My Last 36 Hours in Yarn Land

have been consumed by crocheted washcloths!  100% cotton yarn.  Love it!

Remember:

Things I Love Part 1

My family.  Apple cider.  Yarn.  Books.  Yellow tulips.  All tulips.  Yellow flowers.  The ability to read.  Books.  Chicago.  Mashed potatoes.  Spaghetti.  Snack size McFlurries from McDonalds.  Football.  A roof over my head.  Fluffy pillows.  Good movies.  Bones.  30 Rock.  A good Lazy Boy.  Candles.  Diet Coke.  Christmas decorations.  Puppies.  Bailey Dog.  Good neighbors.  Shoes.  Board games.  Baseball.  Colorful leaves.  Cookies.  Mario Kart.  My grandma's quilt.  St. Mary's College.  Google Reader.  Gilmore Girls.  Winne the Pooh.  Air conditioning.  Film.  Photos.  Crocheting & knitting.  Snow.  Sunshine.  The ocean.  Coconut.  Warm showers.  Ducks.  Living mouse free.  Christmas music.  Michael Douglas.  The American President.  A Muppet Christmas Carol. 

To be continued...

An Update of This Week via Pictures...

Thanksgiving Dinner with SMC Theatre Girls in Chicago down on the south side on Monday!

my Thanksgiving dessert without the pineapple topping

pineapple topping cooling!

crocheted baby hat for my current stage manager

Old Man Marr's knitted scarf with the awesome cards i got at the DIY Trunkshow!

Finished Thanksgiving Dessert!  Pineapple top, Cool whip/Cream Cheese middle, Pretzel/Butter/Sugar bottom

can you see the yummy layers?

me and my "little brother" on Thanksgiving

Old Man Marr modeling his scarf while watching the Irish beat USC yesterday! Photo courtesy of my dad's phone.

Go Irish! Break Trojans!

So my family and I went to Target yesterday before I had to catch the Megabus to head back to Chicago.  While strolling through, we see an end cap with a bunch of college t-shirts.  And right in front? a USC Trojans one.  WTF?!? we're in central Indiana... Anyways, when my dad sees it, he (literally and out loud) exclaimed "What is this shit?!?" 

He walked up to the end cap, and right behind the USC shirt were two Notre Dame shirts.  He proceeded to take the ND shirts and put them in front of the USC one before he walked away.

What?  That's how the Deeters roll.

You can't spell SUCKS without USC.

Go Irish, Beat Trojans.  Hopefully my preview will end in time for me to run next door to catch the end of the game tonight...

Short and Sweet

I've been waiting to listen to Christmas music for weeks now.  I started on Monday when we drove down to the south side for a Thanksgiving dinner with friends (because in my family, it's ok to listen to Christmas music on Thanksgiving).  And then on Tuesday, I put all of my Christmas music back on my iPod.  And last night, I burned about 10 albums of Christmas music off of my dad's iTunes.  And today?  My mom  bought the Kristin Chenoweth Christmas CD at Target.  And right now?  I'm burning that to take back to Chicago as well.

I love the Christmas season.  And I love love LOVE Christmas music!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Today is the second thanksgiving in 20 years that we aren't having the holiday at our house.  We're headed across the street to our neighbors (of 20 years) to celebrate with them.  I'm pretty excited!  I've made a pretzle, cream cheese/cool whip, pineapple dessert as my contribution (since I AM an adult now), and my parents are bringing lots of wine.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving Style

Harry Potter Titles According to Draco Malfoy

Harry Potter Titles According to Draco Malfoy. Hilarious. 

HP Books according to Draco Malfoy

• Draco Malfoy and the Rejected Handshake
• Draco Malfoy and the Better-than-Potter’s Broomstick
• Draco Malfoy and Hagrid’s Bloody Chicken
• Draco Malfoy and the Year His Father Would Hear About
• Draco Malfoy and the Inquisitorial Squad
• Draco Malfoy and the Vanishing Cabinet
• Draco Malfoy and the Year He Realized He Had Been a Douchebag

Wordless Stand In

Last week I missed Wordless Wednesday..here's a stand in of pictures I took with my Canon AE-1 real film camera.

Interruption...by our Fourth Roommate.

Today's regularly scheduled blogging is interrupted by the fact there is a mouse in my bedroom.  Not just in my bedroom, but it has been in my bed. 

