Showing posts with label singing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label singing. Show all posts
Monday, 11 August 2008
Pianto di Maria
Tears of Mary
'Il Pianto di Maria' is a marvellous sacred cantata by Giovanni Battista Ferrandini (although the piece itself was attributed to Handel for many years) and is one of my all-time favourite pieces of music, and I've just come back from performing it in Germany. YEEHAH! The concert was 2 years in preparation, but the director of the ensemble and I have been dreaming about doing this for much longer...
The concert and rehearsals were in the catholic cloister church residing in the tiny wee town of Pfaffen-Schwabenheim in Germany. I know. Catholic? Germany? And there goes another of my presumptions... WHEEEEEEEEEE It was a charming church, with a not-too-boomy acoustic which was perfect for this kind of music.
The concert and rehearsals were in the catholic cloister church residing in the tiny wee town of Pfaffen-Schwabenheim in Germany. I know. Catholic? Germany? And there goes another of my presumptions... WHEEEEEEEEEE It was a charming church, with a not-too-boomy acoustic which was perfect for this kind of music.
choir screen of the Cloister-Kirk
I was particularly drawn to one of the statues on the choir screen. We adopted him as our mascot although were never sure if we were making him cry with the beauty of the music, or by my coughing all the way through the rehearsals.
39゜ fever or just some amazing music?
Yes, coughing. I was (still) sick all last week, and only now am I able to pass more than half an hour without the need to go searching for bits of lung. Ick! Such is the lot of a singer - you are your own instrument and if you're ill, then you're... well, you're rather unfortunate, to put things politely. My speaking voice was VERY husky due to all the coughing, and that meant that my lower range was also husky and it really hard to produce the sound. Man, I am oh so glad that my concert as an alto was last week and not this one. Funnily enough though, my high notes were easy and pingy. Cool? Well, sort of, in a Murphy's Law kind of way...
I did manage to soothe my throat a couple of times with the local beer, an arty-farty photo of which I shall now present unto you:
mmm bier
Unfortunately I didn't get much chance to do some major sampling, as most of my free time was taken up by trying to sleep off the lurgy. I think I knitted (hmm, knat? OO! I like the look of that! Heh!) 3 lines of a super secret square project, and that was it. Meh. I have a LOT to catch up on as there are some deadlines looming like thunder clouds on the horizon. Ach well, I work better when there's a to-do-by date close to throttling distance... My next post WILL have some stealth objects revealed. This I promise! And I'm absolutely gagging to show them off!
P is also for 'Patience is a virtue', I guess...
Sunday, 27 July 2008
I have freckles and my hair is a little lighter. This is what comes of spending a few days in the South of France in 30+ degree heat! Marvellous! Drôme is a département of South-East France and I had a brilliant time with my friends doing a concert of some gorgeous music by Bach.
But first I must show you where we rehearsed in the East of France before we went down south...
The Ancient Post House of the village.
Okay, so you know me well enough by now to expect a few more photos. I did, after all, come back with over a hundred...
Above is the family home of the conductor of the group and I've been coming here for nearly 10 years of rehearsals, concerts and fun, but never, until now, have I taken any photos - VERY lax on my part. The garden was blooming, we had lunch under the mimosa tree and rehearsed in the music room, (complete with numerous harpsichords) the window of which can be found at the top left of the house as you face it... Ah... Bliss!
I can't remember for the life of me what this is called...
grapes nearing ripeness
um, don't know what this is, either, but it was pretty
déjeuner sous l'arbre de mimosa
The concert was in the pretty little town of St Donat in Drôme and the church was beautiful (but the interior refused to be photographed well), as were the ancient and carved cloisters and... ah...
floral motif stained glass windows
cloister arches with neo-classical waste-paper bin
more carved pillars
vielle player
And just to prove to me that there is still life in the old camera yet, it pulled this little number out of the hat...
chrysanthemums
I am pooped but very pleased the concert went well (even more so because I was singing the alto solo and I could be HEARD! Oh YEAH!) If you ever get a chance to hear a concert or recording of Bach's 'Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden' (based on Pergolesi's 'Stabat Mater') I'd thoroughly recommend a listen...
