Harper's Bazaar: Paired Accessories

I have had a pattern published in Knitscene Accessories 2012, and one in Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2013.  A pattern of mine that is included in Quince & Co., Scarves, Etc., also appeared in Mollie Makes, Issue 14.

It should not surprise anyone to know that I have sent out many submission proposals to similar publications that did not get selected for publication.  At this time, I enjoy designing accessory projects.  I look for ideas in many places.  Sometimes I like to search current fashion images online.

In a search for "fall 2013 accessories", just weeks ago, I ended up finding a story from Harper's Bazaar, "Perfect Pairs: 10 Sets of Stylish Winter Accessories".  It is by Chrissy Rutherford and is dated November 27, 2012.  I bookmarked it thinking that one day I would like to share it here (with you).

This image is on the cover page where Chrissy wrote, "This winter forgo your boring black knit accessories and opt for this season's offerings of vibrant colors, rich textures and fun patterns.  Don't fret... we've done the pairing for you."  Here are a couple more of these...

I found these pairings oddly enjoyable.  I kind of thought, "I'll bet I could do that."  I like to put things together.  Here are a couple more...

When I saw an old purchased tartan scarf in my old scarf box not very long after I bookmarked the HB article, I knew that my own pairing was in the works...

 
Introducing... my latest FO, "Pop of Red" Tartan Mitts, paired with my "Old Scarf Box" scarf.  What would Chrissy think?

Gift-A-Long Update

Just a reminder that the first part of the Gift-A-Long promotion on Ravelry will be ending at midnight tonight.

There are approximately 3000 patterns for sale on Ravelry with a 25% discount, all using the same coupon code "giftalong".  Here is a link to a very important thread where the approximately 160 (indie/independent) designers have declared which of their patterns are included in the Gift-A-Long.  These are considered "participating patterns".  I am on page 2 of the thread, right here.

As the sale comes to an end, I want to remind my readers of the second part of the promotion.  There are hundreds of prizes to be won!  Many are patterns (electronic prizes), but there are also a great number of physical prizes.  For a chance to win the prizes, you need to select one of the participating patterns (see the "link" above), and enter your project by posting in an appropriate KAL/CAL thread.  (It does not matter when you buy the pattern, before or after the sale period are both OK, but the pattern does have to be a participating pattern.)  Another wonderful place to browse participating patterns is at the Gift-A-Long Pinterest Boards.

Just by posting in one of the KAL/CAL threads, you will have a chance to win random prizes.  There are some games going on, as well.  After you finish a project, post (one time only per each FO) in the Official FO thread (with a photo if possible).  Each FO post is an entry in one of two large prize drawings, I believe that they will be on December 1 and then shortly after the December 31 end of the GAL KAL/CAL.

I am very grateful for a chance to be a part of this promotion!  I cannot express how amazing it was to watch those who organized this (in about a week) setting it all in place.  Fantastic amount of work!  The Pinterest boards are lovely.  (Volunteers had to pin each pattern individually.)  The prizes are all organized into lists and ready to be won.  Oh, and did I forget to mention the advertizing help... images for posts and ravatars, and those great transparent tags with instructions on how to layer them onto a photo.  I think the fact that the group has 4 administrators and 25 moderators indicates how much work is still being done to make the KAL/CAL's a lot of fun for everyone.  Please consider joining in the group and the GAL KAL/CAL's!  Post those FO's for more chances to win!

Happy Holiday Knitting!  Happy Holiday Gifting!  
   

Midweek Meditation

"Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen."

                                                                        ~ Leonardo da Vinci

More Peaches

Peaches in Paintings

 
Paul Cézanne is one of my favorite painters.  He painted a lot of paintings with fruit in them.  This one is named Still Life with Peaches and Pears.  From the Wikipedia entry on Paul Cezanne:  "Cézanne's often repetitive, exploratory brushstrokes are highly characteristic and clearly recognizable. He used planes of colour and small brushstrokes that build up to form complex fields. The paintings convey Cézanne's intense study of his subjects."

Cézanne's work came to mind when I began my last post, but I felt that the peach photograph would be more evocative in a discussion on looking at the colors in a real life peach.  There is no doubt that Cézanne saw "all gray, and red, and purples in a peach".


The Color "Peach"

I was thinking about "peach" Crayola crayons (Oh, how many hours I colored and drew with them as a child!)  I found a web page that shows Crayola peach crayons through the years.  Here is a photo from that website of the 1962-197? peach that I used.  (Much as I remember it.)

Here is the current, since 2006, peach Crayola.

Does either one look anything like a peach?  I think not.  "Peach" as a color is a third (see 3) definition for peach (from www.freedictionary.com):

peach (pēch), n.

1. the round, pink-to-yellow, fuzzy-skinned fruit of a tree, Prunuspersica, of the rose family.
2. the tree itself, cultivated in temperate climates.
3. a light pinkish yellow color.
4. Informal. a person or thing that is especially attractive, liked, or enjoyed.

A Peach in a Poem

And one more peach came to me as I wrote my last post.  I was remembering a poem with a peach in it, from a class I once took on modern poetry.  I found myself searching until I found what I vaugely remembered...  The poem is by T.S. Eliot and its title:  The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.  I was surprised to find that the word "peach" is used only one time in that entire poem.  But the words "Do I dare to eat a peach?" were the words that I remembered most.

Enough said on that.  It would be completely out of my realm to begin to discuss literature, but I do like to read a good poem every now and then.

Colorwork Meditation #11

Photo Credit:  http://jaimejofisher.com/favoritethings/inspired-by/1588/

"The man who can see all gray, and red, and purples in a peach, will paint the peach rightly round, and rightly altogether. But the man who has only studied its roundness may not see its purples and grays, and if he does not will never get it to look like a peach; so that great power over color is always a sign of large general art-intellect."      
              ~ John Ruskin, 19th century English romantic writer and painter

I also quoted John Ruskin in my Colorwork Meditation #6.  I will admit that he sounds a bit pompous in the quote above... but I do remember when I first really noticed the redness of tree branches in April, and I do remember when I really could see that all grays are really lavender-grays or green-grays or whatever-grays... I believe that it is a gift to all who love color that we can see "all gray, and red, and purples in a peach".

Do you know what I mean?  Do you agree?

Previous Colorwork Meditation: #10 (Water)