Jon's Knit Blog

Sockwards and Yonder

So the first Embers sock is done.

Well, I still have to graft the toe closed and weave in the end.

But since I wasn't really in the mood for that, I decided to revisit the Colinette Enigma I picked up in Seattle. The 10.5 needles were too big and it was just hard to work with the yarn, so I did a little web research on it, and someone suggested that the yarn did better on smaller needles. Well, I couldn't find a 9 or a 10, so I figured I'd see what happened if I tried an 8. I like it.

Honestly, though, I think it's better because it's on straight needles (Boye aluminums! Whee!) rather than on circs. While I love Addi Turbos, I firmly believe that they are not the best needles for all circumstances. And this yarn seems to like straight aluminum. Can't say it's my favorite. I mean, straight? But it works. Of course, I had to start the scarf three times before I decided I like the width, but now it seems to be going fine.

And I'm starting to feel better, too, knock on wood...

Oh, and I won the Gingher scissors and the cashmere lace scarf kit on eBay...

Sock the Vote!

Well, if Stephanie's sock-in-progress can go to the Prince concert, mine can sure as heck watch John Edwards at the DNC. See?

And to make things even more exciting, it does really look like a sock now:

So that's pretty good, right, I mean, a week for a sock? When you're not a full-time knitter, it's decent.

What else? I haven't bought yarn in something like 4 minutes, so of course I'm thinking of all the yarn I should be buying. I especially want to buy some more Reynolds Alpaca Regal to make a winter hat and scarf; I don't know so much about the sweater anymore, especially because Kay told me how freaking hot it is when knitted into a sweater. But so soft and nummy that a scarf can't be all that bad.

I'd also be happy to to pick up some more Muschio, from Filatura di Crosa. I knit a really wonderful hat in this yarn last winter using a Kim Hargreaves Rowan pattern. It was a birthday gift for a woman I know, but I "borrowed" the hat and tested it out on a very cold night which turned out to be beautifully snowy, and the hat was the perfect foil to the weather. I stayed toasty dry and warm in it. And that's to be expected, given that it's a 62% alpaca, 26% wool, 12% synthetic blend that knits up at 13 stitches and 15 rows to 4 inches. Really yummy yarn.

And I also have some natural alpaca in my stash, too. I guess I'm a whore for alpaca. Well, I'm pretty into merino, too... and silk... Hmm... that'd be nice, an alpaca/silk/merino blend. Mmmmm. Can you imagine the sex appeal of that yarn? Hey, maybe it actually exists. Anyone know of it?

(Update at 3:41am, although I have no idea why I'm up so late: Cascade makes an alpaca/silk blend, and I have a bid in on some on eBay as well as a pair of Gingher scissors, some Reynolds Andean Alpaca Regal and some light blue laceweight cashmere with an interesting scarf pattern. I'm just not up for pattern and variegated color combining themselves...)

Gus, the Acclaimed Gusset

Yay, the gusset is done.

I think gusset is a funny word, don't you?

Anyhow, time for sleeping, not blogging. Talk to you soon!

You Wanted to See a Heel Flap, Didn't You?

Well tough noogies. I mean, it's a lovely heel flap, don't get me wrong, and it's interesting the way that the colors come across in it. (That doesn't mean I neccessarily like it, just that I find it intriguing.) But it doesn't really, truly merit a photo session at this point. I mean, it's just a heel flap, flapping away on its end of the Addi...

But it's there, and there's always something to be said for progress, even if it is rather slow. OK, not quite an inch of sock and most of a heel flap in less than two hours isn't that shabby, especially at this miniscule gauge I'm getting on US1 needles. And I had to rip out the heel flap after about 6 or 8 rows because I forgot that I needed slip stitches on both sides for when I go to pick up stitches. Yup, that's right, I'm doing this sock without the benefit of a "printed pattern" although I have patterns around for plenty of heels turned on 33 stitches, so I won't have any trouble. I was gonna say, "if I get stuck," but I know that I won't. That's how confident I am in my heel-turning ability. Of course, now that I said that, I'm feeling cocky, and I'm worried that will turn out to be a curse of some sort.

Well, you can't win 'em all. But I do know I will conquer this sock. And hopefully, eventually, her twin. (Are socks female? Why did I just call this one a her?)

