So after saying I wanted to knit a lot more, I got tons more knitting time!

My current show is super-slow backstage. The show is about 85 minutes long, and I don’t have anything to do until about 55 minutes in, so I get an hour of knitting time, usually a bit more.

I finished the first Druid mitten, and found some size issues, so I’m saving that for a later post. This post, I want to talk about what is making me happy. My Shetland Triangle Shawl is making me happy.

I’m using Zen Yarn Garden yarn, in a merino/tencel mix I got in the Harmony Semi-Solid sock club package back in March. I started it about 10 days ago, and these pictures are about 5 days old. Since then I’ve put on more repeats. I think I count 7 repeats (or working on repeat #7) in this photo, and I am currently working on repeat #10.

I love the way the different colours in the yarn play off of each other. This is perhaps the least semi-solid of all 3 of the yarns I received, having light orange through to an orange so deep it is almost red. I absolutely love it, and I love the pattern. With the colour, I think it looks almost like flames. Or possibly fall leaves.

I’ve started weighing the ball after each repeat, because I want to use as much of this yarn as possible. As I said, I’m on repeat 10, which I think may be my limit. The pattern suggests 8, so this should be a bit bigger, although I’m using a smaller needle size.

I love the texture it has right now. I didn’t take a picture of the bottom, but it looks like an egg carton! A giant, orange egg carton, but egg carton none the less.

I hope to have this finished this week. Then I think I’ll buckle down and finish the bits for my $1.50 cardigan. I think seaming would be hard backstage (I have some light, but it is still dim) but at least I would get the bits done.

The play I’m currently working on is not an uplifting show, nor is it a comedy. It’s about Nazis, concentration camps, guilt, and all sorts of other fun things so I knit because I can’t stick my fingers in my ears and say ‘lalalalalahappyfuzzypuppies!!’. It is such an amazing script and an amazing show though, and I’m very proud to be a part of it. It’s just hard to watch 8 times a week.

And it is only going to get busier!

After being so productive knitting-wise in September, October has so far been a bit of a lapse. I, of course, do have my reasons.

Reason #1:

I’ve been cooking. A lot. In the past few days I’ve made two pumpkin cheesecakes (one vegan, one not), 4 loaves of bread, one vat of moose chili, and another vat of bison stew is currently in the slow cooker. Oh, and about 24 muffins. The reason for all this? Well, the cheesecakes were for Thanksgiving, and the rest is because my job is going to get very busy very soon, and I want to have a freezer full of things I can grab and go. I’ll be starting tech week for my current show, which is the busiest time you get. That’s when we move to the stage and start adding lights and sound and all sorts of cues and most days are 12 hours. Also, as soon as this show opens, I’m starting rehearsals for another one, so I’ll be rehearsing all day and as soon as I’m done, have to run across the street to the other theatre to run that show in the evenings. If you want to hear more about my cooking and baking, I’m part of a food blog called Theatre Cooks. Although currently, I’m the only one who has posted anything there.

Reason #2:

My boyfriend bought me Mario Kart for the Wii. I’ve never been a video game person but I. Love. This. Game.

Reason #3:

I’ve been starting to list stuff on Etsy again!

Clicking those pictures will take you to my Flickr page, but if you want to see my Etsy store, I am at rycrafty.etsy.com. I’ll be trying to put at least one new thing up a day for the next little while. In keeping with the food stocked in the freezer, I have all the descriptions stocked up on my computer, so I just need to copy and paste to make the listing.

I did manage to knit 4 rows on my Druid Mittens the other night (while waiting for bread to bake), so I’m hoping to do the same again tonight. I want to make seitan, and that takes a whole 90 minutes in the oven.