CIMG4685
Originally uploaded by doctorgirlfriend

Boobalicious...

No seriously, this was quite a labor. Take a look at the designer. Notice anything different? So yeah, there are short rows. And for some reason--even in something this form-fitting--I always overestimate how many rows I need to add. And because of the purl row just below the bust, not only did the short rows need to be exactly right, but I had to do an incredible amount of decreasing over like, four rows so the purl row wouldn't be baggy. Sheesh. I originally made the waist area too tight (my underbust is about 2" smaller than my waist, thanks to PCOS) and had to frog back. It's still a little tighter in the tummy area than I'd prefer, but I expect it will stretch. I wouldn't know, because I won't be wearing this sweater until September. It's just too damn hot here to wear a bulky-weight cotton sweater in the summertime. I'm not even wearing my worsted-weight ones until after Labor Day.

I actually have finished several other things, but I've been really busy (and spent all last week with a headache, grr), so I haven't found time to put things up here. Though I do manage to find time to knit and do cross-stitch and watch Dollhouse on Netflix. Ahem.

Anyway. I had a great rehearsal today--I think the recital is going to go well! There are a few spots I need to work technically (I'm doing all of the Wolf set in the high key, and there are a few phrases that need a little more concentration), but I'm all but memorized, and am in a good spot dramatically. We have about six weeks to go, and since we won't be able to meet for the next two weeks, we really don't have that much time left!

One of the reasons we can't meet for two weeks is that Mark and I are going to Chicago on vacation. I've actually never been there, and am really looking forward to it. We're going to hit the museums, eat crazy food, and just relax a little. It's been three years since we've taken a vacation that did not involve some family event. (Though we will probably see Mark's brother, who's coincidentally moving there next week.) It's going to be fantastic!

Arrested Development started when I was in graduate school, and I didn't watch a lot of TV back then. We've been watching it on Netflix, and wonder how we could've missed out. (I think we tried to watch it once during the second season, and had no clue what was going on, so we gave up.) David Tennant may not be my type, but you know who is? Jason Bateman. Never has a child star grown up to be so adorable. (I'm looking at you, Neil Patrick Harris fans...give me a BREAK.) Incidentally, he is one of Keith Olbermann's very good friends. LOL

I haven't been sleeping well this week--this morning I woke up before dawn, and probably caught 30 minutes of sleep between when Mark left around 7:30 and when my alarm went off--so I may not be comprehensible. I know I've been struggling with this damn sweater quite a bit. The short rows are misbehaving, and I have to decrease an inordinate amount over like, six rows. Grr. In better news, we are headed to the beach in a few hours! Our friend's parents have a beachhouse, and we are spending the weekend there. I'm not a huge beach person, but right now it sounds right up our alley...

I did have a bit of drama yesterday. My car had been making some noise, which we thought might have been a suspension problem. I was on my way to work, thinking that I was going to call a shop later that morning, when suddenly something very bad and loud happened, so I pulled over (on the left-hand shoulder of the interstate, where I had been going about 70). I chanced getting out of the car to take a look, and my rear driver's side tire had a huge rip in it. Metal coming out and everything. Apparently the noise and vibrations were from the tread separating from the rest of the tire. The whole thing ended up not costing anything (at the moment)--I had a full-sized spare tire, which the AAA tow truck driver put on for me (I did not want to be run over), and the car ran fine once it was on. My father has two tires for me up in Maryland (I'll need to meet my mother halfway sometime soon to pick them up), so I'll be able to have them put on instead of having to buy two new tires. Sometimes I lead a charmed life...

I think I may have a David Tennant problem... I got a cold over Memorial Day weekend and spent the majority of three days on the couch, watching DVDs and Netflix. (We bought a used Wii a few weeks ago--lots of fun!--and are using the Netflix hookup in a huge way.) So after last year's BBC Hamlet broadcast (great), several episodes of Season Two of New Who, and the last three specials from last year (recently on DVD)...whoa. Bleeding into my real life in a probably unhealthy way. I can blame some of it on all the Benadryl, and on some weird hormonal stuff, but seriously. He may have supplanted Uncle Keith as my fake boyfriend. He's certainly more age-appropriate. Not really my type, of course, but can you really control these things?

