My New Gig

I realized after I wrote the last post that I'd neglected to mention why I decided to quit my old job. As is often the case, I left because an incredible new job opportunity presented itself. This one involved working from home. Yup, this former art student - turned - dilettante rockstar - turned corporate rat has decided to be a full-time mommy. And you know what? It's awesome. I feel like I've found my true calling.

As with any job, there are aspects of this one that are more tedious than others, chief among them mopping floors, scrubbing toilets, and going through weeks of old mail. Strangely enough, I actually consider doing laundry, shopping for groceries, cleaning the house, and washing dishes to be fairly enjoyable. I'll say it again: I've found my true calling. Anyway, in the process of cleaning the house, I organized our main floor into a liveable space. Instead of mass chaos induced by a fungus-like growth of baby accoutrements, our living area is now divided into separate areas for Grownups and Baby. We did have to sacrifice our formal dining room to make a playroom for Benjamin, but let's face it - as new parents we weren't going to be doing any formal dining in the next decade anyway.

Another great perk of the new gig is that I have more free time to meet up with friends. Above are a few snaps taken from various outings with friends both big and small - a trip to my old office to see Yvonne, Kyong, and Nancy, a playdate with Lucy and Liam of Benjamin's Gymboree class, a morning playing beach volleyball with Uncle Mikey (notice Dad looking triumphant in the background), and a brunch date with my old college bud Camilla.

Of course, we've had more time to see family, too. We spent several days hanging out with various members of the Chan family who were visiting LA. Below are pics from a dinner at Vince's parents' place - Benjamin with second cousin Jet; cousin Tyler; Benjamin, Jet, cousin Ryan, and Jet's sister Hana; and Benjamin with his Grand-Aunt Viola. Benjamin was especially taken by Aunt Viola who is so good with kids I think she should have her own baby whispering TV show.

We did also get a chance to see much of my own family when we flew to Atlanta for my brother's wedding, but I'll tell you all about that in a separate post. Stay tuned!

The End of an Era

A week ago Tuesday I worked my last day at my old company. Why has it taken me so long to finally mention this in my blog? Well, I spent the last week trying to come up with a post clever, heartfelt, and meaningful enough to do my time there justice, and I've been drawing a blank. Perhaps it's because I know that even though I won't be showing up to work with them anymore, many of the people I've met there will continue to be a part of my life. We'll continue to call each other with our good news and bad, to send each other pictures of our little ones as they grow, to meet for knitting sessions, and to get together to celebrate the big and little milestones in our lives. After all, that's what family does, right?

Thank you all for a great couple of years. I'm really going to miss you.

The Friday Knitting Group Turns TWO!

Can you believe it's been two years already? Wow!

To celebrate, we had another potluck-style lunch and stash swap. My eyes were bigger than my stomach, and I ate way too much. It seems like my stash was bigger than my free time, too, because one of the skeins I brought to swap was one that I'd gotten from Lisa the year before. As I set it out on the swapping table, she quietly said, "Isn't that my old yarn?" I felt like I'd be caught regifting! Well, Gillian took it home this year, and who knows... Maybe that nubby green yarn will make yet another appearance at the three-year anniversary party!

Back to the Grind

After a four-month-long hiatus, I traded in my sweatpants for slacks and went back to work. Did you know that it's possible for a pre-verbal baby to pull a guilt trip on you? As I was leaving, I went to give Benjamin a good-bye kiss. Before I could even get close, a look of such disappointment, disapproval, and despondency crossed his chubby face that I simply turned tail and ran into the elevator to hide from him.

Despite the soul-crushing shunning I received from my son, it was really nice to see my coworkers and friends, especially since they welcomed me back with a hearty breakfast. I started to ravage the spread like a feral pig when I suddenly realized, "I don't have to inhale my food since there's no baby to rush back to!" And an hour later, I realized that yet another benefit of being at work was the freedom to use the loo whenever I wanted to. Wow! No need to ignore my bodily functions until I was on the verge of kidney failure! I started to have hope that being away from Benjamin wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

That changed at about 9:30 am while I was chatting with coworkers in the file room. Talk turned to the baby, and I excitedly began describing every infinitely fascinating detail of his existence - his adorable cooing, his chubby fists, his delicious baby smell, his-- Suddenly, my chest started to swell like two water balloons at a Fourth of July pool party. I frantically tried to divert my thoughts to other topics - office gossip, Barack Obama, whatever - but the harder I tried to not think about Benjamin, the more I did. I felt like a prepubescent boy trapped in line behind the hottest girl in the seventh grade with no binder to hide his growing-- You get the picture. I ran out of the file room clutching my chest, and made a beeline for my pump. This scenario would play itself out about three more times every day for the rest of the week.

