Oh. My. God. I just got back from giving a knitting lesson to an Academy Award winner! NO SHIT. I am so absolutely flabbergasted right now. Here’s what happened. A few weeks ago Albert mentioned that he’d had a request for a private knitting class, except that the woman wanted to do them in her office (not the shop as usual). He thought that her interests sounded like my type of stuff, so I got the job. He drove me over tonight after work. I didn’t even know the client’s name; I only got the name of her personal assistant. As we pulled up to the address, Albert blurted out, “Holy crap. It’s a friggin’ mansion!” My curiosity was totally piqued. I was ushered in and asked to wait in a lobby. Here’s my inner monologue…
Hmm. There’s a giant 1920’s Moulin Rouge poster on the wall behind me. And wow, those Indian saris and elephants over there are pretty cool… And hmm, the assistant just mentioned that ‘Catherine’ would be ready for me shortly… Oh my god, could this be Catherine Martin?! There’s no way. There’s no way I’m going to be giving knitting lessons to someone who’s won both Academy and Tony Awards for her costume design. I’m insane. It’s not her.
So then I met her and we had our lesson and she was really lovely, but the whole time I was still a little unsure. I asked her at one point, “This is a great place. What do you guys do here?” And she’s like, “We’re a film production company, and we live upstairs.” I was like, “Mmm-hmmm(!)” And finally the confirmation: one of the many people buzzing around stuck their head in to discuss something with her, and I finally heard the magic word “Baz.” Afterwards I said, “Okay, that gave it away! I thought I recognized you!” And she was really, really nice about it. How cool is that? I was like, “Wow, I really admire your costume work. I had no idea you were into knitting!” And she’s actually really good at it; we’ve got some interesting and challenging projects to work on. I’m excited!
Oh, and as I was leaving, the assistant was like, “I know it’s weird, but we need you to sign this confidentiality agreement,” which I was totally expecting. It was all about not mentioning any specific projects or work that I might see while I’m there. And I’m like, “That’s cool; no problem. But one question: Can I tell my friends I’m giving her lessons? Because they’re gonna go nuts!” And she laughed and said it was okay. So that’s all I’m going to say about it, because CM (that’s what her mates call her) is really awesome and I totally respect her privacy and I’m so excited to get to work with her!
And now I’m going to go eat some dinner and spaz out. Thank you.
11 responses
Wow, you were at that amzing house they live at? It looks amazing on the “behind the red curtain” dvd. Man, i’m spazzing out for you!
That’s pretty amazing, Kris. Star moment! This is the woman who wore that awesome dress made of AmEx gold cards to the Oscars, right? You’ve GOT to post (maybe in some sort of code) about it if and when you meet Baz.
Wow. That’s tres cool!
Maybe you suggest an Oscar-sized sweater as a knitting project 🙂
u rock star
it was lizzy gardiner who wore the amex dress, wasn’t it?
That is so awesome and I’m so glad that it was you who got to be her instructor rather than someone (like me for instance) who would have been all “wow this lady is well off, i wonder what she does…” and have had *no* clue.
i meant to say “you should suggest” in my comment. i gave up speaking in fragments for lent.
totally cool. i think it’s stuff like this that the universe rewards you with for pursuing a job you actually want to do.
You are on your way in the film industry. Kristen is correct following your dreams makes them come true.
Hi doppelganger, I knit the beak it was a big pain in the butt to figure out what would work… I actually found your site after reading the other (3rd?)Kristine’s knitting site. I wondered how many of Knitting Kristines were out there- imagine my surprise when I found out the thunder down under came from ND! By the way- super impressed by the Catherine Martin knitting lesson- when I was a kid, my favorite movie of all time was Strictly ballroom, the first movie I bought was Romeo and Juliet, and of course I went to see Moulin Rouge about a million times. (still drooling over the dancers costumes) anyway- was there any knitting happening during your undergrad years here? I’ve started a law school group, but it’s a little small. We’re just to damn busy day in and day out. 🙂