Amelie, you wench

First off, I have finally succumbed to that loverly flu (sniff, sniff, hack, hack) that has been making the rounds. I spent the last two days dozing and knitting (which aside from the "hit by a truck" muscle aches is actually quite a perfect day for me). The good things:

• I finished my Tempting body up to the armpits (and then discovered I had no size 8 DPNs for the arms).
• I did one repeat of the heart pattern from Knitty's Heart Scarf (in sport weight red yarn b/c that's what was in the stash basket) so I've proved I can do it, and made a little heart for my husband at the same time.
• I finally felt up to leaving the house, so I went to tall mouse and got size 3 DPNs so I can try socks (the next thing up on my knitters resolutions). I cast on for my first sock ever(!!) in Lion Brand Magic Stripes and I have about three inches done.
• During the same shopping trip, I got a second ball of sock yarn (but in the same color I already have, so back it goes for exchange) and two balls of GGH Yarn's Amelie for the Opera Scarf for my MIL.

And here is where it went wrong.

I bought the Amelie because it was beautiful and soft and fluffy and lacy looking. My thinking was that it didn't matter if it didn't exactly match the yarn in the pattern because after all, it's a scarf. I'll just use whatever needles are called for on the skein and leave it at that.

Ha.

This is my beautiful Amelie up close:


You see those pretty fuzzy hairs? They bind to each other in ungodly death grips. The yarn is UNFROGGABLE. I had to restart four times because I kept dropping stitches, and all four times the yarn had to be just cut off the ball because it was too hopelessly tangled together. I tried it with a 9 - no go. I tried it with a 13 - no go. I've put it aside because I don't know what to do - I love the look and feel, I think it will go well with the pattern, but I just can't get it to work. I'm wondering if the type of needle will make a difference - maybe bamboo? I'm going to ask the uber-knitters at Craftster for advice.

In other news, I had lunch with a former boss last Friday. He told me he'd like to hire me back when he can afford me. Then he called today to say there had been "developments" and he'd like to talk to me tonight. I'm not sure I'm ready to make a decision now.... there's no word on whether my new manager will honor the compensation plan I had negotiated with my previous manager. There's no word on whether we're moving 90 miles away. There's no word on anything. Sure money or possible big money? Known boss I've successfully worked for, or difficult boss who could make me a better marketer? 20 minute commute or an hour and 20 minute commute? It really all comes back to the money. IF they honor my previous package, it means almost doubling my current salary, but most (80%) is in incentive bonuses. The previous manager said incentive = no brainer = a way to slide a big raise past the board (he got me to come on board in the start up at a decrease in pay for 18 months, so he's trying to make the deficit up to me). The new manager = extremely frugal = probably not going to give a huge bonus = even if he did would set the bar SOOOO high that I would have to work 80 hrs. a week to reach it. It's not likely my old boss (with the new offer) would be able to match the package, but unless I get the money it's all theoretical, ins't it?

Aggh - I'm just a chicken.

Good news: my son got an award for improved academic effort. He's a smartie, but he HATES school. His teacher has been having him stay after class so he can work on his homework and ask questions, and that has helped him bring up almost all of his grades at least 1.5 grades. I'm going to send that woman flowers tomorrow!