If It's Tuesday, It Must Be ...

. . . talk to recruiters day.  I'm not complaining–job hunting is much easier when the phone is ringing.  I suspect that, on Monday, staffing agencies start their week by looking at their new requirements and looking through resumes for a match; then on Tuesdays, the recruiters reach out and touch all the people behind those resumes.

On the job front, I AM talking to lots of recruiters and interviewing with interesting companies–both on the phone and in person–but . . . am beginning to have that always a bridesmaid, never the bride feeling as the feedback continues to be that they liked me for the position and the decision was close, but . . . they went with another candidate.

This morning, before it hotted up to what is expected to be another record-breaking high, I went for a walk to the post office and the grocery store. I dug out a straw hat with a wide brim and thought about how I will rework it a little for this summer.  The Lantana trees near my house are already in full bloom and looking gorgeous.

Outside the post-office, under the eaves, on top of spikes clearly intended to discourage nest building, there were several nests like these–look close and you'll see mama sitting atop that mess, guarding her eggs.

She made me wonder if all species have the ability to be stubborn?

She also made me think of a friend who recently told me in an email that she hasn't yet turned on only air conditioner–a window air conditioner with a potted plant on top of it ... a Carolina wren made a nest in a potted plant.  She's hoping for cool weather because it's going to be a while before the eggs hatch and before the babies fledge.

Seriously, doesn't it seem a little bit beyond instinctual and just plain stubborn, birds taking on man and building construction when they choose to build their own homes?

I confess to spending most of my time in air-conditioned comfort . . . though it does seem to be a little bit crazy to be knitting when the weather is like this.  

Actually, the knitting temporarily stopped on Friday because, even though I have been knitting with fingers crossed . . . on Thursday night, I ran out of yarn . . . with 10 long rows to go. Even unblocked, I think it's looking pretty wonderful.

 

The pattern did say that I would need a bit more yarn than I had, but I was using a different weight yarn than any of the options listed on the pattern and someone on Ravelry who had made the same pattern using exactly the same yarn, said she used less–in fact exactly the same number of skeins as me . . . so while I thought it would be close, I believed I would make it. 

Thursday night, when the yarn ran out, I looked online and only found a single skein, on clearance.  Miraculously, it was the same color, though undoubtedly a different dye lot.  The shipping was almost twice the cost of the sale-priced skein of yarn.  I decided to sleep on it. 

Friday, I woke up with an idea of how I could shorten the last border, which is at the top in this photo,  and make it work. I unknit several rows and then re-knit them.  I knew I wasn't going to like the proportions, but I persevered.  But I didn't account for how much yarn the "elastic bind off" was going to take and when I had a little more than half of the three hundred and some stitches bound off . . . it once again became clear that I didn't have enough yarn.   And so, once again, I unraveled the bound off stitches and put everything back on the needles and then backed out my foreshortened last border, reknit the pattern as written as far as I could go and . . . called the yarn shop in Rhode Island that has the last skein of this rough silk yarn. 

As a result of my experimentation, I know I want to knit the last border as written because it creates the swallow-tail that gives this shawl it's name.  So even if the new yarn, when it arrives, is a bad match, I will likely use it . . . and overdye the whole thing to conceal the mis-matched dye lots.

I suppose I'm being a little stubborn, too, and really want to knit the shawl as written no matter what (even with yarn from mis-matched dye lots ;-)

Until then, I am thinking about the next summer knit . . . I think I have some cotton yarn in my stash that might be perfect for the Boutique Sweater that Crazy Aunt Purl has been blogging about. It's another one of those knits that are right for the air conditioned summer environment.

Joyeux Quatorze Juillet

Translation: Happy July 14 (Bastille day)

Today seemed a fine day to make Clafoutis from the beautiful dark sweet bing cherries I bought last week. As soon as I bought them on impulse, I knew I wanted to make Cherry Clafoutis. It didn't occur to me until I came home with my cherries that I had almost none of the other ingredients I needed: no flour, no sugar, no half-and-half, no vanilla extract . . . it was really rather pathetic and a true testament to what a baker I am not.



But ingredients were purchased and Clafoutis was made using this recipe from the Simply Recipes website. I also borrowed their image, since my Bastille Day treat was not nearly so photogenic.

