I now own a pullover.


And it only took a week! If only I could get away with wearing bulky yarn on a regular basis. The sleeves took a bit of fiddling, and I do wish they were a bit longer, but generally good.

I also finished that shawl I was working on:


In the end the spinning FAIL (way too many slubby bits for a fingering-weight yarn) is trumped by the damn beauty of the colors. I still probably won't buy it again, though--well, maybe I'll try the Silk Garden Sock. ;)

So guess what I'm working on now? Because I am a glutton for punishment?? This. You may recall that there was some drama regarding this pattern back in the spring of 2008--I made it in black Patons (what I used for that cardigan last month, incidentally), and it fit perfectly in the arms and from the bust up, but was just entirely the wrong shape. If my bust is the widest part of my torso north of my hips BY FAR, why ever would I make something that flared out from my bust?? Duh. Anyway, I'm making it again--with the Fisherman's Wool from my frogged Oblique (still sad about that!), in one piece to the underarms and with a whole bunch of shaping. The only snag is that I've had to plan out the buttonholes in advance; I have five planned (one completed so far), evenly spaced up the torso. It will be a huge pain in the ass if I have to move them later, so I do hope it works...

And in recital news: last night I sent my first choice in dates to my friend over at the college, and hopefully one of them will work. We're aiming for late March--and if we can't make that work, it will either need to be on a weeknight (not ideal, since my parents wanted to come) or all the way in the fall. Fingers crossed! The music is mostly learned, and there are just a few pieces to decide on. Dare I say it, this may actually be an enjoyable experience. How novel.

Before I forget: if you like girls with acoustic guitars, and don't mind some profanity, you may love Garfunkel and Oates. They are my new favorite. This one's actually relatively safe for work, provided you can let the word "bitch" slide by:


No offense to NORMAL pregnant women, of course...

Last item: we're having a housewarming party! I am excited. Yesterday I even emptied the last box in the spare bedroom--it is so wonderful to have those built-in shelves...

I'm in love...with a yarn.


(Of course the photo doesn't do it justice...I took it!)

I've had this Noro Silk Garden since the summertime--on sale!--but hadn't worked with it until the other day, when I started this pattern. Within minutes I was staring at my four rows of stockinette with wonder and awe. This may be the most beautiful yarn in the world--and so much softer than I expected for all the mohair! I wish it weren't so expensive...

Speaking of Noro, I've just finished two projects using two different weights of Kureyon (must be Noro week here)--the yoked sweater and my Nightsongs shawl. I'll have Mark take some pictures this weekend.

Anna had a meme on her blog a few weeks ago that I really liked, but am not getting around to until today...

The idea is to wander around your house one day, taking photos. Nothing too staged, just how things look on that day.

You shall see just how non-staged things are.

In the kitchen


Yep, there are cups to wash, and the drying rack is full. And there's my tea, next to the kettle. No worries.

On the nightstand


My great-grandmother gave me that panda when I was born, and I haven't found a permanent place for it yet since the move. The Santa tin is full of wonderful hand salve Helen made for me.

In your work/craft space


I like to sit at this corner of the couch to knit, do translations, watch TV... We have one of those couches that looks green in real life, but is completely absent of color in photos--plus it has a nap that makes it look even more muddy. Next time we buy furniture, we'll choose a different type of fabric.

Out the window


...which is why I'm getting to this today. We had five inches of snow Friday night and Saturday morning, and yesterday was sunny but didn't get above freezing. Our road is not plowed, and will not be plowed, because this city of 400,000 people owns about a dozen plows total--but the driveway is a bigger problem. Unless we have a big melt today, the Corolla's not going anywhere until Wednesday. I have a rehearsal tonight, and I'm still not sure how I'm going to get there...

On your feet


Pink slippers, bathroom floor.

Knitting or knitwear in action


The pattern is a vest that I've modified for gauge and to add sleeves. At this point I think both lower arms will be ribbed in the contrast color (Noro Big Kureyon), because I'm just about out of the red (Cascade Eco+, which is great and inexpensive). A few weeks ago I realized I didn't own one pullover sweater. This is more of a layering piece, which I'll be able to wear as outerwear in the next three weeks. The back came out a little baggy for my taste--I'm hoping blocking will take care of that.

This is the closest to crunking I have ever seen in a figure skating routine:



How awesome is this?!

We watched the movie Once the other night--it was pretty good, and the music was spectacular. I've had this song in my head for almost a week now.

Oh, I am such a slacker. I had this grand plan that I would be such a diligent blogger this month, but it just didn't happen. I will try to be better!

While I'm talking about it, this is one of my new favorite blogs. She is all kinds of awesome.

