Couldn't Keep My Hands Off You

I'll admit it.  I cheated on my current knitting projects (again).  I picked up the Kureyon and started petting it.  And then this happened:

I can't help myself.  I'd like to promise that next time, this won't happen, but I can't change my ways.  You'll just have to live with it.

Fun Times

Really, I'm enjoying this cashier job far more than I expected.  I actually like 'faking it till I make it'.  I could have been an actress!  (Well, not really.  Just because I can fake being exceptionally happy doesn't mean I can portray personalities and stuff.)

I've also decided that I'm not doing any Christmas knitting.  Already this has backfired due to a lack of funds (I'm not getting paid until Christmas Eve o_O) but I still don't think I'll start.  How long could it possibly take to knit three hats?

Famous last words, right?

It's Something, I Guess

I've gotten myself a job at a big-box store, part-time and seasonal.  So in reality, I'll be working only 4 or 5 weeks before the end of the year.  However, if I'm good (ha!) they may keep me.  I'm hoping, but I won't stop job searching.  Murphy's Law and all.

SABLE

I just got destashed on.  Now I have to sort it all out and put it on Ravelry.

Well, That Was Short-lived

'Kay, so maybe I'll be waiting another year or more before going back to school.  Just when I think everything's lined up, I'm reminded that we're playing dominoes and something gets pushed over.

On a happier note, I finished that pink shawl and I have pictures!

Yay for finished objects!

Schooldays

I'm going back to school.  Enough of this job-searching that goes nowhere.  I'm taking medical laboratory assistant/technician at a local private college.  I'll be done in less than a year.  And then I'll finally (hopefully) have my dream job (which isn't much; I just want to go to work every day and feel content and secure about it).

Dad's doing really well.  His incisions are healing and he feels better every day.

I'm knitting up a storm.  I've started the Bernat Cable Car Coat and I've finished another shawl (Kiri, but in Sirdar Peru, which is a bulky yarn).  I'll block it today and there shall be pictures up in the future!

WIPPLE

Works
In
Progress
Past
Life
Expectancy

Kinda like SABLE?  Except for current projects.  I have this weird desire to cast on as many projects as my needle collection will allow.

Where'd My Feet Go?

It's been a long three weeks (only three weeks?!) but Dad's doing fine.  I had to quit a part-time job because they weren't willing to work with me and kept giving me two full shifts a week instead of my ideal four- or five-hour shifts several times a week.  I need to take care of my dad and I can't do that if I'm working all day.

Since I have all this time on my hands and no money to spend on yarn, I've been knitting like a fiend, trying to break through my stash.  Good thing it's going to take a while.

This is the yarn I have to use before I use my more recent purchases (second photograph).  There are more than a few WIPs that have been lying around for months.

It's all got a planned project.  Even those two giant balls of acrylic.  That's going to be a blanket.  And that's why it'll take a year for me to get through it all.

Curveball

My dad's in the hospital awaiting quintuple bypass heart surgery.  Please pray if you read this.  Thank you.

Starburst

I finally finished that thing.

See?  I almost didn't believe me, either.

Slow Motion

I've moved.  I've settled.  I've found a job.  I think I might need to relax a bit.

I finished that shawl ... and I should probably take pictures of it.  Maybe later, eh?

Today I have to go to my "local coffee shop" and exchange my uniform for my last cheque.  I'm not quite sure what to expect from them now.  I didn't tell a lot of people that I was leaving.  Somehow some of them found out, cos my last day was definitely a trial!  Especially because of that supervisor being really snarky.  I had to tell her off quite a few times.  I guess true colours can't hide forever.

I don't actually start working until next week.  I've been exploring the new neighbourhood and getting used to the bus system here in Hamilton, which is different from the one in Brampton, which makes it weird.

I'm learning how to make a granny square.  A year ago I bought two massive balls of yarn from Walmart.  They're huge.  They're 1kg each.  They're destined to be an afghan.  And of course, I want to crochet it, not knit it.  Even though I don't really know how.

