fashion - fourth edition

Posts tagged fashion

Is ‘Sixthly’ Even A Word?

By Karie on January 17, 2011

First of all, congratulations to Ms Old Maiden Aunt whose yarn was just featured in the new Winter edition of Knitty. I particularly like how the Knitty people have made a lovely page banner out of a close-up of Lilith’s yarn. The yarn was used for Palisander, a beautiful scarf by Denmark’s own Signest (congratulations to you too, obviously!). Man, this knitting world is really freaking small at times..

Secondly (and just to prove my point), there is a photo of yours truly, Ms Celtic Stitcher, and SoCherry in the February edition of UK knitting magazine, Let’s Knit. We were just knitting away at The Life Craft‘s knitting night and somehow a photo made it into a magazine. In all honesty, I am only an occasional guest at The Life Craft’s knitting nights for one reason or another, but I am a huge fan of the shop and have enjoyed their hospitality on many (camera-less) occasions. It’s great to see the gals (and guys!) of TLC getting national attention.

Thirdly, since Friday I have knitted 1 back, 1 sleeve and 1 front of my Purple Rain cardigan. You have to love 7mm needles and their Instant Gratification factor. I hope to have the cardigan finished by the end of the week which sounds bizarre to me after having spent five months knitting another cardigan (more on that one later). Seeing as my working week will be marked by a work-related train journey north, I should perhaps start planning my next big project..

Fourthly, I have already planned my next big project. In fact, I have planned my TWO big projects which will keep me occupied the next few weeks and then some. I recently bought some Rowan Silky Tweed in a delicious mustard yellow and my skeins are destined for the Acer cardigan by Amy Christopher (rav link). I have admired that cardigan for a long time and as the yarn is a light aranweight with excellent stitch definition, I get the feeling it’ll be a match made in knitting heaven. My other planned project is Fancy from the new Rowan magazine. The photo does not show it, but the jumper has a goddamn fabulous Estonian-lace-ish stitch pattern going for it. I’m helpless in the face of Estonian-lace-ish stitch patterns, so a Fancy in chartreuse green Kidsilk Haze will be on my needles soon. I first thought of making it in black but then decided I was clearly mad.

Fifthly, friends mentioned above have persuaded me to give my red alpaca cardigan some time in the knitting basket. Time to let me get over myself and my body image. It’s not the cardigan’s fault that I had a few too many mince pies at Christmas nor that I’m more Christina Hendricks than Nicole Kidman body-wise. The alpaca’ll probably wet-block really well too. Cough.We shall see.

Sixthly, speaking of celebs, I could not resist looking closely at the Red Carpet fashion at yesterday’s Golden Globes and I loved the 1930s cut of Angelina Jolie’s green dress. Very Old Hollywood and yet very current. Sigh.

This entry is filed under Knitting, Popular Culture, Purls and tagged fashion, Purls. | 3 Comments

Winter Wonderland

By Karie on December 6, 2010

The view from the living room is usually quite nice. We have no neighbours living opposite us – just a patch of woodland – and we live on a quiet street. Today has been even more quiet than usual. A heavy snowfall has pretty much blocked the street and none of the car owners have seemingly bothered to dig out their cars for the morning commute. I do not blame them; our street doubles as a nice little hill and the idea of driving up the hill in these conditions .. no, not an appealing thought.

Today the view from our living room is still quite nice – except at some point I shall have to put on a lot of layers and climb the aforementioned little hill. Brrr…

(Yes, the photo is a bit large but I found I lost all the “lovely” snowy details if I made it any smaller)

And the star? It’s a traditional Danish Christmas star and you can make it yourself.

Inspired by the wintery conditions, I have begun making some wintery mitts. You may remember a previous attempt which I pulled out after some thought. I loved both yarns I used but I did not like them together. I rummaged through the stash (still unsorted and unorganised. I need to get my act together) and found some yarn I thought might work better.

This time I’m combining Noro Kureyon with some Rowan Purelife Organic Wool DK (I have plenty in my stash – I picked it up during the John Lewis clearance sale at a tres favourable price). I’m loving working with both yarns but..

