Casting off is the process by which the stitches are taken off the needle in a secure manner so they will not unravel. In most cases, this also creates the finished, visible edge of the fabric. The first set of…Read more
Lifestyle
Good-bye, rainy-day blues! Hello, cheerful umbrellas! These paint-it-yourself designs should put everyone in a sunny mood in no time. All you need is paint, brushes, a solid-colored nylon umbrella, and a burst of creativity. PAINTED UMBRELLAS HOW-TO SUPPLIES: Newspaper;…Read more
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Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting
Ann Hood
I AM KNITTING A SCARF FOR MY HUSBAND. I’VE CHOSEN A deep green, hand-dyed yarn, with a wonderful springy heft; I’m working in two-by-two rib with pleasure and absorption. The scarf is like a magic thread connecting me to him.…Read more
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A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston
Robyn Crawford
In the summer of 1980 I rode my black Kabuki twenty-two-speed bike across East Orange. The phone had gotten me out of bed, but the wind in my face was waking me up. Coach Clark, my high school basketball coach,…Read more
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Me
Elton John
It was my mum who introduced me to Elvis Presley. Every Friday, after work, she would pick up her wages, stop off on the way home at Siever’s, an electrical store that also sold records, and buy a new 78.…Read more
It had been eight years since I first made the leap across the Atlantic from England to Broadway. At that time, I was nineteen, totally on my own, and desperately worried about leaving my dysfunctional family behind and the huge…Read more
There’s something wonderful about being told, “You’re wrong!” by Smokey Robinson. In the world of radio, we consider a thousand-mile separation and two voices connecting via fiber and wire a “meeting,” and that’s how I meet Smokey. I’m at NPR…Read more
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Summertime: George Gershwin’s Life in Music
Richard Crawford
Shortly after leaving the Remick firm in 1917, Gershwin suffered a professional humiliation that haunted him for years. At the Fox City Theater on 14th Street, he got a $25-a-week job filling in at the piano for the orchestra—at the…Read more