So what have I been up to? Well, there was a New Year's gig, and an audition, and right now I am planning a recital for the spring. Lots of Hugo Wolf--my main purpose for doing a recital in the first place, other than just to keep busy during this economic dry spell, was to learn "Kennst du das Land?", which I've wanted to sing since oh, 1998. I didn't do it in grad school because there was a Wolf song rep class my first year and everybody was doing Wolf, and I decided "Von ewiger Liebe" was more portable for competitions so I learned that instead. Anyway, so there's a Wolf set, and a bunch of William Bolcom cabaret songs, and an aria or two--plus I'd like to do a few fun duets, depending on schedules. I have a free venue (which I am very excited about!), and a pianist with a relatively flexible schedule, so I'm optimistic we can work something out.

Crafting-wise, I've been working on some baby sweaters (everybody's having babies around me!), and I've started a crocheted ripple afghan with my animal-fiber and nicer leftovers. I also finished that cardigan I was working on:


I don't love any of the pictures, but this one is the least offensive. I decided in the end to leave off the buttons and use a kilt pin to close it. I do need to block the collar better, once I feel like pulling out the iron. I also finished my awesome Tom Baker socks!


I actually liked them better before I dyed them, but they're more authentic now. :) There were more than a hundred ends to sew in--it took a few hours, I think. I tried to be methodical about it.

I'm back! And I've made three hats exactly like this one:



Though this one is the coolest, since it's mine and it's made of an incredibly soft single-ply wool. The other two were Plymouth Encore, which is perfectly good for a gift, but this one is just super warm and perfect for sleeping in. (Pattern: Scotty's Hat. It's from Star Trek, so you know it's good.)

I also have these crazy things.


Aren't thumbs weird-looking all by themselves like that? These are Winter Twilight Mitts, though mine are decidedly more psychedelic... I had a skein of JL Vinca leftover from the June Sock Debacle--this one was actually plied correctly, so it made a nearly perfect rainbow. There was an unfortunate knot in the very beginning of the skein, so the blue section on one of the gloves is shorter than the other (and notice I cut out almost all of the yellow!), but I still think these are pretty cool. However, they're already starting to get a little fuzzy--just like the socks I made. This yarn is really not good.

That is what I can show you now. There are some presents in the mail, but I don't want to give anything away. Otherwise, I'm working on a cute cardigan--Drapey Neck Silky Tweed Cardigan (Rav link--I can't find it anywhere else)--with the yarn from my ill-fated Drops 103-1 of Spring 2008. And I'm making Fourth Doctor socks!! (Season Twelve, since you asked.) After a lot of arithmetic, I settled on dividing all the row numbers by three (alternately rounding up and down to the next whole number), which makes the perfect length plain vanilla socks for me (348 rows total). I'm doing the heels in the adjacent colors, so one will be brown and the other green. I had four of the seven colors in bits in my stash, so I bought brown, grey and cream yarn; when I finish the socks, I'll overdye them with tea so the cream will become tan and the really bright lime green will be muted. I'm near the cuff of the first sock, and they look really awesome already--though there will be many, many ends to sew in. :(

What else is up? Hmm. Well, we've been busy with social obligations and the holidays, of course. Two weeks ago I took a quick trip to New York for a late-notice audition and a coaching, plus I got to spend some time with my aunt and grandparents. (Incidentally, my grandmother took two hours to do her grocery shopping. And not because she has senility, or any trouble getting around. To think Mark thinks I am easily distracted...) The audition went pretty well--though these things are never predictable. I'm singing at the city's First Night celebration on Thursday, and in about two weeks I'll have the opportunity to make up the audition I had to cancel last month. The auditions are actually for The Magic Flute, which has exactly one role for me, but it's a fun one (Third Lady) and it's a relatively decent size in a show that has like, forty soloists and only three female principals (all light sopranos!). I will get to pull out the Wagner for this one, since they say they want to hear German. I'm always a bit hesitant, since I don't want people to get the wrong idea (damn the Wagner stereotypes), but I think this is a good opportunity for it.

In non-singing news, I'm thinking about composting. We may start this weekend. I don't really want to shell out all the money for one of those plastic barrel-types where you just turn the handle to aerate it--we do have shovels and rakes--but I'm not sure what the best option is yet. We definitely have a lot of mulch laying around, which will be a perfect starter. More on that as it develops...

Still can't find the fracking camera...

