Unemployed
Even though I had months to prepare, it was a very emotional experience to leave my job, my office, my profession, for the last time on Tuesday.

Thank you to all my family and friends who were there for me with kind and encouraging wishes and words - and even a homemade apple pie!

My mind has not grasped the reality of my unemployment. As I go about my holiday and weekend activities, my subconscious keeps trying to figure out when I have to go back to work. My conscious mind knows that I am not going back to work. Don't the two parts of my brain talk to each other?

I am happy about being severed. I just need to relax and change some thinking patterns. It will happen in time. I'm hoping it won't take too long.

There is also a spot in my identity that needs to be filled. I am no longer an IT professional. So what am I? Those who know me may want to answer that for me, but please don't. It is something I have to answer myself. The answer will come in time, and this is not yet the time.

Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises. . . Elizabeth Zimmerman
The red Crocodile socks are almost done. I may finish them today and will post a picture of the final project so John and Anne can see the beautiful pair of socks they gave me for Christmas. Plus, I had the fun of knitting them.

My CIC sock goal is a pair a month. The next pair of socks I knit will be my January CIC socks out of the green wool that John and Anne gave me for Christmas.

Here are some recent acquisitions waiting for their turn to be knit.


The Opal skeins across the back are all from the Opal Lollipop collection. If you click on the link, you can see what the yarn color pattern will look like once it is knit up.

The shades of violet and purple on the left (#1015) are the next pair of socks for Mother. The middle skein is a pretty mixture of pink, green, and gold (#1010). The right skein is a mix of blues from aqua to navy (#1011). These skeins haven't decided who they're going to provide socks for yet.

The Opal Handpaint in the front is #11. It's very pretty, but not what I expected based on the picture provided by Opal. In my skein the shades of gray are dominate, which is a good thing because the orange and turquoise are very bright. It's going to be fun to knit up, but I'm glad I didn't buy multiple skeins of Handpaint because I'm looking forward to ordering and knitting the new Opal Magic collection which just came out this week.

The Lamb's Pride blue bulky in the lower left is for the CIC Vest Project. I'm just finishing up a lime green vest this weekend. The green is third out of the five I plan to knit. The blue will be the fourth.

It's not my intention to turn Seasons of Violet into a knitting blog. It just happens that this is the season for knitting, so it keeps coming up as a topic.

Post Holiday Diet Report
It's a tribute to portion control that I was able to get through Thanksgiving and December without feeling deprived and without gaining weight. I enjoyed the good food of the holidays, my going away lunches, and Mother's home made apple pie.

This is day two of being back on the diet. I have six pounds left to lose. It is hard to be back counting points. I'm hungry. But I know that if I tough it out for a few days I will get used to eating less again.

Are you dieting this January? Any good diet tips for me?