A Bluestocking Knits

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    At the Ballet

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    We went to see a performance of Inland Pacific Ballet's "The Little Mermaid" at the Redlands Bowl last night.

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    I was very impressed with the performance — lovely staging and costumes, excellent dancing.  The designer's use of the set was very clever, and the music was woven seamlessly from pieces by Ravel, Debussy, Britten, Vaughan Villiams, Dvořák, and Leoš Janáček.  I felt that the second act didn't quite live up to the first, as most of the drama and spectacle were in the first, including this splendid villainess —

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    I actually loved the original ending of the story, and so although not entirely disappointed by the "surprise ending" promised by this company, thought that they actually didn't make enough of it in their version.

    But the girls were enchanted, and I recommend the production as a lovely family evening.

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    All photos by E.Y. Yanagi from the IP website.

  • A Day at the Getty

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    We went to the Getty the other day, the "new" one in Brentwood.  I hadn't been in ages.

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    We went to see the exhibit of Jean-Léon Gérôme paintings on view through September.

    I am not particularly familiar with Gérôme, although I do know his "Pygmalion and Galatea" and "Duel After the Masked Ball", both of which are on view here.

    This is the one that is on all of the posters, "Pollice Verson (Thumbs Down)" of 1872 —

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    Apparently Gérôme was famous for the historical accuracy of his paintings such as this — the inspiration for hundreds of sword-and-sandal flicks from C.B. DeMille to Ridley Scott's "Gladiator".

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    He was one of the prime figures in the Orientalist movement in 19th-century painting and sculpture, typified in "The Carpet Merchants" (1887), a stunning piece of color and detail and exoticism.

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    Gérôme also turned towards sculpture in his later career, and experimented with different polychrome techniques in the Classical manner.  I must say I rather admire the nice little conceit of the self-portrait of the artist at work in "The End of the Sitting" from 1886.

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    "Veiled Circassian Lady" (1876).

    None of these images really gives the full effect of the real thing — the richness of color and detail are quite amazing.

    We also saw the Renaissance drawing show, "From Line to Light".

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    This is a ca. 1508 sketch of three trees by Fra Bartolomeo, and here a sketch of a "Standing Saint" by Filippino Lippi from about 1490 —

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    I always like the white detail on ink and metalpoint sketches, especially on grey paper — something about that color combination speaks to me, I suppose.

    This portrait of a young woman from the 1520s, attributed to Andrea Previtali is one of the showpieces of the exhibit, and rightly so —

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    Certainly worth closer study.  Here is a detail of the workmanship —

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    Lovely.

    It was a beautiful day — I highly recommend it.

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    Thoughts on the Coquette Socks

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    My goodness, it has been a long time.  Dear me.

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    These are the Coquette Socks, from 2-at-a-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.  I confess that I made them the old-fashioned way, one at a time, because not only did I not have a small-enough circular needle, but I was in a tearing hurry to get these done before Christmas and so would have had to make a special trip for the needles and learned a new technique as well.  I think I finished them on Christmas Eve, in fact — but they looked very cute in clear plastic goody bags with a curly ribbon around the top.

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    The yarn is of course Regia Bamboo Color in Jamaica — the darker blue/green colorway — and Papillon — the lighter red/pink/blue combination.  I had more than a bit of trouble telling them apart in poor light, but knitted up it was more obvious.

    I must say that the pattern gave me a bit of trouble, too, and that the publisher's errata were actually not much of a help, as I kept getting a slightly different stitch count, and ended up just winging it.  More importantly, the pattern stitch itself did not come out looking like the photograph, until I realized that the photo looks more like a simple two-row stitch, not four.  Once I worked it as repeating rounds 1 and 2 only, it looked better to my eye.

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    Other than that, I like the socks very much — cute and girly, but not too much so.

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    I have been reading a lot lately, and barely knitting at all — have finished one Christmas sock, not yet cast on for the other, as I got distracted by Nine Coaches Waiting, wh. I had in fact never read.  My public library is renovating, and decided that the fiction section was the most expendable (why why why?), so that was what got boxed up and hidden away, leaving I think three half-stacks.  I was looking for D.E. Stevenson, and had my hand stretched out in a pathetic begging gesture in the place where they should have been, and the Stewart was there.  I think I'd read only her Merlin books before.  Quite enjoyed the Nine Coaches —

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    Thoughts on some Scandinavian Mitts

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    Laura looked at the first of these mitts when I was trying it on, and said, "That's really nice, mom.  Norwegian?"