Well, we're finally moved in (and unpacked enough to feel relatively comfortable), and have survived the wedding (with help from my grandmother, I was still half-naked but not p*rn*graphically so) and my work trip to California (though barely--the run through the Salt Lake City airport to catch my connection probably took five years off my life), so here I am on my long-neglected blog. I'm sorry, blog. And I can't find the camera right now, so no pictures! But I can come up with a few highlights:

* Fun with yearbooks at Cathy's house. We were able to pinpoint the moments when we grew into our noses. Also, there was a lot of mall hair.

* "Fashion Show" at my grandparents' house, when my aunt drove up from DC with three dresses and TWELVE new pairs of shoes because she couldn't decide what to wear to the wedding. (She ended up wearing old shoes and returning all twelve new pairs, I think.)

* The wedding: generally quite nice. But the band was HORRIFIC, and so loud I could feel my lungs vibrating. They did "Sexyback"...which is certainly as bad as when my uncle's wedding band did "Pump Up the Jam" in 1990.

* The closing: The sellers apparently couldn't be bothered to sign the documents beforehand, so they showed up at closing. I kept quiet and avoided eye contact so as not to reveal that I HATED THEIR GUTS. But hey, we have a house!

* Cleaning out the townhouse went fine, except for the hour I spent futilely scrubbing the oven with baking soda and a scour pad. Now I know why Easy-Off was invented--not that I plan to use it.

* Salt Lake City: Due to a short layover and a delayed flight, my flight from Detroit touched down exactly thirty minutes before my connection to San Jose was scheduled to leave. That's before taxiing (sp?) to the gate and getting out of the plane (I was toward the back). I ran as quickly as my sprained ankle and laptop (which I didn't use the entire trip!) would allow, but still didn't make it to the gate before the flight had been taken off the departure boards. Thank goodness I made it--the last seat on a teeny tiny plane. But I paid for it: my ankle was in pretty bad shape by the end of the trip. Now I'm in PT, which is hopefully helping.

* I have my piano! Unfortunately I only decided after the movers left that I liked it better in the corner. Next time I have four people over, we can hopefully scooch it a few feet.

* There has been some crafting. One of these days I'll be able to post pictures. There were three hats, a cowl, armwarmers, some socks...

The finished Vinnlands:


My original plan was to have the colors line up, but as you can see they would've only mostly lined up anyway. I'm fine with them the way they are. This is such a great colorway--I'm beginning to see why people like Kaffe Fassett so much.

In cuteness news:


Would you believe it's a crocheted version of one pound of body fat? It's for a swap, but I plan to make one for myself sometime. I got some really cool stuff from my own swap partner, including Jelly Babies and some really pretty Mountain Colors yarn.

Everything is pretty much set for the house; we just have to pack everything before we leave for New York. Speaking of which, I went to have my bridesmaid dress altered the other day. I look like a cow. It's really awful--a really bad style for me, exacerbated by the fact that it's two sizes too big and won't look good cut down, either. Plus my entire back is exposed. This dress didn't come with a wrap, of course. I'm going to have Mark plant a shawl in the pew so I can cover up as soon as I'm seated, and I'll just wear it through the entire reception. Even then, I'll still be falling out of the top of it. It's just really unfortunate. Nobody will really be looking at me, of course--until my boob pops out. :/

Bad me, neglecting the blog because I've been in a bad mood...

The sellers of our future house have been total bitches--in multiple ways I'm too weary of to get into right now--and they've made us move the closing to November 2. This will cost us a bit of money, plus we'll only have the day before to drive back from my brother's wedding (and I was supposed to have a coaching in Manhattan that day, so I miss out on that, too). If it weren't for the tax credit deadline on December 1, we would have seriously considered finding another house. It's all been very stressful, and Mark and I take turns being depressed. I don't like to say I hate people, but I think I hate these people. I'm tempted to make amigurumi voodoo dolls in their likeness. Blech. I know everything will turn out fine in the end, but this is an unpleasant time. And that is why I haven't been blogging. I just don't like the bad energy.

So here's some good energy:


It's FINALLY DONE! I dropped it off (along with my Fountain Pen Shawl) at the state fair last Thursday. It is very heavy, and I hope it wins a prize. After all the experimentation with different crochet borders, I ended up doing one row of sc and three rows of dc, then steaming it just a bit to help with the curling.

Other projects: I'm wearing my Vinnlands, finished a dishcloth and an amigurumi Doctor Who character for a swap, and working hard on my Oblique cardigan to hopefully have it done in time for the wedding trip. It's a rainy day, or else I'd take pictures.

Yesterday I had a killer headache, complete with visual disturbances and traveling numbness and cognitive disconnection--so I decided to watch a very weird episode of Torchwood, made even more trippy by my brain's misfiring... I thought I'd made up the little girl with the Tarot cards.

