a new feature

My father, a photographer, has been making panorama photographs. In the past few weeks, he's sent me links to 4 new ones, and I thought it might be interesting to post one on this blog every week.

(I still haven't figured out how to post the actual panorama to my blog -it's run by Flash, which apparently Blogger won't support- but if you click this link you will go to the panorama associated with this image.)

This is my parents' roof, after a big storm on Sunday. Because a panorama is basically a bunch of still photographs stitched together, my father was able to put himself in the photo, along with my mom. The structure to the left of my mother is their solar hot water heater. And behind her is Eastern State Penitentiary. When I was a child I thought that the penitentiary was actually a castle, and I had fantasies about one day living there. (A child can dream.)

baby knitting

I seem to be on to the next round of Everyone I Know is Pregnant. One friend had a baby in February, Christopher's cousin's wife had a baby in early March, and my best friend from high school had a baby last week. Tonight I am going to a baby shower for someone else whose baby is due May 1. And there's another due in mid-June. But that's far away, for now at least!

So! Baby knitting!

The February baby, Cliff, lives in LA. Since a wool hat doesn't really make sense, I made him a Fuzzy Mitten Lamb (Ravelry link) with some leftover acrylic and superwash yarn. I think it's cute (even though somewhat lopsided), but I still haven't gotten it in the mail. hm. I don't think Cliff minds.

Henry, the newest Wall baby, was sent a hat and bib. I rather love the hat, knit with left over Dream in Color Classy, and an edge of some scrap Knit Picks Swish DK. The pattern is Erika Knight's Pixie Hat, a pattern from a book I've had for several years. (I find there aren't a ton of worsted weight baby hat patterns, which can be a problem when you're knitting something last minute.) Anyway, this was a winner and I'll definitely make it again.

And the last baby, the shower baby. (you may notice I'm skipping Charlie, born last week. Well, I don't have anything for him yet. I'll see when I'm invited to visit and then whip up another hat, probably). This was a toughie, since I went to grad school with this mom-to-be, and she's someone with amazing and very stylish taste. I know there will be some fashion designer and crafty types at the shower, so it really had to be more than just a knit baby hat. I made a version of the Berroco Cisco hat, but without ears, since I think this mom would appreciate a little funk.Another great pattern, in my opinion. It's like an updated bonnet of sorts, with some attitude and definite cuteness. I'm supplementing the little hat with a pair of organic baby socks and a tube of Weleda diaper cream (which I've been told is the best).

I'm frantically baking cookies, since I just noticed that all of the guests are requested to bring desserts to the shower. Christopher seems concerned about how much I'm stressing over all of this, and how competitive I seem to have become. Yeah, well, you can't be the one with the lame gift, and the competition will be indeed fierce.

What should I wear??

disappearing act

wow. I've been AWOL again, haven't I?

sigh. What can I say?

I opened my latest show last night, a gay adaptation of Hedda Gabler entitled Henri Gabler. It's an interesting concept, and the set was fun to design and put together. Really it's fairly simple: a green floor, and a wall of 4" plastic refrigeration strips hung a few feet from the back wall. The strips create some really great reflections, and the floor glows. Very cool.I'm beginning to emerge and restart my other life (the non-designer part). It's always so disappointing to go back to work after doing my theater thing intensely for a chunk of time. I always use this period to notice everything that's wrong with my life: the lack of storage space in our bedroom, the dust bunnies under the dining table, the clutter on and around my desk. The room where I have my computer and my knitting stuff has become a dump of sorts, and it's no good.

I clicked over to Apartment Therapy this morning and discovered that they're doing their Cure once again. I think it might be good incentive to clean up and organize at least one of our rooms. Terra has agreed to loan me their Cure book, so I'll begin next week, a week or two late but whatever. At least I'm trying to do something about the clutter. And maybe once that's gone the rest of my life will feel more organized too.

it's that time again

My parents are renting their house in Maine by the week in the summer. It's cheap. It's simple. It's a great base for exploring, and a nice spot for just hanging out.Check out the site.

what size am I, anyway?

I have written before about my Metropole, but I know it's been a few months. Long story short, I'm knitting myself a coat from the new Mason-Dixon book. It never would have occurred to me to do such a thing, except that I tried on the sample coat at the book signing last fall, and it was amazing. I've been plugging away ever since.

