery to use. I was thinking about heading out there today to browse around. It's probably going to be my cheapest option. I think they have lots of colors to. That's pretty awesome.

That's basically all I needed to say for right now. I'm just pissed that this isn't going the way I want it to. Once Chris is all dressed, I think we'll head out towards Hobby Lobby to check things out. 

Man, Fazolis sounds really awesome right now...

Bike Rides

I was feeling very depressed last week. Yesterday, I felt fixed. I think that my key to success is a bike ride! Chris and I have been trying to go for bike rides since last summer, but there was always some stupid problem. Yesterday, we finally made it out. We just went and rode around our neighborhood, to the park, downtown, almost to school...I think we were out for an hour.

I had slept for 2 or 3 hours before that because I just didn't want to be awake. I was unhappy. But when I got home from my ride, I felt amazing. I didn't take my inhaler with me because I didn't think I'd be gone that long, but I felt so good, I just had to keep going. Not once did I ever feel like I needed my inhaler! I felt great! I got home and my legs were so tired, but all together, it was an awesome experience. I think I'm gonna go on more bike rides.

I don't think it would have been as much fun without Chris there with me. I had so much fun.

Oh Yeah...By The Way

I've decided to try a new layout. What do you, Loyal Reader, think of my new diggs?

Excitement Mixed With Major Annoyance

Did I really post on the 2nd? Guess I'm getting better about keeping this thing updated.

Let's start with the bad news first. I like starting with bad news. Who doesn't? So-the bad news is this: We moved on the 9th, and already everything in our apartment has broken down. For two weeks now I have been calling maintenance almost every other day trying to get them to fix various crap in the apartment. Here's the list so far:

1. On the day we moved in, I checked the apartment for damage like most apartments have you do. First thing I saw was this nasty disgusting freezer that was brown and black inside and gross. Turns out the guy that was here before us put his ciggarettes out in the freezer.

...

Why would you do that?!?!?

So...They replaced our fridge that Monday.

2. The air conditioner, window sills and bathtub were full of construction debris from them replacing the windows, carpet, tile floors and paint job. The maintence guy came out and cleaned everything up, which was nice of him. He also replaced our air conditioner filter which was awfully nice of him.

3. The window sills, because the windows have been replaced, are completely torn apart. I mentioned this on my checklist, but the only thing they can do is bring the construction team in here to sand them down and repaint. Maybe I'm just naive, but...Isn't that the kind of thing you should have finished before moving in?

4. We decided to do all our laundry on moving day. Figured it'd be nice to get it out of the way. We ran the first load no problem. The second load (while the first was in the dryer), the washer filled up and shut off. Then, sure enough, the dryer stopped and wouldn't start again. The maintenance guy had to come back and fix our washer and dryer.

5. We have no water pressure at all in the bathtub. I've called 3 times about this and according to maintenance, "There's nothing we can do about this, so we need to call someone." That's the most definitive answer I've gotten, and still...No one's fixed this. Last night, I wanted to take a bath, so I turned the water on and figured I'd let it run for an hour and it would fill up. Wrong. After a half an hour, I couldn't hear the water running anymore, so I check the tub to see that the water is no more than a trickle. Chris saw how upset I was, so he took the inside ceramic bowl thing out of the crock pot and used the bathroom sink to fill the tub up the rest of the way. He is filing a complaint with the Better Business Beaureu (which incidentally, is right next door to the apartment complex) and I am calling one last time tomorrow before I pitch a fit.

6. The washer stopped again last night. We had maintenance come out and he said we were just running too big of a load. He asked for a garbage bag to put some of the clothes in. We let the load finish running and when we looked inside, he had washed a pair of jeans, two pairs of socks, a towel and four shirts. It would be faster to wash them by hand in the bathtub.

That's all for my bad news. Now for the exciting part.

Ravelry is hiring!

I don't even know what to think about this! Of course I have to try, but do I think I might actually be qualified. When I think back over the past year and a half with Chris, I think about how much I've learned about computers. Plus, I worked for Dan doing all sorts of computer work. Maybe I could have a chance. I'm on Ravelry a good 18 hours a day a least, so hey...Maybe it could happen. Chris says not to get my hopes up and of course I can't. Casey, Jess and Mary-Heather are going to recieve thousands of applications. There are 350,000 Ravelers. I think only about 150,000 are active on Ravelry, but still...With how many people are unemployed right now...I bet this job is a beacon to us saps! I am going to do a video as wells as a letter, just in case anything goes wrong with the video. I have a YouTube account now, so I could just upload it there, and maybe even link it to here. That would be a first.

I'm gonna go for it. Really. I've even been seriously thinking about what kind of fiber I'd be because that's one of the questions! It sounds silly, but it really could be a wonderful opportunity for someone. Especially me...