Anyway, all better today. I've been working like mad on the border for the mitered afghan--I tried all sorts of things to try to get two of the sides to stop curling, but nothing really works. I may have to kill it a bit on the edges after all. Today I had go buy another skein of dark blue to finish the border. I hope to be done by the weekend. It's a LOT of double crochet...

The closing on my parents' house was yesterday, so they are officially homeless. Until they find an apartment in Maryland, that is. Apparently the schedule is: drive up to New York tonight and tomorrow to drop off the infamous dining room set, then to Maryland so my father can confirm his job and they can choose an apartment (they're leaning toward an off-season vacation rental at this point, so they hopefully can live on the ocean and won't have to commit to a year lease), then off to the Badlands/Mount Rushmore/Mount Rainier (unless it's closed)/Grand Canyon/various other natural attractions in the continental U.S. They plan to be back in New York by October 28-29, just in time for my brother's wedding. What an adventure!

Speaking of my brother's wedding, I got my bridesmaid's dress in the mail yesterday. It is HUGE, and cut a lot lower in the back than I was expecting... It's not going to be an easy or cheap alteration. I still need to see if I can buy a new longline, since the one from my wedding is pre-BCP, and therefore three letters too small. The only one I've seen online in my size is about $125. I really don't need to be spending so much money on this type of stuff right now!

Blanket news: I will finish the seaming today! I'm leaning toward a double-crochet border, since Mark doesn't want there to be too many color changes. The border has to be about two inches wide, I think--and it won't exactly be portable, so I'm not sure how long it's going to take. I've decided that if I finish in time, I'm going to enter this one in the state fair instead of the Hemlock Ring Blanket--it's so big and cool-looking, I think it will generate more attention (and a ribbon? that would be awesome!!).

To close, a very funny commercial--the coolest ad running in Okinawa, apparently.

Did someone say they wanted more Jon Hamm? Oh, that was me.

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Maybe a bit heavy-handed, but how funny is Will Ferrell?

Seaming, seaming away here...

Just two squares left on Ye Olde Psychedelic Mitered Squares Afghan! By this time tomorrow I will never have to knit another of those damn squares. No, by then I will be rueing the day I ever heard of mattress stitch. Actually...twenty-four hours from now I will be at the eye doctor. I was just telling Mark that I was out of contacts, and I was literally going to call them today to ask when my last appointment was, when they called me to confirm an appointment for tomorrow. I had no idea that was scheduled. For all I know I may have made the appointment when I was in last year, but never transferred it to my 2009 planner. Weird, huh?

Here's another photo from a project that's on the back burner while I finish the blanket:


The astute may recognize it as a Baby Surprise Jacket. I am no big fan of Elizabeth Zimmermann--she hates on crochet way too much! But I figured it was time to make one of these. It's for one of Mark's coworkers who is due early next year.

I'm mostly out of the woods now--still very tired, but feeling better. We had a pretty busy weekend, which went surprisingly well considering how bad I was feeling. We went to my friend's 70th birthday party on Saturday night, where I was enlisted to sing (which I was dreading--mainly because of the fatigue--but it went okay). He's recently moved into a downtown high-rise, which has a fantastic view of the city. A bit too high up for me to live, though!

Speaking of where I live, the mold inspection was this morning. The problem is a little worse than we expected--it appears to have been caused by the drainage (i.e. the downspouts and LOTS of mulch against the brick foundation), not, as previously suspected, by a water main burst last year. We won't have the inspector's official report until the end of the week, and we're supposed to close in four weeks...hopefully we won't have to push back the closing date, but I guess we have some leeway. I wish we didn't have to worry about this, you know? All we can do is wait now, I guess.

I still haven't loaded my latest blanket picture (I only have four squares left! then lots of mattress stitch), so I figured I'd show you the start of my next larger-scale project. The cardigan I was working on back in July was kind of a bust--it was going to end up way too stretchy, since it was basically 2x2 rib--so I've started this with the same yarn. I've reworked the pattern a bit, since I don't do slouchy, but in truth all I'm doing is making a smaller size. Here's about how far I've gotten:



I'm dedicated to finishing my blanket ASAP (or at least getting it assembled, since it will no longer be portable once I start the border), so I haven't worked on this in a few weeks. I don't really need a cardigan yet, you know.

p.s. I didn't see the Emmys--no cable!--but I did see photos of Jon Hamm in a tux. That should be illegal...

(TMI ahead--don't say I didn't warn ya.)

