This week’s work & a trip to the museum

Not too much to report on this week. I spent some time putting heels in some striped socks, so there should be a Finished-Object post on Friday (If I can remember to take photos, of course).

I’ve gotten some work done on the current design sock-in-progress. I do have another design floating through my brain, I just need to decide what colours to work with. It’s a fairly easy idea, so I’m trying to find a way to make it a little more…interesting.  Which, of course, could be my downfall.  I tend to overthink things.

I also managed to put a couple more inches on Robin’s Cobblestone Pullover.  This makes me a very happy camper. Here’s hoping that progress continues!

In other news, we got word from our friend Chelsea that a special exhibit was opening at the local museum (The Glenbow). As we had Sunday off together this past week, Robin & I decided to head downtown on the C-Train. Since I didn’t have any kind of simple socks on the needles, I cast on a plain old stripey sock on the train.

We took a bit of a walk down to 17th Avenue for a nice lunch first. On the way, we passed the railway. There are times when I love playing the tourist in this city. I have to admit that while there isn’t a ton of great architecture, there are a couple of buildings that I’d be sad to see torn down.  The CP Railway station is one of ’em. Very art deco!

After lunch, we popped around the corner from the restaurant to Pudding Yarn. Pudding has been getting some small quantities of Lorna’s Laces in the past few months.  I managed to pick up a couple of the more unusually-themed colourways in the past 6 months…”Robot Overlord” and “Zombie BBQ”. Pudding just got in some of the new Lorna’s Laces “Solemate” sock yarn, so I couldn’t resist picking up a skein to try. I’m looking forward to finding the perfect pattern to try out this new yarn!

We then beat feet up to the Glenbow and had a great look around at the exhibit.  I gather it’s one of the travelling exhibits that they get in on a touring schedule.  This one is called Cut!, and it’s all about historic costuming for movies — right up my alley. I really had to keep myself from reaching out to check seams.

It was obvious to me that everything was machine-made (ie: machine-sewn, not hand-sewn), and much of the embroidery was also “fudged”…but you’d never know it unless you were right up and close to the outfit. The bare bones of the costuming, though, were pretty accurate. It would be difficult to get the same silhouettes as the chosen eras without them.

I’m not going to complain too much about corners cut in favour of expediency on the movie set.  When you consider that you might need multiple costumes for the same scene, with possibly one small change…or that they may have needed to replace a costume that was destroyed due to sweat or environment over multiple takes…sometimes you have to fudge the small stuff that the camera isn’t going to pick up.

It would have been great if they had gone earlier than the 18th Century with more of the costuming. I think the closest thing that came to “earlier” was costuming from the movie EverAfter. Yes, some of the designs from that movie were based on pre-Elizabethan era styles, but it would have been really fantastic to see costumes from the two Elizabeth movies with Cate Blanchett or possibly one of the costumes from The Other Boleyn Girl with Scarlett Johanssen and Natalie Portman.

Either way, it was an afternoon that came at me with both fun and education! I’m hoping to go back again soon with Chelsea, as she’s just as interested in the historical costuming aspect as I am.

I’d also like to thank the Glenbow Museum for labelling the exhibit as “No Flash Photography” instead of a straight-up “No Photos”.  Getting to see the garment & undergarment construction was great. Being able to to take reference photos was even better. I was a little unprepared for it, as I’d left my “good” camera in my purse (which was in lockup), so I had to use my cell phone…just like many of the other attendees.  Next time I’ll know better!