Neomera Knits

This past weekend I got to head down to just outside Charlottesville Virginia to spend some time with my cousins. I am pretty jealous of my cousin Jess and her husband John, because they live in a sweet house with a beautiful (and very well mannered) dog and about a thousand hummingbirds- far enough from the city to be peaceful, but close enough to get there when you need to. Oh man, it was a good time.

We did some barbecue, and some board games, and some card games, and some tubing down the James river… for maybe a bit longer than we had anticipated… And while we waited to pick Chris up at the bus station, I got in some geek time!


I got some work done while we were just sitting around talking, like during breakfast…


That first one is me and Jess and my sock. The second is me and Jess 2 and the sweater. I’m currently doing the left front shaping, and I’m about to bind off the sleeve… if I can ever get out of this wretched knitting black hole. I swear, I’ve been working on the same inch for three days now! argh.

no matter. It gives me something to do while I’m carefully not bumping my very very sunburned legs. At this rate I should be able to cast off the sleeve today, and start the waist shaping tomorrow, and if that goes anywhere near as fast as it did for the back, I’ll be on to the right front by the end of the week. I’ll have PLENTY of time to finish before Chile! The sock is also proceeding well- almost to the heel. Sadly, I just realized that I don’t think I have enough of this color to make it all the way down the foot, so I’m just going to have to make the heel and toe a tiny bit bluer. Oh darn.

I have to end today with some mad family love. You guys are awesome!

point me to the edge of the world…”

I need several sweaters so that I am warm in Chile, of course. because that is where I am going at the end of next month. To say that I am excited would be silly and not quite strong enough. Ah well, travel is always enlightening. We shall see how it goes.

I also need plenty of warm socks, of course. Working on Pomatomus - I’m almost to the heel, and it’s not so hard. I’m waiting to see where I will fall flat on my face for saying that.

Lots going on in Real Life here, folks. I’m not dead, nor have I forgotten what few readers I’ve got here, I’ve just been sidelined by life. Somewhere between the removal of my wisdom teeth and a housing inspector coming through and out of town friends I’ve been too busy and exhausted to sit and write. This will be remedied soon, with full on photo evidence. I promise.

No. Really.

Man, I’m not dead. I swear. I’m just exhausted.

Things are slowing to a reasonable pace now, and I think I’m going to be allowed to breathe again for a while. First off, the Borrowers is up! Oh man, does it look pretty, too. I haven’t been able to sit in the house and watch the show, but I’ve seen it on the greenroom monitors and I can only imagine how the kids must love seeing the giant screwdriver come through the borrower’s home. They laugh, they cry, they throw up. This one’s going to be a success!

Also behind me now was the ever exciting Connecticon! I hear that the webcomics auction went very well- Mookie, sold for $200, and Hawk went for $350! I am told that Hawk himself bought Trish, and I have to admit that I am totally jealous. I however, couldn’t be at the auction. I was busy setting up a little surprise for the Mookster. You see, one of the things that people do at these conventions is called cosplay. The simplest definition is it’s like Halloween in a convention center. Well, when Mookie returned to his table after the auction, one of his characters, Grench, was waiting for him.



I think he was pretty pleased, don’t you? This was of course, the surprise I mentioned last week. I say, I don’t look half bad green like that! Here’s a shot from the dress rehearsal- those tusks were killer.


I loathed that wig. It went in the trash as soon as I was back at the hotel- if I do her again I’ll buy a really good one. Also, the green paint, while it came off beautifully for the most part, kinda clung to anything that was really dry. Like the calluses on my hands. And my cuticles. I’m green in spots! Jaundice! Oh noes!

I also have some FO shots for you of the camisole, but I’m afraid that my brother has run off with the camera, so I will have those soon! I promise! Wednesday! I cross my heart.

I got to work this morning and had not had any coffee. Thus my boss was able to get the drop on me. See, it all started out innocently enough. We were talking about coffee, and he’s going to the cafe because he’s desperate, but I maintain that he should wait 20 more minutes for the Italian Guy to open, and get the good coffee. I said to hom “You can’t go to the cafe for coffee, their coffee sucks! Your body is a temple! Put the GOOD coffee in it!” he said “Is your body a temple?” “yes, it is!” I replied, all unsuspecting. “That explains why there’s a line to get in on Friday nights!” he said, and then laughed at me groping for an adequate reply. I failed. Hear that Boss? You win!

After that I got Good Coffee for both of us and we had our first preview of The Borrowers. Kids laughed, they cried, I think maybe one threw up. Sounds like a success to me! I’ll have finished show pictures next week.

I also finished the camisole! Hooray! Finished Object #2! Um… I’ll have pictures next week. But it looks amazing. I have to go get some bigger buttons, but that’s not such a big deal. Sexy knitting rocks my world. I am now onto the sweater I got from White Lies Designs, and I’m going to work on it this weekend. Well, some anyhow, because this weekend is Connecticon! I leave tomorrow with the Applegeeks Crew, and Matt from Mac Hall. I know, the links’ll be up later. I’m damn tired.

In other news, I also finished a Surprize Project for a friend today. Mom helped more than she should have- I love my mother! I’ll have pics of that next week, too, after he’s seen it. Next week will be a photo-tastic wonder.

mostly.


Real post coming soon, I hope.

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!