To that end, I signed up for a jewelry design class at the Westchester Arts Workshop, which is affiliated with Westchester Community College. It is a for-credit class, so it will add to my paltry and widespread transcript. Jewelry design is something I’ve always been interested in, more consistently that any other field in my life. I began at age eight in summer camp, making crude (at first) copper jewelry with Red, the scary (to everyone but me) and ancient Silver Shop teacher. She resembled quite closely the shrunken apple head dolls she made with other kids. With her permission (and that of my parents), I quickly progressed on to working in sterling silver, setting stones (in particular a large picture jasper for Nanny, my father’s jewelry-loving mother), forging a linked bracelet (which I summarily lost playing soccer), each link by hand, never fusing two links together but soldering each one individually. I was Red’s pet, and I worked in the shop a huge lot of the time I was there. Each summer I returned, for six years, to work under the wing of the ever-more wizened, sharp-minded old woman. I continued on in high school, taking Advanced Jewelry Design with Diana, the eccentric art teacher. It escapes me what I produced in high school. Damned Wellbutrin.

To celebrate my fortieth, my father and stepmother provided G and I with a weekend of decadence. A weekend at the Waldorf=Astoria (don’t ask me why they put in an equals sign instead of a hyphen), including the horrifically expensive room service (see photo to see what a $100 breakfast looks like. There are four tea bags there). An amazing dinner with them Friday night at Daniel. “Passing Strange” at the Belasco Theater Saturday night. “Walking-around money” to do with what I would. I had some plans for us in the in-between time; Bodies…The Exhibition down at the South Street Seaport with maybe an excursion to Seaport Yarn, more yarn shopping, perhaps at Purl (we didn’t get there, only Stitches East). My allergies were totally kicking my ass and G’s were as well, so we moseyed down to Battery Park after the Seaport to relax on the green. I conked out for an hour and a half while G read. An exhausting, but fun weekend.

Edited to add: This is what G gave me for my fortieth; the most amazing stop sign ever. 5/8 carat total weight in brilliant, baguette, and radiant-cut diamonds in 14k white gold. No one else is wearing one of these!

My name on Ravelry is “glitterbug” (natch!), and I’m a member of 39 groups, one of which is Knitters For Obama, which, at 7:14 pm on Earth Day 2008 has a total of 1234 members. The Knitting With Hillary group, by stark comparison, has only 183 members. Our group has organized a “call to service” effort; we’re knitting baby bonnets and bibs to be donated to NICUs in upcoming primary states in honor of The Gentleman From Illinois. For whatever reason, I cannot for the life of me get the NICU T-Bonnet to print, so I’m making simple bibs. I found the perfect buttons today at Flying Fingers in Tarrytown, NY (my favorite LYS). Posing with the newly sprouted hosta, here are the four I’ve finished, ready to be Priority Mailed out to North Carolina tomorrow. As to the yarnover eyelets on the red one top right; yeah, I thought about that halfway through. Eyelets? On a bib? Not too savvy. But cute. What do you think?

I am selling “mall diamonds” (NOT pictured at right), however, and there aren’t many I would consider buying for myself or a loved one. For myself, I’m eyeing two rings; one is a little 14k white gold wedding band with alternating bezel-set baguettes and rounds (I showed it to G and he said that he would get it for my birthday. Squee!), and the other is a braided 14k white gold diamond and natural pink sapphire band. No lab-created stones for me, please. I understand the attraction; they’re vibrant, big, and clear, but to me they shout “Look at me! Fakery here! Not real!” DO NOT WANT. They’re also very inexpensive, and a good portion of them are set in 10k gold. Ew. I’m a snob; I like my diamonds clear and colorless, unless of course, it’s a canary or chocolate diamond. I like my colored stones to be natural and untreated by heat (although unheated stones are harder and harder to find). I like my gold to be white and at the very least 14k, but preferring platinum. Yes, I know it’s twice as expensive, and yes, I know it scratches more easily, but it is much more sturdy, and that’s what I need. You just have to keep it up. My “Freedom Ring” (see above photo) is platinum; I wouldn’t have designed it any other way. I clean it and steam it every day that I work, keep it looking beautiful. I take off my rings when I put conditioner in my hair, or lotion on my body. It’s astonishing to me how many people assume you don’t have to clean your jewelry, that diamonds will just always sparkle. Um, soap scum, people, body oils? You hopefully wash everything else, why not your jewelry? We have an ultrasonic cleaner and a steamer right out on the floor, so that clients don’t get antsy about letting go of their rings. The store I worked at in Virginia had the apparatus in the back room, and people were often hesitant about letting their pieces out of sight. I understand the mentality, but when you’re a kindergarten teacher and have your hands in paste on a regular basis, you have to take care of things, or let someone else do it for you. Things that should NEVER go in an ultrasonic cleaner: tanzanite, emeralds, opals, pearls. Pearls are a special case, they should be the last thing you put on, and the first thing you take off. They should only ever be cleaned with a damp cloth, never soap, Windex, or ammonia. Take them off when you sleep, shower, exercise, before applying perfume. Have them inspected and restrung periodically. You can use jewelry cleaner and a soft toothbrush on tanzanite, emeralds, and opals, but they can disintegrate in an ultrasonic cleaner.

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On this day: Started Gary’s scarf 2007

Wednesday I called W. to follow up on the job interview, the one where we had talked salary and they told me that they “don’t see any reason not to hire you.” They just had to do the background check, and then they’d get right back to me. Wednesday made it six days. There’s nothing in my past that would ever come back to haunt me on a background check, but even still, that long a wait had me worried. Did they talk to people who didn’t like me? Was there anything in my “permanent record” that I didn’t realize was there? The time when I was four and took an extra cracker in preschool, was that in there? Holy shit, I was getting more and more wound up. When I finally called, I was really on edge. Not to worry, I was told, there was just “one more piece of checking they had to do” and that would be it (they are a jewelry store, they have to be thorough), and they’d call me the next day, but they were “definitely going to bring me on board.” I squee’d very loudly, scared the cats, and ran into G’s office for a hug.