Stashbusting and yarn dieting only work until the Knitter's Fair.  I'm saving what little money I have left for that weekend.  In the meantime, I think I have enough yarn to keep me occupied.

Boxes

Everywhere.  I hate the last week before a move.  Everything's everywhere, yet so completely inaccessible that it gets really frustrating.  Saturday will not be here soon enough.

Friday's my last day at my "local coffee shop".  I haven't told a lot of people, and I don't want them all to know.  Just the ones I know I'll miss the most.

I got a new computer.  I bought the individual parts and my boyfriend put the thing together.  My laptop's hard drive had 35 gigabytes available on it.  The new desktop:  700 gigabytes.  No wonder nothing worked properly!

And I'm still knitting away on the red shawl I started.  I'm on the last chart of the pattern (Travelling Woman).

Inevitable

Last Wednesday I gave my (more than) two weeks notice.  I was going to do it on the Friday, but my hand was forced by a little detail called a release form (or transfer form.  Not quite sure which) that I need to apply to another "local coffee shop".

I was convinced that they would tell me to leave right away.

I addressed the letter to my "local coffee shop" owner, but the bad manager opened it anyway and then had the nerve to discuss it in front of 5 other employees.  You can bet I called him out on both those things.  I also stressed confidentiality.  I will determine when I want the rest of the "local coffee shop" to know that I'm leaving.

I got a call yesterday for an interview for Thursday at 3pm.  I can't wait!  I haven't had an interview since early February.

Also, this piece of junk machine that I insist upon using to write this blog has its days numbered.  My laptop sucks, plain and simple.  So ... I'm getting a desktop instead!  Maybe then my web browser won't crash every ten minutes.

I Just Can't Seem To Stop

Here's what I was knitting during my last post:

And now I've started knitting something else:

You'd never think that I packed all my yarn, eh?  Okay, I did unpack these two skeins.  I'll admit it.  But I knew exactly what box they were in!

Pros And Cons

Storefront versus baking.  Pros:  Tips, I get sent home if there are enough people, and it doesn't take a lot to replace me if I'm sick.  Cons:  I have to serve people.

I don't like it, but they won't know it.  I refuse to quit.  I won't do anything that'll get me written up, because it'll only take a few of those before I'm fired.  I really wish, though, that my bad manager would post the next week's schedule on Fridays instead of Saturdays.  I had to call in to find out when my next shift was, and my good manager told me Monday at 8am.  Fine, it's not a statutory holiday, so whatever.

I got up today at 6:30am, got ready for work, and was there 10 minutes early.  I happened to glance at the schedule as I walked into the back ... my Monday shift was blank.  My good manager made a mistake, but she's still denying it.  One of the supervisors actually wanted me to stay so she could go home.  It wasn't going to happen.  I got out of there so fast it must've looked like I was being chased.

Enough of work.  I hate it.

I'm currently knitting a shawl out of some sock yarn I got on sale a few months ago.  I'll have to take some pictures of it.

I've Been Bitten

I bought some Noro Yuzen a week ago from a yarn shop in Georgetown (awesome place and I wish I lived closer).  Well, I couldn't seem to hold onto it and it turned into this:

And that's how I spent the three days following that purchase.

Paranoid

I showed up to work at my usual time, punched in and started writing down the count (amount of product on the shelves at the time).  I finished that, and started writing down what I'd need to bake first.

Then my bad manager told me that I was going to be trained on storefront.  I'm no longer a baker.

Well, I was pissed!  I asked him why, after almost a year, this is being addressed now?  Why not tell me these things when I first started baking?

I lasted a half hour, then asked to go home.  I wasn't feeling well at all.

I won't quit because that's what they want.  They don't want me there because I follow store policy.  Whatever.  If they really want me gone, they can fire me with no reason, but I'll take it to the labour board.