Anyway...the less we dwell on that the better! Not too too much going on here. I ran out of Malabrigo for my shawl, and may resort to begging on Ravelry for someone's leftover 5 grams. I finished my Tomato and my purse-project socks (no photos yet, because I've been lazy), and am now working on another sweater (Emmaline from the last Knitty) with yarn I bought in New York, and another pair of socks (plain ones for Mark out of leftovers) are in my purse. I also started an adorable cross-stitch pattern from Mochimochi Land, which kept me entertained when I was too sick to plan out short rows for the Tomato.

Oh, wait--I do have a picture I can show:


Cathy's birthday present! The pattern is here, but I ended up using someone else's edited chart because the original didn't make a lot of sense, plus I decided to improv a border pattern. I love these colors! I took the picture sitting on my lovely screened-in porch. Unfortunately it will be too hot to use it after about 10 A.M. for the next few months...

Other news...well, the recital's still happening. I was only able to start practicing again yesterday--I was really swollen from the cold, and I had NO endurance at all. I'll have my first practice with my pianist next week. I have all but one piece learned (minus the duets, which are still up in the air). We're also trying to plan a vacation for July, but are having trouble with the budget (airfare is insane right now!). Other than that, things are the same here.

CIMG4666
Originally uploaded by doctorgirlfriend

Dude, what the hell?! I can do better than updating the blog only once a month. Ah, I will do better... I have been very busy (though when is that not the case?), with lots of traveling and planning and exciting things. Guess what? I feel like a bulleted list. Forgive me in advance--I have been loopy from Midol for the last few hours...

* The picture: another shawl, dammit (pattern here), out of my long-neglected Malabrigo Lace. The color is much darker and more purple than in the photo. It's an Estonian-style pattern, with knitted lace (i.e. patterning on every row) in the second section and nupps in the border. I am just now working on the first nupp-free row. I am running precariously short on yarn, I think, but I suspect that at this point I could probably survive if I left off a row or two. Or I could track down a few yards of this yarn--I have a friend who just finished a cardigan in this colorway, I believe (Purple Mystery). I'm also working on a fitted Tomato in red Cotton-Ease (leaving out the unflattering colorwork!), for situations when lace is too complicated. I was going to design something for myself with this yarn, but what I had in mind wasn't going to work in worsted weight. I'm practically rewriting it, anyway.

* Recital update: I think we are set for August 29 at 3:00. This is dear Helen's birthday. I hope she doesn't mind. ;)

* In other singing news, I did a sample recording a few weeks ago with actual recording equipment, and it may work! I need to record some arias (including both Wagner, huzzah) so I can make a new demo--I haven't had much luck in the past with non-professional equipment, and this is like night and day.

* I went to Atlanta for work several weeks back. It was completely pointless. I was the only exhibitor at a conference of sixty people...and my table was across the hall from the men's room. Everyone saw me by 10 A.M. the first day, and I couldn't exactly make small talk with men coming out of the john. That, and the "downtown" hotel was not. It was about a mile from downtown, across twelve-plus lanes of superhighway, and in a very sketchy area. I was told not to walk the two blocks to the nearest bus stop. I did venture out one night--to an expensive (but nice) yarn store and a Thai restaurant, to the tune of $34 in taxi receipts. I suppose it was nice to get away, but it really was not helpful work-wise.

* Last weekend I flew up to New York, and a good time was had by all (with much anticipated family drama averted, thankfully) but mainly I was there for my sister-in-law's baby shower. She is so big! Everybody loved the blanket I made, to the point where it got kind of weird. Yes, it is a handmade blanket. Yes, I made it. No, it was not that hard, seriously. I like the compliments, but jeez, knitting is not magic. And I'm not even that coordinated, okay? Anyway, she got all sorts of expensive baby stuff, including lots of duck-themed onesies (since they don't know the sex). I'm hoping I can get some hand-me-downs someday...