Ugh, I feel so gross today. You'd think that having medication-coordinated three-month cycles would get me off the hook a bit. I guess I don't consume as much Midol as I used to, but still, yuck. The cramps are actually worse and last longer than they did when I was on a more traditional schedule. I am eating potato chips and drinking grapefruit soda, and at work I even had a Snickers. Junk food, check. =/ I should be back to normal by Monday, but the first several days are always ridiculous. In happier news, the DivaCup is working fantastically well for me. I recommend it! It actually makes this experience a bit less unbearable.

Last night we met with our realtor to go over the results of the inspection. The inspector did find some mildew in a corner of the crawlspace (thought to be the result of a pipe burst they had several years ago, after which everything in the interior was fixed), so we actually will need a mold inspection. Scary, I know, but the inspector was so nonchalant about it that we really think it's just a precaution. We have to pay for the mold inspection, but obviously the sellers would be taking care of the mildew remediation or anything else that comes up. (The realtor will be scheduling the appointment today, and hopefully I'll be able to make it.) Other than that, there were just some minor things--a few masonite boards and a soffit board that need replacing, new ground faults for some of the outlets, some doors that need rehanging...really not a big deal.

Hey, I've finally finished the main section of the ginormous blanket! I took some pictures of it on the bed, but haven't loaded them into Flickr yet. I'm now seven squares into the outside section, with only ten more to go. That's 78.1% down! The assembly may take me a bit more time than I'd hoped--the stockinette squares are rolling a LOT at the edges, and I may decide to iron/kill the acrylic so they lay flat. I've done it before, and liked the effect. Plus it's a bedspread--it's supposed to be drapey. I'm not sure if I'll do it before or after the eternity of mattress stitch...

p.s. I know I didn't post yesterday! Blame our router, which decided it didn't want to be "wireless" yesterday. Right now the computer is actually plugged into it. Who knows what the problem is...

The inspection was today; a few small things came up, but it should work out just fine. It was actually only Mark's second time at the house, since he didn't come with me when my parents were up. We did mean to get pictures, but just didn't have enough time--but I did figure out how to gank photos from our realtor's initial email about the house.


I put up a few of the interior as well--check my photostream. We also met with our lender this afternoon. At this point, we have little to do before closing besides packing up our house. And negotiate the inspection findings, and buy a fridge, and figure out how we want to move, and decide when to move the piano... I guess there's a lot, but the big hurdles are out of the way. Yay.

Once upon a time, last month, I started working on some Vinnlands for myself. I haven't been working on them much (I'm finally working on the border squares of my neverending blanket!), but I am into the second sock. Here's the first:



This yarn was perfect for the pattern! They will be a very cool pair of socks, whenever I finish them. :)

A final note: I have been watching the first season of Torchwood on DVD, and now I find myself thinking with a bit of a Welsh accent. That is really strange...

We were so busy with the show and post-performance stuff yesterday that I didn't get on the computer all day... The performances went really well, and I got two positive (but short!) reviews that I can post on my website (which I finally got around to cleaning up, months and months after I first set it up with the new host). Now I need new gigs. This is the first time in years I haven't had any future engagements--mostly because of the economy. I've even heard whispers that one of the local companies that has been struggling may actually go out of business (though I can't judge the validity of the comments, and I tend to avoid that kind of gossip, it is worth acknowledgment--it's the company that took six months to send me a check last year). So it's even more imperative that I start researching auditions for this December. I wasn't able to make a new recording this summer (things were so crazy in August, and my regular pianist was traveling quite a bit as well), which is not so hot but I can use last year's if need be. The company that gave me such positive feedback after last year's audition is doing a few more shows this summer that call for my voice type, so I'll definitely try to sing for them again. Fingers crossed...

I got this crazy ball of yarn in a swap a few years ago--a pink and orange and white silk blend with the texture of terrycloth. It's very soft, and the colors are kind of fun, but I had NO idea what to do with it. I finally decided to make a cowl with it, but after multiple swatches I realized that it was way too fuzzy to be made into anything but stockinette--so I made another Dolores Park Cowl.



My hair looks particularly good in that picture (I probably shouldn't tell you how dirty it was--I knew it would be sprayed white and teased for the dress rehearsal that night, so I saw no point in washing it). I got a nice drape using the called-for size 10 needle, but I basically improvised the lengths of the individual sections and worked until I ran out of yarn. It's like wearing an incredibly luxurious towel around my neck. :)

I got a great deal on a stainless steel water bottle a few weeks ago, but it's single-chambered and there's a lot of condensation. So I made a "sock" for it:



The yarn I used (Valley Yarns Berkshire, which is closer to a bulky than an aran) is probably too nice and not sturdy enough for this purpose, but I've had it sitting around for a while so I felt the need to use it. It's working well so far.

Last night's show went well, and we have high expectations for tomorrow.