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Ugh. And verily I say unto thee, Ugh. I've not succumbed to a bout of hay-fever for yonks, but there was something blooming in Rennes that didn't like me. Or liked me too much. I'm not quite sure. Excuse me a moment :: honks into a hankie ::
The project in Rennes was lots of fun, in a good-heavens-you-want-us-to-rehearse-HOW-many-hours kind of way... We were performing in the Parlement de Bretagne which although unassuming in a 17th century way from the outside, was breath-taking inside...
La salle des Pas Perdus(The room of the Lost Steps)
Le Grand ChambreMe, being me, came back with sixty-odd photos. The place was fabulous! It's only recently been opened to the public again after an horrendous fire in 1994 but the restoration work was beyond perfect.
Part of the immense and incredibly baroque ceiling in the Grand Chambre
One of the hallways surrounding the courtyardBut yes, there was a lot of hard work involved in the concerts. And I use the plural. I was roped into doing another concert of medieval polyphony aswell, although with some of the same musicians. Sublime music, but not completely do-able on only a couple of read-throughs before the concert itself. Yikes. Ach well, I could've said no, but they were a person down due to illness... Anyhoo, needless to say we were all knackered after the last concert of Bach. But then again, one voice/instrument per part is exhausting at the best of times. Mmm - cantata BWV48 and the g minor Lutheran mass. Well worth being attacked by rogue pollen for!
I was a good girl, however, and in the 8 and a half minutes I had free I did some KNITTING! Oh yeah! Well, actually I did a lot of tinking and frogging because my second Zombie Sock managed to fall off one of the needles in my bag and after a lot of cursing and fiddling I think I managed to get it back to where it was before the free-fall accident. *sigh* So there's nothing to show for that, sadly, but I did get some log-cabin squares done for the BAG!
Knitting these is so relaxing! I guess you can already tell that by the 'interesting' not-quite-straight edges... Ach well, I know this bag will involve felting, so I'm rather excited about it and not worried too much about 93- and 87-degree angles!
And thank you for all the encouraging words concerning the L. A. C. E. dilemma - I am girding my loins in preparation of starting something soon! WHEE!!
I was a good girl, however, and in the 8 and a half minutes I had free I did some KNITTING! Oh yeah! Well, actually I did a lot of tinking and frogging because my second Zombie Sock managed to fall off one of the needles in my bag and after a lot of cursing and fiddling I think I managed to get it back to where it was before the free-fall accident. *sigh* So there's nothing to show for that, sadly, but I did get some log-cabin squares done for the BAG!
Knitting these is so relaxing! I guess you can already tell that by the 'interesting' not-quite-straight edges... Ach well, I know this bag will involve felting, so I'm rather excited about it and not worried too much about 93- and 87-degree angles!
And thank you for all the encouraging words concerning the L. A. C. E. dilemma - I am girding my loins in preparation of starting something soon! WHEE!!
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
::WARNING::
Shameless self-promotion and own-trumpet-blowing
Shameless self-promotion and own-trumpet-blowing
included in this post
I was perusing some online cd shops this afternoon and stumbled across this! I'd almost forgotten about it, but it's out at the end of the month! Well, according to Naxos, it will be! Wahey!
It was recorded over 2 live performances (a cheaper way of getting cds recorded these days) but that's cool as I rather like hearing the odd bit of audience noise. Actually, I have to admit to my own singing not being completely perfect all the way through and unfortunately the recording guy chose a section where I decided to go off on a ridiculous flight of da capo fancy in one of the arias and my GOD, I'm a tad embarrassed! (It was at a point where I thought I'd make it up higher, but I... um... didn't!) *shudders* I suspect I may be ripped to shit by critics, but it was way too much fun to do to worry about that, and I know my Dad'll love it anyway!
