Neomera Knits

Well, even though it seems to be monsoon season here in the DC area, my ceiling has not yet fallen in, nor has it even leaked much today. Maybe the wind was just driving the rain up under the shingles? I don’t know, but it’s not dripping now. So…

I had to work this weekend, of course. It’s the weekend before tech and working the weekend is a given. i don’t mind too much, as this is what I’d expected going in. working three or four weekends in a row however, that’s been known to make me cranky, but hey. Life is nothing if not unpredictable. Like my old friend suddenly turning up again. Sitting at work, tracking a budget issue, and up pops a message window! The nice surprises keep me smiling while the unpleasant ones make for good stories later.

Like I mentioned in the last post, I have too been knitting! I swear! (remember when I thought this would be just a knitting blog? HAH!) Here’s proof!


I really want to finish this. Mostly because it feels like I haven’t had a Finished Object (or FO in knitblog-ese) in forEVER. I think the knitting olympics screwed with my sense of accomplishment for the year. I’ve been spinning, too! That beautiful purple merino/tencel I got in Boston. Oh man is it soft! But I seem to have less time for that even! I’ve had too many books to finish. I’m almost done with the latest one- it’s off to the printer next week. And by then tech will be over as well, and we’ll see what happens after that.

Well, I was GOING to write about another pretty nice weekend, even if I did have to work (I got to build stuff! and see people! and have really truly grown up conversations and stuff!) I was even going to mention how I have, in fact, actually been KNITTING, and I am almost done with the main part of the camisole.

But I have been distracted.

You see, it is monsoon season here in the DC metropolitan area, and outside it is practically all water, no air. It seems that the weather decided it was too hot, and has come to take shelter in my room. Through the ceiling.

argh.

Well, unless you work on a stage, then whistling is bad luck. Not that it stops us from whistling. We walk under ladders a lot, too. I seem to have been struck with the desire to have a photo progression of this show, so here’s some of the terribly blurry images taken with my phone. I’m sure you’re all facinated. ;P

This is where we usually start- on the floor. This is the layer of platforms we’re covering most of our stage with. After this comes a layer of MDF (ick, pooey, spit on it!) and then the paint.

ah yes, further along and stronger… that first picture is the deck almost done (ish) and the second is where the guys have started on the wagons that will roll up and down stage. that archway thing was actually looking rather lewd, in a feminine-power sort of way. Possibly due to it’s strong resemblance to the Peach Pit House from last year which looked explicit once it was painted. I might be able to find a picture of it somewhere and we’ll see if you agree with me.

Here’s the wagon in a greater degree of “done”. It will eventually be a giant boot on it’s side (imagine this shot looking down from the top right into the boot) but right now it’s been nicknamed something else. that small arch, farthest from the camera, has been dubbed ‘the cervix’. Yes, we are dirty dirty people who should be kept far away from children. At least this one’s going to be covered and sculpted into shoe leather. That Peach Pit House only got worse the more finished it got.

Hey, we don’t design ‘em, we just build ‘em, folks.

I got the rare and wonderful opportunity to hang out with an old friend this past weekend. We hadn’t seen each other for some ten years (damn, there’s something that I haven’t done for TEN YEARS?! Is that even allowed?) and thanks to what was effectively an act of God, I got Sunday off and we got to catch up. Man, it felt good, but it got me thinking about the Good Old Days. Those heady days of high school where I managed to at one and the same time to be a hopelessly unconfident and awkward kid and an overbearing yet still fairly competent technician. Funny how some things never change, isn’t it?

It actually made me look at a couple of the pictures I have on my wall. There’s one of an old boyfriend- the only one worth really remembering fondly- there’s one from prom, and there are two from the theatre.

That’s 4/5 of what was really the force behind the technical aspects of the theatre during my senior year. The only one missing is my brother who was pretty darn in there on that whole figuring stuff out sort of way. Left to right it’s me, Brenden, Dan, and Mike. Man, we did some good work. (I, however, needed to lose those flannel shirts pretty darn badly, huh?) Speaking of which, Dan directed our senior student show, Craig’s Wife.


I forget who wrote it, but it’s, um, kinda a heavy play for a high school, shall we say? All about expectations and manipulation and control and marriage and stuff. But man, it was a cool set, with a gigantic sweeping staircase up to a “second floor” (it was behind a flat, nobody was any wiser ) and a fireplace that had “real” fire in it. man I wish I had pictures of the sets. I wish I could name everyone in this photo, but no luck. Dan was all classy in a tux, to his right is Julie, and to his left is Martha and me. Yeah, I was running the light board. Hmm… the longer I look at this pic the more names I can remember. Tempe, Sarah, Megan and Miriam are in front. Micah, Alison, Mike are behind Julie, and Joanna (I think ? She never talked to me much, if I recall correctly,) Alex, and Brenden (multi talented, that one!) are behind me.

Guess I know what’s worth devoting brain cells to. If any of you happen by my little corner of the web, drop me a line (including those not pictured,) I’d love to know where you are now!

Well, Monday was strike, and boy did we enjoy it!


If I can figure out how to post movies I’ve got 15 seconds of the last wall coming down. SO much fun! Now we get to load in the next set, do hang and focus, tech…. the whole nine yards. We’ll see how much sleep I get this month! Not everything is finished, however.


The cami is about two thirds done. That there’s the body, and I’m making the bra now. I hope to be done with it and well into the sweater by tech. Hooray!