The next day, the manager called, and we made an appointment for 3:30 for me to come in and sign paperwork. Then came the job of finding clothes to wear. The three months I’ve been out of work I’ve been sitting on my ever-spreading ass, and it showed. The outfit I picked wasn’t ideal, but I’d have my coat on. “Where’s the flood?” G asked of my nearly capri-length pants. “They’re supposed to look like that!” Problem is, they never used to look like that when I was thinner. Oy. I stuck with the pants anyway, and went.

An hour after I arrived, all the paperwork was finished and signed, and I’d read the dress code and code of conduct. The dress code was going to (again) be a sticky wicket. It is more professional than what I had to wear at C., and I am heavier anyway. I drove to the nearest Dress Barn Woman for some help. They’re having a suit sale, and while I was initially against the idea of a suit (too restricting), the saleswoman quickly showed me how versatile it could be. I picked out a stylish black pantsuit, several tops, a black skirt with pink embroidery, some black and some brown socks, and three jackets. They gave me a 20% off coupon for one item, the suit was on sale for $40 off, the socks were 4 for $10, and they cajoled me into signing up for a Dress Barn charge. “Even if you don’t get approved, you get an additional 10% off.” I capitulated. There’s a check coming in the mail this week and I’ll pay off the charge right away. I saved $117.84 all told, and I’ll be able to mix and match with what I already have that still fits.

I joined the Knitters for Obama group on Ravelry, since I’ve finally made my decision on whom to support. I’ve had a “Barack Obama – President 2008″ bumper sticker on my little Jetta since W got reëlected back in ’04 (it covers up the “Defend America – Defeat Bush” sticker that no longer applied), and I’ve been explaining his attraction for a long time. I think what confuddled me was that I felt slightly traitorous in wanting to support him versus Hillary, she’s a woman, it would go against my gender, I have a slight crush on her husband, you know, important reasons. Watching the L.A. debate, I finally made up my mind. Their policy differences are so slight (except that he’s been against the war from the very beginning), and he’s so fucking inspiring, is what did it. Maybe he’ll ask her to be his Vice President? They’re both championing my main cause, health care. You couldn’t find a better pair to run this country.

There’s a Ravelry Knitters for Obama group donation thingie where we’re raffling off some pretty neat prizes. One is a wicked cool group afghan that Jenean started a KAL for, it should be awesome! If you’re not yet on Ravelry (my god, man, get to it!) email me and I’ll send you a list of the prizes. Meanwhile, you can click on the link above to donate to the cause, tickets are $5 each (but the minimum donation is $10). I’ve made a set of eight stitch markers to donate, I think I’ll make more. Hopefully someone will want to win them!

I was afraid of falling into the sock yarn while I was up at Cornwall and fall I did, if only a little ways. Here is Sakura from Bluestocking Yarns, inspired by Memoirs of a Geisha: “I thought of the petals I’d thrown into the Kamo River shallows…imagining they might find their way to the Chairman. It seemed to me that, somehow, perhaps they had.” I find myself actually not just stash-enhancing now, but buying for specific projects. Does this mean I’m becoming a more responsible knitter? Is that such a bad thing?

After watching the Repugnican debate (most of which I slept through), I decided to cast on for G’s hat. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I had forgotten how to cast on any other way than the simple loop method! I quickly checked out YouTube and found some fuzzy, stuttery videos looking like they’d been shot using Skype. No help there. I went upstairs to tell G that I was having troubles and could he help. “But I don’t know anything about knitting!” he protested. “Yeah, but you’re really smart.” No dice. I ended up hunting up the Lucy Neatby DVDs I’d bought after her sock class last summer. Was I thoughtful enough to buy the Knitting Essentials DVD with basics on it? Yes I was! Minutes later I had two versions to play with, plus the bonus tip of doubling my tail to eight times’ length to create a super-strong and stretchy edge. Just perfect for a hat. The pattern calls for 144 co sts, but I may increase that to 168 (24″ circumference x 7 sts per inch). I could listen to Lucy all day. I’m going to go put the DVD in the player downstairs and watch her on the big screen.

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On this day: pms 2006

I ran into Earthtones Girl today and we caught up some. I’ve missed her so much! I added her to my blogroll so you can see what she’s been up to as well. I’m busy reading back through her archives. We added each other on Ravelry and have tentative plans for playdates and dinner. I foresee time spent spinning by the fire…Hi ETG!

I’m calling W. tomorrow to follow up on the interview, I’ll rehash here when I get more information. Fingers crossed…

Pretty technical, right? Then there’s the scroll ring that sits around the trackball. Instead of a scroll wheel that lies on the front of the mouse, it’s a whole ring that you can use to scroll up and down windows. So cool! The prices have come down from what they used to be (price after rebate on Amazon: $71.24), but even still, it seemed like a lot. After reading the reviews (some of which disparaged the scroll ring), I decided that I’d get it and if I really hated it, I could just return it. I paid the $3.99 for one-day shipping (ah, Amazon Prime!) and got it pronto. I set it up with the enclosed wrist rest (the incline is a little steep) and once I “broke in” the trackball (about an hour), I wondered why I hesitated. All in all, it’s a great mouse, a super alternative to the traditional mouse, but you’ll most likely have to find one online; both my local Best Buy and Office Max only carry them online, not in the stores (I visited both in person, hoping to save the shipping fee).

Tigger kept me company while I wrapped presents, a welcome diversion from thinking about getting fired.