Ammendment to the Addi Click "review" (which really wasn't a review)

See this post for the original "review".
See this post for the real review!

This content has moved to my new blog HERE.

Dear Addi Turbo (a review of sorts),

Thank you for producing a very smooth needle. I love how you have come out with a new interchangeable set. I especially love that I don't need a tool to connect/disconnect my cable to the needle. When I opened my new box I was so in love, all those lovely Turbo's shining back at me.

I immediately wanted to try them out. I picked the second tips from the left and connected them to the 24" cable. So easy, so smooth. So what if you have a little bit of a lip where the cable joins the needle. It shouldn't make a big difference. I love you anyway.

I pick out a yarn. Thinking to myself, this is a five, I should use something DK. I pick out a yarn. I go to cast on...I look down at my new shiny needles...and see..."4,0 mm/US6"...

WHAAAA? How could you do this to me Addi? I've waited so long for you to arrive! And now you show up - missing a size 5? You led me on with your claim of 10 needle tips from size 4-15. Now I know you were just luring me with your slyness. I was too overcome by the prospect of new shinny to realize that 10 from 4-15 means one has to be left out! That sneaky 10.75 is the culprit, (why not 10.5 anyway)? But really, why not leave him out? or start at 5 and leave out the 4?

Why Addi?

--Heather

ETA: Update found here.
ETA2: Real review found here.

Back from the abyss

I know I haven't been around for a long, long, Long, LONG time...That will be in another post.

Tonight I just want to share something quick (or should I say "Click") that came today in the mail:





Yay for the new Addi Click Interchangeable set!

How many years...

...have I been knitting? SIX! Can you believe it? I was again asked recently how long I have been knitting. The first time I realized it was six years I was stunned, couldn't say anything except "6 years!" I think the shocker really is, I have hardly any FO's to speak of during those six years :(

I have been spinning for only a bit over 1 year, and I feel like I have accomplished so much more.

Seems like I am much more capable of finishing a spinning project than a knitted one. It's really quite embarrassing how many WIPs I have going on.

So what does this all mean? I will be focusing on finishing projects for a while. I really love the feeling of casting off...I think its more the sewing up that gets me put off. In any case, I plan to really try to finish a good bit of projects before starting any new ones...wish me luck!

Eye Candy

Knittin' Pretty on the Daily Chum!

Thank you so much to the ladies over at the Daily Chum! I have been featured as the Etsy Shop of the Day! See the posting here: ESotD

Happy Birthday Knittin' Pretty!

Yup you heard it! Knittin' Pretty is 1 year old today! Amazing how fast a year goes by...so much has happened in the last year! When I first started selling at Etsy, I wasn't sure how it would go. How long I could do it...how many times a year could I update...would I still like spinning if it was more like a job...So many questions and concerns...but through it all, here I am! One year later, still going at it!

Here's some quick stats on the shop:

number of sales: 57
feedback: 100% positive
number of hearts: 137

I have introduced two new products over the year: stitch markers and hand dyed fiber. This last is something I only added today! I have a trial run of just 3 braids of dyed roving up.

In honor of this momentous occasion...I am having a 1 year anniversary sale! FREE SHIPPING on all orders until Labor Day. This includes international orders!

Thank you all for making this last year awesome! The steady sales and encouraging feedback have kept me at it, and still loving it!

My Inner Farmgirl

So, I have been largely absent from blogging for a while. But maybe you have noticed on the side bar...a new widget for Plurk. I have been spending way way too much time over there.

One of the things that has come up is Miss Violet created a Farmgirl club called the plurkette hencircle. Lately I have been trying to get in better touch with my inner farmgirl, and so decided to join!

Our first assignment is to post an introduction about ourselves, so here is mine:

I am 26 years old, married and working days as a computer programmer. Not very exciting, but of course when I come home I am a knitter/spinner/crocheter/tatter...

I love fiber in all forms. My husband thinks I am nuts as our house has turned into a huge storage facility for all my yarns, wools, and threads.

