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

It’s been a mighty long time since I posted here, and many knit-related events later….

First:
Finished the hat, just in the nick of time for noel, found a candy-cane striped tube for it as well.
Blocking it- with steam iron, improved the shape almost instantly, and all of the little holes and flaws magically disappeared.
I think I came up with something festive-but-wearable, it actually looks good on, not just funny or silly.

Having accomplished this I THEN started to worry that it was too young for adorable niece Frances, who has sprouted up several feet since last I saw her
(6 months ago) and is most definitely, a young Lady now.

However-she yelped as she undid the ribbons, promptly put it on, and wore it the whole time I was in town- and not for my benefit, either, though she is pretty polite.

She even wore it when visiting with her friends, so I take it to be a hit, not a miss. And it really did look charming on her, though she could wear burlap and still look charming, could Niece Frances…

I am trying to get a photo of her in it sent over to post here.

And on my end, I hit total pay-dirt in terms of knitting x-mas gifts this year.

here’s a photo !

From D & TH.: Beautiful hand dyed, hand spun alpaca from a local Maine farm, in soft muted hues. Adobe, grey-blue, grey...

And from Anne: lovely, exquisitely soft and fine cranberry colored silk/alpaca blend, from the pacific north west- am thinking of trying out some lace with this, I have a not-too-frou-frou “pinecone” pattern I like…

From my mom:
Some sparkly, tortoise-shell mottled angora Lurex fancy fluffy stuff and a copy of Teva Durham’s Loop-de-loop!

I have been coveting that book since day one, and while in Seattle, on my way back to NYC went into the rather deluxe knit boutique “So Much Yarn” (see: http://somuchyarn.com/)
and purchased enough Debbie Bliss cashmerino chunky yarn is a delicious chocolate/violet color to make the “corrugated asymmetric vee-neck” sweater, which I am now wearing as I write this. That’s how behind I am….

I had trouble following the rather eccentric directions, but eventually got it right. I made the biggest size (and I am NOT the biggest person) because the others seemed just too tiny, but the thing stretches like a slinky, so is, in fact rather too big.
Nonetheless, I feel this pattern is an excellent combination of cozy, big and comfortable, while still being sexy and slinky. No mean feat that.

Note to self:
This is the second sweater I have made with Debbie bliss cashmerino. I am NOT allowed to buy it anymore, despite the lovely feel and texture and array of mouth-watering colors. Why? It pills almost instantly. I HATE pilling, and it attracts lint and bits of flotsam like CRAZY, so it very easily looks dirty- yech!
I need crisper, more hard-wearing yarns.

Now, with picture:

Peruvian vampire cats!!!!
I based this design on a very ancient Peruvian textile I fell in love with. It’s for a friend (to remain un-named, on the bizarre off-chance that she reads this blog), who is expecting.

I am making the wonderful “baby Yoda” wrap sweater from “dogs steal yarn” (see http://dogsstealyarn.com/, ) it’s a great pattern, very simple and adaptable. The blue ground is a very soft mystery yarn, something synthetic and very soft that knits up into a cozy, fleecy terry-like substance.
After that?
Dunno.
It doesn’t make much sense to pre-decide, since I almost never actually make what I declare I am going to.
I do have leftover cashmerino, and have been thinking about making a matching corrugated scarf for my sweater, a good idea since I wear scarves daily in the winter.
I am TRYING to make garments that I actually will wear.

Gilded Lilly.
She is almost done. I am heading to M&J this afternoon (see www.MJTrim.com )
For hardware to finish her up. She took ages because I was unhappy with what I’d come up with for straps etc. but once I wrapped this gorgeous turquoise silk velvet bow around her, and held it in place with this Murano glass bauble, I was hooked. The bag looks like a super deluxe gift and is SO much nicer than anything else I’ve seen on the market it hurts.

the photo above is truer color-wise, and below shows the Chanel-style velvet entwined chain strap...

A bit gaudy & flash perhaps, but oh baby, so shiny!

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!