yarntherapy

Back to Before

  Molly 
  Originally uploaded by laurelann

Yay, strike's over, back to work. SO glad that's all behind us.

Let's talk about Christmas, shall we?

I'm going to do my best to adhere to the "Buy Handmade" pledge, though I think dad is getting a wireless weather station. With money now being a little tight in the wake of the strike, I'm hoping to dig into the scary depths of my craft closet and make lots of lovely things for the people in my life. I will also be shopping like a madwoman on Etsy. God how I love Etsy. The Treasury feature is the best thing ever.

So the little pink sweater is for my niece Katie, who is three and a half and the cutest thing ever. She likes pink. Of course. The pattern is Molly from Debbie Bliss Junior Knits. What I love about this book is that everything is sized from toddler to like a 7 or 8, so I can use the book as she (and all the kiddies I know) keeps growing. Yarn is Araucania Nature Wool, purchased on sale at Webs and I really love it! It's soft and squishy and I love the subtle variegation of the color. I have some more in brown for a Central Park Hoodie, and I am looking forward to working with it again (and wearing it!)

My Wednesday knitting group managed to meet once during the strike, at Briana's apartment, and it was just as nice and relaxing as it always is. Some of us are working on items for a sale to benefit BC/EFA next week - I'm cranking out Fetchings and Dashings and I made a really cute little neckwarmer from yarn I bought a million years ago, so it's been great for getting rid of stash.

I did start on Cherie Amour for myself, but we're having a difficult relationship at the moment. It took me three hours to produce a 4" swatch, and don't even ask me how long it took to cast on. Yikes.

Tommy used to work on the docks...

.......Union's been on strike, he's down on his luck - it's tough. So tough.

Yeah, you thought Billy Joel was bad.....  Wait until I start singing the score of "Pajama Game."

You guys, this strike sucks. Financially I'm going to be OK, I think, but the uncertainty is driving me crazy. I just want to go back to work! I miss my people and my dressing room and my little chair in the hallway! I miss Wednesday knitting group! I miss knowing what day it is without having to double check the calendar! I have real issues with needing structure in my life, and while I've gotten a lot done in the last couple of weeks, I find myself getting more and more scattered and disorganized without the enforced schedule of a job to go to.

Ugh. And I'm cooking turkey tomorrow, but most of my original guests aren't coming - with the shows canceled, people have the time to go spend the day with family which we wouldn't normally have. So I completely understand, and I'm happy to have less pressure on myself, but I am going to have boatload of leftovers from my 12 lb turkey for three people. And I need to figure out a dessert! Both of the people who were going to bring dessert decided not to come! I'm seriously considering just doing banana splits.

Knitting is happening, picture taking isn't. I hate posting about knitting without photos, so that will have to wait.

Until then - happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Seen the lights go out on Broadway

  knitting and striking 
  Originally uploaded by laurelann

This is what it's come to, folks - I'm quoting Billy Joel.

The last week has been incredibly surreal. I truly don't even know what day it is unless I go to the theater. Something we all hoped would never happen.....happened.

Lots of mixed emotions, I won't go into specifics. I'm really happy that the parties involved have agreed to meet on Saturday - just knowing that *something* is happening makes it less stressful.

Anyway, I've tried to be productive on my little forced vacation. Moved a lot of furniture around in my apartment, painted my bathroom, joined a gym (!), caught up with my Tivo. I'm knitting quite a bit as well (of course!) What you see in the photo is a pair of Fetching handwarmers for a fundraiser in December. Such a great pattern - I made a pair of Dashing gloves by the same designer (who kindly gave permission for us to use her pattern for the sale) and they are so quick and fun to knit. I'm using up yarn I had leftover from when Julia Roberts knit on stage during "Three Days of Rain" - so it's all Broadway related! (plus I am so happy to get some yarn the hell out of my apartment!)

Oooh, and the coolest thing I did - I taught myself how to cable without a cable needle! I'd looked at a couple of tutorials in the past, but the one that made the most sense to me and finally clicked was Grumperina's. It's like having a new toy or something! One less tool to fumble with! (I'm all about minimizing tool use as you can tell by my love of the magic loop and two circs techniques.)

Fingers crossed that we'll be back at work very soon.....

NaBloPo......aw, never mind....

For about three minutes I thought I might participate in NaBloPoMo to help restart my blogging mojo, but then I decided that I would drive myself crazy trying to think of crap to write and I would bore everyone to tears and then NO ONE would read my blog and I would be very sad.

So I am not going to force myself to write every day. However, I am going to work harder on thinking about interesting things to say and to take pictures of so that you will all stay with me here.

So can anyone tell me why my stats have gone through the roof in the last day due to people googling SWTC Gianna yarn? Did the Harlot make a poncho out of it or something? Did Brenda Dayne talk about it? (wait, I think she's still in Italy) Clearly, someone in the knitting world made mention of it, but I can't figure out who. It's really nice yarn, BTW, if a little hard to find. And I still wish it came in better colors.

Anyways, welcome to anyone who is here looking for SWTC Gianna. I promise there will be all kinds of nifty content here soon.

play ball!

A couple of weeks ago I finished these fierce handwarmers that I can't wait to wear when the weather gets colder:

These are from a pattern by Christina Slattery that I found via Ravelry, based on Rose's costume in last season's Doctor Who finale. I had the perfect yarn that had been sitting in my stash forever - some Elann Peruvian Alpaca. It's a really fun pattern - complicated enough to stay interesting, but small enough for pretty instant gratification. Kind of like socks, I guess, but I still have no interest in knitting socks.

