John Pertwee- The Third Doctor

At one full yard, the Doctor scarf for the Weinblooms is coming along nicely. I'm fairly sure I've got enough yarn for it. It'd better be. I fear for the beige, but I'll probably have leftover purple and yellow. Though after tassels, God only knows...
Its been over a week since I worked on it at all because I've been in 11-hr day tech hell. The bitchiest part was that I didn't even need to be there half the time. Had nothing to do, but the actors were in costumes, so that was why I was there. I'm sick of handwashing stubborn stage blood out of nightgowns. I can't even knit because I have no transportable projects. The Pink Sweater (which I keep neglecting to knit, talk about, and post pictures of. Sad little guy) is on pause again, and not good transport knitting. A yard + stripey scarf is also no longer good transport knitting. Looks like I'll need to get a third project on the needles. Might be mom's socks, though since they'll either be a birthday or Christmas present, that would be a tidge early. Yes, she wants them knee-high for boot wearing, but they ARE a worsted weight boot sock. They knit up fairly fast. Looks like I'll have to poke through the stash again and see what's earmarked. I do want to try making myself some lacy white anklets. Sport weight. A mild challenge. They'd be done by skirt-weather. Sounding pretty good to me!

I'm checking out your sugar lumps.

Hello out there in blog land. It's been a quiet week in Lake Woebegon, as Garrison Keillor would say. The Doctor scarf is chugging along. The pink sweater (more on that later) has been put down again. Got tired of it, but made some good progress. I begin my wardrobe crew duties tonight. I start an awesome internship sometime next week (that'll get its own entry sometime soon.) Learning how to drive is cool.

But A few wonderful bits of tv/movie goodness have come to my attention as of late. Saturday was cheeseburger and a movie night at my friend Sharon's place. Sharon is super awesome and I'm so glad I've come to be such good buddies with her. Anyway, CB&MN is always a double feature, always "bad" movies you can comment on MST3K style, and always lightly themed. This is the first I've attended, and a revival for the medium. So being that it's Sharon, and the group of my friends thus attatched, we started 09 off with a bang with "Bad Musicals", of course. The first movie is lighter fare, something you can make/eat the cheeseburgers during and not mind missing chunks of. This time it was Grease 2. Especially as I was kibbitzing and chowing down on some serious meat, all I can say is... what the eff? Yeah, it was bad. In kind of a good way.
But then, my friends, on a three-beer buzz, we turned off all the lights, got out the air mattress, and settled down for Repo: The Genetic Opera. I swear to God... Pure Tromafilm-like brilliance. Produced by the makers of Saw and featuring Sarah Brightman, Paul Sorvino, and the guy who played Giles in Buffy (what's his name?), it was a brilliantly performed, bloody piece of fluff like no other. It defines "So bad it's good". For those who don't know what Tromafilms are, they're B-horror movies that have become a subgenre, the first of which being The Toxic Avenger, produced by a group called Troma. It took place in a town called Tromaville It never went ANYWHERE at the box office, but became a cult favorite. I personally used to watch the cartoon spinoff when I was a kid on Saturday mornings, and the slightly less violent sequels. Toxie is disgusting, violent, erotic and really fake looking. This could also describe Repo, though it is a an upgrade on the technical level, and ads a decent rock score. It takes place in a dystopian future where cosmetic surgery is recreational, and buying and selling organs is legal and run by a conglomerate. When you're behind on your payments, just like with your car, the Repo man comes and takes what you owe on. Only, reposessing your lungs will kill you. Very bloody. Now, I cannot watch real surgery, but when the Repo man ripped some guy's spine out whole, I was not only highly entertained, I was transfixed. Its not terribly true to life, but highly entertaining.

The other beautiful thing that happened was the restoration of my faith in a little thing called Flight of the Conchords. The first episode of their new season blew goats. I just didn't talk about it. Refused to discuss it with my friends for fear of feeling saddened. But episode two? Beyond hysterical. Behind on their bills, the boys contemplate and attempt prostitution. I kid you not. Anyone with a crush on Jemaine Clement (and really, who does that leave out? Three people?) will love the first new song, Sugar Lumps. The man has some serious moves. I'm talking heart stopping hip-action. I felt like I should be putting money in his waistband. Since I moonlight as a burlesque performer, this is alot coming from me. For anyone who wants to check it out, I give you proof that all good things end up on the magical internet within 24 hours. In HD, no less.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV0RL7vK44E&feature=related
Enjoy.

