Glad to see I'm not the only romantic out there.

Maybe it's all the moving about of yarn or the presence of a new roommate, but Winston has been all over the place the last few days. He jumped on top of my highboy dresser, sending assorted jewelery flying to the ground, and breaking a pair of unrepairable hoop earrings. He keeps meowing and pawing at the closed door to the room where he used to nap in the afternoon. Winston is unaware that not everyone wants to sleep in a cat's nest. Then, this afternoon, I came home and found him poised to jump off of the high shelf in my closet. I suspect if I had not intervened, he would have knocked the monitor off my desk. It's also unclear how he got up there, since he's a lazy jumper.
In other news, my destash is off to a good start, but I still have twenty items available. Here is a flickr badge of the available yarns:

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing items in a set called destash '10. Make your own badge here.

Please have a peek at my destash page on Ravelry and PM me if you have any questions.

Shitty shit of the week

And it's only Tuesday!
Last night, I was hanging out at my aunt Maria's house. I said my goodbyes, all the while thinking about how much I wanted to make a McDonalds run. Access denied, by my adorable car and it's bad starter. At first, I thought that I needed a jump, so I called AAA. They sent some guys who checked the battery (fine), then couldn't even find the starter in my engine to give it a tap. I was unimpressed, but I couldn't find it either until I looked at the engine diagram later.
The mechanics where I had the car towed quickly diagnosed it as a bad starter. I was really hoping for a bad fuse or relay. Apparently, VW starters are expensive, because this whole shenanigan cost me over five hundred bucks and a lot of shoe leather.
I am having a destash on Ravelry to help defray the costs of the starter. For fellow ravelers, this is the link to my sell/trade page: linky.
Here's a little preview of the yarns in search of a good home:

 Cherry Tree Hill Silk & Merino DK, going for a cool $16 (including shipping within the US) for the pair. Perfect for a Clapotis or other fanciness.

 A single skein of Malabrigo Lace in Damask Rose, for $9.
Beautiful, soft, and lots of yardage. I used another skein of this to make a Citron, which turned out wonderfully.

 Seven balls of Rowan 4 Ply Cotton, for $24.
A very sophisticated ashes of violet sort of color. This yarn would be perfect for making an Orangina.

 Five balls of Second Time Cotton, for $25. Perfect for a Hey, Teach!

 Three balls of Malabrigo Worsted in Orchid, for $24
The photograph really doesn't do the depth of this color justice. So very pretty in person.






I've got loads of other yarns in the destash as well. Please have a look. You might find something perfect for those last-minute gifts that always strike this time of year!

To the few people who actually read this blog, I apologize. I've been living my life instead of writing about it. It wasn't for lack of material, certainly, but sometimes it is better to wait until things are over to write about them.

I spent the last few months working on one of my dream shows. Everyone working in theatre has a list of shows they'd like to do, but rarely have the privilege of working on one of them. Back in August, I ticked the first one of my list: Sunday in the Park with George, by Stephen Sondheim. I adore Sondheim, but especially that show. It has so much to say about art, creation, and relationships. If you're not familiar, ask a theatre person. They will respond with enthusiasm.

It was my first time mixing Sondheim, and it was fucking difficult. Until about halfway through the run, I had to read fifty pages of piano score in the dark to hit all my marks in one of the numbers. I hadn't read a score since high school. Art isn't easy, to quote the show, but all that hard work was exhilarating. Ideally, mixing should always be like that, since it requires using both sides of the brain, but some shows are just work. Sunday rarely felt like work (except for matinees, which I find unnatural), and the end result was so, so beautiful.

Right on the heels of Sunday, I went into tech on another show. It was my first time designing a show (instead of engineering or associate designing) in a very long time. There are some very interesting differences between engineering and designing. Designers have to think about the show much more closely, but they also get to leave the production when it opens. That is an itch I get on some productions when engineering, though I enjoy mixing shows too. I'd like to design more; I have a few new tricks up my sleeve. This was my first design using QLab. I'd run shows with it before, but never programmed in it. SFX seems more popular, perhaps since it will run on a Windows platform. I vastly prefer QLab now, even the stripped down free version. How far we've come from the days when changes in the design required a trip back to the studio!

On the knitting front, I have finished two cardigans in Peace Fleece, started and abandoned a couple of accessory projects, and have a polo shirt for my grandmother (who does not use the internet and has no great affection for computers) half finished. The first Peace Fleece sweater is an adaptation of the popular Zephyr Knits pattern, 28thirty. The pattern is for a cropped jacket, but as a short person, I do not do cropped anything. I extended it to a cozy, ass-covering length. Upon the advice of another knitter, I also re-engineered the sleeves, which as written would accommodate the Hulk's biceps. It quickly became my favorite sweater. The rustic Peace Fleece is the perfect weight for autumn, making a very cozy fabric. I am trying to choose garments that are more sophisticated and less cozy (well, less cozy-looking), but this cardigan is a win in both categories. One of these days, I may even sew on its buttons.

The second Peace Fleece cardigan is their Everyday Cardigan, in a lovely light aqua tweed. This is the second time I've knit this pattern. It was the first cardigan I ever knit, which lasted many years until it was loved to death. Also, styles have changed a bit since the turn of the century, and its short length left me tugging at its hem absently. Everyday Cardigan 2.0 is longer. It was curious making two Peace Fleece projects back to back. The yarn is a hard-wearing wool, which is to say, a little scratchy to work with. Some colors are scratchier than others. The pink that I used for the adapted 28thirty has a great hand and didn't need to be softened up in the blocking process. Maybe because it came from a store of yarn in which chipmunks made a nest while the Peace Fleecers were in Russia for the summer. The aqua tweed was untouched by rodent pals and a bit rougher. I've no doubt it will relax a bit in its initial bath, allowing the mohair content to bloom.

I've decided to take a break from Peace Fleece for a while, though I have enough stashed for another two cardigans. I'd like to make things that cannot be described as serviceable or hardy. So, I dipped into my stash again and pulled out some Dream in Color Classy that I bought at a seconds sale a few years back. I am knitting Hannah Fettig's Effortless Cardigan, which I suspect will be stylish and cozy. For those of you who can't access the Ravelry link (sorry), it's a top down raglan cardigan that can be worn crossed, a la Diane von Furstenburg, or left open in a devil-may-car Eileen Fisher fashion. Readers, if I had the cash, I would live in Eileen Fisher. The yarn is veil dyed in shades of grey, so I imagine the finished sweater will be worn to the theatre a lot. I've just put all the sleeve stitches onto holders--always a relief when knitting from the top down. Still, those rows of plain old stockinette are very long.