What else? Hmmm, what else? I got a fax today at work from Knit NY telling me to send my yarn-hungry guests to them. Little do they know that I already knew about there store and have spent many an hour there. Bwah-ha-ha! So I plan to go in and joke about the fax sometime soon. Miriam, get ready!!!

It's getting close to time to go to London... I better finish the Elephant Waistcoat steeks... maybe tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day...

Where We Are Now

So it's not the best representation of the colors but I thought it looked the most interesting of the photos I took of the SIP. 3/4" from the heel, so, that's good. I'd be knitting more but, well, my back isn't super-happy right now. Plus my sister was in town and I went out to dinner with her the other night, which was fun but minorly alcoholic... not that I minded that!

Anyhow, the pain was buggin' me and I just took a Percocet, so I don't really have a lot to say right now. But I hope you all had fun and knitful weekends!

Is It Me?

Does this:

or this:

look better?

I think I'm inclined to believe that Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock is something that (at least in the variagated colorways) is more beautiful when it's in the skein. At least it's really nice yarn to knit up, the colors are luciously dyed, and I'm always happy to be playing with the small needles. I love the itty bitty stitches. I have to say, though, it makes me feel a little bit insignificant as a knitter when I take off the (Calvin Klein, thank you very much) sock I wore today and realize it is knit (by a machine, of course), in the round, on 256 stitches. Compared to the 64 on my needles... Yowza. But hey, I don't knit to make "affordable clothing." Can you imagine? My hourly wage x the number of hours spent on a project + the cost of the yarn... even the little baby sweater I still have to finish finishing would cost over $300. Egads.

En Erme Laget

That's Norwegian for "One Sleeve Made".

See?:

Told ya I'd finish it today.

It still took a bit longer than I thought. When I got to the red lip-like section, I miscounted a stitch in the center of the pattern (where it's different, which you can't really tell from the photo), but didn't realize it until I'd gone around the entire next row (139 stitches), so I had to tink back and fix it. But the hardest part was setting the pattern for thered on red part above the couple rows of solid darker red. It really shouldn't have been hard, but I started it, then realized I'd started it one stitch too far to the right. So I worked back and started again, one stitch to the left. And when I got to a point where I could tell what was going on, again, one stitch off. So I tinked back yet again, but the third time was OK, and then I just had to go around and around until it was done. At least I didn't have to tink around the entire body of the sweater, which will be a whomping 326 stitches of Norwegian goodness. And hopefully I won't have to, knock on (cyber)wood...

Here's a bit of a detail of the "fancy" pattern at the top of the sleeve.

I have plenty of other projects to work on now, of course, but I will eventually have to get around to doing the body of this sweater (and another sleeve, of course). The body is going to be especially time consuming. Why? Well, let's put it this way: the complicated pattern for the sleeve is on one page. The pattern for the body of the sweater is on four pages. That's going to be a lot of shuffling of pages, keeping track of rows, etc, etc, etc. And my workspace isn't really conducive to that much paper/pattern stuff hanging out around here.

But I'll figure out a way. And if I don't, well, I always have lots of other yarn to knit. Seriously, though, it's my intention to finish this sweater, sooner rather than later.

My back's feeling a bit better today. Not 100% yet, by any means, but better nonetheless, for which I am very grateful.

I Probably Think This Blog Is About Me

That's why I keep posting these *@(#*@)^ing progress shots. Oh, look, everyone, he finished 14 rows of a sleeve. What does he think he's doing, posting a progress shot of that?

Well, I think it looks pretty, and I'm pretty proud of it... I'm getting better with keeping even WS tension (it's a tricky thing to learn, I tell ya), and I think the sweater looks OK. See?

It's actually only a couple hours worth of knitting; I didn't knit any last night when I came home after work, this was all done since I got home tonight (I didn't start til 9:30, and I didn't knit the whole time...). Tomorrow, I expect to finish the sleeve.

I'm going to finish the Cable-y Goodness sleeve next. Unless I get distracted by a project I haven't thought about yet. Or forgot to remember... You know how it can be with yarn. And I'm so fickle about it. I keep justifying it, at least this week, by saying, "Well, I'm in pain. I'll knit what I want." I'm a bad-back knitter.

