Numbers on a Friday

1. Play rehearsals continue apace.

2. I am so very tired. I am immensely looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. And I'm exceedingly grateful that I only have to work at the library two days next week.

3. My apartment is a mess. I haven't done dishes since last weekend.

4. Related, there was a GIANT house centipede in the kitchen sink this morning and I about died.

5. I really, really hope that I actually managed to drown it and it's not amassing an army in the pipes to come up through the drain and kill me later.

Knit One, Rehearse Two

I'm still trucking along on this shawl sample, and I'm now about halfway through the final repeat of the first chart. The rows are getting just long enough that I'm only managing to knit three at a time during my lunch breaks, but I'm still having so much fun knitting this that I don't really mind the pace.

Play rehearsals have reached a peak, and we're officially in the busiest two weeks of the year for me. I have just one evening off between now and the end of the run, and rehearsals are going later and later. The show is coming together great, but it is definitely exhausting! Fortunately, I wised up a few years back and now I'm always sure to take the week of play production off from the library, so I only have one more week at this breakneck pace before I can slow down during the days.

OAL-ing

I've been making pretty good progress on my Hetty. I'm almost ready to start the bottom ribbing on the body, and with three and a half weeks left in the OAL, I'm feeling pretty good about my chances of finishing. I still haven't started my sewn garment, and that's probably the only thing that's making me nervous.

The bobbin casing in my sewing machine broke a couple weeks before I moved, so I ordered a new one along with some things I needed for my new apartment, and now I have no clue where it ended up. I feel like I've looked everywhere, but I haven't done a real, methodical search yet. Hopefully I'll find it this weekend. Either way, my goal is to get my fabric ironed, my pattern traced, and my pieces cut out by the end of the weekend.

I'm planning a pretty quiet, restorative weekend. We're heading into the final two weeks of play rehearsals, so after tomorrow I'll have just one day without rehearsal or performances until the 24th. I am going to be taking several days off work during performances, which always helps me stay sane, but this is still the busiest part of my year!

Thinking Pink

The grey cocoon sample that I've been working on for the past couple months got finished, and it's a disaster. There's some discrepancy between the swatch and the finished project, and the whole thing's a mess, and it's sitting in time out right now. So I decided to pull out my trusty pink shawl.

This has been hibernating for a while, but it is still an absolute delight to knit, and I think I'm just ten rows away from the border. This yarn is so soft, and the color is fantastic, and after a couple months of All Linen All the Time, it just feels GOOD to be working with wool again.

Over the weekend I managed to catch some kind of crud that's apparently been going around. I've been eating lots of spicy food to try and flush it out, but it's proving to be kind of stubborn. I have long play rehearsals tonight and tomorrow, but then I have the rest of the week off, so as long as I can make it through the next two days in one piece I'll be able to rest up the rest of the week.

Linking up with Crafting On

Onto the Body

Man, it's amazing how much knitting I can get done when all my time isn't spent unpacking boxes? I joined the fronts and back of my Hetty for the OAL this week, and I just started the waist decreases.

There was a part of me that was worried about knitting Hetty again this year. I don't frequently knit patterns more than once, but I really wanted a cropped version of this sweater. Fortunately enough time has passed that the knitting feels fresh and fun. I'm also knitting a different size this time - the yarn I decided to use this year is DK instead of worsted, so I did some gauge math and I'm knitting two sizes up to get something that will fit me well.

Play rehearsals continue to go well. We're at the halfway point now, having just finished the third week of rehearsals and being three weeks away from opening. It's been some long nights, but it'll all be worth it in the end, and I'm looking forward to a lazy weekend in the meantime!

The Other Side

Oh man, it feels really good to be on this side of the move. I'm not quite 100% set up yet, but I'm pretty close, and I'm really loving my new apartment so far. I still need a couple more bookshelves for my living room and another shelf and a large table for my studio, and I'm still feeling out my kitchen space to see where I want to keep things. None of my art is hung up yet, and all my jewelry is tangled up in a flowerpot waiting for me to figure out where in my bedroom it'll go, but everything is unpacked and as close to the right spot as I can get it right now, and I'm really pleased with it.

Probably not too surprisingly, I didn't get much knitting done last week, and, in fact, I misplaced most of my active WIPs during the move. It took me two days to find my OAL project underneath a pile of stuff on my counter, but once I finally unearthed it, I made quick work of the rest of the upper back and the start of the right front.

In a perfect world, I'd be coming up on the halfway point of my OAL projects, but that is clearly not the case. This week I'm back to my regular schedule, so I should be able to start banging out the rest of this sweater, and I'll probably make my dress a weekend project sometime in July.

Linking up with Crafting On

OAL Sweaters and Play Practice and Moving, Oh My!

Oh, look! I have part of a sweater back! What a refreshing change! I've been working on my Hetty for the OAL at music rehearsals for the summer musical, and it's pretty much the perfect project for that. Of course, it helps that it's still small and in the beginning stages and that I've knit it before.

I had a bit of a mishap on Monday night- I realized that after the first repeat, I'd been shortening the repeats by two rows, so I had to rip out a few dozen rows. I'm almost back to the point I was at before that happened now, and it's been smooth sailing since then.

My week is kind of a wreck right now, with play rehearsals every night and my move coming up on Friday. I'm probably not going to be posting on Friday or all of next week while I deal with moving and unpacking, but I promise lots of photos once everything's done!

Almost Ready

I have my swatch done for my OAL sweater, and I'm just about ready to cast on. I haven't really been getting much knitting done the past couple weeks, and I probably won't be getting too much done until after the move, but I'm hoping to get this sweater started, at least.

Tomorrow is the first night of the Shakespeare Festival. This year they're doing Richard III, and while my whole family is going with some friends on Saturday night, I've decided to go to the Thursday and Friday showings too. It's always a great show, and I need a break from packing, and sitting in the park is a perfect opportunity to bring along some knitting!

I haven't been reading too much lately, but I'm almost halfway through Beneath the Sugar Sky right now. It's an Interlibrary Loan book, and I need to get it finished soon. I already requested a renewal on it, but the new due date is creeping up on me!

My moving sale is still going on!

 All my patterns are currently 25% off on Ravelry with code MOVING.

Linking up with Yarn Along

OAL 2018 Time

The Outfit Along started on Friday, and I'm so excited! Last year I managed a sweater, but not the dress. This year I am more hopeful, and I have quite a bit more sewing experience now. Of course, moving in the middle of the  OAL is going to throw a wrench in things, but I'm going to just forge ahead and see what happens.

For my sweater this year I'm making Hetty again. I love my full-length Hetty that I made for the OAL last year, but ever since I finished that one I've wanted a cropped one as well. I had this yarn in my stash, and it seemed to be a perfect match. I'm hoping to get my swatch done and cast on the back today.

Since I'm moving in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS, I'm having a little sale to celebrate. All my patterns are currently 25% off on Ravelry with code MOVING.

Linking up with Crafting On

Me-Made May 2018 Roundup!

I finally participated in Me-Made May this year, after several years of wanting to. I didn't get photos every day, and I missed two or three days, but overall I'm really pleased with how I did! I definitely need to sew more, and I figured out a few more knits that I feel are lacking from my closet- I definitely need more light cocoons, some more linen tanks, and another Ella, probably in black. Did you all participate?