Royal Wedding- Belated Thoughts

It's been a week since Kate and Wills (otherwise known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) tied the knot at ye old Westminster Abbey across the pond. I was awake, and forewent walking Rocky in order to watch the nuptials. What a feast for the eyes! So many hats and fancy suits in the crowd. Now I want a royal outfit to wear to synagogue on Sabbaths; only question remaining is which? Help me choose, dear readers!

Her Majesty the Queen wore an ensemble that looked more apricot on my TV than primrose yellow:
I like apricot; I'd adore this outfit most of all if the color weren't so, well, yellow. Bad color for me. Otherwise, I love the demure cut, the flower flourish on the hat, and the lovely pearls set off by the Lovers' Knot brooch, a royal heirloom.

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, arrived in style: A lot of fashionistas dissed her ensemble. I disagree. I like it; when she walks, the embroidery at the hips seemed to minimize them (not that she's wide-beamed). The pale colors maybe washed her out a bit, but they're sophisticated pales and not little-girl pastels. I could wear this outfit, hat and all.

Carole Middleton. the Queen's new in-law, wowed everyone in pale blue:
Love the whole get-up, but the hat screams for hair to be pinned up. I could totally wear that set, and my hair would be up in a chignon. Style, I haz it.

Princess Letizia of Asturias (Spain) wore this pale rose confection.
I love it. The dress looks like organdy or chiffon and may be suited to a slimmer figure than mine; the hat I'd have to try on to see how it looks but I love it anyway. I adore veils. I heart this outfit even if I can't wear it.

Outfit I love with the hat I hate award goes to Princess Beatrice:
The outfit is me. I own a pair of shoes that match. Pearl earrings, no other jewelry needed. All I would need is a matching hat in organza and you may courtsey and call me "My Lady." Why Princess Beatrice chose to wear antennae on her forehead is beyond me. If I'd been wearing pearls when I saw her arrive at the wedding, I would have clutched them.

Worst overall outfit award goes to Princess Eugenie:
This was the best photo I could find of her in the wedding attire, plus you get to see how gorgeous her sister's Valentino outfit is and how hideous that hat is. Eugenie looks like something out of a fairy tale, but not in a good way. Bows at the bust are not for the busty; take it from another well-endowed woman. I can't totaly blame Eugenie for the hat; I noted several other women with blue canoes perched on foreheads. Must be a new trend, one I fervently hope remains on that side of the pond forever.

Mazel tov!

As you can see from the photos taken by a guest, the wedding was a success. Yes, the couple are still around this week, having special dinners in their honor almost every night this week (and incidentally, writing a few thank-you notes every day as well). Yes, I went to work yesterday and my VA grant has been submitted. The train managed to fit into the same zip code as the wedding (though it took the personal bridal assistant, who came with the venue's package deal, quite a bit of doing and pinning to get the train to stay put). The flowers were lovely, the maid of honor glowed (I'm very proud of the younger sister for her grace and poise), and the food was nothing short of amazing. From what I've heard so far from guests, a good time was had by all. And if you want to see where I am, I'm the one in deep green satin opposite the bride in the third photo. Mazel tov!

Wedding Update

Remember the wedding dress with the train in its own zip code? The headpiece with veil may reach the Goodyear blimp:


I couldn't fit the entire veil in the photo because I ran out of room in the room.
Excuse the mess please; those are all wedding gifts awaiting their new home (the green towels too).

The bride gets to pick 2 subjects for her ice sculptures. See who volunteered:


Back to the seating chart for now.

Good Deeds Can Be Rewarded

Last month, Southerngirlknits posted a challenge on Ravelry to entice knitters to donate to Doctors without Borders. Look what yours truly won from the challenge:


Such luscious yarn, super-wash, and 464 yards of it, enough for a lovely shawlette-type scarf. The corals are my favorite color in the universe too. Thank you so much Allison.

On the knitting front, I seem to be knitting Zeno's paradox here with Carefree: no matter how long I knit (and I usually work on it for 2 to 3 hours at a time), I'm still stuck at 3 inches away from the armhole.
Today I mean to conquer the armhole, though I also need to knit my swatch of Evenstar.
Correction: I knitted my Evesntar swatch, ha!


