A top-notch professional singer can sing through anything short of laryngitis without wrecking their voice, or even sounding particularly off (though they might have a bit of trouble with their high notes and have to transpose down a little). I once heard d'Artagnan singing Handel in London, and
For over 25 years of my life, I couldn't physically knit because my wrists were shot. Well, you see, it's like this. When I was unable to finish my degree (I won't go into the details of why, except to say that it was
One of my aunts has a spinning wheel. She and my uncle live in the middle of Nowhere, Cumbria (oh, wait, it's not Cumbria now, is it? I'm not sure whether they're now Westmorland or Lancashire), in what I think probably used to be
There are so many things that nobody ever tells you about earrings. And I'm learning them all, at some speed, unexpectedly late in life. Let's be clear: I do not in any way regret having my ears pierced. I was never going to, but having tried
There's only one thing I don't like about latch hook rugmaking, and that's the fact that you can, after all, use only so many rugs; and, these days, I can't use rugs at all, or at least not the thick and luxurious
I'm not sure where I first came across the art of zhostovo painting. It is true that my Porthos is half Russian, but I don't think I heard about it either from him or from his redoubtable mother, who was born in Siberia and made good
Before I start talking about dress forms... yesterday's post didn't go down too well, did it? My own fault; I used the M-word in the title, and a lot of people are unduly frightened of maths. The reason for this is almost always poor teaching at
It was Alex Bellos who started it all off. I can't remember which of his books it was now, because of course I no longer have it (this is becoming an habitual refrain); but he happened to mention hyperbolic crochet and I was immediately intrigued. Here's
Peyote? That's the cactus, right? The one that produces mescaline? Actually, not in this case. I'm not planning a screed against mind-altering substances here (not that I'm interested in taking them myself, since I can quite happily manage to be as strange as anyone
It started with the Southbanks. I picked up some more fabric in a sale to make a few more of them, since they are so immensely useful, which means I'm going to end up with one in every colour I want to wear. Thankfully for my wallet, that
I used to be in the SCA, which stands for the Society for Creative Anachronism. This was (and still is) a mediaeval re-enactment society, probably best known for the fighting. People get themselves up in mediaeval armour, with a good deal of padding, and engage in mock sword fights with
Many years ago, I used to make bobbin lace; and then the furry gentleman in my icon walked into my life, along with his brother. The furry gentleman in the icon was called Minsky, and he was by far the most intelligent cat I've ever had the privilege