I look forward to Mondays with great enthusiasm. Most people do not share my opinion of how absolutely fabulous Monday is, but most people also do not share my work schedule. Monday is the one day off that I have where I am completely alone in the house. I can use the computer, I can teach nail classes online to other educators, and best of all, I can spend the whole morning doing crochet. This is a nice routine and considering how chaotic the rest of life has been, I look forward to Mondays so much that I get resentful when something infringes on it.

Back in March, I spent three weeks visiting my parents in Qatar. When I came back home, I found out that in my absence I was made the manager of the salon where I work and the former manager was now a receptionist at another location. A couple of weeks later one of the stylists was fired and another one is teetering on the edge of potential joblessness, although I have to wonder if she is aware of just how close to the edge she is. Given that she is one of the biggest divas I have ever worked with, I am guessing that she doesn't have two sweet clues. Last week, I came to work on a Tuesday morning (the beginning of my workweek) to find that we now have a new owner/operator - three of them, in fact. Another branch of the family that owns this salon have bought into it. 

Last week was also the week that I started a cleanse diet, part of which involved ditching coffee and wine. Yay. 

You know, all this job reshuffle business is necessary, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. My kidneys have been on high alert since I got back from vacation....the whole point of which was to destress....hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. However, it would seem that job stress is good for the inspiration. Here is how I've handled my job stress:

This is a lovely poncho that comes from a Delta Lace project book purchased from Michael's Crafts. I extended it by a few rounds and it looks great if you can get past the reality that I should never be seen in this much mint green. I did not know that until after the fact :) 

I do not care. I am wearing it anyway. 

I would also like to take this time out to mention that in June I am getting a dress form. Yay!!! No more hanging clothing up on the kitchen floor or table, or dangling it over the door on an old hanger to photograph it. I'm excited about that.

This cardigan was made using Bernat Mosaic yarn, and was done in three hours. I started it the day I met the new owner-partners and finished it the next day. I wore it out to the Winnipeg Wine Festival over a black "Librarian dress" and got all kinds of compliments. In fact, at some of the boots, my cardigan got more attention than the wines. I really like it. It's not my design, it comes from Everyday Crocheted Lace by Doris Chan and is called "Soft Serve". I told my husband that its working title was "Let's run away to South America tomorrow". The Wine Festival was great, even though I have personal issues with spitting out such great wine :D 

This is another Doris Chan pattern from the same book. This one is called "Galena" and it's done in a coral mix that has bits of orange, red, and pink faded into the colourway. Its very subtle. This colour DOES look good on me, so I will probably wear this a lot. I am wearing it to work tomorrow, as a matter of fact. This was also done in about three or four hours over a two day period. It is funny how fast I can work when I am venting my spleen about the salon, hahaha. I have two other patterns on the go but they are my designs so they won't be done in three hours because I'm winging it and kicking caution to the curb. Well. not really, but I like to tell myself that :) 

I think this week I am going to reinvent some old doily patterns that I have so that they are a little less foo-foo and have stronger angles, and turn them into blankets. 

In the last two days the Universe has also sought to make me aware of two salons for sale in the same area as the one I work in, and that one in the area that I live in is looking for someone just like me.

Must. Crochet.

Yay stress!!!! :D