Patrick Troughton: The Second Doctor. And finished mittens!

At slightly over two feet long (I couldn't stop. Sue me) the Doctor Who scarf is in fine standing. November deadline, here I come. However, there's an excellent chance of it becoming too long to travel very soon. Not that its done much traveling. But it would be nice for it to have a date with its future owners before its completion, so they can witness its making while I witness a little Tom Baker for authenticity and good clean Anglophile fun. =)


Sai's mittens have also been completed! For a first mitten, I am very proud of myself. Original pattern, based on some socky goodness, and what I have dubbed a "text-message thumb". Sai uses her thumbs alot. She requested they be left bare for technology and convenience's sake. Let me know what you think, oh three (if I'm lucky) people who read this blog.

General Musings and Life-related Updates

I'm sitting on my bed, knitting, and fighting a sinus infection. I'm supposed to have an audition Monday, but I doubt I can sing for it. :( I had some leftover antibiotics (the annoying, 4x daily kind) in the house that I am taking along with Zicam and vitamin C in hopes that I can kick it without having to take my at present uninsured ass to a doctor to get a Z-pak. It won't kill me, but I feel like ass. Does anyone take Emergen-C? Cause Airborne turns my stomach and I fear it might have a similar effect.

Sai's second mitten is at the cuff, looking good, and neither of them have thumbs yet. The Doctor is over 16 inches, and will have another photo due in a day or so. I have been invited by the Weinbloom sisters to come over for Doctor watching to accompany my Doctor knitting sometime this week. Rapturous. I found a nifty pattern to adapt for the legwarmers my bff Tia has requested for Christmas, but I either need to get large dpn than I currently have at my disposal, or suck it up and knit them flat to be seamed. Decisions, decisions...

I had my first driving lesson yesterday. Nobody died. I consider that an A+. If all goes according to plan, I could be licensed by the end of March. Fingers crossed. While in practice I now see that it isn't too far fetched; in theory, I still find the concept of Jess the Driver to be utterly ludicrous. I laugh at it still. But it will be lovely to visit my friends' houses that I currently never go to because by public transportation it takes me over 2 hours. By car, it would take under 1 hour in anything but rush hour traffic. Not to mention any job oppertunities it might open up just 20 minutes away in the mythical land of Westchester.

Speaking of jobs, I finally found one, ish. I got a month-long wardrobe crew gig with a great little theatre company called The Prospect Theatre. And it pays! Its a small stipend, and a flat fee at that, but I've done exactly what I'll be doing for them in the past for free. And they seem much nicer here. One more connection, one more resume credit, one step closer to eventual entry into the wardrobe crew union. They make the most money in the professional theatre world. And like, right after that play closes, the production of Romeo and Juliet I'm in (two small parts) begins in earnest rehearsal. I will have to have an understudy in one performance of that because its the same day as my StrawHat audition. Aaaand I'm spending January applying very quickly to grad school. My life tends to define the term "feast or famine". Most of December I was bored literally to tears. Now everyone wants to hang out, rehearse, perform, audition- all at once. I can't catch a break. Hehe.

