Hej, Jeg Hedder Je T'aime Scientesse

Rudy Maxa has convinced me that I need to at least visit, if not move to Denmark!!! So since I have discovered my European calling I decided to blog about it- yay!!! So almost all the pictures are printscreens from Rudy Maxa's Wondrous Europe DVD. They are all my favorite pictures from the Denmark section.

Also since I am in the process of learning French, but I want to learn another language too... just because. So I have decided to begin learning Danish simultaneously. Why Danish? Hmm... well because I have always wanted to know a more obscure language... on that isn't quite so commonplace as the others. French, Spanish, and English are much more common... but I mean who speaks Danish? It makes it more interesting. With English and French under my belt why not pick a more obscure one just for good measure... and since the beauty of Denmark has made me decide once and for all that someday I will find myself there... I decided why not try learning the basics of the language (and hopefully moving to fluency from there). So I rented some Danish learning stuff from the library so I can get started!!!

My original curiosity about Denmark, which I previously knew almost nothing about, started because I love FINE Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen... so when I learned he was from Denmark I realized I knew almost nothing about it and ended up watching the Rudy Maxa about it. I love Rudy Maxa and Tiggy and I have a complete set of his DVDs so we watched together while sewing. It was amazing. (Sewing post coming soon!!!)

Tribute to People with Attitude

Ok so I was watching Maggie Smith in the movie version of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and in all honesty I thought the movie and everything about it was really odd... and it annoyed me how Jean Brodie was martyred for enjoying her life even though she never did so at the expense of others but others tried to condemn her anyway. Also, the artist Teddy Lloyd that she had an affair with was never martyred, yet he was the worst of all. Yes like Jean he was a great lover of life or whatever but he, unlike her, did so at the expense of others. I have never read the book so I do not know if it was the same case in the book... but this was how it was in the movie which irritated me. The movie was however still worth seeing for the pure love of seeing Maggie Smith with her amazing acting and a whole lotta attitude. So it got me thinking about people with attitude and... well here we are.

The women of Harrison Fisher paintings:

Sibyl from "Fawlty Towers"

Ummm... let's see Maria Theresia of Austria (Marie Antoinette's mother)

Mary and Marshall from "In Plain Sight"

And representing the male symphonic metalist community we have Nightwish's Tuomas H. and Emppu V.

Maybe I'm a Traitor

Ok so I went back to "made-in-pieces". I just can't give that up. I saw "Brocade" by Kaffe Fassett and I was just in love. It's a beautiful masterpiece of colorwork!!! I haven't done colorwork in years... wow not since the very first sweater I ever tried to make. I got frustrated with that one and didn't finish because I was still relatively new to more advanced knitting and couldn't get used to the complicated chartwork. I have never tried again with that sweater but maybe someday I will since I laugh its chartwork to scorn if I compare it to the one for "Brocade".

"Brocade" is gloriously beautiful and romantic. I also chose to do it in two colors that have very good contrast so the intricate pattern will be very apparent. It was kind of a pain on first beginning because I (most foolishly) tried to work the chart without enlarging and recoloring it so that my eyes were crossing trying to distinguish between green and blue boxes that were... probably a square millimeter!!! If that!!! Wow. When doing complex chartwork I have to actually scotchtape a piece of paper across the row I am doing just to be able to see what row I'm on without getting confused and knitting into another row.

I don't mean to be flaky with my projects but I was looking through pattern books and magazines and I saw "Brocade" again... I have flipped through Rowan Issue #28 many times but I had never really paid much attention to "Brocade" but when I saw it again and examined it and realized that it was stuck in my mind and not leaving I decided that had better go ahead and surrender. So I looked in my yarn stash in the closet to see what I had to work with and found black and cappucino Zara by Filatura di Crosa, one of my all-time favorite yarns. I had never meant to use those two color together and I was really surpised at just how well they go together! I guess this project was just meant to be... it was completely unplanned for!!!

Well other than the complicated chartwork the pattern is quite easy so far... and I am happy to say that it is coming out quite nicely... I have just finished the first 20 chart rows... the bottom-most scrolls... on the back so this sweater is at its very beginnings still. Anyway wish me luck...

Happy Summer Solstice!

I know that was a couple of days ago, but I had to at least mention it.

I am happily celebrating summer and so I decided to blog about it and show what I've been up to...

First off an obsession has been satisfied. A couple of weeks ago I visited the beauitiful and amazing kitchen store, Sur la Table which is full of all my favorite homie things with that perfect French twist which they of course apply to everything. Well while I was there I fell deeply in love with these perfect brown linen placemats with white detailing. They are so simple and uncomplicated... and in this way they are so very beautiful that I just could not live without them! I did not buy them the first time I saw them, though, because I talked myself out of it thinking I really didn't need to randomly buy placemats on a whim... but I could not stop thinking about them in the days that followed so now they live with me and we love each other very much! I bought four!