Hubby and I have been married now for almost 3 years! Both being computer people, we have not been very in touch with things like gardening or nature in general. Living in an apartment does hinder our ability to grow the things we like etc. But only really serves as an excuse for now. We are trying to build a house, and when that happens, no more excuses!

I have recently started tatting, and really do enjoy making lace in this way. It is fast and somewhat reminiscent of friendship bracelet making, what with the knotting and all.

Also in the farmgirl spirit, today was the first day I made home made butter! Ohhh boy was it nice :) The first batch went to my parents. We tried it out on cinnamon raisin bread. YUM!

I can't wait to do more creative farmgirl things!

I injured my...

...Thumbs!

Yeah I know...weird eh? What a stupid thing to call the doctor about.

Nurse: What are we seeing you for?
Me: Um...well, I hurt my...thumbs...
Nurse: Oh? Erm, ok...

Yeah, not funny! I actually know how I did it and everything. After I wash the yarn, I roll it up in some towels, then do this snapping thing. I put my thumbs in the loop and give it a good snap, about three times each skein...

So anyway, I did the last batch on Saturday morning. I didn't notice any discomfort while doing it...just after wards, I realized that my thumbs were really weak. I couldn't grasp things, I couldn't write, I couldn't knit or spin! I let it go until Monday...it still isn't better...so I called the doctor.

He was really nice about it...he even understood what had happened. Apparently because it didn't hurt as I was doing it, he thinks I just pulled the muscles. Which is good! Muscles heal quickly...tendons do not. So he says its good I didn't injure the tendons. If it would have hurt as I was doing it, he said that would probably be the tendons not the muscle. Tendon injury could mean surgery!

So now I am to wait 5 days, and if they aren't better I need to come back and see about imaging to verify it wasn't my tendons after all.

Blah! Spinning and knitting are still a no go, but writing and typing have gotten easier. So I assume that they are healing. Sigh, I miss knitting! I have to be more careful now, my hands are my main tools for all the hobbies I love...I don't want any permanent injuries.

I will not get sick...

Everyone in the office is sick, has been sick, or is getting sick. Some have a chest cold, some have the flu...I so far haven't gotten anything. I do however feel run down and generally crummy.
I refuse to get sick! I have held out this long - just a little longer. I am calling it our company scourge.

It's pretty depressing at work with all these sickos. Everyone's energy level is down, and people are occasionally going home early or staying home...but not enough! If you are sick, stay away! Why come to work and infect everyone else? Then everyone's productivity drops, not just yours.

Why do companies continue to make sick time a punishment? At my company our sick and vacation are lumped together as PTO. So people hate to stay home, they would rather stick it out and be able to take a longer vacation. An understandable stance, however, it causes others to become ill as well.

I would love to be at a company that really understands that having sick people around only hurts everyone else. Encourage employees to stay home and work or stay home and rest! Working from home with my profession of programming is a viable, if not preferable option. Most people here would prefer to work from home if given the choice. Especially if it means working from bed as you sip on chicken noodle soup to get better from illness.

The big problem is that there will always be people who abuse a policy like this. Taking off to go golfing, shopping, etc. But couldn't those types of things be monitored? If someone is taking off excessively, can't that be tracked?

Blah, I don't feel well, I want to go home :(

Clothing Malfunction

Well, the other day at work I had quite an interesting experience. Ok, it's not that interesting...
I was talking to people that meet in the middle of our little room. They were having some type of meeting. Mostly I was working on my computer, but occasionally they would ask me something, and cause me to turn around in my chair.

One of these times I turn around to answer a question. My back itches weird. Not unusual, I scratched. Only to realize that my bra had unclasped. So I am sitting there trying to refasten it. Very unsuccessful. What the hell? I dressed myself in the morning, I know it hooks. I try another set of hooks, no go.

By now everyone is staring at me...

So anyway, I had to rush to the bathroom, take my shirt off and turn my bra around. Apparently one of the hooks had become bent and wouldn't hook anymore. So I bent it back and refastened. Came back to my desk to much applause for my clothing malfunction.

See, not very interesting. But I thought I would share this embarrassing story.

