LieblingsGarn

almost there

2009-05-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure no one even reads this blog anymore. But maybe I will be back soon? On May 23rd I finally, finally, finally, finish grad school. Three years. One MFA. The future? Wide open.

I am headed back to Santa Fe for my third season. Just me, my wheel, and some fibery goodness.

Hello life, I'm almost there.

Tschuss,
Sarah

Happy New Year

2009-01-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

Ta da! It is break time from the grad school grind so some knitting is getting accomplished. I actually have a number of things, none of which I had the presence of mind to photograph. That Guy's brother asked for and received a hat for Christmas. Not the one pictured here, but a more appropriate cap that is reversible. Red with a single cream stripe on one side, and the other side is red and charcoal alternating stripes. I used Brooklyn Tweed's Turn a Square pattern but upped the stitch count using sport weight.

The creation above is made from my own handspun! The pictures does no credit to the colors, and try to ignore the mess on my bed in the background. I was in the process of cleaning prior to going to Indiana to see family for the holidays. The fiber is BFL which I loooove. So squooshy. The pattern is the Honeycomb Beret from the holiday issue of IK.

I had a nice holiday with the fam. My friend's daughter, Lauryn, and I made a dress for her to wear. She did most of the cutting and sewing. I was very proud of her for sticking with the project. I think it's time to upgrade her from the little girl miniature sewing machine I got for her a couple of year back to a full size model. Partly because she clearly likes sewing enough to keep doing it, and partly because at 12 years old she is so tall. To big for that tiny machine. Luckily, I have two sewing machines, so I am going to pass one on to her.

It took me a while to recover from the past semester. There were three nights there at the end that drug on til the wee hours of the morning. I didn't even suffer the worst of it. My friends and colleagues, some of them stayed up all night, even for a couple of days. I am so glad that I only have one semester left - I graduate in May! Now, it's time to get focused on finishing my thesis!

Tschuss.

Words cannot express...

2008-11-05T00:05:00.000-08:00

When I took this photo back in February here in Austin, Texas, I was moved at this rally to believe that this could truly happen. But it wasn't real until tonight. It wasn't real until I heard John McCain speak. It wasn't real until our next President, Barack Obama, took to the stage in Grant Park to address the nation. And it wasn't real until I saw my home state of Indiana in the most remarkable color - blue. I am overwhelmed and overjoyed.

Yes, we did!

Now it's time to get work.

I'm in- are you?

PS Will this be one of those moments in history when you remember where you were? My oldest sister was in Grant Park tonight. I was actually working in the shop at school, thinking that it would take longer for the returns to come in. Not so. She called me not 10 minutes after I'd checked the maps to tell me the numbers just went up in the park and I could here the people cheering. Unbelievable! Most of us working cleared out - I wanted to hear the speeches with Jeremy. And now, frankly, I'm exhausted. I can't imagine how Barack must feel!

Good night all, and god bless!

Mask making is wicked fun!

2008-10-04T23:26:00.000-07:00

There are no real excuses for my absence from this blog. There are explanations. Lack of regular internet access throughout the summer, lack of focus due to the impending reality of my thesis year of grad school, the reality of entering said thesis year. There was also the colossal harddrive crash of my beloved Mackie. Ever since they put in his new harddrive he hasn't been quite the same. Not to mention, I got an iMac, and I think my Mackie has mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the new desktop lightens the load on the laptop. Apparantly, if you run your operating system, the Adobe Creative Suite, TurboCAD, and you partition your harddrive using Bootcamp to run Windows, it will eventually get the better of the laptop. Now the work load is more evenly distributed, but there may be some jealousy. They are like siblings.

Clearly working on my thesis is making me lose my mind just a little, since I am anthropomorphizing my computers!

I have been knitting and spinning, but I haven't been photographing it! I did however, photograph this.
For those of you who know me, you may recognize that this is my face. This semester I am in a mask making class. When it came time to demo the process of casting the head, neck, and shoulders in order to create a mother mold for a bust, my hand shot up in the air before our instructor even finished his sentence, "Do we have a model for tonight?"

If you are claustrophobic this is not for you. I am not, and I thought it would be a cool experience. It was. I think it is a little like what being in the womb must have been like. It's quiet and dark, and you can hear people when they are up close.

You can breathe just fine because the nostrils are not covered.

We will be building masks for a ballet to be performed next semester based on the Briar Wood stories. I will be sculpting and building the mask for the character of Ms. Meadows, a blue heron. The animal head is actually perched above the performers head.

All in all we cast 15 busts.

Below is a maquette I made of the heron mask. This is about 3 inches tall and made out of Sculpey. I have some modifications to make, but I will probably do them in Photoshop. I have been working more with Photoshop and Illustrator, finding ways to use them as visualization tools for the work I do. It's fun. The final project won't be this boring, single color. The designer made a beautiful rendering, but I should ask her for permission to post it. More to come!
Tschussi!

Back in Santa Fe

2008-06-29T18:29:00.000-07:00

Actually, I've been back in Santa Fe for about 5 out of 8 weeks of my contract. We've been working a lot to get to this, the opening weekend. There has been hiking, biking, and shopping as well.

Best of all, I was asked to knit a scarf for the character of Falstaff in the opera of the same name. And, I GOT PAID! Yes, paid. It was fun and very free form and textural. I may never get this type of opportunity again as knitting for live theatre is not an affordable option for most costume budgets.

Anyway, things are going really well out here but at the moment I'm kind of tired! I hope everyone out there is good and having a fun summer.

Tschussi!

Pathetic...

2008-04-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

That's me. Pathetic. For being off-blog for so long. My apologies to anyone who might actually check this blog. I have been very absent. I try to tell myself that one day, after grad school, I post regularly and be quite witty. We will see. There is still one more year of grad school, but at least the end of this semester is in sight! On to the good stuff though.

I bought a wheel. I am super psyched. I told myself I would get one after graduation, when I would have time. Last month though, during Spring Break, That Guy was working in Boerne, Texas, outside of San Antonio so I went down to visit and found Rosewood Yarns online. I noticed on their website that they carried a couple of wheels so I decided I would stop by just to try them out. Ha. Granted, had I not liked the Ashford Kiwi so much I might not have purchased it, but the unfinished model was priced quite affordable so I caved. I have already found that it is very helpful when I hit little writing blocks. Spinning slows my mind down and helps me refocus my thoughts.
Naturally, spinning requires fiber. On the spindle above is a superwash merino from Allspunup at Etsy. I haven't spun enough to tell you how it's going, but it feels right so far.

A couple of weekends ago That Guy and I wanted to get out of town, so we drove out to Wimberly for a while and then stopped in at Old Oaks Ranch. This is a splendid fiber arts shop with alpacas and a sculpture garden. If you are ever in the Texas Hill Country I highly recommend it. This was my first visit, but I will definitely make the trip again in the future.

The owner and staff are very friendly and if you want to buy a fleece, like I did, they will probably let you get a little closer to the alpacas. The owner, Sue, led me into the pen and talked to me about the animals and let me decide which fleece I'd like.

I liked the coloring of this little one, Isabella. Charcoal grey and a little sienna. Plus, I figured the two pounds of fiber would be plenty. The larger animals are up to three pounds. She had just been shorn the week before.

The shop is lovely with a nice selection of quality yarns and fiber. I was able to pick up a niddy noddy and two more Ashford bobbins also. All in all it is a great place.

Okay, I've got to go finish a costume rendering for design studio class in the morning. The character of Violetta from the opera La Traviata in the painting style of Toulouse-Lautrec. No prob.

Koolhaas

2008-03-03T20:09:00.001-08:00

Look, a Koolhaas! I actually finished this hat several weeks ago, but I was so excited with how it turned out that I gave it to the recipient without photographing it. Here she is, kind enough to model it for me.

There was one big thing that I had to take in to consideration when I chose the yarn for this hat. The recipient is one of those hot-blooded people that are so mysterious to me, being a perpetually cold person. For example, I actually take pleasure in the heat of central Texas in the summer. The air conditioning is sooooo cold that I actually feel like I am defrosting when I hit the heat outside. My friend on the other hand does not share this joy. It makes her very, very hot and maybe just a little bit angry. Okay, a lot angry.

My friend will be moving to Seattle once she graduates, a climate she considers quite temperate with bits of cold. The yarn I chose is Debbie Bliss Cathay, a cotton/rayon/silk blend, so hopefully she will be able to wear it without overheating.

So far, she hasn't had any issues with it stretching out to much, besides which it can be washed and dried to shrink up if that occurs. What really pleases me is the stitch definition! I was concerned that the pattern may lose some of the architectural quality that is so lovely about the design by not using something with wool content, but check it out!

I have to credit the staff at my LYS, Hill Country Weavers, for helping me decide on using the Cathay. I asked if they had seen anything knit out of it and how the stitch definition was, and after some discussion the consensus was that it would be perfect. Happy happy.

Tschuss!

The Sock that saw Barack...

2008-02-25T22:21:00.001-08:00

Even though I did not win one of the raffle tickets to the democratic debate last Tuesday, I did get a chance to see Barack Obama on Friday night at a rally held for him. Myself and three of my friends begged off a meeting in order to be a little part of the history currently in the making.

We wanted to get there early in order to have a good view of the stage. One of my friends said that if he was going he wanted to see the man's eyes. So we got there when the gates opened at 6pm, went through the metal detectors and settled in to wait for the 9pm speech. I had flashbacks to the Austin City Limits festival, except I wasn't sweating buckets. It was a beautiful night to cram a bunch of people into a quarter block cordoned off area. There were thousands of other people outside the fences. The creepy thing is that someone, somewhere, has figured out how much space needs to be secured for a rally such as this in order to place the speaker out of the range that a weapon might be able to reach. Gives you the willies, doesn't it?

Anyway, I was amused over the next three hours by my friends, a wonderful r&b group, a high school mariachi band, and lastly a rock band (although I have to admit, by the time the rock band came on in the corner stage behind us, the crowd was so packed that I assumed the music was recorded, not live). Oh, and my current sock in progress. I very nearly finished the body of this guy while chatting with my friends and waiting for the speech. Since then I have finished the first one and knit the ribbed cuff of the second. I think I will have to call these the Barack Socks.

As for the speech, I won't go into detail. If you are unfamiliar with Obama's platform I suggest going to the official website. I found that I am far less eloquent than he is when I tried to explain the content of his speech to others. And while I do not use my blog as a soapbox, I will say that he is my candidate in this election.

The rest of the weekend ended up leaving me even more tired than when it started! It ended with the Oscars, and I wanted to share this picture with you. Living in Austin gives you some freedoms that I did not experience in the midwest. People in this town manage to walk the fine line between yard trash and yard art, tacky and tasteful, with the greatest of ease. For example, That Guy went to great efforts to put gravel into the yard. Low hanging tree canopies and rocky soil prevent grass from growing, and the yard gets quite muddy at times. He also built a nice fire pit. We like to make fires and watch movies outside in the yard. There are white christmas lights in the trees year round. And to top it off, he recently acquired this mini fridge. Yes, the television is sitting on top of our mini beer fridge in the front yard, fire and christmas lights casting a warm glow.

And the people I know down here think this is fantastic! It certainly is fun!

Tschuss.

Catching up...

2008-02-21T15:49:00.001-08:00

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, a picture heavy post! I found myself home a little earlier than usual today. Since I did not win the much desired ticket to the Clinton/Obama debate on campus tonight (I have heard that 50,000 people signed up for the 100 tickets available in the drawing) I decided it would be best to get off campus early if at all possible. As I have a chunk of computer work that can be done at home I felt okay clearing out at 4:30pm. With the little sunlight remaining I decided to get some shots of my current WIP's.

The closeup of the brown and blue colorway above is some fabulous Schaeffer Anne being knit up in my generic sock pattern for myself. I recently purchased a nice pair of Keen's at the REI clearance sale. They are the Keen version of the Mary Jane, so I have taken to wearing all my handknit socks with them. I can't wait to finish these!

The pinkness here is a much better photo of the scarf I showed in my previous post. I have finished one out of two skeins, and I have a third for a crocheted trim edge that I've planned.

Here you can see my male cat, Abraham, practically rolling his eyes at me for not having this sweater finished by now. I worked on this over the Christmas break and then just dropped it as soon as classes started.

I've gotten the body knit up to splitting it for the front and back. As you can see below, one side of the front is completed and the other side started. The back stitches are still on holders. The yarn is some that our friend in Germany gave me when I visited with my dad the other year. It's a wool/alpaca blend. This pattern calls for the yarn to be knit on larger than usual needles in order to give the knitted fabric more drape. The openness of the stitches also means the alpaca shouldn't get to warm. Important in this central Texas climate. I did make one modification. Since I don't like the rolled edge that results from starting with stockinette, I started with rows of garter stitch. I plan to do the same on the sleeves hems. I haven't decided yet how to deal with the neck opening, since I think the pattern has you pick up stitches and knit that rolled edge there as well. Perhaps a seed stitch?

Here's a closeup of the center cablely motif. I quite like it, and I know it will be even nicer when the rest of the sweater is blocked.
I also might go with shorter cap sleeves and wear this as a layer with a long sleeved white shirt. I might get more use out of it that way.

While I do have some sock yarn in my stash at the moment, the percentage of it in comparison to other types/weights of yarn is actually pretty low. I have quite a lot more lace yarn, so I have put a purchase ban on any more until I use up at least half of what I already have. Sock yarn, however, I don't feel nearly so bad purchasing. There is always a sock on my needles. Of late I have branched out in my brands of sock yarn, much to my delight. The yarn seen here is a recent purchase from The Loopy Ewe. Fiesta Boomerang in Jamaican Spice. This should be great to work with. It is so soft and sproingy!

While the Jamaican Spice is for moi, this little number is for the request of another colleague. Natalie asked for a pair of socks. Specifically all wool. No nylon, no polyamide, just good old wool. I am happy to oblige with this Schaeffer Lola in the Walk in the Forest colorway. I think these will be the next pair I cast on.

I hope you have enjoyed the yarny goodness!

Tschuss!

Aii yai yai!

2008-02-18T20:55:00.001-08:00

Wow. This might be the worst photo I've ever put on this blog. I just wanted to let ya'll know that I'm still around! I have actually knit some other fine things recently, but for want of sunlight have not photographed them. That, and a couple of items were gifted knits that I neglected to photograph. So, if my biggest sis reads this anytime in the new future - maybe you could take a picture of your shawl sometime? Against a backdrop of snowy Chicago perhaps?

As for the other item, I did finally photograph it - with someone else's camera. So once I have that pic I will definitely post it as I'm quite pleased with it. Nothing major, just a hat, but it's pretty and the recipient was really happy with it.

As for the barely distinguishable knitting in the photo above...this is a gift knit as well. I can blog about it because A) the recipient knows she is getting it. She has even seen the yarn and its progress thus far, and B) I'm not sure she looks at this blog anyway. She is a graduate school colleague, so we see each other all the time. She probably knows better what is going on in my day to day life than the rest of my family. Sorry family! I love you all, but I love Austin too! What is a girl to do? Anyway, I have a twisted scarf that I wear constantly that I knit out of Classic Elite Blithe, a baby camel sportweight yarn. In fact, I knit the scarf once, lost it one Christmas, and missed it so much I knit it again. This time with three full skeins instead of two. I love this scarf, and it has gained the attention of two grad colleague's thus far. These people are my friends as well. Since I love to knit, and I love to give the knits away, I informed my friends and family at some point in time in the past that they could make requests. Mainly because if I am going to go to the time and effort to make something for someone, I want it to be something they will love and use.

So I bought this pink Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed about a year or so ago and have taken it out of the stash from time to time to ponder it. It is a heavier gauge of yarn than the Blithe, so I didn't think the pattern I had used would have the right sort of drape. Eventually I just had to accept that this yarn would yield a different kind of scarf, so I adjusted my approach. I have decided to do a reversible stitch pattern so that I can knit it flat, twisting it only once and grafting the ends together to make a mobius. I am also making it as a single tube. Mine is very long, wrapping two times around my neck. With this yarn I think that would be to bulky, especially in this climate.

The stitch pattern I'm using is very simple. It is essentially six rows of garter stitch alternated with five rows of *yo, K2tog. The first stitch of every row is slipped, and the last stitch of every row is purled. I'm using a 24"US 4 Addi Turbo Lace Circular needle. Knowing my history of posting since graduate school began the next time you'll see this is likely to be when it's finished! Since I'm with my friend nearly every day at least you are more likely to get a photo of it.

On a non-knitting note, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both brought their campaigns to Texas in anticipation of the Texas primary actually counting for something in the Democratic nominations. In an extra bit of excitement, they are holding a debate this Thursday on the University of Texas at Austin campus a mere few blocks from the building that I spend most of my time in. It is an invited audience, but there are a block of tickets reserved for a drawing amongst the UT students. Naturally, I've entered. Even if I don't get to go we are hoping someone from our department gets to go so we can get a firsthand account. Otherwise, it will be broadcast live on CNN. Exciting!

Anyway, sorry I've been MIA. I came down with what we on campus have coined the "viral crud" and missed a FULL WEEK of school/work. I can't tell you how strange this was. I haven't been sick like that in years. Fever, chills, coughing, terrible hot wet sinuses. I spent so much time in bed totally out of it that when I returned the following Monday I had a strange moment. My friends were working and talking about their projects and the classes from the week before (it was Monday) and it hit me that I had missed a FULL WEEK. One friend noticed my blank stare and looked me in the eye. This prompted me to mutter, "I was gone last week, wasn't I?" To which she replied, eyebrows raised, very frank, "Yea. It was weird. We missed you." Awwwww. That was two weeks ago, and I'm just now feeling like I'm caught up!

I'm pretty sure that my staying away the entire week prevented me from being the cause of other people's infection. I suppose next year I will have to seriously consider getting the flu shot. Just for the last year of grad school though. In general, I don't like to put to many meds in my body. At least not now when I'm still young and pretty healthy.

Tschuss!

Better late than never!

2008-01-16T20:17:00.001-08:00

In my previous post I was only able to get that one Pig in a Dress photo up for some reason, which prevented me from sharing with you all one of the things that I love best about Austin. The Trail of Lights!

This one mile loop in Zilker Park is what makes it Christmas for me in this town. I didn't get a good shot of the famous tree, but it will come up on a Google search. Here are a few of my favorite pics. This one is actually on the way out, leading you up the hill to the tree. Don't you think this image would make a great album cover?

Now this here is the entrance to the trail. You can just make out the bobbing heads in shadow against the canopy of lights leading you into the park. Zilker Park is, by the way, the same place that the Austin Kite Festival is held every year, along with the Austin City Limits Festival. And from this spot, if you turn around and head the opposite direction, you will end up at Barton Springs Pool. Barton Springs Pool is a favorite summer spot of mine when the Greenbelts are dry.