There is something so beautiful and so French about the natural look of linen with the softening clean look of white detailing to complete it... and also add sophistication and subtly frame and highlight whatever is placed on top the placemat.

I believe I mentioned that I was beginning Anjou as my next project from French girl... well since this is beautiful seamless construction I was able to try it on... but not on me on the dressform. It does look a little funky... but it is also still on the needles and the fit is pretty much right... I just have a feeling it will a trifle different on me than on the model. But I am not exactly built like that model either... Anyway it's still a gorgeous fit and I am very proud of the work... I am anxious to inspect the final result!

It is quite pretty... it's just that the neckline is not quite so wide and open as on the model... however I am fine with that. The back is a bit wierd looking without the sleeves which are going to make all the difference in this particular project because they will soften the sharp shape of the small back and tone down the wide front while flattering the shoulders and drawing attention to the shoulders and upper arms.

See? The Sleeves need to be put in to get rid of all that ruffle! Grrr... but then that's why K. G. put those sleeves that way I guess... and I applaud her for it!

I don't know if I have ever mentioned it, but I am also a new quilter. I fell in love with Kaye England's Back Home Again quilt. I did not quite understand the magic of quilts until I saw this quilt completed in a store I visited near Anya's house. It was so wonderful... I was in awe. I had to have it!!! So I bought the kit for it and loooooove it. It has been so fun picking out which fabrics I will use for which block. Each fabric is gloriously beautiful... it is very French country- love of my life flag goes up immediately. I just gape in glorious awe!!!! More pictures will follow but here are the blocks that have been completed thus far... I am about halfway through piecing it (which apparently means sewing it together before quilting it).

Aren't all the colors just so beautiful together?!!!

I also want to mention summer reading... I've got some wonderful reads for this summer: especially The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye. It is so beautifully and cleverly and excellently written! I cannot quite explain what it's about... but all I can say is that I love it. It takes place in India in the late 19th century and it is so real to me. I feel not only as though I am there, but that I actually am the main character. The way she wrote it is so clever because she does it in such way that the reader feels and experiences everything that Ash, the main character, does. For instance, details that seemed random before suddenly become so important and the shock that thing you barely noticed before is suddenly so crucial that it is as real to the reader as it is to Ash. A critic wrote that it "reminds us of everything we want from a novel" and I could not agree more, nor could I possibly come up with a more perfect way to express how I myself feel about the book. It is by far the best work of fiction I have ever read. I do not want it to end... I would be content to read it forever.

Naturally [since this is me we're talking] this summer also includes several knitting books!!! Oh my oh my!!! I got a new book recently called Sensual Knits [ooooooooooooooh]... lots of lovely lovely patterns that are figure flattering and well... just plain sexy but in a not slutty way... in an Ingrid Bergman way.

And as a special goodbye treat since this post is now at its end I will include this wonderful, adorable, amazing picture that I found of my favorite animal- the Tiggy (most people call them hedgehogs but I call them Tiggies after Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle... perhaps the most famous of her species!!!)

Wouldn't It Be Loverly?

Any My Fair Lady fans? Well this is a printscreen from the scene towards the beginning where she goes to get the flowers to sell for the day. It's one of my absolute favorite parts of the entire movie because it runs over all the beautiful colorful flowers... the stuff of dreams!!!!

The right half of celeste is in fact done and the lace front band is underway. Pictures will be coming be shortly!!! It's pinned up on the dress form so it can begin to hang well like it's left sister. I pinned them together and I am trying to get them to sort of... hang together but they are kind of battling... that's what blocking is for. I've never blocked mohair or even done anything with mohair really so this is going to be a new experience for me! I have only ever blocked with pin down and spray blocking but I hear immersion blocking is preferable for this yarn on this project...

The front band is not tedious per se, but it is definitely not as fun as the body itself so to cheer myself I at least began the work for Anjou, the other French Girl object of my affection! It's coming along nicely so far, though only a few rounds are so far completed. Again we have seamless construction- top down with a "set in sleeve" style shaping. It has some interesting parts to it. I love the anatomy of the sweater itself. It really flatters the feminine form. It highlights curves and has a nice low scoop neckline yet remains modest... and feminine without turning hopelessly frivolously girly... not that that is always a bad thing it's just not exactly me.