A few weeks ago, I reported on facebook & twitter that we had a mouse in our apartment.  While I was home, my roommates caught it, but realized we had TWO mice.  We haven't seen or heard from mouse #2 in a while, but today while I was cleaning my room, I found him.  I pulled out the top drawer of my dresser and put it on my bed.  the mouse jumped out and ran under my covers.  I screamed like a baby.  It eventually ran under the bed, so I put one of the traps with peanut butter under my bed and closed my door.  I also stuffed towels under my door b/c it has a large gap so that the mouse cannot escape for food.  Hopefully this works. 

In the mean time, I'm watching a movie and having a drink to calm myself down. 

While Googling "how to catch a mouse", I cam across this, which I find a little ridiculous:

"Be sure your state/county does not have a law prohibiting 

you from killing the animal. Some states, like NJ, have laws 

that protect rodents from in-humane capture/treatment/death. 

Check with your state's ASPCA first before attempting the 

method above. Otherwise, you could be fined and/or jailed for doing so."

DIY Trunkshow

Yesterday, I checked out the DIY Trunkshow here in Chicago.  It was held at the Pulaski Park Auditorium, which was pretty cool looking.  Basically, the event was like going to a giant mall of Etsy Shops IN PERSON.  For reals, it was great.  And if I had lots of money, I would have come home with all SORTS of good stuff.  Alas, I have very little money, so I couldn't.  But I did pick up some great hand-screen-printed Chicago Holiday cards.  I also got these great little business card sized thingers to put in with my knit/crochet gifts that I give people.  They say "Hand Made", have a cute little image of hands doing some knitting, and an area that says "Materials & Care" so that I can specify how to wash, etc the gift.  Super excited.  Above is a picture of the Pulaski Park Auditorium. 

FOs #7-11! so many!

 Here are pictures of my most recent finished objects! 

Hat & Cowl crocheted with yarn from Loopy Yarns.  This yarn has become my favorite.  SO SOFT!

 

Two Cowls.  One for me and one for my cousin.  Both crocheted.

Cowl for cousin.  Pay no attention to the crazy hair. 

This is my first crocheted hat.  It's from the same yarn I made the black fingerless mitts out of from Loopy Yarns.  It's specific purpose is for wearing backstage when it's chilly (which happens more often than one would think).

Last but not least, a Scarf for my neighbor in Indy, Old Man Marr.  Don't judge me, I haven't tucked the ends in yet.  This is an early Christmas gift that I will give him at Thanksgiving :).  Knitted in a big basket-weave stitch (2 squares across).

The Weaver's Tales

So Tuesday and Wednesday nights were the performances of The Weaver's Tales produced by Fifth-House Ensemble, a chamber orchestra here in Chicago.  I had an absolute blast working on this project, even though I did it for free, and if schedule and income work out, I'd love to work on parts 2 & 3 in the spring.

Tuesday's show was in Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center.  Holy Cow is it gorgeous there.  Preston Bradley houses the world's largest Tiffany dome.  And there's tons of quotes from authors and what not all around.  (CCC used to be the original Chicago Public Library.)  I didn't get any pictures that day because it was a little crazy, and I was running around like a decapitated chicken.  But Wednesday's performance was at a space in Rogers Park called Mayne Stage.  It was the coolest venue, and it would be an amazing place to see a cabaret or burlesque show.  For reals.

The technical element at CCC was funny.  I ran the lights by twisting two knobs back and forth.  And one of the knobs had broken off, so I was twisting a tiny little post.  But the technical stuff at Mayne Stage was pretty cool.  Although I had to run the lights via a very strange type of light board called a Smart Fade.  That part kind of sucked....I was moving lots of sliders (simultaneously!) instead of pressing a GO button.  And I had people to help run sound AND projections.  For the small amount of tech time we had to practice and work through that stuff, it went pretty well!  I have to get over my perfectionism in regards to small, harmless mistakes.  Anyways, here are pictures Mayne Stage.  

...Readers...

This is What I've Been Up to the Last Few Days...

ribbon and medallion (made from ribbon-y stuff) to hold together a fancy diploma that the Scarecrow receives for his brain

dressing the Scarecrow's stand (referred to by some as "the crucifix")

close up of my Scarecrow handiwork

Emerald City sunglasses.

a sign i saw while driving between the theatre and their warehouse...i should hope they do..

i had to leave so early every morning, and had such late nights, that i bought a box of cheerios to eat in the car to keep me awake.  i might have spilled them.  and dropped them all over...

Craftiness!