..I cannot decide if this looks completely twee in the worst sense of the word (sentimental, sugary sweet, affectedly quaint) OR if this looks twee in a totally adorable 1950s way. It is a fine line, you must agree. I mean, the pattern has me knitting hearts for heaven’s sake!

I shall, of course, be making a matching beret.

Apropos of nothing, my winter coat is close to giving up the ghost. It remains warm and cosy, but the loosely woven tweed is beginning to get worn to the point of holes. Just one hole so far (which I shall mend) but it does make me ponder whether it would be an idea for the future to sew my own winter coat. Last time I had problems finding a winter coat which was both warm, practical (ack) and not butt-ugly.

Budget fashionistas (and sewers), share your thoughts and experiences with winter coats.

This entry is filed under Personal, Purls and tagged fashion, Glasgow, Purls, Scotland, wtf. | 10 Comments

Sidelined

By Karie on June 27, 2010

I’m shattered today after a long week, but I still limped into town for the summer John Lewis sale. I picked up a few balls of discounted Rowan Purelife Organic Wool DK. It matches some yarn I got for Christmas and I think a stranded self-designed pullover/cardigan might be on the cards this autumn. I have seen a few modern takes on a traditional Faroese cardigan and quite fancy doing my own twist.

I have so many ideas. So very few of them ever become reality. It is frustrating.

Via my friend Angela: Women’s Costumes in Movies. A fantastic blog entry about fashion, clothes, and old-school film stars.

Women’s Costumes at the Movies: Faux Fashion Blogger Edition

This entry is filed under Purls and tagged fashion, Purls, self.

I Need Distractions

By Karie on June 14, 2010

My great-grandmother’s bedspread/blanket arrived today.

Every single square was knitted individually in moss-stitch and then sewn together before she picked up stitches, knitted an edge, cast off, and crocheted a decorative edge. (So much work. I can deal with the huge amounts of mustard yellow in the spread, in other words.) I wonder if I should drape it over our sofa.. We live in a rented flat, so some of the furniture is not exactly to our taste (particularly the pink-yellow chintz sofa).

Thank you for the comments on Becoming Less than a Magpie. After writing it, I went straight to Ravelry and started weeding out my queue. It has gone from 247 patterns queued to 77 projects queued. It feels very liberating. I know the new autumn/winter collections will be hitting the web soon, so I am prepared to see my queue get a bit longer, but I am keeping the following self-imposed rules in mind:

Will it flatter my figure?
Will it work with existing items in my wardrobe?
Do I already have similar objects in my wardrobe?
Will I get any use out of it?

In other words, I will assess concrete things like gauge and shape as well as abstract things like style and wearability. Also, I will no longer be queueing fifteen patterns when one well-chosen pattern suffices.

Style is quite abstract, isn’t it? I am not fashionable (although for one brief month back in 1995 I was outrageously trendy) but I do think a lot about style. Being Danish I have grown up with a certain Nordic aesthetic – you might best know it from countless IKEA catalogues. Scandinavians like their simple lines, plenty of light and very little nonsense to their architecture/furniture/designs. A typical Danish knitting design would be something along the lines of Topstykke, Duet or Granite. Plain knitting with a little twist. On the other hand I have never been a very good Dane and I turned into an bit of an Anglophile when I was very young, cue the love of tweedy things with cables and fair-isle (or, in other words, everything Rowan). Add to that, an uncompromising love of Modernist art and design (and that pesky Scandinavian mid-century modern influence) and that is pretty much where “my style” is at.

See why my queue has shrunk so much? Yeah.

Now I’m off to wave a tiny Danish paper flag about. The Danish football team is playing their first World Cup match today and I’m slightly worried as they are meeting one of the top contenders, Holland. It is going to be tense and I still cannot knit.

This entry is filed under Craft, Denmark, Personal and tagged Crafty, Denmark, events, family, fashion, self. | 4 Comments

Becoming Less of a Magpie?

By Karie on June 11, 2010

The Football World Cup has begun. I’d be happier if I could knit my way through every match, but my wrist is still bothering me. A colleague recommended arnica gel as a possible short-cut to future happiness knitting. I am not one for herbal remedies, really, but I get twitchy if I have nothing to occupy my hands.

