Sculpted Yarns

Checking in...

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Okay, so it is April, and I haven't posted sine December... I *thought* the worst was over, and in a way it is; but in January everything sort of all started sinking in at once. I had a lot of things go down last year, some I had control over, some I didn't, but the bottom line is that they happened. It is a lot to deal with. So I've been taking things one day at a time.

I ended up auditioning for a new musical thinking I needed to be around people, and I wanted to be involved but didn't want a big part, because I knew I wasn't focused enough for anything larger. I ended up with three small parts. I was right about not being able to handle anything larger, but in the end, we got through it. That show closed last weekend, and we are scheduled to do an original cast recording next week, which is super cool, especially for me being the Musical Theatre geek that I am.

One of my "best friends" (for lack of a better term for him right now) threw me a surprise party for my birthday, which was really nice, and there was a great turnout for it, and a number of people have told me they were sorry they couldn't make it. It was really nice, and unexpected (hence the "surprise" part...) The next day I had a Dr's appointment, which turned into 6 days of being poked with needles amongst other things (the timed bleed test was the worst). Turns out my platelets were low, dangerously so. Part of that 6 day stint, was 3 out patient day treatments at the hospital to get my platelets back up, and on the last day, they were up in a "normal range." they are still monitoring me, and at last check they were down again, but not dangerously so, but there were factors at play that didn't make the Dr surprised they were down.. so more monitoring before the medicine can be pulled back. I feel fine. I felt fine before, I was just bruising really easily and I don't tend to bruise, and I had red spots all over me, especially on my legs, I later learned were called "petechiae." I could tell the treatment was working when they started disappearing. Scary stuff. But they have been able to eliminate some of the more serious potential causes, so that is a silver lining.

Spring is here, and the outlook is good, much better than last year at this time at least. I'm looking forward to Summer and seeing friends, and maybe doing some traveling. I bought tickets to a U2 concert in the fall... so that is definitely something to be looking forward to.

are we there yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 01:29:00 +0000

Wow... yeah... it's been a year... strangely enough I feel pretty good. My head feels clearer than it has in a really long time. But first, let me update you on the last three months.. since I haven't blogged since October..

The night of the Vice-presidential debate, October 2, I went over to a friend's house to watch it, as I don't have TV right now, and he had T-voed it.. while I was there I ended up asking him to the Michael Bublé concert I think I mentioned in a previous post. He agreed and we went to the concert the following evening.. it turned out to be a nearly perfect first date.. we've been friends for nearly 3 years, but I'm still learning about him, and he really surprised me that night.. we've been dating ever since... taking things slowly.. which is really nice.. During October we attended a lot of plays and a fundraiser for our local arts center. Towards the end of the month, I was told that my father's chemo had stopped working, so I took a few days and went up to see him. Early November brought performances of a show I'd been in rehearsal for, and shortly after that closed was Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was hard. My father seemed much weaker than he had even a couple of weeks earlier, and that saddened me. Mom thought it best if I stay in a motel rather than at the house, which was probably better for my psyche, but I'm not sure if it was better for my dad or not.. that weekend while at a movie with a friend, (My dad had taken to going to bed as early as 7 pm) I fell going up the aisle to the restroom during the movie.. I wiped out.. faceplant and all.. my upper arm took the brunt of the fall, and fortunately it was nearing the end of the film.. I didn't realize how much pain I was in.. and once I'd returned to the theatre from the restroom, didn't pay a lot of attention to the film, and probably nearly passed out.. but didn't.. I went straight to the store afterwards and bought frozen peas to go on it since they don't puddle like ice does.. drove home the next day..

A week later, while I was carrying laundry downstairs to wash, I fell down about half my staricase, because my arm was still hurting me, I tried not to injure it further by landing on it again.. my elbow got caught, and I did another faceplant.. this time I'm surprised I didn't break my nose or something.. more iced peas.. the following night I returned home to find that my house had been broken into.. the police think it was kids looking for some quick cash, they went straight for the bedroom, and they did a number on it... lost some money and some jewelry.. mostly of sentimental value.. (like 4 of the 5 rings I made in February... and they got the "breakup earrings") My new beau was very good through all this.. he helped me clean up the glass cover the broken window, and change the locks, and has told me I'm not allowed to climb any trees, ride any motorcycles or horses....We had a really great time together at my office Christmas Party, which was on the 12th a Friday, that Sunday, I learned my father had passed away.... that party seems like an eternity ago now.. he was really good then too though, he came and got me out of the house and tried to cheer me up.. took me shopping at Target, and to dinner, we watched a DVD and before he left he asked if I were going to be all right that night, and that I should call him if I needed him, that he didn't mind..

