cey & i: variations

we are all different.

that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

a world of clones would be boring at best and dysfunctional at worst.

knitters are a good example of this.

no matter how much

i like a designer’s version of a pattern,

it’s inevitable that someone will make modifications

(lovingly called mods)

and the piece will take on a whole new personality;

a fresh life of its own.

in ‘artistic differences‘ i wanted to expand on that.

setting aside a knitter’s skills (which can be many),

how does a person’s personality affect their choices in knitting?

7272cropand does the end result ‘look’

more like them than

the designer’s

version

did ?

when an existing song

gets dolled up a bit

by a new band,

we label it ‘a cover’.

when the original artist

reworks the tune

it’s labeled ‘a remix’.

you seldom see remixes

by knitwear designers.

instead,

we decide what a thing will be

and then do our best to present it in that light.

maybe it’s my musical background showing, but i’ve always loved

the contrast of the textural similarities and differences

between song remixes and the originals.

the group of patterns in

artistic differences is my version of ‘knitting remixes’.

 i took two parts of who i am,

a little bit boho and another little bit rock & roll,

and allowed each pattern in the book to reflect those two sensibilities

(just for extra fun, there’s a third mod written in for each pattern as well).

here’s a band i love doing a musical thing that’s similar

with their song ‘gang of rhythm’

(be sure to check out their ‘powerful’ version

which starts in all its rock and roll vibe-ness at the 7:22 mark).

now that you’ve heard it done musically,

check out the book to see me doing it knit-wise.

then the question becomes this:

what is it that makes you different?

and how in the world are you gonna knit that?

needles at the ready and

thinking caps on…

‘fresh’ taken from 92:14 in the psalms.

cey & i: remember?

back in june

i wrote about this cey photoshoot.

the deary rain outside and

the bit of a garden party going on inside.

all the while,

the creative director,

make up artist, and assorted crew,

working hard behind the scenes to pull it all off.

the happy atmosphere being adeptly captured

by the hard working man behind the lens

and now you can see the results.3964_medium2classic elite’s december book ‘winter lace’

is special to me because i got to be there while the images were coming together.

hope you enjoy a bit of being ‘behind the scenes’.

i sure did.

‘happy’ taken from 7:14 of ecclesiastes.

leanna‘ pic courtesy of classic elite yarns.

(this is an ongoing series of posts chronicling

the process of my yet to be released collaboration with classic elite yarns.

to search, all post titles will include ‘cey & i:‘ and be tagged with ‘artistic differences‘.)

cey & i: zero to sixty

after a drive alone,

with both my thoughts and the music uninterrupted,

this is what i did friday morning:IMG_8045urbsat in the brightly colored conference room at the cey offices

and signed 60 copies of ‘artistic differences’

for classic elite to bring to tnna the first week of january.

after a year of creating all the parts

and collaborating it together

my book will face the world for the first time without me.

safe travels little book.

i’ll catch up with you at vklive ny to hear all your stories.

‘face’ taken from 80:3 of the psalms.

behind and ahead and inbetween

on sunday, the 9th,

i asked an ‘do you know what this is?’ question.

lickety-split, brenda guessed right over on facebook.

not long after, samm guessed right here on the blog.

you guys are so smart.

i was fascinated, but had no idea at all what it was until i read

the ‘good karma farm’ tag.

that’s the ‘behind’ part (as in i’m behind on giving the answer).

on tuesday, not quite so long ago, classic elite yarns let me

guest post on their blog.

i’m always happy for an excuse to write.

i do so love the process of getting my feelings wrangled

into solid form.

now, for the ‘ahead’ part.

tomorrow a new hat pattern of mine will be released.

a couple of weeks ago (here we go back again),

my daughter took photos of that hat and me.

the graphic pop of her shots i just love.

i didn’t realize until aftewards

how the details of

the hat got

lost.

in the end it works out well, because now i can show you these as

a sneak peek a day early.'hita' collage for fbi also just made this the new header on my facebook page.

if we aren’t friends over there already, let’s fix that right now.

i’m very friendly (smile).

