Saturday, March 29, 2008

More bat poop and graduations

I hate Widdershins. There, I said it. I didn't frog that first heel and try decreasing instead of increasing. I actually figured out that I was wrong and you really should be increasing toward the heel because when you knit top-down, you decrease as you're turning. So, in essence, if you're working in reverse, you should be increasing as you turn.
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Yes, she did get that right. Unfortunately, I screwed up big time because it decreased the number of stitches for my gusset, which shortened the foot of my sock. I know, I know. I should have been measuring with my trusty tape measure as I went along. I would have seen that the sock was running short. But I didn't.
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I know with complete accuracy that, when working a cuff-down sock, I turn my heel, decrease for my gusset and then I knit 55 rows before I decrease for my toes. Doesn't matter what the yarn is as long as it's knit on my trusty 2.25mm needles. My gauge is almost perfect regardless of what yarn I'm working with and any variation in yarn thickness is so minimal that it's negligible.
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So I knit my trust 55 rows, did my gusset, made a few adjustments for the heel but I turned that and knit about 80 rows up the cuff and cast off. What's the problem? Short foot. I need another 10 rows in my foot measurement to match the socks I make cuff down.
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Big sigh....
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So I have a pair of absolutely gorgeous Great Adirondack socks that are now useless to me and anyone in my family because I have the smallest feet.
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Argh!!! Oh, and to add insult to injury? I've finally figured out what my problem is lately. I have dry skin. We're talking alligator skin. You could make a very fashionable pair of shoes out of my skin if I came in another color besides "pink" or "nude" or whatever you want to call "pale"... LOL! And I've been itching like crazy. My arms. My legs. (It's real tricky to try and scratch your inner thighs at work when you work in a bubble booth... /grin/) I have patches of itch on my belly, etc. It finally dawned on me this week that we'd changed our laundry detergent. I can't use major brands because they add perfumes and softeners and all kinds of additives. Generic brands tend to work for me because they keep the price down by sticking to soap and that's about it. So I think that's what my problem is.
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It's gotten so bad in the last week that I'm waking myself at night, feeling like one big allergic hive. I was blaming it on the dry air that seems to have huddled over Connecticut. Everyone around us for the last month or so gets all kinds of rain and snow. We get the clouds and the clouds try to drop precipitation, but it's evaporated into the atmosphere before it can hit the ground. That's how dry it is. Weird to think that it's raining at 20,000 ft but not a drop is hitting the ground, but there you have it. Anyway, I thought the dry atmosphere was affecting my skin, but now I'm thinking it's the new laundry detergent.
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So oldest daughter picked me up some generic stuff last night. Today I'm going to wash the whole wardrobe and see if that helps.
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Quick update... surgery is set for May 7th. The only day of work I'll miss is the big graduation. Classes end the week prior and then I'll be able to work the law school graduation on Sunday. It pushes back the date I wanted by two weeks, but that's okay. It's still early enough not to totally erase my summer, and late enough that I won't have to use all my accrued sick time. That's a good thing because I figure you can always use sick time. God forbid someone in the family got really sick and I needed to take care of them. The job allows me to accrue up to 6 months of sick time and my goal is to do just that. Vacation time doesn't carry over from year to year, so save sick time whenever possible and let that build up.
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Anyway, this is all good. The only day I'll miss of work is the 10-hour, 12,000 person party. Hmm... while it's nice to be able to be there on graduation day for those kids I've seen come through the university, it's not always one of the easiest days to work. Kids moving out is the worst because half the kids don't pack before their rides come to pick them up. Kids moving in runs about equal because the freshmen parents never quite figure out when it's time to move on so we have room to move more kids in. Third to those two is the big graduation just because of the sheer numbers.
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These are the three events where I get used to being called a "b*!(%" on a regular basis.
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Now, I doubt I have more than 10 people who actually read my blog, but can I make a request to those few who do? If you have kids in college or friends who have kids in college, can you please understand the reality of what's about to happen? It's about 6 weeks or less until the big move-outs all over the country. Can you try to understand that it really is not our goal to make this as difficult as possible for you or us? We have approximately 3 days to move out about 4000 students from approximately seven areas where we can park cars.
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Ship your child some boxes and bags. Tell them to have their stuff as packed and ready as possible. (Yes, I had a freshman one year who carried his chair downstairs and proceeded to sit in it to work on his tan while his parents packed his room. I told him to get his @ss upstairs and move his stuff or I'd have him hauled away on the hook of a tow truck... /g/) Yes, trust me, I know your child will have 43 friends that they still have to say goodbye to, so please move your car to another spot to wait for them to track down said friends. We need every inch of parking we can get our hands on, so please don't take this moment to stand in line at the bookstore to return books or have that last lunch. You and I both know that your kid waited until the last moment, hoping that you'd do all their packing for them. Don't let them get away with it. Get back in your car and go to lunch. Tell them to call you when they're packed and ready to load. Then please do it as quickly as possible. I have 200 people waiting for your parking spot.
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Graduation Day? I know it's a HUGE moment. Unfortunately, it's a huge moment for every one of our 1500 graduates and their families. That's why there are 12,000 people squished onto the quad. I know that you paid $200,000 (give or take) for that "forever photo". Trust me. I've been doing this for five years. But also understand that every other parent is feeling exactly like you and they paid the same amount of money. We have a system set up and, if everyone does what they're supposed to, it works for everyone involved and you'll have those "forever photos". But there's always that one (generally at least a dozen) who feel they're above and beyond everyone else. To us, every single one of our graduates and their respective family members are special. Smile and be polite. You're there for that one moment. We're doing our best to accomodate 1500 of those moments and juggling 12,000 people in order to make sure each of those moments are captured on film.
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Okay, 'nuff said.
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Laundry today. And more laundry. Oh, and grocery shopping. Oh boy. What fun...

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