bits and bobbins

the above photo mosaic and the prevalence of rainbows within it reminds me of my undergrad studies. i was an art major at the university of north florida, and in my last semester there during my final year i was doing an independent study printmaking course, under the tutelage of my printmaking professor. i was trying to come up with a concept for a project, and was showing my professor what i was thinking about, using some quick and dirty sketches in my sketchbook as illustration. one of them used every color of the rainbow. she was a very restrained artist herself, kind of bitchy frankly, and saw my little rainbow-y ideas, and shot me and the idea down, saying “that’s too RAINBOW-Y.”

you can take the girl away from the rainbow, but she’ll always come back to it, if it’s inside of her. frankly, it’s what i like, and no bitchy person or their judgmental opinions can take that away from me.

i think it was about then that i truly started becoming obsessed with and falling in love with color…i became fascinated with how colors interacted with one another, and i started playing with color on my person and in my creative work, which i am still doing today. it was around that time that i also had pink and orange hair (both colors at the same time). ha! that was fun.

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other things that happen to be inspiring/entrancing me *right now*:

-the amazing little blog treats & treasures where the author, marieke, who’s studying graphic design in amsterdam, netherlands shows off the contents of her sketchbook, and occasionally shares cute little knitting patterns, like this one, for a simple yet lovely scarf.
-neet magazine. the idea of it, really. wouldn’t it be great if more “fashion magazines” were online? for the people, by the people. a way to circumvent the often elitist magazine world and fashion world. also, it totally reminds me of zines and that whole movement back in the 1990s, as does blogging in general.
-all my fashionable peeps over at wardrobe_remix, especially this gal and this gal and the way they put clothing together in general.
-anything marimekko.
-the concepts in joseph albers’ book the interaction of color.
-the look of acid wash, STILL. i’m starting to see it more and more in the stores. this tickles me to no end! i’ve been predicting this since 2004 or 2005.
-geometry and geometric shapes.
-clothes that combine simple lines and bright contrasting colors or clothes with interesting texture or piecing.
-this knitting pattern for a bolero that features feather and fan. i can see them in bright, bright colors over my other bright, bright colors. and that acid wash above. hah HAH! i have some other knitting projects to attend to first, but i’m definitely giving that one a go sooner rather than later.
-all of lisa congdon’s work. period. end of story.
-the thought of going to amsterdam, paris and bruges in may.

when stylehive interviewed me for their blog a while back, they questioned me about my style icons, and who they were/are. it’s a great question! but honestly, i thought, what does that question mean? whose style do i like? whose style do i feel some affinity with? i feel as if the question sort of implies celebrities, people whose life and style are well-known.

truth be told, i find celebrities (including almost all current and former actors/actresses, models, musicians, and other “famous” folk) to be exasperatingly boring, and styleless. most don’t have a clue how to dress themselves, and depend on equally clueless stylists to dress them, and the fashion world makes it easy for them, giving them first dibs on the fashions of the moment. no thinking is involved. they so often miss the mark, and don’t exhibit any real personality. bottom line: celebrities don’t arbitrate fashion for me, so by and large, they aren’t even on my radar. i don’t let them influence me or what i want or what i’m going to wear last season, this season, or any other that might occur in the future.

so, for the most part, i stand by what i said in the interview…in general, as a personal rule…real, stylish everyday folks are more interesting to me.

but iris barrel apfel, the irreverent and envelope-pushing new york city fashionista socialite and businesswoman, is an exception to my style icon rule…and for good reason: ms. apfel is a person who follows her own muse, makes her own trends, and is unabashedly unafraid of fashion. she is a dramatic, iconic woman who thinks about and delights in the art of fashion and the art of dressing up. she is a complete original…and is the rarest of the rare birds: an individual who embodies and displays the concept of cultivating TRUE personal style. for all these reasons and more, i consider her a style icon.

