Cozies and other things

Apparently my cozy obsession has been considered odd…i'm cool with that :)
Well it might be a bit scary, but obvously there are people out there who are more obsessed than I am. I keep getting outbid on eBay. I have my limits and refuse to go above them (that is how eBay gets you...you feel the pressure and go over what any calm sane person is willing to spend in face to face combat shopping).
Has anyone seen that commercial for room fresheners, where grandma is crocheting cozies to cover the room freshener? Fritz is convinced that that is me (though I am much younger and probably taller than grandma). Besides, I draw the line at toilet paper cozies...What’s the point? You run out before you have a chance to get the cover on.

(And no comments from the knit-or-get-off-the–pot family tree – about the toilet paper or my hair. )

Not much crafting fun at the moment - hands have not been enjoying the humidity - all the swelling - so not doing much - especially since work has been so heavy.

But there was a lovely review in the Washington Post in Saturday's paper about THE BORROWERS. I wish the other pic that was in the paper was on the web - you could see the fabulous acorn hat that one of my interns made for me. Or you'll just have to se the show :)!

While the cat is away the mice will play…

Or in this case, Marietta will play on eBay…bad Marietta.
Every once in awhile I get on eBay and do damage to the bank account. This time is it vintage patterns for knitted tea and egg cozies. – cause who doesn’t want matching tea and egg cozies? Well I do. Egg cups are pretty hard to find in the states (at least for me anyway) and egg cozies are even harder. Yes, I can make up my own patterns and yes, there is that very cute pattern in WEEKEND KNITTING, but I want typical British looking egg and tea cozy covers like these:



But I lost this bid – and there are others! There are also tea cozy patterns that look like cottages. I swear there was that woman who made tea cozies that looked like the homes of famous women murderers. No I don’t need one of those - but I do like the idea. I am hardly domestic, but I like cozies for my kitchen appliances. There was that moment of unemployment where I had sewn covers for all the little appliances in the kitchen one afternoon. Fritz was a bit frightened…

And then there are the sewing patterns…don’t get me started – not like I do not have enough and I can’t make my own...but why should I when they are there…calling to me…saying…bid on me! Take me home…who cares what the shipping is….

My other favorite eBay search is Tigerente – trying to find someone who will ship to the US is not easy! It is not available here and I admit I am child-like in this way. All I want is that silly little tigerente necklace on a leather string – I have had one or two before and lost them – so sad! When we have our imaginary children (currently named: Maximillian and Helen – not my choices!) I will do the baby room in tigerente!

Oh an PROJECT RUNWAY started up again last night!!!!!!!!! that chick so deserve off - i mean industrial sewingmachines are not that scary (so they can sew through bone! - don;t ask me how i know!) And if you want to read some fun commentary, check these guys out!

I will end the post with this lovely statue of Empress Elizabeth (aka Sissi) at the Westbahnhof in Vienna, Austria. Can you guess what is so perfect about this picture?

just a quickie!

One of the things I do for the store is finishing. But I specialize in a particular type of finishing. We have a few customers who, as knitters, are technically quite capable but sometimes the math just gets away from them. So what does this mean? It means scissors! Yes kids, I take scissors to those knittd garments that you spent so much time screwing up knitting so meticulously. Because there are some yarns (whether you like them or not) that are not meant to be ripped out (even though should have neer been knitted in the first place).

so we have the before:











and the after:










love my sewing machine and i love my serger! The sweater was sewn together the "proper" way with yarn and needle. Once Fritz is back with the camera and the computer, I will gladly post the "how it looked on customer" pic :)

night!

Another opening, another show

Yippee!!! The show is open and here are the boys enjoying the party – can you guess which is which?
Adam, aka our best man, aka Fritz’s ATD (assistant Technical Director) is sitting house left and Fritz is house right. It is Adam’s last opening night with us – he is moving on to San Diego Rep as their TD – we are so proud of our boy! He’s ten years younger than Fritz and when we all lived together, we referred to him as “our teenage son” (okay, so he’s in his 20’s, but boys will be boys!)

Before Adam leaves in two weeks time, Fritz has decided to take some time off and go see his folks – read: leaving me to fend for myself for a few days.

Mar: When are you leaving?
Fritz: Why?
Mar: Well, I need to plan my affair.
Fritz: Affair?
Mar: Yes. I plan to have a hot and steamy affair while you are away…
Fritz: (raising one eyebrow – ‘cause he can do that) With yarn or fabric?
Mar: (BUSTED!!!)
Fritz: So while you are having your steamy affair with *enter fiber of choice here*, will you eat while I’m away?
Mar: (blank look)
Fritz: Will you feed the cats? Clean the kitchen?
Mar: (still a bit blank) I’ll feed the cats…Clean? Well if I don’t make anything then won’t have to clean…you got me yogurt and ice cream right?
Fritz: (walks away and shakes his head) Just remember to feed the cats.

As I have said – I do not cook, I do not clean. What’s the point? I was a very skinny single person and since there was no food in the house (does rice and yogurt count?) there was never any mess – well except for fabric and yarn – my single person apartment pretty much looked like this (our current guest/yarn/sewing room):

Maybe I’ll clean it while Fritz is away…
maybe.

