A family anecdote

Many years ago, my father worked for a British transnational company. He was based in Mexico City, but he got an extremely good offer to relocate to an African country. He accepted it, and patiently explained to us that we were moving to a far away land where lions and elephants came from. And yet, after gathering more information, he ended up declining the offer for a number of reasons, among them his fears on how we would fare in a ratially segregated society. Of course, by then I had already informed all my friends that I was going to live among lions and elephants. In addition to being very disappointed, I felt like a big liar.

Well, I feel a little bit like that once more. I told everyone I had gotten the position, but it turns out that they have to open it again to ensure fair competition.

Here we go again...

Good news... I think

I got the position! Yay! Wait a minute, I only have a verbal offer. That, and a few hours spent trying to learn as much as I could from the person who's leaving. I cannot work yet, I must change my visa first, and for that I need something in writing. Nothing fancy. A simple letter saying something like "We are offering Pioggia such and such position with this salary".There are a few technicalities that must be added, but overall, it doesn't seem that difficult, especially since I have given them a sample from a friend of mine and tons of information. And yet, even though the decision was made on Monday (and they already knew by then that all I needed was that letter), I have nothing to go by.

Meanwhile, my life seems to be on standby. The semester started three weeks ago and I keep going on without knowing whether or not I will miss a few classes, or maybe even drop altogether. Emotionally, I feel like on a roller coaster. On one hand, it feels great that they want to hire me. On the other, I fear that as long as I don't have anything in writing they could still get someone else. I've been moody and I cannot even knit much. I've worked a few rows on the back of the pink thing and a few more rows of the chocolate socks.

           
You'd think I should be trying to relax and knit, but it's not working. I hope I'll make some progress over the weekend.

Feeling Better

It turns out that I *might* still get the position. Nobody seems to know and I was unwilling to blog about this until I knew for sure what the outcome was going to be, but I'm tired of waiting. Also, other things have been going on. For example, my pooch was bitten by a spider, got an infection and was wearing that stupid Elizabethan collar once more.

I also finished spinning the purple yarn I intended to use for socks. The results are not very satisfactory. First of all, I have a few slubs.



Slubs aren't that bad. They are soft and if they end up on the sole of the sock you can still step on them if they're not too thick. The problem is what I call "snarls" (they might have a better name). They are the result of overtwisting the singles a bit too much and not having enough tension when plying. I have a few of those and they stiffen the yarn. I wouldn't want to step on those.



The rest of the yarn is not that bad and I might still use it for socks, cutting the bad parts out and then weaving in the ends, but I'm not sure I want to do that. I did keep practicing and made another skein, this time with much better results.



Sadly, that's not enough for a pair of socks, and I don't have any rovings left from that dye lot. Oh well.

The pink thing has grown a bit in the back, though the front is in standby. The chocolate socks have also grown past the heel turn, no holes this time. I had to do wraps while knitting the heel flap and chomping up the gusset stitches. I like the results a lot.