'tis the Season...

for faux-fur!

 Lavish Collar

by Anthropologie

Faux-fur accessories are the definite fashion trend
this holiday season!  

While doing a little late-night window shopping, 

 I spotted Anthropologie's Lavish Collar.  It comes in five colors and can be yours for $68.00. 

Vera by Louisa Harding

If  you're a knitter and looking for a little winter glam...

why not knit your own faux-fur collar?  

You can knit Louisa Harding's Vera collar in just one ball of her new Luzia yarn.  Luzia is available in 10 colors and retails for $28.99.  That means you can knit your own faux-fur collar for less than half of the Anthro collar!  And, there's even enough time left to "whip" one out for a last minute Christmas gift!

(Vera photo credit:  Louisa Harding Luzia book, photo credit:  Stephen Jessup.)

Make Do and Mend

Reduce

Today is Earth Day.

I've always cared about Mother Earth.

When I was 10 years old I started an ecology club in grade school

called the Helping Hands because I cared about the environment.  

I care about the environment even more today

and do my best to live "green" and  follow the Three R's:

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. 

 Reuse

So last winter, I discovered some moth holes in one of my cashmere sweaters.
(Lesson learned...I should have stored it in a plastic bin.)

Being a knitter, I just couldn't bring myself to throw all that 

luxurious cashmere away.  So instead, I decided to

 "make do and mend"

and recycled that sweater into beautiful felted flower pins.

I love that it's "vogue" again to 

"make do and mend".

Just check out the adorable Mollie Makes and

  Green Craft magazines and all the upcycled goods 

for sale on Etsy 

and you'll see what I mean.

Recycle

So now my cashmere sweater has a whole new life 

and I saved it from the land fill! 

Hooked on Crochet!

Doily Dress

Crochet is everywhere these days!

I spotted the cute crochet dress above 

at Anthropologie last month while vacationing in

 Carmel, California.  

It's hand-crocheted in cotton by

Knitted and Knotted 

(an in-house brand registered to Urban Outfitters, 

Anthopologie's parent company).

I love its lacy "doily" look.

Wouldn't it be perfect to wear to a garden party?

 Sophie Scarf

While shopping in Carmel, 

I also had the chance to see (and try on) 

Sophie Digard's beautiful crochet scarves in person at

my favorite Carmel boutique, 

Piccolo.

As badly as I wanted to buy one of Sophie's crochet scarves,

I decided it would be more rewarding 

to crochet a "sophie-style" scarf myself.

I love the Japanese flower scarves my knitting pen pal
Teresa and Lucy of Attic 24, both in England have crocheted.
 Their colorful motif scarves have inspired me
 to challenge myself and
improve my crochet abilities
so I can crochet one, too.

Japanese Crochet Motif Vol. 4

So I have the book...
now as soon as my hand is better,

you guessed it...

I'm signing up for more crochet classes!


(Sophie Digard image from The French Needle.)

Laku

Oh, Baby!

Hats off to Designer,

Yaeko Yamashita 

and her delightful shop, 

Laku.

 Laku

I had the pleasure of visiting Laku 

last Christmas Eve when I was in San Francisco.

The moment I walked in,

I knew I was in a magical place!  

Laku is a whimsical boutique 

where every nook and cranny is filled
with one delight after another!

Besides their magnificent hand-made hats, gloves, scarves, slippers and brooches, 

they carry a wonderful array of vintage jewelry
and antique buttons. 

 I could have spent hours there,

 meandering around...

just like a kid in a candy store!

 Hats & Gloves

I grew up in the end of the era when wearing hats and gloves
 to the city were a must.  

I think it's high time we bring back that tradition and 

Laku's luxurious cashmere gloves could do just that.  

They are scrumptious and the reason I sought out the
Laku boutique.

A year or so ago, while shopping with my knitting friend Daniella in the California wine country we stumbled upon the prettiest hand-made cashmere gloves.  Daniella purchased a pair for her daughter, and the nice clerk told us that they were hand-made by a designer in San Francisco.  

Laku

(Seated left: Design Director, Yaeko Yamashita) 

So, I did a bit of research and found the designer, 

Yaeko Yamashita 

and her lovely store, Laku. 

I'm so glad I found Laku and can't wait to go back.  