Cherry Clafoutis Recipe

Traditional clafoutis recipes call for using cherries with their pits still in, which are supposed to lend some almond flavor to the dish. In this recipe the pits are removed, making the clafoutis easier to eat, but you can do it either way.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of fresh sweet cherries, pitted
• 2 tablespoons of slivered almonds
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of whole milk
• 2 teaspoons of Amaretto -or- 3/4 teaspoon of almond extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and lightly flour a 9X9 or 10X7 baking dish. Toss in the cherries and slivered almonds.

2 Whisk the eggs, sugars, salt, and flour together until smooth.

3 Add the milk, Amaretto (or almond extract, if using), and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour into the baking dish.

4 Bake for 40-50 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. When you pull it put of the oven it will wiggle a bit which is normal. Place on a wire rack to cool. The clafoutis will have puffed up quite a bit and will deflate while cooling. When cool dust the clafoutis with powdered sugar. Serve.

Serves 6.

I had another reason to celebrate today . . . I was offered and accepted a job. Yes, I will soon be joining the working class again. Did you hear a sigh of relief coming from the general direction of Dallas, Texas?

I figured it was reason enough to add a scoop of Blue Bell Home Made Vanilla ice cream to the top of my warm Cherry Clafoutis, in lieu of the powdered sugar–not traditionally French, but quite YUMMY ;-)

My Name is Sophie and I am a Lapsed Blogger

Early this morning, Neka, a newly met friend and fellow job hunter–recently moved to Dallas from Ohio–sent me this, in an email message:

LOL! Just thinking someone needs to hire us...we're "work-a-holics"...when we're not networking, we're on the computer late at night and real early in the morning. This will come to an end soon. :)

Whether you refer to it as being "pre-employed," as one of the large DFW career transition groups prefers, unemployed, or–my personal favorite–on the hunt, looking for a job easily consumes more time and energy than any job I have ever had and I've worked in some pretty intense start-ups . . . as a consequence, quilting, knitting, and blogging about quilting, knitting and other fun things have fallen by the wayside.

. . . and yet, lately I find myself thinking about blogging about my job hunt, as a way to share the information I find with my fellow hunters and let my friends and readers see what I'm up to . . . which is sometimes interesting even if it isn't creative and filled with fiber eye candy.

Of course, I'd still need to find the time . . . and this morning, I found the answer, on Jodie's Ric-Rac blog. Crafters are the most creative problem solver's aren't they? All I really need is a Craft Clock.


As Jodie says,

When everyone around is flagging at 11pm - you can keep on rockin' through until 13 or 14 O'Clock and still get plenty of beauty sleep.

See more images of her wonderful answer to time management here: In All Good Stores.

Hats, Quilting and the Job Hunt

Each time I pass this empty store front, with it's sign still up, Milliners Supply Co, I think about making hats again . . . and wearing them.

The sun shines so often here–I don't think you can really appreciate just how wonderful that is unless you've lived in someplace like Lansing, Michigan for a few years, which gets less sunshine than most of the country . . . but I am really appreciating it and thinking about making and wearing hats again.



In fact, recently, I even pulled out this sort-of-hat and wore it.

It doesn't have a lid (top) or a brim. I made it in my hotel room at the Houston quilt show from some straw I had dyed and some hand-dyed perl cotton I bought from Frieda Anderson on the show floor . . . as my entry in the Quilt Art group's Tiara Parade that year.

It's currently being worn by the goddess Hera.

My friend, Cyndee, asked in the comments about quilting and job-hunting. I've been carrying around muslin and making cathedral window squares–not very photogenic yet–on the quilting front, though I have a quilty project in mind that may be interesting or may fall flat . . . if you never about it again, you'll know which way it went ;-)

The job-hunting process continues . . . and I continue to find so many of the people I meet so generous and helpful. I will not be surprised when a random person I have met turns out to be the one who knows someone who hires me. Just about everyone I meet asks me to send them my resume so they can send it on to someone they know. But blogging about the job hunt isn't so fun and interesting. Photos of people squashed together elbow to elbow at job fairs with worried expressions on their faces or impatiently standing in line waiting to get into the ballroom where the employers are just isn't that entertaining, you know? So when I'm not blogging . . . that could be why . . .





Part of the challenge for the job hunt for me is that in my career I have worn many "hats," used my skills to fill whatever role was needed–which is a great thing once you are in a job, but sometimes a tricky thing when a recruiter or HR screener is trying to figure out which box to put you in. (I don't fit easily into a box).