And just because I'd hate for you to think that all I ever post is the same, slowly growing sleeve, look what came home with me today... and it's not even yarn!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Norwegian

So I spent a good chunk of the day at Knit NY because, even though I don't think I was mended enough to go stand up all day at work, I just couldn't face another day solo in the apartment. So Kersti went with me, and the knitting of the baby sweater is now done, and I started some of the seaming. There was too much "hunching over" to be able to finish it, though.

I left Knit NY (with 3.5 skeins of K107 left for another project, counting the skein I bought today), and came home to pick up the Norge 2000 sleeve, because, even though the pattern is complicated and crazy, it's rather enjoyable to knit, and I even got to a point where the pattern's starting to make sense. I don't think I could say that I memorized it because it's not that kind of a pattern, but, well, take a look and I think you'll see what I mean:

I like it a lot! It's getting heavy, though, at least, for a sleeve...

Tomorrow I am going back to work regardless of how "ready" my back is. I just can't take another sick day. I'm going to try and sit in the back and just deal with phones as much as I can. Then hopefully I'll come home and still be able to knit a few more rows...

Kersti and Jon, Sitting in a Tree...

So the best thing about a sweater for a baby is how *@#% fast it knits up.

The other best thing is when you're knitting it up in Kersti. Well, actually it's almost a problem because it means you're done with the Kersti so soon... And the Kersti is great because the colors are so yummy. It's like knitting with yarn that was painted by a master watercolorist, in colors I really love. (Can you tell that while I own some KPPPM, this is actually my first experience knitting Koigu's yarn?)

The other, other good thing? The LYS overestimated the yardage for the project. They sold me 5 skeins; the sweater will not even use 2.5, and since I know there was one more left at the store when I was there yesterday, I plan to go buy it tomorrow and see what 3.5 skeins of Kersti will make for me... or if 3.5 skeins of Kersti would do better as part of another, larger, Kersti-er project.

Decisions... decisions...

Speaking of Kersti, though, does anybody else think that I could do the Sampler Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's folk shawl book in a light colored or natural solid color of Kersti? The gauge is right (although being the tight-ass knitter I am, I get gauge on 7's rather than 6's) and I think it might be nice... What do you all think, my dear readers? Aside from the fact that I really need to finish something a boatload of projects before I start something else... But I really want to do a "test" lace project before I get involved with the Bridal Stole I want to do for my sister's June 18, 2005 wedding.

The back is feeling better but still not 100%, and so I'm taking tomorrow off, too. I have a job which requires me to stand all day, and you know I'm not going to be able to do that just yet.

Koigu and Demerol

Two great tastes that taste great together.

So I went to the doctor this afternoon and got injectified... After that, for some (really stupid) reason I decided not to go home, so I went to Knit NY. I had an excuse, really I did. See, I know a pregnant woman - in fact, I'd tried to teach her to knit, but since she's a lefty and I'm a righty, well, it didn't work that great. She's a crocheter, though, so she knows the value of handmade items... So I decided that her baby is going to need a hand-knit baby sweater. I'd been looking at a couple of patterns out there, and I went to the shop to pick up some yarn for one. And ended up, in my Demerol induced haze, succumbing to my greatest hatred: hand wash yarn for a baby sweater.

But Koigu Kersti is just too pretty. And don't you think that this K107-16V is out of this world pretty?

It's an easy pattern but it's a store pattern so I'm not giving it out... but it's easy, as you can see. And it's just joyous. I mean, it's Koigu Kersti. Great colors, a wonderful hand to the yarn, easy to work. I just wish the Addi #7 was a teeny bit pointier - a little tough getting through the P2tog's. But I think it's looking lovely. And it's a lot of fun knitting it under the influence of prescription drugs.

In other news, please be careful about buying any Romanian wool.

Today's Knitting Has Been Pre-Empted

By pain. Extreme back pain. See my "non-knitting" blog for more details.

Hopefully I'll be on pain meds soon. I could probably be knitting now, but the pain causes it to be extremely unhappy to sit in my normal knitting chair... I do forsee an afghan square or two happening once I'm back from the doctor's, assuming I can keep my eyes open on whatever drugs they give me...

Think pain-free thoughts for me, ok?

A Full Day

Today was nice. It was the first day I've had totally to myself in a couple of weeks. And a day totally to myself means a day spent, for the most part, sitting on the sofa, knitting.

