Meanwhile, backstage at the Nutcracker….

I’ve spent lots of my week backstage.  That is, when I haven’t been curling hip length hair into pristine 17th century pin curls.  It’s been a whirlwhind and I’m only just now gearing up for this morning’s preparation for the matinee and evening show.

But, a minute to blog first.

This is a bit of the backstage milieu.

There is lots and lots of waiting, perhaps too much as you can see from the slightly put out look on Miss Ellie’s face.  But the final result is always worth it.

It has been a joyful event for her to have the opportunity to dance with a professional company in such a lovely little role.

Meantime, we have not been ignoring Blythe.  Oh no.  We managed to pull out the pink fluffy sweater my cousin Ann knitted for my Barbies when I was about Ellie’s age, and it is now the centerpiece of Blythe’s (renamed Elizabeth) wardrobe.  It’s close to 40 years old.

I’m really looking forward to spending some time with Blythe and having her become a part of the art scene in our house.  We haven’t had much time yet, but she is very engaging and I think it will be lots of fun.

There has also been some knitting for Blythe and although it doesn’t look like much here, while blocking, this little shawl and skirt set looked pretty cute while I was knitting (this was a made up the pattern as I went along sort of deal) it and I have high hopes for it.  It’s fun knitting in this scale and the design possibilities are endless, which is a good thing since there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of patterns for her.

Blythe is not the only one for whom knitting is in progress right now, obviously.  I’ll share two quick things, both a product of my love affair with Be Sweet yarns.  I love the little wobblies that show up in the Magic Balls, and realized that by disassembling and recombining balls, I could have even more wobblies in one item, which is the method I used for knitting this hat.

It is sooo cute.  I don’t usually identify things that I really like as "cute" but I’m making an exception here.  I adore this hat and am happy it turned out so well as it is for a very special friend.  It’s so pretty I have to show y’all the close up version too. 

I’m also knitting another tea cozy from Be Sweet, this one in a very
sedate mix of browns and blues with a bit of my own brown mohair thrown
in to even things out.  This yarn has tiny beads in addition to the
bobbles and it’s altogether fascinating to knit with.  It is going to be stunning over the Judge’s tea pot, although I’m a bit nervous it isn’t quite large enough.

I’m off to roll endless quantities of long hair on teeny-tiny rollers before we leave for the theater, but I’m well-stocked for the day.  Blythe is coming along, so I’ve put together a little satchel of yarns to play with for her, including some of my favorite leftovers and a small skein of my own "Treasure" yarn that I though might work up into a nice coat for her.