Super excited to check out the DIY Trunk Show here in Chicago on Saturday!!

Ruh Roh...I've Been Missing...

Whoa I'm behind.  I missed TWO days of posting.  In my defense, I've been up at 6:00am every day to drive 30 miles north to Lincolnshire to work at the Marriott Theatre helping them tech "The Wizard of Oz".  (a 1 hour kids' show version!)  And then I've left the Marriott to head straight to my shows the last two nights and not gotten home until after 11:00pm, and in order to get enough sleep to make it through the next day, I've basically come home and crashed into bed.  So, needless to say, this is my fourth day of this insanity, and I' exhausted.  So far, I'm pretty sure I have nothing to do tomorrow until 6:30pm when I head to my first rehearsal for "It's a Wonderful Life: Live at the Biograph!"

I WILL have 30 posts for the month of November, however.  I've got a lot to post about, so making up 2 posts shouldn't be a problem:  TWO finished objects (crochet!), my show that performed Tuesday & Wednesday, and great pictures from the venue where my show was Wednesday night!

My Hair

A few weeks ago, I officially decided to grow my hair out for the two weddings I'm in this summer (May & August).  Here's a picture taken of me this weekend...although my hair is a little bit longer than it looks in this picture.  And I haven't had my hair much longer than it is now in years.  YEARS.  So this could be interesting. 

Home-Made Holiday Decor!

I saw this how to on one of the many crafting blogs that I read.  I think it would be awesome to make/have...and it's not like I don't have a TON of yarn sitting around...

Yarn Ball Wreath.  Found via the Craftzine.com blog.

This Only Happens to Me...Seriously

So last night I took the Megabus from Chicago to Indy.  It was my first Megabus experience, but my family uses it between Chicago and Indy a lot.  Aside from there being the general chaos of THREE Megabusses in one place, it turned out to be pretty good once we got going.

And then the Megabus got hit by a car.  The bus didn't hit anything.  A car hit the bus. 

Our bus was pulling dead straight ahead into a toll lane, and this small, red sedan decided to cut over, practically perpendicularly to the bus, to squeeze in front of the bus.  By the time the car got to our toll lane, however the bus was already a few feet into it...so the car phsically could not have gotten in front of us.  Instead, it T-boned the bus.  Yep. 

Don't worry, everyone was ok.  The bus driver was super calm and everything, and he came up to the upper deck to check on us all.  Like I said, no one was hurt.  Then we had to sit and wait for 50 minutes for the state police to show up.  So we sat there for about an hour until we moved again.  Instead of getting into Indy at 2:15am, I got in at 3:00am.  Awesome.

Other than that, and my still sorta bruised tailbone not liking the seats, it was a rather enjoyable experience.

In other news, every noise I hear in the house I think is the mouse.  I'm super jumpy.  BUT I got a text message from my roommate Emmy about an hour ago saying Remy has moved out of our little corner of Sheridan Road!

FO #6! Crochet Hat!

This is gonna be a quickie b/c I've got to run out to rehearsal and then immediately after rehearsal I'm hopping on the 151 bus to head to pick up the MegaBus to go HOME! 

Here's my first crocheted hat!  Courtesy of a free crochet lesson from Allyson at The Sweatshop of Love.

Also featured in this terrible picture is my awesome new lipstick and shimmer-y-nes!  And never mind that it's situated wonky like on my head b/c I just finished doing my hair. 

Thirsty Thursday

Oh Boy am I tired.  I got up at 7:45 this morning to get dressed and meet my mom downtown.  She took a bus trip up with her bank for the day -- Hooray for Bank Holidays!  We did all sorts of awesome things, which include, but are not limited to, buying expensive makeup at Neiman Marcus and going to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston. 

After I put Momma safely back on the bus at Water Tower, I headed down to the Loop-ish area to wait for Mikey.  We met Wych and had a drink at Elephant & Castle (cannot wait to go back with the family for dinner!) and then headed to see a staged reading that Mikey did the lighting design for.  No Big Deal, but the show was on the stage of the Pritzker Pavillion at Millennium Park.  There's a big glass door at the edge of the stage that they closed, and the audience sat facing that.  So basically the backdrop was Millennium Park & the Skyline.  Awesome.  I mean, check this shit out. 

Back to the Thirst Thursday part.  Mikey and I had the BEST drinks EVER.  She had a Blueberry Collins (basically gin & blueberries), and I had a Caramel Apple Sour.  OOOOOOOOOH geeeez.  It was delicious.  However, drinking out of a martini glass makes me nervous. 

