So very tired

Wow, who knew that going to the Museum of Natural History could make for such an exhausting day? It was fun to go with Isobel, a couple of her friends, and their moms (who are my friends, too), and I finally got to visit the Hall of Minerals and Hall of Gems (not quite Hope Diamond, but sparkly and minerally and cool, nonetheless).

Lunch at Shake Shack UWS only made things better, as did the sun coming out. Errands and whatnot in the afternoon until it was time to go to the dance studio, at which point I realized that I was getting really tired and had spent the entire day on my feet in my beloved-but-heavy LL Bean Shearling boots (I have the gumshoes but may have to give these moccasins a try). Have I mentioned these before? They are brilliant and warm and this is the second winter I have worn them just about every day. No slipping, they come high enough up on the foot to keep slushy puddles out, fantastic. Just wish they weren't lace-ups, but I do know how to tie my shoes.

But very little knitting happened today, except while waiting at Isobel's tap and ballet classes (she has to choose one after this semester - we're not doing both after this). It's a re-knit of my nephew's baby blanket as a test for a pattern. I really like the pattern because it is so symmetrical, and if you read your knitting just a little, the stitches basically tell you what to do, and I'm pretty sure that's not just because I'm knitting this a second time.

Hope this goes quickly, as I'm itching to knit a sweater. Hehe.

Dilemma (Wednesday's post)

So, there is a job posting on the boards right now for an Assistant Editor at Vogue Knitting:

Company:	SoHo Publishing Company
Position:	ASSISTANT EDITOR
Location:	New York, New York
Job Status:	Full-time
Salary:	$30,000 to $35,000
Ad Expires:	April 22, 2011
Job ID:	1241551

Description:

Publisher of knitting magazines seeks a creative, responsible full-time, in-house assistant editor to perform myriad editorial duties. Candidate must possess superior editing, reporting, writing and knitting skills. Responsibilities include conceiving story ideas and design concepts and working on photo shoots. Genuine interest in the knitting industry essential. One to three years of experience at a magazine or book publisher required. IF YOU ARE NOT AN EXPERIENCED KNITTER OR CROCHETER, PLEASE DO NOT APPLY.

Well, it's not really a dilemma, since the pay is far below what makes economic sense for our family, and VK's offices are pretty far away from Morningside Heights. I wonder if it would even make sense for a younger person living near the office.

It's pretty funny that they require knitting/crochet experience and yet, as Julie points out every issue, they can't even bother to swatch up the yarns they profile - perhaps it's a stylistic choice in the magazine, but it doesn't convey much information about a yarn to show a picture of a ball/skein when a little time would give a swatch that shows how it looks when knit up, which is what we knitters, ultimately, are interested in. Also, I think they are expecting an awful lot of experience for fairly low compensation. I would love the experience of working at a magazine, especially one focussed on knitting, but I guess I'll have to wait until I start my own ;)

Technical

I was putting the finishing touches on a pattern (you might have seen the prototype in the pictures from the Highline - it's going to be called Night Watch Cap) tonight before sending it off to my tech editor when I realized there were a couple of bits of text that would be better as links (URLs and a mailto). I know those can be added in Acrobat but I had a feeling I could do them in InDesign. So, I found the options to do it, and it worked! Had to tweak things a little to get them looking nice (the programming on that bit seems a little clunky - you can't edit the hyperlink or its appearance once you've created it), but I was pleased with this little thing that everyone who uses InDesign probably knew about three years ago. Pleased to have figured it out, and pleased to have gotten it to do what I want. Kind of like how I feel about knitting.

Back in the day I was more of a bleeding edge girl when it came to technology. I went to conferences and had programmer friends (including the guy who put the monster easter egg in QuarkXPress - hi, Ed!) and worked for O'Reilly & Associates, for goodness' sake. But these days I prefer to stay away from bleeding edges. Guess it's the mom thing.

Rainy day + Red Cross donation

Nick's back to work, but the girls are still home, which is a tough time for a cold, rainy day. We made it through pretty well, even ended up cleaning a bunch of things out of their room (along with some dust bunnies that are trying to throttle me - ah, allergies). I haven't knit yet today but keep looking at the swatch of tosh Pashmina I worked up yesterday. Not sure if the needle size is right (may need to go down to a US3) and not sure if my idea is going to work up the way I imagined. Just not sure. So, I should go work on a couple of patterns.

I also donated some money to the Red Cross. In the interest of making a larger donation, I will donate 50% of all pattern sales until the end of April to the Red Cross. If you've been thinking about getting a pattern (or helping out with the terrible events in Japan), now is the time. I will add this information to all my pattern pages on Ravelry, too. Thanks in advance!

FO: Sidecar Mittens (Sunday's post)

Realized in bed last night that I'd forgotten to actually write the blog post for which Nick had snapped these pics. Lazily, I did not get up and write the post, so you, poor things, had to wait until this morning.

Anyway, these are Sidecar Mittens, a great little $3 pattern written by Thea, worked on Malabrigo Silky Merino.

Boston fan, incognito

I didn't do the undercuff, since my attempt at gauge wasn't the best, and the mittens are a little bigger than they should be (completely user error on my part). But I like them a little loose, since they are spring mittens. I might make another pair, going down a needle size, for next winter or make a complete inner mitten with the Malabrigo Sock in Persia that was supposed to go under the lacy cuff to line the whole thing and make them twice as warm.

A fun and quick knit, I made them in just a few days. [Ravelry details]

Pinterest

And I wondered what I was going to blog about today (the birthday party Isobel attended at Chelsea Piers was interesting but not particularly blog-worthy - I am a terrible bowler, though I do have fun), and then my friend Emily invited me to join Pinterest. Just what I need: roll Flickr, Etsy, Facebook, and your favorite food/home/style/knit blogs into one, and Ravelry for those of us who spend days scrolling through patterns. And I thought I had trouble tearing myself away from my computer before!

I think it's a great tool. Now, I just have to figure out how to pin all those beautiful things I've been saving to my hard drive. Guess I need a rainy day once the kids are back in school.

March Madness

I don't think it gets much better than this. What a gorgeous day! We went to the Highline this morning with the kids and then checked out Chelsea Market (I was overwhelmed by the options and ended up eating nothing there - crazy!), which I had also never been to. Top it off with some park time in the afternoon and dinner at Mel's Burger Bar with friends. Seriously close to perfect.

And, frighteningly, not a stitch knit. What is going on? I think I'm kind of stuck on my next design project, since I have some seriously gorgeous yarn waiting (tosh pashmina in Bloomsbury, which is such a me color I'm struggling to create the perfect project for it, as well as tosh vintage and lace, both in the makes-you-crazy-it's-so-gorgeous Fragrant colorway) but have a pattern that needs to be re-knit since I gifted the first version. But it's hard to knuckle down to re-do something on such a beautiful spring break day.

Anyway, here are some snaps from this morning's adventure, including the new hat (pattern coming soon):

On the Highline

Cheese!

Lounging on the tracks with my new 'do

Night Watch Cap