Most of my cousins made it in for the Funeral, so that was a good thing.. seeing everyone together at once..something that will be even more rare in the future. The funeral was nice, as was the internment. We all went to dinner together and several of us had breakfast together the following morning as well. I stayed through the rest of the weekend and got to see some friends in addition to taking care of some stuff.

I think I'd be a lot more upset if I hadn't gone through all the other crap that has happened this year. I'm either worn out cried out and numb, or all the crap made me stronger to be able to deal with this or some combination there of.. I do know that new Beau has been a great help to me, and he keeps passing these "tests" and if he can deal with me like this.. in good times, it should be smooth sailing.. but I would like some time to test that theory.. but the cloudy head from the summer is gone, the intense emotional roller coaster is as well... I hope that is a sign of healing for sure.. and while there are no guarantees that next year won't be crap filled as well, it would appear I'm better equipped to deal with it now..

Happy Holidays everyone and have an especially Fabulous New Year.. I know I'm going to try...

Let it Be...

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:01:00 +0000

Sometimes you just have to quit fighting things, and just let them happen... you might be pleasantly surprised..... :D

more on this to come...

Floating Along...

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:07:00 +0000

I'm still here.. I'm a mess still and I keep wondering when that is going to improve.. then I realize it has improved.. I'm in a much better place now than I was 6 months ago, 4 months ago, and even 2 months ago.. heck, I'm better than I was two weeks ago.... But I'm still a mess... My head is clearer my focus is better (and not just because of new contacts/glasses) and I'm feeling a lot better about things and myself.. but I'm not as clear and focused as I should be normally... time and patience I guess...I'm not crying every day anymore.. and the emotional roller coaster is slowing and less intense. I'm happier more of the time, and able to talk about certain things now without tearing up or having that all too common this spring/summer searing knife feeling in my chest..

The show was very good for me.. the cast bonded well, and were a great support net for each other, which I really needed. And my character gave me a lot of confidence in areas that were needed as well. AND being around people was a tremendous help. I have my weakest moments when I'm home alone and lonely.. I don't miss the EX. I do miss having someone here, especially someone to help me with stuff. (Which the EX wasn't always so good at, but he did help out with stuff) I get overwhelmed with things I need to do, but that could be the lack of focus coming into play, and just general weakness from the whole ordeal. I need a vacation.

Photo of the Cast of The Art of Dining. I'm in the Eggplant and Black dress.

I've really been in the mood to dance... I'm not talking going out to a club and dancing.. I'm meaning in someone's arms.. you know the romantic kind like in the old movies.. (that isn't missing the EX talking either, because he never did this kind of stuff..).. I'm feeling starved for romance..(part of this might be coming from me wearing dresses everyday since sometime during the summer, but they help me feel better too.) I "won" tickets to a Michael Buble concert coming up soon, and maybe that will help cure then yen for dancing.. or at least subdue it some. I'm not the biggest Buble fan, but do like that style of music. {****Edited because a girl has a right to change her mind****} if the concert doesn't help, the annual arts ball is rapidly approaching... I'm very much looking forward to it this year.. I'll be able to stay and dance there, which I haven't been able to do in years past due to said EX. AND I have a VERY CUTE DRESS for this year's event.

I'm confidant the healing will continue, and maybe I'll be able to get on with everything with new focus and new perspective soon.. even more than I've already found.

I love you, my friends... Thanks for being there.

the world's a stage...

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:41:00 +0000

It's amazing what the theatre can do... I've been particularly blue the last week or so, residue from the crap that has been going on all Spring.. And tonight I went to the theatre to consider auditioning for a play. It is a show I'd wanted to do, but after everything that has been going on, I wasn't sure I wanted to or was ready, so I went in thinking I'd observe, and decide and audition tomorrow if I decided that way.. I got there, before auditions started, walked out on the stage, and was upset for a brief moment.. Went to the rest room to collect myself for a moment, and returned to the house, as the others arrived. I filled out the form, and gave it a whorl.. The moment I set foot on the stage for the first read, everything melted away.. I've had this happen many times before.. Arriving to rehearsal and the stresses of the day disappearing.. It is actually part of why I do theatre, it is part of what caused me to reassess my relationship this Spring... But I really didn't expect it to calm and recenter me as much as it seems to have done tonight.. My mind feels clearer, my focus seems to be a bit more there, and I'm not feeling as wound up as I have been of late. I don't know that I had the best audition that I've ever had, but I don't know that that matters, I was relaxed, and did what I know to do.. And just got through it even the reads they wanted us to do cold... It felt good. It felt natural, and I feel more centered than I have in ages..so in some ways it was probably a very good audition.. I hope this calm is a sign of healing, and will still feel this way tomorrow... emotions have been raw of late, I'm doing well, but I've definitely been aware of the invisible contusions from the last several months... My friend Catherine was pushing me to go to auditions thinking it would be good for me, like getting back on the horse once you've fallen off.. I'm glad she did. I love my theatre family, they're wonderful, and feeling even better is fantastic...

