Notes From Neptune

The faithful reader will remember that my last post mentioned a job interview with the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ. About a week after the interview, I was offered the job. It’s a pretty neat position: working with the theater’s education department on one of their summer programs, specifically the Shakespeare intensive they offer to local high-schoolers.

As of tomorrow, I will be living and working in Princeton until August 8. The job came with free housing in the form of a really nice one-bedroom apartment just around the corner from where we’ll be rehearsing every day, so it seemed rather silly to spend the time and money on a 3-hour daily commute. I will still be returning to NYC on the weekends to put in my time at The Fruit Shop (and for the odd social obligation). I’m getting packed up and heading out there tonight. I’m really quite excited. : ) The people I’m working with have been really friendly and easygoing so far, and the program itself seems like an all-around great experience for those involved. I can’t wait to get started!

Nothing too big is happening on other life fronts at the moment, save Neimah’s recent appearance on national TV with the show Kings, which has, sadly, already been canned. He shot a couple episodes with them as a stunt performer, and in the one that aired last night you get to see a bit of his pretty bearded face. : ) If you’d like to watch for him, the hulu link is here. He appears around the 11 minute mark.

We’re trying to plan a trip south in August to take in Kentucky and Tennessee and the families contained therein. Look for more word on that soon.

In knitting news, the Battlestar Galactica-themed competition I mentioned in the last post has had me working like crazy to turn out projects and win point for my team. I’m going to post just a couple pictures (because, after all, what’s a post without pictures?). First up are my last pre-BSG project, the Viper Pilots (ravlink). Not a project for the game, but oh-so-ironically BSG-themed.

These are my first pair of socks with Sundara Sock Yarn. While I love the colors that she creates, the base yarn is a bit inconsistent in thickness and not nearly as soft as I have come to expect from a 100% wool sock yarn. It does seem to wear well, though, which makes up a bit for its not-so-comfy nature. And I still have 5 hanks with which to knit and change my opinion. ; ) So stay tuned. Next up, La Tourment Verte (ravlink), which were knit for a BSG challenge and are now going to be gifted to Second Mama Donna for her 50th birthday.

The yarn was Araucania Ranco, a staple in the sock-knitting world. It was also my first time with this yarn. It’s definitely softer on the foot than it is on the hand, but I HATED the way it liked to wrap around itself and sort of “felt” its own knots. I spent almost as much time unknotting the ball as I did knitting. Whew. And last but not least, a combination sewing/crocheting project that I used for another BSG challenge (Nanny Jo, this one’s for you).

This first picture shows dress solo. As part of life at The Fruit Shop, I have come to have a pretty substantial collection of t-shirts, and many repeats of the same color and pattern. I’ve gotten a wee bit sick of them taking up valuable real estate in my closet, drawers, and under-bed area, and a couple weeks ago, I decided to take action. I pooled together a bunch of the aqua shirts I no longer needed and cut them up, then reassembled them into The Dress. Then…

I used some Tilli Thomas beaded silk to crochet a little edging. I did it pretty randomly and left lots of little tails hanging, which seemed to fit the retooled aesthetic of the dress. The silk manages to make it look a little more put-together, without letting it go overly, shall we say, frou-frou. Those are really the only projects worth mentioned that can be, at the moment. The Banana’s birthday present is already finished, and while she’s probably already seen it from lurking around my Ravelry page, it doesn’t feel right to post it just yet. But soon. : )

Look for more posts to come soon… I will likely be itching to document my explorations of Princeton!

And P.S., through a somewhat haphazard series of events, I now have an iPhone 3GS. So watch out. I may post video one of these days too!