Taxes

Last night Hubby and I went to go get our taxes completed for the year 2007. My what an ordeal! We had started our return over the weekend using our usual online filing method. However when we saw the $3000+ that we owed...we squirmed a bit. So I remembered this guy that used to come into the bank when I worked there. He was known for doing taxes and being very good. So...I called him up and made an appointment. I figured even if he could save us the $200 it cost to get them done by him, I would rather give the money to him than to the government.

So we went last night. He and his wife keep this little accounting business in his home. Very nice people. They were great! Saved us about $1000 with using my business stuff from Knittin' Pretty. It was a huge relief! I definitely think we will continue to do the taxes this way. He even helped us identify why our owe amount was so big, and what we could do to fix that. He also gave me pointers on how to keep better records for the next year. Wonderful service!

Whew, so another year completed. What did you do on April Fools day?

Some new yarns...

Seven more in the shop tonight, including these two:

Random Thought

Weight loss. I have been making efforts to lose some weight. I had gained over 40 pounds since my college days - I know, horrendous. But I have lost about 13 of those pounds so far! Woot! The only bad thing -- loose skin -- EWWWW!

I was putting cream on my winter dry hands the other day and noticed how wrinkly they look. All I could think at the time was: "Wow I my hands look like I am 80 years old!". But then later I realized that its not because they are dry...it's because the skin on my hands is so loose. Still, EWW.

My wedding bands are turning all over the place, maybe I will have to go get them resized again soon. I had gotten them enlarged before, when I was having my weight problems...but now, I am thinking I should get them smaller again.

Until then, I will continue to put lotion on my hands so that they retain some elasticity...maybe they will spring back into life.

Work Woes

So just when things were starting to look up at work...They sent me a warning about remoting into my home pc. How, doing so is cause for termination. Oh well. It isn't like I haven't been the most productive employee in the last two months. Its not like I didn't save my bosses ass with my recent work.

So now when I am stuck on something I will just blankly stare at my screen and fall asleep...much better for productivity right?

When I am stuck, or just not feeling a problem...I think its best to step away...even for 30 seconds and just turn the mind to something else. This allows the brain to make connections it wouldn't have normally made. Constantly attacking a certain concept can really retard the brain from drawing the right connections...easing off that problem can really help you come to a conclusion faster. While this is my opinion...I am sure others have experienced this as well.

What should I do for my down moments? Knit? Not likely, I am sure this will not be received well. Get up and take a 5 minute break instead of a one minute jaunt to check my email? Probably not, I would be reprimanded for being away from my desk too much. What then? I have no idea...

I think companies are increasingly spying on their employees. The list of blocked sites is growing by the minute. And is productivity going up? Perhaps for those people that really abuse the internet...but for me? I don't think so. In fact, I was really upset about this, and so I choose to make a 30 minute effort to write this blog post! Not very productive!

Maybe blogger will be blocked one of these days...who knows. They already blocked gmail...why not blogs? No worries that alot of good programming information is contained in blogs...block them! Programmers don't need to search for information - we have it all in our brains right? Bah!

So yeah, not feeling it at work today. I want to go home. I want to spin, knit or anything else that would make me happy. I am feeling so dispassionate about work. What do you do when you feel like this? Any ideas are welcomed.

Tatting

What have I been up to?!?

Programming Part 2

The thing about a programming job is that the job is never completed or good enough. There is always something else that could be better, improved, redone, or whatever. What bothers me about the place I am at now is that they understand this but take it to the extreme. They force products out that are far far from perfection. They put it in front of the users and expect them to eat it.

We are all familiar with this sort of thing. We have all used programs that have bugs and glitches. But this feels too extreme. Putting out a product we know is nothing like we promised.

I know it has been a while since I posted. I had this posted started for months! I just wanted to see how things turned out...

I have been saying from the beginning that a different approach was the way to go. I stood my ground...I pushed...and it payed off! Finally my boss agreed to let me try things my way. And lo and behold...it was awesome! I mean AWESOME! He loved it of course, and had me start on converting the old way into the new way.

So things aren't so bad now. I still think we tend to release things too soon. But at least I am happier with the approach to development. Sigh...