It's actually fairly quick to knit. The yarn is bulky (I'm using some Cascade 109 Tweed that I got from Webs) and the stitch is fairly easy to knit mindlessly. My biggest issue seems to be size. Since it's bulky, subtle gauge differences change the garment enormously. I've done quite a bit of knitting, measuring, washing and blocking what's been knit, and then ripping it back. The main problem may be that I'm convinced that I will fit into a size small, since that is what I tried on. Whatever I knit continues to be too small for me. huh.In any case, I'm moving ahead, and started the first sleeve over the weekend. One fun thing about this coat is that there are contrasting stripes on the cuffs and collar. I tried 3 different color combinations before I settled on this one. I am ending up with some orange handspun (from Hope Spinnery roving), Cascade 109 Tweed in a charcoal gray color and some Lamb's Pride that I'm recycling from a half-finished hat.

Last night at my knitting group I thought I'd tempt fate and make the sleeves an inch longer than specified before I started increasing. (I have longer arms than most, since I'm tall.) The sleeve was 13" when I went home, and I was frustrated at how it was just too small to fit around my arm. Maybe I could stretch it and make it fit?? This morning I wised up, realizing that I don't want a skin tight winter coat, and tore back to where I was supposed to start increasing. Sometimes I'm too big for my britches, or too big for my coat in this case. Perhaps following the pattern (and realizing what my measurements are) would be a good idea in the future...

working for myself

You probably realize this by now, but I'm slightly obsessed with this economy. I'm sure it will bring a lot of trouble to my life, as I know it's already wrecking havoc on others. Theater work (at my level) seems to be drying up as the funding disappears, and I'm left hoping that every show I'm connected to won't be postponed, downsized, or just really small to begin with (my experience so far this year), and that I do in fact have a future in this business.

I realize that not everyone is experiencing the economy in this way. I went out with some Broadway and Off-Broadway set designers a few weeks ago, and they are very busy. Of course, one of them was doing a show that was way below her level, something a young up and coming designer (like me!) should be working on. But I guess that's life: In a downturn, people take what they can get, and those who are less established get pushed slightly backward on the food chain. (Thank goodness I'm not just finishing grad school or college this year.)

The economy is the Topic Of Discussion in most of the circles I'm in. A few months ago I had lunch with a writer-friend and her composer-husband, and they declared that we should all be seeing this slow period as a time to enrich oneself. Like, with your extra time from being unemployed, learn something you've always wanted to learn, a skill that will get you a better job when the market picks up again. Like, another language, or a software system. I suggested that I could learn to quilt, which they thought was hilarious. I guess they didn't realize I was serious.

With their advice in mind, and my disgruntlement at today's latest you-almost-had-this-design-gig-but-it-no-longer-exists, I've decided to see this as an opportunity to broaden my horizons. I will send out letters, I'll get to know the theater community better and network more. And I'll do some things for my mental health too. Like learn to quilt. And run. And spin yarn. And spend more time with friends.

Last week I started the Couch to 5K program. For those of you who don't know it, it's a running program that gets a non-runner to run. In 9 weeks you should be able to run 5K, or about 3 miles. It starts with a walking warm up, and then intervals of walking and running. I've downloaded a weekly podcast, which instructs me when to start to run or walk, and as of today I've finished week 2. So far, with the exception of Tuesday (the day after the snowstorm, when I went to the gym) I have done all of my running in Prospect Park, which is so gorgeous and just down the street. I have no regrets so far, and am really enjoying being outside (near trees) and getting into shape.

On Saturday Lisa came over, and we spent a few hours spinning together. Unfortunately, we both forgot to take photos before it got dark. But it was inspiring in the way I imagine a running partner to be, both of us there treadling away. I finally finished spinning the half pound of turquoise roving I got from Persimmon Tree Farm at Rhinebeck last fall. (I've actually been spinning it since last fall. Very slowly. Really.) I now have 322 yards from it, and a DK weight, which is a first. I am thinking of making a scarf, something warm but elegant for next fall, to go with my knitted coat. I realized recently that I haven't made much with my handspun, which is kind of ridiculous.

As for quilting... no progress yet (other than my sachet from months ago) but I am 90% sure I'm going to take a course entitled "the Art Quilt" this summer up in Maine. Two intense weeks of quilting, with no internet or cell phone reception. Sounds heavenly, right?

why I love living where I do

well, if you have to live in New York, that is...

new starts

I have been neglecting the blog this week. My excuse is that I don't have anything great to post. I do have a shawl/lace scarf to share, but I don't have any good photos. And I've started running, but again no photos.

