Sunday, February 22, 2009

Oh Coraline!


Left to right in the above photo are Althea Crome, Lynn Bernstein and Yours Truly. The year is 1983 and the place is the fourth floor of McKinnon Hall at Ohio University (thanks to a venerable little bird for the cleaned-up pic). We were some good buddies back then. I've just recently reconnected with those two wonderful women and I'm sure glad for that.

But there is something here for you too. Althea is an expert in miniature knitting. She created some of the costumes for the new movie Coraline. She's having a bit of bandwidth trouble right now, but I urge everyone to check back and surf her knitting site when it's back up. It is incredible.

Here's Althea talking about her craft and the film:



As for the movie, I just saw the 3D version and LOVED it. I was rapt from beginning to end. And it wasn't just me. The theater was about three-fourths full of kids and there was hardly a peep for the entire show. The worn-out circus performers that serve as supporting characters and the fantastical blooming garden absolutely jazzed me, and that's just to mention a couple of things.

Coraline will make you believe in magic again.



Now how is that for some cool stuff!

12 comments:

Simon said...

I love the pic, and the headgear compounds your je ne sais quoi.

Anonymous said...

I was so enthralled through the whole movie! And it was the same in my theater ... very quiet crowd of adults & children alike, everyone was so entertained.

Althea's knitting skills are amazing! How difficult that would be. Those little sweaters are so detailed .. I love it!

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is super incredible that she can knit so tiny like that. Very impressive and amazing!

glittermom said...

amazing someone can knit something so small...Its a total of 3 inches...In Entertainment Weekly someone asked if it was available in real size...a human size pattern is available on the movies offical site...www.coraline.com/images/sweater_pattern.pdf

Alan states said...

can't wait to see it, thanks for the heads up

Erin O'Brien said...

This is the good stuff methinks. I love that Althea followed her heart to be a mini-knitter!

dean said...

Loved Coraline, although I'm not sure about the inclusion of Whybie.

Anyway, I wonder what any of you would have said if someone had told you in 1983 that Althea would knit tiny sweaters for a movie in 2008.

dean said...

And what sweaters... my mind is still in the process of boggling.

Anonymous said...

Mini-knitting is a sure sign of the end times.

RJ

garrett said...

I'm also boggling, not that anyone cares! :-)

Thanks for sharing this Erin. That is definitely, definitely cool.

What an amazing world this is.

Zen Wizard said...

Everyone always looked like they were posing for Eighties photographs back in the Eighties.

(What's a mini-knitter? Was that a job they had before computers? I wouldn't know because I'm totally not an old guy and stuff...)

Anonymous said...

i believe althea did not have a red dot on her chin that day - she looks like a dancer in "slumdog millionaire" - i have a favor to ask of althea, i have three tiny friends who are in need of clothing - i am an angel and these friend are invisible to all but me so i would have to take the measurements myself - they are approximately 2" tall, yet well proportioned - i can find nothing their size in any toy or doll store - what measurements should i take? would bust, waist, hip and inseam be adequate? . . . thank you, gabrielle the dark angel