Well, I'm officially 36 and 40 hours old now. (I had the indecency to be born at 2:15 in the morning - my poor mother!) It feels a bit weird. I didn't have a problem turning 30, or even 34, but 35, as my mother keeps reminding me, was the age by which she had had all her children. *sigh* And now I'm 36 and lacking in the commodities needed to supply such things as grandchildren for Mum. (But it's on the list - 'kids' - before 'get proper job' and after 'find nice man'.)
But enough of such maudlin thoughts. Knitting-wise I seem to have turned into a serial commencer. I keep starting things then starting more and - oo, look - something shiny...
Well, I'm officially 36 and 40 hours old now. (I had the indecency to be born at 2:15 in the morning - my poor mother!) It feels a bit weird. I didn't have a problem turning 30, or even 34, but 35, as my mother keeps reminding me, was the age by which she had had all her children. *sigh* And now I'm 36 and lacking in the commodities needed to supply such things as grandchildren for Mum. (But it's on the list - 'kids' - before 'get proper job' and after 'find nice man'.)
But enough of such maudlin thoughts. Knitting-wise I seem to have turned into a serial commencer. I keep starting things then starting more and - oo, look - something shiny...
3 socks: Giles Wavy Sock in purples (down to the heel turn); Trekking/cable socks in blues/purples (finished cuff); Zombie socks in green (totally wrong yarn for the job, but looks so pretty that I don't want to frog it), 2 scarves: Mcfluffy scarf in green, purple and black (nearly finished) and a black and silver (oo, sparkly) cowl scarf. Then there's a purple mix cushion cover that I'm slowly cabling through and finally the black 'Aoife' bolero jacket that has just reached the arm-hole shaping. And yet, I keep thinking about that Noro... I can't decide what to make with it. I've spent much of the time since I received it looking through pattern books and online at our favourite knitting site. I really can't decide at all... But maybe I should finish something... ANYTHING... first.
And I must stop ordering sock yarn. I'm my own worst enemy!
And I must stop ordering sock yarn. I'm my own worst enemy!
Sunday, 11 May 2008
...indeed a veritable suitcase full of that wondrous stuff!
What with all the projections of doom and gloom, moans and other sundry patheticisms on my last post, I had completely forgotten that I had ordered this little lot of sunshine and I arrived home from Holland this evening to find it gleaming through my postbox...
What with all the projections of doom and gloom, moans and other sundry patheticisms on my last post, I had completely forgotten that I had ordered this little lot of sunshine and I arrived home from Holland this evening to find it gleaming through my postbox...
NORO! Kureyon colourway no.196At last I can PLAY!!
Ebay - I doest heart thou! In fact, Japan, one heartest thou, also! Now, what to make, what to make...!
Well, as per usual, I was worrying way too much again. The journey up to Holland went fine - I didn't have a place in the carriage, and was indeed seated by the door, but I had the whole space to myself and it was cooler and quieter than the in the coach compartment anyway! (I was rather ill-equipped for the 28 degree temp in Holland, though!) I got paid (FINALLY) for the work in March, the concerts went really well and I managed to fit in 2 lessons with my rather fabulous new teacher. ("You're a lyric soprano, get used to it! None of that 'But I can't sing high' crap - you think too much! And try not to chew those consonants. And breathe normally, like you're about to talk, not like you're about to inhale a bus. And don't sing pitches at me." etcetera, etcetera. You have to imagine this all with a very strong Chicago accent!) It was Absolute Bliss!!
Actually, the lessons were hard work and I'm set upon a very steep learning curve, but I'm also rather excited. There's a whole different world of music to consider now. I have to admit that I knew that I had a slightly bigger voice than the normal baroquies, but between singing the Mahler this week and those singing lessons, I'm slightly more convinced! And slightly shell-shocked, too!
