Wednesday, March 01, 2006

I'm a Whine-O

As many of you may or may not know, I toil away at what I affectionately refer to as "my day job" (aka The Cube Farm) for nine hours each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday hoping to earn enough dollars to (i) pay my mortgage, (ii) put food on the table, (iii) keep clothes on the backs of my husband and child and (iv) buy more yarn. For the last five years I've done my daily duty and mostly escaped the current work-induced ailment that began plaguing me relentlessly very recently, Brain Fry.

Brain Fry is a terrible condition that results in an inability to think clearly due to nine hours of daily spreadsheet trauma. Until recently, my position at The Cube Farm had an ebb and a flow, Brain Fry setting in around the holidays and subsiding around the first of the year. Previous to this current constant and consistent Brain Fry and during my down time at The Farm, I was able to answer personal emails, blog a little and of course, read about what's happening out there in the blogosphere. Not. Any. More. Folks, I am literally buried. Buried under spreadsheets, projects, reams of paper for which some unsuspecting tree gave it's life in sacrifice to the Office God...Needless to say, I am just too exhausted after returning home from The Farm to even turn on the 'puter and catch up with you all. In short, my life sucks right now. I know, I'm being a Whine-O. Whateva. Whining is one way that I massage my bedraggled creative self.

Sometimes though, whining is just not enough to soothe this agitated chickadee. So how does one LadyLinoleum soothe her tortured and twisted soul upon emergence from the depths of her paper-lined crypt each day? Fluff up her flattened creativity? Rehydrate her cremated gray matter? She unearths all of her patterns and surrounds herself with needles and hooks. She drags out all of her crafty texts and attempts new processes for her brain is still capable of following directions, yet unable to jump-start the muse. LadyLinoleum may be running on empty, but she's still got a quarter of a tank left to get home so she keeps her fingers moving.

In short, the daily spreadsheet drama creates inhospitable conditions for the emergence of new Monster Crochet creatures, but conditions are suitable for knitted wardrobe expansion. In light of this situation, I bring you two FO's:

A pair of fabulous fingerless gloves courtesy of my size one dpns and a pattern from Holiday Knits...



And Bobbilicious...



...From which I reaffirmed that I have an aversion to chunky yarn. Yes peeps, I admit it. I cannot stand working with large fibers. The good news is this means more for you for I am a thread-head at the core of my being. And so it goes.

Okay, back to whimpering whine-O mode. Please peeps bear with me during this time of burial beneath paper. I am s-l-o-w-l-y making my way through the blogosphere to visit you all. I am attempting to answer emails whenever humanly possible. And I am fighting to get my work-life back into a routine so that this issue is NO MORE. Please hang with me...this is a rough patch and I will prevail to crochet creatures again!

22 comments:

Jessica said...

Well, that sucks! Here's hoping you're unburied soon!

Anonymous said...

Oh how I feel your pain. All day at work, I think about crocheting...then when I get home, I'm too tired to bother. Work is lame.

Unknown said...

*hugs*

Heather Cox said...

I hear ya, hope you get unburied soon. Brain Fry sounds like a great name for a new crochet creature too...

Anonymous said...

Hang in there, Ms. L!

BTW, I'm working away on my psychotic tomato!

Deneen said...

This too shall pass, maybe not quite as quickly as you hope, but it will.

I love the Bobbilicious! I also adore working with the large fibers with the exception of sock yarn-so send your poor, unwanted large fibers this way woman!

Ellen Bloom said...

Hmmmm? Maybe the extra cash isn't all that great? Sometimes you need to trade off cash for creative time. Let me know if you want to earn probably $20,000/year less. The monsters deserve equal time!

FinnyKnits said...

My friend, I was in the midst of writing a VERY similar post and I take a little bit of solace in knowing that I am not the only one.

The eyeballs and monsters will keep until you're ready to rededicate your brain power to creating their allies.

Mean time -- those are some sweet fingerless gloves that I will be making to add to my collection. My fave accessory!

Be strong.

Anonymous said...

breeeaaattthhheee (in and out!)

Rebecca said...

oh ick.... work - i don't think i will ever be able to have a j.o.b. ever again. sorry you're having a rough time at it right now... busy, that's security, right?

i sent you a pic of my mato creation :D

Rebecca said...

ooop, forgot to say, i really like that scarf - it looks fun.. great fingerless gloves! i'm on a kick of those right now :D

Vera said...

I'm with you!!!

I really wish that I didn't have to work for a living. Your projects look fabulous. I'm not real big into chunky yarns either.

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, I too know the pain of the paper burial, and can completely understand how you're feeling right now. Don't worry, the effects are temporary and you'll be back to your old ways soon, I'm sure.

lisa solomon said...

good luck w/ the brain fry... can relate... spreadsheets suck!!

we're here when you are ready....

Michelle said...

What I wouldn't give for a little paper burial. I currently have NOTHING to do at work. Literally nothing. I sit here all day and play mahjongg. And while the concept of getting paid to surf the web sounds enticing, it gets really, really old after about ... three days. But, I will say that I have plenty of time to search for a new job!

Anyway...hopefully you'll reach some kind of paper/yarn equilibrium in the near future.

Jana said...

hey, that's more than reason enough for me to whine. dang! that's a looonnnng work week lady! go easy on yourself:)

dizzy von damn! said...

the gloves look like one giant 10 fingered weird thing in that picture.

if you sewed them together, you'd have a new creature.

and the bobbles look delicious.

Woolly Wormhead said...

Jeez, don't you just hate the way work gets in the way of life? Been there, didn't head the warning, off work with stress. Paid mind. More time for yarny adventures.

Congrats on the Vogue mention too - bit late catching up (yep, been there) Bad Wormhead. Well deserved my dear!

Anonymous said...

I, too, feel your pain! Take it easy, take your time. I for one, am not going anywhere.

Susan Schwake said...

go ahead, whine all ya want. your REAL work is amazing...
i don't even crochet, but love the monsters so i linked ya to my art blog and keep coming back to see what you have done.

Anonymous said...

Sounds miserable. I used to work in an office which was under perpetual threat of a paper landslide and that was before computers, so I'm shocked to hear that technology hasn't reduced the grim reality of paper burial. I really hope you can find a way out. A box of matches might do the trick...

You owe us nothing and yourself a great deal. I look forward to the creative explosion when your muse IS jump-started.

Kimberly said...

As a fellow Cube Farm inhabitant, I understand the pain! I go through cycles of being bored and catching up on blog readings, and then being swamped and never turning my computer on once I get home....although I carry it to and from work every day!