In 1992 I went to see Phantom of the Opera in London and was – er, haunted – by the Phantom’s voice, a deep grumbly growl and so far away from the somewhat nasally whine of the much-vaunted Michael Crawford performance. I’ve been trying to figure out since then who played him. Lost my program.
I think it was Peter Karrie. So now I won’t forget.
Transformers from repey815 on Vimeo.
Yet another shawl. In case you’re wondering why I’m making so many shawls, I have two answers for you. First is that here in Texas, we don’t get very many genuinely cold days, so shawls are perfect to wrap around your neck when it’s cool out. Second is that I’m participating in a 10 Shawls in 2010 challenge on the knitting site Ravelry — and this one is number eight!
This is my Spring Is In the Air, made from Wollmeise Twin in Petit Poison Nr. 5. I ran out of yarn twice on this shawl, which was a minor tragedy because this is German unicorn hair wool and very hard to come by. Happily, I found a kind Raveler who sent me a few extra grams of the same colorway she had – only to run out of yarn again 10 stitches away from binding off the entire shawl. I made use of my cast on tail and managed to bull through it all, only to realize that for whatever reason, the bind off was too tight and I couldn’t block out any points. I suppose I could have called this my Comedy of Errors shawl, but I did persevere and make a halfway decent garment.
Here’s my Abrazo. I picked out the yarn – Knit Picks Gloss, combo merino and silk, very nice – and brought the leftover beads from my Shipwreck Shawl with me to New England and thought it would be a relaxing bit of vacation knitting. Ha. Instead I ended up doing the 367 stitch cast-on three separate times before it stuck, since this shawl is knit from the bottom up, and I couldn’t talk to anyone when I had a piece of floss strung full of beads dangling from my mouth. However, once the lace was finished, the stockinette portion zoomed by, and the short row construction was very cool.
Here’s a detail shot from my Gail Shawl. I made this for myself to wear as a Matron of Honor shawl for my very longest-time friend’s wedding in New Hampshire this August. The yarn was Handmaiden Sea Silk, which is made from silk and sea weed, and perfect for a wedding at sea (although trying to buy two skeins that 1) matched and 2) looked like the color on the manufacturer’s website was, in the end, impossible).
This shawl is enormous. I can use it to hang glide.
Lately I’ve been honored to be a regular contributor to the Transmedia Talk podcast over on Culture Hacker. Check it out, if you like. I think it’s pretty keen.
An artifact found downstairs; the front and back of a crumpled letter that my daughters wrote each other. Ah, sisterly love.
