7 Reasons why you should buy yarn at Sears

My late aunt (often know as MATB) apparently wasn't a really great knitter. Okay, it could have been age, eyesight and pride, but when she died I ended up with some of her unfinished stuff and it was oddly gratifying to see that someone who had always held herself as way better than anyone else at everything was not so much.

Most of the UFOs and such have long since exited my life but while I was rolling through the Autumnal archaeological clear out, I found the one auntie UFO that intrigued me.

At some point or another she was working on a cardigan using Sears Afghan and Sweater Yarn in the colour Rose (50) and the dye lot 4199.

She had the back, one side and part of both sleeves done or in progress. On the front, she had dutifully marked her button/button hole placement. No idea what the pattern was and I've no real desire to own or knit a rose coloured wool garment so the yarn is probably going into some donation rotation but not before the gotta blog moment.

I have six full 2 oz hanks of this lovely 2 ply 100% Virgin All American Wool. The suggested laundering for this stuff is hand wash with Sears Cold water wash and I'm guessing that while the moth proofed yarn may have survived the test of time any vintage Cold water wash would be little more than water at this point.

Meanwhile the 7 reasons why you should buy yarn at Sears are:

• Each yarn goes through 18 different inspections to give uniformity of weight, color, strength and quality.
• Sears yarn is pull-skeined for instant knitting
• Each dyelot is numbered to give the most perfect color match.
• Sears Interchangeable Yarn Chart helps eliminate guesswork in pattern and yarn selection.
• Sears will teach you how to knit. Ask about our schools for Beginners or Advanced knitters.
• Sears knitting teachers are available for consultation after class or in the department.
• "Satisfaction Guaranteed Or Your Money Back."

August absentia

No, no, really there were drafts in the queue (even some that had been in the queue for quite some time) but at the very near end of the month, it only seemed right to note that blog entries were pretty much absent in August.

Okay, and in all honesty, July wasn't much better. September is shaky at best.

So what was I up to? Job hunting, working with a career development group (mixed bag reviews there), knitting, designing, frogging, a little tech editing, and more. Some of the more involved "transition assistance" classes/sessions at least got me the H out of the house and dressed like an adult.

There were far too many slugfest/hermit days that could/should have instead been training, slimming and other good things.

Best case scenario would be that all that radio silence would mean that I've emerged out the other side with a temp or perm full time gig or a part time gig that makes the degree thing work out.

Best case scenario so no happening but it all isn't for lack of trying. I'm now coming up on the 6 month story with no happy ending or "landing" in sight -- so for the record, in case you haven't figured this one out, I need a job.

The go back to school full time solution has met with its own set of mostly economic issues that I am still trying to gut/get through. Even going back part time has some concerns.

Some of those concerns are the same semantics that I ran into when I was first laid of. If, having started a degree programme before becoming unemployed and pursuing it while working full time, does continuing that programme in a new semester constitute "beginning" training/school that might disqualify one for UI? From here it looks like the interp is far from clear/consistent.

The point is moot at the moment since I need to finish the work to clear my incompletes -- anyone want to mentor me in writing APA style term papers in exchange for knitting instruction and/or some other and I can't really afford to continue school until I find a job or take on a crazy big amount of debt I'm not keen on.

These are tough times. Unlike some of my friends and colleagues, I've been through and caught in tough times before. I graduated into a recession and with limited resources/support managed to get through and at least take a detour or two and while I'm certainly not at the place I expected to be so very long ago, I am still here, still sucking air and don't plan to stop doing that any time soon.

But you know, sucking air with a job sucks a lot less -- I'm just saying.