Hurry!

Sadly, I will not be working at Yarnia much longer.  For almost a year I've been there on the weekends winding yarn, chatting with customers, and being inspired by the endless possibilities that a shop like Yarnia presents.  On the up-side, the reason I'm leaving is because I managed to score a full-time legal clerk job for the summer.  Considering that I'm putting myself in an entirely foolish amount of debt to attend this law school thing, it seems like a good idea to start setting myself up for the possibility of a legal career.  I'll be in the shop this weekend, then a weekend off while the new person is shown around, then one last weekend as sort of a buffer while the new person transitions to running the show.  That means three weeks until I say my final goodbye.  It also means three weeks until my employee discount runs out.  Not good.  I have a project on the go that I'm fairly certain I'm going to run out of yarn on.  That project is my Gamine Tank.





The pattern is by Cathy Carron and can be found in the Summer 2010 Interweave Knits (miracle that I'm knitting a pattern from a magazine that's less than a year old... usually patterns have to stew in my queue for quite a while before I make them.  I tell myself that this is to ensure that they are not just fashion fads and are actually something I will still want to wear after the current season.  This is a lie.  I'm just a slow knitter.)

Note to self: learn more words!  "Gamine," as it turns out, basically means "girl with a boyish body."  That is so not me.  Not at all.  I have the boob/hip thing in abundance and would call myself a slightly bottom-heavy hourglass.  This might end disastrously.  As of the picture, the top reached my thinnest part and I have since continued to knit down.  I'm hoping to avoid drawing attention to my belly by continuing in plain rib rather than the lace pattern called for in the instructions.  I'll add the lace the the last inch or two rather than across the whole belly.  I'm hoping this will allow the flattering vertical nature of the ribbing to continue to shine.


I'm not a fan of the whole "take a picture in the mirror" thing but it was well past midnight when I decided my progress needed documentation and I figured neither Ryan nor my brother Adam would like to be pestered into coming over to my place for a photo shoot.  I would drive across town a midnight for a knitting photo shoot, but I know not everyone would. 

I only have about one ounce of yarn left.  I'm certain this is not enough.  I'm hoping to finish off what I have before I have to stop working that way I can buy just enough to finish.  We shall see.  I have a terrible time predicting how much yarn is left on a Yarnia cone.  Some times I feel certain that I'm going to run out, that the cone will start to peek through the yarn at any minute, and yet I keep knitting and knitting, and finish my project with yarn to spare.  Other times I think I have tons and start wondering what I'll do with all the leftover only to see the cone and get that sudden sinking "ran out of yarn feeling."  I'm hoping I will just need 2-3 ounces more to get through the last couple of inches.  Who knows.

Law school finals are bearing down on me.  My "study" approach so far has been to pretend nothing is wrong and go about my daily routine.  Sadly, this means the next four weeks will be "hell weeks" where I kick my own ass and study till my brain leaks onto the floor to make up for all the nothing's-wrong-at-all time I was having earlier in the month when everyone was starting their outlines.  This has been my system since the 8th grade.  It works for me.  I always hate myself the last 4 weeks for letting things get so far behind, push myself to the brink of insanity, tell myself I will be more pro-active in coming semesters, then (once the new semester arrives) I tell myself "well I did fine last semester studying at the last minute, everything will be fine this semester as well."  It's one of those cycles where early-in-the-semester-Melanie constantly screws-over end-of-semester-Melanie, and this me never gets to take out any revenge on that me, and so she never learns her lesson.  Coincidentally, if you have an outline of Corporate Taxation Law lying around your living room... call me.