Take two

It's been a full week. . . work, fun, and knitting.

At work, we had our new asst. Stage Manager join us. I had to get her trained in on the deck (backstage) which meant stepping away from the calling desk for five days. For the non theatre folks out there "calling" is when the stage manager sits at a desk backstage in front of various monitors which show different views of the stage. There is always a front view in color, front view in infra red (to allow us to see in the dark), and a conductor view. Then each show has whatever other view that show needs. In our case we have an overhead view of the lift (to make sure we don't drop anyone in a hole in the stage), and an overhead view of the upstage area (to see when the moving units are clear of the fences we fly in). "Calling cues" is telling the operators of the lights, flying scenery, and automated scenery when to execute their cues. We do this either verbally or by turning on and off colored lights.

Since I had only called the show three times before leaving it for five days, I barely remembered what the show looked like (well not really, but it wasn't cozy). By the end of this week it felt comfy again.

On Monday Richard (one of the other stage managers) and I went to Monterey. It was a PERFECT day! We got to the harbor and looked around for a bit and had lunch.


There was wildlife all around us, seals in the water, sea lions on the rocks, pelicans on the dock, otters hanging by the buoys.


























After lunch we headed to our whale watch boat. After saying hello to the dogs of the boat, we got on and settled in for the ride.


We passed by a light house, and some fabulous waves.


Here's me scanning the horizon for whales.


Before too long we spotted our first grey whale. We saw it's huge back roll and then it dove. Here's a shot of it's tail.


We also came across about a hundred or so Reeses Dolphins. We got tons of pictures of them, but here's a really good close up of one of them.


Next we headed for the Aquarium. It was in Cannery Row (of Steinbeck novel fame). Richard was disappointed that it wasn't more museum-y and less tee shirt store - y. The aquarium was really cool. Our favorite part was the jellys. Here's a few cool shots.



















The only drag of a perfect day was we didn't get back in time to get me to my knitting bar. I'm going tomorrow though. Can't wait!

This may sound a little crazy, but I 'm SOOOO grateful that I knit. Being on the Jersey Boys tour is great, but I've never been away from home this long. I feel like my knitting is litterly keeping me sane. I look forward to days like this (my day off) which is spent primarily knitting.

This week I made a lot of progress in my knitting life. I finished the red scarf for the red scarf project. Here's Richard posing in the scarf (with the goofiest smile I've ever seen!). Here's a more detailed shot.



















I cast on a new cable scarf from the alpaca I bought at the New Jersey Sheep & Wool Festival. I'll add those pictures in the next post.

Then there's my winterwonderlandsweater. Here's the model in the shapely yet bulky sweater. Note how it hugs her curves (not quite like the shapeless blob I knit)

Last Sunday I ripped the whole thing out. I measured myself, and redesigned the sweater and started again. I've now finished the entire back and 3/4 of the front. Here's the old sweater versus a picture of the 3/4 of the back of the new sweater. As you can see I added some shaping to the side.













To check the fit, I pinned it to a tee shirt so I could try it on. Here's me wearing the old sweater and the unfinished new one.





















In addition to adding shaping, I re-figured the gauge and knit it up on US 13 this time, instead of US 15. I think I'll be much happier with it now. I'm sure I'll finish it tomorrow, so I'll post some finished photos later.