Hear the Lonesome Whippoorwill

We went to see Cowboy Junkies play tonight, downtown at the McDougall church. They're celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Trinity Sessions, which means playing the whole album start to finish (plus a few more recent songs for encores.) The Trinity Sessions album was one of my favourites throughout my formative years. I listened to it endlessly -- I feel like it's really a part of me -- and I distinctly remember sending it to more than one overseas friend, as an example of the phenomenal music Canadian musicians create.

My HLM got me the Trinity Revisited DVD/CD a while ago, which is amazing -- if you haven't seen it, you really should. Seeing them play live, however, was transcendent. They play masterfully, with such passion, and her voice is indescribably perfect, especially with the powerful acoustics in the church. I only got one blurry photo of Margo, which you see above, the stained-glass windows reflected in the glass behind her -- I wish you all could have been there with us.

Be Excellent to Each Other

George Carlin, 1937 - 2008

A Study in Circles

Clue 2, Chart D: done.

Squishy coppery yarn for Secret Baby Project.

Fuel for above.

I Love a Good Mystery

Franklin over at The Panopticon has something very important to remind us of, if you care to read it.

I have been despairing a bit about what to blog about for a couple of days. I've been quilting merrily away, beginning to see the end in sight for this one, which would make me sad, except that my mind is racing for the next one I plan to make (and the next, and the next.) But the quilt images (while beautiful) get a bit dull day after day for you, my loyal reader, n'est pas?

So you can well imagine my relief to find the Anniversary Mystery Shawl from Goddess Knits, while poking around Ravelry last night. By this morning, I had signed up -- signup is still open until June 30th, if you want to try it yourself -- and by this afternoon, I had finished a gauge swatch and knitted up the first clue.

If you aren't familiar with the concept of a Mystery Shawl, the basic idea is that each week, the designer releases a Clue, which contains a part of the pattern. You knit up that part and then wait for the next week's Clue, to see what will come next.
Until you finish, you really don't know what you're going to end up with. I did one of these last summer, and it turned out beautifully. I gave it away at the time, so I don't have a photo -- sorry. This one has another little twist -- the first clue gives you four options for a lace pattern to knit, and you get to choose which one you want. If this keeps up, it will be a sort of Choose Your Own Adventure shawl, with many different permutations of patterns to give endless possibilities. Stay tuned...

Checking In

Okay I know it's been incredibly boring for my (few) blog readers, while I plug away on both the quilting of Requiem and the knitting of the Entrelac lap throw. Here at Chez Crafty, things have been moving along quite nicely -- I've been really getting into the quilting, and enjoying the process, slow and steady. Every day I run my hands over the fabric of something I constructed, and I made hundreds of tiny little stitches to hold it together. I get to look at beautiful designs like this one, and make a little frame of quilting around each one to show it off. It's been very relaxing and gives me a real feeling of accomplishment.

The lap throw is a bit less appealing, at the moment. I have pulled an old Instant Gratification Project out of the pile to put to use my new skill at knitting backwards. It has been a very handy skill with the entrelac, since it means I don't have to turn the work to purl a wrongside row every eight stitches. I actually do the purling from the front of the work, left to right. I realized one day that I have another project which is perfect for this...

Ages ago, I started a Lizard Ridge lap throw (yes, another blanket project -- get the feeling I'm a chilly soul?) which I have been progressing on slowly, mostly due to the fact that I haven't bought all of the skeins I need, from the outset, but instead joined a yarn club that sends me a Kureyon skein every 6 weeks or so. Not only does it make the yarn colours more random than if I was choosing them deliberately, but it also seems more affordable than buying them all at once. Yarn Math. So here you see the first six completed blocks for my Lizard Ridge. I have two more skeins, so may do another block or two soon, but for now, I just wanted to give you a bit of eye candy to tide you over until I get something else to show you.

I hope you are progressing with your projects, and feeling some accomplishment as well...