Potpourri 4/21/13

Tiger Eye Afghan Progress

I'm continuing to make slow, but steady, progress on the second baby afghan. Not crazy about some of the pooling, but overall, I still like the blanket.

Knit Knacks

I spent a little time at Knit yesterday.  Still hard to believe that the store will close in less than two weeks now, and I still have yet to wrap my head around it. The sadness hasn't hit me yet.

Single sheet patterns were 75%, and I can never have too many hat patterns.

Also brought a couple of skeins of Cascade 220 Paints that I every been eyeing for a long time and my favorite knitting book, The Knitter's Companion. 40% off.

This is my third edition of The Knitter's Companion, and I still have the other two. This one has a couple of DVDs to boot.

I love the size of the book, the fact that it's spiral bound and portable.  I like the table of contents and the illustrations.  I refer to it often, and feel that every knitter should own one.

Since I probably don't need three, I'll give the second newest one away.  Just comment to enter.

What Say You?

I brought a pattern on Ravelry for a cute shell, but it didn't give a suggested needle size-- just said to choose a needle that gives you the gauge.  While I realize the importance of being on gauge, I do like to start a swatch with a suggested needle size and work from there.  It just made me grumpy.

I emailed the designer and she told be the size that she used.  

What do you think? Should I have gotten so out of joint about something I was going to do anyway? Should the needle size be part of a pattern?

Hamlet in a Hoodie

After leaving the yarn shop. I went to see Holy City Shakespeare's production of Hamlet.  I adore the play, and seen many versions of it.  It's unfortunate that Shakespeare sometimes gets relegated to the snobbery and "dead white mans" bins because I find it to be fresh and full of language that we use almost every day, and for the people. Each time I see the plays, I see something new.

I guess I'm somewhat traditional and conservative, so I sometimes give a side eye to modern productions of the Bard. While I fervently believe that Shakespeare's plays are universal, I don't like someone "moderning" them up just for edginess sake--it had better work. This one had cell phones, cable news broadcasts, tunes that included Garbage and the Beastie Boys, and a female Horatio.

And I liked it.

It was also cool to chat with the cast after the play and get served cupcakes.  If you are in the Charleston area, check them out.  Next week is the last week of performances.

This time, I felt bad for Laertes. He got caught in the spider web and lost his father, sister, and his own life--collateral damage.

Another modern take on Hamlet that won me over is the RSC production with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart.  It has surveillance cameras and even a helicopter!

 Here's the final scene.

 

Good night sweet prince, for now.

Comments

[Dorothy]

I seem to have lost my copy of Knitters Companion, so sure would like to be entered in the drawing. I agree with you about the needle size. A designer should at least give you a suggested size. Otherwise, how do you know where to start. My little crocheted afghan is coming along - I'm almost ready to start decreasing.