Also, the new to me digital camera I inherited from Daddy Deeter takes GREAT shots at night!  Yay for free, good quality point and shoot camera!!!

Wordless Wednesday: HOME

What Day is Today?

My roommate Mikey and I just collective realized today is Tuesday and not Wednesday or Thursday... In our world (she's a lighting designer), weekends don't really matter, that is they aren't generally work free, but certain days have certain things going on.  Especially when you work free lance like we do.  It was quite the strange realization.  I'm actually ok with it only being Tuesday, because I have a lot to get done before Friday night when I hop on the Megabus and head home!  I'm unreal excited about going home this weekend.  Even though it's only for like 36 hours.  Wedding/bridesmaid dress shopping with the besties, shopping with my mom, dinner with my family, etc! 

One of the things I need to get done before I get home is a knitted scarf for a dear, dear person.  My parents have lived in their house for 20 years now.  And our neighbors across the street moved in a few months before we did.  Our families have pretty much blended together, and I'm super close to all of them.  Especially Old Man Marr (granted he's a few years younger than my dad).  He's become a second dad.  Anyways, I'm making him a scarf as an early Christmas present (he spends a lot of time outside, so I'd like him to have it for a majority of the cold months). 

In other news, you should check out this playlist of MUSIC TO KNIT BY that I saw on Twitter this morning. 

And here's a gratuitous picture for the day: 

What I plan on eating Saturday night with my parents....Daddy Deeter's Steak!

Knitting To Do List

While knitting and watching the Colts' game last night, I realized I needed to make a To Do List for my knitting projects, including writing down when things are "due."

So I did.

Here it is (in order of due date):

Due Date -- Project
Thanksgiving -- Scarf for Old Man Marr
Thanksgiving -- 4 more headbands for the homeless
?? -- Cody's mitts (he has to get me yarn/measurements first)
Christmas -- Dad's gift (which I won't tell you what it is in case he reads this :) )
Christmas -- Mom's gift (see above)Mid-December -- Megan Flanigan's blue giftChristmas -- gift for baby Jayce
Christmas -- Aunt K's washclothsChristmas -- Matt/Sarah's washcloths
Christmas -- Smiley's ribbed scarf
Christmas -- Lily's scarf
Christmas -- (hopefully) gifts for the 4 BFFs (Ann, Sarah, Chris, Frankie)
Whenever -- Roommates' washcloths      
End of Jan. -- Ann's wedding blanket
End of May -- Sarah's wedding blanket

I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress... :)

The Girl...

This summer, I devoured The Millennium Trilogy.  That is, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl who Played with Fire," and "The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest."  Holy Cow they were amazing.  All three of them.  And one of my favorite things in life is adaptations...any type.  Books into movies, movies into plays, books into musicals into movies into plays into books again.  Even if they're terrible, I want to see/read/watch all iterations ("Time Traveler's Wife," for example.  One of my top 5 fave books, was dying to see the movie, loved the movie, but it was a terrible adaptation.  Still love both.)

So the original (meaning Swedish) movie of book #1 was on Instant Netflix this summer, and I made old roommate Claire watch it with me.  It was FABULOUS.  One of the best adaptations of a book into a movie.  I was dying all summer to see the original of book #2, but I didn't get around to it.  It became available on Instant Netflix last week, and I've been watching it (in pieces because of various things going on around the apartment), and it is not even close to being as good as the first.  I'm a little disappointed.  I'll let you know what I think when I finally finish it.  And regardless, I'll be seeing original movie #3.  In all honesty, I'll see American movies 1-3 also. 


In other news, the show I'm currently working on is going to be featured on the WGN Midday News tomorrow!  Baller!  I'm not  needed or called for the filming, but I'm invited.  I'm DEFINITELY going, because how cool will it be to see how news and stuff is filmed!

Right now the Colts are playing the Eagles on CBS.  I got home in time to see the second half.  But because my brain is so thoroughly theatre-ized, when I texted my dad to say I was able to watch the second half, I almost said "I got home at intermission and will get to watch act 2!"  Oops!

Work In Projgress #1/HOME!

I'm dragging a bit today.  I just woke up from a nap, and I have to leave in 25 minutes to head to Rogers Park to see a show at Northwestern -- a good friend of ours is the props master there.  Yay free theatre!