I'm currently making another pair in black for Kendra, and may make a third for the wife of our sound guy - he loved them in the purple yarn and I have more of it so I'm happy to have a reason to whittle down my stash a little more.

Aaaand - presenting the Wednesday afternoon Broadway knitters!

L-R: Jen, Me, Cristin

L-R: Briana, Ryan, Jarod

We have a couple of other semi-regulars and it is SO FUN. Please note the massive amounts of Mexican food in front of us - it's usually a nacho free-for-all while we knit. We're so lucky the weather has stayed warm - we still haven't decided on a really fab indoor location. We have lots of space at the theater, but part of the fun is getting out of there for a little while.

Speaking of getting out of the theater, keep your fingers crossed for us that the stagehands aren't locked out next week (which effectively puts us out of work as well.) There are lots of valid issues on both sides, but frankly, my bank account can't take it right now.

Oh, and because it must be said - LET'S GO YANKEES!

More stuff done!

  Anthro shrug finished! 
  Originally uploaded by laurelann

Pattern from Peony Knits,  yarn is SWTC Gianna, a soy/wool blend. Butterfly pin fron Taxco, Mexico.

This was a fun, quick project and I'll probably make more. I really liked the yarn, and I'm not usually a fan of really bulky yarns. Unfortunately, I think this one may have been discontinued - it had a very limited color selection as well.

The photo was taken at Yarntopia in NYC (right next to my very first apartment in NY!) The NYC knitters group from Ravelry has begun a Tuesday evening knitting group and I was able to join them last week since I took a couple of mental health days off from work (I had a lovely brunch date and a spa day too!) It's a really nice little shop, the owner Dona is very cool and nice and sells really funky purses that she makes. I wish I could join the group more often. Stupid job.

I have a couple of other things to post, but I'll save them for tomorrow. I know you're all very excited about that.

a simple bodice

  a simple bodice 
  Originally uploaded by laurelann

Be afraid - I have actual knitting to show you!

My (finally!) finished Simple Knitted Bodice, pattern by Stefanie Japel. I actually finished this last month but yesterday was the first time the weather was cool enough to wear it.

The yarn is yummy silk from Tilli Tomas, color is Moss. I thought I was running out of yarn, so I made the sleeves shorter. Then I found a full skein of yarn hiding on my shelf. oops!

I really like the pattern and will probably make it again. I added some length in the body, and I probably should have added some above the waist trim so it sits better on my body. Some day I will learn how to add short row shaping to a project.

I posted this via flickr because for some reason I can't get Typepad to rotate photos when I upload them from iPhoto. Am I stupid for not being able to figure this out or is it a Typepad "feature"?

brevity is the soul of wit...

Yes, yes, it has been pointed out to me (in person!) that I haven't posted in a while. Oops!

So.... the thing is, I don't have any photos right now of all my recent knitting, and I hate writing about knitting (especially finished knitting!) without a visual reference or two. Soon, I promise. I even had someone offer to take pictures so you all don't have to look at the palm tree photos over my couch in the background once again.

I do have  bit of knitting news to share - I've finally got a real knitting group to hang out with! (in person, I mean. Not on Ravelry!) Some of us at Wicked finally got it together and organized a group that meets every Wednesday between shows - yesterday we had our biggest group ever - 7 people! Woo! It's a great, great break in the middle of the week, and I think it's going to be a really fun thing to keep up with. We do need a better name, though - "Broadway Stich and Bitch" is so boring.

OK, what I really want to talk about today - TV. Right now my obsessions are Season Three of Doctor Who, and DVDs of Slings and Arrows. Doctor Who just rocks, and Slings and Arrows is in many ways the movie of my life. If you've ever worked in the theater, rent it. Trust me.

So between the hotness of David Tennant as the Doctor and the Hamlet-themed first season of Slings and Arrows, I saw this today and my head just about exploded:

Stewart and Tennant to lead RSC Hamlet.

Patrick Stewart. David Tennant. Hamlet.

Must. Get. To. Stratford.

can't be bothered...

... to post any photos at the moment, but there is knitting happening around here.

• I finished the knitting on the SKB - when I realized I had extra yarn, I went ahead and took out the bottom border (thankfully the sequinned yarn held up OK) and added about an inch and a half in length to the torso, then redid the border. Much better! I definitely need to block this, though, because I need a bit more length above the waist, hopefully the silk will stretch a bit for me. Other wise I'm really happy with it - can't wait to wear it in cooler weather.

• I had a weak moment on the Webs site, and picked up a couple of things. One was SWTC Gianna, a chunky wool/soy blend. I really like this yarn! I just wish it came in more appealing colors. It's getting hard to find - i think it may be discontinued. It would be great for the Lace Leaf Pullover from Loop-D-Loop. I'm using it for a shrug based on one from Anthropologie - pattern here.

• This pattern is so cool! I'll be starting it next, from some Elann.com alpaca that I've had for ages.

I finally caved and purchased the whole Options needle set from Knitpicks - so glad I did! I'm trying to use up stash and make a few Christmas gifts while I have the time, and it's hard when you don't have the right needles. I love love love these needles! So pointy! Cable so bendy! And purple! I already had a few needle tips and cables and I am so happy to have the whole set. I'm having fun organizing them into their little binder as well! I got out the P-Touch and I'm labeling all the pockets with the appropriate size.

OK, there's other stuff I've finished recently, check my flickr if you're interested. As I said, I can't be bothered...... (at least right now!)

Good Things

• This recipe. I'm eating it right now over couscous with a little feta crumbled on top. So good.

• My new necklace from Alyssa Ettinger:

• Haagen Dazs Mayan Chocolate ice cream - no longer just a limited edition!