February 10, 2009

My mom has a knit blog! Well, actually, it's really more of a spin blog. I gave her a spindle for Christmas and unleashed a MONSTER inside of her. A FIBER-HUNGRY MONSTER. Like daughter, like mother! Anyway, I'm loving her blog because she's a funny writer and says things like "I mean, this may need to be a short scarf. Maybe the first person to ever create a scarf had the same problem, and she said to her equally ancient husband-master, 'Shit, this thing is scarfing up all my yarn!' And so she named it 'Scarf.'"

Anyway, as of yet I'm the only person who comments, and so, in true only-child fashion, I'm taking that to mean that I'm her only reader, and I can treat her comments section like a personal email to her, but check it out if you have some time. The woman is DETAILED, so be warned. :)

Sooo in the life of me, lately I've been wondering if I'm pregnant. Not because I think I might be pregnant, but more because there has been this TOTALLY unprecedented, unexplained need to clean the house. I don't know what is going on, it's kind of ridiculous. I've also been busy on the fiber front too.

What? You say you want to see what I've been up to? WELL, OKAY!

So, this I finished in like, early January. It's been a while. It's a cowl for Ken to wear when he's out shoveling the driveway. Not only does he actually WEAR it, but he LOVES it. That makes me feel special. :) He made it very clear that the only way I was allowed to post pictures of it was by not including his face. Ummm, let's not tell him about the other times I've shown his face... kthanks!





This was knit out of the single that I spun from the gorgeous gray alpaca that Sarah of Sarahland also bought (her first unspun fiber! I WILL CONVERT YOU AAALLLLLLL!) I loved the fiber, loved the yarn, but when it knit up I actually found it to be a teensy bit scratchy. I think there are guard hairs in it. I've only ever heard of these irritating little hairs so I'm not totally sure, but I think that's what it was. Ken doesn't seem to notice it, though. It must be because of his very manly and already roughened-up neck.


For this next skein (see below), I bought the fiber from my new favorite dyer. Seriously, she's FRICKIN' AMAZING. So amazing that I'm not going to tell you who she is so that she doesn't get any more customers so that I can always be assured that there will be enough of her stuff for me. (okayfinehernameisLynnSIGH)

This is Falkland in a colorway called "Unfurl" and it is pure fibery SEX:

(below)


Right?

So this is what I'm currently knitting with it- a pair of elbow length fingerless mitts with an alternating cable down the middle. I have one completed and one just a few inches in.




Now, these I've already finished and worn and they are currently being washed, so I only have this picture from weeks ago, but ladies and gentlemen, I give you... MALABRIGO SOCK!



The yarn is a duh-ream and I loved knitting with it. Now, I can't tell you why this is, but I have this near-paranoid, um, paranoia when I'm knitting socks that I'm going to run out of yarn. However, I simply like to knit one at a time top down, so I always tend to make the legs of my socks SUPER short. It's really dumb, especially in this case. I wore them and they started all twisting around my foot just a little bit. It's entirely the fault of the knitter, and not the yarn, but it's annoying nonetheless. I don't know what I'm thinking, I have half the ball left over (which will soon be mittens for a friend's girlfriend, actually) and I absolutely would have been able to make them both INCHES AND INCHES longer, but no. It's like I assume that the sock yarn companies are like "let's just give them enough to make not quite long enough socks! Muahahaha!" Come on, Jenny, these people are KNITTERS, and by extension inherently trustable to provide me with enough yarn for a lovely, long pair of socks! Whatever. I think I've finally learned my lesson. I'm sure my next socks will be gloriously longer. Well, but actually, my next socks will be out of handspun yarn, so... hopefully I've made enough!


Speaking of said handspun yarn, this is a second bout of 4 ounces I got from the aforementioned not-to-be-mentioned (okayitsawesomeLynnagain) kick ass dyer, this time Merino in a colorway called Plum Honey:



You know, it's entirely possible, for those who care, that the Unfurl is Merino and the Plum Honey is Falkland. I simply am not sure at this very moment.


