Christmas and New Years

Well it's been an interesting past few weeks. My show Eat the Runt got shut down right before Christmas, which royaly stinks. Still it was for the best, and there is a slim chance we may move it to Vegas. (ahhhhh sun!!!). I'm fortunate to be staying on in a part-time capacity, my actors however were all out of work.

My other show closed Christmas Eve, (not much point in doing Christmas Carol after Christmas!) and the down time has been nice. I walked into my LYS firday for Yarn Geeks for the first time in 6 weeks!! I'm aslo finally haveing time to devote to Christmas Knitting (yes things will be late sorry guys)

Mom's sweater is coming along well. Had trouble attaching the sleeve at first. Kept getting loose holes. Thankfuly knittinghelp.com saved me!! My LYS was of course closed the two days I was fighting with it. Anyway it is acutally looking like a sweater, I am happy!!


For Abbey I am going to do the Entwined pattern. I made it for myself and love it!! She's always cold and goes to College in MI, so it will be nice for her. Plus it's a fast project.

I'm already thinking ahead to next year. My friend Kristin has the great idea of makeing something every month and putting it in her Christmas stash. That way she doesn't have to franticly do a bunch of projects in December. I think i'm gonna adopt that idea myself.

Well I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year. I for one will be taking cabs and trains around Chicago tonight.

Peace

Mary

holliday cards

so it is that time of year, and I am determined to get cards to everyone this year! However I am missing addresses, so if you want one please e-mail your address to stewart.me@gmail.com
best!

Mary

Not dead i swear

So I haven't died or even disappeared, just been incredibly busy! The holidays have hit which means prime marketing time for theatre in Chicago. Everyone is coming here to shop, so we try to get them to come see our show. I'm also getting ready for next semester at Northwestern with the Opera (yes I said I would quit, but just can't bring myself to, the people are to great). So I've been busy, but there have also been some good fun times.

2 weeks before thanksgiveing our runaway cat was found after 2 months! We are so happy to have her home, and she is healing from her adventure.

Welcome home Bombuls!!



Then I hosted thanksgiving for my family and friends here in Chicago. It was quite fun. I made mom cook the turkey since I don't eat it. Apparently it wasn't a butterball that did everything for her so she did it the "old fashioned" way. Sorry mom, I buy free-range organic!! Yeah we had fun, Jenni and are "soul" sister if not "blood"ones!
Int he midst of all this my cousin got married in Michigan and I have been trying to knit for Christmas and for winter for myself!!

I call these adult mittens on a string, and they are warm and fuzzy, made with malabrigo wool, mmmmmmmm.

and I wonder why I am tired??

Historic Stitcher: Tagged!

Historic Stitcher: Tagged!

Here’s the deal: Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you (see above). Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.


So: Eight random things about me.

1. I haven't "paid" taxes in 2 years. well at least they haven't come out of my paycheck anyway. I've been freelance and had to settle with the government every April.

2. I used to stay up all night with an insomniac dwarf and giant. Yup, used to work at a group home with on the third shift, it was always amusing. We all liked coffee a little to much!!

3. I am slob with my food. It's awful! I spill everything on myself, and can not be separated from my tide to go pen! My paperwork is always coved with coffee.

4. I started flying by myself at age 6. Thats what happens when you have two parents in two different states. At Christmas and in the summer I would be put on a plane by myself with a stewardess (they were still stewardess then). Not the most fun way to fly, though I did get bumped to first class whenever there was room!

5. I am a pescetraian. though I usually tell people that I am vegetarian because they are less confused that way. However I do make exceptions for the occasional fish, and steamed muscles.mmmmmmmmmm

6. I have a Goddess mic which is the microphone I use so my cast can hear me during the tech rehearsal process. Typically it is called a God mic, however a man hasn't spoken over it in years, and it's a male dominated field anyway, so I renamed it!

7. I travel with my own Telex headset I spend so much time talking on it, calling shows is my life, and i needed something comfortable. Also they swap over so many ears, *shiver*

8. I have a Korean sister who lives in Germany. She was our exchange student in high school, and being an only child it was wonderful! She is german, has grown up there, but her parents moved there from Korea so she is also Korean. She came to the states to escape the culture clash and find herself. She got me with the package, thank goodness we have the same sense of humor!!

