That's not Vienna....that's a sweater!

Okay there should be a post about my trip to Vienna here – but I cannot find the disk that the pictures are on! You see I had forgotten the digital camera – so I got one of those disposable cameras (they still make those!) at the Niedermeyer on the Ringstrasse and got it developed straight to disk when I got home…did I download the best pictures to my computer?....of course not! That would make sense....

So instead of a babbling entry on how much I ate and drank and loved my favourite city, I bring you the saga of Jill’s sweater!

You see Jill, has this beautiful Alice Starmore sweater a close friend knit for her – but alas, it was about 12 inches too big. Wish I had taken a before picture – but here is the “how to” and the after:

I pinned the sweater on Jill, and then thread marked the new stitching line with a smooth contrasting yarn:



Then I cut! That is where you hold your breath, say a prayer, light a candle, sacrifice a chicken, whatever you are into....





This is wear my trusty sewing machine comes into play (depending on the yarn- I will use the overlock machine, but not with pure wool – personal preference). I ran two rows of zig-zag stitch about ¼” and 5/8” from the new seam line.



After that, I hand stitched the side seams as if no alteration had been made. And here is the finished result:



Okay, I promised Jill I would block out her head since she had forgotten to put on makeup – but she looks so happy in her sweater that I HAD to post it…so I lied :)

turkeys for sale

it's that time of year again! The opening of our holiday show! and thanksgiving too!

JUNIE B JONES AND A LITTLE MONKEY BUSINESS is a remount of a show that we did a little over 3 years ago - and it is so much better this time around! I mean check out this set:
















and one of the things I will not get to make for my own off spring - but at least I can at work :) :









How sweet! Sometimes we do fabulous accurate period costumes and sometimes we get to make adorable things amd sometimes we just go shopping...

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving - a day of overeating and football....well, no football in our house, but there will be overeating! Fritz does all the cooking and I'll do the apple pie, my one and only contribution to the feast. And maybe we will get dressed and go to the movies....or Maybe I will just sit and knit all day, I am so far behind.

Have a happy turkey day!!!!

it's a....

BOY!!!!!!!

or it will be in another 18-20 weeks and he might be a big one too!


as for a name?

Maximilian...or is it Maximillian with 2 l's? well i have time to figure that out...what do you all think?

oh wear, oh wear have i been?

that is the question isn't it? :)
sorry to not have postedin ove ra month! *gulp*

I had the most fab time in vienna doing nothing just fo rme and checking out yarn stores and museums - then there was the Gala at work (our yearly fundraiser) and then this next show is starting and things are a bit differente than usual. I hope to have pics tonight - i had left both the digital camera and my i-pod at home. So i had to buy good ol' disposable analog for the trip -and have i made it to the CVS to get it developed? silly question! of course not!

and there was a jaunt to Stitches East with the Mom! will post about that too!

so much to share with you all

Oh and i was doing some sidework for one of the Sewing Pattern comapanies - no designing - just sewing - but there will be a few re-released halloween patterns sometime next year and i am the one who sewed the garments in the pretty pictures! When they come out, i'll brag , naturlich! How else could I have afforded my jaunt across the pond? :)

So the next big news! I have finally knit a pair of baby booties - and they are still colorless:


i still do not know what the alien/satan spawn will be!!!! (if i knew how to upload the print out from the sonogram, you would agree that it looks a bit demon like) Tomorrow is the lucky day!!!!

I will color the socks in using photo shop/ paint (if i can figure it out) and post tomorrow night! that is, if it isn't a shy baby :) being mine, i find that hard to believe....


okay i could babble for hours! and those who know me face to face know that this is soooooo true!!!

gotta go show shopping.....

I can’t believe I am saying this...

I am at work and I am bored out of my mind!!! Can you people believe it? I can’t! Not really into sewing right now (though i have stuff for other people i should be working on as well as the dress I finally cut out for me) So here I am downloading podcasts for my trip…

Here are a few hints of where I am going (if you haven’t figured it out already)






































Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday night I will be on a plane to Vienna!!!! Just me – no Fritz! I am a terrible wife! And I have decided to make these socks while I am away. I am using SOCKS THAT ROCKS yarn that Neomera gave me for my birthday earlier this year. I am not quite sure how I feel about this yarn. I am a huge Koigu fan, along with Cherry Tree Hill Sock Yarn, when it comes to my variegated sock yarns. Since I have big feet, I cast on an extra 10 stitches (allowing for the repeat). I know the designer says that it is a very stretchy pattern, but one of my legs is way bigger than the other.So I must compensate…and hey! If it turns out to be big by the time I get to the ankle, I can always decrease???