* Speaking of which: this is weird to talk about on a blog, but I have like five readers, so whatever. We are going to start trying to have a baby soon. I won't say how soon, because it's already so strange and absent-referent to talk about sex without actually talking about sex (and gross, I mean my mother will know--and yes, I've been married for five years, but still)--but soon. Because of my various lady problems, it may take a while. Or it may take two months, who knows? Since I have the recital and that show coming up in the fall, it was most important to me that I be able to take a reflux medication that works. (Selfish? Not really. A bad performance from swollen cords would not be a good thing at this point, when I'm actually starting to move up in the world. I will still need to have a career after the baby's born, thank you. ) I was worried that I'd have to take Zantac, which doesn't really work for me, but just got confirmation that it will be okay to take Prevacid, which should be fine (I'm on Prilosec now, but it can cause birth defects). Anyway, I truly hope not to be one of those people that moan online about their fertility problems. I purposely avoid PCOS websites and forums, because I just don't want to hear about it, or about "miracle babies" (barf). So hopefully this will go relatively quickly. Whatever's supposed to happen will happen. I'm going to try real hard not to stress about it--at least not in an inordinate way. In the meantime, I refer you to the song in this post. Heaven forbid I lose my sense of humor.

*Saw my first firefly of the year last night! In case we couldn't tell from the humidity, it is definitely summer here now.

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Originally uploaded by doctorgirlfriend

Since it was so handy the last time: here's the Haruni I finished a few weeks ago. Super-fast pattern; I would've finished it in less than a week if I hadn't run out of yarn and put it on time out for a while before frogging back to omit a repeat of the main stitch pattern. I was originally going to overdye it, since the three little balls I had were three different colors, but it seemed to work out pretty well. The yarn is something I got in a trade, supposedly Cherry Tree Hill--I think it's 100% merino, and not superwash, two-ply, and I suspect it's handdyed (hence the color irregularities). The pattern is really written for beginners--lots of explanation (too much for me, really, since I just needed the charts). I really understand why this is such a popular pattern right now.

In recital news, I think we're going to be able to go with the last weekend in August--just waiting for confirmation. Yay! I worked on two of the trickier Wolf pieces in a lesson on Saturday, and everything appears to be in good shape. That, and I should be getting my contract for that November show in a few days. Good times!

CIMG4578
Originally uploaded by doctorgirlfriend

Just trying out the Flickr blog function... I finished the Que Sera last week sometime, and had Mark take some pictures this weekend. The pattern didn't have any shaping, so I added side panels in double moss stitch (echoing the edging). It buttons a little bit tight, but I think I can block it out more next time I wash it. (Granted, I've only been wearing it in the mornings, and in a few weeks I won't need it at all...) Overall, though, I'm quite happy, and have had lots of compliments on it.

In other news, I think I have an August recital in the works! With my regular pianist and everything! Now I just need to get that last Wolf song under my belt, and plan a duet or two, and the program will be set. I hope to confirm the date in the next few days. Of course, this makes a damn busy August and September for me (bridal shower 8/14, recital, wedding 9/18), but I'd have plenty of time in the next few months for preparations. Incidentally, I finally dragged myself over to David's Bridal to try on the bridesmaid dress...and wonder of wonders, it actually looks good on me. I only had to go up a size (predictable), and it actually fit! It's still a bit lower-cut than I'd prefer for a church wedding, but whisper I may actually wear it for the recital. Whatever I wear would have to be dry-cleaned anyway, so it won't really matter. So that was good.

Lea Michele can sing, but this woman is the QUEEN.



You're welcome.