What I do have is this, which I took yesterday. The economy has been on my mind. I talk about it with everyone I meet, even complete strangers. We're all strategizing on what we're going to do when the rug is pulled out from under us, what will be our backup plan. I've been trying to rack up hours at my day job, but it is completely miserable and I really have to drag myself there every day.

My backup plan is photography. There must be some way to make this work, whether through stock photos, photographing theatrical productions (my original plan) or just portraits of local people. In the meantime, I'm trying to master my new camera, learn Aperture and refresh my dormant photography skills.

What's your back up plan?

Rest in Peace, dear Blaze

My parents' cat, who joined their household in about 2005, passed away today. She was a very loving, friendly and rather cheery cat, one who loved being in the center of things and near her human companions. She survived an nasty accident in August 2006 which left her paralyzed in her back half for several months. She regained the ability to walk, but did not have great control of her back legs and so would careen around my parents' house, enthusiastically knocking into furniture and flinging herself onto the sofa next to you in order to be pet.

Last week she seemed to be ailing, and was diagnosed with Feline Leukemia on Wednesday. She deteriorated rapidly and was put to sleep about an hour ago.

It's hard to describe, but she was very much a part of the family. My cousin Alex just called me, very upset and nearly in tears at knowing that Blaze was gone. And my mother summed it up in an email, "She was just the most wonderful pet we ever had. We feel like there will never be another one we could love so much."

Goodbye, dear Blaze.

legacy

About two weeks ago, on a Tuesday, I had lunch with my cousin Jane. We're not actually first cousins, though we are around the same age. Her father is my grandmother's much younger half-brother, so technically Jane is my second half-cousin, once removed. How about that? Jane and I recently reconnected on Facebook, and we decided to have lunch.She brought with her a bag with three plates in them. The plates had belonged to my mother's great Aunt Helena, a powerful woman who played quite a strong presence in my mother's life before I was born. I never met her, but my other cousin Nell is named after her, and her name is still spoken with reverence by everyone in my mother's family. Having something that belonged to her is an honor, even if it's a single plate (I am to divide the set among myself and my female cousins).

On the same day, coincidentally, I received an email from one of Anne's friends, asking me what size shoes I wore. Apparently my feet are too small to wear some of Anne's shoes, but some blouses and a skirt are being held aside for me.

These gifts, these small reminders of these women, made me very thoughtful that day. My grandmother had been a doctor, attending medical school in the early 1940s, when my father was still small. This day of receiving reminded me of something that was said to me at her funeral, an offhand comment from another relative, that her footsteps were a lot to fill but that I was lucky to have such a role model in my life.

Many role models, really. I am so lucky.

my husband is a chef

Christopher never ceases to amaze me. When we met nearly 6 years ago, he lived in a little studio apartment and ate mostly cereal and pizza. And coffee. When we moved in together, our biggest hurdle was agreeing on whether we would eat together nightly, and how big those meals would be. (me: it should have a vegetable and be nutritious and it should include quality time. Him: why do you need to make a big deal of this?)

Yesterday was my birthday. We didn't have much of a celebration, but Christopher asked me to pick up some ingredients when I stopped at the Coop on my way home. Sour cream, unsweetened chocolate and heavy cream. yum.

While I worked on my spinning in the afternoon (what better way to spend one's birthday?) Christopher was very busy in the kitchen. He emerged with this: Actually there were about 20 of them.

We went out for dinner, and when we got back I distributed cupcakes to some of our neighbors. Then we found some candles and had a little celebration. They were delicious.

it's time for bed

but I thought I should report on our Valentine's Day.

We're not big Valentiner's here, though Christopher insists that I make a big deal of it. "Big Deal" to him is me asking, "what should we do for Valentine's Day?" about 2 days before the actual date. He suggested that we make dinner, and so we did.

The menu was:

French Onion Soup with Gruyere (photo is before baking them)
Lamb Chops with a Rosemary and Red Wine Reduction Sauce

Sauteed Spinach (this was scrapped)

Chocolate Souffle (ala NY Times) and Vanilla Ice Cream (store bought)The soup was the best, though we forgot to get bread for it. Next time. The chocolate souffles came out well but had very little flavor. Definitely not repeating them. And the lamb chops were very fatty. Again, not to be repeated (though the meat was very tasty. There was just like one bite though.)