Now, to tag! Kristin, Lyndsey, Riss, Brittany, Shreyl, Abbey, Stephanie, and Megan!!. Have fun!!!

ahh KIPing fun

It's always funny the looks I get when I KIP. Last night I had sock in rehearsal while the cast was learning to speak in a British Dialect. My choreographer also happens to be a fiber fiend, and looked over to see what I was working on. The look on her face was quite funny, probably something akin to the look on my face when I first saw Erika's socks. Mind you I knit mine on DPN's, and all Helen could say was "that looks like a mean weapon not something I want to stick my foot in!" yeah...

Finished Scott's scarf!! Apparently short wide scarves are "in" for guys. It turned out looking really good, I'm quite happy. And it's quite soft, yay!! I will post pictures when blogger lets me. :(

Ravelry

My Ravelry invite came today! Of course, one of my bussiest day when I have NO time to set it up.

Username is highflyinsm - look me up!

lost camera but progress

I lost my camera last week sometime. I think the faires might have it, playing a little game with me.

I finished Jenni's baby ponco last week. It turned out really cute, rather "disco" as Mary Kay said. Till every baby needs a little bit of disco, and I am happy to provide. So the stats:

Yarn: Stash red heart baby multi colored yarn. Double stranded for thinkness and gauge.
Needles: My Great Grandma's antique needles - size 13
Started: September 15, finished September 23

Finished the first sock a few weeks ago, and actually cast on the second one this week. It's going much faster, though I keep putting it off for other projects!!

Scott's Scarf is about 10 inches from being done. This yarn is driving me nuts however, it's "fluffing" and knotting around it's self.

I cast on my mom's sweater today. I'm useing Cascade 220 and let me tell you it's a dream! I also discoved Swallow needles, so easy on the hands!! If you havne't heard of them I suggest trying them out, they are made of mil weed an entirly renwable resource! Plus they bend and learn your hands over time.

I'll post picutres as soon as I can!

excitement on the personal front

Non-knitting but exciting news to share!

So this has been one of the most intersting weeks of my life. Mostly it has been postive!
First the good news. I have interviewd, been offered, and accepted the postiong of General Manager for Eat The Runt here in Chicago. All this happened in about 48 hours mind you. But I get to be the big boss, I run all the books, discpline (eww), get butts in the seats, keep the producers in line, and basicaly keep my show open. Plus this if full time, a pretty decent salary and I get to work from my home quite a bit!! WOO HOO!! I also really belive in this show, it has so much potential!! It ran for 150 performances off-broadway before 9/11 shut it down. What's It about you ask? It is the first audience cast show, all 8 actors know all 8 parts, they audtion for the audience, and then the audience votes like in Millionare! It's really fun, and funny!! There are over 40,320 combinations!! So you see the potential here? Very excited!! I am the big boss now!!
The dark part of the week is the passing of a very dear friend of mine. He was insturmental in getting me started here in Chicago, and is a large part of where I am today. Last weekend he suffered a sever stroke and went into a Coma, and on Thursday he passed. It is very sad and a huge loss to the theatrical community here.
So that's the last week in the life of Mary. I'm now trying to pull my life together to start the new job tomorrow. EEEE so excited!!

about the needle bar

So for those of you who have noticed my "on the needles" section has gotten rather extensive! I'm starting early on Christmas presents and my friend from high school is having a baby. So of to the races we go!!

I bought yarn for my mom's sweater Friday at the knitting store in down town. Beautiful peacock blue by Lamb's Pride, bought the store out! :) Also started knitting my baby poncho for Jenni's baby, got through quite a bit of it over the weekend!! I'm making it from stash, which s good.

I've been spinning to. YAY!! My friend Kristen is also just learning to spin, so we compare notes, books and advice. It's nice actually. She also makes and sells gorgeous hand died yarn, want to get some and make yummy socks out of it!! Thinking the walnut died yarn, mmmmmm.