Today's victim? The Norge 2000 sleeve. I got to the beginning of the complex pattern:

In other fiber related news, I started the scarf I plan to make with the Colinette Engima last night, using:

K1, *YO, P2tog, rep from * to last stitch, K last stitch;
then K the next row, then rep. these two rows... (I think this is a variant of Purse Stitch)

And it was a mess. So I frogged it, then started it again, as a simpler bias garter stitch edge to the scarf, then frogged it and restarted and then the same a couple more times. I've never had this much difficulty with a yarn before.

Maybe I'm just using needles that are too big, I don't know (10's are recommended, I was trying 10.5's to see if a little looser is pretty). The yarn is very difficult; no matter how close of attention I paid, there always seemed to be a dropped stitch showing up someplace... even the final scarf start, which was simply Sl1, K to end on every row turned out to be fairly disastrous.

Does anyone have any success stories involving Colinette Engima? And if so, what are your tricks? Because even though I only have one skein to get through, it looks like I'm going to need some minor miracles here. What is it about me and synthetic fiber Colinette yarns that just doesn't get along well?

ST&B

I saw a very corporate looking guy today, and his umbrella had "ST&B" printed on it. My reaction was, "Why does that suit-y guy have a 'Stich-n-Bitch' brolly?"

Do I not think of anything other than knitting? (Sorry, Grammar Avengers, for that quintuple negative there...)

No knitting content of note this evening because I had to work until just a few moments ago, and I have to be back in 7.75 hours which means I have to force myself to go to bed much earlier than I am accustomed to.

On knitting related note, though, does anyone (other than me) show off actually WIP's to non-knitters? I took two sleeves-in-progress (Norge 2000 and Cabley Goodness) to work today to make my co-workers impressed by my manual dexterity. I didn't get as strong of reactions as I would have liked. Mom, though, was impressed by the photos (via email) of Norge 2000. I just need reassuring. That's all. I suppose that we all do, after a fashion. Otherwise, why would we have knit-blogs?

Question: What do you think is the best yarn from which to make a traditional Aran/Fisherman sweater? This is one of the projects I want to stash-up for in England or otherwise in the not-so-distant future.

Speaking of England, an update on the trip planning: I am torn. I have a reservation in Oxford right now for the two nights which could be the Wales/Colinette nights. I mean, I think Colinette yarn is gorgeous. But, aside from Prism, I think that it's not really the type of yarn that you can make garments out of with any advance predictability of success. It's just too pretty to wear. It's wonderful for scarves and throws and such, but how many of those am I making? And is seeing pretty yarn enough to warrant a trip somewhere I wouldn't ever dream of going if I were not a knitter? I just cannot decide. I know that if it were cheaper, I'd simply go to the Shetland Islands, but that's like another $600 in airfare which I'd rather simply spend on yarn...

Hei-Lo Can You Go?

Yes, yarn name puns are tired. But I felt compelled nonetheless.

Did you see this article in the NY Times about a woman knitting on her way to deliver her baby? Check out what she says about her gauge!

Although I'm not having a baby (or even biologically capable of doing so), I have been knitting. Not on a taxi, but on my sofa, while watching TV and being glad that my shift at work is over.

The Norge 2000 sleeve grows. And it appears to be right on the gauge, which is a good thing.

See?

The Return of the Two Color Knitting Fiend

You knew it would happen.

You knew that as soon as I found two US2 needles, the Heilo would come out of hiding and rear its sproing. (What is the technical word for sproing, in the yarn sense? I propose "sproing.")

And this is what a night of figuring out the two circs thing and playing fun games with Heilo and a Dale Pattern gets us, in the Wonderful Land of Jon's Knit Blogdom.

Will wonders never cease? Let's see how slow it grows...

Keeping LYS's In Business, One at a Time

So part of my grand tour of Seattle included visits to three lovely yarn shops: Hilltop Yarn, Weaving Works, and Tricoter (of the famous Tricoter books!). All three were lovely stores and I purchased something at each of the shops.

At Hilltop, I found a colorway of Shepherd Sock I've been wanting (because, you know, I don't have enough sock yarn sitting around in this apartment). Embers is the colorway, it's reds and blacks and greys and a bit of purple works its way in there... I want to use this one to make some socks for Mom. I also bought some Kersti, in a lovely purples and grey, and some Chinchilla, which is a furry floofy "yarn" in a purple to make the purple scarf for my purple-loving co-worker. Although I'm worried it may turn out too yummy to give away. I also bought a few needles here.