Oops

Well, they were using that product.  I asked the bad manager if I should, and he started going on about how it had to be above temperature for four hours.  Then he called the other "local coffee shop" (our sister store) and had the two managers there come over to explain it to me.

Really, all I wanted was a yes or a no to me using the product in the freezer.

So these two managers come over and start going on about stuff other than the actual events that took place Monday.  (Insider story:  I'm claustrophobic and don't shut the freezer door behind me when I'm in there.)

Ultimately, I was told that I shouldn't be a baker if I can't go in there with the door shut (the light's not bright enough, either, and that was pointed out by baker #2).  I've been there almost a year and they're telling me this now?!

I don't know what'll happen tomorrow morning.  My good manager doesn't even know what's going on.  I suspect that, since I decided to follow policy, they're trying to find a way to get rid of me.

Will I be a baker tomorrow at 11am?  Who knows.  But they'd better tell me.  I don't want to show up in my uniform and be told to go home.

The Day Of Reckoning

Yesterday (Monday) was weird.  I arrived to a freezer that wasn't freezing, so I told my manager (the good one).  She immediately called our local freezer fixer, who said they could bring a new compressor.

That was at 11am.  By 4:30pm, the freezer fixer guy finally fixed the compressor (he had been there since 11:30am).  But because the freezer continued to act up, we lost all the product in there.  It was in the danger zone for more than two hours.  I'm interested in knowing if they've obeyed procedure or if they've still used that product.

Really, I'm not quite sure what I'll do if they have decided to keep this ruined food.

They're Actually Doing It

My "local coffee shop" is getting a new freezer.  How unbelievable is that?!  Of course, it won't arrive for three or four weeks, so, as I told my bad manager, we'll still be poisoning people for another month yet.

Oh, the bad manager.  Someone's come down real hard on him.  He's actually making an effort, getting stricter, telling the supervisors that they have to issue 10 write-ups every month.  They started cracking down immediately.  I saw two people written up within minutes of each other.  One of my co-workers came back to the kitchen and said (just to me) that if she ever gets written up, she'll walk out.

Made sense to me.  She doesn't have to work for a living yet.

Half an hour later, she gets written up.

Ten minutes after that, my supervisor goes outside for her break and my co-worker comes out of the washroom with her own clothing on and gives me a hug.  Then she left her uniform on the front counter and walked out.

I have to give her kudos for sticking to her guns.  Not that I would have said anything if she hadn't.

I wonder if I'll get written up soon.

Happy Belated Birthday

I realized some time during the night that this blog is just over one year old.  Cool.

Here are some pretty, slightly random pictures:

Hooray for Wednesday!

Trying Out My Bargaining Skills

Update:  We have the new apartment, and we move by August 31.  This is all settled, we've signed the lease, we've given our notice, we've started packing.

Now I have to figure out my work situation at my "local coffee shop".  It'll still be downtown after I move to the mountain, which means I won't be able to walk to work.  I'll have to take the bus, which will cost more.  Conclusion:  If they want me to stay at that particular "local coffee shop", they will have to pay me more to cover the extra cost.  If not, I'll get a transfer to another one.

I should probably do this through a letter, because words get twisted into a bizarre game of Telephone at my work.  It would probably be received as "Oh, Heather's asking to be paid more money to leave us for another job".  Completely, utterly twisted.

Like the day I killed the cockroach and wasn't feeling well and therefore left early with the permission of my supervisor.  I arrived the next day and the morning baker said she was surprised that I was there.  The night supervisor told her that I wouldn't be coming to work because I'd had a huge fight with my afternoon supervisor.

Right.  Because that's exactly how it (didn't) happen.  And the whole end-of-June mystery that was floating around?  Our manager just changed shifts three days a week, leaving the bad manager working in the mornings.  It really is more disturbing than it sounds.  I have no respect for the bad manager.

I haven't been knitting.  It's been too hot and my hands get too sweaty and then my project starts felting.  Not ideal.