That's all for now. I'll post pictures soon, promise! I leave you with a question: Why do my cats leave my basket of yarn on the floor alone but fish out my lace weight yarn from the stash and bat it into the bathroom?

and the knit goes on...

So I thought I would post some progress shots and update everyone. Now that the move is done, and I don't have any shows coming up until Christmas time, I have had lots of time to work on things. I am also looking ahead to what I will do with my Christmas knitting. I have a few things I know some people will get, others not so sure yet.

I have also started going to the Yarn Exchange, which is the shop here in town. I discoved on line that they have a knitting round table on Fridays, so last week I figured what the hell. I met some wonderful people, had a great time, and really great conversation!! I also got to explore the stock they have there, oh the fun! They have the sock yarn I am useing now there as well, so exciting! I also met another spinner there, though she is quite good and I am still breaking my wool on the spindle every few twists. Still she turned me onto so good local fiber shops, so as I improve I will know where to go.

So onto the pictures!!

my first sock is almost done!! Turning the heal took some doing, and several tries, but it actually looks like a sock now!!

A scarf I am working on for my hubby. he picked the yarn, and it is really looking sharp. However it is fuzzing something awful and driving me nuts!!

And finally....

A scarf that took 3 generations to make!! My mom wanted to learn to knit in high school, so my great grandma decided to teach her with this scarf. My mom found it this summer cleaning out my grandma's house, still on the needle 2/3 of the way done. I decided to finish it and mail it to her as a suprise. Quite a fun story!!

it's funny cuz it's ture

someone on my knitting group posted this. Just had to share. :)

Yarn A recent study indicated, that Yarn and thread gives off certainPheromones that actually hypnotize women and cause them to purchase unreasonable amounts.When stored in large quantities, in enclosed spaces, the Pheromones, (in the yarn,) cause memory loss and induce the nesting syndrome, (similar to the one squirrels have, before the onset of winter, i.e. the storing of food,) therefore, perpetuating their species and not having a population loss due to their kind being cut into pieces and mixed with others.Sound tests have also revealed, that these yarns, emit a very high- pitched sound, heard only by a select few, a breed of women known as "loomers." When played backwards on an LP, the sounds are heard as chants, buy me, loom me, and wind me into a ball ".In order to overcome the so called "feeding frenzy effect," that these yarns cause, one must wear a face mask when entering a storage facility and use ear plugs, to avoid being pulled into their grip.(One must laugh, however, at the sight of customers in a yarn store, with WW2 army gas masks and headphones!). Studies have also indicated, that aliens have inhabited the earth, helping to spread the effects, that these yarns have on the human population. They are called "YARN STORE CLERKS".It's also been experienced, that these same Pheromones, cause apathological need, to hide these yarn purchases, when taken home (or at least blend them into the existing stash.) When asked by a significant other if the yarn is new, the reply is, "I've had it forawhile."Author Unknown

First Post

Basically this is a place for me to post pictures and progress about my kinitting. My non-crafty friends are growing rather tired of my knitting ramblings on my regular blog. Soooo....with out futher ado..

I've finished two projects this summer. First was a small car-seat sized blanket for baby bella. It turned about pretty well for my first blanket!!

it knitted up pretty well. I did on size 10 needles, with red heart baby yarn. Pastel colors with a silver thread, looks pretty and knits easily as well. It's mostly accrylic, which is not the greatest. Still made it a nice light weight summer blanket.

I also made a pair of fingerless gloves for my friend Jenni for her birthday this summer.

I made then on my size 7 double pointed kneedles. I made them with Lion Brand 100% wool, and they knitted up wonderfully!! It was fast and easy to do, even with all the purling! I'm really happy with how they came out and thinking of makeing myself a pair later.

In the works I still have the pair of socks I started in March. It's my first pair, they are on size 0 and I am attemting to turn the heel right now. I also have a scarf for my hunny in the works. Black and forest green should be very pretty. I've been haveing fun with the new yarns I'm finding on the east coast. I even have some I picked up I have no idea what it will be yet. What fun!!

Allright off to the races!