One of my oldest friends, Joanna, stayed with us this week. She was in town from Seattle with a dance group that was having their New York premiere. Joanna and I were interns together back when we were in college. We barely see each other or talk much now, so having so much time together over the course of a week was fun, full of reminiscing and catching up.

She brought with her a scarf that I made back when I'd picked up knitting again, probably around 2002 or 2003. I had thought she didn't like it, so it was surprising to see her wearing it. It is actually nicer than I remember it too.

socks!

need I say more?

resolution and Alpine

I started this shrug back in October, when I went to Cape Cod. I picked it up for two reasons: I had just gone to a wedding and hadn't had any pretty little sweater to keep my shoulders warm, and I needed something to knit while in Cape Cod. I finished most of it while I was there - it was so fast to make - and I put it down for a while when I got back. I've been trying to finish old projects, a few nights in January was all I needed to finish the sleeve, seam it and knit the neckline.My mother has a huge button collection, and she sent me photos of the large ones. I picked this one and she mailed it off. It is perfect, I think.
I wore it yesterday for the first time, in our 58 degree weather. My main complaint was that my stomach wasn't very warm. I'm also not so thrilled about how it hangs with only one button (anyone else frustrated by these sweaters with one or no buttons?). It isn't so fitted. On the other hand, I think it will be very useful in the spring, when it's too warm to wear a full sweater. And it would probably also work well with a dress, which is why I made this to begin with.

Pattern: Alpine, by Berroco Design Studio
Yarn: Berroco Cuzco (I actually used the yarn called for in the pattern, can you believe it?), 4 skeins
Needles: US size 8 & 10
Dates: Started October 5 - Finished January 20
Mods: Added a buttonhole

In other news, I think I'm going to start with Coraline, since I have the yarn. And maybe in the summer or fall I can make the Old Penny Cardigan. Thanks for your advice on that!!

evaluations

I'll have to have a big photo shoot very soon, what with the elusive shrug and those striped socks. If I'm productive in the next few days, you may even see those Vinterblomster mittens on my hands. Of course, the temperature will have to go back below freezing if I want any motivation.

With a little more time at home this week, I've picked up my Metropole coat again. It is a project that I've just been wishing would disappear, but, yeah, it's still in my knitting basket. On Tuesday I emailed Ann and Kay, and they were (of course) sympathetic about the fact that I thought it was going to be too small. They had a bunch of suggestions, and I decided that I should just keep going, making the fronts a little bigger, especially around the hips. (Hopefully I won't regret this and end up with something misshapen and too small.) And then I picked it up and knit another 5" while watching an episode of Law and Order on Tuesday night. It's so fun knitting something in bulky yarn on size 11 needles!!

I also made myself a slouchy hat with some Mountain Colors Twizzle that I got on sale from Stitch Therapy a few years back. The hat is Jane Richmond's Jane. The yarn doesn't really show off the little cable design that goes up it, but I like it anyway. And I love the yarn: silky and drapey, soft and warm. I have another skein of it in an orangey brown color, as well as a partial skein of this dark color left. What to use it for?

Next up: I want a sweater. A big, wooly, cabley sweater. Something tweedy and warm. This is what I want to make,which is a problem for my no-new-yarn, knitting from the stash resolution. I don't have yarn to make it, though I do have yarn to make a Coraline sweater. But that's lighter weight, and it's not tweedy or heavy or very practical in the very cold temperatures we've had recently. (Please do not point out that it will most likely be warmer by the time my sweater is done. One can hope.) So, to put in an order to Beaverslide? or buckle down and finish the coat? or start a Coraline?? (Life is hard, let me tell you.)

Lego NY

Has anyone seen the Lego cartoon-- I'm not sure what to call it-- from Monday's NY Times? I unfortunately can't paste the whole thing in here (though I'll steal a section). It's worth a look, even if you're not so familiar with New York City. Just click that link up above.

On a sadder note, a homeless man was run over by a train at our subway station yesterday morning. I managed to get there just as they were bringing the body up from the tracks. It was not a pretty sight. In fact, there was a little too much to see, in my opinion. I had to find another way to work, and was haunted all day by the vision of men carrying the body, and of how quickly this life had been lost.

Interestingly, the chatter on my neighborhood forum is all about which homeless person this could have been, since there are only two of them around here and everyone knows them since they live in the stations. There's the schizophrenic shirtless Haitian man who throws rocks and yells in French (watch out for him), or there's a woman, who I've never seen. Neither of these people has been seen recently (perhaps it's the cold) and so my neighbors wonder if it could have been someone else. I guess this is what you try to do when you can't make sense of a death...