Most dear in my heart though is this tree. The first Christmas I was in Austin, two magical things happened when That Guy and I visited the Trails of Lights. As we crossed the pedestrian bridge over the river into the park, I spotted a group of hot air balloons participating in a night glow. I ran, yes, you got me right, RAN across the field to them. I was so overwhelmed to see them, even though I grew up crewing for my dad at numerous events. I think it was because there they were, at Christmastime, glowing in the field in downtown Austin, welcoming me. That year I couldn't afford to fly home for the holidays. So seeing the balloons made me feel like in some small way, I was home. And then there was this tree. This photo does not do it justice. It is a huge, majestic, Live Oak tree. Its branches reach far, stretching and twisting high and low. It is massive. It is wrapped, every bit of it, with multi-colored pastel lights, which only emphasizes the beauty and size of it. I remember seeing it across the field, then looking for it as we entered the trail, seeking it out. I seek it out every year, this tree, and every year I am struck by it in the same way. I could look at it for hours.

Tschuss

Pig in a Dress

2008-01-03T11:54:00.001-08:00

Alright, I managed to upload this one photo and now blogger won't let me add anymore. I will have to try again later. Due to a recent move, I have been without the free wifi I previously enjoyed, and thanks to break I am not on campus. Thus, an ABSENT blogger I have been. As for my holidays, they didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. Regardless, it was, as always, good to see my family and friends in Indiana. The chillins continue to get bigger, taller, and more comprehensible. My nephew and niece continued their Campaign of Cute and Crying. That Guy's nieces and nephew continued to blow me away with how wicked smart and funny they are, and Lauryn amazed me with her ability to make the precious jumper you see pictured here.

Believe it or not, the bodice of the pig's dress is fully lined. Facings that small are just ridiculous. For this project we used a commercial pattern so that I could show her where to find information on it and how to use it. I also wanted a project that had gathers. Of course, when choosing fabric I steered her towards the cottons. Cotton is easier to manipulate than synthetics, especially on this small of a scale (Pig is only about 8" tall). Lauryn, however, has more elaborate taste in fabrics. It is hard to tell here, but the fabric is a polyester with a nap that is smoother and flatter than velvet. It also has little bubble-like pattern to the surface for added texture. If it's soft or sparkly or satiny she is going to like it, as long as it is PINK! As much as I look forward to seeing everyone on these visits, I know that my memories of the projects I do with Lauryn are something that I will cherish forever, and I hope they are for her as well. It is possible that there will come a time when she isn't as psyched about our projects, and when that day comes I won't press the issue. But until then I will continue to supply the girl with a fabric stash!

Can I tell you about my airport purgatory? I have endured delays and canceled flights for any number of reasons in the past. I have been rerouted to different airlines and had to recheck in and go through security again. However, nothing, absolutely nothing has reached the level of airport purg as what I experienced on my return trip to Austin. Poor Chicago. So much snow, so many missed connections and delayed and canceled flights. And then the dominoes fall.

7am Awake to drive to Indy for 12pm flight

8:30am Begin drive to Indy

10:30am Arrive at Indianapolis International Airport

11am Orbitz automatic updates on my cell phone becomes the bearer of bad news. My flight to St. Louis is delayed. Once, then twice. Now I won't make my connecting flight to Austin. I look at the line at the gate counter. My follow passengers are in the same boat.

12pm St. Louis flight delayed until 2pm. Call AA 800 # to update my travel plans. Horror of horrors, they have to reroute me through Chicago to get a flight to Austin. Laugh to myself at the impossibility of this as I know that Chicago is getting blanketed with the white stuff at the moment, but I allow them to reconfirm me on new flights.

2pm Board the one hour flight to St. Louis

2pm (change from eastern to central time zones) Arrive at Gate C5. Look to Gate C2. The flight to Austin is indeed gone. Debark plane to discover my Chicago flight is already delayed to 5pm. Laugh. I don't think I'll be making the Austin connection at 5:30pm. Call AA 800 # again.

[I would like to note that the folks on the American Airlines 800 # were on the ball. They answered quickly and the rebooking was fast and the personel friendly.]

The new travel plan? Get to Dallas-Fort Worth. Confirmed for an 8am Austin flight the next day. The next day people! Now, I love to camp and feel that when it comes to dealing with discomfort I do fairly well. I can tough out a lot of things. But a night in DFW? Every muscle in my body has tensed up at this point. Airport Purgatory! How do a get out of this one?

7pm Arrive at DFW. Exit security and wait for my bag. Ha! No bag. Go to the AA counter to check back in and try to get standby on one of the four evening flights to Austin.

7:05pm Discover that with a non-refundable ticket I have to pay $100 to fly standby. Seeing as I don't gamble on a regular basis I decide screw it, I've GOT to try.

7:30pm Laugh and try not to cry.
There are 25 people flying standby. ON EVERY FLIGHT TO AUSTIN. To make things worse, they would finish boarding, start to put the standbys on, and then pull them off when confirmed passengers, late due to delayed connecting flights, ran up to the counter shortly thereafter. I actually boarded a plane at one point, only to find that there were no seats and I had to get off.

11pm The LAST flight for the night. No luck. I ended up in a minivan with 6 strangers thanks to the quick thinking of an older couple who had their son book the vehicle online.

3:45am Arrive home in Austin

Two days later the airport delivered my luggage.

All I can do is laugh this off and be thankful that there was a good group of people to jump into a car with. A night at DFW? No thanks.

Happy New Year!
Tschussi!

Gobble gobble

2007-11-23T14:45:00.001-08:00

Happy Belated Turkey Day to all my family, friends, and knitters out there. I enjoyed some delicious eats with That Guy and a whack of "homeless' grad students.

The Adamas shawl for my big sis is blocking. I started another hat. For whom? No idea, just seemed to be the right project for this tweedy yarn Astrid brought me from Germany. As far as I know, I'm not doing any other Christmas knitting now that the shawl is finished. The exception will be for Secret Santa at school.

I am contemplating this Handmaiden Sea Silk. I think it will be a stole of some sort. Hmmmm.

Any suggestions? I'm headed over to Ravelry to troll for the perfect pattern.

Tschussi!

I knat a hat!

2007-11-06T10:51:00.000-08:00

Technical theatre rehearsals provide the perfect opportunity for the type of knitting that does not, for the most part, require counting. Or, for that matter, the ability to SEE what you are knitting. If it is all knit stitch, in the round, or all garter stitch, I can do it without looking. Enter this hat that I knat (I'm wearing a T-shirt with Dr. Suess characters on it today) mostly in the darkness of tech rehearsal for Ashes, Ashes. Yes, I felted it. It was rather laughable prior to that felting since I made it HUGE to begin with - on purpose!

The fiber started out as a Lorna's Laces roving in the Camoflage colorway. It was a Secret Santa gift from last year. I used half of the roving, about 5 oz., to spin a thick/thin 2-ply yarn on my sister's wheel back when I visited her in August. I probably used about 4.5 oz to knit the unfelted hat on US 9 needles. I felted it in a lingerie bag with one large towel in the washer on a hot/cold cycle. It took two cycles to get the density that I wanted. Then, since I practically live in the costume shop at school, I had access to a hat block which I blocked the hat with this short rolled brim on the sides and back.

To finish it I will sew a hat band on the inside using some millinery grosgrain. What separates millinery grosgrain from regular grosgrain ribbon that you can purchase at JoAnn's is that regular grosgrain is usually polyester or some other synthetic fiber. Millinery grosgrain is 100% rayon. You can shape it into lovely curves with the iron. I will take some pictures when I put the band in.

I may also order some flexible millinery wire for the edge of the brim. Both the hatband and wire will help the hat keep it's shape while remaining flexible. I want to be able to put it in my bag when I'm not wearing it. This will be my cold weather cap that I can wear with my scooter helmet. It can be pretty cold at 20 miles an hour late at night in January!

Tschuss!

History Book and Balloons

2007-10-27T09:09:00.001-07:00

Ack. Grad school. So many rewards, so little time to think about what they will be! I have been MIA, working on this costume. The History Book. It's for a great new play called Ashes, Ashes. It is a children's play, geared towards middle school age, but I feel that it really addresses all ages above that as well. It was workshopped at the New Works Festival last year.

Anyway, I am tailoring this suit. Thank goodness for my experience this summer at the Santa Fe Opera. Otherwise, I would be constantly returning to my tailoring notes from last year to remind myself how these things come together. Instead, I'm enjoying all the tedious hand sewing with confidence. Tailoring is a step by step process that I find really rewarding.
Sorry for the sideways picture. I forgot to export it before posting it, but I've got to get posted an back to work since tech is tomorrow! What's going on in this you ask? I am tailor basting horsehair and flannel to a 30 foot long tail that hangs off the left side of the coat. The tail on the right is only 6 feet. Oh, and they both get "ripped" off the coat at the end of the end of the play. All I can say is MAGNETS.

Another added bonus to this project? I had to teach myself how to screen print in order to print this writing all over the suit. I built five screens and used a photo sensitive emulsion fluid to burn the image. Making the screens and exposing them is an entire other story that I am not going to go into. Trust me, you don't really want to hear it all. I will tell you that at one point there were tears and a deep sense of failure. Then I got some assistance and once I felt amply supported in the endeavor things got better and everything worked out in the end.
WaaLa! Screens and printed fabric! It is going to be a fantastic portfolio piece and despite the screen fiasco I am really pleased with how well it is turning out.

And for your viewing pleasure, some sights from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. This is the top of the club balloon, Windswept. It is really a very very pretty balloon.

And of course our fantastic friends from Deutschland were there! It was so wonderful to see Harry and Astrid again. I hope to get back to their side of the ocean sometime in the future.

But first I have to finish the History Book.
Tschuss

Layover schmayover...

2007-10-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

I am in Oklahoma City. It is not yet 10am. I arrived here at 8am from an early morning flight out of Austin. My flight for Albuquerque departs at 2pm. LAYOVER!

Layovers are not always bad. I have plenty of reading to do. I have a design assignment that references Flannery O'Connor's short stories, so I have brought this book along. And clearly, I have gone so far as to pay for the Wifi here at OKC.

I am going to Albuquerque to meet up with my parents and our friends from Germany to fly and crew and most likely partake in alcoholic beverages of the beer nature. Fly as in hot air ballons. Ya'll may recall that my dad is a pilot. These are the German friends that my dad met at the Albuequerque International Balloon Fiesta some 6 years ago. I had the joy of meeting them on the trip I took with my dad to their neck of the woods. Anyway, since I'll be in New Mexico with Germans, I figured it was pretty safe to let my inner geek shine through and bust out the sandals with handknit socks look. As for my parents, they have to love me regardless of how dorky I am.

We all know that layovers are also great for knitting! This is the Adamas shawl that I am knitting for the big sister. The yarn is Jaeger Alpaca 4-ply, and the color is actually black even though it is showing up grey in the sunlight here.

The next post will be all about ballooning. Brace yourselves for color!
Tschuss!

I'm still standing...

2007-10-01T16:08:00.001-07:00

Well, I made it through the first week of life after saying goodbye to Remus (see previous post). I'm still standing. Yesterday we went to Home Depot and picked out some sage bushes, a plumbago, and some succulents to plant on his final resting spot. Thanks to the rocky nature of central Texas soil we were able to collect plenty of rocks to landscape the area. As the plants grow he'll be with us. We're happy with how it turned out.

It hasn't been all tears though. The Friday evening prior to that fateful day I had my first fitting for my show project this semester, and it went just about as well as I could have hoped for. Last Wednesday I also had a large project due in Design Studio and I managed to get it finished on time and was complimented for my strong work on it.

I also finished this pair of socks over the weekend. They are a commissioned pair for a colleague's mother. They will be a birthday present. The yarn is some that I bought in Germany - I forget the brand name, but I remember I bought it in a stationary shop, and it is named for a province in Canada.

What is this you ask? This is my grieving yarn. There is a new yarn shop in Austin called Gauge Knits which That Guy took me to yesterday. It may seem silly, but yarn is a great comfort to me. I always try to visit yarn shops while on vacation and inevitably purchase some souvineer yarn. When I do get around to making something from it I remember when and where I bought it and the memories associated with it.

In this case, I think I will make a mobius type scarf out of this lovely stuff. When it gets chilly (for all of two days here) I will wear it and think of my Reemy. It is handspun by Robincat.etsy.com, whom I hear is a local Austinite. So cool, and I love her bird label also.

Tschuss!

In Memoriam

2007-09-25T06:33:00.001-07:00

In late May about two and a half years ago there was a stray black cat hanging about the theatre I was working at at the time. One of the carpenters figured out she was expecting, and later discovered her and her four kittens in the props storage room! He couldn't take them, but he put them all in a cardboard box with a blanket outside the scene shop. The next day, she had moved her babies out of the box to a spot right outside the back door of the costume shop. When I walked out that day and saw her, her kittens tucked under her body, I caved. They were so exposed, I couldn't possibly leave them there, and I couldn't take them to the pound for fear they would all be euthanized. I gathered them up and took them home. A volunteer at the theatre loaned us a large animal cage. I cleaned out my sewing room and settled the kittens into a blanket in the bottom of the cage, and then put their momma in with them. She stretched out as they climbed on top of her to feed, and she looked extremely relaxed and satisfied! I think she knew that now they were safe from the elements and from predators. They had a chance.

We decided to call Momma, well, Momma. We nicknamed the kittens, thinking that this tactic would make us impervious to the desire to keep them all. We already had two cats. Abraham is about seven years old now, and Lilly (we always just call her Kitty) is about 4 years old. We didn't necessarily need another one, but for the briefest of moments we entertained keeping two of the kittens. That delusion disspelled as they got bigger and more active. Banshee was all grey, the only girl, and earned her nicknamed for obvious reasons. Tough Guy was a tuxedo cat, and the most outgoing and fearless - he did everything first. Got out of the open cage door on his own, climbed us, etc. Scrappy was all black like his Momma and the runt of the liter. Last, but never ever least in my heart, was another tuxedo cat. He looked at me one day, his little head bobbling on top of his tiny body and told me his name was Sweetface. And he was.

As the kittens grew to the age of weening, we starting looking for homes for them. Momma was spayed and went to a loving owner. Banshee was the first kitten to go, and Scrappy was spoken for next. That Guy was drawn to Tough Guy more, but saw how attached I was to my Sweetface, so he conceded to me. Sweetface was renamed Remus. That is how this handsome baby boy came into my life. This past Sunday afternoon, we had to say goodbye to him very suddenly and unexpectedly. I have never had to make this kind of a decision before and was shaken to suddenly find myself in that situation that all pet owners dread. Is it better to treat a sick animal that might not make it? Was it right to make him suffer, perhaps needlessly, simply because you don't want to let them go? This was the decision that we were faced with.

None of the cats have ever been sick, and I didn't realize that when they do get sick, they don't really do anything to let you know until they are very sick. Remus had been sick for at the very least several days, and his infection may have begun even before that, but with three cats, the water bowl is always being emptied and the liter box always has urine in it. We just didn't notice that the water wasn't perhaps being drank as quickly, or that there weren't as many urine clumps as usual.

We were getting ready to go for a hike when we discovered him lying in the bathtub, and immediately knew that something was wrong. He was listless when I picked him up, and he lay in my arms for the next 20 minutes while we made a few phone calls and got ready to take him to the emergency vet clinic. I feel sad for him now that he was distressed on the way there - the only time he meowed during the entire experience. This was troubling to me since he has always been such a talker. Despite his behavior though, at this point we both thought that he would be okay. Maybe he was dehydrated from being constipated or had a slight kidney infection. Either way, we would get to the vet, they would check him out, tell us what needed to happen, and we would say okay and take a deep breath before we looked at the bill. What we didn't know was that our lives were going to change when we got into that exam room.

We were at the clinic for about 4 hours. They were really fantastic. They gave us all the time we could have wished for to make the awful decision to say goodbye to him. He had a blocked bladder, which is common in male cats and can be a reoccuring disease called FUS - feline urinary syndrome. The way I understand it, when some male cats get a bladder infection, their body can't fight it off. As the infection worsens, blockage forms that prevents them from being able to urinate. Eventually, they stop drinking water as well and become dehydrated, and they get very sick, very fast. It goes without saying that this is very painful. It is this thought that pains me the most - that my baby boy was suffering and I didn't know. How could I not know? I know that unlike us they can't tell you "I'm sick, I'm in pain, and I need help," but as I grieve for this loss I can't help but wonder "what if?" and feel badly.

The only treatment option for him at that point was surgery. If you are a pet owner and have ever been in this situation, you know what I am about to say. The estimate was shocking. We knew it would be a lot, but we had no idea it would be as high as it was. Without going in to details, it would have wiped out our savings and we would have needed to apply for the credit plan. That Guy asked the tough questions. Could he get sick from this again? Yes, it was likely that with any future bladder infections this would reoccur. With the surgery, would he have a full recovery? Possibly. Possibly? When their little bodies are so sick, treatment is no guarantee, especially in this case. They would need to keep him no less then three days, possibly more.

*That Guy just called me to tell me he talked with his brother. He had the exact same thing happen with a young male cat of his. He had said yes to the surgery. His cat didn't recover and the vet wanted to do another surgery - one that essentially turns the cat into a girl. At this point, he said no. The cat had suffered enough. The vet refused to euthanize his cat, and the poor animal died a horrible, painful death. I can't say that this makes me feel better about losing Remus. On the contrary, I feel terribly for Todd and his cat! But it does help me feel better about our decision. He said that letting him go was the most humane thing we could have done for him to prevent him from a future of unnecessary suffering. And I can't help but wonder, if when we found him, if he was at the point that he knew he was dying, would he understand if we put him through surgery and he suffered needlessly? It would have been selfish of us. I would like to think that he was aware, in those last painful hours, that we were with him, that we helped to make him more comfortable, and eased his suffering.

I am sorry that we had to take him out of his home only to find that he couldn't come back with us alive and well. I can say that the vet staff was fantastic though. Even as we were struggling with the decision, they reassured us that they were doing what they could to make him comfortable. They put in a catheter to try and release some of the blockage and urine to relieve some pressure on his bladder (some blockage did come out, but the surgery would ensure all of it was removed, relieve the bladder of infected urine, and they would flush it out to try and eradicate the infection that started it all). They had him on an IV to rehydrate him, and they had given him a pain killer. They told us so many times to take as much time as we needed. They went over every option and they were honest about his chances of survival. They even reworked an estimate in the event that we wanted to keep him there overnight and transfer him to a day clinic (less expensive) for the surgery, but then again, he might not make it through the night. I really didn't want to let him go, and I seriously considered going through with the surgery. I didn't want it to be about the money. But deep down, I knew that it wasn't. I knew it would be selfish to ask him to suffer just so I might be able to hold on to the hope that he would be okay.