If you're visiting the city,
this is the place to treat yourself to a pair of gloves,
a hat, a brooch or

 a delightful hand-made gift
for a friend or loved one. 

Laku 

1089 Valencia Street

San Francisco, CA 94110

(415) 695-1462

Laku is located  in San Francisco's Mission District 

and I highly recommend stopping at nearby Tartine 

for lunch or a sweet treat!

Happy Winter!

Now, that's a wool coat!

Happy First Day of Winter!

Brixton Plaid Coat

Now this is a wool coat to love! 

Today is also my birthday,
so I'm off to shop...
maybe even for a new wool coat!

(photo credit:  Brixton Plaid Coat: Sundance Catalog)

Missoni Inspired!

 Knit a Missoni Scarf

Now that the "Missoni Madness" at Target is over...

I'm re-evaluating my Missoni For Target purchases. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm still mad for Missoni style...

I'm just not that crazy about the Target quality and colors of the scarves.

So, what's a knitter to do but get her needles out and 

 knit her own Missoni style scarves!

Missoni For Target

I've wanted to knit a Missoni "inspired" scarf for about a year now. 

With all the Missoni madness going on, now seems like the perfect time to get one started. 

I've been planning on knitting Joelle Hoverson's Chevron Scarf

in her book Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  I even have the Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino

yarn already in my stash that I purchased last year from ImagiKnit in San Francisco for my scarf.

Then I had to go look on Ravelry...

 ZigZag Stripes Scarf

There are a lot of Missoni "inspired" patterns on Ravelry. 

A few of my favorite chevron scarf designs are:

Sock-It-To-Me in One Skein Wonders

Chevron Scarf by Jo Sharp

Ripple Scarf in Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders

Striped Scarf by Vogue Knitting

Zigzag Stripes by Debbie Bliss

Hmmm, now which one to knit?  I'll probably stay with my first choice in my Koigu yarns

but can't wait to try a few other patterns for more Missoni style!

I hope I've inspired you to knit up your own
Missoni-style scarf

in your favorite colors and yarns...

because you know you...
won't find that at Target!

Mad for Missoni

 Missoni for Target

Yes, I'm mad for Missoni! 

Evidently everyone else is,too. 

Today, marked the launch of  Missoni for Target.

The madness and frenzi for Missoni today
caused Target.com to crash and the

Missoni merchandise to fly off the shelves within just a few hours.  

Of course, I had to be there with all the excitement because

I love the designs of the

Italian Fashion House of Missoni. 

 As a knitter who loves fashion,  

I love their mix-and-match patterns and famous knitwear that they are famous for. Did you know, there are even Missoni knitwear patterns in Vogue Knitting magazines from the 1980's and 1990's.

Zig Zags

I am normally one of the first shoppers to hit Target when they have a big name designer collaboration.  Most of the time, the collections aren't even out yet so today I hit my local Target at 9:30AM instead of 8:00 AM when they opened.  No big deal right? 

Oh my gosh, what a mistake that was for me, a seasoned shopper.  I should have known better and I paid the price.  The Missoni merchandise was already pretty well picked over and I heard there was a line out front before they opened.

 Missoni Accessories

By the time I got to Target this morning the accessory items were just about sold out.

I was most excited to see the Missoni scarves.  There were only a few left at my local Target store. So I hit the road to other nearby Target stores and managed to find a few more scarves at each stop I made.  I also lucked out and found a cute cardigan and silk scarf in Missoni's trademark zig-zag print.

I must report that I was most impressed that the Missoni scarves were made of 100% silk and not polyester.  I know the Missoni family must have insisted on that. 

As for the knits...my cardigan is a rayon and cotton blend.  The fun knit scarves I picked up do have some acrylic content which I'm not that crazy about.  At Target prices though...I better not complain!

 The Missoni tags say:

Patterned After No One.

Priced For Everyone.

I feel pretty lucky today that I snagged some Missoni pieces!

Bound for Italy!

PS:  Don't you just love this 21" Spinner Suitcase?

Wouldn't it be perfect for a trip to Italy? 

I went ahead and passed on it today but I did tell my husband that it would be pretty cool

to wear my new Missoni outfit in Italy...someday????

La vie en Rose

 My French Flower

My obsession with flowers continues to bloom!

I can now create beautiful silk flowers in the age-old technique of French flower making, thanks to my class yesterday with milliner artist  Jan Wutkowski. 