Now I'm listening to the Cure, who I haven't listened to for ages, and that seems to be helping as well. Ahhhh it is good to be getting back to me...

Men Behaving Badly

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:05:00 +0000

So yeah... there's this guy you see... and as he's moving his stuff out of his ex'x house... he tells her he's engaged.... no joke.. this actually happened.....

Butterfly.. But some days are better than others.

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:43:00 +0000

In May, I ended a 14 year relationship. It was time. We still love each other and probably always will given the time and history involved.. We just weren't IN love anymore. That and there were other problems. In some ways, maybe it shouldn't ever have gotten off the ground, but it did, and I don't have regrets about it. He never really "swept me off my feet" as the saying goes, and I guess I had convinced myself that that was a Hollywood/fairytale convention and didn't really exist... But I saw the looks friends and relatives gave each other on their wedding days.. And I didn't have that.. I knew I didn't have it, but thought there were other things about the relationship that made it good.. Was I "settling"? Perhaps. Don't get me wrong, he is a great guy, he loved me, and continues to love me but not fully in ways that I needed. We both have our issues and from that were not as good of a match as we could have been.

During the time we were rehearsing for the show earlier this year (seems like ancient history now), I started seeing parts of myself I hadn't seen for YEARS. Decades almost. Feelings, and things about me.. And I wondered where they had been, since I'd forgotten or hadn't really noticed they had left. Basically, I was realizing I was unhappy, but hadn't really known that I wasn't happy. I was stagnant and complaisant.. I started to realize that there was probably more out there for me...

I was torn, tormented by these feelings. I had a 14 year relationship to assess. WAY longer than a lot of marriages these days... I sill loved him and didn't want to hurt him, but I needed to do what was best for me. I spent a good two months trying to get my head around it. The rollercoaster that was my emotional state was overwhelming at times. I did a lot of avoiding him, not knowing what to say, since I wasn't ready to discuss it, and needed to have a "plan" in case he walked out the day it was addressed. Financials were probably the scariest part. Can I make it on my own financially?

In the end, it got brought to light by a present he brought me. He was never a present for no reason sort of guy. I didn't mind that, but this out of character gift at this moment kinda put me over the edge. See he knew something was up because of the way I'd been acting, but didn't fully know what, hoping it wasn't him, but thinking it probably was... In essence he'd had time to prepare. (Since it wasn't the total shock to him that I was preparing for..) Anyway, it started the discussion, that ultimately a week later brought on the break.

We're still friends, right now we're still roommates (although he is on the couch now) there is some awkwardness since post-breakup he has already started seeing one of my "friends." (that is another story which I'm not going to broach here.. It isn't messy, it has helped me move on.. But I don't want to deal with her right now.) We have an estimated date for him to move and that is where most things stand right now.

I feel like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon..and that I've been living under a rock for who knows how long.... This event has totally brought to light my flaws, and things I need to work on about myself, I'm a perfectionist, I hold myself to an impossibly high standard, and from that, I beat up on myself mentally. I realize that now. So I was probably not the easiest person to live with given his own personal baggage and issues. I've been doing a lot of soul searching and trying to discover how I got to this point, and trying to find some confidence and self-worth.. Especially for this scary next phase I'm going into. And how to live and deal with it. Basically I REALLY want to get healthy for the next chapter for me. SO I can have a healthy foundation for the next relationship, whenever that may arise.

I have learned a lot over the last month or so.. A lot about me, a lot obout WHO my friends are, and that I have lots of friends and that by and large, People do like me.. People like me in ways I had no idea about. Some of them have been extraordinary in helping me get to where I am now. I'm far from healed, but am worlds better than I was even two weeks ago. And with that, I'm kinda finding out about myself in the process, and that I am worthwhile. And for that I'm quite thankful.