I have a long-running joke with a lovely baroque tenor friend of mine which goes along the lines of sending emails 'advertising' our next concerts. 'Michael would like to invite you to his next performance of 'Tannhäuser' by Wagner' or I'd send him a 'You are cordially invited to a performance of Verdi's 'La Traviata' starring RedScot as Violetta.' ("You mean 'Monteverdi', right?!!" would be in the follow-up email.) I haven't told him about the Mahler yet. I'm not sure his constitution could handle it!
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Don't bother, they're here...
CoCo
Hmm... I'm not sure. I think I like Dame Coco. I wasn't sure that the yarn combo would work and I'm trying to ignore the mistakes I made, but I think I like her... I like her more than I did when I took the last photos of her, that's for sure. She has been on her very best behaviour and the last 4 repeats or so passed in a haze of perfection. (The chocolate offerings appeased the Cable Deities, it seems.) It's amazing what differences nice lighting, suitable accessories and proper finishing touches make, though. The trellis cabling was, in the end, rather exhilarating to do, (AFTER my many mistakes already documented in detail...) and although the effect isn't *quite* the same as the original design by Janine le Cras, who has a divine royal purple bag as her prototype, my version hopefully won't make the recipient want to hurl...!
The needles aren't empty, though. Brigid II number 2 is off and running (my GAWD - I've managed to escape SSS again!!) and there's a few bits and bobs I'm toying with. I'm also still working on Aoife, which is a bolero jacket with loads of cable detail (mmm - cables) and is slowly coming on - it's my first item of apparel that I've started, so I have no idea how long it will take.
I was hoping that maybe I'd have it done to wear for my next concerts in May, but I don't think that's going to happen. I have the most amazing dress that I am sure it will go amazingly with, but unless I'm knitting 24/7 for the next 2 weeks, I suspect it will have to wait... Here's the dress, by the way, although you have to imagine it *somewhat* wider! I loves it, I do! Think it's diva enough for a Mahler orchestral song-cycle?! I can't wait for that at all - 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' which roughly translates as 'Songs of a Wayfarer'... ish! (Yeah, yeah - I know - it's a mezzo song cycle, but who really thinks writing pianissimo top g-sharps is being kind to the lower voice?!) It's my first foray out of baroque and classical music (by classical I mean the music of the classical era - roughly 1750 to 1820) for a LONG time and that in itself is a little scary, but I guess you have to go where your instrument dictates, and my voice is getting bigger now, although I never sounded like a boy soprano even in my teeniest-of-voiced days... One day I'll tell you about some of the *interesting* things I've been told/taught and advised...
And I changed my major from piano to singing 'cos I thought singing was an easier option! Hah, and yay, verily I say unto thee - HAH!
The needles aren't empty, though. Brigid II number 2 is off and running (my GAWD - I've managed to escape SSS again!!) and there's a few bits and bobs I'm toying with. I'm also still working on Aoife, which is a bolero jacket with loads of cable detail (mmm - cables) and is slowly coming on - it's my first item of apparel that I've started, so I have no idea how long it will take.
I was hoping that maybe I'd have it done to wear for my next concerts in May, but I don't think that's going to happen. I have the most amazing dress that I am sure it will go amazingly with, but unless I'm knitting 24/7 for the next 2 weeks, I suspect it will have to wait... Here's the dress, by the way, although you have to imagine it *somewhat* wider! I loves it, I do! Think it's diva enough for a Mahler orchestral song-cycle?! I can't wait for that at all - 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' which roughly translates as 'Songs of a Wayfarer'... ish! (Yeah, yeah - I know - it's a mezzo song cycle, but who really thinks writing pianissimo top g-sharps is being kind to the lower voice?!) It's my first foray out of baroque and classical music (by classical I mean the music of the classical era - roughly 1750 to 1820) for a LONG time and that in itself is a little scary, but I guess you have to go where your instrument dictates, and my voice is getting bigger now, although I never sounded like a boy soprano even in my teeniest-of-voiced days... One day I'll tell you about some of the *interesting* things I've been told/taught and advised...And I changed my major from piano to singing 'cos I thought singing was an easier option! Hah, and yay, verily I say unto thee - HAH!
