Two Masterpieces in One Weekend
Well…at least one is a masterpiece for Thaddeus and I, and the other will hopefully turn out to be a masterpiece once blocked.
Local Auction
For fans of The Antiques Roadshow
Anyway, Rago owns a local auction house across the river from me in Lambertville, NJ and their latest “discovery auction” included a painting that Thaddeus saw and loved, and when we went for the preview, I had to agree that it was beautiful.
The painting is an untitled, undated portrait by Elof Wedin. The frame is hand-carved, and quite beautiful, and we’re thinking it might be done by his brother who did that kind of work.
There was nothing else in the auction that we wanted, so we scheduled to arrive around 7:00 on Saturday evening to bid on it. Fortunately, we arrived about 30 minutes early, because the one piece we wanted was minutes away from going on the block. We were paralyzed for a moment when the auctioneer made the first bid for $100 less than we were willing to bid, thinking that she would go quite a bit higher than we wanted to pay, but we recovered quickly upped her bid.
No more bids were placed, and the lovely painting now hangs in our bedroom. We couldn’t be more pleased.
Current Knitting
I was honestly concerned I wasn’t going to be able to finish the Ichida lace piece again this weekend, but I spent hours and hours (about 14 in total) this weekend, and the lace if finally off the needles.
I haven’t blocked it yet…the crocheted-off edging took way longer than I expected, and so I didn’t have enough time to pin it out and make it lovely. I’ll try to get that done this weekend.
Now…what do I work on next?
Readers’ Comments/Questions
Friend Carol asks, “If God hasn’t friended me, does that mean I’m going to burn in hell?”
Yes dear…sorry.
Anonymous wrote, “I know you probably hate people correcting grammar. (most people do.) But this will bug me… It’s actually Newfoundland, not New Foundland.. We Canadians get touchy about our place names.
I don’t hate being corrected at all…in fact, I quite appreciate it. I left my mistake on the blog because I didn’t want your comment to seem bizarre, but the correct spelling has been duly noted. I can’t believe I didn’t know how to spell that, and I would have corrected you too if you had typed Newyork on your blog.
Cynthia writes, “Wooo Whoooo on being a Rutgers Alum–I just became one on May 20!”
Congratulations!…I loved my time at Rutgers, and it’s always great to see someone make it through there.
Looks like I’ll be roasting along with Carol. Dang.
Love the painting! There’s something very captivating about it and I’m sure it’s even more so in full size/real life.
Congrats on the painting- it’s beautiful.
The lace is simply stunning and I can’t wait to see it blocked.
Carol and Rachel- guess we’ll be keeping each other company (probably w/ lots of other fun folks, too).
Taking a chance on using my shiny new grammar police badge.
If I had that teacher in front of me now (the one who drilled into your class that it’s always, always, always! so-and-so and I), it would be difficult to refrain from shaking that poorly educated educator. A personal pronoun such as I or he or she she changes to me or him or her when it follows a preposition. In your sentence, it would be “for Thaddeus and me.”
Haven’t heard an exception to that rule yet, but when I do it will bite me in the ass, I’m sure.
Love your calm and soothing blog.
My sister and brother-in-law were at the auction Saturday morning. Small world, no? Some of his late father’s gems and jewelery were up on the block. Harry was a freelance jeweler and my brother-in-law has dealt with Rago many times before.
I would have been at the auction too but I had to go to this wedding at the Mansion Inn. Tough life.
So will you do the Ichida dance for Mel and David next weekend?
Can’t wait to see Ichida blocked, I sure it will look even better than it does now.
Perhaps the spelling of Newfoundland has something to do with pronunciation. Here in Australia most of the news readers pronounce it as though it is spelt New Foundland with the emphasis on the New. Ah,the English language…
Any Great Big Sea (and the lovely whiskey-voiced Alan Doyle) or Rick Mercer fan knows it’s pronounced NewfoundLAND.
I’m not a lace knitter and lace has always seemed to be a small, fiddly matter to me. So I have not been even a little surprised at how long these last rows have taken. But that picture of you holding the piece gives me a whole new appreciation for the scale of the project. I mean, my god it’s huge! And that’s what it looks like *before* blocking. Now I am frankly amazed you got it done before Labor Day! Your pace seems positively zippy when put in perspective. Though, I am sympathetic that it doesn’t always feel like that. Bravo on a truly beautiful project.
I love lace!! Its beautiful!!
what a gorgeous painting! congratulations on snagging it for your bedroom. mazeltov!
fabulous lace! love the painting.
are you ill? you look thin. have you been eating enough?
just got back from seattle and victoria. fun. only bought 3 skeins of yarn!
hugs,
vtknitboy.blogspot.com