Some of the things various people have told me about myself or how they perceive me include: (and these are all from different people)

Gorgeous!
Warm
Warm Spirited (two people)
Classy Bitch (have to understand the symmentics of this one.. He means bitch in the woman sense, not in the Bitchy sense..)
A Lady (this was meant not just as a name for a woman.)
Smart
Funny
Creative

The last three I knew but it was nice to hear.. The others though.. Some of them threw me for a loop, (Gorgeous???!?!?!) but have helped me get to a better place... That yes there are people who care about me.. I've had several people give me "mom" advice.. (even had one give me a condom lecture for when I do start dating again.. LOL) and I've started to believe some of it for myself... Even that I can be and am gorgeous.. So this butterfly is emerging for the next phase not without bumps in the road still.. But we're getting there..

I'm alive...

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:21:00 +0000

been a rough couple of months.. I'm coming out the other side now though.. been doing a lot of assessing, and soul searching, and I'm starting to carve the boulder I've apparently been living under.... It's been a roller coaster, but I think I'm feeling really good now..not that there may not still be some coasting left, but I feel better now than I've felt in at least two months, probably longer, and that is a good thing, and I'm grateful...especially to those who know what has been going on, and to those who've listened...most of them don't read this blog, but the ones who do... THANKS... to those who don't know, I'm not quite ready to talk about it... but I'm here, and working on getting happy...and I must say, I've got some incredible friends, and I love you all.

for your viewing pleasure...

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 23:48:00 +0000

my favorite photo from the show...

Maybe I'll post some more later, there weren't a lot of good ones... but I like this one.

Into the Wild/Woods

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:42:00 +0000

"In ‘Walden’, Thoreau says “I went into the woods not to escape life, but to discover that I had a life worth living”." --Emile Hirsch in an interview about "Into the Wild". I'm quoting Emile, quoting Thoreau here since I haven't actually read "Walden"... yet..plan to now though. But this quote in some ways mirrors some of what I've been feeling about my "Into the Woods" experience. The connection comes from the fact that I watched "Into the Wild" this week with some friends. It is one of the best films I've seen in a very long time. The cinematography is gorgeous, and there was a lot in the film that touched on nerves, at least for me...and I've been thinking about it a lot since I saw it.

How the quote relates to what I've been feeling, has to do with getting back some spark of soul that was kind of deadened in me in "the layoff year." The show has helped me feel alive again. Not just the sense of accomplishment of doing a big role, this big role, but in ways regarding life in general. It's difficult to put into words....it was and continues to be an eye opening experience.

That said, I'm taking on another new challenge, by designing the set for the next show. The Tech Director is actually directing the show, but he is going to work with me as I design the set for the show as well. It's a 2 person show, and a lovely show too.. so I'm looking forward to that challenge as well. I spent a lot of the day looking at one of his scene design books to see what ideas might strike from that. I'll probably read the script again tomorrow, before I start sketching anything out to let all of it incubate for a while. We had a good meeting yesterday though, and a lot of the things he'd started to suggest I'd already thought about, so I kind of feel like we are on the same page there. Yay for new experiences and challenges.

.. and home before dark...

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:41:00 +0000

So the last 6 weeks have been something of a whirlwind.. and while I want to talk about teachers and families and some other stuff.. I need to back track before getting to those posts..

So remember the workshop I went to back at the beginning of February? Here are some of the results.. the rings produced over the 4 days by my studio:

This retreat is at a 4H camp out near the coast, and it is seriously like going to camp with a bunch of artistic adults.. it's awesome! The "cabins" have bunk beds, but are carpeted and the bathrooms are more like hotels.. so it isn't so bad. The food was better this year than it was last year, but it was still very heavy fare.. There were 2 ceramics workshops and a woodworking one with Roy Underhill.. one of my friends too that one, and had a ball. My instructor was Tim Lazure who teaches at ECU. Our studio laughed all weekend.. we had a fun time together, here is the motley crew of us:

Most people in there had some ring experience going in, I went in having NO idea how a ring was put together.. and this is what I returned with:

The class averaged 4-6 rings apiece..two of my rings are double banded so they took more time.. the one in the left corner and the 4th one from the left was the other. the far right one, has patterning on it that makes it look like a tree trunk, so it ties in with my "Into the Woods" endeavors...Speaking of which, the show is over now, it was a fabulous experience, and a lot of work, but I'd do it again in a moment. I loved it, even with all the uphill battles we went through with one thing and another..(actor changes, illnesses, injuries...time, schedules..) anyway, here is a backstage photo of me and my "husband" (he wanted a "happy" photo of us since all the on stage ones they took at photocall, were moments we were supposed to be unhappy/mad with each other... I don't have copies of those yet.)

