The perfect Coat....

I love this coat by Koos Van Der Akker, available as a Vogue sewing pattern!
See here for details on the pattern.

I saw this and laughed- it is terriffic and is missing just one thing to make it a truly great look: knitted accessories.

This coat is the perfect foil (and vice-versa) for the crocodylia scarf,
and a pair of really smashing fingerless mitts.

Winter time means a lot of rather boring bundling up and facing chilly winds. It gets old really fast, but I am thinking that a smart, quirky ensemble might just keep a grin on my face as I brave the great outdoors...

However, this is "dream sewing"- I don't actually have time and between work and the holidays there is SOOOOOO much to do, none of which includes embarking on big sewing projects.

The Crocodylia scarves on Ravelry look so great- I am just delighted and amazed. I am hoping to actually see someone walking down the street wearing one!

I made a chunky cashmere eggplant colored one for my Mom- looks great on her,
but the drape is a bit too, well, drapey. The stiffer wool version is still better, more sculptural....

peruvian vampire cats in action!

Here is little H in her sweater!



Given as a baby shower gift, and posted here as a finished item on 2/17/08, she is finally big enough, and it is finally chilly enough for her to wear it!

I think she looks stunning, and am delighted with the fit, color etc. Little H has lovely large blue eyes that go very well indeed with the body color of the sweater.

The vampire cat design is one I made using an ancient peruvain textile as inspiration. Anyone wanting a copy of the design, graphed out, just contatc me and I will be happy to pass it along.

I am well pleased.

Here's hoping it washes well!

what I am thinking about making...

Okay, so here's the problem with using MODELS on these pictures....

I KNOW that I do not resemble them, and that they have nothing to do with the garment they wear, but I suspect I am still swayed by them and that their attitude and good looks have a stake in my selection process...

This one below, is the sweater I THINK I am going to make next, after I finish the dauntingly long and big cardigan coat I am currently plowing through...

It is pretty but tom-boy wearable enough for me, a good summer knit, and a chance to play with cables. Plus, I want it.







These pictures are all from from Taki/Stacy Charles

(SEE: http://www.tahkistacycharles.com/dyn_category.php?k=74276)

which has some really stunning patterns and wool that comes in colors I'm not really fond of. Lots of bright mixes. However, their patterns rock...Here was my second choice, which is from the most-excellent genius Teva Durham. Loop-d-loop has yarns and patterns on the Taki/Stacy Charles site. This one, which really looks SOOO Joan of Arc to me, is only marred by the model and what she is wearing with her gorgeous jacket.

(see- it DID affect my thinking...)

this in some tweedy/mossy/muddy color or maybe a garnet red...

mmmmm.....



I swear half of the charm of knitting is THINKING about knitting (and playing with one's stash- oh- and hoarding...)

Ok, this last example, above, also from the Taki/Stacy Charles site, knitted in something called "cosmos", is really fetching, but not me.

Really- when and where would I wear this????

I love this slit sleeves and shell buttons, but think this is WAY too feminine a look for me.

Also, I am SURE in this instance, that it is just because I would like to look like this model: look at her coloring, that mouth! she is really, really pretty, and it's getting in the way of my sweater judgement. If I make that sweater, I do not automatically gain her coloring or looks, I just get me in that sweater.

Conclusion:

despite how really alluring gorgeous photography of beautiful models in lovely settings is- I would really prefer to see the garment plunked onto a bust form with a plain background.

Except that- bust form don't have arms, have idealized bodies too, and no skin tone at all.

so-

what's the answer?

Dunno.

I have been enjoying Interweave Knits "Knitting Daily" messages, which often post "galleries" of different women with different body types wearing the same sweater. They discuss how to make various adjustments for better fit to each type, and it is illuminating to see how different everyone looks in the same garment. The way the color works or does not work with the wearer is also fascinating...

WHAT I AM MAKING now!:

This beautiful cardigan Flicca, is from designer Anna of "My Fashionable Life" (see: http://needleandhook.co.uk/journal/fashionable_life_knits_patterns_to_buy/)

I pinched this photo from her site and hope that she doesn't mind as I am no end of complementary about her work!

Her company , Needle & Hook Offers stunning and subtle patterns to buy, or you can commission her to make one for you. She has excellent, restrained but stylish taste. I am really looking forward to wearing this coat, which I am making in charcoal grey wool. It is not, however, so exciting to knit. I like more variety. Having said that- I am not at the challenging bits yet: the short rows, which I've never tried, doing the collar on huge circular needles... many challenges await with this one. Her directions are clear and easy-to-follow and it's nice to be buying an original pattern form a talented and real person not a huge company. I thought I was ok with a bigger project, but am getting daunted...

peruvian vampire cats!