Jan flew all the way out from North Carolina to teach

French Flower Making at

 Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles in Berkeley, California. 

 I always thought I would have to travel to  London or Australia to learn the secrets of traditional French flower making.  Thanks to Lacis and Jan's class, I now have the tools and secrets to create beautiful silk flowers in the French tradition. 

 French Flower Making

with Jan Wutkowski

Jan is an American milliner who trained at the Melbourne School of Millinery in 1995.  She has been designing and making hats since 1996.  Today she is not only is a milliner and teacher but also owns A Muse in Wilmington, North Carolina. 

Over lunch with Jan, I had the chance to get to know Jan the designer.  I was rather curious where her love for hats began and interestingly enough it began with her love for vintage jewelry.  Well, that makes perfect sense...vintage jewelry, hats, gloves all from other glamorous eras.   I loved hearing her stories about her brides and the one-of-a-kind hats she creates for the them. 

Of course, I couldn't wait to ask Jan if hats and fascinators are more popular today due to the Royal Wedding.  Jan quickly told me that fascinators can be many different things in millinery and they have been around a long time.  Yes, the Royal Wedding has made millinery more popular here in America but Jan is always busy with her clientele.  She not only designs beautiful bridal millinery but keeps very busy with her "Kentucky Derby ladies".

As a designer, Jan spends her calender year with the first half creating beautiful hats during the busy bridal, garden and Derby season.  The second half of the year, she travels around the country (and the world) as a milliner teacher. 

My Silk Fabrics

The French Flower Making class began with a nice introduction from Jan.  Next Jan asked us to introduce ourselves and talk about our interest with flower making.  It was so neat to hear every ones story.  Most students were from the Bay Area.  A few, like me, travelled a few hours for the class and one young lady came all way from Mexico!  Most of the students were involved in millinery and fashion and some students just loved hats.

For me, I am not quite sure where this path will lead me.  I am somewhat interested in trying to combine the flowers with my knitting.  Then again, I love hats and vintage so I might just end up embellishing hats and making brooches.

 French Flowers

To create our flowers, Jan taught us the process in the traditional French method using heat tools. 

 The first step was preparing our fabrics and then letting them dry during our lunch break.  After lunch we cut flower petals for creating beautiful roses.  Next we learned how to use our heat tools and shape our petals.  By the end of the day, Jan showed us how to assemble our flowers and everyone finished the class with a beautiful rose!

Jan had told us early on in the day, that even though we all started out with the same pattern and instructions, each of our flowers would be unique.  She was so right.  I was so amazed at every ones fabric combinations and their beautiful results. 

Lacis

I had so much fun taking this class. 

Thank you to Jules Kliot, the owner of Lacis for bringing Jan out to the west coast and for all your amazing supplies and resources! 

 Lacis has wonderful supplies for knitters, too.  I was so thrilled to find two handbag purse handles I've been searching for (even in England) and a hard to find Japanese crochet book.  Of course, I also came home with flower making books and supplies, too!

Lastly, Merci to Jan for sharing her knowledge of

French Flower Making

and for helping keep the craft alive!

That Sweater!

Kate Middleton's

Angora Cropped Sweater

They say...

 "Fashion Repeats Itself".

I have a feeling that Sarah Burton, creative director of Alexander McQueen found some vintage inspiration in designing Kate Middleton's Angora Cropped Sweater!

If you're a knitter, you couldn't help but love that Kate wore a knit angora sweater with her second outfit for the Royal Wedding reception.

I love vintage fashion and collect vintage knitting patterns. 

Here are a few vintage patterns that perhaps were inspiration for Kate's cropped angora sweater.  They just might  inspire you to knit your own "that sweater".

Vintage Angora Boleros

1930's or 1940's

Angora Cropped Sweater

1950's or 1960's
Angora Bolero

1970's or 1980's

Angora Cropped Bolero

If you prefer a modern-designed sweater bolero with  vintage flair, two of my favorite British knit-wear designers Louisa Harding and Debbie Bliss have designed them:

 Sabrina  and Muse by Louisa Harding

and

Cropped Cardi by Debbie Bliss

Let the Games Begin!

Opening Ceremony Knit Hat

Ravelry Knitters + 2010 Winter Olympics = Ravelympics!