Which kind of brings me around to the family business..I sort of touched on it in the last post, but really theatre people become family. It's difficult to explain for anyone who hasn't experienced it.. and yes, there is disfunctionality there some just like in biological families, but in the end something happens and that shared experience through rehearsals, and performing before an audience, where everyone has to depend on and trust everyone else to make it through, does something to everyone like magic. Some moments are of course more magic than others, and some shows are more magic as well.. but really there's nothing like it. And to me some of my theatre family members are the best kind of family to have, some fade with time but you do get to chose who you get to keep around in your family. Mine's a big family, I've been doing theatre for a long time. One of my earliest theatre family additions came four hours to see the show... She hadn't seen me perform in a really long time, since it has been close to 20 years since I've performed where she lives. (yikes! I'm feeling old at that statement.. by the way, I had a birthday last week..so I've grown little older and hopefully grown a little wiser.) They really enjoyed the show. She was lucky enough to see the original cast on Broadway. I'm glad, and it was nice to have old theatre family there with brand new theatre family, since this show made several happy additions to that family. We had another family member come the second weekend, I hadn't seen him in person for about 6 years.. he is doing some national tours after getting a degree in theatre, so for him to tell me how impressed he was with my performance, that meant a lot to me, since I've not known him to give false compliments. One of the shows we did together we watched a DVD of "Into the Woods" at a cast party, and now here we are many years later, and several of us from that show are IN "Into the Woods" it was a neat moment to reflect on that with him. This show means a lot to me, even more so now, and the people do too.. and to quote from another favorite composer/lyricist team. "There's a special kind of people known as Show People..." they certainly got that right...

The calm before the Giant

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:20:00 +0000

Tonight is my last night off probably before things get crazy into high production mode (read:many intense late nights). This weekend will mark "double tech" which for those of you non-theatre folks is a day of necessary but often frustrating and tedious work. It's the day they set the light and sound cues for the show, and the actors go through what is known as cue-to-cue. In which, you jump from one cue to the next, sometimes, but not often skipping entire scenes of a show, often skipping entire entrances and exits... you really have to be paying close attention to know where you are.. and there is a lot of standing around waiting for adjustments of things and all that.. that all happens before dinner.. it is a LONG afternoon. Then after dinner (potluck) we do the first run of the show with lights and sound.. this is a LONG day for a normal show.. this show is SONDHEIM.. this show is LONG the director is estimating a runtime ( with intermission,) that is going to be close to 2:45.... After Double tech, we start adding props and costumes and makeup and then the show opens.. we still have MUCH work to do. Tomorrow we do the first full run off book..we'll see how that goes, it is always a struggle, what you know at home, sometimes disappears when you get it into stage context, and people tend to use their scripts as crutches, but you can't really start to act until they are out of your hands.. I've essentially known my lines for a couple of weeks, but because of blocking and stuff like that have been carrying my script around too. Tomorrow I'll probably have a cheat sheet for my entrances and exits. I don't leave too often, but we haven't run it enough for them to be in my head yet. This show is broken into 72 scenes, and then some of those have additional "french scenes" in them. (French scenes are shifts in characters interacting within a scene, to become mini-scenes within a scene it comes from moliere) so there is a lot to keep up with here, since I'm only not in 19 or so of them. I got through Act 1 without much trouble the other night, and that is the more difficult act for me, but that being said, my lines in act 2 tend to be "peppered" rather than conversations like they are in the first act, and so while fewer of them, sometimes this is harder since you REALLY have to pay attention..

For those of you who are familiar with the process this one has been even more intense.. we got our new director (who I think is fantastic, and had really jumped right in and taken the bull by the horns on this one) two weeks after the first read through. We were supposed to have been learning music during that time but the scores weren't in, and the vocal coach was sick, and so were many of the cast members, so not a lot got done in that time. This as I said before is Sondheim.. the legend.. the music is beautiful and very deceptive.. for anyone who's ever said Sondheim isn't easy.. I can now attest to that first hand. I love his music, I love this show.. but boy, it is not what it at first appears, and the lyrics are a bear to learn, but they are brilliantly written. I love his cleverness, always have. Everyone has been working tremendously hard (hence no knitting or pottery, although I do have a post about a ring workshop I need to write with photos) and except for a few minor things, we seem to have been making great progress at each rehearsal..but this is community theatre, and people have jobs, and school and families, and other circumstances out of our control...so it has been difficult to have everyone there all at once to work. (hopefully that will change this weekend, it HAS to) And this one is one that is really an ensemble work. I love ensemble shows, the casts always seem to become a big family from the shared experience, that doesn't quite get to the same level in a show that isn't as ensemble based (but it still happens on some level).. this one is no exception.. everyone is working really well together to get through this, and when we get through it, and we will, there will be even more bonding going on, that for me, is part of what I really love about doing theatre, the people and the process, the energy it creates, the making something come alive and telling the story to the audience. Yes it is hard work, don't let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise, stage actors earn their pay. But it is a lovely way to work.