Treating Myself

Noro.  'Nuff said.

My Kind Of Weather

It's 33 Celsius right now with a humidex of 44.  Bring it on!  Course, when I go to the mall tonight I'll have to bring a sweater.

About Face

That apartment we got?  We're canceling the whole deal.  (We haven't signed anything yet, so we can.)

Ultimately, our current landlord won't accept 30 days notice, despite the fact that we're beyond our one-year lease and are now month-to-month.  So now we're pissed at the whole company (which happens to own more than half of Hamilton in apartment buildings).  Since the apartment we were going to move into in August is owned by them, too, we've backed out.

Fortunately, we've already found a new option.  I like it a lot better.  This one has carpeting in the main hallways.  And it's on the mountain!  Believe me, I'm getting right sick of downtown.  Just tonight there was some punk playing solo street hockey in the middle of my intersection.  Anytime someone wanted to get by, they were sworn at.  It'll be funny tomorrow morning, I'm sure.

Maybe I Did It On Purpose

I started packing a couple days before we knew we had the apartment.  I'm impatient like that.  So's my dad.

I looked up "packing" on Google and apparently one can get super-anal about it.  I've chosen to put labels on my boxes based on which room they go in.  For example, kitchen = K, living room = L, my room = H, and so on.  Then each box is labeled further with a number (H1, K4) depending on how many boxes there will be.  And in a notebook I can write what is in H1 (bernat cottontots, Anne of Green Gables books) and not have to write the entire contents on the box itself.

Which brings me to my next idea.  I packed all of my yarn that isn't on any needles.  This will force me to knit my WIPs and not start anything new.  Of course, since I wrote down which yarn is where, I can find it if I need it.

Back to work.  Yesterday was Wednesday, and one of the managers from the other store was working with us because our one good manager is on vacation and the other bad manager is "sick".  This replacement manager decided, since my name was on the health inspection sheet (someone had to sign the darn thing) that I had been the one to call in the complaint.  I had to explain to him that no one else would sign it and there was no manager or supervisor around.  He still thinks I phoned it in.  I won't admit to him that I did, unless they get solid evidence.

Let's Go

So we get the apartment.  I kept calling today until they finalized everything.  Then we had to tell our current landlady.  It's the 29th.  We were really cutting things close.

Oh, and the health inspector finally showed up at my "local coffee shop" today.  No manager or supervisor was in, but while he was there, my other manager drove through.  He was told about our visitor, but didn't do anything.  I expect some sort of reprimand soon.

Moving On Up ...

... Onto the mountain and away from this downtown mess.  Not that I mind our building, but the surrounding neighbourhood is awful.  We've got parties with loud music, countless barking dogs, a residential care facility with schizophrenic people yelling and screaming at various points in the day and night, and an almost constant police presence.

I don't mind the police presence so much, but rather the reasons for it.  It's very noisy and kind of dangerous.  So we're moving.  We'll know tomorrow whether we get the apartment we applied for on Friday.  At this point it's still at 99.999999% ours, and I need 100% to start packing.

Bartender

I'm like the bartender of the "local coffee shop".  I work in the kitchen all day and people drift back from the front to gossip, talk, waste time, anything (because no one seems to want to serve the customers).  Because there are people talking back there all the time, I hear things.  And because sometimes it's just me and who ever is on break, I hear personal things.  They like to tell me things because I won't talk.  So I hear a lot.

I know who's fighting with whom, who's pregnant, who's leaving the store, who's upset with management, everything.

About a month and a half ago, I heard something somewhat reliable from a co-worker.  I take everything with a grain of salt, so I never put too much into it.  She told me that she'd somehow gotten a letter from our head office in her mail, addressed to the store.  She said she opened it, and it basically foretold the end of the store (that is, that it was to be taken away from our owner at the end of June).  She told me that she burned it because she got scared that she'd get in trouble for opening it (even though it came to her house.  That part I don't quite believe).

