I learned new things. I took a punch-needle embroidery class with Nicholette at StitchCraft. I was the only one who signed up for the class, so I essentially got a private lesson. Nicholette calls punch-needle embroidery coloring with thread, and essentially that's what it is. I was enthusiastic enough about the craft to buy a few small kits and will certainly do more of this in the future. It's a nice hot summer day activity. The trickiest part is not to lose the threader and also splitting the embroidery flows into 3 strands. That took up a lot of time and I do believe I've never made so many knots in my life. I have failed to take a picture of the heart I made, but will take one and post it later. I found out that a toe-up sock class is going to be taught and I signed up for it. That class starts on Saturday and I'm excited!
I felted my first bag. I didn't knit this bag - it was a bag I won in a lottery around Christmas time. Betsy knit it but didn't felt it. For some reason I was too nervous to felt this bag but just up and did it during my vacation. My washing machine is set to rinse everything on cool, so I had to stand around and reset the washer several times so the water would stay hot. I don't think it's too bad for a first attempt. I just have to figure out how to put all the handles and pockets on the bag.
My nephew Robert and now wife Oksan got married in Northern Cyprus. My sister has been sending pictures of the ceremony and pictures of Girne where Oksan's family lives. I so regret that I couldn't attend. Henna ceremonies, dancing, gorgeous sunsets, beautiful Mediterranean Sea. The only consolation that I didn't get to go is that it was 106 degrees. Now that I've expressed my regret in not attending and my joy in this marriage, I must say that one of my main interests in my sister going off to Turkey and Cyprus was that I had high hopes she would find mastic candy for me. She did not. In fact, she said no one had ever heard of it. Apparently it is only in Greece and they didn't go to 1 Grecian island and didn't go to the Greek side of Cyprus (which apparently you can do now). Based on the abundant pictures of the swimming pool at the hotel Ann, Bob, and friends stayed in, I think there was far more time spent swimming than looking for mastic candy. Not that I'm bitter or anything. (I'm kidding, really).
Lyn and I took a day to go to Cannon Beach and we went down the road a bit to Manzanita. I managed to find 2 yarn stores and bought a few things for the caffeine swap that is going on now, and went to a bookstore and found a few books, all nonfiction. We ate lunch and had grilled salmon burgers and walked on the beach in Manzanita. It was a nice day. I felt a little nostalgic for all the family camping vacations we took. Those days are gone and I miss them!
I joined a book group on America On Line 15 years ago. The book group split up, but a group of women came to Portland to have a face-to-face and we've been friends ever since. We've changed a bit - not every one stayed in touch, and we've added 1 or 2 new people to the group, but we've been friends for a long time and we got together last weekend. There were 8 of us this time and we ate a wonderful dinner together on Friday evening at a restaurant called Wild Abandon. We ate outside on a gorgeous patio and had a light dinner. I barely remember the food, although it was delicious. I mostly remember conversation, which was lively as most conversations are when you haven't seen people in a few years. I enjoyed a Saturday morning in Vancouver with Sue and Pam visiting Unraveled and StitchCraft, the 2 downtown yarn stores here, and I also enjoyed the afternoon in Powells with the larger group. It's a ritual to go to Powells when we all get together. I did acquire a few books - not all these are from Powells - some were free from a search through give-aways at Francoise's house, and some are from the beach trip. Nevertheless, here is my book loot:
I had to leave the group on Saturday as my family had other plans, but was able to go to Francoise's house on Sunday to meet up with Francoise and June (who had arrived early Sunday morning from New York). We had a leisurely afternoon visiting, looking at gorgeous pictures of June's trip to Provence, eating dessert left over from a Sunday brunch earlier in the day, and catching up. It was a great way to end a vacation.
The down side of the vacation was the 1-1/2 days of training I had to endure. At work we're transitioning from medical transcription to medical editing on a program called eScription. It's a voice recognition system and since voice recognition does not produce a perfect report, every report will need to be edited. That is what I was learning to do. The marketing (or propaganda) says that most transcriptionists eventually love this system. I found it slow and tedious and felt bombarded with information that I couldn't retain. Marketing says most transcriptionists eventually love this system and promise million dollar savings in HIS departments. This may be the best thing since sliced bread, and indeed in 6 months I may love what I'm doing; right now, though, I'm convinced there is a ring in hell for the people who invented this system and for the managers who thought we should take this on.
A knitting friend sent this to me at the right time. I think it's the best office humor I've seen in a long time. Check it out: This is Your New Cubicle Be sure to read the policy notes after the pictures end.
Oh - I'm back working evenings again. Have I mentioned that I hate my job right now? I do!
On a brighter note, I scored 3 skeins of Wollmeise on the latest Wollmeise site Friday update. I got on right when the skeins appeared and was out in no time, ready to pay, and... Paypal was down for a full hour and a half! It all ended well. I'm expecting the skeins any day.
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