Thursday, August 17, 2006

Shawl-a-polooza!

I mentioned in the last post that I had finished two shawls and here they are!





















Shawl #1 is knit sideways in garter stitch using three different yarns, including the Hideously Expensive Skein that I bought out in Nanaimo in April. The other two yarns are different colors of a commercial mohair and silk blend. The photo doesn't really do it justice--there are dozens of different textures and colors in the yarns and it wears like a dream!
















Shawl #2 is the Sheep Shawl from the Vogue On the Go Shawl book. Mostly nylon novelty yarn, with the black bits being Paton's Decor. I love the little tails and feet! And it's super warm.

Lots of therapeutic garter stitch and my hand is pretty much back to normal for strength and dexterity. I still have to rest it a lot, but I think I'm ready for something a wee bit more challenging...


















The next shawl. My first spinning after the cast came off, it is an angora/Rambouillet blend, spun woollen to a medium weight. I dyed it this afternoon and will cast on Cheryl Oberle's Highland Triangle Shawl as soon as it is dry. It's a little pinker than my usual color range allows, sort of a dusty fuchsia, but I'm breaking out of my color rut!

Friday, August 11, 2006

That's Showbiz, Kids

After a couple of really productive weeks fibre-wise, my energy has been diverted once again.

I managed to spin up a lovely batch of Silver Valley Fibres's Rambouillet/angora blend sliver into a lofty yarn for a warm shawl, knit up the Sheep Shawl from Vogue's Knitting on the Go shawl book, and cut and resize another rectangular shawl into more manageable proportions before I was drawn by the lure of the stage...

I will be appearing in a production of Christopher Durang's For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls this weekend at our local theatre and arts festival, interPLAY. The play is a one-act parody of The Glass Menagerie, and I play the mother, Amanda, who swings from sweet Southern charm to raving maniac and back again throughout the half hour of the show. The cast also included Jonathan Pretty as Lawrence (Laura in TGM), Tim Cooper as Tom, and Sylvie Gaudet as the Feminine Caller.

In between rehearsals, I have been working with the Odd-Lot Puppeteers on their works for the festival. I gave a dye workshop for them in early July dealing with coloring fleece and foam for puppet construction, and then I got drawn in as a seamstress, sewing "skins" for several of the characters in their show Skeleton on the Run.

If I survive the weekend, I will have two weeks of peace before I go into rehearsals for Keyano Theatre's production of Treasure Island. I'm Jim Hawkins' mother, so I get ten minutes at the beginning of the show on stage, then two hours of backstage knitting til I come back into the picture. Yay! I foresee a few pairs of socks coming out of that venture. Hmmm, where's my Christmas list?