I gave it some thought and decided to wait and see.  Well, yesterday my manager (the one who's been trying really hard to get our store up to code and running properly; the good one) mentioned something about how everything was going to change in a week and a half.  (We've been really frustrated with crap that's been going on between our "local coffee shop" and our sister store.)

I asked her what was happening in a week and a half.  She said to me (and the morning baker, who was also there) that things were going to change and that she was worried about the day shift.  She also said not to say anything.  I know I won't; I hope my morning baker doesn't.  I don't count this blog, though, because "Heather" isn't my first name, and I never mention the name of my "local coffee shop".  And because no one really reads this anyway!

So now I'm staying here because I need to see how this ends.  It's like a story I've been reading, and if I leave now it's like I've ripped out the last two chapters and thrown them into the wind.

Really?

So ... no health inspector has stopped by yet.  I'm assuming I would find out, seeing as I threatened to phone the health board publicly.  But, so far, nothing.  Boo.  There goes my trust in the government.  Oh, wait, that's been gone for a while.

My "local coffee shop" has finally gotten its first complaint regarding food poisoning.  This should be interesting.

I finished a sweater that I've been working at off and on since last August.  I started working on it again because it was kind of chilly last week.  Figures.  Now it's freaking hot again.  (Not that I mind.  I tend to get colder than everyone else, so this hot, humid, sticky weather is welcome.  I don't like the sticky part though.)

I'm still working on the other sweater I started, the bulky plum-coloured one.  Sorry, no pictures in this post.

I May Be In Trouble

Wednesday, at my "local coffee shop", I killed a cockroach.

That was the last straw.  Add to that the mice droppings I found, the mice running around, the dead ones, and the freezer that doesn't freeze properly (and there's potentially hazardous food in there!).  I mentioned the health board and my manager either overheard or was told by someone.  He told me not to because it wouldn't be good for the store.

I called the health board on Thursday.  They are sending an inspector.

I know they can't fire me legally for this, but they've terminated without cause before.  We shall see, since the inspector ought to be there today.

Canadian Summer

It's almost here!  Which means I'm knitting a sweater.  Despite the occasional week of humidity, half the time our summers are (for me) rather chilly.  Of course, since I live next to Lake Ontario, that's normal.  So I'm knitting another sweater.  But I had a problem.

I couldn't decide which pattern to use!  I liked bits and pieces from each one, but not an entire one.  I want to use bulky yarn to make a shapeless, warm, comfy sweater ... so I'm making it up as I go along.  So far, I think it'll work.

Dad's job is great.  He likes it and seems happy with it.  We're thinking of moving up the mountain because downtown is a little weird.  And I won't stay at my store when we do.  I'll find something close to wherever we will live.

I finished that hat my friend wanted.  I will never do a hat with yarn smaller than worsted weight ever again!

Will They Mind?

One thing that always irks me at my workplace is that there never seems to be anyone to replace me.  For example, tomorrow I am calling in sick (back pain) and will be doing so more than four hours before my shift (which means waking up at 6am to call them and have them hem and haw about me recuperating).  I know who I will suggest, but it shouldn't be this difficult to find someone to cover me in my time of need.

My back?  I must have done something to it in the freezer on Monday ... it twinged weirdly and has been crying to me ever since.  I can't really lift anything without it waking up, so I figure one day ought to do it.  My BF has been administering back massages, which helps, but the next day I just ruin whatever progress I've made.

I agreed to knit that hat my friend wants.  I'm almost done (ran out of yarn - I'm using Patons Grace) and I'm almost done my mom's tank top.  I started a pair of socks to use up some of my stash and I think this particular yarn colour can only be worn on one's feet.  Hidden away.

See?  So far, they're not playing nicely.

Selfish Knitter

I'm trying to be one, anyway.  When someone asks me how long it takes me to knit something, I get the feeling that they want it in a couple of hours.  I usually say four or five days, just to mess them up.