One thing that I really did miss about my working life (aside from my awesome job, fabulous company, and incredible, wonderful, gorgeous boss, of course!!) was the Friday Knitting Group. On Friday, as Lisa and I got our needles out, she told me how her cat had ruined a considerable portion of her stash by peeing all over a container full of yarn. I started to laugh when I realized that there was any number of ways the same thing could happen to me. A disgruntled pug with an eye for revenge. A naked baby mid-diaper change. Or even a sudden attack of Benjamin nostalgia while I'm winding my yarn. Guess I won't be knitting any baby things while I'm away at work!

Baby Blanket Bingo (& Un Vrai Homme Fait de Tricoter Part Deux)

Team Baby Blanket! Top row, L to R: Lisa, Melinda, Johyne, Pinella, Yvonne, Jenny, Cynthia, and Nancy. Bottom row, L to R: Andrea, Jocelyn, me, Bernadette, Sara, and Heidi.
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As soon our dear friend and coworker Bernadette announced her pregnancy, Yvonne and Lisa birthed (get it? get it?) an idea to create a baby blanket knit by the members of the Friday Knitting Group. The plan called for each of us to knit a square (or two) of a standard size, weight, and gauge. In the end, the squares were pieced together, a quilted cotton backing and satin bows were added, and the gift was presented to Bernadette at her company baby shower. A lovely lady like Bernadette deserves an equally lovely baby blanket for her little girl, and I think the finished product turned out just... well, lovely!


A schmajillion kudos go out to Yvonne and Lisa, master architects of the plan!

In the midst of all the gushing and cooing over our baby blanket, one man excused himself from the frey to begin a project of his own. Below, witness the company's Chief Operating Officer John quietly knitting in the corner. Perhaps seeing our beautiful blanket inspired him to get in touch with his creative and - dare I say - feminine side. Everyone there was duly impressed that our COO knew how to knit, but ever the skeptical one, I said to him, "So you know how to knit, but do you know how to purl??" His reply? "Don't push it."

Perhaps I'll revisit the topic with him after the next round of bonuses.

NOTE: John has now joined the illustrious ranks of other men who have fearlessly knit in public (or at least in front of colleagues). Un vrai homme fait de tricoter!

Introducing the Friday Knitting Group

The idea for an office knitting group came about when my co-worker Jenny happened upon me happily knitting in the company lunchroom. She took one look at my size 5 circulars and the bunny rabbit hat emerging from them, and she freaked out. "I KNIT, TOO!! WE SHOULD GET TOGETHER AND KNIT!" The Friday Knitting Group got together for the first time that week. On Friday.

We had a rather paltry turnout at last week's get-together, but I managed to capture a couple of exciting moments nonetheless. Here we have Pauline and Jocelyn working on their projects.



Below we have a shot of Jenny and I proudly displaying our yarn stash. Let me tell you something about Jenny... she is the Grandmaster Flash of knitting. She's one of those knitters to whom you can bring your fingering weight scarf on size 00 needles with dropped stitches running down ten rows (ten PATTERN rows) for first aid, because in mere moments, Jenny will have returned the item to its proper state. Anyway, as you can tell from the picture, Jenny is a little shy. And so am I.

Hopefully, I'll be able to introduce even more of the Friday Knitting Group next week, so stay tuned!

In other news, I've made an eensy, weensy bit of progress on the Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole. Here it is after about an hour of work (note the nosy Pug lurking the background):

Here's a close-up of the piece. Are the little squares great or what? I love this Noro Silk Garden colorway (#47). It keeps me (of the short attention span) riveted as I furiously knit and knit just to see what the next row will look like. Oooo, it's black! No, wait - now it's brown! Pure knitting joy!