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
My Mum sent me a press cutting the other day, from one of the local-ish newspapers back home. It made me chortle and be slightly depressed at the same time...
"Classical approach to youth disorder
SUPERMARKET BOSSES are planning to make gangs of neds "Bach off" - by blasting classical music at them. Store chiefs want to rig up speakers to play classical works by Mozart, Beethoven and Debussy to stop groups of youths congregating outside at night. They believe the soothing sounds will scare off gangs of neds ['A Scottish term for the often uneducated and invariably aggressive teenagers found throughout Britain. Identified by gold jewellery (especially sovereign rings), baseball caps, white trainers and/or Kappa/Burberry branded clothing. The name is thought to derive from 'Edward', as in Teddy Boy. It is in no way an acronym for "non-educated delinquent", which is in any case ungrammatical.' Taken from www.urbandictionary.com] more used to hip-hop and dance tracks. Co-op managers from Port Seton, East Lothian, aired the idea at a community police meeting after struggling to "Handel" the problem of youth disorder outside their store. The community and police partnership meeting heard plans to rig up a stereo in the store to play classical works on a loop in order to drive away youngsters who congregate outside the shop on a nightly basis. Locals say that they are frightened to walk near the shop in the town's Links Road at night to use the cash machines because of the gangs of rowdy yobs hanging around the store's entrance. Local councillors and clergy met the idea with approval, but one Port Sefton resident rubbished the scheme saying, "They'd probably just try and smash the speakers, or drown it out with their mobiles."
Surely some Stravinsky would be more in order? Perhaps 'The Rite of Spring'? Mind you, I'm a fan of Strav and would be very happy to hang around listening to that if it was blasted from the nearest Co-op. Then again, I'm not a hoodie-wearing, sovereign-ring-flashing, baseball-cap-wearing aggressive teenager. Perhaps some Bach instead? 'The Peasant Cantata'? Perhaps Strauss' 'Wine, Women and Song'? (Or 'Beer, Babes and Gangsta Rap'?)
Joking apart, I can't say I'm particularly happy with the inference that classical music is so abhorrent to 'everyday' folk that it could be considered as a deterrent in a situation like this. Then again, I can't say I'm not that surprised, either... But there must be a silver lining... Maybe I can get some more work out of it? "RedScot sings Mozart's famous arias at a convenience store near YOU!" "Look out for RedScot's latest Tesco recording of Bach cantatas; featuring the classic 'Shoppers can safely browse'."
*sigh*
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Gideon.
This was my first recording for Naxos a few years ago...
This was my first recording for Naxos a few years ago...Initially, I was going to use 'g' for 'garden' but was rather overwhelmed by the amount of photos to choose from. I love gardens and all things green and have taken hundreds of pictures of things that have caught my eye in that department, but my wee blog just isn't up to the amount of photos I could add... I just couldn't choose... So hence, 'Gideon' - a pastiche oratorio by G F Handel and compiled by J C Smith. It was recorded over two live concerts in Germany - talk about stress! I've done 'Solomon' (Queen of Sheba and 1st Harlot) and 'Hercules' (Dejanira) with them since... The 'Hercules' project holds particularly good memories, as it was during this that Klozknitz (aka C) taught me to knit! She was playing cello in the orchestra while I screamed out front...
I am now back at home in France. (Huzzah!) Mind you, I've been as sick as a dog since I got back and have been sleeping roughly 18 hours a day. Ugh. Not sure if it's a bug I caught or just exhaustion kicking on from the shows and travel... But I feel like cack. Moan, moan, moan! I did manage to make it outside to buy some essentials yesterday (ground coffee for my lovely life-saving machine), but that's about it!