With my luck, my friend will still want me to knit it.  I may do it, for money.

I need to find a new job.  Mine may not be around much longer and, quite frankly, I'm sick of the stupid stuff.  It's just this particular store, which is unfortunate.

I've been working almost exclusively on my mom's tank top.  Surprising, I know, since I usually have about ten projects on the go at one time.  It's getting too big to carry around now, so I've started a pair of cuff-down socks for when I'm out.  I know, another surprise.  Especially since I swore I'd never do another pair of socks again.

I'd like to look at apostrophes now.  Yes, they are used for contractions, but they're also used for possessives.  In a way, they're almost like contractions themselves.

"The cat's food" is really a shorter way of saying "the food belonging to the cat".

I'm having this inner argument here instead of having one with my friend.  Am I wrong?

Finally

Dad has a job.  Now it's my turn to look (not that I haven't been looking for over a year).  But at least I can relax a little and buy more yarn.

I've finished a few WIPs and UFOs recently:

Fair Isle Tam

Fingerless Music Mitts:

A little bunny for my cousin:

Here are the sweater and the tank top:

I'm now working on another tank top for my mom (it's her Mother's Day gift - she picked it).

Also, just for fun:

My hair keeps beating up my brushes.

I Miss My Cable TV

I don't really, but someone else does. Dad also has two interviews today. He's been getting more than I have ... I haven't had one since early February.

Meh. I finished my first triangular shawl!


I'm rather pleased with the results.

Please!

I want a new job. On Monday I was ready to back-door it the whole day. The morning baker pisses me off, the job itself pisses me off, and the uncleanliness/lack of space/bad management pisses me off.

I'm good now. I'll be able to work there for another couple of months before I need to rant again.

I was commissioned to knit four little bunnies for a lady I used to work with. It took forever because I'm a selfish knitter. I finally finished them three days before my two-week deadline. She loved them and that's what really counts. But from now on, I'm only knitting things I want to knit.

Like a shawl, and a summer tank top for me.

I still haven't taken a picture of that green sweater I finished almost a month ago. Maybe I'll do that tonight.

Nothing Exciting Happens Anymore

Except maybe a trip downtown Toronto with my friend from band! We had our yarn crawl. We hit six LYS and I favourited three of them. The ultimate, though, had to be Romni Wools. Holy mackerel. Yarn packed to the rafters. I'm still recovering and it's been a week!

I've had a few FOs in the last couple of weeks, too. There's that lacy blue scarf:




A reversible cable scarf (Palindrome):


A Yoshi dishcloth:


A Calorimetry headband:

And also that green sweater I couldn't finish back in March. I finally got more yarn for it. I should really take a picture of it.

Ho-hum

Nothing new. No new jobs. But I still have mine, so that's a bonus, right? Right. Another bonus: free lunch everyday. Yum.

I had a weird dream last night. I don't recall having them last year, but I may have and just don't remember. I was dreaming about someone special being abandoned at a restaurant for two days. Why anyone would ever abandon her is beyond me, cos she's the best. Was the best. I'm recording this in case I have another. They'll probably stop near the end of April.

I started a lace scarf. I know, I know. I have too many WIPs already. But it's lace. And it's blue. I'll post pictures next time.

I'm Back

Ravelry has taken over my computer time. Sorry about that. Dad's still jobless, but that may change sometime soon. I certainly hope so ... I have plans to move out someday!

I'm starting to settle with the "local coffee shop", even though some days it seems like I'll get fired for absolutely nothing. I don't want this to be my final career choice. I'm a secretary.

Quick update knitting-wise:

Corona is finished

My mittens are done

I started a scarf (and some socks, and a sweater)

Here's the sweater I started (last Thursday! I ran out of yarn ...)

My alpaca capelet is hibernating cos I got bored of it

I'm still not buying yarn, but there are plans in the future for a day of yarn-hopping (? I think that was the term my friend used) so I'm saving up.