Neomera Knits

As I allow it to really sink in that I am both leaving my stable (if infuriating) job AND my country, I am surprised to find myself somewhat panicky. I’m convinced I’m going to forget to pack something important like panties. Or my passport. I occasionally have to remember to breathe. Yes, I know it’s silly, but there it is. I take stressing myself out to lengths from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Meanwhile, back in real life, I have a WHOLE SHOW to worry about before I can sweat packing. It’s been a very strange process, let me tell you! I’m used to the pressure being on by the day after hang, which is usually only 90% done when the boys roll in with the truck full of scenery. By now I should have spent two weeks stressfully switching between electrics and carpentry, trying madly to finish both before focus. There has been none of that this show.

This show is HUGE.

So huge, in fact, that the poor scene shop is still frantically building. We hope that some of it might start coming over today, but I don’t see myself having time off this weekend. Ah well. That’s life in the theatre. It’s going to look really nice, I think- all castles and craziness. I should have pictures, once there’s something to take pictures of.

As far as knitting goes, I’ve been plodding along on the White Lies sweater, but the stitch pattern is almost as monotonous as stockinette, so I keep getting bored. So instead I have a hat and the Icarus shawl. The shawl has been started five times now, and it truly will bring me to the point of madness, but I will prevail. I have FAITH, people! At least I have faith in my ability to conquer a lace chart. I have no faith in my ability to remember to pack pants.

Last night as I drove home from Pennsylvania, I listened to several episodes of Cast On (what do you MEAN you don’t listen? Go now! I’ll wait…) This latest series has been focussed on what Brenda Dayne calls a sense of place- meaning your home, where you think of as home, and what ties you to it. There have been lots of really interesting and touching essays about mountains, about travel, about children, and such things, and I started thinking about myself. I can’t really say that I HAVE a sense of place.

Now that doesn’t mean that no place feels like home. Lots of places feel like home to me- and that’s kinda my point. The place I live- my house, with my family and my stash in it- is clearly home. But so is my grandmother’s house in Eugene, Oregon. Every dorm I’ve ever been assigned has felt very much like home. heck, even hotel rooms I’ve stayed in have sometimes felt like home, depending on the people I was with.

But none of these places show up in my work. I don’t bring the soft textures of the Pacific Northwest into my knitting to tie me to the place I was born. I don’t plan projects in the reds and browns I think of from Hong Kong. I don’t even feel particularly drawn to the colors and textures of Maryland, where I’ve spent most of my life. I guess it means that I’m still searching for a place to really call home. Then, I will knit it into my life completely.

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.

Good goddamn, folks! I’ve been trying to post for three days! My pictures are practically out of date! Ah well.

Here’s my latest FO:




Not hugely exciting, really- I knit the first one of these forever ago. They’re Socks That Rock yarn in the Mata Hari pattern that I found on someone’s blog equally forever ago. (If anyone knows where that is, I’d love to add the link, but I can’t for the life of me think where it was.) I really liked the STR yarn. It really lived up to the hype. Right now I’m working on the Pomatomus socks in Koigu KPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPM, which is also being amazing. Man, sock yarn is so sexy!

Sadly the White Lies sweater has been put down briefly while my life exploded and the heat wave settled in. But now… now I really really have to finish it by the end of the month. So that I can knit another (a cardigan, I think) by the middle of NEXT month. I know I can do it- I medaled in the Knitting Olympics, after all!

What? You want to know why I need two more handknit sweaters so desperately? I’ll tell you.

Next post.

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.

I just found the Icarus Shawl. (scroll down a bit) I might be in a little bit of trouble…

Hey Mar, I hope you’re braced for lace kniting insanity at work.

uff. So much stuff going on that I don’t have time to think too hard about them, let alone blog. (Even if you don’t count the server troubles.) Recovering from the convention, then straight into hang for another show. good times. Fortunately I found time not only to have a super nice weekend, but I also got some actual KNITTING in! *gasp*



wait.. is that… could it be?



It is! It’s the cami! All done! Ok, so not entirely done. I have some playing with buttons to do in the back. But wow, I can’t wait to find just the right reason to break this out. After that I started this little gem. Oh boy oh boy is the yarn nice.


We’ve got the fluffy yummy stuff on the swift. Then there’s the giant yarn cakes, being shown off by Mom. And there’s my progress for the afternoon. Sooooooooooo soft and fluffy, oh guys.

Man, I can’t wait to see the whole thing done. I might just live in the thing. Yummy.

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.