So… I actually had a post all written up and ready to post yesterday, but my brand new scanner ate it. Ok, so, my brand new scanner software got all screwed up and forced me to restart the computer, thus losing the unsaved post I was preparing. Same thing, in my mind. dumb old Hewlett Packard. Damn, but the scanner is sexy, though.

Anyway, in trying to recall what I’d written about, I remembered that Saturday was Worldwide Knit In Public Day! I was, um, at work… and welding all day in the back of a warehouse makes for little knitting and even less in-publicness. oh well. It was pretty cool to be able to shake the rust off the old welding skills. I’d almost forgotten how entertaining I find the whole process. and the gods of the beautiful weather on Saturday were even looking out for us! Both welders ran out of welding wire at the same time, thus showing us a sign that it was time to quit.

I DID get some knitting done this weekend, though! And in public, too! See?

Here’s another picture…



Taken with my new phone! With a camera! And the BEST RINGTONE EVER! It’s the Final Fantasy Victory theme. Now, whenever anyone calls me, I throw my hands in the air, then back to my sides, then in the air again, repeatedly. Well, ok, I only did that once. But it deserved a Victory Dance!

Hi, my name is Katy, and I am a geek.

Did I say quiet? Thoughtful? Meditative? Right.
That quiet, meditative state is REALLY hard to find with this camisole project. In fact, it involved a lot of swearing. I started the damn thing about a dozen times, trying to get the stitch count right all the way across the 157 stitch cast on. No. I know that’s not so very many. it is, however, enough to drive me batty! I guess I should just be glad it’s not something huge, like a shawl.

Also, I seem to be following the directions a little too well. Does this:


look like this:


To you? Doesn’t to me. I don’t mind, really. Looks just fine for the purpose it’s intended, I’m just kinda confused by it. There’s not really any way that I can see to make it NOT line up this way and still be following the pattern. Ah well. I’ve even figured out how to solve the button-lining-up glitch that arises for the not-lining-upness - you see, the buttons should be able to button through that first line of lace holes. Instead, I’m going to fold over the edge that the buttonholes should be on, and put a thin piece of boning or something to give that edge a bit of help with not pulling out of shape in little button-based scallops. That’ll take care of the extra fabric between the first row of lace holes and the scallop thing that drives me crazy. I win!

Oh man, is work busy. Saps the energy right out of me! That’s ok, though, I think. I get up, I go deal with work, I come home, I pass out and sleep badly. Ah well. That’s life.

Life’s funny, you know? I know I complain rather a lot about a few things (for which I do apologize to my friends- sorry to make you listen to that, guys!) but I realized this morning, that I’m feeling pretty empty of words these days. Makes for bad blogging, ultimately, but I’m feeling rather at peace with it. It’s a sort of feeling of contented apathy, I think. At least that’s how I’m going to describe it right now. It leaves plenty of space for random thoughts to wander through my brain.

I guess that’s one reason I’m so thoroughly enjoying the book-on-CD I just bought. Well, I guess it’s less of a “book” on CD so much as a series of interview conversations with Joseph Campbell about myths, and the meaning of myths in people’s lives. IT’s really fascinating, I think, getting into burial rituals and the symbolism behind a lot of stuff.

It’s also making me feel much more connected to my spinning and my knitting. I’ve been finding that quiet more and more easily when I sit down with the spindle or the needles. It seems to connect me with my great grandmother, who grew up on a sheep farm, and her mother, and so on through countless generations of men and women who did what I’m doing now, using pretty much the same tools. Just amazing. I love that.

*edit* I know there’s no pictures here, and that makes for dull blogging. I’ll get you your pictures when I have the energy to focus for more than 5 seconds at a time.

Well, I’ve been abck to work, and well. Yep. Vacations are wonderful, but when you come back from one you remember why you wanted to go in the first place. xP Ah well. At least we’re not too swamped right now, and when I talked to Marietta, she told me that she has joined the blogosohere! She puts me to shame, so go! read!

Also, I have remedied the laziness from my last post, and have actually put links to all those amazing people I got to hang out with at Anime Boston, so you no longer have to be confused about them.

What was most exciting, I think, about returning home was that I had PRESENTS! My aunt and uncle and cousin Jes went off to Angkor Wat a few weeks ago (yes, I’m jealous,) and Jes- being one of the world’s Good People- sent me a present! I now have a really super soft trourist tshirt from Angkor Wat, and I also have a wonderful little coin purse!


Of course, the first thing I did was to put stitch markers in it.

You see, I needed the stitch markers desperately, because the other present I got was these!

*GLEE!* oh man, the 50/50 wool/silk for the camisole is dead sexy. So soft. So yummy. mmmmm. And the and the mohair for the sweater? It’s also 10% silk. oh my GOD I am in fiber heaven! When you take the wool/silk/tencel blend and the wool/tencel I got in Boston into the mix it’s kinda a wonder that I’m making it out of the house at all! SO good.

Of course, I’m afraid that there’s a drawback. The camisole lace- the bit around the bottom that makes the scallops as if it were magic? I canNOT get the numbers to come out right after one row of repeats. The lace repeat is pretty easy, really. It’s a 9 stitchrepeat, no big deal, right? Across the 157 stitches of the bottom of this thing, I can get it right maybe… um… half the time? So I have about a thousand stitch markers in right now so I can maybe count bast three accurately. I am going to beat this.