Well, I've finished it-
though I did not get a picture of the back, which features a mama and baby cat...
it is super-soft, and should fit for quite a while, given that the ties can easily expand the circumfrance of the wee one.
The shower was today, so I can safely post this.
I am really pleased with how it came out and hope that it keeps baby H cozy and snug.
That "Baby Yoda" pattern is a wonder-
look it up on "Dogs Steal Yarn".
I love the web for the way people are so willing to share, and how one can see how many really talented, creative and generous folks really are out there. Quite heart-warming, really.

All about Gilded Lily

"Gilded Lilly" is the rather over-the-top evening bag I just finished.
Here is how she came about....















When I started working on "Gilded Lily " I had two completly different aesthethic
influences at work.

The First one was:
1950-1960's Hollywood, as epitomized by Natalie Wood...
This picture in particular, or rather a variation of it, were what stuck in my head.
In the other version ( unavailable on-line) she is sitting at a dinner table checking her makeup with a knife. You can seel the whole place setting, crockery, etc.
As is this version, she is very pretty in a fresh way, and yet, not. She is self-conscious of her beauty, perhaps anxious about it, and has chosen to check herself out in the reflection of her dinner knife.

This was apparantly a habit with her, and a really odd and psychologically loaded one at that. She looks "good enough to eat", and yet as an actress concerned about maintaining her figure at a dinner party, in all likelyhood, not about to eat much.
She is not so much concerned with eating, she is narcissistically with others looking at her, and the impression she makes.
So, ultimately not-too-flattering, this.
Yet I was inspired by the odd juxtapostion of real natural beauty and youth and the kind of jaded, corrupted world she occupied.
The jewelry, eye-liner and brocade dress all add up to the message in this picture, and I can easily imagine her carrying a clutch bag like "Gilded Lilly" with her- complete with unused compact mirror!

Influence number 2:

Perhaps less odd:


















The gilded and mosiac clad San Marco in Venice!
During my stay in Venice last springI was reading the most excellent "Venetian Colour: Marble, Mosaic, Painting and Glass, 1250-1550"by Paul Hills, a superb analysis of the spectrum used in Venitian art, and the cultural and historic associations of such a palette.

The section on gold was particularly good, and the way the mosiacs shift in the light, becoming firy and vibrant, and then dull and retreating into the gloom, depending on ones angle and movemement.

This yarn i've used for the purse body , Berrocco "Quest", is truly the most metalic yarn I've ever seen, and seems to embody this quality perfectly.
The geometric lozenge shapes are somewhat byzantine, and echo some of the extrordinary floor mosiacs and the jeweled Pala D'Oro screen in the back of San Marco.




















The glass bauble on the bags front, which hold the ribbon and hides the magnetic closure is a hand-blown little something from Murano.

Which leads me back to 60's Hollywood and kitsch.
How can something so magical and intrisically lovely be used for such appalling ends?
Just the name "Murano Glass" conjure up images of swollen coffee table clowns, huge parrots on ungainly glass trees, and jelly-fish chandliers studed with flowers.

hmmm, maybe the two aren't so unrelated after all....



In that same spirit, I purchased these shoes (at a very low price, I may add- thrifty and fashionable, I am....) first ogled by me in a venitian shoe store window, and dismissed as too frivolous.
However,
somehow,
I just had to have them.
and they do go together, right?



For more photos of "Gilded Lily", please see the previous posting below.

shell pix redux

Okay, so I've already posted photos of this project, but I was unhappy with their quality...

Here is the shell pillow in all it's glory, looking very fetching on my grey-blue sofa (a felicitous, but not intentional outcome!)...

so, I am ready to start a giant one as soon as I feel justified in making another yarn purchase.

shell pix redux

Okay, so I've already posted photos of this project, but I was unhappy with their quality

pepermint twist

Note: If your name is Niece Francie, you should not read or look at this posting as it will totally spoil your christmas surprise....

This little goodie is the stocking cap I am currently attempting to make. It is taking A LOT of wool and is very thick, and possibly too heavy to really be feasible(or pleasant) as a stocking cap.

Right now it looks more like a very snarled, potentially poisonous jelly fish, and I am gamely trying to get it done on time, but am less and less optimistic. Live and learn.Perhaps I will send it out to somewhere very cold as a charity hand-knit gift- say Afghanistan- where it's qualities and aesthetic might be better appreciated.

next time I make a stocking cap I will:

• Cast on the suggested number of stitches
• use lighterweight yarn
• use equal weight yarns
• use few colors

My devil-may-care, invent and add as you go approach has NOT worked well with this project, which was intended to be portable. Instead, I have been lugging around big bulky bags of assorted tangled candy-colored wool all week. I will post a picture of the finished item, when it finally happens....

finished shell

Well!

In the better late-than-never category, here is a picture of my finally-finished giant nautillus shell. There is certainly room for improvement here, in terms of stuffing, yarn choice(thick and thin- bad idea)etc., but over-all I am chuffed!