Well, it has been a month, but a tumultuous one. Where should I even start? There was a plumbing issue, for one--as if the previous owners of our houser weren't already morons, we have now found out they fancied themselves plumbers. I'm no plumber, but I do know that water doesn't run uphill. And I knew that before water started dripping from the living room ceiling, then we spent $500 on plumbers and drywallers to fix things. Damn fancy shower--beware! Then last weekend we noticed the kitchen sink drain has a 360-degree coil in it. Amateur plumbing galore! What the hell were these people thinking? Oh, right. These are the same people that had mold in their crawlspace and didn't know about it, and had an unpermitted deck when they put their house on the market, and didn't have extensions on their drains. They weren't thinking AT ALL. We still can't use the master shower, because we have to remove more grout before we can caulk. I understand, home ownership is hard work, blah blah blah--we stained the deck this weekend, which was a lot of work (big deck), particularly because it hadn't been done before...and there it is again! How these idiots managed to get themselves fed surprises me. Anyway, grumble grumble. The worst is over, we think...

I did get good news about a role a few weeks ago. I don't have the contract yet, so I can't shout it from the rooftops, but it's Mozart in German, for a company I last sang for about three years ago. A bit of sleuthing could tell you exactly what role in what production I'm in. Especially since there is exactly one German Mozart role in my fach. ;)

Also, my brother's fiancee wants me to be a bridesmaid. And wear this. Yes, that's the David's Bridal prom site. Yes, I will look like a fool. Yes, she has met me, and knows that I am extremely curvy, but perhaps does not realize that I am going to fall out of the top of this. But how could I say no? I only have two brothers, and I was already in the other's wedding (to similar effect!)... I think I'm going to try to add illusion netting under the spaghetti straps so I can wear a regular bra. At least this one has a wrap. Maybe I can pin it on so I'm covered. As long as I don't wear the black bra. LOL She also wants me to sing--which I would gladly have done without being a bridesmaid. I was even looking forward to buying myself a nice black dress that I could use for oratorio... le sigh. So yeah, this is the LAST TIME I will be a bridesmaid.

Let me show you some knitting. The baby blanket came out really well, but it was such a bear by the end! My poor hands...


The shower is scheduled for May 22. I still want to pick up a few cute things at H&M (since one just opened here), but six weeks of hard, hard work is a fine shower gift by itself. I want to make a Baby Bobbi Bear once the baby's born.

I will leave off with a promise to write again next week (for real!), and a photo you may enjoy:


Godzilla versus Dalek?! Who would win that battle? Eh, probably the Dalek...

The knit-fu had left me for about a week, but it appears to be back. I had a string of disappointments, basically. First there was the Drops cardigan. My swatch LIED!!! Both my row gauge and stitch gauge were significantly off. I noticed this about six inches into the body--so yes, I should've frogged and started again with a larger needle, but for some reason I decided to press on--so I decided to try to compensate for the row gauge by changing my shaping (luckily this pattern does shaping by length, not row count), and figured I would be able to block it well enough that the row gauge would be corrected. Not so much. I was still about three inches short on the width at the bust, so I decided to make it a regular cardigan instead of double-breasted, as intended:


This threw off the collar, of course, and made my waist shaping look very dramatic (i.e. it stands up by itself). I am not so thrilled about that. (Also, JoAnn's was short a button! I think it will look better once I get the last button on.) Anyway, it's okay...but it's not really what I wanted.

Then my cowl came out five inches too wide:


Still pretty, and I still love the yarn, but it's just too big for my taste. I like snug cowls, and I don't like the baggy ones you have to pin closed AT ALL. But guess what--it's SPRING here! I'm putting this away for the next seven months, and I will worry about picking out the graft THEN.