It's a knitting times like this that WIPs can go into hibernation. Not that the Carefree pattern is hard (it's not), not the yarn isn't a great yarn (I love it), it's the feeling of "the hurrieder I go, the behinder I get," as a folk saying has it. I like knitting to defined milestones (though I'm a process knitter; however I must finish garments because they are needed). And I want to have this sweater ready to wear next month, because the week after DD#1's wedding, there will be dinner parties every night feting the young couple for a week (Orthodox Jews do not go on a honeymoon right after the wedding but go away some time after this week of parties). I'd also like to finish my Shetland Triangles shawl, if for no other reason than it's such a fun knit and I'm about halfway done with it.

Speaking of the wedding, it's one month from today. That is a sobering thought. Response cards have begun flooding in. Some are amusing to read: some just say "yes"(and we have to scramble find the envelope it came in to figure out who didn't put names on the card), one says "We'll try to make it to the ceremony and ..." That's a quote. I'll take that as regrets. And some come with gifts in the form of checks for the couple. Lovely gesture if the checks can be negotiated. You see, the groom's parents gave him a legal name, but then always called him by a nickname. And insisted the nickname, not the legal name, be on the invitation. So the invitation reads something like this:

Experimental and Dear Husband Knitter
Robert and Isabelle Morton
request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their children
Victoria Regina and Al.

Checks have arrived made out to Mr.and Mrs. Al Morton. Al Morton is not on the bank account; legal Name Morton is. Other checks have come to Mr.and Mrs. Victoria and Dear Husband Knitter. I think DD#1 can deposit that one. Tomorrow, DD#1 tells me, she and fiancee are going to open up a joint account, with nickname of fiancee included. A good solution. Why didn't we put Al in parentheses after legal name, as is correct according to Emily Post, Miss Manners, Letitia Baldridge, and all sorts of wedding mavens? The in-laws don't want people in their town to know their son has a legal name. This is the true reason; if I were a Girl Scout, I'd write "Scout's honor." **sigh** As I tell DD#1, this should be the worst stuff you have to endure, forever!

Wedding Musings

(Jozef Israëls, "A Jewish Wedding," 1903, Oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum)

A wedding is supposed to be a joyous occasion.
I write "supposed to be," because the closer the date looms, the sadder I get.
In part it's the non-stop tumult: do this, go there, call that person, run the other errand. It never ends (or so it seems). But a large part of it is the fact that my first-born child, my one-time baby, will no longer be just mine. Even though she made her way out in the world, going to college, finishing a demanding degree, getting a job, paying off her loans, and taking her younger sister to the UK for 3 weeks over the summer, she's still my baby. And always will be.

Yesterday we all went to the dressmaker so that DD#2, the maid of honor, could have her final fitting before returning to college. The dress is a perfect fit. Now the shoes can go out for dying. See the lovely vintage rose color of the dress?
It's nearly the same color stripe I worked into her Ribby cardi years ago. She just retrieved it to take back with her. It's made of Berroco Luxe in Lavender and Begonia. Although I like Luxe as a dressy yarn, it has a too soft hand for a cardi in my opinion. Yet DD#2 saw the yarn in my stash and clamored for her ribby to be made this way. She loves it and that's what counts.


At the dressmaker's, we all got a preview of the bridal gown. Even in the garment bag, we could see its shimmering yards of Duchesse satin, waiting to be worn. The first fitting date will be Thursday. A sneak peak of the pattern is here:

As for my gown, it wasn't ready enough for me to get a peak. But this is the pattern:

Mine will be deep moss green satin.

In Jewish wedding ceremonies, the mothers of the bride and groom play a role. When the marriage contract is read aloud being signed (this takes place before the guests assemble for the chuppah, usually during the pre-chuppah buffet), the two mothers break a plate, to symbolize that the couple are now engaged in the sense that they've entered the first of the 3 stages of the Jewish wedding ceremony. I don't remember my mother and late MiL doing this; it's a custom and not all Jews follow this custom. Still, DD#1 wants it, so now I have to find a mallet. Why we can't just drop the plate to break it (it'll be wrapped in a cloth napkin anyway) is one of those unanswered questions.