I looked at That Guy and asked him, if it were only him making the decision, would he arrive at the same choice I was arriving at? He said he would, absolutely. I asked him, if I wanted to do the surgery, would he go along with me? He said again, he would, absolutely. The fact that he would support my decision, regardless of the cost, regardless of the distinct possibility that Remus might not survive, might not recover, might get sick again, might suffer needlessly, made it clear to me. If That Guy was unselfish enough to go through with the surgery, then I needed to be unselfish enough to do what was right and humane, and say goodbye to my baby boy. My only other moment of weakness occurred when they brought him back into us. He was still listless in my arms, he did not meow, but he did slowly wave his long tail back and forth. He was at least comfortable from the pain killers. I asked That Guy to get one of the Vet Techs. I told her that I needed to her from her that he couldn't get better on his own, and that relieving him of his pain was the right and humane thing to do. She assured me it was. He couldn't go home at this point. His kidneys would shut down and he would die very painfully. She told us again, spend as much time with him as you need to with him.

We had found him in lying in the bathtub a little before 2pm. Sometime after 5pm, I held him in my arms and together we told him that we loved him, we were sorry that we didn't know he was getting so sick, that he had been a wonderful cat, and we were eternally grateful for the time that he had shared with us and the love he gave us. We told him we will always remember him. The vet came in and explained what might happen when he was given the injection. He took a few deep breaths, and then he was gone. I closed his eyes for him. We took him home and buried him on the side of the house. We are going to plant a bush there so that we can see him again, a part of the cycle of life on this earth, and so that we might take the bush along with us one day if we leave the house for a new one.

In life, Remus was a comfort and a blessing. He had a long body and an even longer tail. To me, he was about as devastatingly handsome as a cat can be. He was a high energy kitten who kept the other two cats on their toes, and a moody teenager prone to what seemed like impossibly long naps! He and Abe would often have sessions in which they groomed each others heads, which then somehow led to them tussling. I think Remus was always in love with Kitty, even though she didn't seem to reciprocate it, but rather merely tolerated his attentions. His long tail curled back and forth in the form of a question mark. He had a way of asking a question with his meow. At night, when we went to the bedroom, he would meow from the front room, "Where are you?" and come running in to jump on the bed after we said, "In here!" He loved to snuggle in between us, bury his head in one of our sides, and knead the blanket with his paws. He loved to claw the sides of That Guys amplifier, and he let him do it. And as you can see here, he loved to gaze out the front screen door and the windows. On the two occasions he got outside, he quickly tired of his adventure and meowed until I found him. I will always be a little heartbroken to have lost this wonderful creature, but I am so happy to have spent the time with him that I did, to have loved him, and to have had his love in return. Rest in peace, Remus. You will live on in our hearts.

All the pretty things...

2007-08-31T16:18:00.000-07:00

While it may appear that all I did this summer was travel, hike, and work, I did actually accomplish some knitting. While I was in Santa Fe I decided that I would only knit for myself. You may remember from an earlier summer post that I completed the Bonsai Tunic from the Spring Issue of IK. I also knit Coachella from Knitty. I think the yarn called for in the pattern is something like Berroco Suede. This sounded way to warm for Texas. I swatched Euroflax Linen, wet-spun, worsted weight, and got the correct stitch gauge. I did have to keep an eye on my row gauge, but otherwise this was an enjoyable knit. I haven't had a chance to wear it yet, mainly because I didn't have an appropriate bra.

Just the other night I purchased one that should work though. I really like the drape on the linen, and I am looking forward to how it will soften up in future launderings.

On the sock front are these autumn inspired socks. My basic sock pattern in Koigu KPPPM, long forgotten colorway. I remember purchasing this yarn last spring in Houston at Yarns 2 Ewe. I convinced the classmates I was daytripping there with to please please please give me 20 minutes just so I could buy some Koigu! Hill Country Weavers does carry it, but unfortunately they do not get as many colorways.

For some time I didn't fully understand the vast differences in sock yarn weights and qualities. For example, Lorna's Laces and Koigu are so different from one another in their properties. Koigu has a lot of sproinginess to it as well as fantastic color palettes. Lorna's Laces is slicker and has more drape to it, and it is soft in its own way. I know some people do not prefer the lightning bolt pooling effect of the LL colorways - I myself am quite fond of it. I like both of these yarns for different reasons. I've also knit with Trekking, Nature's Palette, Claudia's Handpaints, and various others. I have two beautiful skeins of Schaffer Anne - which I hesitate to knit only because they are so luscious I cannot imagine either or the two possible scenarios upon completion. 1) Wearing such lovely creations on my feet, or 2) gifting them to someone else so they can wear them on their feet! I may have to knit a stole or shawl or something that will receive less wear and tear.

I have to apologize for the bad indoor lighting/flash of the previous two pictures. Although the rain has been greatly reduced since I returned to Austin, we are still getting more of it than usual for this time of year. Thus, crappy indoor lighting. Today was a lovely sunny afternoon however, so I was able to snap a picture of this pair of socks in a bush outside the costume shop at school. I warned the friend that I was with before I behaved so ridiculously. These socks are for my friend and colleague Christina. She got into the sock queue for a recent favor, and because she has tiny feet. The more solid purple is a single skein of Nature's Palette, and the blue/purple colorway is some leftover Claudia handpaints from my Charlotte's Web shawl. I haven't ever done a sock with two yarns before. These were fun and Christina was very happy with them. I have already cast on my next pair as Christina has commissioned me to make them for her mother's birthday.

In other projects, I am back onto the Adamas shawl that I am knitting out of Jaeger Alpaca 4-ply for my big sis's Christmas/birthday/Christmas present. I have determined that if I knit 10 rows each week until Christmas I can finish it. That is if I do all 10 repeats of the body chart. If I decide to make it slightly smaller than I suppose we are talking about 8 rows per week. The sad thing is I don't know if I can finish it even at that rate! Why? Here is my schedule each week this fall for grad school.

Drawing Lab: 4 hours
Costume Shop TA Appointment: 12 hours
Textile/Apparel TA Positon: 10 hours
Class Hours: 9
Production Assignment: average 10 hours
Homework: ???

I could make a fun pun hear along the Mastercard slogan, as in, "An MFA from a top ten university: Priceless." However priceless it may be though, it has come at the cost of said university tuition and fees, my sanity at times, the stability of my relationship, and so much more. Don't get me wrong, this is right where I want to be. Also, I'm much more prepared for this second year. I'm much more at ease and don't feel nearly as overwhelmed. For anyone that had an intense undergrad program, or has attended at demanding grad program, you know what I'm talking about. You just have to really want it in order to pull through.

With that said, I am going to enjoy the Labor Day weekend, and I hope you do too!
Tschuss!

Wisconsin and Chicago fun

2007-08-15T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the news from Wisconsin and the Windy City! I started out by flying into O'Hare and then took the eLtrain, a bus, and the Metra to get to Elburn, IL. My mom is not a fan of Chicago traffic, and since she was going to be the driver on this trip, I was happy to oblidge. I arrived in Elburn about noon and we then made our way up to central Wisconsin where my sister and her family live. There I finally got to meet my niece, Elsa, who is already six months old! Isn't she a doll? I think so. People tell my second sis all the time that she looks like the Gerber baby.

On these Wisconsin trips we always spend at least one evening at the farm. My sis's mother-in-law owns and runs a beautiful bed and breakfast in LaValle, WI called September Farms. If you, your friends, or family are ever in central Wisconsin I definitely recommend it to you. There is usually some livestock about along with some horses, rabbits, and a friendly dog and cat named Lucky and Mindy. It is not far from the Wisconsin Dells and sits right on the 400 Trail and a river, so there is access to hiking, biking, canoeing and kayaking. Lynn is also a good cook so you will eat well while you are there. All of the jellies, jams, and most of the veggies you would eat there also came right out of the garden, and kids are welcome. Now that I'm done with my plug (not kidding though, it is a really great place) we can get on to this picture of my precocious two year old nephew AJ. It kills me how aware kids are of cameras nowadays. Whenever he sees that little light come on he screws his face up into his version of a smile. It's sort of devilish. He's getting so big! He is talking so much, some of which you can understand and some of it is his own language. Regardless, he can say speak 3-5 word sentences, which I think is pretty good for his age. He also gets the concept of who his relatives are now. Since I don't see them very often, usually two times a year, he used to always look at me like, "Hmmm. You kind of look like my mom, and you kind of sound like my mom, but you are definitely not my mom." Now I am Aunt Sarah. Awesome.
My brother drove up to Chicago on Sunday to meet my mom and I at the IKEA. They have been renovating my granny's old house and needed to pick out a sink. It was nice to get a chance to visit with him, although it was all to brief. Just when he needed to take off, my friend Renee arrived with her younger daughter, Eva. You have often seen the older daughter, Lauryn, on my blog, although I know Eva has made a few appearances. Lauryn was busy camping with her uncle. That girl is ten years old and I swear she has a busier social life than I do! Anyway, us girls ran around downtown after my mom departed for Indiana. It was also an all to brief visit, but fun nonetheless. I'm lucky (and thankful!) that my friends and family liked me enough to travel the three to four hours (double that round trip) to Chicago to see me this go around. Around the Christmas holiday I will make all their lives easier by flying directly home to Indiana instead. My oldest sister is crazy busy with a recent job promotion, so I'll have to wait to see her until the holidays.

I also got to see my great friends Heath and Rebekah, again, all to briefly. They generously make space in their lives when I need a place to crash in Chicago, as I did Sunday night. They are both theatre friends and I love to hear about their lives in the Chicago scene. I did it for only two years and they do it all the time. Rebekah had an audition the next morning. Cross your fingers for her! I didn't take any pics of them, but as it was late evening I am sure they probably didn't want me to take one anyway! Rebekah is also a fiber friend though, so she appeared last August on the blog.

There was knitting. There was even spinning! But there are, as of this moment, no pictures of said knitting or spinning. The camera battery needs to recharge first. Then I will share some of what I have accomplished lately.

Tschuss.

Back home in Austin!

2007-08-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

Going to visit my sis in Wisconsin tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to catching up with my friends and entering my stash on Ravelry when I get back. Tschuss!

Bonsai and Apollo

2007-07-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

Greetings all! Things are starting to wrap up here in Santa Fe. The second to last opera of the season, Tea: A Mirror of the Soul, by composer Tan Dun, is in first dress tonight. It will open this Saturday. The last opera, Platee, will begin dress rehearsals next monday and open on Sat., July 28th. The last day of my contract! I have been having a great time , have met a lot of wonderful people that I will keep in touch with, and have honed my tailoring skills and learned new ones. With that said, I am definitely looking forward to getting back to Austin! I miss my friends, That Guy, and my cats! It also means that I only have four weeks until classes start. During that time the only thing I have planned so far is to visit my sister in Wisconsin so I can see my niece and nephew. My nephew is two years old now, and I haven't even met my niece yet, who was born back in February!

I have managed to finish one top this summer - the Bonsai Tunic from the Spring Interweave Knits. I did a bonehead thing - I read through my pattern one night after hiking all day and overlooked an instruction. Confused and convinced I was unable to move forward, I emailed the magazine. Not only did they respond to me within that same day, they were also kind in pointing out to me that the instructions I was looking for was AT THE VERY TOP OF THE PATTERN. Duh! So, never heisitate to email them with questions - they are prompt AND nice.

I did make some modifications. I used 2nd Time Around Cotton instead of the called for yarn, and I knew I didn't have the required yardage. No matter, because the length that is pictured would hit me at the widest point of my hips, so I didn't mind making it a bit shorter. Also, I am a hippy gal, so I still cast on the number of stitches called for and simply did the decreases more frequently than called for. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I have received many compliments on it in the costume shop. I even was asked to do a workshop next week with another opera shop staffer!
Opera picture! This is the coat that I built for the character of Apollo in the opera Daphne. It's caramel colored leather with a gold sort of glaze finish to it. When we work on projects of this size we are often doing so facing a deadline (fittings and dress rehearsals, not to mention openings night!) so often more than one person works on it at once. So when I say I made it, it does mean that someone else made the pattern and cut it out. Then it gets handed off to a primary stitcher (in this case, me). Other stitchers or even a first hand might jump in to move things along in order to finish on deadline. For this coat, the other stitcher on our team, Brian, put together the lining pieces and the sleeves, and one of the first hands, Rolf, helped with putting in the coat fronts (the inner linings that gives the coat structure). But I get to take credit for the pockets, setting in the sleeves, and the collar, along with the piecing of the coat body.
What I'm getting at is that the coat is pretty sweet and I'm proud of my work on it.
Tschuss!

2007-06-19T20:18:00.001-07:00

I forgot that I had uploaded these photos last week! These are from the previous Sunday, not yesterday. A group of us went hiking at Bandalier National Monument. There is an ancient cliff dwelling and reconstructed kiva (an underground space for religious ceremonies) that you reach by climbing a series of ladders and steps. It was a hot day! This picture is on the way to the dwelling.

This picture is looking up from one of the landings on the climb up to the dwelling. This is the cliff that overhangs where the dwelling once was. Now, these dwellings are west of the visitor center at Bandelier, and the waterfall pictured below was towards the east of the center.

As far as my knitting goes, I actually finished the Bonsai Tunic from the Spring Interweave Knits issue. I promise photos next time, but right now the cafe I am at is closing and I've got to go home!
Tschuss!

Hiking!

2007-06-11T19:31:00.001-07:00

One of the activities that I looked forward to in Santa Fe this summer was hiking. Just as it didn't take long to find the knitters amongst my colleagues, it took only a week to discover the hikers. Yesterday we drove up to the Ski Basin and hiked 8 miles round trip to the Puerto Nambe Meadow and back. It was a gorgeous day, not to hot or cold. For the most part there was not a cloud in the sky. The first part of the hike was the most difficult, boasting a steep ascent that made me question whether I had enough water on me.

Santa Fe itself sits around 7,000 feet above sea level. The Ski Basin sits higher, and our hike took us to somewhere just under approximately 12,ooo feet. I'm hoping to have a greater lung capacity when I return to Austin!

Once we reached the meadow we rested and lunched. One of the other hikers noticed a slip of the moon visible in the afternoon sky. It's faint, but you should be able to spot it in this picture. I love my camera - many thanks to my mom and dad who so wisely choose it!

See how nicely the macro setting works? I'm thinking of playing around with some dyeing of yarnstuff at the end of the summer. Wouldn't this make up a nice colorway? This was growing on a tree trunk and seemed to be some sort of parasite.

After we hiked we stopped in at a spa on the way back to town called Ten Thousand Waves to soak in the hot baths, saunas, and reenergize in the cold dip. No pictures of that, sorry. It was absolutely delightful though, and my sore muscles thanked me, both yesterday and today. The women in our group decided against the communal bath in favor of the more private women's bath. Dress is optional, and apparently the men in the communal bath take that to heart. We stuck with swimsuits.

In knitting, I have nearly finished the first of another pair of socks, knit out of Lorna's Laces in a colorway that is all purples and fuschia. And they are for me. I don't know what has gotten in to me lately, but purple has crept in to my color world. As for the pink, I don't know what to tell you. I'm going to blame it on my exposure to it through my friends Amanda and Noelle. My resistence has broken down. No bubblegum pink though. It is absolutely banned - with the exception of the Manhands band tank top, of course. It's just to much fun.

Tschuss!

Notes from Santa Fe

2007-06-02T13:39:00.001-07:00

So the images in this post are in reverse chronology. Here is a pair of socks, one done and the other in progress. Thanks to "Safety Day" training at the Opera, the second sock is finished! Are you excited Jamie? I'll be in touch on where to send these.

That Guy and I took this picture on a roof top bar in Santa Fe, my temporary abode for the next two months. It is spectacular here! I found an excellent jogging route that has great views. My roommates are both very cool and fun, and the team I work on at the opera is great. It will be a very good summer. I can't explain to you fully, after this first year of grad school, how nice it is to be working and earning money. We had a great trip to SF, camping and seeing the Carlsbad Caverns, Taos, and SF (of course). It was good for him to see where I was going to be spending my time. The opera itself is an entire complex. There are something like 700 employees in all while they are in production during the summer. Singers, administrators, technicians, stage managers, you name it, we are all here. There is a Cantina if you don't want to bring your lunch everyday (it is several miles away from downtown SF) and a pool. You can bet I'll be swimming when the temps start to climb.

The Carlsbad Caverns were the first place we visited. They are sooooooooo vast inside. This is the view from the Entrance Trail, looking back up and out to the sky. From here we spent more than two hours underground. It was a little overwhelming, kind of like the House on the Rock. If you have been there, you know what I mean! Our campground was at Brantley Lake State Park. It was on a plateau. In the middle of the Chihuahan Desert. Thunderstorms were in the forecast the second night we were going to stay, so we beat a fast trail up to Santa Fe. This worked out better because it allowed us a full day in Taos, and a full day in SF.

Now that I am a little more settled in for the next two months, there is plenty to do. Work, yes of course, but other activities as well. There are several opera sponsored parties that the employees attend, and the employees like to hosts some themselves. It is tradition to frequent a particular Plaza bar on Tuesday nights ($2 beers, $2 for a dozen chicken wings, fantastic!). I'm still seeking out the hikers, but I've located several knitters. Yesterday I had the afternoon off, so I went in search of the local yarn shops. Wildly enough, they are all located around the Plaza area. However, they all carry different lines and types of yarn, so they aren't in competition with one another. I like them all! I purposefully did not take any money with me so that I wouldn't buy anything. I will allow myself a souviner skein or two, but I have plenty of yarn and I am trying to knit through some of my stash before I allow too many more purchases.

I'll keep ya'll posted!
Tschuss

As promised, FO's

2007-05-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

As promised from the previous post - some FO's. Okay, so this sock does not appear to be an FO, but trust me, it is now. See what I mean about this yarn? Very fun, very colorful and bright, but I don't wear much pink or yellow. Kim on the other hand does so yeah! They were a good match.

Okay, so this isn't a knitted item. But go back a few posts and you'll find a picture of me in a fitting for this costume. Here is the final product, minus the finishing closures. Just as a reminder, this costume was worn for four separate performances by four different dancers. Crazy. I've got some pictures of the multitude of closures and I'm considering a contest of sorts. More on that to come.

Kate the Cat with Britches! This little kitty made me laugh so much when I finished her. A friend's daughter was the recipient and from what I can tell she liked it. I used Lion Brand Cotton Ease. It was a fast knit and the Cotton Ease knit up nicely. No splitting, easy on the hands and wrist, and some great colors to choose from.

Tschuss!

One year down, two more to go...

2007-05-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

Ta da! Monday morning I took my last final. I have officially completed my first year of grad school. Only two more to go! The best part of it all? That Guy's custom suit is finished. And are you ready for this? I can't wait to make another one! I do want to make a really fantastic stylish coat for him. Something worthly of a band gig. I'm thinking midnight blue velvet and satin lapels. In the meantime though, I am consoled by how good he looks in this one! Notice all the exclamation marks in this post so far? That is a measure of how relieving it is to kiss this first year goodbye.