During my “downtime” I have been doing a lot of thinking. Yet another fantastic Cargo Cult Craft blog post sent me thinking about the things I create and why I create them. This spring I made Millbrook, a lightweight cardigan, and it has turned out to be one of the pieces I reach for again and again. I want to knit things I will actually wear and I think I need to be far more discerning about what I chose to make. I think I have been a “magpie knitter” in the past – making things just because I thought they were really, really shiny rather than because I needed them.

I love knitting triangular lace shawls which I wear as scarves – but do I really need more than four or five? Instead, perhaps, I should look into knitting fine-gauge lace cardigans and pullovers, because a) I will wear them and b) they fit with the rest of my existing wardrobe. Fine-gauge lace cardigans and pullovers will provide the challenges I love in my knitting, and while they may take much longer, they will actually see some use rather than languish in a drawer somewhere. I’m thinking along the lines of Geno, Arisaig, Shirley .. but pattern suggestions are very welcome. My queue is long, unwieldy and does not contain many realistic knits. I am looking for winter-appropriate patterns as well as more summery knits.

Susannah at CCC makes a great point about realistic wardrobes. I find my wardrobe is very geared towards “vintage-inspired casual” but I struggle when it comes to dressing up. Recently a good friend became engaged and I had a moment of panic, because I have nothing I can wear to a wedding. Fortunately the wedding is some years away, so I have time to find a solution, but it was an eye-opener. I tried on this dress (I liked the silhouette), but I am struggling to see how a party dress fits into my lifestyle. Weddings come around every five years or so, not every five weeks. Susannah’s point about realistic wardrobes comes in handy here. If I did have a realistic approach to clothes-shopping and -making, I would have a little shift dress I could pull out whenever an occasion arose. I would have matching shoes and a little handmade cardigan.

Another thought-provoking blog post about clothes and bodies come courtesy of ProjectRunGay. I know, I know, but their fashion recaps of Mad Men has been hugely enjoyable – and I don’t even watch the show! This post about “Joan Holloway” (aka our Mrs Reynolds‘ Christina Hendricks) was a particular favourite of mine because I have a similar body shape and took a lot from how Mad Men‘s costume designers dressed Hendricks. I might be able to apply some of the logic to my own clothes. In a realistic way.

PS. I wholeheartedly recommend the Glasgow Boys exhibition currently on display at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. I think it will become a touring exhibition, so keep an eye out if you are in the UK. I was particularly taken by George Henry‘s Symbolist landscapes and Japanese watercolours as well as Arthur Melville‘s impressive watercolours.

This entry is filed under Craft, Knitting, Personal and tagged Art, body image, Crafty, fashion, musings. | 6 Comments

The Shape of Things To Come

By Karie on April 23, 2010

In time you’ll recognise that love is larger than life
And praise will come to those whose kindness
leaves you without debt
and bends the shape of things to come
that haven’t happened yet

One of the loveliest things ever sung.

Today is a tired, quiet day at Casa Bookish. I have booked train tickets for a trip to West Yorkshire next month. I am spending nearly five hours each way travelling through Berwick-Upon-Tweed, Durham and York until I reach my destination. It sounds heavenly: me, my iPod, my knitting and beautiful vistas. True to style I have already begun plotting my knitting project and have settled upon Peace with a Kidsilk Haze self-designed scarf as back-up plan. Meanwhile, my Millbrook cardigan is flying off the needles. I separated for the sleeves today.

And around the web:

The secret to Farmville‘s popularity is neither gameplay nor aesthetics. Farmville is popular because in entangles users in a web of social obligations. When users log into Facebook, they are reminded that their neighbors have sent them gifts, posted bonuses on their walls, and helped with each others’ farms. In turn, they are obligated to return the courtesies. As the French sociologist Marcel Mauss tells us, gifts are never free: they bind the giver and receiver in a loop of reciprocity.

A very interesting look at the curious popularity of Farmville.

Those who wonder whether the social media will “affect the outcome” of the [British general] election are asking the wrong question. It is affecting the outcome of everything, from having an idea, buying a pair of jeans or going on a date. It is not the dweeby tweets of campaigners, or the sad slanging matches between beer-fuelled political hacks that matter. What matters is that a new conversation is out there, and the first politician to look vaguely like they knew this got a (what may be short term) boost from this.