 ‘ahead’ taken from 4:25 of proverbs.

when it rains, it pours

unplanned,

i have had four patterns released in the last four days.

they each have a story, but things are busy here

and what i don’t want is to

forget to introduce

them to you in all my rushing about

 and tidying up countless other loose ends.Capturein a quick handshake kind of introduction,

(starting with the upper lefthand photo and moving clockwise)

i’d like you to meet:

‘sydney’, a chameleon of a scarf;

‘kvitt’ (in two color combos), a bag lined with its own knitting;

‘mixta’, a fitted hat with graphic cables and small ear flaps;

‘dirwyn’, a cowl of cabled columns.

i hope to find time and focus to tell you more about each one,

but now if i don’t,

at least you’ll recognize them if you ever chance to

pass them on the street.

‘chance’ taken from 9:11 in ecclesiastes.

both photos of ‘kvitt’ by caryn scanlan photography.

photo of ‘sydney’ courtesy of classic elite yarns and decicco photography.

cey & i: the blues

i had never really thought much about what extras

might do to a knit until last year when i was challenged to ‘knit my life’ for the fiber factor.

i mean, what range of personalities would

shoes and a belt or

a silken scarf and a hat give to

a hand knit cardi or a v-neck pullover?

preparing for the photo shoot with classic elite yarnsIMG_6538put my mind on that track.

now i look around and see how very much each wearer’s

(esp. each knitter’s) personality shines through

based on not only what they’ve knit and how,

but by what they pair with their lace weight shrug or newly finished socks.

i love how this handwork that we love,

has enough room

for each of us to be ourselves, with all our quirks intact.

knit on, my friends.  knit on.

‘blue’ taken from 2:7 of 2nd chronicles.

(this post is part of an ongoing series,

chronicling my collaboration with classic elite yarns on

an indie collection.  all posts tagged with ‘artistic differences‘ and titled ‘cey & i‘.)

cey & i: the shoot (part 3)

it takes so many people to pull off this kind of a thing.

like claudine who brought extra waters in the morning

and saved me from insanity

with her eagle eye

when i misplaced a small knit accessory

(for the third time) just as it was time for that particular piece’s close-up.

like kim with her cheery smile and boundless energy for getting

whatever needed done, done right

like meg, with an uncanny ability to be there at just the right timeIMG_6577crop

to hold things like the photographer’s light diffuser

and who had her mind’s eye focused on final layout

on a day when i could barely see the nose in front of my face.

and like susan, whose skill at funneling the creative energy in the room

into useful forward motion throughout the day

(among other skills too numerous to list here)

is unparalleled in my experience.

behind the scenes is a fascinating place to learn.

it felt like i crammed for a final,

pulled an all nighter,

and then celebrated the victory,

all between the hours of 8am to 5pm.  what a fabulous ride!

‘pull’ taken from 41:1 of job.

(this post is part of an ongoing series,

chronicling my collaboration with classic elite yarns on

an indie collection.  all posts tagged with ‘artistic differences‘ and titled ‘cey & i‘.)

cey & i: the shoot (part 2)

friday has flown by at a furiously fast pace.

filled to the gills with, well, stuff.

but, my head is still swirling with images and memoriesIMG_6579cropfrom the hours spent below ground level

in cambridge’s club passim

along side (among others) hayleigh and

the talented lesley.

it takes

so much prep

and touching up

to make it all look natural and (ironically) effortless.

‘fast’ taken from 41:17 of job.

(this post is part of an ongoing series,

chronicling my collaboration with classic elite yarns on

an indie collection.  all posts tagged with ‘artistic differences‘ and titled ‘cey & i‘.)

cey & i: the shoot (part 1)

i headed into cambridge early tuesday

planning to take pictures,

lots of pictures,

but, there’s work to be done at a photo shoot.

decisions must be made, outfits organized, hair consulted on, scenes decided upon.

so in the end, i didn’t take many pictures at all.

the few i did take, i’m going to share.

ready?

first up, the man behind the camera at work.

i did have to blur lindsay out a bit so as to not give too much away,IMG_6576crop

but the model in front of the camera was really working it, too.

it’ll be a few weeks until i get to see the final results.

what mike showed me in miniature that day

on his little camera screen

was awesome.

i couldn’t be more excited about

 how this collection is coming together right before my eyes.

‘share’ taken from 30:24 of 1st samuel.

(this post is part of an ongoing series,

chronicling my collaboration with classic elite yarns on

an indie collection.  all posts tagged with ‘artistic differences‘ and titled ‘cey & i‘.)