i fell in love with the style and wardrobe of ms. apfel following a large and amazing display of her bold clothing and accouterments at the metropolitan museum of art’s costume institute in 2005, called rara avis: selections from the iris barrel apfel collection. after viewing the show, i was hopeful that there would be a catalog accompanying the show that i could purchase, as i wanted to be able to peruse her wardrobe and admire her style sass over and over again in the comfort of my home and studio. alas, no catalog or book, or even a paltry postcard commemorating the show was available at that time, much to my chagrin.

i was delighted to read recently that an expanded version of the aforementioned iris apfel exhibition has now been sent to the norton museum, in west palm beach, florida and is on view between february 25 through may 27 of 2007.

and…along with the show, a catalog has been created! the book is entitled rare bird of fashion: the irreverent iris apfel, and for those of us not privy to perusing the show hosted by the norton, it is available at amazon.com.

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the riotously colored zig-zag knitted scarf i started about a month or so ago is still in progress! i’ve been knitting away at it this week like a fiend.

it’s one of those mindless sort of knitting projects that i love. the stitch pattern is ridiculously easy to knit as well as remember, there’s no need to refer to any written instructions. i do like the challenge of doing special, complicated knitting stitch patterns in my knitting from time to time, but i REALLY, REALLY enjoy simple ones that are easy to remember, like this one, and the feather and fan stitch like i used on this scarf from a while back. both are stitch patterns that look complicated but aren’t. they both provide a lot of visual interest and lovely texture.

fun fact about this here zig-zag scarf? i’m using little bits of yarn from my stash to make it…so far i haven’t used a yarn twice. gives you an idea of the ridiculous amount of yarn hanging around in the ye olde bits and bobbins atelier. all the yarns are either jumper weight, sport weight, or worsted (most are the latter).

i’m making it up as i go along, adding colors and textures in as i feel like it, thinking, “hmm, i haven’t used blue yarn in a while, better add some in again”. i’m embracing the insanity. goes along with what i like to think is part of my fashion ethos: calculated craziness and clearly colorful.

i’ll probably be finishing it soon. i’m thinking it would be cute as a sort of medium size scarf, that i can tie once at the neck for a big shot of color.

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as far as a pattern, there’s not much of one.

i’m a freestyle knitter to a great degree…i often don’t use patterns. i just *knit*.

but here’s the pattern, for anyone interested:

amount of yarn: unknown. several balls total? it’s your call. however you want to stripe it.

needle size: i used a US 7, but use what works for you and your yarn. maybe a US 8 or 9? again, it’s your call.

the stitch pattern is a multiple of 14 stitches, plus 2. you can add/subtract to the multiple by any multiple of two for thinner or wider zig zags.

i also added 5 stitches to each side of the scarf, for a garter stitch border (total of 10 extra), and separated them from the edge with stitch markers. you could eliminate this, but i think scarves look better when they have a border of some kind…they look “finished” to me.

start off with a couple rows of garter…your choice. something like 3-5 rows, for a little border at the end of the scarf.

stitch pattern:

row 1: (WS) k5, PM, purl to marker, PM, k5.

row 2: (RS) k5, slip the marker, k1, inc (by knitting into front and back of st), k4, sl 1, k1, psso, k2tog, k4, *inc in each of the next two stitches, k4, sl 1, k1, psso, k2tog, k4; rep from * to last 2 sts, inc in next stitch, k1, slip the marker, k5.
row 3: (WS) k5, slip the marker, purl to marker, slip the marker, k5.

row 4: repeat row 2.

you can make wider or thinner rows by say, adding 4 more rows of a color, or just doing two…get it? so for the wider stripes i did 8 rows, and the thinner ones, only 4.

there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the pattern of my stripes or the colors. i put a thicker stripe in when i felt like it, and added colors as i felt like it. of course, you could plan yours out. i wanted something organic and chaotic. you’re the boss. make it your own! no need to copy mine explicitly! the neat thing is that if you use bits from your stash, the yarn mix is a direct reflection of you and what colors and textures you favor…and thus, it’s a complete original!

make the scarf as long as you’d like.

finish off with the same number of rows you started with, in garter stitch only (k every stitch), and bind off all stitches. hide all the ends of yarn, too, of course.

you’re done!