At Weaving Works, I bought a skein of Colinette Enigma in the Morocco colorway, also to make a simple scarf, though I may do K2, *YO, P2TOG, rep from * til 2 sts rem., K2 for the RS rows (and simply K the WS). I think that might be very pretty and show off the luciousness of Enigma. I bought a few more needles here. I'm stocking up on the Addi's so I can do the socks-on-two-circs thing and the Dale-sleeve-on-two-circs thing as well. I just hope my choice of US4's rather than 3's was the right one. We'll know in a couple days, I imagine. They also had Spindrift at Weaving Works, and I played around with some for a while, thinking that I might find the colors I had in my imagination when I came up with my current "Fair Isle" project in my mind's eye, but it just didn't feel right so the lovely yarns stayed in Seattle. Someone nice up there in the PNW, please go free this yarn from the shelf on which is it currently ensconced!

Tricoter was an astonishing shop. They sort the yarn by color rather than by type of yarn. This is overwhelming, and makes it sort of hard to find anything but it is a wonderful orgy of color. It was also not an inexpensive store. I fell in love with an afghan pattern there in the store (The Man's Throw from their "Sweaters for Men" book). This afghan calls for 66 balls of a fingering weight cashmere/silk blend. Each ball is ~140 yards. Each ball is $13.75 in this store. This is a $907.50 price tag. While I still want to make the afghan (and I bought the pattern), I don't want to spend $907.50 on it. The pattern is really cool, though -- it's a giant ribbed cable worked as an all-over design. So really, the pattern is the only thing I bought there at Tricoter, but I still bought something. And I thought they were really nice. If I didn't already have so much yarn to knit up into so many various and wonderful things, I would have loved to buy a TON of yarn at Tricoter.

So now I have lots of projects to work on and hopefully to finish, but first, I have to get some sleep. I just got home (I took the red-eye back) and I was blogging while waiting for the air conditioner to do its magic and get the apartment to a comfortable, sleepable temperature. And now it is, so I am off to go get my four hours of sleep before heading to work. I just hope it's enough so that I'm not too tired to knit when I get home tonight!

What to Say...

The sweater for Dad grew a few more inches tonight and is at a point where it has to stay on a holder until I know more about what's going on with the saddle.

That won't be for a few days, though, as I'm on a flight to the West Coast in the morning, Seattle to be exact. I hope to get to check out a few of the LYS's, and I have a (short) shopping list which includes the replacement needles for the ones I can't find but need for the Dale sweater, yarn for two scarves which I need to make (one in purple of some sort and one, probably in some variety of Colinette in the Morocco colorway for a Moroccan colleague who won a charity raffle where one of the prizes is a custom knit scarf from me. The other is for a colleague who keeps mentioning that he really would like a purple scarf. And who am I to deny purple yarn from the pleasure of sliding across my purple-loving fingers? Is it wrong, tell me, is it so wrong, to dream of Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb silk-wool blend in the Black Purl colorway? I'm going to see if one of the Seattle stores which carries Lorna's Laces yarn sells it so I can see if it feels as dreamy as I think it's going to. Then I'll either buy it on the spot or bother a couple guys I know while they're busy trying to, you know, move from one state to another to pursue their yarny dreams.

What knitting am I taking? I was thinking of taking some of the Lorna's Laces and starting a sock, but I'd need some of those pesky needles I can't quite track down. So instead, I chose something else that's been sitting in the pile for a long time. Just something simple: SSS, which, if you remember the history of this blog, is the Seed Stitch Scarf, a slowly growing monstrosity in Colinette Prism, Cardinal colorway in, yes, seed stitch. I wish someone had told me before I started this sweater just how slow seed stitch really is. Even on US10.5's it takes forever. It is a lovely scarf, though, and it will be really lovely to wear once it's done. Whenever the @*&# that may be. This project seems to be travel-knitting more than it seems to be anything else. It's been to Thailand, it's been to California (and therefore already to Seattle once, too), it's been to Africa, I think it's gone to Ohio, and probably some other places too. So what's one more trip? It's not like I'm going to finish it this week anyhow.

Knit to the (Zithro)max!

Hooray for antibiotics. I just took the pill a few hours ago (7 or 8?) and already I feel tons better, although I am coughing a bit more.

