Blue Skies

It has been an embarrassingly long time since my last post. Life has been a blur of early mornings at work and late nights at rehearsal. However, all of my hard work is paying off and this weekend, I anticipate very successful performances. The snow is melting, the birds are singing, and the wild rabbits are reappearing. Spring is most certainly on its way, and I am so ready. I feel like the turn of the seasons will be bringing many good things with it, and that there will be a lot of blue sky in the months to come. I'll be back soon with details about Ysolda's online Squam class, and to talk about all the socks I've been knitting. I have a rare night off, the dark day preceding opening night, and I plan to use it well.

Travels

My Traveling Woman is finished.





The Details:
Pattern:Traveling Woman by Liz Abinanthe
Yarn: Knitpicks Palette in "Fairy Tale"
Needles: US 5 KA Bamboo Circulars for the body, US 8 KA Bamboo Circulars for the bind off. (I'm really glad I did this, my bind off had tons of stretch.)


When I cast on for this shawl, I planned for it to be a clever project while on my trip to Memphis to perform the Brahms requiem with the choir. A fourteen hour round trip, my knitter friend Amanda (bicyclefairy on Ravelry) at my side, I figured I'd be nearly done by the time I got home, and I'd be able to say that I made "Traveling Woman" on my trip.



Well, first of all, this shawl took me two months to finish, partially because it was the hardest thing I've made so far, and partially because I've been busier than I've ever been in my life. There was a great deal of physical journeying before it was done.

However, I had no idea when I started this project how much of a mental and emotional journey I would go though before I bound off. In the course of this shawl, I performed two requiems, an opera, and Carmina Burana. The Brahms requiem changed my life. I came home from Memphis a new and better musician, and my eyes were permanently open to why I do what I do. The independence of the trip was needed, especially since I had some family problems a few days beforehand. I think, in some ways, the problems that I was having before I left were really what sparked the change in mindset.



Anyway, I feel like all of the things that have gone on in the past few months have changed the way I think. I am a much better performer now, because I've finally figured out how I feel about my career. I have also figured out how I feel about people in my life that have brought me nothing but sorrow.



I've spent much of the last two years missing my friends, because I "don't have time" to see them. Well, I've been making time.






and it's been amazing.





I also sat back and really assessed what in my life makes me happy, and what doesn't. As a result, this will be the first summer of my adult life that I will not be working myself to death at a place where I am both unappreciated and unsatisfied.

This summer will be a summer of knitting, books, movies, and most importantly, friends. I'm not going to be wasting any more of my time.

As happy as I am, both with the shawl and my revelations, I bound off in sadness, because I found out last night that a dear friend of mine will be having heart surgery on Monday. He is elderly, and this will be hard, no matter what the outcome. I have been praying for him day and night, and I hope that anyone inclined to pray who reads this will also offer their prayers for Mr. Bill Thomas.



So, as I sit now with my Traveling Woman wrapped around my shoulders, I know that it was not physical travels that lay before me, but a journey to a better realization of who I am, and what's truly important to me.

Happy Easter

It's been a time for cleaning and taking care of business for me lately. I've been working pretty hard on getting my room into a presentable state--it's been a wreck since the opera, and I never really finished moving into it in the first place. That took up most of the beginning of my spring break, and I'll be doing some more of that tomorrow before I go back to school and face the Les Enfants/Mozart Requiem/Carmina Burana/Finals/Durufle Requiem rush. Phew.

But, this has been a very nice break. Ben and I took my brother to the park, and afterward, I managed to coerce him into drinking a smoothie. With fruit in it. This is a big deal. It was great to get to take him outside and just play for a little while.



Also, just before the break, and through a small miracle, I actually managed to get tickets to Wicked! It was a dream come true, and better than I could ever have expected, and I expected it to be really great. I don't have any pictures from us at the show on my memory card--I'll have to check my computer's hard drive.


Also, we recently went to see Video Games Live, which was AMAZING.



We waited in line for two hours afterward to get autographs at the meet-and-greet. I got there an hour late, because I had to dash there after a mass, so I was pretty pooped when we finally got our autographs at 1am. But, it was totally worth it.




I've also been trucking away diligently on my Traveling Woman, which is going decidedly slowly.



I'm almost done with my third repeat of chart A, but it's still pretty small. Because I knitted so loosely when I first started, I always sized down my needles, but I apparently don't need to do that anymore, because this is quite a bit smaller than it should be, I think. I'm just going to keep on knitting. I have three more balls of this yarn, so I can make it as big as I want. Although, I probably won't make it too big, because it's such a bright color.

Anyway, I hope that everyone is having a lovely weekend in whatever way means most to you. I went on a loot-buying spree last week, and I have to take pictures and get them all posted, so I'll be getting those up soon.

New Growth

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it?

Spring is springing, and many things are happily growing.






Other things have already grown up, and their happy colors greeted me at the stage door.






...and some things...















Are all grown up, and keeping the chill away.





The facts:

Pattern: Simple Things by Mary-Heather Cogar

Yarn: One skein (440yds) of Malabrigo Sock in "Archangel". I had a teensy bit left over when I was done.

Needles: No. 3/3.25 KA Bamboo Circulars

My Thoughts: I added several repeats of the garter eyelet ridge to accommodate the nearly 100 yds of extra yarn than the pattern called for. The pattern is for a skein of Pagewood Farms Aleyska, which is about 350 yds. This shawl was a challenge, because it introduced about a billion things that I had never done before:

-yarn-overs
-circular needles
-k2tog
-working with natural fibers and bamboo (I was prepared for it to be better than acrylic and aluminum, but I wasn't prepared for how much better.)
-Picking up dropped yarn-overs
-Picking up mistakes from rows down and correcting them without ripping out the work. (I felt like a rock star, big time, when this happened.)
-Blocking natural fiber, knitted.
-Blocking with blocking wires.


This is not a shawl. It is a flag of victory.