Habetrot

Oh Hai. II

(Click for BIG)

From the Fall 2007 menswear line of John Galliano.  For more from this show, go here.  I had a terrible time deciding which ensemble I liked best, but the wooly horns finally won out.  And the mittens.  I'm not sure what might be in the appendages, though.  Trophies?  Snacks?

I am, however, having a difficult time imagining where a man might wear such haute couture.  Anyone have any ideas?

If this keeps up, I'll have to start a new blog category for high fashion knitting,  LOLKnits.

OH HAI. I KNIDDED U A SCARF SET. U LIEK IT?

Mainer Knitting

This photograph was taken in Pittsfield, Maine, sometime in the second half of the 19th century.

(Click for bigness--the detail is excellent.)

I wish I knew more about her, but as is so often the case with photographs such as this, it bears no information about the sitter.

Isn't it wonderful that she chose to have her knitting in hand for a formal studio photograph?

I haven't been able to find any information about a photographer named Howe in Pittsfield, Maine.  I suspect he he may have been an itinerant photographer, traveling from town to town.

For another early knitter who chose to be captured knitting, see this earlier entry.

I Love Latvia

A year ago this week I blogged about the 9,000 Latvia NATO mittens here.  I was made dizzy by all these mittens then, and I still am.  For the last year I have been using the images from the mitten archive as my screen saver, and they delight me just as much now as they did a year ago.

So, to re-affirm my love of Latvia and its mittens, I give you Latvian mitten stamps. 

(do click for bigness)

Each stamp is a small work of art.  The stamps were issued between 2002 and 2005, and each bears both mittens and costumes from a different region of the nation.  Can you imagine a country that values its handcraft traditions so highly that it puts them out for all the world to see in such a way?

And, yes, yes, before you say anything, I do know that the US has issued knitting stamps.  And I give them to you here.

Oy.  Well, ok.  It is knitting of a sort.  I'll give you that.

Does anyone else mind that the images appear to have been knitted upside down?  Or is that just me?

Can you imagine a country that values its handcraft traditions so poorly that it puts them out for all the world to see in such a way?

"Good Neighbours"

 

This tender scene was painted in 1885 by English painter John William Waterhouse (1849 - 1917).  The work is also sometimes known as "The Gossips" or "Washing Day."

(click for beautiful bigness)

Waterhouse loved women, and this love is clear in all his works; he rarely painted anything other than women.

Although I have not been able to find any information about this painting online, it is utterly different from anything else he painted that I have found, and I believe it must be his wife and daughter in their London back garden.  While most of his other works have a distinctly dreamy, romantic, and mythical content, this one feels real to me.

Turkey Day

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States.  The day is also commonly known as Turkey Day.

In honor of the day and in keeping with the theme of this blog, I present to you some offerings from the Weird Wide Web.

(Click all images to biggify.)

A turkey on a dishcloth.  Nice.

A baby drumstick hat.  Isn't it cute?

Oh, look!  A variegated knit turkey.  Ok.

A knitted knitting turkey.  Oookay.

And, uh, a fun fur turkey, still with its, uh, fur on.

Ummm, a fun fur turkey hat. Planted on a head.

And another "hat", for which we should be most thankful.

Or not.

If you are very very brave, biggify the last two pictures.  I promise nothing but your eyes will be harmed.

Happy Turkey Day, everybody!

I KNIDDED YOU A SCARF

Just because you can do a thing does not mean you should do that thing.  Looks like a comfy outfit, doesn't it?

The caption reads, "SCARVED AND FEATHERED  Natural or synthetic--whatever the fabric, the more tactile, the better.  Alberta Ferretti goat hair coat, $4,800.  Marni onyx rubber skirt, $486; Marni, NYC. Giles tangerine oversize wool scarf. Wolford tights. Gina for Giles pheasant-feather stilettos. Fashion Editor: Grace Coddington."

What can one say?  Even the title implies punishment.  The model certainly looks like she's in pain.  That or gasping for air.

I'm sorry if this hurts your eyes.  Click to biggify if you can.

I am especially grateful that the caption-writer made a point of informing us that the scarf is oversized.  Whew.  If you look closely, you will see that there are even cables in the scarf-like object.  Oooh.  Fancy

This was making the rounds of the knitting net a while back, and I don't know who to credit for the LOL captions.  If you know, let me know, and I'll add it. kthnxbai.  Update:  the original came from Jezebel.com here.

OH. HAI. I NIDDED YOU A SCARF.

Shetland Knitter

 

This postcard of a Shetland knitter was mailed in 1904.

(click for big)

Sometimes we idealize the good old days, but I don't think I would like to have been this dear old soul, knitting away as she hauls a basket of peat half her size.

Peat would have been burned in the fireplace as a heat source, so our knitter was working in two ways at once to keep her family warm through the cold months.

Welsh Knitter - All Grown Up

This is one Mrs. Edwards in a photograph taken in 1875. 

As we have seen before in these pages, she couldn't quite keep her hands still for the photographer.  Knitting really is involuntary sometimes.

(click for big)

I'm particularly fond of the lacey Princess Leia look.

Welsh Knitter

Welsh girl in traditional costume.

Yes, including the hat.

Woman Knitting

Woman Knitting
Chaim Soutine (1893-1943)

Soutine was an impressionist painter of poor Russian birth who emigrated to France at the age of 20 to paint.

(click for big)

This lady has been one of my favorites for a long time, ever since I saw her on exhibit about fifteen years ago.

You can see more of Soutine's work here.