Yes, everyone, this is another inevitable huge update post, but trust me, now that I have my life back, I’m going to be posting way more often.
I won’t bore you with all of the details of why I’ve been so busy because it would take forever to say everything. To sum it up, I’ve been involved in my school’s production of Richard III (link is to a summary on SparkNotes for those who aren’t familiar with it), a really intense play that is rarely done by high schools, since early February. From the middle of March (when the rehearsals started to go later) to the last two weekends in April (performances) I’ve had almost no time at home, and therefore no time to blog. The play was set in a postmodern industrial empire instead of renaissance England, and I played the role of a messenger and one of two ‘nurses’ who are with Anne at all times after she marries Richard, who are really drugging her, not taking care of her. Later on in the play we poison Anne at Richard’s command, with pills (that were really Tic Tacs - we gave her the lethal dose of minty freshness!). The practices and performances were very time-consuming and intense, but overall, it was worth it. I really miss wearing my nurse costume - Lauren and I each had vintage white nurse’s dresses worn with a red belt around the waist (to show that we were part of Richard’s posse- red was the official evil color as far as costumes go) and fishnet tights and red heels. It was really fun to be evil, even if it wasn’t for very long. My messenger role was minimal, as I only ended up with one line (in the beginning I had 7 lines, but they had to cut a scene that contained 6 of those because of time constraints). The performances went really well, and we got a lot of people in to see it.
It’s over now, though, and now I actually have some time to do what I want!
Let the knitting content commence…
First up, I got around to finally finishing Paul’s sweater, and I got a little camera happy when we went outside to take some pictures.


(can you say ‘Zoolander’?)

Pattern: Seamless Raglan by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Rich Chocolate, less than 2 skeins
Needles: Knit Picks Options US #9s
Modifications: Well, I obviously made it smaller to fit my 1 1/2 year old brother, and otherwise, I put seed stitch bands on the bottom hem, sleeves, and collar, a purled ’seam’ stitch where the seams would go if it had been knit flat, and a little split collar at the neck. I also used centered double-decreases at the shoulders to make a nice clean line.

We went outside to blow some bubbles.

The sleeves turned out a little too long, so he’s wearing them cuffed once, but otherwise it’s a perfect fit.


(making a fish face…)

These aren’t even the half of it. You can see the whole set here.

Anna asked me for a pair of fingerless mittens.

Pattern: Garter Stitch Mitts by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Less than 1 ball of Rowan Felted Tweed in Melody
Needles: Knit Picks Options US #4
Modifications: I made them shorter by taking 2 stitches off the portion above the thumb and 6 stitches off of the wrist portion, but otherwise, none.
This was a really fun and fast pattern, and I highly recommend it. I want to make a pair for myself now!

I also finished the first Anemoi Mitten after it had a few month’s hibernation sitting in my yarn basket.

I also made my dad a ribbed hat in some pretty heathered green Cascade 220, and a pair of Fetching in some of the Pagoda Malabrigo for my friend Maggie for a secret buddy exchange for the play, but I couldn’t get a good enough picture of the former, and didn’t get to take any pictures at all of the latter.

I’ve gotten a couple of things back from my Ceramics class:

This was the very first thing I made, a project called the Useful Pinch Pot.

And this was the second, called the Creative Pinch Pot.

I bought some yarn that I have no idea what I’ll do with.

1 giant hank of Ornaghi Filati Merino Oro, in a really pretty sage green color. 1375 glorious yards of laceweight merino. I’m thinking a pretty, leafy lace shawl (even though I’m really not a shawl person). Does anyone have any other ideas?

In other news, go check out this contest! There’s lots of great goodies and you can make some book recommendations.