So, I do have a bit of really bizarre and exciting-to-me news. In early January, or, actually, late December, my favorite high school English teacher, who was also our drama coach and who I have seen exactly once since 1997, called me up and told me that the school was doing musicals now (oh, how I wanted to do musicals when I was 16! A feeling which has, admittedly, waned some as the years have gone on) and would I like to be the musical director? They were in need of one and he thought I'd just be perfect for it. How this guy even remembered me is totally beyond, but I told him that, as flattered as I was, I couldn't possibly. I work a full time job in Boston (well, I DO work from home a couple days a week) and I have absolutely no experience with anything even remotely like this (well, I WAS a music major in college and I DID direct my college a cappella group for 2 years) but I seriously just am so totally unqualified, I couldn't even play the piano in rehearsals, that thank you so much for thinking of me, but I didn't think so. He said "Well, why don't I get your email address and email you the details. I understand it's a long shot, but there's no harm in it."

I agreed, said goodbye and hung up, and went back to work. When Ken came home I found myself talking about it, and then thought "why am I talking about this like it's a possibility? There's no way I could ever do this," so I stopped talking about it, and then eventually forgot about it.

About a week later Murph emailed me with the details and for whatever reason I COULD NOT GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD! He said they could work with my schedule and provide a piano player, and the band teacher would take care of the band kids. I still had this idea in my head that I was totally under qualified for it, but you know how every so often someone presents you with an opportunity, and you realize that it's the very fact that you're scared of it that means you HAVE to do it? That's what this was like. The best experience of my life came about the same way. Plus, I don't do anything besides work, spin, knit and hang out on the couch with Ken. This would get me back into a school (a place where I've always had a sneaking suspicion I'd end up again anyway), and very excitingly, back in touch with my favorite teacher from high school (I LOVE this guy. He's surly and brash and very, very funny), working with teenagers, and back in a creative capacity that's very different from where I've been focusing my creativity for years. So I talked to my bosses the next day about the possibility of shifting my schedule just a bit for the next 4 months so I could make rehearsals up in NH (their response was "OMG THATISSOCOOL! OF COURSE!") and I committed to it!

At this point we've had auditions and cast the show, though we haven't started rehearsals quite yet. We haven't gotten the materials yet, so I've been going up to meet with the director (a kid who graduated in 2004! He's a FUNNY kid, I like him) and Murph to work out various details, and also to meet with the cast a bit and do some get-to-know-ya stuff.

I am ridiculously excited about it.

Three other things I'm ridiculously excited about:

1. Upcoming Vacation that will be the Awesomest Vacation In The History Of Vacations
2. Turning THIRTY YEARS OLD in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS. (fewer than two weeks? Yeah, I think so)
3. Ken is out for the evening and that means I get takeout from the Thai place down the street. :)

MASSAMAN CURRY HERE I COME! CLEMFO OUT!

5 comments:

Sarah said...

Such pretty yarn, and exciting news. Now I am going to go to your fiber source and buy it all up!! I have been slack on my spinning I better go peek at what your mom's been up to to inspire me.

Divine Bird said...

Love how others can see our talents, even when we think we're not good enough, huh? :)

OMG I need to talk to you. Abby is coming in April and there's a limited # of guests and I think you wanted to come if you could. So yeah. Email me, plz. And anyway, I haven't talked to you in like FOREVER. Looks like you're not lacking in the fiber area at all. :D

Ariel said...

Exciting stuff all around! Digging your mom's blog, totally in love with the elbow-length mitts and going to revisit my own Malabrigo sock yarn. Right now.

Carol said...

Yes, you've converted yet another unsuspecting victim to your addictive spinning, knitting madness (Mwaaa-hahahahaaaaah!) It'll take me one long time though to get to your level on either, if ever!

I LOVE the cowl you made for Ken, and at least he let you put a partial pix of him wearing it. It truly does look mega-practical, but knitwise, it's a sweet job! And okay, so I'm now dying to make a pair of fingerless mits after seeing yours, even though I don't know where or how I'd ever wear them. They are just so... byoooo-tee-ful!

Anonymous said...

Jenny I'm so sad I missed your birthday and I was hoping you blogged about it. Was it fun?