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    I impulsively decided to make a pair of mitts a few months ago while riffing on some Scandinavian patterns, but was about two-thirds of the way through the first one and either got distracted or wasn't completely satisfied, I can't even remember.  But I sat down with them in a bit of a trance, I guess, the other day, and whoosh! they are done.

    The yarns are both Regia sock yarns, less than half of a skein of Cotton in black, and 4 grams of 4-fädig in grey left over from my Spey Valley socks, because they were both in my sock-yarn drawer at the same time, and they looked good together.  (I said it was impulsive!)  I can't fully recommend the Cotton as a component of two-color knitting, as it's a bit splitty and I had a hard time with it in places.  It is also slightly larger in gauge than the 4-fädig, so I was concerned that it would be a bit overwhelming, but actually now that I look at the finished pieces, the wobbly bits are entirely mine.  But as an experiment, it all comes off, I think.

    I was not entirely pleased with the thumb either time — would possibly
    space the gusset increases farther apart, to make it a bit longer
    (taller, as it were), as it's a bit snug.  I did learn that while
    carrying floats behind a 2×2 rib (here across the base of the thumb), you need to attach them between two
    knit stitches, otherwise it pulls the rib out of shape rather
    unattractively.  I had assumed that as you do on the pattern sections,
    you don't want to "stack" the floats — that is, have them twisted in
    at the same spot on two consecutive rows — because it tends to pull at
    that spot and show from the right side.  It actually doesn't show much
    at all on the second thumb — only when it's either stretched
    mercilessly or folded, neither of which it is when worn, so that's all
    right.

    The shape of the mitt is based on Ann Budd's generic mitten in The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, and the star is adapted from my Dale cardigan with little diamonds and arrows improvised at the compass points. I had originally thought I wanted something quite subtle on the back of the hand, and tried an all-over sort of argyle-ish pattern from Sheila McGregor's book, but it was in fact far too subtle, and I'm thoroughly delighted with the star.

    Just in time for our ice-skating party next week!

  • Read Any Good Books Lately?

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    Amberwell

    The knitting has got rather left behind lately, I'm afraid — have been reading quite a number of things lately of all shapes and sizes, as
    it were — finished most, tossed some aside with or without regret.

    — Not, in fact, Amberwell, but Young Mrs Savage because it is one of my favorites (I have an ex-library copy, watched the librarian weed it from the fiction shelves and was torn between saying "oh, no, you can't get rid of any of these, she's wonderful!" and thinking "well, I'll have that, thank-you-very-much!", and I confess that greed won out).  I joined the D.E. Stevenson list on Yahoo a few months ago, but haven't yet de-lurked, not sure why.  They are reading at a terrific clip and discussing as they go, and although I started The House of the Deer with the best of intentions have v. quickly fallen so far behind that I cannot possibly catch up on this go-around.

    — A truly terrible biography of Roald Amundsen by Tor Bomann-Larsen, which takes the prize as one of the worst books I have ever read.  I should say partly read, as I literally could not finish it, even though I had paid $3.50 good money to ILL it, and felt on that score alone I should get my money's worth.  I suppose I could have accepted either the shoddy writing or the snark, but not both at the same time.  How depressing, to read a biographer who so obviously despises his subject.

    — Penelope Fitzgerald's Offshore, wh. was quirky-interesting, but I think I liked The Gate of Angels a bit better.

    — Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, wh. I could not help referring to inadvertently as "Major Pettigrew Saves the Day" (and in fact did so again as I typed this).  Thought it started off extremely well, and I had very high hopes, but thought that it descended rather unnecessarily into farce towards the end, although I would still recommend it as a charming and well-written story.

    — La's Orchestra Saves the World.  Loved it.  Have read so far only Smith's Isabel Dalhousie series, but appreciated them immensely, their quiet intelligence and satisfying if not necessarily "happy" endings, and so too with this one.

    — Am finding myself now and then wishing wistfully that there were more Joanna Trollope novels yet to be read.  I've especially appreciated The Men and the Girls, The Spanish Lover, and The Rector's Wife, but have enjoyed all of her modern books.  (Am not feeling especially historical lately, so I haven't yet delved into her alter ego, as it were.)

    — A new biography of Jane Grey, wh. I had to turn back in to the library as I'd had it for six weeks and got only about two chapters along.  How someone can make the Tudors so dull, I don't know.  Got at the same time a history of the Vikings that I do hope to finish in the next few days, although I must say it's rather difficult to keep track of who is who — there's Harald Fairhair, Rolf the Ganger, Sven Forkbeard, Ingvald the Lame, Torgeir the Gormless, Sven the Eccentric (no, I made that one up), and even with the epithets I can hardly tell them apart.

