Saturday night I went to the ballet with my youngest son, Luke, his girlfriend, C, and her mom, M. We drove into Seattle early, THANK GOODNESS! because the Mercer St. off ramp was closed, and we had to detour. Lucky for me, my kids danced in the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker about a million times, and during those years of driving into Seattle for 20 + shows, we learned many different routes. Anyway, we ate dinner at McMenamin's Pub on Queen Anne Hill, then walked over to McCaw Hall for the show. And it was wonderful.
I hadn't been to see the company perform for about 4 years, and frankly, 3-4 years ago, I felt they put on disappointing shows. The corps always seemed so sloppy. Somehow, the shows just never felt clean. But, wow, the corps didn't have much to do Saturday night, really just one dance in the mix rep of Love Stories (mostly Pas de Deux), but they were perfect. In fact, they outshone the couple doing the lead in that dance! The rest of the pas's in the first "act" of the show were all fabulous. I don't remember thinking that Seth Orza was anything really great, before. I didn't think he was bad, just not wonderful. Well! he danced beautifully, partnering with style and strength. You have to understand that I tend to watch the men since my sons are my dancers. I especially like to watch men partnering, I know a bit of what my sons are learning, and it is really fun to watch the pros do it.
The second "act" of the mixed rep, was the Wedding Act from The Sleeping Beauty. Wow. Every single dance was great. They had some last minute substitutions. I'm not sure if dancers were sick or injured or what, but we were supposed to see Jonathan Porretta (who is my absolute favorite dancer at PNB) do the Bluebird Pas, but instead we saw Jerome Tisserand, who is only a member of the Corps, and were NOT disappointed. Jerome was fabulous. Maria Chapman and Karel Cruz (I watched both of these dancers move from the corps to Principals) danced the roles of Aurora and the Prince, and were terrific. Karel has the longest legs in the world. And, my kids like to say, Maria has the skinniest ankles in the company. She has absolutely beautiful feet. Just lovely, both of them.
The only problem was that I brought my knitting to work on in between the dances, but the hall was too dim to really see, so I didn't knit at all.
Knitting Knews
I have made some real progress on my Mystery Sweater that I am making for Sharing Our Gifts Across America group in Ravelry. I am almost finished with the first sleeve:
And here is a bit closer look at the sleeve:
Not much pattern, really it is just row after row of Stockinette Stitch. I have finished all of the decreases now, and will straight knit until it is long enough to do the little bit of pattern before the cuff.
My son, Luke, tried it on, and it was a bit short on him. He is very tall, but has a short waist for his height. I might pick up the bottom and knit some more rows to make the body longer. But, I will wait until I have finished both sleeves, and the neck.
The sleeve I am working on is knitting up very quickly now as I have reduced it to only 40 stitches. That is like one side of ONE of the Mr. Pitt's Socks I am making for my friend, M.
The Mr. Pitt's Socks are coming along nicely. I have about 4 1/2 inches of the legs knit. The pattern calls for the legs to be pretty long, and there are 80 stitches cast on for each sock, so it is a bit of knitting to get around. I am knitting these TAAT, so even one row is a slow go. However, it is a very simple k3 p 1 rib, and pretty mindless. It is amazing how often I get off though. You would think that I could count to 3. Hmmmmm, oh well, this is what they look like now:
There were no new clues for the Movember Mystery Sock, so there has been no progress. If there is a clue tonight, or tomorrow morning, I will knit this sock first before working on the Mr. Pitt's socks.
I have done nothing but the CO for my Osier Socks. I am going to try to finish the legs of the Mr. Pitt's socks before really working on these. I know I am crazy for casting on 3 pairs of socks while I was trying to finish up a sweater. But, hey, got to go for the glory!
C. A. Losi
No comments:
Post a Comment