real deal

I’d written this long, somewhat self-loathing complainoblog about how now that I’m unemployed I’ve done nothing but sit on the couch and watch 30 Rock and eat all of the Christmas treats in the house all at once, but a) that’s not even true, and b) fuck it.  I’m really good at chilling, I mean I really excel at it, and it’s kind of surprised me how restless and bummed I’ve been about not having a job.  I’ve gotten dressed and applied for jobs every day (though not quite as uniformly or dedicatedly as I’d envisioned) and I’ve knit a couple of small things, with plans for some more ambitious things to happen soon.

I was actually fairly successful in selling a lot of my stockpile of knits before Christmas, so I’m working on replenishing my supply, but opening an Etsy store is still the plan.  I’ve come to the realization that it’s unlikely I could make a career out of only selling things online, so any advice about how else I could make a career of knitting would be great.  I really don’t want to feel like I’m ripping people off, so I tend to underprice everything, but I have such an aversion to cheap materials or shoddy craftsmanship that I might need to consider upping my prices for the more fancy customers out there.  If people can pay $75 for a gross acrylic machine-made hat from Anthropologie, they can pay $40 for a fine wool specimen hand-made by me.

I’m realizing that my vision for a successful venture (basically a warehouse full of one-of-a-kind creations that I can just pack and ship) probably isn’t feasible, so it’s time to consider other strategies.  Maybe take a class on pattern writing or wool spinning?  Visit a sheep?  Challenge myself and grow as an artist instead of getting stuck funky in an uncreative slump?  These are all things I can do and, better, I have the time to do them.

so

I’ve been wanting to write a lot – like pages and pages and pages – but I also feel like I have nothing to say.  That’s a problem.  So the new goal is to try to find something new to obsess about (not TV, but maybe books) and then just obsess the hell out of it.  Learn something new.  Go to the library and go to the reference section or something.  Liven things up around here!  We’re about to hit the doldrums!

I saw something that I think I could knit by sight, and so I’m going to try.  Stretch those muscles.  Also, I’m setting a deadline to at least establish an etsy storefront by Thanksgiving.  I’ve been sitting on this ass too long about it.  And if my family is going to front like they’d pay money for my knits, then I’m going to take them up on it.  That’s not to say that I wouldn’t happily continue to simply give away all my knits for eternity, but that is somewhat unsustainable.  I’m also on the lookout for decent places to bring some hand-knits to donate.  The Catholic church will take them, I think.  Winter is rough.  I could also take some to the Occupy Chapel Hill people, or just take them straight to the homeless shelter.  Two separate people that I love have suggested it in the last week, so consider it done.

One thing I miss about school is how easy it is to volunteer for things.  It’s harder to do that when you’re not a member of any groups and you don’t go to church or work with people who do that stuff.  Self-initiated service is intimidating.  But I have time and nurturing to offer, so I really need to step it up on the service front.  It’s not cool to just keep myself all to myself.  O is in an honor society at school now and I think some opportunity will arise from that.  In the past I’ve also done some stuff with the WM alumni around here, but not even close to any significant amount.  So that’s something I’ve been thinking of a lot.

Basically I got so depressed about work for a couple of months that all I could bring myself to do during my off time was sit.  And then when I wasn’t doing anything productive or rewarding outside of work I felt even worse.  Knitting a sweater and having visitors has really helped.  I like it when the house is clean.

So when I said that I didn’t have anything to say, I didn’t mean that I didn’t have a lot of words in me that want to come out, but it’s the substance that I’m working on.  I can stop being a drain on society and start adding to the awesomeness in the world.  I can become an expert in something or make people smile or keep them warm.  Before I start having kids I want to make sure I’m the kind of person who deserves to clone myself.

Sweater alert!

Oh, there are a lot of updates, but I’m racing my computer to dying (I’m winning), so I’ll keep it to the most important thing:  I’m knitting a new sweater.  I haven’t knit a sweater since last year’s and that was such a huge undertaking.  This one is a little more manageable, but still really beautiful.  I’ve kind of been tracking my progress on tumblr.  And having a project at home, that is positive and fun and productive, that will make me proud and happy, is very valuable.  So yes, I will admit it.

My name is Alison and I am a hobbyist.  I like to tinker.  I like to stay up too late doing math about how long my arms are.  They’re proportionally too long for my body, but luckily still a normal length for human arms.  I also like to read ahead on instructions, over and over even after I’ve memorized them.  I like to follow rules but then break them for positive purposes, and then only when I know what I’m doing enough to ensure success (and this is still almost exclusively applicable to my knitting; I love rules in general and am easily governed).