There's also the issue of the baby blanket:


The pattern is Serenity (coincidentally, I have recently started watching Firefly)--and I have no problem with it, it's gorgeous. The problem is that this thing is DAMN heavy. What was I thinking when I decided to make a baby blanket out of kitchen cotton? I have it on two 32-inch needles now, so it's not quite as hard on my hands and wrists, but it's still not fun. It's for my brother and sister-in-law, and the baby's not due until July, but I just want to have this thing DONE. I'm finally done with the main charts, and only have twenty or thirty rows to go (depending on what size I feel like making--it will add about four inches if I make the larger size), but still, it is killing me. I decided to try to do at least two rows a day, and it seems to be working. In the meantime, though, it has been so hard on my hands that other yarncrafting was distasteful, and I started a counted cross-stitch pattern I bought like, six years ago. It's almost done, but I'm currently in backstitching purgatory (in black!!), so I've put it aside and started some socks for Mark for our anniversary. Ah, how nice it is to work with yarn with natural elasticity...

Nothing much new on the singing front. I'm trying to squeeze in lessons and coachings while I can, and probably need to make a quick recording in the next two months... I spent a while yesterday working on a Bach aria, which I'm not sure is working for me.

In house news, we've been getting an intermittent muddy smell from the HVAC. We're still trying to decide if we want to get a bunch of free estimates to figure out what's going on in the crawlspace, or if we should just hire someone independent to evaluate the situation. We don't know whether the problem is with the HVAC or if it's a moisture problem in the crawlspace--and if it's the latter, if the problem is leaky pipes (comparatively easy to fix) or condensation (nightmare). Part of the issue is that we will need to replace the HVAC in the next year, so we wouldn't want to have to redo anything if the problem is moisture. Oh, and of course this all costs money we would rather not spend. Ideally, the HVAC would conk out tomorrow, so we could have it fixed while the weather's nice and file a claim against the home warranty. Nothing I can do about this at this exact instant...

Random thought the other day: the dude I stalked in college ("Cowboy"!) was totally trying to look like Tom Baker's Doctor. For those who met said person, do you get it??



Weird-looking tall dude with big curly hair? This is an insane thought...

Apparently I was a bit too optimistic about the recital thing. Either that, or I jinxed myself. The accompanist who seemed so interested in working with me had some sort of pathological condition involving returning my emails. It should not take two weeks to give me a list of available dates, especially when I have six whole weeks wide open. Oh, and this happened twice. Anyway, because of this person's slack attitude*, I will have to postpone until the fall. I am beyond pissed about this, and I definitely will not contact this person to play for me again unless I have no choice. So I'm trying to move on, and I'm going to be working on a few roles and some Wagner until the summer, when I'll get back to the recital rep. This also gives me a chance to maybe throw in a cantata or something, so maybe (MAYBE) this is a good thing.

*I am trying so hard to give them the benefit of the doubt--I know they are busy, and have a sick parent--but the person has a smart phone, and I know they received my emails--and it should not take ten days to come up with an ambivalent one-line email. Grrrr arrrrgh...

In other news, we are having a housewarming party this weekend--I suppose I should do laundry before then. :) I've also been knitting furiously during the Olympics--though I never entered any organized events, I think my pace would get me a Nordic combined medal, at least. I finished Mark's Valentine's Day socks before the Olympics started:



(Pattern is Jacobean, yarn is from the now-defunct Rio de la Plata.) Once again I chose a pattern too busy for the yarn, but whatever, he likes them. I've also finished my second try at the Drops jacket; I need to buy more buttons and finish weaving in the ends. It's currently blocking, and I really hope I made it big enough (swatch FAIL--I don't know what happened!). I also managed to do some surgery on that black cardigan--completely changed the neckline and turned it into a pullover. I'm pretty satisfied with it, though I still wanted a cardigan... Oh, and last night I finished the Silk Garden cowl, though I need to make it smaller (undoing a graft, ugh). Pictures to follow! Right now I am back working on a baby blanket for the future niece/nephew (kitchen cotton, so I can only do a bit at a time), a super-easy shawlette for a friend's birthday, and vanilla socks for my portable project. I do have more lace on the horizon, and a more exciting pair of socks...and I suppose I need to get back to that baby sweater.

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. :/