You can't tell in this picture, but the suit has thin blue/grey pinstripes. I am absolutely in love with the padding that goes into the coat fronts to give shape to the chest and shoulder. It came out so nice. What pleases me most is the fact that this chest of this coat really fits him, as it should. There isn't a ton of ease through the chest, which makes the coat very slimming.

I actually have a few FO's that I will post about when Blogger is cooperating. One is the baby blankie for my niece that I posted about a little while back. Another is the Kate the Cat with Britches pattern from Knitty.com, and I've also managed to finish two pair of socks! One was for a friend, Kim, who managed to work her way in to the sock cue by offering to pay for the yarn. She also has small feet so I figured why the heck not. Add to this the fact that she chose sock yarn from my stash that I knew I would never wear on my own feet and it was a slam dunk.

I am trying to finish up some hours on a database project this week. It is tedious. The only thing making it tolerable is the fact that it is a costume image database and I will be paid for it. It is infringing on my time left to pack for my 9 week contract in Santa Fe, not to mention plan the trip out there with That Guy and decide what activities and things we want to try and see in Santa Fe while he is there with me the first week. I'm very excited, but I am having AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! moments. Ah well, it's to be expected.

Tschuss.

New Works Festival & The Knot

2007-04-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, sorry for being MIA. The Spring semester is wrapping up so everything is barreling downhill towards finals at this point. Add to this the fun that is the New Works Festival I have way too much on my plate. Every two years the Dept. of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas at Austin puts on the New Works Festival. This year there are 29 productions, spearheaded by students, showing in a number of venues in the theatre building, for an entire week. There have been numerous workshops with guest artists as well. And you know me, I just can't help getting involved. I designed, draped, and constructed the three costumes pictured here for a dance piece titled, "The Knot." (I did have a considerable amount of construction help from the director/choreographer, Julie).
From the festival program, The Knot is, "A dance advancing 'the dream of the protection that is closest to us' - an investigation in movement of the geometry and origins of our everyday garments." For a costume technician /designer it was a chance to let my mind for technical sewing/embellishment go wild. It is difficult to see here, but there are pintucks, inverted darts, smocking, and quilting techniques incorporated into the bodices. I had a great time collaborating on this project.

On another note though, I am glad to have this under my belt and move on to the three other big projects that have to be done before the semester is over! After finals wrap up, I'll have two weeks off before going to the Santa Fe Opera to work as a stitcher on the tailoring team. I'm so thrilled! That Guy is going to be making a job transition at that time, so he is going to allow for a couple of weeks off to come along for a weeks visit. We will head out before my contract starts to do some camping and hiking along the way. It will be such a comfort to me to have him there during the first week. I've never done what we in the theatre industry call "summer stock" before. Summer stock theatre and opera companies only produce during the summer months. This means that your contract is for anywhere between 6-12 weeks in length (mine will be 8 weeks, That Guy will probably visit at least one other weekend while I'm there, maybe two - we'll decide on that later). You pretty much work the entire time and you may or may not make a nice chunk of change. I will do well enough to work just those two months. For the third month I may pick up something here or there, but if I watch my spending I won't have to. Love it!

As for knitting, sorry folks. Not much in that department right now. There's the ongoing sock and the baby blankie. But never fear! I plan on knitting an obscence amount this summer!

Tschuss!

Back from break

2007-03-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

Over Spring Break we did a massive rearrange/reorganization. Actually, we really just finished moving in! We couldn't get in to our slanty little house until the weekend after grad school started, and naturally I already had a ton of homework. As a result, we never really got settled in. I constructed this set of shelves for That Guy's keyboards and other music related equipment/accessories. Sort of a late birthday/christmas present (seeing as I was broke at the end of last semester, I didn't get him anything really fantastic at the time.) I called on my past scenography skills and busted out the scale ruler to draft up a plan and figure out how many 4X8 ft. panels of three-quarter inch plywood and lauan I would need. Then, the nice folks at the Home Depot cut my pieces for me and I wrestled them together and painted them. I'm happy with how it came out although I couldn't get all my edges as flush as I wanted them. You can't tell with it painted though. It works just fine for how little it cost.

That Guy concocted a plan for green beer on St. Paddy's Day and we made a fire later - fun fun.

I managed to capture this really sweet picture of Kitty (actually named Lilly, but we've always just called her Kitty - I don't even think she knows her real name anymore). She is most definitely That Guys cat. I swear the look on her face here is, "Back off lady, he's mine!"

What's happening...

2007-03-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

So much! Life has been a little topsy turvy of late but ultimately the things that are happening are necessary and for the best. In many ways, things are better now than they were before. I'm learning more about myself and growing as a result of it, so all in all things are good.

This semester is better also. I knew that last fall would be crazy intense, but it's only now that I'm realizing how crazy it was. I've adjusted so this semester is better. I find that I have more time for myself. You might think that this would mean more knitting. Not so. It actually means that I have enough time to do all the other things that I let go last semester. Like doing my laundry on a regular basis (and not just when I need clean underwear), washing the dishes, cleaning the cat box, practicing yoga, jogging, reading, and reconnecting with That Guy. As far as knitting goes, most of my sock knitting takes place in a class I have at 8am. Don't worry, I'm still taking notes and paying attention, but this class is a bit torturous. It's a class that is mostly review for me AND predominantly slides. This means that at 8am I'm sitting in a dark room looking at slides. If I didn't knit I would fall asleep!

There is a shawl that I periodically work on for my big sis, but it requires a certain amount of time in each sitting, so I save it for when I know I have a chunk of time to devote to it. Thankfully she gave me an open ended deadline on it! Still, I hope to have it done before cold weather hits next fall. Seeing as it is a black shawl, you may be wondering what I'm knitting in the above photo. You see, I was too anxious about my 2nd sis's baby to knit anything for it until it was born. My niece was born at home with a midwife, so they didn't know until then whether she was a she! We all wanted it to be a girl, but my brother-in-law's family had been producing boys for something like 18 years, so I was loathe to jinx it by knitting something pink, but I didn't want to knit anything yellow or green. Now that Elsa has joined us though, I am free to knit as I please. These pieces will go into a baby blanket composed of rectangles of various shades of pink, a very pale green, and some purple to sew it together and knit a border. I'm knitting it out of a Classic Elite yarn that is a cotton/tencel blend - the tencel makes it super soft!

Tschuss!

Corner Mockup Fitting

2007-02-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

A peek into the fitting room! Here I am conducting a mockup fitting for a costume I am draping for a solo dance performance called Corner here at UT. In a unique twist, this costume has to fit not one, but four different dancers. They are relatively close in size, but when you are custom fitting something it really ends up fitting each person totally differently.

When you are fitting a mockup, you don't use the actual fabric that the costume will be built out of. Instead, you use a cheaper alternative, focusing on something that has a similar drape, or hand, to what you will be using. You don't want to use a heavy tablecloth type of cotton for a chiffon dress. The pants will be a deep navy blue, almost black, with a grey panel set in the front of the left leg. The blouse will be white.

One of the challenges of draping the blouse was the asymmetrical collar. One side stands up and out, and the other falls down almost flat on the collarbone. It took some fiddling, but I'm happy with the one pictured here (probably my fourth attempt at it).

In knitting I have begun a new sock, but there has been little time for anything else.

Tschuss!

Fingerless Mitts

2007-02-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

A pair of fingerless mitts that I gifted to a costume shop friend as her Secret Santa. At the time it was still rather warm outside and they seemed a little much, but now that we are into the Austin winter they are serving her well. This is a pattern of my own devising, knit from a single skein of Noro Silk Garden. I didn't worry about the fact that they wouldn't match because she loves funky color, these colors in particular.

Tschuss!

Sunset Pic

2007-02-13T20:19:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot I took this picture. While talking on the phone two or so weeks ago with my stellar friend, Noelle, she told me I must go outside to see the sunset. I'm always looking for the occasional reason to escape the costume shop. On this occasion I was handsomely rewarded.

Tschuss.

A Niece

2007-02-09T16:20:00.000-08:00

I am now an aunt to not only my adorable nephew AJ, but last night my 2nd sister way up north and her husband welcomed Elsa Lynn into their family. She is a healthy 8 lbs and 1 oz, and came out with one hand on top of her head, just like her big brother. Within a half hour she was sucking her thumb. It was a natural birth at home with a highly trained midwife, something that my sister wanted very much to do.

Oh happy day!
Tschuss!

Mackie Rules!

2007-02-02T09:36:00.000-08:00

Yeah! I figured out how to get my vertical pictures uploaded, well, vertical. When I download photos off my camera onto Mackie, they go directly to iPhoto. I can rotate them into an upright position, but they still didn't import that way into Blogger. It turned out if I exported them into the Pictures files, then they upload correctly. I knew there had to be a way. Anyway, I like this picture because I was able to take it on a day in which it was relatively sunny. Right now it's quite chilly in Austin so I'm glad I finished this hat in time to wear it. It's a comfy, snug fit.

I couldn't resist this next shot!

Mackie Rules! A quartet of MacBooks graced a table in the UT Costume Shop today. It makes me happy.

Tschuss!

Odd Ball Post

2007-01-28T16:05:00.000-08:00

This is a bit of an odd-ball post. The semester is ramping up so I will be sharing some of the work I'm doing. My classes this spring: Tailoring II. We make the coat to go with our vest and trousers. Culture, Gender, and Appearance - this is really Fashion/Costume History. It's over in the the Textiles/Fashion Department. Technical Production - this is a credit that I receive for working on a show-related costume. This semester I'm draping a costume for a dance piece called "Corner." The unique challange in this will be fitting one costume on four different dancers - with different shaped bodies.

The class that will explain the first and second photos in this post is Wig Making. For years I've had cast members asking me, "What is my hair going to be like?" My internal response always being, "I don't do hair - and I don't care!" That response came from my lack of experience more than dislike. Our first assignment in wigs is practicing the technique of venhilating hair into wig lace. It's similar to crochet or latch hooking rugs, so it's an easy crossover for me. These are four one inch squares of different types of hair and wig lace. Aren't they totally creepy?!!!

Abraham thinks they are.

And finally...knitting content. This is a scarf I made while cooped up during the infamous Ice Storm 2007! It is some Wool in the Woods boucle that I picked up at a shop in Oak Park, IL when it was closing (so sad). I alternated some other stash yarns into it so that I could maximize the yardage. I knit a bias garter stitch with something like 26 sts, and ended it with some crocheted loops of varying lengths. I also edged it with a double crochet once around. The hat is Grumperina's Odessa pattern which you can find for free over on MagKnits. It knits up from one ball of Rowen Cashsoft DK and is an easy, fast knit.

Okay, can anyone that has switched over to the new blogger tell me why my vertical shots won't download to blogger vertical? Or let me edit them once they are downloaded? If you shed some light I'd appreciate it. However, I'm thinking of switching to a different blog host.

Tschuss.

Schaffer Anne

2007-01-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

Feast your eyes on the delicious Schafer Anne yarn that I received via a swap of sorts from Kelly at Kelp!. If you haven't checked out her site you ought to. She takes really great pictures of her work - very good light in them. Not like mine. I have little patience when photographing. I'll have to work on that because this photo doesn't do the Anne justice.

Anyway, Kelly has been working on an Asymmetrical Cardigan from Knitting Nature in Malabrigo (I'm astounded at the rate she cranks things out). I too love love love the Malabrigo and have accumulated three skeins intended for a shibori knitting project. She lamented the possibility of being a skein short so I offered to check an Indiana knit shop if she could send me a swatch. For those of you with Malabrigo experience, you know how varied the kettle dyed skeins can be, even those belonging to the same colorway. She was only finding darker ranges than what the project consisted of, but Cass Street Depot turned up as close a match as I could have hoped for. For my efforts I have been handsomely rewarded with this amazing colorway of Anne, of which I am currently very enamored with. Anne is not available locally, so it is rather precious to me. I'm on the hunt for a fantastic lace stole that will show it to it's greatest advantage. If anyone has any personal faves let me know.

The experience of this exchange reinforces some things about the bond shared by Knitters. As much as we want to hoard all the yarn for ourselves, we also delight in assisting a fellow Knitter in the search for yarn. In the same vein, we enjoy giving yarn to a fellow Knitter, since we know they will appreciate it for it's squooshy goodness and knitting potential. It can't hurt to have good fiber kharma!

Tschuss!

Burrrrrrrrr!

2007-01-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

A sock for me! This picture does not do the colorway justice. It has much more tan in it than appears here. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock. Tomorrow I will post a pic of some beautimous yarn that I received in the mail yesterday from Kelly at Kelp!

It is fantastic and yes, not something I can get locally.

As promised...an obligatory icycle photo from Austin's two and a half day ice storm. That's leftover mistletoe in the foreground.

Tschuss!

Back to the grind...

2007-01-18T15:32:00.000-08:00

I was quite busy as soon as I returned from Indiana. I cut and constructed two dresses for a production of "Present Laughter" at the Zach Scott Theatre here in Austin. Remus and Abe both like to lay behind the sewing machine when I work at home. Here is Remus looking rather content to rest his head in the opening of my dutiful Kenmore. I have an Elnita, a higher quality machine, but it is having some tension issues and needs a servicing. The Kenmore is always happy to get out and handles well. I'm lucky to have an extra to fall back on.

As for knitting content, this is a closeup shot of the poncho/capelet that my mom requested for Christmas. She intuitively wore a dark shirt underneath to show off the pattern. This is the third of these that I have made and I think it is the best of them. I used Jaegger DK Extrafine Merino that That Guy brought back from Ireland. It has much better stitch definition than what I used previously.

Today was my first day of classes - delayed by two and a half days due to a spectacular ice storm in central Texas. Normal fare for a midwestern girl but not for southerners. They simply don't have the equipment to deal with the ensuing road conditions. It made for two lovely days of being a bit of a shut in. Now it is back to the grind! I'll have some icy photos for you tomorrow.

Tschuss.

Garn und meine Neffe

2007-01-07T07:56:00.000-08:00

More pictures from my holiday vaca. These are from Wisconsin and were taken last week. This is not the yarn that I spun on my sister's wheel. No, mine was quite a bit more uneven as I was getting used to the feel of spinning. This was a merino roving that I got from an eBay purchase a year or so ago. She had only spun coarser fibers in the past so spinning this was a lot of fun for her.

The obligatory nephew photo! He's getting so big now and starting to talk more. When he first wakes up in the morning he has a sort of checklist he goes through. "Tow" (actually "cow" exept he hasn't got that "k" sound down yet), "moon," and "hair." They have taught him some baby sign language as well. Sometimes he signs and says the word together, which is pretty friggin' adorable! And when he notices the spinning wheel he says, "Mommy."

Tschuss.

Happy New Year indeed

2007-01-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of traveling since Dec. 27th. I flew to Indiana and then drove with my parents up to Wisconsin to visit with 2nd sister, the brother-in-law, and of course, the adorable nephew. On the way there mom and dad attended a wedding in the north Chicago suburbs while I visited a former favorite shop in Evanston, IL. Vogue Fabrics! I managed to do some damage to the wedding account by purchasing my dress fabric.

Once in Wisconsin I tried out my sister's wheel. Now I want one. I'll post some pics of what I spun, plied, and knit soon. In the meantime, here is one of the Christmas knits.

The always cute Lauryn models her hat. Pink and black yarn by Nashua, a mohair/wool blend. The white yarn is some old stash yarn. I learned in a roundabout way what happens when you carry one yarn under and the other over - one becomes dominant. In this case, the pink sits a little higher up than the black. The white also recesses a little. We like it though, and the pink spirals in as the decreases occur. The pattern is something I made up, although the twisted band that I began it with came from a book of folk hats that I copied out of years ago from the Evanston Public Library. They had a much better collection of knitting book than Austin has - I checked out several Elizabeth Zimmerman books there when I first started knitting.

More pics to come once I have more regular wi-fi access! I hope you all had a safe and happy new year.
Tschuss.

Real Men Knit trailer

2006-12-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen this trailer on YouTube go check it out. Real men do knit!

One down, five more to go...

2006-12-14T18:04:00.000-08:00

I had the last of my finals today. Millinery. Feast your eyes on the frothy silliness of the Romantic Period bonnet I made for the buckram construction project. Everyone in the class makes a bonnet. I decided from the get-go that I wanted to make a huge, foofy bonnet with bows and flowers. I ended up also doing ribbon embroidery on the brim. All the lace I liked with a large floral motif was upwards of $200, so ribbon embroidery seemed like a good substitute. Regardless of the time involved!
The configuration of the two large bows are the same as they were initially, but the ribbon and flower elements had to be shifted once I got to the final. Our instructor (also my grad advisor) has had experience in every area that he teaches, and millinery is no exception. I had arranged my decorative elements to reflect a particular visual reference from my research. However, those elements differed in texture from the reference, so it wasn't coming off the same way. So my advisor suggested taking everything off and rearranging them. I should have taken a picture of it before, but alas, I did not. All I can say is that this is much better and I am thrilled with it!
I will be draping two exquisite dresses for a local production over the break and finishing up some TA hours before I head back to the Midwest for some family holiday time. I do have knitting progress photos to catch up with for ya'll, so look for those in the next post.

One semester down. Five more to go. Hook 'em Horns!

Tschuss.

BEVO!

2006-12-08T14:17:00.000-08:00

Behold, the majesty of our mascot. Bevo, in the flesh!
BEVO!

Goings On...

2006-12-07T14:52:00.000-08:00

We have Secret Santas in the Costume Shop, so you know what that means! Secret Santa knitting. I have actually already knit a scarf to gift which is good because there is no way I'll finish this. It will eventually be fingerless gloves, but not until the end of next week at the earliest.

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Monday I enjoyed my Christmas present a little early. The Dixie Chicks were in town and I was in attendance thanks to the generosity of That Guy. Today is his Birthday - Happy Birthday baby!

I had a presentation last week in my Research Methods class. I used some comparison shots of That Guy. The first one here shows a profile view of him wearing a vest that came with one of his suits.

And this picture shows the profile of the vest that I am making him in tailoring! Fits a bit better, huh?

Just so I'm not bragging just on myself, take a gander at these beauties. A wonderfully talented and good friend, Julia, made these boots. MADE THEM PEOPLE! Every bit, uppers, lowers, all that stitching and soleing. It blows my mind how beautiful they are.

Prego sweater

2006-11-27T14:22:00.000-08:00

Guess what I finished over the holiday?
Momma Snug! No, not for me! For second sister in Wisconsin. Okay, so I sort of finished it. It is wearable, but as some of you may notice, it has become a short sleeved sweater. The original deadline for this project was the beginning of October. Then I started grad school and realized this expectation was pure folly. Undeterred, I set a new deadline of mid-November. Ha ha! I was purposefully ignoring the fact that the show I was working on opened at the same time. Silly Sarah. Enter the idea of making it a vest instead. There was one potential problem with that idea though. Without sleeves there would be nothing to stretch the ribbing out to the shoulder. It might draw up on itself. So I decided to do a little cap sleeve. I added the right and left twist cables to the sleeve edge to keep the design united. I used the same sleeve pattern, starting with a point just prior to the decreases for the armhole. I was worried that it wouldn't be cute with the short sleeves, but I like it. This way she can get a good two months of wear before the baby is due, and probably a couple of months after as well.
I love how long it is and how snug it fits the body! Second sister is taller than me but otherwise we have similar builds. I used Elann's Peruvian Wool and knit on US size 3 needles in order to get gauge. The pattern came from the Summer 2006 issue of Interweave Knits.

