This Can't Be Normal

So, I have held a corporate peon job before this one, although it was in a totally different industry and field.  And I don't remember this ever being tolerated or normal, but maybe I just don't have enough experience out there in corporate land.  But, I can't think it is normal to see or hear co-workers sobbing uncontrollably due to workload or because of the way they are treated at work.  It happens way too frequently around here.  I (knock on wood) have yet to be pushed to that point, but I have been close many, many times.  I just can't think that this is how it is at other places.

Sleeves - The Bane of My Knitting Existence

It's been going like gangbusters at work, and I have been putting in some very, very long days indeed.  The higher ups complain about how they can't get any help, but perhaps they should have thought about the consequences of  laying off half of your group during slow times, then expecting the remaining people to pick up twice as much work during the busy times, all for less pay. With work and little baby Emma, this means limited time for other pursuits, such as my knitting.  It also didn't help that for about a week, poor Emma and I were sick as dogs - we just couldn't shake off whatever bug we had.

In any case, I have decided that it is time to finally finish this baby sweater, before it becomes too small for Emma. 

The entire body is done, and all I have left to do are the sleeves.  I don't know why, but when it comes to sleeves, I just hate them.  I once started a sweater for husband (which I later ripped apart), but in the middle, I told him from now on all he would ever get are vests.  No sleeves!

Ways to Help

"Here and there, small tragedies unfolded. In the Petionville suburb, friends held back Kettely Clerge — 'I want to see her,' she sobbed — as neighbors with bare hands tried to dig out her 9-year-old daughter, Harryssa Keem Clerge, pleading for rescue, from beneath their home's rubble. "There's no police, there's nobody," the hopeless mother cried. By day's end, the girl was dead."

That is just a sampling of what the Haitians are going through right now.  The above excerpt is from a recent article about the devastation that resulted from the earthquake in Haiti.  We can all do our part to help - Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross are very good options.  You can use your cell phone to make donations, too.  You can give $10 to the Red Cross by texting the word "HAITI" to 90999.  The donation is added to your cell phone bill.

Just be careful, because there are internet scams out there, hoping to take advantage of our good will.  It makes me sick to think that there are people like that, willing to take away money from those is such dire need.

A Seaman's Cap for a Landlubber

A hat for my father-in-law.  He requested one over the Christmas holidays.  I decided I had better make one quickly before he changed his mind about wanting a handmade knitted item.  Here it is - the Seaman's Cap for a Landlubber:

It is being modeled by husband, so it looks a little large.  My father-in-law has a big noggin (sorry, but, it's true)!  I had to make a few adjustments to the pattern to make it fit a larger circumfrence.  I hope it fits, and that I didn't overadjust.  I made a hat with a fold up brim because my father-in-law wanted a hat to cover his ears while gardening outside.  I didn't know how long the hat would have to be in order to do that, so I  made a brim he could pull down as necessary.