I promise I'll take some photos of knitting this weekend. Stay tuned for a more fibery post!

stretching

Thank you all for your advice on the socks! You were all very enthusiastic about me finishing them, and I intend to do that as soon as I have time to sit down and do a sewn cast off. And I have to rip out the cast off on my first sock and sew it too. Right now it's too tight and I don't like how it binds around my leg.

I have been working on my show. I guess I might've said that, but in any case, the show has opened, and I am emerging. This play was a lot of work due to its low budget. The producer and I did most of the construction and painting, and we both put in some very long hours last week. Look at what you can do with some old Ikea Billy shelves laid on their sides!
I'm glad it's over, but I only got a handful of photos for my portfolio, which is too bad.

I spent part of today spinning a little, for the first time in weeks, and sewing on some buttons. I promise to have some finished shots of my Alpine shrug soon. Maybe I can wear it tomorrow for our Super Bowl party.

While working this week I cast on and knit another cabled baby bib, since I know 6 people who are pregnant and due in the next 6 months. I must have reached that age, because I'm sure that 7 months from now, I'll still know 6 people who are pregnant. The bib is for no one in particular yet, I'm just stocking up. I'm a little concerned about the button being a choking hazard. Any advice from those of you with kids?

confusion

I have been really busy. In fact, I am still really busy. And tired. I have forgotten what it feels like to be deprived of sleep. I almost put the milk away on the cereal shelf this morning.

This will all be over by Thursday, though the big push is today, to paint my set and dress it fully. It is coming together nicely, and I'm thankful to have a career that involves creating imaginary worlds. All day long. It's like playing with a dollhouse with your friends, but all grown up.

I am not sure what to do about these socks. I loved the first one, but I am really disappointed with the color repeats on the second one. I am tempted to rip it out to the first green and gray repeat (right after the heel), cut the yarn to prevent the second green repeat, and do it over. I could have prevented this by reskeining 1/2 of the yarn, so I could knit the same direction (and not from either end), thus preventing mirrored repeats.What do you all think? Christopher says that I have a lot of projects that I want to start (how does he know??) and that I should just finish the socks and move on. I'm less sure.

looking ahead

I stayed home yesterday to watch the inauguration and work on a grant application. I also finished my Alpine shrug while watching the speech. It's currently soaking (it needs major blocking), so I have just this one photo of it, a little preview. Anyway, the inauguration. I can't remember having watched one before, though I remember the excitement of Clinton being inaugurated when I was in high school. The whole ceremony reminded me of a wedding, strangely. The introductions, the processions, the chatter about what people were wearing. Even lines were flubbed.
I actually thought that something would change at noon yesterday, but when I looked outside, it was the same. I say this because on election night at 11pm, my street was filled with cheers and gunshots, and though somewhat frightening, it was also very exciting. There weren't any cheers yesterday, just some woman walking down the median.

I found this photo on Facebook. It was taken by a friend of a friend, and seeing it made me rather emotional. He said that I can post it here, so here you go. I hope the love lasts. I'm afraid that our expectations are too high, that we can only be disappointed...

winter

I've been a bad blogger recently. Clearly posting a YouTube video is a cop out, if that's the only post of the week.

I honestly don't have much to report. I've been slowly working my way through projects, though nothing is done enough to show. My mittens need one more thumb, my second sock needs a heel and ankle, and my Alpine shrug (which I may not have even mentioned, it's been so low priority) has been picked up again and I'm seaming it together. The shrug is one of those projects that nearly knits itself, the yarn is so thick and the garment itself is so small. Besides seaming, I just have to do the neckline, find and sew on a button and I'll be done.

I've been social. Last week I spent an afternoon walking around the Brooklyn Botanical Garden with someone I've been wanting to know better, the wife of a guy I went to high school with. It was a beautiful afternoon, the last semi-warm day of the week, and it was also really nice to be out. I didn't take very many photos, but I did get this:
Yeah, it's a great blue heron, in BROOKLYN. Who would've thought?

It's also been cold. Dinah has a new favorite spot, in her new cat bed right by the radiator. I don't blame her; I've been plotting what knitted thing would keep me warmest, and how I can make it as quickly as possible. Something big. A sweater? Or maybe I should pick up that coat again...