understudy run, fiber fun, and quality time with cats & friends <3

Helllooooo my loves! I wanted to write up a little blog post about what's been going on in my life for the last month and some change~ I'm slowly finding my way back into my workflow for this other half of my creative life, and it's a bit clumsy, but we're finding the way. 

First off: I'm officially all done with understudy rehearsals! (That is, until we move into the next location -- Village Theatre has a second location in Everett, so we'll be doing another full understudy rehearsal when we get up there) Here is me with the two other understudy ladies (the boys were already out of costume and in their own dressing room) after we finished our first fully teched understudy run!! Shanna did not have their wig for this show D:

It was so fun and so exhausting, but (similar to my last time understudying) it felt really good to know that I actually do know all my stuff for this show so if I ever need to go on for either of my tracks, I totally have it covered. >:) Shanna is on the left, and sweet Annie is on the right :3 They're both superstars and did such good work TuT 

And here are some bonus pics that I was able to snag during my fitting last Monday -- it was a little hectic so I didn't get a picture of my favorite costume. It's this incredible like..Victorian (???) style overjacket with this great red bustle on it? It's for Lucy Steele and is just so Extra and perfect in a way that I hope I get to go on for her at some point in the run hehe. But these are my Margaret and Marianne Dashwood costumes!

I also have to share with you this extremely important Duck Meeting -- I cross over this little stream every time I walk to get coffee while I'm the theatre, and every time there's LOADS of ducks gathered (we discovered the folks in the house right there at the bank actually feed them every day), and one day, there was this one single black and white duck stood alone on a rock while all the other ducks were turned towards him (save for a few I think) and it was so striking and I really felt like I stumbled into a very important town council meeting. We've taken to calling the black and white duck the Mayor.

What are they talking about!!! I must know!!!

Here are a handful of other photos that I grabbed during tech - a little backstage action, but mostly just shots of the stage and everyone in their amazing costumes. :') If you're planning on coming to see the show (tickets and info is right here), maybe skip these if you don't want to be ~spoiled~ heheh

Tech is a lot of waiting around in costume if you can't tell from these photos hehe. I can't believe the show is open already!! We run until April 9, if you wanna come see us frolick about ;o)

The other night, some of the cast and myself went and caught Miss Step, which was an in-progress musical playing at Village Theatre's Second Stage, so we got Mexican food beforehand and then wandered over to catch the show. It was my first time every seeing a workshopped type of show (as in, the show is being worked on as it's being performed, so sometimes new scenes or songs will get added, or things will be cut, etc, based on audience feedback and the like), and we saw it on the second night it was up. I think that some of their comments around gender/the binary were really heavy handed (and frankly, outdated, like...surely we've moved beyond this in terms of our convos re: gender), and I wasn't sure exactly who their target audience was, but I'm interested to see where the show goes!

I actually made that scarf that Sunam (on the right pic) is wearing, and I ended up giving it to her cause she likes it so much. And I told her I could just make myself another one!! Which I'm doing, with the same yarn in a different colorway, that might match my palette a little better. Actually, here's a better look at that scarf! I started and completed it over the course of a week of rehearsals last month hehe.

This is the yarn I used for this scarf, in the colorway Setting Sun, and I'm remaking it now in Daybreak Delta. :3

Speaking of yarn!! I've been knitting and crocheting a whole bunch, as you know. I recently started making my first sweater vest, and it's going so well?? I'm hoping to finish this in the next few days hehe. I'll be moving out of this apartment at the end of April, so I'm currently just trying to use up as much as yarn as possible. This is the tutorial I'm following for the sweater vest! 

I'm really hoping that finishing this with the help of a video will give me the confidence I need to finish my first sweater that I started last September while I was in Sweden. I'm at a point now where I need to separate for the sleeves and the idea of it intimidated me so much that I just..haven't picked it up since lol. But I had to separate to do the back and front of this vest separately, and the "moving stitches onto scrap yarn" wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it'd be. Hooray for learning!

I've also been making little gifts for my castmates as a way to use up said yarn -- I made a hat for Richard out of this beautiful hand dyed Malabrigo Rios I had got for another project a few months back. I made my director a blanket, Alegra a headscarf, Sophia some little fingerless gloves...I'm slowly making my way through my yarn stash and the whole cast hehe. I don't have a pic of any of those finished pieces, but here's a glimpse at the beautiful Malabrigo *u*

And it was so soft and beautiful to work with ;0; And here is some other yarn I've gotten recently - my first ever skeins from Noro! This is Noro Enka, which is a blend of cotton, silk, wool, and a touch of polyamide. The one on the left I got 3 skeins of, and am planning to make a fairly boxy crocheted sweater (I was gonna do raglan, but I think I'm just gonna do a simple seamed sweater), and the one on the right I just got one skein of, but it's gonna be a very cute granny stripe scarf. This yarn is very thick-thin, as I believe it's handspun, so I'm trying to do simple stitches so the yarn can do whatever it wants to do hahah.

I did finish this crochet granny vest!! I ended up giving it to one of my castmates, as it was a bit too small on me, and too short - I'm definitely gonna make another one, but this time with a bigger hook and probably also adding additional rounds to the bottom cause I have a loooong torso lol.

Now for some cute misc pics -- Sophie has a new habit of curling up by my head after I feed her breakfast at like 7:30, and she hang out there (sometimes chewing on my hair) until I end up crawling out of bed. It's very cute and makes my heart so soft ;u;

I went over to Jordan and Jaron's the other night to watch Love Island, and got to see their sweet fur babies for the first time in ages!!! Basil and Junie~~ Junie apparently sleeps on Jordan like this every night when they cuddle up on the couch and Basil is very much Jaron's baby hehe

And then my internet friends Kittie and Kurt came through town, so I got to meet them for the first time!! And also see my friend Lito and his partner Wil who I'd not seen in a while <3 It was so so so lovely and such an enriching Sunday for my soul uwu

To finish off this blog post, I was texting one of my dear friends Sien about heartbreak and healing and things, and they sent me this incredible message that I want to save forever and ever:

I hope you're all doing well!! I'm sending you all so so much love. I'm also working on a little downloadable treat for you all that should be going up tomorrow ;o)

Stay frosty!!!

Love,
Chey xoxoxo