And of course, I have mapped out the yarn stores in between museum trips and food trips.

Other than my love of Vienna and the yummy foods – I HAVE to see this:

REBECCA is one of my favourite movies and books of all time and I just have to see the musical! It may suck for all I know…but hey it is totally worth it for the finale live on stage. The theatre has publicity shots on the webpage – and the spectacle looks great – even if they ruin the story and the music could be crap – but I will let you know when I get back next Friday!

my mom is so cool!

okay so yes it is tue - she does read my blog - but that is not why she is so cool. Not only is she cool cause she came down last wekend and cleaned out the closets in my apartment and helped figure out rearranging for baby ( sat in pj's all day and watched - don't tell my siblings) BUT
my mom is cool because she bought my not-yet-born-alien, this:


Is that not the cutest baby hat you have ever seen? what is even niftier about this ha, is that it is made from QIVIUT - which just happens to be the Eskimo word for "down" or "underwool." Basically, the fiber is from the belly of the musk ox - a large hairy beast which has been around since the Ice Age (check out the wikipedia entry here)

Anyway - it is so SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFT! softer than cashmere i tell ya!

This kid better like hats is all I have to say!

in other news: still nauseous :(

ps - bloggin' while at work!!!! oooooh! but i have also made 2 tshirts today (need to cover the belly that will not suck back in now) and made two ren faire costumes - will take pics and post tomorrow :) Really i could be elsewhere right now - so no tneeded for once! Sick of cleaning! (Which Fritz will tell you, and I am proud to admit, I never do at home so how can I be sick of it) Every time I organize the desk, it gets messy with other stuff. So why bother? (Kind of like making the bed efvery ay - you are only coming back 16 hour later to mess it up again!)

PPS - guess where I will be in 10 days?

Sleeping....

Beauty is basically open!!!! (Official party next Saturday September 30th) Yeah! And my nausea is really starting to subside…which means, I think, that I can resume my regular routines of blogging and personal crafting – until the next show that is.

Here are some lovely pictures of a few of the things we made the week before last – some of the pics are not that great since these are taken by me and not the professional photographer (which I plan to nab a few when I can get the disk later this week):





Check out our theatre’s home page and you will see (eventually) and fabulous picture or two and links to the reviews – which of course I will post (if they are nice) for all to see.
Yvette M Ryan designed these fab costumes and was great to work with – so I hope to get to work with her next season as well (she also made the yummiest Poppy Seed cake covered in powdered sugar along with lemon curd to smother on top….OH it was good and it stayed down!)


In other news – the lovely Alice of futuregirl – made me the most amazing handbag! Check it out:



Am I not a lucky girl? I am! I know! It is perfect and fabulous and I so wanted to lie and say I made it when asked….but the crafty-gods of Karma got the better of me and I did not…..

The stick has been thrown by my favourite mad hatter –a meem about the Who, What, Where, When and Why of my blog – but I will have to answer that one tomorrow.

I was working on socks – but decided I hated the pattern and 3” in I ripped them out. So I decided to start this crochet project instead:



Not done yet – but it is the beginnings of a crocheted purse from THE HAPPY HOOKER. The book calls it the “red-cross purse” – but in my case it is the it is a Suisse Flag purse – it is for Katherine – my fabulous new assistant (cannot sing praises enough for her) who happens to be Swiss German/American (and she speaks Hoch Deutsch, not dialect, as well as beautiful French and Spanish).

***oh and according to a staff meeting today: it is unethical of me to blog while on company time. Well, I wouldn't be at work today if I didn't have to be here for the company meeting. All our notes are at the drycleaners (just 1). And I try to close the costume shop the monday after a show is up and running since not much else is going and we really need a break...so which is unethical? - not giving me time off after working a very long week...or blogging when there is nothing else to do? (cause you know, i could do this at home)