Err, Anne, I'm sure that there may be copyright issues, but I can't see as how if you were to make some cloaks for friends and they chose to send you bits of paper as recompense that it could be in anyway wrong.

Hmm. Yes. I wholeheartedly concur. I've been jonesing for an elven cloak (except one that crosses over at the neckline like the hobbit cloaks did) since the moment they hit the screen in FotR.

I believe one of the fan sites offers the actual fabric of the elven cloaks, using the same wool from the particular breed of NZ sheep, woven on the same looms as the fabric used in the films. They sell it as a "commemorative" swatch, or, as one woman at Trilogy Tuesday was wearing, a scarf or muffler. I have seen a closeup photo of the fabric, as well. I'll google and post it if I can find it.

Cutting a complete quarter circle, put together with a single seam at the center back, uses much more fabric than a simple length gathered at the neck. But it lies much flatter at the shoulder, puts the selvedge as the front edges of the garment, rather than hemmed front edges, and the garment drapes better and flares at the hem much better if it's cut quarter-circle. Heh. Not that I've noticed how the cloaks were made, or anything.

I saw the movie earlier this week and loved it. Can't decide if I like it better than FotR or not. I still put TTT at 3rd of the 3. I loved the battle scenes in RotK, especially hurling pieces of the city at each other.

I haven't frequented the LotR threads before, but why is it that elves never ever seem to get even the smallest bit of dirty while the rest of the lot gets dirty as fuck?

To me, seeing Aragorn washed up just isnt as cool as when he is all gritty and dirty.

Also, Sam is my favoritest character in a movie of all time.

I believe one of the fan sites offers the actual fabric of the elven cloaks, using the same wool from the particular breed of NZ sheep, woven on the same looms as the fabric used in the films. They sell it as a "commemorative" swatch, or, as one woman at Trilogy Tuesday was wearing, a scarf or muffler. I have seen a closeup photo of the fabric, as well. I'll google and post it if I can find it.

Ooh! That would be most helpful.

One of my problems with the cloaks as pictured in the movie was that they looked as itchy as all get out. Somehow, I don't see the Elves as Lothlorien as being into itch as a fashion statement.

why is it that elves never ever seem to get even the smallest bit of dirty

In the words of a 10yo friend who is coming to the story for the first time: "Ooo! Everything about the elves is kind of magic, isn't it?!?"

Of course, I should also mention that at the end of FotR, she asked, "Why is Frodo going to Mordor?"

Of course, I should also mention that at the end of FotR, she asked, "Why is Frodo going to Mordor?"

Details, details...

That said, I love how--just after the Fellowship has been officially formed--Pippin cheerfully asks "where are we going?" The look on Merry's face in reaction to that line is just priceless.

Also, watching FotR after seeing RotK is absolutely heartbreaking. Even something as light as the "Concerning Hobbits" section is sad, since it brings home what Frodo and the others are fighting for and what Frodo will forever lose.

Pippin cheerfully asks "where are we going?"

I'm afraid I'll cry at everything he does now, in all movies. Poor button.

My brain keeps replaying the bit in the TTT EE where the apple lands on his head outside Isengard.

Woobie.

Beg to report: on her own initiative my roommate sat through the EE Fellowship and Two Towers DVDs (Thursday and Saturday), as preparation for seeing Return a week later. At her church yesterday, the sermon was about Return, so she went out after with a select group of churchgoing nerds and saw Return. That would be about 11 hours of Tolkien-y goodness in 4 days, which for a total Tolkien virgin is remarkable.

She reports she started crying about the beginning of the volcano parts, and that, as with some other Tolkien virgins, she sort of assumed that Frodo was dead. (She said his waking up in a happy place, shot through soft filter, with Gandalf -- who had been dead -- standing right there, convinced her briefly that Frodo must be in heaven.)

So we did the dishes last night to quizzing about several points of canon, including How Did Frodo And Sam Not Eat For X-Many Days, If They're Hobbits? and Why Wasn't Legolas On The "Last Ship Leaving Middle-Earth"? and Gimli Is Really His Boyfriend Isn't He? Good times, good times.

why is it that elves never ever seem to get even the smallest bit of dirty while the rest of the lot gets dirty as fuck?

When they all emerge from Moria in Fellowship, Legolas has a couple of artful smudges on his forehead. (Everybody else is dirtier.) All the elves do get wet at Helms Deep, although NSM with the dirty, and they scream like girly-men when they fall flailing off the Deeping Wall. If that's any consolation to you.

(I do like a little bit of scruffy, although Miracleman's riff on Elrond passing off Irish Spring soap as a magical token was well-taken, in Strider's case.)

Strider doesn't clean up that well. The kingly hair wasn't happening.

Well, he's just not a Prell guy. Either there's some wicked hard water in Minas Tirith, or else he way overindulged on the conditioner, because that hair was flat and heavy. Well, and it didn't matter anyway, because he is doomed to spend the rest of his life with hat-hair.