I got up early this morning and went to a free crochet class at a local library.  Hopefully, I'll have more to share on this soon.  I also did some work for one of the shows I'm working on.

Most importantly, I booked my Megabus tickets home for this coming weekend (to go wedding dress/bridesmaid dress shopping with one of my BFFs) and for Thanksgiving!!!!  I'm SO unbelievably excited!  I haven't been back to Indy since I moved up here in August...I miss it so!  And Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, so I'm psyched to spend it with my family!!

Lastly, here's one of my works in progress.  Two of my BFFs from high school are engaged (Ann got engaged lat Christmas and is getting married in May, and Sarah got engaged a few weeks ago and is getting married in August).  I'm going home in a week to dress shop with Sarah.  We've done the dress shopping with Ann.  Back before I moved, I asked her how she and her hubby-to-be would like a hand knitted (by me) blanket for their wedding gift (partially because God knows I can't afford much else), and she flipped!  So I've started.  I'm working on the 7th square (of 20).  Here's what I've got so far.  The long ones count as 2 squares b/c they're twice as long as the regular ones. 

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...

We have a four legged furry friend here on Sheridan Road.  Mikey spotted the mouse a while ago, but she was a little drunk, so we didn't believe her.  Then last week, I saw Remy when I got up in the middle of the night to get a dirty cookie.  But we haven't seen him since.  Until last night.  Mikey saw him again.

A friend of mine I stayed with this summer had one, and I didn't freak out that much.  But he took care of it and wouldn't let me look at it.  I never thought I'd be scared of a mouse.  But when I saw little Remy, I flipped the F out.  Shiiiiiit it was scary.  I mean, mice are cute, so why are they so scary...  My theory is that it's because they are surprising and fast movers...you know, the startle factor and that you never know where they're gonna show up.

Any advice on how to deal with this little guy? 

Finished Object #4! Half-FO #5!

I just finished those orange mittens I blogged about a few days ago!  They turned out great, and now I just have to figure out how to get them to Abby (she lives in Chicago, but is currently teaching at Ball State in Indiana).

I also bought some black yarn while my Momma was here to make some for me to wear backstage...you'd be surprised at how cold it can get.  I finished one last night--usually I knit both, and then stitch them together, but this time I knit one & stitched it.  They are UNREAL soft!

I'm also making those dirty cookies again.  I went to the store and got some real butter this time. 

Also, I have a cold, and apparently you can't buy Sudafed or Tylenol at Jewel-Osco right now...something about some sort of manufacturing problem...so THAT's annoying. 

And lastly, I decided I wanted a grilled cheese w/ some tomato soup today...I used the Aldi brand singles that I got recently.  Holy Cow...they are all sorts of gooey and salty and NOT GOOD.  I haven't had a Kraft Single in a while, but I remember them being much, MUCH better.

CookiesCookiesCookies!

I went on a little bit of a baking extravaganza last week.  I made brownies one day, but they changed the mix that I always use, so it made way fewer brownies.

I've been wanting to try making my Mom's from scratch oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe for a while, so I got the stuff to do that.  I've never been able to get them JUST LIKE MOM'S.  I followed the recipe to a T, and the cookies deflated and turned out super flat...the sugar/chips in some of them had caramelized.  Mikey was around to supervise/babysit me (you never know what happens when I get in the kitchen).  I was really upset and called my mom...the only thing we could figure out that was off was our oven temperature.  It's my first time having a gas oven/stove, and it's super old, so we guessed that the temp. was inaccurate.  I bought an oven thermometer at Target for the next go around.  Luckily, my woes were relieved...the cookies were DELICIOUS...it was crazy.  They stayed just a little bit chewy.  These cookies (when made by my Momma, and this way) are amazing...you can taste a hint of the salt in them, and I like to use white chocolate (my fave way!) or butterscotch.  Amazing I say!

Turns out that it was probably the margarine I used instead of butter (what, it was like $2.50 cheaper!) that made them come out differently.  Looks like I have an excuse to try again!  My roommates call a lot of things "dirty"--for example, the super, spicy Doritoes are "dirty chips"--so we called the deflated cookies "dirty cookies."

And then after Saturday's shows, the actors threw us a little pizza/beer party, so I made some "slice n bake" Halloween cookies to contribute.  Only "slice n bake" aren't slice and bake anymore!  They came in a package pre-cut and everything (with cute black cats and pumpkins!), so all I had to do was put them on a cookie sheet and bake them. 

 

Now I want a cookie...