Paul Mason looks at how technology may be shifting electoral behaviour. I am not eligible to vote in the UK general election, but I still follow the election with a mix of bemusement, incredulity and curiosity. Earlier this week I checked the main candidates running in my local area – let’s just say, it was interesting.

Finally, can you believe that these people get to make calls on how we all look? No, me neither..

This entry is filed under News, Personal, Popular Culture and tagged fashion, geek, personal stuff, politics.

Linkage

By Karie on April 16, 2010

A few links to tide things over:

A few weeks ago a perceptive blogger wrote about volcanic activity in Iceland. Seeing as Northern Europe’s airports are more-or-less shutdown due to a massive cloud of volcanic ash coming from Iceland, you might find it an interesting background read. Also: Katla, another Icelandic volcano, could well be about to get ready to rumble.
Speaking of Eyjafjallajökull, have you seen this fantastic photo taken by a local farmer?
And this is how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull (links to sound). Not what I expected.
Pictish writing?! The idea sounds ludicrous. Language Log explains.
Best places to eat in Glasgow for the budget-conscious? The Guardian has a few ideas.. and handily includes a photo of the 78 (one of my favourite hang-outs) plus the opening paragraph explains why I love my new home.
If you love fashion history or even costume history, chances are you will have heard of Prinny – King George the IV – a man so fond of bling that he built entire bling buildings where he could wear fabulous clothes with his bling and eat outlandish food. Glass of Fashion has been to see an exhibition of some of Prinny’s outfits.
Literary T-shirts. The double-think t-shirt is pretty cool. Others leave me wanting.
Douglas Coupland has teamed up with Penguin Books for their 75th anniversary. Speaking to the Past is seriously gorgeous stuff with typical Coupland ‘little ironies’. One for the bookmarks.
Finally, Auntie Beeb asks why we need oil painters in a war zone.

Rufus Wainwright last night was very good, but I had certain reservations. More on that later – I also have a finished object to share and some thoughts about a certain free-for-all pattern.

This entry is filed under linkage, Literature, News, Popular Culture and tagged fashion, Literature, nature is big and scary.

She’s In Fashion

By Karie on February 16, 2010

And on the fourth day of the Ravelympics I was too busy to knit because I was watching this on TV. So. Much. Love.

(Rumour has it she was seen knitting backstage at Glastonbury)

This entry is filed under Popular Culture and tagged fashion, love, Music, youtube. | 5 Comments

Something of Beauty

By Karie on February 11, 2010

“..there is beauty in everything. What ‘normal’ people would perceive as ugly, I can usually see something of beauty in it” – Alexander McQueen

British fashion designer, Alexander McQueen committed suicide today. He was only forty years old. McQueen was one of the very, very few who deserved to be called a genius in his chosen field. I am deeply saddened by his death.

“There was always some attraction to death, his designs were sometimes dehumanised. Who knows, perhaps after flirting with death too often, death attracts you.”

Karl Lagerfeld on the untimely passing of McQueen.

This entry is filed under Art, News and tagged fashion, News.

Croak, Croak

By Karie on November 11, 2009

Health update: I think I’ll be okay as long as I a) do not talk, b) do not laugh and c) keep drinking rum toddies. It is a slightly flawed plan, so I have stocked up on Halls Soothers. We are also on our third day of curly kale soup – it is my first time cooking this soup which was one of my great-grandmother’s special dishes and I’m happy with the result although I’m going to tweak my recipe a tiny bit to make it a bit more like my nan’s – and hopefully all those fresh veg will also make a difference.

Knitting update: I have stalled on the first sleeve of Dave’s pullover and am seven rows away from finishing my shawl’s Chart B. Onwards, ever onwards. I am still pondering NaKnitSweMoDo (interNational Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathon) for next year although both my knitting group and my beloved claim I will grow bored and whiny. We shall see. It depends upon the stash.

General update in the form of one link: These literary clutch bags make my heart go all a-flutter although I am most definitely not a clutch bag girl. They combine so many of my loves: books, paratextuality, craft, things handmade and geekdom. Be still my heart.

Also, I’m getting a bit nostalgic about the noughties almost being done and dusted, so expect wallowing entries in the near future.