MERG went down well. It's basically a fusion of baroque music (Monteverdi, Rossi, Luzzaschi) and modern dance using 3 singers (2 sopranos and an alto), 5 dancers and 5 musicians (2 violins, 1 theorbo, 1 viola da gamba and a harpsichord). The musicians are kept in a kind of cage (I'll try and find a photo) and the rest of us move around them. Yes - ALL OF US - DANCE!! The show was an hour and a half long extravaganza and rather good fun to do! The photo below shows what the stage looked liked when I was singing the 'Lettera amarosa' by Monteverdi. The monody itself is a long love letter/poem to a woman with blonde hair and the text of the poem was projected onto the covering of the cage, but the staging by the choreographers was quite opposite to the meaning of the words (quite difficult to maintain when you've been trained to be honest to the text) so I was to be unattached to the poetry and had to cut locks of out my long blond wig with very over-sized scissors. Bizarre, but it worked! Mind you, I was very fond of my baroque corset and full skirt! The blond wig, on the other hand... (Especially after being hacked away... One wig only lasted three shows at the most!) But I think photographic evidence of those can wait a while!
Right now I'm going to concentrate on getting well again.
Please do not feed the musicians.
I am now back at home in France. (Huzzah!) Mind you, I've been as sick as a dog since I got back and have been sleeping roughly 18 hours a day. Ugh. Not sure if it's a bug I caught or just exhaustion kicking on from the shows and travel... But I feel like cack. Moan, moan, moan! I did manage to make it outside to buy some essentials yesterday (ground coffee for my lovely life-saving machine), but that's about it!
MERG went down well. It's basically a fusion of baroque music (Monteverdi, Rossi, Luzzaschi) and modern dance using 3 singers (2 sopranos and an alto), 5 dancers and 5 musicians (2 violins, 1 theorbo, 1 viola da gamba and a harpsichord). The musicians are kept in a kind of cage (I'll try and find a photo) and the rest of us move around them. Yes - ALL OF US - DANCE!! The show was an hour and a half long extravaganza and rather good fun to do! The photo below shows what the stage looked liked when I was singing the 'Lettera amarosa' by Monteverdi. The monody itself is a long love letter/poem to a woman with blonde hair and the text of the poem was projected onto the covering of the cage, but the staging by the choreographers was quite opposite to the meaning of the words (quite difficult to maintain when you've been trained to be honest to the text) so I was to be unattached to the poetry and had to cut locks of out my long blond wig with very over-sized scissors. Bizarre, but it worked! Mind you, I was very fond of my baroque corset and full skirt! The blond wig, on the other hand... (Especially after being hacked away... One wig only lasted three shows at the most!) But I think photographic evidence of those can wait a while!
Right now I'm going to concentrate on getting well again.
Please do not feed the musicians.
Monday, 17 March 2008
Man, I'm knackered! The second week of rehearsals for MERG are in full swing and going well - I say well, but really I mean surprisingly well. We (the three singers) have managed to remember not only the arias but also the blocking, staging and dances. Not bad for over a year away from it, believe me!
Holland is dull, dingy, dreich and damp, as per usual, but it's jolly nice to see my friends up here. I discovered that three of the dancers have taken up knitting in the last year, so we've been comparing cables! (Or 'How Not To Cable' as it turns out...) The Swan, one of the dancers, has offered to introduce me to his favourite LYS (expensive) and another dancer, The Lovely Canadian, has offered to show me hers (euro-tastic). You can guess which one my wallet will let me visit... Oo - I have found a rather excellent craft shop in The Hague, though - I had to be torn away from the wire and beads and knitting needles and sparkly things and hooks and jewellery findings and embroidery threads and fimo blocks and hand-made paper and... Actually it was just as well there was a shop next door selling Cadbury's chocolate, or I would still be in the craft shop lusting over everything...
But I have been knitting... mostly Q's draught excluder (still don't ask...) but I finished one of the Brigid socks - hoorah. I'll try and upload a photo, but as I'm not at my own computer I'm not sure if it will work...