Christmas in July!

I was show-shopping (again) -and this is what I saw. Yes, that’s right! Christmas fabric! “Christmas in July,” as they like to say – and if you want to be politically correct – it is Christma-hannu-kwanzu-kah in July! (Oh! and Ramadan falls somewhere in that time frame, but I haven’t quite figured out how to get that in there yet)


As you know – my July 4th was a bit sad. Thank you everyone for your sympathy and shared pain. I know that getting wrapped up in sports can be silly – but every once in awhile you have to believe that your favorite team is going to win something amazing. And this is only every four years – unlike American football’s Superbowl or the Baseball World Series (which as a cubs fan, is well, never quite …yeah, won’t go there – too much sports sadness for one summer). With all the craziness in the world – it is nice to get wrapped up in something as simple as Football (Soccer).

My show is opening this weekend – so if you are in the DC area…enter shameless plug here…check it out. And if you are 4 – 8 years old, you will really like it  Children’s theatre after all…

Finally, getting back to some sewing for me and knitting too. I am officially out of the knitting world cup – like my team I have been knocked out, but I do not think that I will even make it to the final round for an attempt at third place. With the show and the not sleeping there has also been the not knitting – but I have the weekend off and Monday too! Better late than never! Hopefully there will be sleeves then for me to show you. Fritz is going away for a few days and he is taking the laptop with, so if I probably won’t be able to post until Tuesday (after work hours of course).

Have a lovely weekend – and maybe if you are in New Jersey – the beaches will be open…

Walk of Shame

Do you remember the walk of shame from your college days? You know…the morning after you spent the night in some guy/gal’s room and had to walk back to your dorm, on the other side of campus, through the mass of students on their way to their morning class, still dressed up (though slightly more disheveled) from the night before?

Well, that is how I felt on the metro ride/ walk home after the Germany vs. Italy match. I went to a proper bar in D.C. with beer and friends. It did not help that I was drunk… really drunk – and felt so sad. I cried - I did - when it was all over, at the bar, on the bar…. The nice bartender bought each of us a beer – nice bartender. I was still drunk when I got back to the theatre (where I had left my car) – fortunately for me, Fritz was still at work and he took his sad, drunk wife home to tea and cats…

I’m thinking….Portugal!

Ole ole ole ole…part III

Warning: world cup commentary first/crafty talk below.

Wow! Friday’s match! I know I am a few days behind here – but this whole work thing has been getting in the way again – of the knitting and the personal sewing and the blogging.
So back to Friday – when Argentina scored, I had tears starting – I was worried when my boys didn’t score in the first 10 minutes…so then I figured the last ten minutes…then there was the overtime with 2 15 minutes sessions and then the penalty kicks…oh the tension in the costume shop. I watched the last 15 minutes of the match standing on a chair in front of the TV holding the antennae (it turns out the headsets we use for out theatre were interfering with my TV reception). There was a meeting at 1 o’clock that fortunately was only for the sets and lights ‘cause there was no way I was leaving my shop before I saw whether Germany won or lost….and we know how that turned out  And yeah they play on july 4th - i still have to work but I can always leave and find a bar to watch the game!!!!!!!!
My interns were happy too – they did not want to see Marietta on her knees, crying if they had lost…and then England lost ( I am so sorry Tusa) and then Brazil! What a weird weekend of Football – I tell ya!

Crafty stuff:

Today is our 2nd, 10 out 12 – which means that in a 12 hour period, the actors work for 10 hours. This also means that the technicians and designers are at work for 14 hours (we are here at least 1 hour before tech begins and at least 1 hour after – for meetings and work). So we have had two very long days. When the actors are on stage, we can’t work on costumes or set, so I take notes and do the little fun crafty things – like make a flower skirt:


Or paint a sweater to look like knitting in a larger scale doing this:



Do you think this counts for the Knitting World Cup? I used freezer paper as a stencil - a great trick I learned from Vivi. I am sure that other people have been doing this for years – but I have always cut my stencils from thin plastic sheets (like Mylar) meant for stencils – and that gets costly! So I bought this HUGE roll of freezer paper for about $5 or $6 at the local grocery store and I can get many, many stencils for the price of maybe two or three. The only downside is that I am going to have to cut a second stencil for the backside, BUT it does iron on and stay in place without having to use spray adhesive. At some point I will have to learn how to do screen printing.

Well that is just a quick summary of the last few days - we have been so busy with the working - and though tomorrow is a national holiday - we still have to work. I do hope to be done by 3pm so i can watch the Germany vs Italy game at a bar instead of here in my shop...that would be nice..beer...oh i think the Goethe Institute in DC is hosting a world cup vioewing - might just have to go...maybe at the embassies too.... i will check it out first thing whenthis rehearsal is over.
Got to go! Act I is under way...time to play :)

see you all when this is over in a few days... oh and i think I have been knocked out of the knitting world cup...nothing new since the great mistake

das ball ist rund....