02 October 2007

And we're back...

New York was wonderful - perfect weather, good food and company, a foray to The Age of Rembrandt at the Met - even if I didn't visit a single yarn shop and missed Spin Out in the Park. I did get a fair bit of Clapotis knit up, especially as Bravo had a 30 Rock marathon during my return flight (love DirecTV on JetBlue!). Tina Fey is awesome! Most of the episodes I'd seen, but there were a few that were new to me. Anyway, I giggled my way back to Chicago and the leetle lady, who had a great "bacation" with Grandma and Grandpa while I had mine back East.

So, this show at the Met. What a ridiculous way to organize - by robber baron donor! Never mind that there are five Vermeers and 20 Rembrandts, it's all about who donated the paintings to the museum and when the pieces entered the collection. The show did crystalize for me that I prefer Dutch floral still life painting, as well as other still life works (table scenes, mostly) to portraits and plein air pieces. Frans Hals leaves me cold. And the Vermeers were not as stunning as I had hoped. Well, actually Young Woman with a Water Pitcher is gorgeous, and A Maid Asleep is a tour de force of light, which is what I realized I respond to in Dutch painting. Maybe that's a "duh" for everyone else, but it was a little revelation for me. The show was crowded (we went Saturday early evening before dinner in Soho), but it is fun to experience the New York crowd.

I'll try to get a progress shot of Clapotis this afternoon (it's incredibly misty here this morning). The yarn is great, and the drops are fun. The first one I made was for my mom in handpaintedyarn.com's wool laceweight, a single-ply, sticky yarn that made the drops a bit of a chore. I'm on the third skein and think I will end up using four of the five, leaving the last skein of Koigu for Endpaper Mitts.

In knits in New York news, I did wear my Reading-in-bed Shrug Saturday morning out to brunch.

2 comments:

  1. Young Woman with a Water Pitcher is one of my favorite paintings, I'd love to see it in real life sometime. Sounds like you had a good trip!

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  2. Hi,

    I found you on Ravelry and wanted to invite you to our knitting group. We meet at the new Starbucks on Lake Street just west of the Edens. I posted a note on Ravelry, but wasn't sure if you would see it today.

    We meet every Wednesday at 6:30 - some stay until 8pm, others until they kick us out at 9pm.

    Come join us!

    Lynae

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