Are you competing in the Ravelympics? It's cast on time tonight along with the 2010 Winter Games Opening Ceremony!

Here are the Ravelympics Rules according to Ravelry:

The Rules

The One Rule To Rule Them All: Challenge yourself by starting and finishing projects during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

What will be a stretch for you: a new technique, that first sweater or pair of socks, something massive, something delicate, finishing that monster in the closet? The goal of the Ravelympics is to support you in expanding your knitting/crocheting horizons.

Just remember the one rule: Challenge yourself!

Ralph Lauren's

Lace-Up Shetland Sweater

I am on my knitting guild's Ravelympic team, Team Yarn Sac Near & Far. We're having an Opening Ceremony Party tonight to cast on during the Ravelry Mass Cast On and watch the Opening Ceremonies. (We're even letting husbands tag along and they don't have to knit!)

I am competing in the Short Track Shawl event. My challenge is to knit my Clapotis Deux during the Winter Olympics. For those that know me...this is a big challenge since my first Claptois (even though it was the larger shawl version) took me over a year and a half to finish!

My knitting friends are challenging themselves,too. My guild friend Sally has entered the Nordic Colorwork Combined event. She is knitting Baltic, a Fisherman's Sweater by one her favorite knit-wear designers, Alice Starmore. She is a bit nervous about the Fair Isle colorwork on the sweater. No doubt, we will be cheering each other on across the finish line!

Go Team USA!
Ralph Lauren is an official outfitter of the 2010 US Olympic Team. Be sure to check the Opening Ceremony Hat that the team will be wearing tonight at the Opening Ceremonies!

The Opening Ceremony Hat is an intarsia design with moose and trees. It is knit in a wool and alpaca yarn. Let's hope this knit hat brings good luck to Team USA!

Let the Games Begin!

(all images from www.RalphLauren.com)

My Vintage Fair Isle Vest

Esprit Fair Isle Vest

Ta-da...here it is my vintage 1980's Esprit Fair Isle vest!

My vest is still in practically new condition today. I think I only wore it a few times back in my college days. I must have really loved it since I saved it and packed it safely with my special scarves. Who knew I was a Fair Isle fan back then and didn't even know it!

I am definitely a Fair Isle Fan today. I am getting ready to embark on my first Fair Isle projects out of the latest Rowan Magazine # 46. I am nervous to knit Fair Isle, since I am a tight knitter and knit English throw style. I will be knitting my Fair Isle in the one-hand method.

If you have the new Fall/Winter 2009 Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine there is a great article and step by step instructions for both one-hand and two-hand methods for Fair Isle knitting. The article called Fall for Fair Isle says "this colorwork technique is not difficult to master, requiring the use of only two hues in each row. After just a little practice, you'll be enchanted with the exquisite results." Sounds encouraging to me!

Esprit Label

Do you remember the Esprit label back in the 1970's and 80's? At my recent knitting guild's retreat in South Lake Tahoe, I brought up Fair Isle and my Esprit vest. My knitting friend Beth and I reminisced about how much fun it was back in the day shopping at the Esprit outlet in San Francisco. You could always count on a long line to get in the Esprit outlet. Those were the days!

And, just so you know, the moths can't get to my Fair Isle vest...it is 100% acrylic. I still love it though and hope to knit a classic British wool Fair Isle vest someday! For now, I will keep to my small Fair Isle projects though...my mitts and a beret. Of course, I will let you know how I fair!

Rick Rack Jewelry!

Check out the new Nordstrom catalog!

Knitting is everywhere these days. My new Nordstrom catalog arrived this week and the clever knitting props caught my eye. Check out the hand knit blanket the Nordstrom stylist used for their beachy photo shoots. What a neat idea!

I also couldn't help but notice the colorful "rick rack" inspired jewelry by designer Kate Spade. I haven't sewn for years but I have a thing for fabric and trims. Hmmm...I can't help but think these bangle bracelets would pair up great with a chevron knit scarf like Joelle Hoverson's Chevron Scarf from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts!

Kate Spade Mariachi Rick Rack Jewelry

My region's Nordstrom stores did not bring the Kate Spade Mariachi collection in . (That's Sacramento for you.) The Nordstrom associate told me it is currently in their Bay Area stores. She also said that everyone is coming in to see it!

You can check out the jewelry online at Nordstrom.com. Let me know what you think!