Second sister - I'll get it in the mail to you asap.

On the Christmas knitting front. I have finished my brother's hat and I'm about halfway through another hat. The second of Renee's socks is past the heel. I've started my mom's poncho and dad's scarf is 1/3 of the way done. I asked the first sister if she wanted a knit item as well. I'll talk about it when the yarn comes in.

Tschuss.

I am a survivor!

2006-11-19T20:47:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks!

As you can tell I made it through the rest of a very tough build period. There was one all-nighter involved in making it to first dress a week ago and endless finishing work, but we made it. Once I have a picture of the entire costume I will include a picture here. I learned so much during this process but I have not had time to put my finger on all the particulars. Since it is a man's costume I have now had a lot of practice in some of the techniques I've been doing in tailoring and many that I will be getting into next semester when we build the suit coat.

In addition to my job as first hand to a draper, I was also building a felt hat in millinery class for another character. We were shown the costume designer's renderings and given a choice of projects. Naturally, I picked one that I knew would be a challenge for me. I only get three years to draw as much knowledge out of my professors and colleagues so I have made a pledge to pick hard projects. I also might be a little crazy. This hat entailed stretching a separate brim and crown, then sewing the two together. The wool felt does not hold the shape entirely on its own. The edge is wired and the entire thing "sized." Hat sizing is similar to shellac. This hat needed to be very stiff, so I soaked the sizing through by brushing it on until saturated.
WaLa! I am very pleased with the way it turned out. More importantly, the designer is happy with it and it looks great on stage.

To celebrate the opening of the play this past Friday I decided to take some downtime this weekend to recuperate. Yesterday I met up with the South Austin Knitting Group where I managed to finish my brother's hat (picture in the next post). I knit on and off the rest of the day until I went with a friend to see HOLES, the other production at UT right now (yes, the Louis Sachar book/movie is also available as a play). The grad student that designed the costume for it also went to the same undergrad as me, although not at the same time. She did a spectacular job! Today the same friend and I went to see the Austin Lyric Opera production of Madame Butterfly. Even though I've worked for the opera in the past I had only ever seen final dress rehearsals. It was nice to be in the audience and we had great seats (thank you James). Now it's laundry time and tomorrow it's back to the grind for a few days. Although I won't be with my family for the holiday I will be with friends. That Guy has to work :( I hope you and yours have a great Turkey Day!

To whom it may concern: thanks to That Guy we both now have working cell phones - my number is the same.

Tschuss!

One sock finished!

2006-11-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy knitting socks. Turning the heel always makes me feel smart. This sock is always being photographed by Mackie's Photo Booth feature, and the colors are way off. Although the colorway is a vibrant blend of blues and greens, it is not, as these pictures might imply, glowing in a radioactive manner. I shared it with one of my colleagues in the costume shop today and they commented that from a distance the way the colors patterned out reminded them of the earth - the green pools in such a way as to suggest continents adrift in the ocean.

Enough with the waxing poetic. Last week was a doozy and this week is shaping up to be the same way. We had a final fitting last Friday so it was push push push to get done in time. I worked for a 13.5 hour block of time on it Thursday, starting at 4pm after classes ended. You can do the math on that one to figure out what time I hit the hay. I have to trick myself into thinking of it as one long day with a nap in the middle of it in order to keep going. Needless to say, I slept for 12 hours the next night.

This week we are finishing the costume for first dress on Saturday. In addition to that I've got to finish my felt hat as it is also a costume piece for the show, pull another hat because I can't keep my mouth shut (I actually volunteered to pull it for my friend as she isn't in the millinery class, she will do all the trimming. Brilliant!) and finish up a boatload of writing. I'm actually writing this as a way to avoid the writing I should be doing for class. Sometimes I have to take little breaks in order to make room in my head for other ideas. Or so I tell myself...

It is looking as though I probably won't make it to the Kid and Ewe Fiber Festival in Boerne. I'm hoping that will change because really, are there any other fiber festivals in Texas? How can I continue to feel complete without going to one?

Note to family and friends: my cell phone is not working and I'm not sure when I'll have time to sort that out. You can reach me at the home phone or via email if necessary.

Wish me luck! Or at least the mental and physical stamina to get through it all!
Tschuss!

Random Post

2006-10-28T17:17:00.000-07:00

For the knitters: a picture of the always cute nephew, AJ, wearing the sweater knit for him by his mommy. This is also a pic for Renee, who calls him "the German baby."
And for my mom - look! I'm using my applique scissors!

Tschuss!

There is knitting in grad school!

2006-10-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my nephew AJ wearing the sweater I knit for him. How cute is he?! I actually knit this back when he was just a bump in my 2nd sis's belly, but he can finally wear it now!
There has been creeping progress on three knitted items I am working on. Renee's sock #1 has passed the gusset decreases and is marching on towards the toe. I've been comissioned to knit a pair of delivery room socks after this pair is made. My friend Amy is due at the same time as my 2nd sister (yes, the same one I am knitting Momma Snug for). 2nd sis wore a pair of my handknit socks when my nephew was born and according to her they kept her feet nice and warm so I'd like to do the same for my friend. It happens to be a bonus that Amy has size 6 and a half feet - compared to the many other size 10 feet in my world (myself included!) they should be a breeze. I picked up some fun orange and pink sock yarn at Hill Country Weavers after the South Austin knitting meetup this morning at Cafe Caffeine. I meet several new knitters and got to see Kristin & Caro again.

Caro and I discussed Christine's fantabulous podcast, Pointy Sticks. If you haven't heard it yet do give it a listen. It is quite fun!

I've finished the front of Momma Snug and cast on the back. I am seriously considering making up some sort of cute cap sleeve for this sweater so that I can get it to 2nd sis sometime before she has this baby! The semester is only going to get more crazy and Wisconsin is just going to get colder. I think I could finish the front and back with cap sleeves by the end of November and send it to her. Then I could knit the sleeves by the time I go home over the holidays and maybe even sew them in while I'm home! In the meantime she can wear it as a vest over long sleeve shirts.

What do ya'll think?

The third item in progress is a hat for my brother - his Christmas present. I've actually knit a regular sort of stocking cap for him, but this one has a bill. I'm making it up as I go along and so far so good. Hopefully you can see in my sketches (souped up using Mackie's infrared effect in PhotoBooth) that I'm knitting it with a band for a double layer of thickness around the ears. I also got the idea that rather than using plastic canvas to stiffen the bill I simply went to the Goodwill and bought an existing cap. To make it a little more stylish I cut the brim so it isn't so deep. Then I made my gauge swatch and used knitter's chart paper to figure out the pattern for the bill. I will get to the point where I can insert the bill soon and then I'll post a picture. Right now it doesn't look like much.

On a very different note: I have a friend whose husband is in Iraq in command of a unit. Two of his men were killed this week. I don't know these people or their families, but my heart goes out to them.

Tschuss.

Goings on...

2006-10-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

Ta da! Welt pockets! These are my vest fronts for tailoring, complete with their handsome welt pockets. Note that I had to line up my pinstripes. Also note the dart under the bottom welts. This drew the pinstripes in ever so much which forced me to steam and skooch and press the welt until they lined up. I love wool!

A close up. So pretty.

And for your knitting enjoyment...a turned heel. I feel right smart this week! Highlights for today: I got to use a bansaw, a rotary sander, and a drill gun. Power tool high!

Tchuss!

Progress on Momma Snug!

2006-10-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have not yet figured out all the mysteries of Mackie yet, so I beg your forgiveness for this sideways photo of Momma Snug progress. Another student and I took an inpromptu car trip to Houston on Sunday to fabric shop for linings for tailoring class and bonnet fabric (sorry Kelp! - it was a quick turnaround trip so I decided not to bother you but we'll come again I promise). While this pretty much sucked up my Sunday (originally meant for laundry, reading, and knitting) I was the passenger so I got to knit. I made it through the short rows on the front and will close in on the neckline this weekend. I originally projected finishing this by the end of October, but it is probably more realistic to plan for mid-November. Sorry 2nd sis! I'm knitting as fast as I can, I just don't have as much time for it as I used to.
Here is one of the things that is eating up my time. This is the crown on my bonnet, cut out of double buckram and wired. The pins are holding bias tape in place that covers the wire in order to create a smooth edge. I've also got my brim put together and wired so now I'm moving on to covering it in this wonderful stuff called fleecy domite. It softens the shape and makes it nicer when you cover it in fabric.
This is the final paper version of my hat. It was the fourth attempt at the pattern. Creating the pattern for this bonnet was quite a challenge for me but I'm really happy with the results. Once I've got it covered with the domite I'll put a pic up.

The other time sucking class is tailoring, but I'm loving it. It's very precise but you just have to do exactly as instructed. I'll post on that another day.

My little brother turned 27 on Tuesday! Happy birthday Bro!
Tschuss.

Meet Mackie!

2006-09-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

I got a new toy! Okay, a crazy expensive new toy. Actually, it's not even a toy but a tool for grad school, especially the potential thesis project I'm looking at with another student. Anyway, I have acquired a MacBook Pro. I have named him Mackie. He and I are beginning a wonderful relationship. Just look how happy I am with his PhotoBooth feature with it's fun effects options! Who wouldn't be happy?

I'm surprised at the Mac/PC debate that is initiated by my open love for Mackie. Some profess their mutual admiration while others declare their detestation or confusion with him. I have to tell you something. I realize that Macs and PCs are different but to me, they seem to do the same things. The commands seem to be the same, just in different places. I had a Mac desktop at the theatre for a year and a half and a PC desktop at home and although I did experience confusion it wasn't with one or the other systems, but both equally.

Mackie wanted to show you the sock I've started. Mackie will probably show you all the knitting from now on as the digital camera is out of date for him. I'm thinking of getting a new one, but next semester. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport Superwash Wool in the Icehouse colorway. They are a Christmas present for my friend Renee. Don't worry, she knows she's getting them. I hope you like the colors Renee! I was happy to find this colorway in the Superwash due to a little mishap that took place in her household. I knit a stranded colorwork togue that ended up going home with her daughter, Lauryn, and it accidently found it's way into the wash. You all know what that means. The hat is now big enough for the Barbie doll to wear! It happens to all of us at some point in time - that or pink socks. Maybe I should knit a little strap and it could be a Barbie felted handbag.

There is progress on Momma Snug, but nothing worth showing at this point.

Have a great weekend!
Tschuss.

A post with no pictures

2006-09-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry! I will have some knitting progress pictures soon but grad school is keeping me busy so I've not been home except to sleep. That is not entirely true, I was home some over the weekend. We're still trying to get the last boxes unpacked though so I spent a good deal of time organizing space to put things away.

Enough with the boring! Sunday was my 30th birthday - Hooray! Friday night That Guy surprised me with a rented convertible to drive in the Hill Country and go to dinner. After eating a boatload of seafood I commented on how nice it was and what a perfect way to celebrate my birthday. Then he surprised me with my actual birthday present which is a beautiful necklace from Tiffany & Co. He evidently spent a huge amount of time picking it out online. He even asked his coworkers to vote on the three he narrowed it down to. I'll be sure to include a photo of it in the next post.

Saturday afternoon I joined the Austin Knitting & Crochet Meetup (north group) for some knitterly fun. At the bookstore next door I discovered a magazine called Selvegde. Go to this website. Drool over it. I bought it even though it was $20 because every page absolutely facsinated me!

http://www.selvedge.org/

It's a UK based magazine that covers all kinds of textiles. The photos are beautiful and the writer's know just how to write about textiles. I'm thinking of getting a subscription as it is a substantial savings over the cover price.

Sunday was great fun! I met up with the always fun Kelly from Kelp! (I'll get this link listed in my sidebar, I'm on a Mac on campus and the link function is not present on my toolbar as I'm writing this). We met at the Yarn Harlot book signing. She and her hubby were in town to visit with a myriad of people so I'm thrilled that we had time to get together. The Elisabet Ney Museum is on my block so we stopped in there first - she was a german sculptor that immigrated to Austin in the mid to late 1800's. Her goal was first to sculpt the great men of Germany, and she did. Richard Wagner and King Ludwig II of Bavaria for example. Her statue's of William Travis and Stephen F. Austin grace the south foyer of the Texas State Capitol.

Then we moved on to the main function of the day - Hill Country Weavers. Brace yourself. I bought cashmere. CASHMERE. Actually a laceweight cashmere/silk blend in hand-dyed greens. It was my birthday! And I plan to knit a shawl to wear at my wedding. So at this point I'm custom tailoring a suit for That Guy for my tailoring class, building an underdress for the existing lace dress, and knitting this shawl, all for the wedding.

I can hear you all laughing in disbelief and I can't say that your reaction ISN'T well founded. But I still believe I can do it all. ALL I TELL YOU!

Tschuss!

Austin City Limits Knitting

2006-09-18T16:49:00.000-07:00

I have now experienced the orderly chaos that is the Austin City Limits Music Festival. As a musician That Guy went for all three days last year and upon seeing this year's lineup immediately purchased three day passes for both of us. I had to be at work until 6pm on Friday and was only able to take in a little bit that first night. Saturday was focused on getting great seats for the Raconteurs.
Here I am squating (with That Guy taking the picture) to keep our position towards the front. We had to catch the end of the previous set in order to move in to position when those crowds started to peel off. It kind of felt like the Mad Hatter Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland - Switch places!!! We sat for about 45 minutes and stood up with 15 minutes to go before the band began their hour long set.
This is the crowd behind us when we stood up. That Guy felt like we could have sat 5 minutes longer but to be honest I was starting to get a little claustrophobic. Also, the girl standing up behind me had begun to let her bag rest on top of my head and no amount of shifting was giving her the picture that this was possibly annoying.
Given that this was how close we were and the band gave a great show made it all worthwhile!
All that sitting and waiting for bands to play, or in this case sitting in the back of the crowd for Ween allowed for some precious knitting time. The Hook 'em Horns socks have been steeped in the heady musical waters of Van Morrison, KT Tunstall, the Raconteurs, the Flaming Lips, and a little bit of Tom Petty. I say a little bit because there was rain. Rain with LIGHTNING. That Guy is not a fan of rain with lightning when you add the risky factor of being in an open field, so we hightailed it out of there 25 minutes into Petty's set. For those that braved it I've heard he came back out to play an extra long set for them. Cheers.
Tschuss!

The eyes of Texas are upon me

2006-09-07T18:21:00.000-07:00

WOW. It has been crazy around here since my last post. I am now officially a graduate student at the awesome University of Texas at Austin. Hook 'em Horns! I've only been at it a week and I'm seriously afraid I'm not going to get to knit for three years. This is not really true though because real Knitters will find time to knit! This past week was not a good indication of what the rest of my grad career is going to be like because I had the added stress of our move over this past weekend. We live in the cutest, funniest, slantiest house ever!

We only had three days to move. That Guy had two of those days off, access to a large van, and a couple of buddies that pitched in on the last day. However, I had to go in to work (I'm a teaching assistant, more on that later) for 6 hours, and during the other two days of the move I had to go to the library for hours at a time because I had a ton of homework and our internet was down for the Labor Day weekend. AH! (Side note: I ordered a laptop - a MacBook - I'm so excited! It's got to be the single most expensive thing I've ever purchased with the exception of my car and my education). Needless to say there are still boxes everywhere that have not been unpacked yet. I feel like I'm starting to catch up though. Once I can get ahead on my reading I'll be in good shape. I'm a person who likes to incubate thoughts before I have to put them into an action like writing about or discussing them.

During this time I have managed a few more rows on the gift blanket (so close to being done!) and the Hook 'em Horns colorway socks from Hill Country Yarns. Once the blanket is done I'm looking forward to cranking on Momma' Snug as I'd really like to have it done by the end of October for my sister to get some good use out of it (she's due early February -in Wisconsin!). The frightening thought that entered my mind this past week though was this: can I get all the Christmas knitting done that I had planned? I'd hate for that to be the case. Many of them are admittedly for my family members, and most of them know what they're getting, so it might be alright for me to work on them over the Christmas break. We'll just have to wait and see.

About that Teaching Assistant thing...I have to say that my position may be a little different than the traditional assignment. Rather than being assigned to a specific class I'm assigned to one of the staff members in the costume shop. There are several reasons for this that I won't go into but I have to say I'm relieved. Plus, I like the person that I've been assigned to. Today I did research on sources for lace which for me is kind of fun. My classes are Tailoring, Research Methods, Millinery, and a lab class in which I'm assigned to a draper for a specific production. In Millinery I elected to build one of the tricorne hats for one of the plays this semester. I'll also be making a bonnet. Tailoring spans both fall and spring semesters and during the course of that time we'll tailor a three piece man's suit. That Guy is my model so if all goes well this may be his wedding suit! I will be sure to share pictures with you.

So. Tired. Must. Read. More.

More from vacay time

2006-08-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone for your compliments on my Charlotte's Web shawl. I wore it inside at some of my orientation events at UT and know I will enjoy it for years to come. In response to those comments I will get a better picture outside asap to show the colors better. Most of the yarn came from Hill Country Weavers, but the deep purple came from Yarns 2 Ewe in Houston. Also, I had to vary away from Koigu as I was using a gift certificate at HCW to purchase the yarn. The deep purple, solid blue, and solid yellow are all Koigu. The variegated blue/purple and the variegated blue/yellow are Claudia's Handpaints. The Claudia's have the added bonus of having this great smell to them that I hope hangs on.
On my return trip day I blundered and left the keys to the first sister's apartment in Chicago at our parent's house in Indiana, and first sister was NOT in the city that day. My good friends Heath and Rebekah were also in transit so I was left with 6 hours before I needed to be at the airport. So I did what any resourceful knitter would do and found the nearest accessible yarn shop that I could lug my suitcase and backpack in to and have an extended sit and knit. I decided to return to Loopy Yarns which I had visited roughly a year before. If you are in downtown Chicago you have to make time to visit the store and it's owner, Vicki, and her very helpful staff.
I had a great time goo-goo ga-ga-ing over this guy, Tucker, who was tuckered out after greeting customers all morning (couldn't help the pun!). Vicki is fostering Tucker to decide if she wants to keep him so he may become an official shop dog. I purchased some Lorna's Laces Superwash yarn in a worsted weight for my brother's hat and US size 1 Addi DPN's to try out on the Widdershins socks I'm currently knitting.
Here's my nephew, AJ, looking a little disgruntled about being in his carseat on the drive into Chicago. It sounds like he was able to hold it together for the rest of second sister and brother-in-laws trek up to Wisconsin. Go Badgers!