    — Came home from the library this evening with an old Rosamund Pilcher, and William Trevor's Love and Summer from the new book shelf.  Not ready any of his before ….

  • Eyjafjallajökull

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    Because we all want to know —

  • Medieval Farthing Quiz 1

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    What cracks me up the most is that this is just the first medieval farthing quiz!

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    It’s Cookie Time!

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    It's Girl Scout cookie time!  If you don't manage to come across a booth sale at your local grocery store, search for your county name and "girl scout cookies" — every council is different, but that's a good start.

    Our troop had our first booth sale last night, and pretty much sold out of what I thought was a fairly generous stock.  And we have three more sales scheduled!  So I'm off to get more Thin Mints, for sure.

    I woke up early this morning with the rain, and decided to take a stab — metaphorically speaking, of course — at a crochet flower which I'm going to use to identify my tote bag from the fourteen other ones at our meetings.  The pattern is a fairly simple one from Simmy at Echoes of a Dream.  I am obviously still very new at crochet! but after a few initial puzzled frowns, I got the hang of this one — and you can probably see that I felt more sure of myself on the last row of petals, in the back.

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    Obviously, sock yarn wasn't the ideal choice for this particular use — thicker yarn would be best for a luggage identification — but it'll do in a pinch.  I might turn this one into a barrette later.  Hmmm…

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    Honeycomb

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    Since I'm obviously on a roll with long-abandoned projects, I picked up this one yesterday —

    Honeycomb 

    Honeycomb from Knitty, in Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool.  I printed the pattern on March 26 … 2008.  Got to the top of the ribbing, did the first row of the pattern stitch and paused, uncertain about the honeycomb itself, and there it has remained for nearly two years.  Tch.

    Remembering the very first row of cabling essentially every stitch one at a time, I thought yesterday, "well, that will never do," and dug out the instructions for left and right twists.  Much easier. 

    So instead of C2B, do the RT: K2tog but do not remove sts from needle, K first st again and slip both sts off needle together.  And instead of C2F, do LT: K second st tbl but do not remove it from needle, K first st and slip both sts off needle together.  Easy peasy.

    I'm still not wildly enthusiastic about the honeycomb stitch, but it goes quickly, with just K2, P2 rows on the wrong side and mostly K rows on the right, and every now and then what, without even thinking about it, I started calling the twizzle row.

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    Not twizzles, but I like this couple, Meryl Davis and Charlie White of Michigan, in the free dance Sunday evening.

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    Thoughts on the Vintage Velvet Scarf

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    I suspect that wearing this scarf a few times will probably offset most of the annoyances I've had with it.

    It is of course Vintage Velvet from Scarf Style.  To begin with, the famous Muench Touch Me chenille is strangely not that pleasant to knit with.  It is extraordinarily soft, but after a while the hard core of the yarn feels stiff and unyielding.  I got so weary of it that I let it sit for — well, I hate to say it, but at least a year at a stretch, I think.

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    I also found it very difficult to actually see what I was doing, although that may also have been due to the dark color and the fact that towards the end I was watching men's short-track speed skating much of the time.

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    Here is Lee Jung-Su, Sung Si-Bak, and Lee Ho-Suk of South Korea ahead of Americans Apolo Ohno and J.R. Celski and Canadian Olivier Jean (photo from the Daily Mail) in the 1500m finals, in Vancouver on February 13.  That was an exciting race!

    But the scarf was beautifully soft once worked up, and Laura and Julia were both enchanted with it.

    So then the other day I tossed the scarf into the washing machine — had heard from a number of sources how nerve-wracking the process was, and so I was actually rather blasé about it.

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    The scarf was quite stiff coming out of the washing machine — like a piece of felted wool.  I hurriedly chucked it into the dryer and left it there perhaps 15 minutes or so, which relaxed it a bit, but it still felt oddly hard when I laid it out to dry. 

    Laura came across it and wailed "It's not soft any more!"

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    It did soften up considerably in the day or two it took to dry, although the cable up the center took a surprisingly long time to stop feeling like a length of nylon rope.

    A number of ends worked their way out, and a couple of middles in
    places, worming here and there despite not doing so at all as I was
    knitting.

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    With five skeins it was just 60 in. before felting — much too short, I thought — and even shorter than that afterwards.  By dint of hard stretching, I did get it to 64 in. along the edge.  I was relieved to see, though, that the wonderful architectural point at the ends was still there. 

    It is very nicely soft now, though, and I had to take it forcibly away from Laura this evening, or she would have worn it to bed.  It still feels a bit short to me, although I suppose it's really more a
    decorative accessory than functional, and its decorativeness is
    undeniable!

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