Fiber Content

I found a big stainless steel pot in the basement, which made me all dye crazy again. Here's Fisherman's Wool (love love love 40% off coupons for Joann's) with:
1. Wilton's cookie dye in yellow mixed with orange
2. Grape and blue lemonade Kool Aid and Wilton Icing Dye in Solid Black
The icing dye broke in the hot water (so much for being "solid"), separating into purplish brown and hunter green. Not what I expected, but pretty nonetheless. I dyed one other skein in a different color, but that one's going to my Secret Pal 8 spoilee, so it's all very hush-hush.

This has been my pet knitting for the past few weeks:
This will be another modified fulled lopi tote. No lopi here, though. The turquoise is Lamb's Pride Bulky (with Bernat Boa), the pink is Cascade 220 from my lovely SP8 (with Bernat Matrix), and the variagated is Noro Kureyon. Using different yarn weights together has been a challenge, and I've been changing row width as I go to try to compensate. I guess I'll have to wait until after the felting to see what I've done. Oooo, the suspense! With a knife you could cut it!

I've picked Icarus back up. I've fixed my little boo-boo and will soon be at the bind off. It looks like there are a million stitches on this needle! To the edge I go...

Mr. Brown Comes to Washington

I got to see Alton Brown at the Smithsonian last night! So cool! He's even quirkier and funnier on stage than on his show. The auditorium was packed with his fans and he didn't disappoint. He was plugging his new book/TV movie about road food, so he shared film excerpts and anecdotes in an "inside the actors studio" format. I managed to get a few blurry photos:A brave and fortunate audience member got to play the host (a.k.a. James Lipton). Then there was a Q&A with some good questions and some oddball ones too (some of his fans are as...um...eccentric...as he is). Anyway, I laughed a lot, and when I wasn't laughing too hard to control my fingers, I knit. FYI, stocking in the round with worsted weight is a nice dim-lights-and-many-distractions knitting, until you get to those darn stich markers!

Sundry Updates

The concert was a blast on Saturday! Lots of fun singing and a very appreciative audience to boot! We sang Schubert's Mass in G, Hailstork's "I Will Lift Mine Eyes," nd Beethoven's Choral Fantasie. The last one is the music from the old Dean Witter TV ads - you know the ones Saturday Night Live used to make fun of. This was way before they merged with Morgan Stanley). I think one of the best things about summer concerts is that they attract people who might not have been to a choral performance before. Classical music has a reputation (not always undeserved) for stuffiness, and having a good choir singing dressed down in t-shirts can change some perceptions.

Polly asked about music samples, which is a great idea! I will try to find some excerpts from concerts I've been in. I'm one voice in a hundred, so you won't hear me personally - at least I hope not. If I'm feeling brave, I'll post something from one of my voice lessons. I can do a respectable Katisha, though I like to think I'm not a vengeful, scorned woman. That's one of those choral biases that probably stems from common human generalizations: Sopranos are innocent heroines (the lovely young blond who gets the guy in the end). The altos are older and cleverer (not meant as a compliment). They never get the guy, or at least not the guy they want. The tenors are the heroes (the dashing one who runs off with the soprano) and the basses are either older wise men or older evil men.

After the concert, Icarus and I took a mutual time out. I made a small boo boo on the last row - no big deal really: I can fix it by dropping down a row (no tinking back), but I thought I could use a break from all those damn beads! I have to get back to it in a day or two because the intended giftee will be leaving in a couple of weeks.

Do Re Mi So Crazy

A few months ago, in a moment of uncharacteristic optimism, I signed up to sing in the University of Maryland Summer Chorus. How was this optimistic? Well, because I knew that, though summer music groups are less formal in appearance (picture soloists in flipflops), the commitment is still quite serious. But I signed up anyway! What is wrong with me?!

One more rehearsal until the concert tomorrow. Afterwards, I can breathe easy and solemnly swear never to do this again. Although ...they are having auditions for the upcoming season in August....no, no, no! Must fight the urge - I just have to keeping reminding myself that auditions make me very queasy and if (by some miracle) I get in, I'll be too tired and harried to be happy about it.