Whee - upload successful! Ach well, the photo is not the best quality, but you get the gist... The sock fits, though - a grand accomplishment for me! I'm now on Brigid Two, but I'm also around row 40 of the Wavy Socks - 'tis a pretty pattern! Mum's Coco bag is also slowly being added to, but I'm hoping I'll have a plethora of FO's to post when I get back down to France at the end of the month...
Q's Birthday Bear was a great success, btw, although after being named 'Stanley', he has now been re-christened 'Bear of Chucky' as his blue eyes seem to be unnerving the best friend somewhat... 'Tis easily remedied, but it did make me giggle!
Holland is dull, dingy, dreich and damp, as per usual, but it's jolly nice to see my friends up here. I discovered that three of the dancers have taken up knitting in the last year, so we've been comparing cables! (Or 'How Not To Cable' as it turns out...) The Swan, one of the dancers, has offered to introduce me to his favourite LYS (expensive) and another dancer, The Lovely Canadian, has offered to show me hers (euro-tastic). You can guess which one my wallet will let me visit... Oo - I have found a rather excellent craft shop in The Hague, though - I had to be torn away from the wire and beads and knitting needles and sparkly things and hooks and jewellery findings and embroidery threads and fimo blocks and hand-made paper and... Actually it was just as well there was a shop next door selling Cadbury's chocolate, or I would still be in the craft shop lusting over everything...
But I have been knitting... mostly Q's draught excluder (still don't ask...) but I finished one of the Brigid socks - hoorah. I'll try and upload a photo, but as I'm not at my own computer I'm not sure if it will work...
Whee - upload successful! Ach well, the photo is not the best quality, but you get the gist... The sock fits, though - a grand accomplishment for me! I'm now on Brigid Two, but I'm also around row 40 of the Wavy Socks - 'tis a pretty pattern! Mum's Coco bag is also slowly being added to, but I'm hoping I'll have a plethora of FO's to post when I get back down to France at the end of the month...
Q's Birthday Bear was a great success, btw, although after being named 'Stanley', he has now been re-christened 'Bear of Chucky' as his blue eyes seem to be unnerving the best friend somewhat... 'Tis easily remedied, but it did make me giggle!
Saturday, 8 March 2008
'Tis that travelling time again - I'm off up to Holland tomorrow for a reprise of the dance production 'MERG' (which is Dutch for 'marrow' or 'an inmost or essential part') with the Leine&Roebana Dance Company, and - oh woe is me - I'm leaving my little hermitage! (I chose a career that is not completely conducive to my homebody sensibilities... what's a girl to do?!) But I thought I'd throw on a couple of FO's before I left to go and sing some Luzzaschi, Monteverdi and Rossi... I've been a mad-woman with the sticks recently! Nothing amazing, but I'm pleased that they look okay! I'm staying with Q when I'm up there and I wanted all his birthday pressies finished before I arrived. Nothing like a dead-line to concentrate the mind...
I decided to make a little pouch from the ever-open 'Last-Minute Knitted Gifts' to house the bear I made for Q. Actually, it started off as just something else for his birthday (Q, not the bear!) but he looks cute in it, (the bear, not Q!) so I've decided to combine the two, as it were...
The pouch does look better on it's own, however well-meant my ambition for a bear-bag was, but it does has a high cuteness factor just the same!! I couldn't bear (pun not *really* intended) to cover the wee man's head, so he looks more like he's in a fancy-schmancy sleeping bag!
I'm also making bits and pieces for my Mum's birthday coming up in May - she'll be reaching another mile-stone age and I know she loves hand-made things, being the arty type herself. (You should have seen the great vase my sister decorated her for Mother's Day last weekend.) So far the Wire Rose is for her, as is the Coco bag currently in progress, but I've just finished my first crocheted thing... Okay, it was just a couple of chains and some jewellery findings, but...
Green 28-gauge wire (Hoh yes - I've learned the Lesson Of The Wrong Gauge) and a 2.5mm crochet hook! Oh, and a lots of green glass beads!