Oh wait, I mean, Hook 'Em Horns!
Tschuss
PS While I waited on my return bus this afternoon to go home I was across from the field where the football team was practicing. Where I went for undergrad we didn't even have a football team so looking at the Champs is pretty cool.

Yeah, pictures!

2006-08-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

Finally pictures are downloading!
My Charlotte's Web shawl. It was sort of an Indiana vacation knitting olympic project. I cast-on on the plane and finished knitting the last row as my return flight taxied to the gate! Here it is blocking...
And here is a close-up.
This is a picture of myself and my friend Rebekah at the Chix with Sticks yarn shop in Forest Park, IL. I got a fun magnet that just says "K1P1." I'm slapping it on the scooter as soon as we get it.
Last, but never ever least, here is Lauryn with her super cool crocheted Barbie sleeping bag, totally her own creation, complete with pillow.

More pictures to come!
Tschuss.

Recouping

2006-08-25T09:37:00.001-07:00

Wow. It took me a couple of days to recover from my trip home to Indiana. I had suffered from seasonal allergies after I entered my twenties and they still flare up from time to time when I'm there. Austin is no friend to an allergy sufferer so I have bit the bullet and surrendered to the occasional need for Nasonex and generic Allegra. I pushed myself a little bit to much in the end and spent most of Tuesday in a daze - I even took a nap. I am not a napper. Napping makes me cranky and spaced out.

I have pictures to share but for some reason Blogger is not letting me upload any of them! Is anyone else on Blogger having this problem of late?

I did purchase yarn on my trip despite budget limitations. Tangled Web in Oak Park, IL, is sadly closing their doors. My friend Rebekah and I went to partake in the 40% off (this was on Aug. 10th so they may have closed by now) all remaining yarns. I picked up 6 skeins of luscious Rhapsody wool/silk blen and 1 skein of a Wool in the Woods boucle. Once in Indiana I had to make the usual visit to the Cass Street Depot in Fort Wayne. I should not have purchased anything but I confess to this one skein of Malabrigo Merino Wool in the Java colorway. I've since heard that Malabrigo is a wool co-op of sorts so I'll have to do some investigating into that. This yarn is destined for my first Shibori knitting project, a scarf of some sort. After my own LYS Hill Country Weavers, Cass Street Depot is a favorite. It's in a former train depot building and has shelves and cubbies of yarn in a spacious light-filled setting with wood floors.

I got to spend a lot of time on this trip with my best friend's daughter, Lauryn. When Lauryn showed the slightest interest in sewing about a year ago I sat her down at my mother's machine and we made a pillow together. For Christmas I bought her a mini Janome and we have enjoyed making several things together now. She has always caught on so quickly so I think she can now work on some things on her own as long as her mom is there to supervise (mom does not sew!). I've got to work up some small projects to put together with instructions to send to her. On this trip she made a sleeping bag for her Barbie (crocheted) and a pillow to go with it, pants for her baby doll, a swanky bag with fuzzy fringe. I neglected to photograph the bag but I'll share pictures of the other two when I can. Lauryn is awesome! Thanks for making so much time for me Lauryn (and Renee).

More on the trip in my next post. I'm busy with orientation for grad school and packing for our move closer to campus. Pretty exciting times!
Tschuss.

Indiana Vacay

2006-08-16T06:51:00.000-07:00

Howdy Ya'll! I'm having a great time in Indiana visiting with family and friends and getting a good chunk of knitting done. Every time I've tried to upload a photo from my folks computer though it does not comply so I guess that will have to wait until next Tuesday when I get back. I stayed over one night in Chicago when I flew in and my friend Rebekah finished the scarf that she and I began back on a trip in January. We all know how long a scarf can drag on! It's lovely, she's quite proud, and she's started on hats that are knit in the round.

I started my Charlotte's Web shawl on the plane. This is one that I'd like to finish on this trip. So far I had to start it three times, tink alot in the first 30 rows, and then finally the pattern started to click and things have gone well (knock on wood) up through row 94. I can see why so many people liked it and made one for themselves. My colors move from purple to purple/blue, blue, blue/yellow, and the bottom edge will be yellow. I may do something more on the edge, we'll see.

I also cast on a Widdershins sock in my Hill Country Yarns Hook 'Em Horns colorway from the current issue of Knitty and so far I'm loving this pattern. I want to use every bit of yarn but love my socks with a heel flap and I think this pattern will solve that dilemna.

Also on the needles: the first of many Christmas presents. A Mommy Snug sweater for my sister. I'm just about done with the button placket section of the front and getting close to my first short rows.

And there has still been time for visiting! Several nice dinners with my parents and my friend Renee and her family. Renee's daughter, Lauryn, and I have done some sewing. There's been lots of hanging out and today I'm off to spend the afternoon with That Guy's nieces, nephew, and my future mother-in-law. Then we're having a sleep over. Remember sleep overs?

Tschuss.

Gee's Bend Exhibition

2006-08-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

My good friend Jamie and I went to Houston on Friday and Saturday to visit the Menil Collection and the Gee's Bend Quilts at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. While I enjoyed everything we saw, I was enthralled by the quilts. The exhibition continues until early September and then travels to Indianapolis, Indiana next. The Mason-Dixon Knitting books bibliography lists a book about the quilts as the only non-knitting source book that you knit from. The hundreds of knitters out there currently knitting log cabin blankets know that this is true.
Okay, so the last thing I need to be buying this month is yarn, and yet...We went to Yarntopia in Katy just outside of Houston and it is the only store that carries the Hill County Yarns and I simply could not pass up the Hook Em Horns colorway. I've got to have something to wear on my feet that one cold day in February that I get to wear the Longhorn Hoodie!
We stayed overnight at a friend of Jamie's (thanks Noah) and got to meet up on Saturday with Kelly from Kelp! I met Kelly the previous weekend at the Yarn Harlot event and I'm so glad we got to meet up again - she's got a great sense of humor and also enjoys knitting things that are way to hot to wear in Texas. Check out her groovy Target Wave Mittens. She also led us to Yarns2Ewe. I admit I bought one skein of Koigu as an alternative color for my Charlotte's Web shawl and it turned out to be a perfect match for it!

I'm getting ready to fly to Indiana for two weeks and also packing up my things since we have to move a week after I get back. It took several hours last night to go through the yarn and fiber, sorting out some more items to take to the Goodwill and other things that I'm destashing to my 2nd sister. I'm hoping to be able to post from Indiana, but I'm not sure about photos. We'll see.

Tschuss!

Two more bags and...the Claw!

2006-08-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

I was lured into making another round of bags for two reasons, the first being a fetching promise of Koigu from Monika in Ontario, and the second being a gift for Rebecca. Rebecca had some perfect yarn, with plenty of yardage and a great price for sale on the Destash blog that has made it possible for me to make the Mommy Snug sweater from the Spring 2006 IK. My 2nd sis is prego, due in January, and lives in Wisconsin - she's gonna' need it! Making just the two bags would be an inefficient use of fabric, something that pains me to no end. Working in costumes you can't avoid the waste unless you're going to keep every scrap because you might need it some day. Frankly, I need that space for my yarn and when I'm working I sew so much that I tend not to do it at home very often. Lately has been an exception due to the time off I'm taking. I actually feel like sewing.
The point is that in order to make the best use of the fabric I picked up I had to make four bags so these two are up for grabs.

Another reason for the sewing...it's a good use of my creative energy since I've been knitting this gift. If my former boss Dave actually looks at my blog, well now is the time to head elsewhere on the internet or you might spoil the surprise for yourself.

Okay. I've been knitting this gift and feel compelled to say that this thing, however handsome it is, however loved it will be (I think it's pretty dandy and well suited to the recipient), it has become my nemesis. It has nearly broken my knitterly sanity. It is a blanket, a throw actually, but no matter. It's cotton. 100% cotton. As it grows it gets heavier and more unwieldy and it turns my hand into...
The Claw! I have recently had some rather desparate moments in which I realized that whether I wanted to crank through this thing or not, it had a pace all it's own. If I get any speed going, my hands fatigue quicker. If I pace myself the goodwill that I want to pour into it starts to slip away as each strip goes on endlessly (you guessed it, it's a log cabin). There have been points in which I had warning twinges in not only my hands but my wrists as well. Not. Good. So why can't I just set it aside and start another project and alternate between the two? Because I WANT. TO. FINISH. IT. I want it done before I leave next Wednesday for two weeks in Indiana with my family because it's to big to take along. Plus, there is IT looming on the horizon (More on IT in the next post, probably to come from IN) and I really don't feel like I can get moving on any of those projects until I finish this.

Sigh. Thanks for listening to my rant. I will beat this thing!
Tschuss.

Good clean Harlot fun!

2006-07-31T10:59:00.000-07:00

Everyone, including myself, had a great time on Saturday at the Yarn Harlot's book signing. Congrats to the staff at Hill Country Weavers for organizing and running such a smooth event. With 200+ knitters in attendance the Baptist Church was cool and comfortable, providing ample space to spread out in the pews with our bags of knitting and books for signing. Stephanie spoke for at least an hour and took questions at the end, then we all took our #'s that told us when, approximately, our time would come to get in line for the signing. Knitter's lounged, shopped, enjoyed scrumptious brownies and longnecks, and bloggers conversed. I dallied in the church and ended up in the last group to get their books signed.
Here I am, knitter/fan # two hundred and something and Stephanie is still smiling. It was a pleasure to hear her speak at the church because it allowed me to put a voice to her words (her voice was deeper and more resonant than I expected) and if possible, made her writing even more funny and witty for me than it was before. She has a comic timing that rivals the best stand up comedians. When she told the story of how she was introduced to an entire party of her husbands coworkers as a "knitter," and looking to him to give further explanation, she's a doula, a freelance writer, etc., discovered him nodding enthusiastically, I laughed heartily - we all did.

It was upon receiving her first book as a gift that I fell down what Stephanie called "the proverbial blog rabbit hole." I discovered as so many others have before me her blog and then the knitblog community at large. After starting my own not to long ago I chanced to meet through comments local knitbloggers. Eureka! Up until now my circle of knitters was much to small - my 2nd oldest sister, who taught me to knit, and two coworkers that knit scarves occasionally. Finally, my own kind! My own fiber obsessive knitting kind! So to thank her I did give her the Daisy Sock Bag, of which she remarked that the green was a favorite color of hers (a happy accident I thought at the time) and the bag would come in handy at the airport. Hurrah! I did feel strangely nervous though, or was it just plain silly? I work in theatre and have even done a little movie work (I'm in the credits for A Scanner Darkly, the new film out directed by Richard Linklater. Ya'll should see it, it's a trippy good time!) so I've met and worked with "famous" people. Because of that I feel strange about autographs, so I had to tell myself that a book signing was different than asking for an autograph, but rather a chance to meet and speak to the author. I, and I think many others as well, think of the Harlot as more of a sister or friend. When we read her blog, or one of her books, or gather at an event like this, it's as though we're all sitting down for a collective cup of coffee together (or beer).
The three other bags found homes too. Tina and I agreed to trade some of her lovely stitch markers for the blue bag. I'll do some investigating and post all the details of how you can purchase them from her Etsy shop soon. My computer and Blogger do not always get along so I'm trying to get this post in before the hissy fit ensues and the entire business freezes up.
Christine from Big Pink Cookie and Kristin from Yarn & Order found it in their hearts to give the pink and orange bags homes.
Christine gave a great play by play of the day over on her blog, including the total of our bill at Guero's after the book signing. Here we are taking over a large portion of their backroom. When I walked over to the restaurant and entered I had become so comfortable carrying my sock with my own sock bag swinging from my elbow that I didn't think twice about it still being in my hand and in full view of the busy front room. The hostess took one look at me, looked at the sock, and said simply, "Your group is in the back."

I met so many great people and I know I'm forgetting most of you here besides those I've mentioned above - Julia from Yarnmaven, Kelly from Kelp, Alicia from Knitnmama, Caro from Splityarn, and many many others. I so enjoyed talking to all of you and look forward to seeing you all again in the future. Kudos to Christine for helming the meetup at Guero's.

On another note about Saturday, I got several comments and had discussions about how I carry my yarn. One person remarked that I knit "Continental." Another simply commented about how I use my left middle finger to wrap the yarn. The truth is that for several years, although I knew that not all knitters carried their yarn alike, I wasn't around anyone to compare with. Even the sister who taught me to knit commented on this. I pointed out that I must do it the same as her but no.
At some point in time after she taught me how to cast on, knit, purl, and bind off, I developed this way of carrying my yarn. I have to admit, sometimes my left pointer finger cramps up a little, but it works for me.
Does anybody else carry their yarn like this? I'm curious. I decided to try some other techniques later Saturday evening. Carrying the yarn on my right hand led to a revelation as to why I rarely ever get gauge with the recommended size needles when I'm using the recommended or a comparable yarn. I am a loose knitter. Apparently a very loose knitter. Don't worry Mom, this only pertains to my knitting tension and nothing else! When I carried with the right hand my stitches were super tight - not bad, but it slowed me down alot. I think I'm going to stick with the loose knitting and just swatch right off the bat with a size or two smaller needles.

In exploring this I remembered that on the cover of Knitting Rules! Stephanie herself is knitting, so I picked it up to decipher her yarn carrying technique and what do I realize? How long have I had a copy of this book? How many ads for the event had the book cover art as part of the ad? Isn't it in her sidebar? This same book that as I smiled with surprise when she said the green of the Daisy bag was her favorite color as she was handing the book back to me - what color is the yarn she is knitting on the front of the book?

Lime green. Daisy Sock bag green.

I might want to work on my powers of perception before I start grad school.
Tschuss.

Finished Sock Bags!

2006-07-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

Here they are all finished and ready for tomorrow. There are two votes for giving the Daisy Bag to the Harlot and I think that it may be the winner in my mind too. It is quite possibly one of the cutest things I've put together all year and it has the added charm of originating as a vintage pillowcase and is therefore one of a kind. Feel free to continue to weigh in now that they're done. I added another feature to all of these which is the button pocket on the outside. I realized quickly that I didn't have a place on mine to tuck a darning needle or little scissors into. I'll have to add one to mine eventually.
For that first one I had used a scrap of 1/2" upholstery foam that I scrounged up to make the round bottom hold it's shape. As I didn't have any more I had to come up with another method of doing so on these. My solution was to create piping to set into the seam of the body of the bag to it's bottom. It works nicely and I think is a nice touch.

I enjoyed making these and look forward to trading them out. My job at the theatre emcompassed many things so I didn't always get to sew on each production. Sometimes I would create the patterns and do the cutting but then pass them on to other stitchers. It's nice to have the time to sit down and create something at the sewing machine again.

Not to forget the knitting though I have gone back to a some gift knitting. No, not more warshrags but rather a log cabin blanket that I won't be showing here until it is finished and gifted. It is cotton (because we are in Texas, after all) and did I mention that prolonged cotton knitting hurts my hands? Now that I'm about 50% done with it it has become fairly heavy which is shortening the amount of time it takes for it to wear out my hands. Then I remembered a recent post on Wendy Knits and realized I was using the wrong type of needles for the project! I love my bamboos because they are lightweight, make no noise, and the yarn doesn't slip off unexpectedly. However, with the almost overwhelming size of this thing my bamboo US 6 circulars are inhibiting my ability to get through this blanket with any speed as the yarn is dragging on the needles. So I got my first pair of Addi Turbos and they are PERFECT for this project, absolutely PERFECT. I have several other projects lined up that will use 6's as well that I'll try them out on. I have to say I may be entering dangerous territory with these new needles.

It's a slippery slope.
See ya'll tomorrow!
Tschuss.

The Yarn Harlot comes to Austin!

2006-07-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

The excitement is building over the impending visit of the Yarn Harlot here in Austin! If you live on another planet and did not know this, live in the vacinity, and would like to come, please note that it is an RSVP event. She will be speaking and signing her third book, Knitting Rules!, hosted by Hill Country Weavers on South Congress. The actual event takes place at the Baptist church just down the street. For more information and to RSVP please click the link in my sidebar. I swear I will take the time during my self imposed period of unemployment to learn how to properly link within the text of my post. I'm sure it's much easier than it seems.
For someone who now has so much free time I feel quite busy! I tend to create projects when I'm around the apartment. Like this nifty little bag. I've seen others like it being sold online and thought surely I can put something together with some of the fabric in my sewing room that I can't seem to get rid of. Ta da! I rather like it. A sock fits in it just perfectly and you can hang it in the crook of your arm and knit on the bus, or while your waiting in line to have your book signed by the Harlot!
While I was at it I decided why should I keep the sock knitting bag to myself? If you are going to be at the Harlot event or if you are coming to the knit bloggers gathering across the street at Guero's restaurant afterwards, I would be happy to trade a bag for a drink and/or something tasty to eat. Or just surprise me with a trade of some handspun or your own handmade craftiness of some sort. I'll have four, although I may offer one as a gift to Stephanie, since it was receiving her first book as a gift that led me to her blog and the knitblog community at large. As you can see I've just got them cut out here (they go together quickly) and the smaller turned up corner is the contrasting lining fabric. The exception is the daisy print which will be self-lined. Anybody have an opinion about which one I should give Stephanie?
Tschuss!

What I've been up to...

2006-07-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

Knitting as many of these cotton warshrags as my hands could stand to make. As I mentioned before they were getting a little achy. They all came out quite nice and my coworkers liked them alot. One of my favorites is the lime green with orange which I gave to my buddy Derek. It was a happy accident to discover that orange is his favorite color! He got the Vogue Stitchionary book for me - I can't wait to have fun with that.
Saturday evening I spent some time with my friend Noelle. She lives in the neighborhood that That Guy and I will move into in September and we're super pysched about being neighbors. We like to take walks together. It nice to have a friend that enjoys getting some exercise! She had just bought these new gym shoes that day and in a fit of silliness we became convinced that we needed to document their unsullied shiny newness in a, "Still Life with knitting, gym shoes, and candle," photo.
I had my last day at the theatre on Sunday and it was truly bittersweet. I rejoiced that I was doing my last load of laundry for wardrobe but lamented leaving the shop. When I started the job it was so exciting to have a space, a shop, that I could call my own. Now I'll have to share. The other sadness is that I really like my coworkers, and in particular there was one that I didn't really get to say goodbye to, which is Shannon. Now, everyone in a nonprofit works hard, but as the Production Manager Shannon has a true grab bag of responsibilities and she really holds all the production departments together. She also has absolutely the biggest heart of anyone I know and I'll miss seeing her on a regular basis.
Work was not the only thing I said goodbye too. I also said Auf Wiedersehn to The Meeper. I did not give my car this name but rather it came with it, and now I have sold my loyal Meeper. We did let his new owner know about the promise I made it. When the car reached 100,000 miles I promised it that if it made it to 200,000 miles I would give it a Valhalla sendoff - I'd set it on fire and push it off a cliff into the ocean. I don't know exactly how I thought I'd manage this, and I'm sure I would have had to go to Mexico in order to get away with it, but it's a romantic idea to me. Selling the car was intentional - I won't have to buy gas and I'll get used to getting around other ways. UT has a great shuttle system and you can't park anywhere in the interior of the campus without paying through the nose at the parking garage, and even the permit parking is a hike to the theatre building.
Eventually we might get one of these little cuties. Meet the eGo scooter. It's electric and gets you 25 miles on a fully charged battery. It's still considered a bike so you don't have to get a special liscense or insurance. It's top speed is 25 miles/hour which is just fine with me because really, any faster and it would be a motorcycle and I really don't want to go that fast. While Austin is a "bike friendly" city it's still can be a dangerous place on a bike of any sort. You've got to stay off the main roads and take the neighborhood streets, wear a helmet, don't wear earphones or talk on your phone (I have seen people doing this!), and ride defensively at all times.
Regardless I can take the shuttle - then I can knit on my way to campus!