William Harnell, The First Doctor- Scarf Update #1

I believe there may well be as many feet in this scarf upon its completion as there are actors to have portrayed The Doctor in the television series. Considering last week, the Eleventh Doctor was named, I don't think that's terribly odd to say.
Right now, we see the scarf at foot one, the William Hartnell Foot. The pattern is from DoctorWhoScarf.com and it's the season 12 pattern. All garter stitch, 53 VERY prescribed stripes in a non-repeating sequence of uneven lengths, the longest being 56 rows, the shortest being 8. I determined that if I did about one stripe a week, I could get it done in a year. However, my goal date is October, and I managed 6 in 3 days. But I know that there will be weeks in there that I will have other knitting and, well, life related things taking up my attentions, so whatever. I must say, I'm finding the damn thing addictive! Garter stitch worsted, knit flat on size 8? Its brilliant "idiot knitting", the kind of thing I could watch TV while doing, and even travel with before it gets too big.
Actually, the thing that makes this project incredibly *non* ideal for travel is the striping. On one hand, stripes make the work exciting. I am an astonishingly goal oriented gal. I look at that pattern and think, oh! Only two more rows 'til the color change! Who needs Addi Turbos with motivation like that? That's why this scarf is chugging along faster than I thought it would. But, on the other hand the stripe sequence is terribly unpredictable, and who wants to carry more than one ball of yarn on the subway with them? I get stares enough if my needles happen to be the longer kind. Knitting at rush hour is not fun. You sometimes have moments of connection with other knitters or crocheters as you make eye contact across a crowded car, sharing that knowing smile... its all very romantic, right? Well meantime, the guy next to you keeps getting poked in the arm, and your aluminum needles make a loud ringing against the pole on the edge of the seat. This is why dpns are ideal travel. Socks, mittens and whatnot. But after completing all but the thumb of pink mitten #1 in 36 hours, and casting on #2 during PBS' broadcast of Kevin Kline's Cyrano (which, btw, he was phenomenal in) I am sick to death of size 4 double pointed bloody needles. As I like to say, "What was Elizabeth Zimmermann crying about???" Hugs to anyone who gets that.

The First Mitten

Almost finished, except for the thumb. A little lumpy at the top, mayhap, but its my first time around. And that's the beauty of handmades, isnt it? Their *delightful* imperfection. And it doesn't effect the fit whatsoever. I do hope I placed the thumb properly, though. I'm flying a bit by the seat of my pants, but its rather exciting as well. I made a pair of the Fetching fingerless mitts from Knitty that also utilized the afterthought thumb, and they, as well as many other hand-covers, were knit cuff up rather than top down. Apparantly, this method is considered strange and exciting. It just seemed most natural to me! No grafting or seaming.

There's a textural difference at the top, which was knit back and forth in short rows to create a pocket or cap configuration before being joined into a round. This is because, I learned years later, I knit strangely. This is just fine since I do everything else rather strangely. But apparantly the terminology is that I am a picker rather than a thrower. I don't know if this makes me Continental or European or whatnot- I only know its the way Grandma taught me. In any event, it causes me to twist my stitches a bit, and I just cannot conceive of how the rest of you people "throw" the yarn around the needle. It takes longer and just confuses the daylights out of me. I say if it ain't broke...

The Year of Knitting Dangerously

This blog is a side effect of a fevered dream I had just a few days ago about knitting everyone I know this year Christmas gifts. That was borne of two different thoughts- saving money and getting rid of all the yarn I hate. I know it sounds like I'm foisting shitty yarn on people I love, but I promise you, that is not (entirely) the case.
When my grandmother died I inherited literally BOXES of yarn. Most of this was inexpensive acrylic, and lots of it in pastels because my grandmother's forte was knitting for babies. Most people over the age of 5 do not regularly wear mint green and cotton candy pink, and certainly not in tandem. I don't like wearing much pink at all, especially in accessories, and I would never knit myself a cotton candy pink pullover. So I was left with alot of yarn in colors I won't use and no babies to wear them.
This has changed! I now posses vastly superior knitting skills than I did at age 17, and can use up all those weird ombres on socks and mittens. Also, there has been a bumper crop of babies in my family this year- THREE all born in the winter months of 08. Hello mint green sweaters.

My goal is to have a very productive, noncommercial Christmas that makes everyone I know incredibly happy to have received handmade gifts, and me with lots of room and a clear conscience to join the land of natural fibers. I can feel the yummy wool and silk now...

* * *

Currently on my plate are a few projects.
I am back-knitting a belated Chrismas gift for my gal Sa'iyda- pink mittens. The pattern is a recipe of my own invention based off of a the Knitty universal toe-up sock pattern. It utilizes short rows. In making my socks, I realized if you skipped the heel and added an afterthought-style thumb and a ribbed cuff, you could call it a mitten! Just cast on the first one tonight, already almost at the thumb. I am a quick one.
I also, somehow, got myself into knitting my two of my friends, the Weinbloom sisters, a Doctor Who scarf. Seven colors. Uneven stripes. Twelve feet long. Garter stitch. This is going to be epic. And worked a little bit at a time over the next few months. I cast on yesterday, and am about a foot or so in. Second stripe. We'll see...