I'm now trying to decide what to take up with me to knit... Brigid socks, of course (I'm determined not to suffer from SSS); the Coco bag to finish cabling; I found a lovely pattern for socks called 'Giles Wavy Socks' that is a definite starter; a pile of yarn to make a draught-excluder for Q (don't ask...) and as long as I find a LYS up there, all other demands should be met...
I just have to remember how the music goes now...
I decided to make a little pouch from the ever-open 'Last-Minute Knitted Gifts' to house the bear I made for Q. Actually, it started off as just something else for his birthday (Q, not the bear!) but he looks cute in it, (the bear, not Q!) so I've decided to combine the two, as it were...
The pouch does look better on it's own, however well-meant my ambition for a bear-bag was, but it does has a high cuteness factor just the same!! I couldn't bear (pun not *really* intended) to cover the wee man's head, so he looks more like he's in a fancy-schmancy sleeping bag!
I'm also making bits and pieces for my Mum's birthday coming up in May - she'll be reaching another mile-stone age and I know she loves hand-made things, being the arty type herself. (You should have seen the great vase my sister decorated her for Mother's Day last weekend.) So far the Wire Rose is for her, as is the Coco bag currently in progress, but I've just finished my first crocheted thing... Okay, it was just a couple of chains and some jewellery findings, but...
Green 28-gauge wire (Hoh yes - I've learned the Lesson Of The Wrong Gauge) and a 2.5mm crochet hook! Oh, and a lots of green glass beads!
I'm now trying to decide what to take up with me to knit... Brigid socks, of course (I'm determined not to suffer from SSS); the Coco bag to finish cabling; I found a lovely pattern for socks called 'Giles Wavy Socks' that is a definite starter; a pile of yarn to make a draught-excluder for Q (don't ask...) and as long as I find a LYS up there, all other demands should be met...
I just have to remember how the music goes now...
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
AARGH!! (Translation - WHEEEEE!)
This is a nightmare. (Trans. - this is fabulous!) I can't keep away. I can't stop fiddling. I can't stop fussing. Maybe this will be the last template incarnation, and I can get on with whatever I'm actually supposed to be getting on with! And I'm supposed to be getting on with learning some Mahler, learning Santuzza's aria (what?!), re-learning the Monteverdi, Luzzaschi and Rossi for the MERG dance performances, getting to grips with some new Mozart arias and finishing the Teddy for my best friend.
And not necessarily in that order.
But as addictive fun goes, I give this blogging lark 10 out of 10. (FYI - I decided to go with the black background as it's environmentally friendlier than a bright screen [less energy/power is used to show a dark screen], and it has nothing to do with my faffing about with what I think looks prettier! At all. Honest.)
So, I shall sign out, make some coffee, rev up the engine (warm-up) and start annoying the neighbours. Mind you, one of them seems to have a deep and intense need to loudly play his recordings of Romantic piano music at random times of the day, so I'm sure my screaming away will cause not an eyelid to bat.
But I might just check my emails first...
This is a nightmare. (Trans. - this is fabulous!) I can't keep away. I can't stop fiddling. I can't stop fussing. Maybe this will be the last template incarnation, and I can get on with whatever I'm actually supposed to be getting on with! And I'm supposed to be getting on with learning some Mahler, learning Santuzza's aria (what?!), re-learning the Monteverdi, Luzzaschi and Rossi for the MERG dance performances, getting to grips with some new Mozart arias and finishing the Teddy for my best friend.
And not necessarily in that order.
But as addictive fun goes, I give this blogging lark 10 out of 10. (FYI - I decided to go with the black background as it's environmentally friendlier than a bright screen [less energy/power is used to show a dark screen], and it has nothing to do with my faffing about with what I think looks prettier! At all. Honest.)
So, I shall sign out, make some coffee, rev up the engine (warm-up) and start annoying the neighbours. Mind you, one of them seems to have a deep and intense need to loudly play his recordings of Romantic piano music at random times of the day, so I'm sure my screaming away will cause not an eyelid to bat.
But I might just check my emails first...
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