But onto the fun stuff – the yarn! It’s more sock yarn than I could use in a year (I’m a slow knitter), so I’m offering it for sale. These are smaller than the 100g skeins that sock yarn usually comes in, but I just finished a pair of monkeys for my size 9 gunboat feet and they were only 68 grams, so these might actually be a good size. Prices include shipping anywhere in the U.S.

First up – Orbit GONE!

62 grams of Louet Gems fingering weight merino yarn hand dyed (by me) in blues, teal, and a splash of reddish orange for a little punch. At least 240 yards. 11 dollars, shipped; 9 dollars, local.

Peacock GONE!

82 grams of Louet Gems fingering weight merino yarn that I dyed in green, blues and purples. At least 315 yards. 14 dollars, shipped, 12 dollars local.

Tidepool GONE!

83 grams of Louet Gems fingering weight merino yarn that I dyed in blues and a brown with a smidgen of light purple. At least 320 yards. 14 dollars, shipped; 12 dollars local.

Prep schoolGONE!

98 grams of 3-Ply 75% Superwash Wool/25% Nylon that I dyed in shades of burgundy, navy, brown and green. This sock yarn has at least 375 yards. 13 dollars, shipped; 11 dollars local.

Berries and mint

82 grams of 3-Ply 75% Superwash Wool 25% Nylon dyed in purple, magenta and greens. This sock yarn has at least 310 yards. 11 dollars, shipped; 9 dollars local.

Chivalry

98 grams of 3-Ply 75% Superwash Wool 25% Nylon hand dyed (by me) in neutrals – browns, black, grey and natural. This sock yarn has at least 375 yards. 12 dollars, shipped. (I think this one has one knot in it.) 10 dollars local.

That’s it for now. If you’re interested, leave me a comment.

So…the first installment – let’s see. Well, shortly after my last post, I started a little summer program at a certain Ivy League institution in the Boston area. No, not real classes or a degree program of any kind, but a career exploration series for people thinking about architecture, landscape architecture and planning…landscape architecture in my case. Didn’t even know I was considering this stuff? – wow – you are out of touch. Give me a call sometime.

So, I spent about 6 weeks doing what I liked to call adult arts and crafts. Seriously – do you know the difference between cardboard and chipboard? Actually, it was an interesting, and rather intense experience. Basically, you had a seminar in the mornings, and afternoons spent in the studio working on whatever your current project was. And nights also spent in the studio working on whatever your current project was. Well – for some people. The ages ranged from 18 to mid-40s, and as you might imagine, the dedication was somewhat proportional to age. I think the folks who were working jobs they were not thrilled with, or out of work, like myself, were feeling the pressure to decide if this was our life’s calling, while the college-aged folks were more casual about it. It was supposed to mimic a real graduate level studio experience. Only in real-life grad school, you have even more classes and get even less sleep.

So, what did I learn? Well, I learned that to be a landscape architect, at least one coming out of this institution’s program, you need to have quite an ego. Not only for the critiques that you go through repeatedly for every project, but because you have to eventually ‘sell’ these ideas to a client, and you have to walk in there thinking your project is the most awesome thing ever thought up by any human being on this planet. I think this is why landscape architecture has a very high percentage of practitioners that are in solo practice. They simply can’t have someone else with power over their design. Of course – the client always has that power.

I think I am far too humble and practical for that mindset, though I’m not sure that that way of thinking is promoted and fostered everywhere. For people with a fine arts background, this whole notion of defending your idea to the death was nothing new. But I have a science background for heaven’s sake! So if I’m going to plunk down a big mound of earth in the middle of a field, it better be for a darn good reason. Not just because it is a statement on the industrialization of the natural form by evil corporate gnomes..or something. And i worry about things like ADA accessibility and whether a tree will actually tolerate the water conditions you’re asking it to live in. The philosophy of this program seemed to be that if you have a good design, then all other issues that come up can be accommodated. I just prefer to think about the constraints first…and to be more concrete and practical.

I don’t think it means that landscape architecture is out of the running for me, but maybe that this particular landscape architecture program is not for me. Unfortunately, this is the only program within an hour’s drive, and the next closest one is also design-oriented, and the next closest one after that doesn’t have a particularly good reputation. So – where does that leave me – I’m not exactly sure. I took the GRE last weekend – just to have all my bases covered, and I kicked some major GRE butt. I beat my target scores on both math and verbal by at least 50 points, so I was super happy with that. I needed a bit of success considering my track record lately. I won’t get my essay scores for another week or so, and I have a hunch those won’t be as fabulous, but the essay scores aren’t the main focus for most schools.

But applying to programs (which remember – actually attending said programs would require a move) also requires a portfolio, which is sadly – currently not in existent and which i would have trouble filling. More on my drawing efforts in the past few months in an upcoming post….plus knitting, sewing, law ruminations, and much much more! I think you’ve had enough info, and I’ve done enough babbling for now.

So, what do you say? acceptable choices include “Looking strong” and “Good job.” I’m not sure about “There’s beer at the finish” because there might not be. At my particular spot, some guys were grilling….which smelled tasty to me, but I thought it might make the runners feel a little ill. At 25 miles, can they stomach the smell of a greasy hamburger?

So….all this talk of marathon etiquette made me think about my current situation of unemployment and how some people just sort of avoid talking to you about it because they aren’t sure what to say. So, they don’t address it, but then you (okay, I) feel kinda like that huge gaping hole in my existence and my bank account are being forgotten. And the thing I want most (after a job or winning the lottery) is just a little sympathy and compassion.

So, what is the unemployment etiquette? Well – off the table are phrases like: “You’ll be fine” (have you been listening to me?) “At least you have unemployment” (I don’t….and neither do most of the people currently unemployed either ). “I wish I was unemployed. I need a vacation.” (no – you most certainly do not) or “Maybe you should update your resume” (Yeah – I thought of that – 8 months ago).

So…what do you say? Well, ask how we’re doing….and actually be open to the answer we’re going to give – which isn’t going to be all puppies and rainbows. Ask if there are areas or companies we’re targeting. Offer your contacts in those fields if you’ve got them. Offer to buy us a drink….a strong one. Tell us about cool free stuff going on. We need to get out of the house. And realize that you can’t really understand how we feel unless you’ve been there. And let’s hope you never have to be.

In other yarn news – well…it’s a secret….and that’s the news. I can’t post anything about my projects because they have not yet made their way to the recipients and therefore, I can’t spoil all the fun by posting here, or on Ravelry, or even on Flickr. So….umm, just imagine something blue and some other stuff in pink and some purple stuff. Isn’t it lovely?