i cannot tell you that her real name is kathy but i do have a pal -- a very ex-cellent gift-giver herself, giving me a run for my money -- who wishes to be known by the alias "paloma". there are probably precious few vietnamese women in the world named paloma, but all the more reason to have one. it is her birthday today. paloma's birthday. (i am winking. get it?)
this past weekend ben, paloma and i were treated to a pre-hoi-polloi showing of the dali exhibit, (i ate some chocolate covered ants!) and lunch at illuminare (which is owned by the brother of my friend kevin), by daddy warbucks.
for paloma's birthday, i gave her a portrait of a dog by todd marrone, and this mobile, knitted in koigu and embellished with sequins, beads, silk ribbons and buttons. i was a koigu virgin up until this point, and big deal, it's yarn. but i am now very devoted to lantern moon's small double-pointed needles.
i found the pattern for this mobile -- originally just a little patchwork sewing project -- in a british stitching magazine that was tossed in along with my blackwork stuff for my birthday. i am a bit of an anglophile, but i still believe that every incredibly cool thing that DOES come out of england is in direct defiance to those peoples' genetic programming, which directs them to lie around like puddings, not going places, out of fear they will be picked up by a white slave trade ring.
the pattern was straightforward enough, and included gentle hints at the end of it, for "options", in case, you know, you should run out of them.
You can change the scale of your square to create bigger or smaller mobiles.
Mix and match the size of the triangles for variety.
and my favorite "option":
Use different colours to create a totally different effect.
different "effects". produced by different colors. as my old friend paulie russo would say, who do no dat. one ponders the possibilities. for red hatters, for instance, "different colors" would produce a "different effect" -- a mutinous effect, and there would be townspeople, and torches, like in frankenstein, if they chose wrong.
it stands to reason that the british version of this mobile -- the one pictured in the magazine along with the pattern -- was done in various shades of white.
i myself have a few "options" when making one of these again: i might make one for hanging in an oft-used closet, and stuff the little triangles with fragrant herbal moth repellent. i may also make numerous, more or less uniform strands of many triangles -- creating a set of "beaded" curtains!