Artistic new year.

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:06:00 +0000

Okay, so lots of exciting things coming up for me in Artsland.. After waiting a week for the results of the auditions, I was cast as the Baker's Wife in "Into the Woods" although it is really an ensemble piece she is considered to be the female lead. I'm really excited about this, since I've wanted to do this show since 1988. (I was hoping for this role or the Witch) It is going to be a lot lot lot of work, Sondheim shows aren't easy, but I think they are worth it. I think we have a good strong cast assembled from what I saw of the auditions and from the people on the cast list who I already know. We're getting a new director and none of us has met him yet, which is a little daunting. We're going to be learning music for a while before he gets here.

In addition to that, I'm going to do that arts retreat I did last year, only this year I'm not doing pottery. The pottery I would have done, is with Ken Sedberry, and I had a workshop with him in August, since there were only 3 of us, we got a lot out of it, and this workshop is essentially 3 days, so I wouldn't be getting too much new material out of him at this point. If more time had passed maybe.. but not 6 months.. the other ceramics studio is hand building and figurative, which my work doesn't tend to be (and since I got the role in the show, I'm not sure how much clay dust I want to be breathing while I'm in rehearsal for a heavy singing role) So, I'm going to be taking a ring making workshop with Tim Lazure who teaches at East Carolina University. I'm looking forward to it, mostly so that I can maybe in the future incorporate some small scale metal work into knitting/fiber projects, or into my pottery pieces. But making rings might be really cool too. It's just such a great retreat, I've been looking forward to it all year..

And finally, so you have a photo for your viewing pleasure, here are the socks I' presently working on.

This is the azure sock pattern from the current knitty. The yarn is Panda bamboo wool in the Color Ultramarine. The flash brought out the color pooling more than it looks in real life. The yarn mostly looks tealy green, with some flecks of other color init. It is really soft and I like how it knits up, although it is easy to split if you're not paying attention. I'm almost done with the gusset increases now, but haven't taken any more photos yet. But they may get put on hiatus soon, with everything else kicking into gear..

Into the woods it's time to go...

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 02:46:00 +0000

I finished these on Sunday night.. I love them.. :)

So I started the year with socks and ended the year with socks. I need to get faster at making socks, because I love wearing handmade socks. Currently I'm trying to decide which sock pattern I want to knit next, with which previously stashed sock yarn.

Go See Sweeney Todd.. it is GREAT!!! I was a little scared of what they were going to do with it. I have a few things I'd have like to have seen done differently, but all in all, it was quite good. It is Bloody, so it isn't for the squeemish. (unless the Squee is for Alan Rickman or Johnny Depp of course ;) ) I need to see it again in the theatre before it goes away though..

Back to work today it was hard to get back into the swing of things but at least it is Wednesday, so it is a short week... but no holidays until Good Friday... and hopefully there will be a lot going on between now and then.. ;)

pottery and knit update

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:03:00 +0000

I forgot to show you the Pomatomus update...

and the finished "platter" from the workshop. (the swirl one isn't finished yet)

it bowed some in drying, but it turned out cool.

stripey scarf

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:26:00 +0000

Happy Holidays. I'm thankful for a few days off. It's been a long year, good, bad, and busy.

Been thinking a lot about the family of my pottery acquaintance who was murdered in October. (she was stabbed by a homeless man while trying to find a shelter for him, she worked for meals on wheels, and was attacked at the church where they were preparing the meals, the other lady who was also stabbed and survived is home now, and recovering. the man is in jail awaiting trial) But my heart goes out to her family who are having a Christmas without their mother, or their wife... needlessly.. She was one of my cabin-mates at the pottery retreat I went to back in February. That paired with the VA Tech killings this year... Had it been during my college days, I might have known some of those kids.. a large percentage of college bound kids from my graduating class in high school went to Tech since it was only 45 minutes away (one if not both of those guns was purchased in my home town)....my heart goes out to those families as well, and the families of the other victims of this recent violence... There is a lot of crazy violence these days... scary... I hope next year will be better, or that something will be start to change in a positive way.