The yarn for this project is the green one I showed a couple posts back- Kidlin by Louet... the pear green linen and kid mohair blend. It is heaven to work with and so strong!!!! The doublestranded thing felt the tiniest bit wierd at first, but I'm getting over it and the feel of the yarn both in my hand as I work with it and as it knits up is just so amazing it more than makes up for it. I am looking forward to getting further into the body so I can observe it both on the lace knitting on the upper body/neckline area and the plain stockinette of the body. This sweater looks like it will have challenging aspects but for the most part be pretty simple. The stockinette will be a breeze especially since it's in the round so only knits and no purls! That makes everything go much simpler and faster... I have embraced the seamless craze!!!! Made in pieces does have a sophisticated look- but that same look can be achieved plus a little more grace and fluidity with seamless construction... it's amazing I think I'm in love!!!!

Oh! oh! oh! Visit Anya's website because she has made my Firefly-loving soul giggle with glee and jump for joy with her newest Inara artwork!!!! Link at the bottom of the page and here:

http://www.anyaprynn.com/

Go! Oh and as you can see she has promised to make a Langley artwork and Langley (from X Files) is one of the all time loves of my existence!!!!

See? Gotta love that elfy blonde hairdo!!!! And the glasses oh man!!! I think I need black false glasses too... although my tortoiseshell ones are pretty me!

Summer Soft

She wakes you up with a kiss to start the morning off... Yes I do love Stevie Wonder!

As I was feeling like blogging for some reason and was looking through my pictures while I waited for my internet to load, I happened upon (isn't that a lovely phrase- happened upon oooh) this particular painting. I took this picture myself a few years ago when I went to the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco, one of my favorite places of all time. It reminded me of summertime... First of all I love impressionism and I of course adore this painting for that fact as well as my love for country scenes that include trees and paths of course of course. Oh! to walk that path! I actually don't even remember this painting or what it was like in person, so it's a funny thing that I find it years later in my pictures and get inspired by it. I guess it was just meant to be.

On the note of that amazing museum and to continue on with one of this blog's major themes: furniture fanaticism!!! Besides the many wonderful paintings there were rooms upon rooms of beautiful wonderful furniture and trinkets!!! It was the stuff of dreams! First of all French stuff!!! Oh my oh my!

This [recovered] sofa once belonged to Marie Antoinette herself briefly before she gave it away as a gift for some inlaws of hers. I guess when you're rich out of your mind you gots sofas that pass around your family. :)

Oh la la petite blue silk covered chairs with an exquisite wood desk with guilding on the legs and feet and of course the insanely intricate inlays with all the flowers and vines!!! Could you imagine having that in your house?!!!

Uncommonly beautiful... what more can I say about this... any commentary would just... not do

Since they even brought some of the exquisite walls of the old French palaces I was able to actually experience them myself as if I was actually in them. I felt as though as I was haunting them as a futuristic ghost... enjoying the sight of their beautiful old furniture... yet not being able to touch or use it... only to observe everything as if it were a dream.

I'm sure it is also quite obvious that I am a great lover of: all things historical and NICK NACKS!!!!!!!! Some general loves of life:

I adore clocks... my petite chateau is full of clocks because I love them so much.... it's important to know the time hey why not make it pretty- not only pretty outstandingly beautiful???

Figurines and snuff boxes!!! wow... what else can I say everything is just so exquisite and detailed and tiny and... cute :)

I plan to do a whole tributary post just on my dishes and general porcelain and cermamic mania so just a preview:

Again a timepiece wins my heart.

Much Ado About Nothing

Why not celebrate a little nothing now and again? The right half of Celeste is nearly finished now and will soon be able to accompany the left half! Then I only have neck band and the front band to knit up and attach and then this project will be done.

I have also decided to design something of my own with side to side seamless construction. It is inspired by the Rowan Kidsilk Haze yarn that was used for Celeste, but for my design I want to use the color ice cream. It is a magic color that is a bit difficult to describe. It really is just like ice cream, and a miraculous work of art as far as dying goes. It sort of appears to be a pearly whitish color, but it has rosy undertones. It definitely has a lot of pink to it, but not a loud or garish pink. It is very subtle... it's hard to explain and the picture doesn't quite capture all of its magic, but you can get a small taste of how wonderful it is! :) This particular skein will be used for gauge swatching/ experimentation. It came along with some other yarn that I wanted to try. I wanted some Louet Kidlin, the recommended yarn for Anjou, my possible next project from French Girl. I also loved the insane purplish color of Kidsilk Haze called splendor. Here are my newest yarn babies:

The color is a bit funky and over-the-top, but somehow I like it. I really don't know what I'm going to do with it, but it'll find its way in there somewhere. P!nk might just approve :) (Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?

The other night my Oma made me the most wonderful beautiful cafe au lait bowl full of chocolate on Earth that just needed to put up so here it is:

This is the dressform by the way? Isn't it beautiful?