So after work, TiVo had "Waiting for Guffman" and "The Music Man" ready for me, so that meant that Dad's sweater grew some.

I have to say... it's astounding how fast a sweater grows when it's on US 13 needles! I'm already past the armholes, as you can see... I'm going to have to put the back on holders very soon so I can figure out the saddle! So much excitement...

(And yes, I am knitting alternate balls of yarn every other RS row. You only see one in the photo because the first ball just ran out. I only used one for the ribbing, and I think that's the ball I did the swatch from, too, which is why there's more left on this ball...)

In other news, I got an exit row seat for my flight to Seattle on Tuesday. I don't think I'll knit on the plane (there's little elbow room as it is) but it'll be nice to have the extra legroom! I'm already checked in for my flight. Isn't that just weird? Anyhow, I am wondering just what kind of stash-enhancement will occur in the PNW... I have to pick up yarn for two gift-scarves I must make, so hopefully I can at least find that!

Patriotic Sick Bed Knitting

I do not like being sick. It's not actually all that bad, but I do have a rather sore throat. I just hope it's better soon, as I'm flying to the West Coast on Tuesday.

After a false start and a total frogging (15 sts/6in is not 3 sts/in, Jon, it's 2.5), I made it through the ribbing and a few inches up onto the back. It looks about right now. It may still be a smidge wide, but the sweater I measured that Dad likes for comparison is a fine yarn and therefore this chunky yarn sweater definitely needs more ease. That's what I'm telling myself. Hopefully it's true. There's going to be a big-ass cable up the front so that will be a little better... and the sleeves. I'm still contemplating doing the saddle for the shoulders, too... I'm knitting this one on the fly, bigtime!

Anyhow, this is sort of what it looks like so far. I am not thrilled with the way the color came out in the photo but I don't really feel like pretending to remember how to use Photoshop. I just want to take an Advil Cold & Sinus pill and get into my cozy little bed. OK, it's not exactly little. Well, it's queen sized. What did you expect? (I should probably tell you that I actually have a couple Tupperware-esque containers of yarn with which I share the bed. Yes, I sleep with my stash. And with a teddy bear.)

Here's the sweater-to-be:

Stealth F.O.

Here's a surprise for you: I finished something you probably didn't even remember I was working on:

I needed a change of pace from the 8.33 stitches per inch gauge which is very tight on that Primo. Remember, the average fair isle is at a gauge of about 8 stitches per inch on US3 needles... and this is ribbed and cabled on US8s. So the break was welcome.

Easy, loose knitting on 10.5's, and then a fun little fringe. The solid red is Karabella Empire Silk; the variegated yarn is called Pixel by Filatura di Crosa. I purchased these in the presence of the lovely and talented Yentala at the esteemed Hill Country Weavers, when I was in Austin at the beginning of May. And no, it didn't take me 2 months to make a garter stitch scarf; I merely didn't knit on it very frequently.

Here's a close up of the stitches so that you can see the yarns - can you tell from the photo where I just carried the single yarn instead of both at the same time?

Think my Mom will like it? I sure hope so!

99 Balls of Primo on the Wall...

Take one down... knit it up with a cable needle... 98 balls of Primo on the wall... and a few more inches of sleeve on the arm of the sofa. 28 more rows of sleeve-age gives you a much better idea of how my increases are working out. I think the bar increase on the wrong side is working just fine. And it's probably a bad idea to change it at this point:

Anyhow, this is what the sleeve looks like so far. I mis-cabled twice and had to tink back a few stitches, but nothing as extreme as the frogging of a couple nights ago, thankfully.

The part of the day which wasn't spent sitting on the couch playing with blue yarn was spent at dinner with a friend of mine who's moving to Canada at the end of July, and then at the ballet. "Romeo and Juliet." Unfortunately, even though I didn't even drink that much water with dinner, I developed a sudden, massive need to go to the bathroom during the ballet. I had to get up and excuse myself. And wouldn't you know it, I missed the *^&%ing balcony scene, which is evidently the most beautiful part of the @&%*#ing ballet? I thought about just coming home and working on the cables, but I decided to stay for the rest of the ballet anyhow, and I'm glad I did. The guy who played Tybalt (I think it was Tybalt) was incredible... And I got a few rows of cable-y sleeve-y goodness done anyhow.

PS: Is this not the strangest and yet somehow most delicious thing you've ever seen?