Personally I can't complain. We had a good year at the office and I got to do some good work. I'm excited about the upcoming theatre season both on our season tickets, and what is on the slate for the community theatre productions. We're getting a new director, since our previous one has been promoted. I don't know if they have hired someone yet or not. Auditions for the first show are supposed to be right after the first of the year, so we'll see..

Here is the scarf I'm working on at the moment. It's Noro Silver Thaw two skiens that I'm making stripes with. Some of it is pooling weird, but we'll see what the overall effect is before coming to any conclusions. (I feel like the section I'm on now had hotpink cool-aid spilled all over it from the general hue of that part) there are some more areas of that yellow green coming up so that won't look so out of place eventually. It's kinda fluffy itchy from the angora that is in it..

the last few weeks...

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:44:00 +0000

Knitting

Black & White Ball

Pottery Workshop

with a little help from my friends.. ;)

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 03:53:00 +0000

142.5

Sill here..

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:11:00 +0000

For any knitters not on Ravelry yet, here is what I've been working on...

It's Pomatomus from Knitty

but only kinda.. since for the last two weeks or so I haven't had time for any knitting. I've been in tech rehearsals for a show I'm running lights for, and production mode for that show, which ends tomorrow, and have been doing some stealthy secret projects as well. which may be revealed at a later date.

We've finally had a little rain, but the water restrictions are still in tact and about to get stronger, so no felting has been done yet. I'm very much looking forward to some semblance of some fall weather.

10 to go

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 04:11:00 +0000

progress photos..

Long side

end side

we had a week of 100+° weather 104° on several of the days, and what am I doing knitting WOOL... I must be insane.. we had a really busy work week too, but I did find some time here and there to knit, since this is to be felted it knits up really quickly.. that and it isn't on size 1's

Did go to pottery some this weekend, didn't accomplish too much except making some big messes, which I then got to clean up.. that's what I get for being so busy in July that I didnt' get in there much...

waiting for fall to arrive. Got the college theatre season brochures recently (the ones we go to sometimes anyway) and both are doing shows that I really want to see this season. Ones which don't get done often at all, whose music I like and haven't seen staged before... We must keep them on the radar and try to get to them. One is a Charles Strouse show (most famous for Annie) about Superman.. and the other, a little known Kander and Ebb show which was Liza Minelli's Broadway debut, (if I'm not mistaken...) "Flora the Red Menace". Both have songs in them I've used for auditions before. One of them is also doing Hello Dolly, which, I've never seen on stage, so that might be a treat as well.... things to look forward to with the cooler weather.

Lucky

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:22:00 +0000

I can't believe my luck. When I started thinking about doing this bag with a verigated yarn, I wasn't 100% sure it was going to pool the way I wanted it to, and then I briefly thought about trying to figure out how to work the pattern from the middle of the base, so the color pool would continue properly up the long sides of the bag, since the pattern continues there. I soon realized that was insanity, and I decided to just do it as written. I had after all unwound all my Noro skeins to match up color variants, since this pattern calls for double stranding... that was insane enough..there are only a few places in the yarn where the colors don't match up directly, and then they end up blending into the next color properly, just a bit further on. My desire for the color to be the same at the edges of the base worked out though, I can't believe my luck here. LOOK!

The yellow edge is the ending edge, and it is already starting to go orange, and I have started the new rounds (after picking up stitches and all that) so that the yellow edge was the first knit in the round, so that by the time I got to the orange edge, the yarn had already gone orange. WWWEEEEEEEEEEE! I know the pooling stripes on the body will be smaller than they were on the base, but it seems to be working out kind of how I'd envisioned it. I like it when the plan comes together!

PS. the color here is a little better than the previous photo, but still isn't really accurate.

WHEW!!

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 22:17:00 +0000

July= out of town family wedding, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie, visiting relatives, seeing "What the Butler Saw" in Williamsburg, seeing "The Laramie Project" here in town, lots of overtime at work, dealing with finding contractors/repair people for some house issues, the 5th year anniversary of buying said house.. et cetera

This weekend, We've had the main part of the house repairs done, and I attended a Pottery workshop.