Random Thursday

2006-07-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

I've been rather distracted this week as I finish up at the theatre but when I start my month off I'm sure I'll have a lot more to write about. Also, the computer is threatening to freeze up so I'm rushing to get this post in before this happens.
Remus is the youngest and most photogenic of our three cats. Abraham is quite handsome as well, but as he has never never been a lap cat he has never provided such an irresistible photo op.
I've been working on several small knitted gifts for coworkers that I don't want to go into detail about in the off chance that any of them actually read my blog. I'll be sure to post some pictures after I've gifted them. I will say that they involve knitting with cotton. For the first time in my life I knit so much cotton that my hands finally said enough already we need a break from this inelastic fiber! So I turned to the ever patient Pearl Buck Swing Jacket and all the sproingy goodness of the extrafine merino. I'm discovering as so many others have in this knitalong how enjoyable and easy to knit this pattern and it's charts are. It is sure to become a favorite.
I will leave you with this gift certificate provided stash enhancement. The yarn in the foreground is destined to become a Charlotte's Web shawl after I admired Christine's from Big Pink Cookie (see link in sidebar) I knew I wanted to make one. The Cashsoft will likely become a hat or scarf, and most exciting of all is the ball winder. I wound several stash items in celebration of this acquisition.
Tschuss!

Bike Ride

2006-07-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm taking ya'll on a bike ride today but don't worry, there's some knitting at the end. For my siblings and friends in the midwest, this is just a taste of my home away from home. Austin has a wonderful system of Hike & Bike trails. One of the main areas is in the heart of the city on what the locals call Town Lake. This is really a part of the Lower Colorado river, but they call it that anyway. We live south of the river in what is simply called South Austin. That Guy and I currently live in the 78704 zip code which according to the many bumper stickers you see around, it's not just a zip code, it's a way of life. This is the view from the pedestrian sidewalk crossing the South First Street bridge heading north and looking to the west.
As you complete the trek across the bridge you have in your view the whole time the new City Hall. Some people scoff at it's architecture - personally I like it. On Friday all summer long they have a concert at noon in the plaza and you often see what are likely press conferences outside when the temperature is milder.
After heading west on the north side of Town Lake for a while you can continue on or cross the Lamar pedestrian bridge. As you can see here, there's plenty of room for bikes and people running or walking, and there's benches lining the sides - a modern promenade. I'm facing south as I take this picture.
This is the view from the pedestrian bridge if you look to the east. From here I continued across the bridge and headed east on the bike trail back towards the S. 1st St. bridge. On both sides of the bridge the trail runs right along the river's edge and allows you to feel like sometimes you aren't in a big city.
Here I'm a little further along the trail. To the left is Town Lake, and to the right is the dog park. On the weekends it's pretty busy because it's one place downtown where the owners are allowed to let them off their leashes. There's plenty of open space for them to run around, catch frisbees, and swim in the river. Can you imagine a cat park? How funny would that be, they'd all be hissing at each other, slinking around with their bellies low to the ground, or climbing trees. And they surely wouldn't be swimming! (MOM, the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue is just to the left of where I'm standing).
Before turning off the trail and heading for home I decided to stop and knit a few rows on what I'm calling the Neopolitan warshrag. I get a hankering for ice cream just looking at this thing. However, I only made it a few rows because it felt much hotter once I got off the bike. Also, I was feeling a little gritty by this point and wanted to hit the pool!
Tschuss!

Gotta' love the Patagonia

2006-07-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

Here it is, my finished, modified Waterlily pattern. Sometimes it's good to listen to yourself when you need to change things up a bit. I'm not feeling so guilty about setting Pearl aside because getting away from the size 6 needles was just the break I needed to galvanize myself against tiny needle fatigue. Don't worry, I'm not going to slip into the fast pace world of bulky weight yarns and super size needles, recklessly casting on chunky oversized creations that no one in their right mind would wear.
Here is a photo of the back. Photography credit goes to That Guy who very patiently waited for me to decide where to pose for this and wasn't the least bit embarrassed. He also offered and bought me yarn at the LYS after we got his hair cut (the LYS was across the street from where he goes) and went in the store. SIGH. What a keeper!

There were moments with this project that I worried - have I paired yarn with a pattern that was never meant to be? I just wasn't sure how it would turn out. Although I had done a gauge swatch in which I got stitch gauge, and although I initially got row gauge as well I could tell that it would grow in length since I was using cotton. Ultimately, it carries the same silhouette and details as the original pattern and I love it. If you have that issue and compare it to the original, you will see that with the growth in length from the weight of the cotton has made my neckline considerably lower. With the eyelet in the pattern though I would wear a tank underneath anyway, and I quite like it. It breaks up what might have been an overly chunky knit. Really, the only change I made to the pattern was that I did less rows betweens decrease rows since I didn't have the yardage called for in the pattern. It's a good thing to because if I had done it as written, even if I had enough yardage, it would have ended up being a dress!

The other thing I love about this top is the way the three different skeins colors balanced overall. The Patagonia cotton, even if you have skeins that were dyed at the same time with the same colors, will have variations in how much of each color is present. The first skein that covers the hips has hardly any of the amber color, but the second which covers the bust is riddled with it. The third skein, used in shaping the straps and then to finish of the bottom edge, is much cooler, infused with some lavender, and the amber deepens almost to a golden green. The way the stockinette stitch works up reminds me of feathers!

On another note, I am closing in on my last week at the theatre. I'm very excited about grad school and have been looking forward to this time off that I've planned, but I will miss seeing my colleagues day in and day out. The last show that I will have made a costume for has it's final preview tonight and opens tomorrow. I'm going to try to not cry, but I make no promises!
Tschuss!

The sun in Texas

2006-07-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

As I mention in my header above, I'm a Hoosier (that means I'm from Indiana for all the non-midwesterners out there) that woke up one day in Austin, Texas. I'm not just trying to be funny with that one - I often feel that way when I wake up in the morning. I'm more than 1,300 miles away from the place that was my home for 26 years of my life. 24 were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and two in Chicago, Illinois, before That Guy and I sold all our stuff, packed up our two vehicles, sedated the cats (there were only two at that time) and drove for two days to reach what has now become our home away from home in Central Texas. We moved here in September. I had visited not even a year earlier to check out the graduate costume design program at the University of Texas. Although I ultimately decided not to go that next fall, we moved here anyway!

Many things strike me about this part of the United States. The vegetation is so very different than where I grew up. The trees are for the most part shorter, closer to the ground, sort of scrubby, and they grow in a twisted, kinky way. Each kink illustrates time when water was scarce and each twisting growth exhibits when it was plentiful. Ground plants seem oversized with tough, leathery leaves. Perhaps most striking to me though is how much more intense the quality of the light is here. Being just a little bit closer to the equator makes for bright relentless sunshine all summer long - and I do mean looooonnngg. We are in it's midst at this point and it's only going to get hotter. Morning and evenings after sunset are the only logical time to be outside if you are going to be stationary. We may go for a bike ride this afternoon, but we will be sure to take water along and to put on sunscreen. The heat isn't so stiffling if you are in motion.

I took advantage of the shade our west facing balcony provides in the morning hours to sit and begin knitting this ballband pattern warshrag from MDK. I marveled for the umpteenth time at the way the sunlight here intensifies all the colors around us. In the midwest the trees do not exhibit this intense chartreuse except in the golden hour just before dusk sets in, and then only at the height of summer. The rest of the time it appears in quantities so scarce as to be barely discernable, so overcome by deeper, cooler shades of grun (green auf Deutsch, your German for today). Thus proving that all colors occur somewhere in nature regardless of how uncannily bright they are.
You know it's time to go back inside though when the shadows retreat and the sun advances dangerously close to the railing! Also a factor is the neighbor below who smokes like a chimney. How I managed to be outside for an entire hour without him coming out is beyond me because it is usually more frequent. It will be nice when we move to the rented house at the end of August to escape this unpleasantry. You may be wondering, what are those scraps of yarn on the railing in this photo? They are the only remains of the modified Waterlily pattern that I knit out of the Patagonia Organic Cotton. Seriously! All that was left was two yards of the third skein and a pile of trimmed woven in ends. Does it get any better than that?!
Here is a closeup preview for your knitted viewing pleasure. A field of varied colors of which words are inadequate to describe how happy they make me. Sigh. More on this FO in the next post. Bitte habt ihr alle ein schoenes Tag!
Tschuss!

Dancing Chicken Fried Steak

2006-07-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

As a theatrical costume designer and technician I find myself saying odd things at times. "It'll never read," is a favorite. Whenever there is a tiny spot on a costume, a slight bumble in setting in a zipper, you must ask yourself, "Will it read?" At the distance the audience sits from the action of the play, will they be able to see or "read" it? This isn't to say that our standards are lowered in this practice but rather that it is 2am and tech rehearsal starts at 11am and we are in desparate need of sleep. I say we, but this past week it was really only me in the costume shop at work. In the effort to help save the theatre money I elected to not only design and pattern a costume but to do all the construction myself. Although it took a lot of energy it was great fun to sit down and sew rather than delegating the project to someone else.

The costume in question being for a play called, "I Am My Own Wife." Without going into to much detail - it is a one man show about a transvestite, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who survives not only the Nazi regime in Germany but the Communists as well. The one actor plays not only Charlotte but also numerous other characters in the course of two acts. The costume? A "simple" black housedress. The challenge has been to design something that works for the main character but also suggests the other characters as well. Since it was just the one costume I had to luxury of arranging two mockup fittings to perfect the fit of the dress. Today I finished constructing the final garment and saw it on the actor briefly to mark the hem, and I'm very pleased with it. But really when it comes down to it, I made a dress for a man to wear. Fun! And as the title of this blog suggests, I've also made a dancing chicken fried steak costume as well. He got a laugh every single performance!
Now for the knitting! I've made a little progress on the Pearl Buck Swing Jacket. Here you can see that I've gotten into the chart for the back and I'm finding reading it much easier going than I expected. However...Pearl is on US 6 needles. The Longhorn hoodie was on 6's as well, and the Log Cabin blanket I'm knitting is on...you guessed it, size 6 needles. So I just couldn't help it, I caved and cast on another project! I needed something fast and loose on big needles that would just fly right off them.
So I turned to the stash for gratification and this jumped out at me - very yummy Patagonia organic cotton (it begged me to buy it when I saw it, I couldn't leave the store without it) out of which I'm knitting the Waterlily pattern by Katy Ryan from the Spring 2006 IK. I don't have quite the yardage called for so I've adjusted the pattern to make it a smidge shorter. It's a long sleeveless top and as designed it would have hit at the widest part of my hips so the shorter length should be more flattering on me. Although I feel bad about cheating on Pearl I can look at it this way: It should be a FO lickity-split.
The last bit of knitting news is stash related. Remember the lovely Habu Bamboo that I won at the KnitFlix night? I was trying to decide what it might become and ultimately decided that it needed a companion to round it out. After careful perusing at the LYS another Habu came to the rescue and told me that together they could become ein schoenes Schal - a beautiful scarf. In particular, a Scribble scarf a la the MDK knitting book. Gluckliche stricken! (Happy knitting!)
Tschuss!
P.S. Everything is healing up nicely where my wisdom teeth once were, and the best part? No more pain!

Happy 4th of July!

2006-07-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

I would be a horrible aunt if I didn't post on my adorable nephew and rack up some embarrassment points on his behalf by posting this bath picture in honor of his first birthday which took place on Saturday. Really, how cute is this little guy!?
That Guy and I are both actually off today so we've made plans to celebrate the fourth. He's off at the moment hanging out with his hospice lady. We're driving out to Elgin for the afternoon to a friends party and then coming back in to town to watch the fireworks from the roof of the theatre I work at! It is the best place ever to watch them because they are shot off from the baseball diamond in the park adjacent to the theatre building, so you can see them shot off and exploding above - really fantastic! It's within walking distance of our apartment also so we get to avoid the traffic.
And now for some finished objects!
Looking at my list of what's on the needles I realized that a couple of things actually have been finished. This linen facecloth is pretty much done. I may add a crochet border and it needs a good blocking, but otherwise it is ready to go in the gift pile (at this point it is the gift pile!).
I wasn't happy with any of the handle options I explored and then one day I realized that the felted bag was really meant to be a pouch. Last night I sewed in a zipper and ta da! It quickly found some yummy Patagonia organic cotton nestled inside for a future project.
Perhaps the most important FO of them all - the Longhorn Hoodie is finished! This picture is of the inside intarsia work, although there are a few places where it was more logical to carry the yarn which is why you can see some stranding going on. I'll try to get That Guy to take some action shots of me wearing it to post. The couple that I took of it on the dress form don't look all that different from some of the progress photos, except there aren't any ends hanging down now!

I've wondered for some time now - am I a process knitter or a product knitter? I've worked on this hoodie for several months now and was particularly pleased with myself when I figured out how to make the chart and the results when I swatched it. It's my first sweater and the first project with lots of finishing required. As I got closer and closer to finishing I resisted all urges to cast on another project. Yet now that it's finished I've simply moved on to the next thing. I did show it proudly to That Guy and plan to show it to several people at work, but I was surprised that I didn't feel like going around knocking on the doors of my neighboring apartment dwellers and completely weirding them out by shoving the thing in the face and asking them how cool it this! It could also be that the temperature in Austin reaches highs in the 90's everyday and I won't really be able to wear it for another 5-6 months! Given my excessive yarn hoarding during the past few months and the sheer number of projects I have planned I guess I'm mainly a process knitter who likes to see things get done. This bodes well for the long anticipated Pearl Buck Swing Jacket, which as you can see below I have cast on and started. I just tell myself that it's cheaper then therapy.

Have a very safe and happy holiday out there!
Tschuss

One, two, do I see three kitties?

2006-06-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

Can you spot all three kitties?
Last night I had a truly wonderful time at a KnitFlick night sponsored by Yarnbar (see link in sidebar). There were many knitters out in force to watch "Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit." There were so many beautiful yarns and projects going on around me. I got lucky with a "Guess the Fiber" game and guessed right, winning this scrumptious hank of Habu Bamboo! Truth be told, I was the third person to guess and silk and linen had already been tossed out there. I figured it was bamboo or soy silk, but as I've only seen soy silk rovings I went with the bamboo. Many thanks to Susan of Yarnbar for getting some really cool prizes from the ladies at Hill Country Weavers, our LYS (I took a photo of Susan but she commented that she wasn't very photogenic. I thought she took a nice picture, but I'm unsure of blog etiquette concerning photos, so I'm refraining from posting it until I learn to remember to ask people if it's okay). It was great to meet and talk with other knitters and bloggers in my community.
A great band, The Missing Tapes, played first, and once dusk set in the movie started, and I finished the knitting on the Longhorn Hoodie! Never one to waste precious knitting time, I had also brought a log cabin blanket (the rug is on the backburner as this blanket is a gift) that I could knit on in the dark - glorious garter stitch. It wasn't until later when I got home that I started to weave in and trim the ends pictured here.
Tonight was quite nice so That Guy and I went on a bike ride and stopped to watch the bats coming out from under the Congress Avenue bridge. If you've ever been to or lived in Austin then you should know about the bats. Austin boosts the largest urban bat colony in the world. So the only progress I made tonight was to sew up one side seam, including the stripe piece that I decided to inset to give me enough ease in the body. I'm getting closer!
Tschuss!

Random Wednesday

2006-06-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

I am so close to finishing all the knitting on the Longhorn hoodie! I'll have to finish seaming the side seams and weave in all the ends, but as this is my first sweater I'm very excited to complete it. That Guy has a band gig at 8pm so this will be a short post with somewhat superficial content. Like this picture of the youngest of our three cats, Remus. Remus is demonstrating proper form for "half-moon kitty," to borrow from the wonderful Wendy and her lovely cat, Lucy.
I do sometimes spin and have two drop spindles. While I like the Schacht pictured here, I have another lighter weight spindle that was an eBay purchase and came from overseas that I prefer to use.
These are some yummy merino rovings, also an eBay purchase. There was a third that was a lovely muted lavender colorway which I spun in a long and thick slub and knit into this scarf which I gave to a good friend in Germany.
That's all for today! I've got an hour that I can spend on the Longhorn so I'm going to take advantage of it.
Tschuss!

Longhorn hoodie progress

2006-06-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

The Longhorn hoodie is blocked! I finished the second sleeve over a couple of evenings instead of one as the pain from getting my wisdom teeth out actually got worse and I barely even felt like knitting, let alone anything else. Apparently the third and fourth days are the worst as the sockets are starting to really close up. I last posted on Thursday mid-morning and by that evening...WHOA! It was pretty rough until this morning. I have to agree with my mom that when the pain is in your mouth it's tough to ignore! I really underestimated how much it would compromise my ability to be productive (I still needed to go to work each day to take care of laundry for the shows, check email, etc.) - the hoodie being the exception. At the end of the past couple of days it was nice to sit down and actually get something done.
Today I managed not only to go to work and be productive, and this evening I seamed the raglan sleeves to the fronts and back and pick up the stitches for the hood (I safety pinned the side seams for the photo). I'm hoping that I'll be able to finish this up in a weeks time and so I can cast on for Pearl Buck! There's a alot to catch up on at work, and we start rehearsals this week for our next production so I'm so thankful that this pain has subsided. Plus, I'm looking forward to food that is a little more solid!
Tschuss!

Must. Knit. Through. Pain.

