Monday, July 29, 2013

Field Trip!



Last week I went on a field trip.  Everyone at the office was given a free day off anytime during July with the stipulation that we do something special.  Wasn't that nice!

My first couple of ideas didn't pan out and it is just as well that they did not because I ended up having such a wonderful time. 

I took myself downtown to The High Museum to see 35 masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age including Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Oh, my!  What a treat!  I bought a Dutch Lunch ticket which was admission + lunch and just wandered around leisurely.  I don't always do leisurely so this made it extra special.  I lingered over breakfast, casually drove down, and took my time at the exhibits. 

 
I loved seeing these large portraits, marriage portraits by Frans Hals depicting Jacob Olycan and his wife Aletta Hanemans.  Look at all that lace! Imagine being able to paint that.  Or being able to capture the black on black brocade of his jacket.  The details in these were absolutely amazing.
 


This is View of Haarlem with Bleaching Grounds (ca 1670-1675).  Again, amazing detail but from such a long distance.  I learned from this that the linen industry was important to the city's economy and the linen was laid out in the sun to bleach all around the edges of the city, a process that took several months.  I had been so intent on looking at the clouds and the church in the distance that I hadn't even noticed the linen until I read the notes.       

Such a wonderful trip.  I really should get out more often. : )
            

Monday, July 1, 2013

Marrakesh reticule


I bought new string.  Couldn't help myself.  Besides string is relatively cheap and keeps me entertained for hours. 
 
[I'm using LizBeth thread; size 20, in 671-Christmas Red and 694-Autumn Orange-Med]

I have had an idea to use this tatting pattern for some time.  My copy is from The Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese de Dillmont but you can view whole ebook thanks to Project Gutenberg here.  Isn't that great!  What a fabulous free resource.  There are even direct links to various sections of this lenghty book.  If you'd like to look at the pattern I selected, scroll done to the Tatting section and click on the link for "Patterns of Scallops and Medallions". 

I had an idea to use this for another tatted reticule.  You can see from that bit at the bottom of the above  photo that I had a bit of a setback but things are going more smoothly now. 

Last summer when I suspended blogging for a bit I was right in the middle of the first tatted reticule.  I did finish it:
It was a very enjoyable project.  Tatting is much more summer-friendly than knitting with wool.  Alas.

Currently my idea for this new bag is to do just a deep edging and then, using the same string (not sure which color yet) to knit a bag and affix the edging at the top.   For my bag last summer I knitted just a shallow bottom which I attached to the bottom tatted edging.  For this one the idea is to have the entire bag in stockinette with a deep edging overlay.