I love workshops, you get to see how different people work, pick up new ideas and new things to try, and just get a fresh perspective on things. This one was no exception and we had a good time. It was nice that it was small, although he did a lot more demos and we did a lot less hands on stuff than I was anticipating, but I think I learned some good tips for improving my work. He left pretty much all the stuff you see in the photo for us to divide up amongst ourselves and finish glazing and such. The center is getting the BIG carved platter, and the faceted vase in front of me. (striped shirt) Individually, I received the Pitcher in full view, the smaller "zebrea bowl" (which is the one with the porcelin base with the stone ware stripes) (qeltic aka "Lola" got the Stoneware base with porcelin stripes next to it. the opposite of mine) We all got one of the smaller stoneware bowls and all have mugs that aren't pictured. I will probably only bisque fire the "zebra bowl" so that the colors stay. He wood fires his work, but we only have an electric oxidation kiln at the center. I did throw a bowl, in the style of, but not as big as the one you see in the photo here. My bowl started out bigger than it ended up, but when I tried to do the rim technique he's shown us, I messed it up, and ended up taking almost two inches off the top to "begin that part again" as it were. So now, I have a BUNCH of things that will need to be glazed and fired. since I'd been saving some of my bisqued pieces for the workshop.

Lest anyone thinks I've stopped knitting, I did a scarf in the last two weeks for a co-worker who was leaving and going to colder climates. (no photos there. I didn't manage to get any before giving it to her) but I've started the Noni Prism Bag. (the large one.) here is the start of the base.

The color isn't really correct here, but it is Noro Kureyon color 182 a rainbowish color palette and Cascade 220 color 4002, which is kind of a charcoal gray. I was hoping for a stained glass kind of look, and so far, the base hasn't disappointed me, although I'm aware that when I start the body of the bag in the round, the color pool "stripes" will be more narrow.

Siliness

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:18:00 +0000

You Are the Thumb

You're unique and flexible. And you defy any category.
Mentally strong and agile, you do things your own way. And you do them well.
You are a natural leader... but also truly a loner. You inspire many but connect with few.

You get along well with: The Middle Finger

Stay away from: The Pinky

What Finger Are You?

air brush

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 01:29:00 +0000

My first trial of the airbrush glazer is a success! Here are the results.. my ever favorite Floating blue over white, although this is a darker clay than I normally use. I actually think this might have been the earthenware low fire clay, which I fired to cone 6 (oops) so it warped slightly, but I'm still happy with the results. The little swishy ribbon on the side is actually an indent in the clay, not just a glaze effect. It was one of the techniques we learned at that workshop.

Edited to add: I forgot to give the dimensions of this bowl. It is about 5.25 inches tall and 8.5 across at the top rim.

texture and tea

noreply@blogger.com (Mtwelovett) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 01:30:00 +0000

Here is the latest teapot. This one is made from red clay, and glazed in a cone 6 ketchup red glaze fired in oxidation. (I still haven't glazed the elephant teapot. He hasn't yet told me what kind of glaze he wants to have.... ) anyway, Teapot:

The bricky red color on the handle, spout and lid, is mostly clay body with a minimum of glaze on it. I coated the whole thing in glaze and wiped some of the glaze off on those places so the texture would hold up better. I'm pleased with the results and will probably use this technique again.

I'm glad David Hyde Pierce won the Tony for best leading actor in a musical. The awards were pretty boring overall since The coast of Utopia won most of the play category awards, and Spring Awakening won most of the musical category awards. Not that perhaps they weren't deserving, but it makes for a boring evening of award viewing. I'm still not a huge fan of the score from Spring Awakening though. It was refreshing when Julie White won her tony for Best leading actress in a play. She was a joy to watch, as it came pretty unexpectedly to her, since she was in the running with the likes of Angela Lansbury, Venessa Redgrave, Swoosie Kurtz and Eve Best... steep competition. Christine Ebersole won for leading actress of a musical one of the only musical categories Spring Awakening didn't have a nomination in.

I do want to know what was up with letting Fantasia sing though.. she was good, but that isn't the point, she has gone into The Color Purple as a replacement, and gotten very good reviews, but The Color Purple was part of last year's awards. They did give a special Tony to the theatre where Color Purple started, but still... what's up with that, when Legally Blonde which was up for some awards, including an actress in a best Leading actress in a musical category, and best book, and scores of a musical... WHY not let them perform?? especially after telling them they could, then rescending the offer.. It may be a fluff piece, but if it gets some young people interested in going to the theatre great! At least it isn't a juke box musical.

Work is still Insanely busy, been working lots of evening hours and stuff like that, but we are having a better time at the office lately. And we've been doing some good work, which is a great thing.

July is shaping up to be even busier than expected. I now have a job to do for my cousin's wedding, which I'm happy to do of course. And our annual visit to see my aunt and uncle is falling in July this year too... I'm ready for the "vacation"