Also it’s allergy season and I have a stack of hats about 10 deep I need to make a plan for.

Tumbl

I made a tumblr a little while ago, because apparently that’s something people do and lord knows I have too much to say for this blog alone. (That’s clearly a joke. I know I’ve been negligent.)

Anyway, it’s apheckel.tumblr.com, and there’s a header image of a skeptical eagle, so it’s worth checking out for that alone. It’s also where I’ll be collecting photos and memories of this house as we get ready to pack up and move. Sentimentality.

So we’re moving August 1!  That’s not the only thing that’s been happening, but it is a big thing.  We’ve been in one spot – in one room, effectively – for the 5 5/6 years we’ve lived here.  And while we don’t have much in the way of stuff that you’d normally think would fill a whole apartment (like a couch, or pots and pans), we have still managed to accumulate a lot of things.  Not least among it is dust.

But, like I said, moving is not the only thing happening.  What would normally be the summer doldrums at work has taken on a whole new level of activity (read: anxiety), so that keeps things interesting.  I’m working on something for a not-so-secret secret graffiti public art work.  Osiris is only a couple weeks from ending summer school, and only several weeks from starting the fall semester, just totally obliterating every class.  The last Harry Potter movie comes out tomorrow night and that is a legitimate obligation.  You see?  So much!

And in addition to all of that, I have to make time to keep dancing to this song.  I don’t know how I’m ever going to handle it all.

Who even knows

Whew.  You know what’s annoying?  Apartment hunting.  And having to be an adult with all the ambition and progress that comes along with it.  Overall, it’s been a struggle to fully invest and just give in to being an adult about things and not just assume that life is going to sort itself out without any sort of effort.  Laziness is a hard habit to break.

Meanwhile, I’m watching the South Carolina episode of No Reservations.  Exotic!  He’s also confused about where pineapples as a sign of hospitality came from.  That was all we could talk about in Williamsburg last weekend.   So many pineapples!  What do pineapples have to do with Williamsburg other than, maybe, the diversity of the empire?  ”Welcome to a British colony!  Yeah, we got pineapples.  Eat it.”

Skip the Hippie built a boat inside of a house

Skip the Hippie used to live in this house.

It’s on a property on the west side of Lantz Mountain in Virginia that is owned by some people who live in California.  Skip built a sailboat inside of the house.

Skip was a social misfit, a hermit, who didn’t get out much.  His boat definitely didn’t get out much.  It’s in remarkable shape.  I don’t really know how long ago  he built the boat.  The boat looks brand new, but his house is dilapidated.  It could’ve been left there for 5 years or 20.  I haven’t gotten the whole story, but I intend to next time I’m in Blue Grass.

What I do know of the story is that after Skip the Hippie finished his boat, he took off along the Appalachian Trail on a scooter (possibly a moped).  His scooter was unlicensed and he got pulled over in Tennessee for one thing or another.  Not wanting to get dragged downtown and not one for understanding proper social behavior, he reached for a gun.  The police shot him and he died.  So now Skip the Hippie is somewhere else entirely while his boat sits in his house, awaiting the flood.

swift

I’m going on Saturday to help my parents move some furniture into their new home-away in Blue Grass, VA.  It’s supposed to be cold and rainy, but I’m not opposed to trudging in the sludge if necessary.  I’ve been working on a blanket for them on and off since January and I’m 5/6 of the way done with it.  When I bought the yarn, they only wound 5 of the 6 skeins I got, just in case I wanted to return one, despite my telling them that it was a blanket and the more yarn, the better (for those of you who care, it is Cascade Eco Duo 1704).   But it worked out for the best, because when I saw my parents at the beach a few weeks ago, they gifted me with this wonderful new swift:

So I was able to use it to wind the last skein of yarn that I’m using for their blanket.  It feels good to complete the cycle.  I was hoping to bust ass and get it done before going up there, but it needs to be blocked and I’m not even done knitting yet, so I might try to finish it while I’m there this weekend and leave it to block so it’s ready for the next time they go.   It’s big enough now that I can sit under it while I knit and that is one of the best feelings.  Oh, comfort.

Aaah-aaahh!

Ugh.  Being an adult is hard!  Why didn’t anyone ever tell me?  I just wish I could listen to this song and have o)->’s yelps get Lulu’s attention in an adorable way all day long instead of working and trying to figure out the future.

And just for good measure, even though we’ve gone over this before, here is something else to indulge my sudden and occasional need for Prince.  Also the beginning of this is hilarious.

I need to learn to exert my impulses on the internet, where they belong.

shoulda never gave me technology

I got an iPhone so now I can just write whatever the hell my gut tells me to. You’re in for some garbage.