project runway 3 started this week. as with the past two seasons, i'm taking it with a grain of salt. i feel like a have a slightly different view of it, having been around/worked/studied in the industry, but it's still entertaining nonetheless. ***
been keeping busy the last few days:
wednesday and thursday, i went to a couple fabric exhibitions here in NYC, on behalf of a good pal from parsons and a client of hers. those exhibitions would be the turkish fashion fabric exhibition, and premier vision: european preview, respectfully. vendors representing major fabric mills have tons of samples for perusal and one goes around and flicks through the swatches, and then places orders for chosen swatches to be mailed to oneself. like what you see once you get the swatches? order hundreds of yards/meters of it, and have your clothes manufactured from it. two giant rooms of fabric that are available for collections that are to be delivered for fall/winter 2007-2008 (that's a full year ahead). displays of colors for said season (an abundance of muted tones and shades...the only brights they showed on the big color trend display were rich reds, burgundies, and red-oranges). big displays of fabric trends and color trends, together. extremely enlightening, a good experience.
it tickles me that my ID said i was "head designer" of my own company, if only for a day (or two). IF ONLY i was able to afford to start something up right now. but it's not the right time (mostly because i lack experience, capital, and by extention, any sort of investors/investments or the potential for such, at this current juncture).
***
drawings in my croquisbook/sketchbook:
goofing off with mad ruffles and insane headgear/hairstyles, yo. just having a little fun and keeping my drawing mojo activated.
when i think of designs, i think collections. it's part of my schooling, definitely. a drawing/design inspires the next one, and so on. play with details, try this, try that, try it all. dump it all out before you forget it or lose it. out of all that, something amazing may arise. i feel it is akin to the photographer's penchant for shooting rolls and rolls of film or filling memory cards with shots: more to choose from, more chance for the one shot that's *just right*.
***
oversized sweater dress i finished last night.
top down construction. raglan sleeve increases based on glampyre's "minisweater", and the rest was my own idea. made of "galway" 100% wool yarn, and done completely in the round (body and sleeves). took me the better part of 2.5-3 weeks to complete. MILES of stockinette. LOOK at the WIDE skirt.
glad to be done, because my wrists/hands feel like they are going to fall off. i'm taking a break from knitting for several days, if not a week or more, lest i injure myself irreparably.
good thing: it's inspired me to do some other things, variations on top down/in the round construction, once i'm rested and have taken a holiday from knitting for a bit. if you haven't knitted from the top down/in the round, YOU SHOULD. i think it's one of the most malleable, flexible, creative ways to knit. you make it up as you go along. not saying other ways of knitting are bad, i just think this one is so intuitive and actually, really easy. i'm still exploring the possibilities, in my mind, and in actual, factual yarn.