having a great life in spite of everything

They’re really very similar. No, really, they are. I know many people are extremely attached to one but not the other, to the point of animosity, even (I’m looking at you, knit snobs). Essentially, I like to describe the difference this way – in knitting, you carry all your stitches “live” on the needle, but in crochet, you bind off each stitch as you go, so there is only one live stitch*. That means that crochet is a little thicker (making it warmer) and less flexible (because there’s more yarn in each stitch); it also means that crochet has the ability to move in directions that are much harder or even impossible in knit. So there’s pros and cons both ways, depending on what you want your yarn to do. I learned both about the same time in my early teens, but crochet was my first love. I mostly knit now, but I do crochet some still (amigurumi rocks).

The pink ribbon scarf pattern on KnitMonster is a knit pattern, and I made it to imitate the texture of grosgrain ribbon. By knitting every row (garter stitch), ridges are formed, and slipping the first stitch of every row creates a chain edge around the perimeter, which further compliments the look of grosgrain. You can achieve the same effect in crochet by working single crochet in the back loops only. And then the chain edge would be created by single crocheting around the outside. I’ve done a sample, now I need to finish so that I can get the pattern up.

Don’t worry, crocheters, I got your back!

*Yes I know, afghan crochet – it’s really the same, though, you just bind off a row at a time instead of one at a time.

We’ve all heard about how difficult and demoralizing job hunting is. And it is, the Job Search a hideous bitch goddess. There is the possibility of advantages to it, though. As much as I thought I’d kept my skills up to date, I’ve been confronted with the reality of all I had not done. And so, I’ve been working for the past six weeks examining my shortcomings and developing those parts that I’ve neglected. I found a quote that sums it up quite well.

“Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul’s resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger. Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed.”

- William James

Of course, James was talking about a much grander scale of things than I am here, but I’m going to twist it to my situation anyway. Losing my job did feel like ultimate disaster, I loved that job. But I have managed to gain much in the past month and a half – I gots a lot more skillz goin’ on than I did before I was laid off. I’ve done many hours worth of extra training, I’ve learned new applications, and much more about the ones I already used. I’ve done research about marketing, communications, and social media, and I’ve got long lists of more that I intend to do. Someone would be lucky to hire me now, I’m about as highly motivated to keep learning and growing my skills and experience as I can possibly be; and I’m determined to do better, be better, and live better than ever before.

When you’re unemployed and job hunting, you have no choice but to self-examine, which is why the job search becomes demoralizing, you are forced to see your weaknesses. But there’s no reason to wait for disaster. So – how are your job skills? Are they really as good as they could be? When was the last time you did any extra training in your field? Have you done any networking, are you on LinkedIn? How do you compare to others in your field, could you compete if you had to?

I don’t mean to depress anyone, what I’d like to do is inspire someone to feel positively about their ability to keep growing and expanding. You can do it, and you don’t even need to lose your job to make it happen.

I registered for KelbyTraining.com’s Adobe Creative Suite 4 Unleashed Tour in Austin on October 12. It’s half the price of the Photoshop seminars, I hope that’s not a sign of the actual worth of the experience. I noticed typos on their page: “Learn abut improvements to existing tools and functions….” I’m only asking for trouble pointing out someone else’s typos, though, I know I make my fair share of them, too. And really, I kind of love it when I catch mistakes like that – AHA, it isn’t just me, you are also fallible! Mwa ha ha ha ha!

Anyway, for $39 ($10 off since I’m a NAPP member), I think I should manage to get my money’s worth. I’ll post a review of it after the fact.