2006-06-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

It is times like this where knitting becomes my solace. Tuesday, early in the morning, I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed. I'm really doing quite well. The two on the left side were completely grown out and easy to pull so they hurt very little. Of the two on the right, one was partially grown out and the other impacted. This side HURTS because of the cutting of the gums necessary to get at the teeth. To make things even more fun I am a nightime teeth grinder. I found this out when I went to get my teeth cleaned a couple of months ago. I had been very bad and had not been to the dentist for about ten years. Mind you it had nothing to do with fear, merely that I had not had insurance and put it off. Now that I'm leaving my job at the end of July I'm trying to get as much done as I can! Anyway, grinding my teeth doesn't cause pain on a regular basis, but as the entire teeth and gum area is sensitive right now it's causing a lot of pain at night. Enough to make me wake up several times. I finally figured it out though and consented to wearing my night guard which keeps the teeth from making contact. It helped immensely but I feel like a boxer when it's in my mouth!
Here's what I've finished in the past two days when I wasn't knocked out sleeping from the painkillers. The Longhorn sleeve! I've completed about one third of the second sleeve as well and I'm hoping to finish it tonight. If so I can go about blocking all the pieces and get it sewn together.
This is the reknit back of the Longhorn Hoodie that I did last week while That Guy was in Ireland. I'm going to initially baste the side seams when I get to the sewing. Although I know it will fit in the bust, with the ribbing at the bottom it may be tight across the hips (I am a hippy woman). I've already decided though that I'd like for there to be a strip of the off-white going up the side seam in keeping with a sporty look to the overall design. It will add an extra seam but I really think it will add a nice touch to the finished hoodie and give me the ease I need through the hips. I'm hoping to get all of this done in the next week so that I can start on two other projects.
I signed up for the Green Gable knitalong back at the end of April but got sidetracked by my trip to Germany and the progress I was making on the Longhorn hoodie. I love the color of this yarn (it is more rust than the red that's showing up in this picture. Hmmm, a lot of orange tones lately, am I excited about being a Longhorn or what?!) and I've read everyone's comments about what a fun and easy knit it is, and it's something I can actually wear in the Texas heat! I'll also be casting on for this.
The Pearl Buck Swing Jacket knitalong hosted by Jeanne over at A Bluestocking Knits (see the links in the sidebar). I've come in toward the end of the knitalong so I'm benefitting greatly from the many archived posts and I'm so excited to make this.

Despite the pain I'm going into work for a couple of hours so I don't have to miss our weekly staff meeting, and to prep the costumes for tonight's performance.

Tschuss!

Irish Yarn!

2006-06-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

That Guy returned from Ireland late Wednesday and look at all the beautiful yarn he brought back for me! When I was driving him to the airport the week before I told him that if all he brought back for me was a lovely skein of souvenir yarn, I would be happy. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I discovered he was making quite an effort to find me not just any yarn, but good yarn. He was also very keen on it being Irish yarn, from Ireland specifically (I know, he's such a keeper!). He was telling me this over the phone and I practically swooned, but then quickly reminded him not to turn down any fun activities in order to take the train 40 minutes to a seaside town in order to get good yarn. Lucky for me, oops, I mean for him, the seaside town was just the right type of fun he was looking for that last day on the Emerald Isle. Sure, the Jaeger comes from England, but they're neighbors, right? I haven't thought up projects for all of it yet but the navy tweed may be used for a baby project of some sort - the second sister called yesterday to say that they are expecting their second child early next year!
I've pictured the two new skeins of Jaeger next to an older one that I bought several years ago at Arcadia Knits in Chicago, IL. Hopefully I'll think up some way to use them together.
And what is this lonely ball of Sugar N'Cream up to? See the single strand of yellow? That was the color before I dyed it. Sunny, happy yellow. Now it is a rich shade of rust. Too bad I can't tell you what it is for! It will be part of a present so until it's finished I can't go in to detail. I've included it here because I was so pleased with how the dye job turned out.

Tomorrow I'll post on the progress of the recycled cotton log cabin rug.
Tschuss!

Log Cabin progress

2006-06-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

As promised here is some progress on the recycled sweater cotton log cabin. I love the variegated quality of these yarns. I'm using a book to display it on the porch railing so as to catch the last of the sunlight.

It's a large coffee table book that I fell in love with one night at the book store. That Guy went back and purchased it for a gift sometime thereafter. It's all aerial photography of the earth - really beautiful photos. It's a feast of color and texture for the eye and I often turn to it for inspiration. Here's one of the photos.

The caption for this photo reads,

"In rhythm with the tides, sea water floods along the branches of the Ord River, in northwest Australia, far into the flood plains, and then drains off again. The mangrove forests on the river bank are unharmed by the alternating drought and flood, salt and fresh water, as long as the water temperature remains stable at around 24 degrees centigrade. Roughly 60 different types of evergreens keep a grip in the soft mud thanks to their stilt roots. They are also hardy when reproducing; their sprouts can float around in the sea for as much as a year before taking root on another coast or coastal river bank."

-Photo by Bernhard Edmaier, text by Angelika Jung-Huettl, Earthsong

Whenever my life gets hectic I find myself wanting to do two things - spend time in nature, mainly hiking or biking, sometimes swimming - or knitting. If it weren't so hot all the time in Austin I 'd knit more outside!
Tschuss!

The big stash flash!

2006-06-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

This represents a healthy chunk of my stash. Yarn that is already designated for a specific project and various works in progress are not included in these storage containers. The Pearl Buck Swing Jacket is one of those, as is the yarn for the Green Gable (mine will be rust). I do love sock yarn as well so I've pictured some of it in a closeup.

The sock in process in the front is for That Guy. The lovely yarn cakes in the front left are some Lornas Laces that I'm looking forward to knitting up, and the rest is Regia purchased in Deutschland! Notice the distinctive red, yellow, and black for the German flag? It's self striping! I purchased enough to knit socks for myself and a scarf for my dad. I do have a couple of non-wool wearing friends, both with legitimate dermological excuses. One I've knit socks for from the wonderful cotton/lycra yarn that you can purchase from Carolyn at Greenwood Fibers on Etsy.com. (Sorry I'm not providing links yet! I'm working my way bit by bit through Bloggers Help section. I'm just old enough that we were still using card catalogues in the high school library even in senior year. The only computer we had at home at that time was an old Atari - you know the kind that came with huge game cartridges that you actually stuck into the keyboard? Asteriods was the coolest game and the spaceship was just that little triangle?).
There's been continued progress on the log cabin rug and Bevo hoodie, although I had to take two steps back on the Bevo. I had started the chart several rows later then I should have and as a result his horns ended up a tad shorter. The raglan sleeve decreases cut off the ends of them before I could complete the chart. Now, I considered at the time of this mistake ripping the whole thing back. I didn't for one of two reasons, 1) I thought no one but me would probably ever notice so maybe I should look the other way on this one - only Allah is perfect, right? or 2) it was on the return flight from Germany, I'd been knitting the back for nine hours straight and jet lag was already setting in. Either way, I broke down the other night and let my inner perfectionist take over. Really, the ripping was much less painful than I thought it would be. Also, I finished reknitting the entire chart last night and will be finished with the rest of the back tonight and ready to move on to sleeves!

Only two more nights without That Guy - Thank goodness! My sleeping patterns are all out of whack and last night all three cats were acting crazy. Last night when I was trying to fall asleep they kept tearing through the apartment, and then they were all jockeying for the best position on the bed. The problem was that they couldn't seem to decide which was the best place. It's a good thing they're all so cute!
Tschuss

A change can do you good...

2006-06-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

Guten Tag! Anyone visiting my site again (Thank you!) will notice a change in the template. I really liked the orange of the old one, but could not get over how large the type font was, so I switched to something that I think is a little gentler on the eye. Feel free to weigh in on it in the comments. I know I already posted on my friends wedding, but I had to share this fabulous photo that New York Sara took.
The high school friend that I reconnected with, her name is Sara, my name is Sarah, and so to lessen confusion we were referred to throughout the weekend to those less familiar with us as New York Sara and Texas Sarah. It worked well. This is the bride and grooms daughter being absolutely precious. Almost makes me want one of these little things myself - almost. Must get through grad school first!

Today on Sarah's Stash Flash! is some yarn that was acquired on my recent trip to Germany that I took with my dad. First up is a lovely alpaca/wool blend that was gifted to me by Astrid. And who is Astrid you ask?

Explanation: my dad's favorite activity is hot air ballooning. One morning almost 6 years ago at the Albuqueque International Balloon Fiesta he landed in a field with some other balloons. Two of these ballon pilots were friends, Harry and Gunther, over from Germany. Gunther came towards my dad shaking up a bottle of champagne and sprayed it all over him - my dad proceeded to do the same to him. Harry joined in at some point and invited my dad to a party later that evening. They've been friends ever since and my dad has been over to fly with them three times in Deutschland! This year I went along as my 30th birthday present - not to shabby, eh?! Anyway, Astrid is Harry's wife, and a prolific seamstress and knitter herself.

When she was showing me her sewing room (Naehzimmer) she pulled out this yarn and said I should have it. Now, as a Knitter, you never say no to yarn, but this was my first experience of someone gifting yarn to me from their stash. Once my initial shock subsided I realized that she was telling me that she had had more and had already made a Pulli (sweater) out of it for someone else, and that this color didn't look good on her. I thanked her graciously for her generosity and tried to prevent myself from dashing off to pack it in my luggage. It may become a poncho/shawl for my mom.

Before leaving for the trip I did some research on yarn stores. What I was able to find was somewhat slim. I'm not sure that there is the proliferation of small privately owned shops devoted strictly to yarn and fiber for handknitting as is common here in the US. I did see sock yarn in a bakery though, and purchased a goodly amount of Regia sock yarn from a little shop in Wilmadingen where we stayed for part of the trip, but it was more stationary/gift shop than yarn store. One search proved successful though, and that was for a chain store called Woelle Rodel! Astrid knew this store immediately and knew where it was located in Ulm, so that was my second stop when we visited the city one day. They have their own label and it is apparently manufactured there in Germany or the European Union, so no import fees! I bought enough to make the Pearl Buck Swing Jacket which I've been lusting after ever since that issue of Interweave Knits came out!

I am thinking that I'll cast on for it as a celebration of finishing my current job and the month that I'll have off before school starts.

More stash flashing in the days to come! Progress is being made on both the Bevo hoodie and the recycled cotton log cabin rug, but ya'll will have to wait for photos until That Guy comes back from Dublin. *Sigh* It's been so long since he was able to take a real vacation that I had forgotten how tough it is when he is away. It's just to darn quiet! That Guy plays keyboard and is hooked on sound so right now it is quiet here!!! Truth be told, I very much rely on him to make selections when it comes to music and tv/movie programs. He's funny funny funny too, so the apartment is void of laughter right now - bummer. If you get a chance to get online babe - I'm looking forward to you getting home and telling me all about your adventures in Ireland!

Also noteworthy: he emailed me to say he had arrived and all was well. He and his mom were getting ready to plan some day trips and then do some shopping in which he would look for yarn for me! How romantic is that?!
Tschuss!

Felting, fibers, and the stash

2006-06-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

My progress on finishing the felted bag proved to be false. I knitted up handles out of the unidentified yarn, but they just didn't felt the way I wanted them to. I followed the same procedure as I had with the bag - washing them in the machine with hot water & detergent for two full cycles. They just didn't felt as tightly as the colored yarn portions of the bag which are made out of Cascade. So you can see on the needles in the front the new handles being knit on Sz.8 needles from some light grey Cascade from the stash.

I'm largely a natural fiber lover so that is what you will see here most of the time. I do occasionally stray outside that realm to dilly-dally with something fuzzy and synthetic and I do have an ongoing blanket project that consists of Lion Brand Homespun. However, I prefer the feel and drape of natural fibers. When I'm making costumes or sewing I generally feel the same way about fabric content, although synthetics certainly have their own properties that make them quite useful, especially for theatre. If you are familiar with the Mary Zimmerman play "Metamorphoses," then you know that most of the play's action takes place in a pool onstage. When I designed the costumes for a production of it I turned to synthetics because they retained less water than natural fibers and dried quicker. But I digress...

That Guy of mine is going on a trip to Ireland for the next week and will be taking the digital camera with him. Never fear! I've decided that I will use this time to flash my stash! I have been stashing somewhat fiercely in preparation for my first year of grad school seeing as I can't really justify purchasing yarn as a school expense (it is cheaper then therapy though, right? Except I think you can get free therapy through the Student Health Center - shoot!). So I will bring you installments of Sarah's Stash Flash. The stash and I had a photo shoot this afternoon. Rather then photo it in it's natural habitat (the sewing/yarn/painting room) I decided to drag it all out on our back porch balcony to take advantage of the natural sunlight. First up, an object in progress photo.

This is my Bevo hoodie. A raglan sleeve hoodie pattern from last summer's Vogue Knitting issue with the minor adjustment of K1P1 ribbing at the bottom edge. It has a curled stockinette stitch edge but I prefer the ribbing. And now for a stash only photo.

Recycled cotton - meaning I unraveled a Goodwill sweater because I liked the varigated colors. It's been in the stash for a while, but I think it's going to become a small log cabin rug for the entryway. Thanks again to the Mason-Dixon book for inspiration! Stay tuned for more stash photos,
Tschuss!

Wedding Fun!

2006-06-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

My friend's wedding in Indiana this past Friday was just lovely! We had the perfect window of weather. It was held outside at a local park with a Bridal Glen. It had rained the night before, was overcast all day, and shortly before the wedding the sun broke through the clouds and provided a gentle brightness and warmth. The ceremony was beautiful - the bride's dress was unique and beautiful, just like herself. We all started to tear up when she entered, especially because the groom got a tad teary himself. She truly found a winner! After the ceremony everyone arrived at the reception venue and once safely inside it poured down rain. But as you can see from the picture above the clouds moved off and the sun returned, providing us with a glorious rainbow backdrop.

As I have known this friend since the fourth grade and was her maid of honor I was emotional throughout. She is a strong and beautiful person who has found such a good match and I'm so happy for them both. They have a beautiful little girl together, the groom has a son, and my friend also has an older daughter, so this wonderful day knit their family together forever (I had to get a knitting comment in!). Here is the bride and her daughters, all gussied up for the big day!

I also had the opportunity to catch up with another high school friend (on the right below) that I hadn't seen or talked to in years. We had a lot of fun reconnecting and I look forward to keeping in touch with her. I got to know the other bridesmaid better (on the left, which leaves me in the middle), and hope we can spend some more time together on my future visits to my hometown, Fort Fun. We clearly had a blast!

More on the felted bag tomorrow!
Tschuss, machts gut!

Shopping and felting

2006-05-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

Today I did what I often do when I'm working on a show - and by a show I mean a theatrical production - SHOPPING. I'm currently the costume shop manager at a local theatre, which I was surprised to find that I quite enjoy doing. Managing that is. Right now we are busy remounting a popular production from a couple of years ago, so I've been shopping to costume new cast members. Now, when it comes to shopping for other people I can do it all day. When it comes to shopping for myself though I'd rather have needles stuck under my fingernails. Since I spend so much time shopping for work though, I often keep an eye out for things I need. Case in point, an appropriate dress and shoes for several weddings that I am potentially attending this summer, the first of which is this Friday!

Actually, I'm IN the wedding this Friday. My very best friend from Indiana is getting married and I get to be a part of it. This is a friend that I've known since fourth grade and is the only person from high school that I've kept in touch with over the years. I also was with her in the delivery room for the birth of her first daughter - you can be assured that this was the most effective birth control I've ever experienced in my life! This will be a quick trip - I'll be back home by Saturday night - but I'm so looking forward to it. I am knitting a small token for her, but I plan to pick up the wedding gift while I'm there.

In other knitting news, I've been effected by the Mason-Dixon knitting book in that I've been driven to make some simple knits. Using some squares that I knitted up a while back (I think they were meant for a blanket or rug of some sort) I made up this bag to felt.

They are simple garter stitch squares made from various colors of Cascade wool yarn. Since they were individually completed I picked up the 40 sts on one end, knit a few rows in a different color, and then knit the band to the next square. Once I had the three squares connected I picked up the sts on what would become the bottom and knit a ruffle by increasing at increments of 10sts for a couple of rows. I can't remember what this yarn is, I bought it years ago in Evanston, IL. It is a heavier weight and definitely itchy, but perfect for a dense bottom. After binding off the ruffle I picked up the bottom sts again, eventually switching to dpn's and decreasing to 5sts before finishing. I picked up the stitches at the top also and knit a similar ruffle. Then I tossed it in the washer on hot water with a little detergent. I ran it a second time to get a dense felt and here's what I got!

I've left it in the costume shop to dry overnight on this oversized hat block. I'm going to knit two strips of the solid dense grey wool to felt for handles. I love how the many colors in the heathered yarns came out in the felting process. It doesn't show up as well in the pictures.

Once I get the hang of this blogging business I promise to start posting links.

Meine Socke an der Bodensee ins Deutschland (My sock on Lake Constanz in Germany).

2006-05-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

Knitted Flamingo - created for the ZACH theatre fundraiser Red, Hot, & Soul

2006-05-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

2006-05-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking and talking about starting a blog for a month now. I begin grad school this fall and hope this allows my friends and family to be a part of that experience. It will also be a forum for my favorite activity - knitting! Although I had stumbled on blogs while researching for a new production that debuted last fall at the theatre company I work for, I didn't consider starting one of my own until I stumbled upon the Yarn Harlot's blog. From that site I branched out and discovered the world of the online knitting community.

Here were people that I could relate to! Now, my friends and family, and even That Guy (my man, the fiance, will hereafter be known as That Guy, or even TG for short) are very tolerant, and even somewhat supportive of my knitting, ahem, obsession. Yes, you can call it that. Just a couple of months ago at work we had a staff meeting in which we were given a sheet with statements on it. You were to read the statement and finish it with you own. It had stuff like "The toughest thing I've ever had to do was..." or "My favorite way to relax is..." Several of my finished statements had something about knitting or yarn in them. What I didn't realize when I was filling it out was that when finished we were going to exchange them and read them out loud! Let's just say my coworkers understood the full importance of my "hobby" from that day forth. As for the friends and family, many of them have received a handknit item of some sort, so they are supportive if not somewhat amused. Mom has probably been the recipient of the most so far having had a pair of socks, two scarves, and mittens made for her (not just any mittens, each one has one of her cats faces knit on it, and they are not identical cats!) and the 2nd sister is probably close behind. That Guy has only received a pair of socks regardless of how many times I've asked him wouldn't he like a scarf or hat or something? He does want another pair of socks which are currently on the needles, and I think I've got him attracted to a zip pulli from the most recent Interweave Knits.

It was 2nd sister who taught me how to knit. I have three siblings. Two older sisters (1st and 2nd sisters) and a younger brother (LB, or little brother). All amazing, talented, and smart people, as are my parents. 2nd sister taught me to knit at Thanksgiving about 3 and 1/2 years ago. By Christmas time I had made my first hat (That Guy and I lived in Evanston, IL at the time. Much colder then Texas!) and she gave me my first sock yarn. That's all it took to hook me. Much of it I've learned on my own. Some of it comes naturally as I'm a costume technician and sometimes designer at work. And some of it I've picked up from the tips that abound at numerous knit blogs. I hope that I'll be able to contribute to that forum.

Oh, as I've recently returned from a fabulous trip to Germany with my dad, you may see some Deutsch pop up from time to time on this blog. I'll try to remember to provide translation as well, but I will most often sign off with,

Tschuss, machts gut!