Silk Bijou Cacheur des Rides du Cou

I wanted something small like a fichu or less, in a fleshy colour to hide an older woman's signs of the time. you can use makup and facelifts but the hands and neck give you away.

So here's a little jewel i designed for everyday wear to wear gracefuly and quite quietly.

You can flount this around instead of both a Hermès from tante Alice and even skip that row of pearls aunt Céline gave you, this one has both the silk and the pearls and is muted, powder blush, just what you want.

Je voulais quelque chose de petit, un fichu peut-être dans une couleur chair pour cacher les signes du passage du temps...
On peut toujours recourir au maquillage et au lifting pour le visage, mais les mains et le cou nous trahissent.

 Donc j'ai créé un bijou du cou à porter au quotidien avec grâce et subtilité.

Vous pouvez vous l'exhiber au lieu du duo Hermès de votre Tante Alice et même ranger dans votre tiroir le rang de perles de votre Tante Céline, ce Bijou du Cou, cacheur de rides du cou, est discret, couleur poudre, juste ce que vous vouliez.

Marché de Noël 2

je suis partagée entre la satisfaction d'un travail bien accompli et la colère:

1. j'ai réussi à obtenir une bonne place cette année -quoi que, avoir le vendeur de chapeaux made in china avec les lumiéres dessus et tout et tout à 3 euros, manquait plus que la boîte à musique avec "jingle bells" incorporé, ne soit pas la meilleure chose pour mon stand puisque je vends essentiellement des chapeaux ou bonnets.
2. mon stand a hérité de la boîte électrique bien en face, trés visible avec les fils de tous les voisins, même s'ils sont gentils ça n'arrange pas le look du stand.
3. je ne sais pas comment ma tente est noire, il n'y en avait pas l'année précédente?! du coup tout devait être accroché à l'avant plan parce-que tout disparaissait à l'arrière. les années précédentes j'avais au moins profité des murs du fond pour accrocher de grandes photos qui attiraient le regard sur mes articles et la manière de les porter.
4. ils nous ont fait payer le double pourtant c'est beaucoup moins joli donc je n'ai pas pu faire de bénéfices.
5. la pluie s'est faite plus rare et je ne me suis pas retrouvée les bottes nageant dans une eau de quinze centimétres, il a quand même plu et cela a affecté le nombre des visiteurs, mais bon.
6. je dois prévoir des rallonges hyper longues, et certaines de mes petites lampes de noël toutes mignonnes ne fonctionnent plus.
7. je dois me rappeler que les parents ont peur de la couleur pour leur petits garçons encore bébés même (j'ai eu un: "le rouge fait fille"), alors, je me le demande, quand auront-ils le droit de mettre de la couleur, à 75 ans comme cette mammie mignonne qui a fait mai 68?
8. je dois prévoir un drap pour cacher les caisses puisque le plancher c'est le trottoir et que du coup elles doivent... oups non! je dois les mettre dans la voiture aprés les avoir vidées.
9. je dois arrêter de me prendre la tête et accepter qu'il y a aussi les AUTRES! que tout n'est pas "under my control".
10. je suis contente d'avoir fait de belles rencontres, c'est ça ma récolte à moi.

Marché de Noël

il reste encore demain et plein d'autres articles encore.

trumpet oya

i wanted to knit a flower that would look good either hanging down from a knit or facing one, so i chose trumpet, a long flower which i think looks like a morning glory, so dear to the scotts.

it is very elegant, knit with lace mohair, all of it. a small culture sweet water pearl forms the pistil end.
i will be making more of this, perhaps as hatpins, perhaps as oya in a row but then i'd have to make the flowers much smaller...
this is a rather big flower, almost 8 cms (around 4 inches minus...)

Marie-Antoinette bigoudis béret

i have used the instructions for this from "knitting nature", by norah gaughan.
her look for it is very rustic, like a "sunflower tam" as she named it and you'd imagine a girl running in wheat fields.
my take on it is very sophisticated looking yet without frills.
the first thing i noticed is the tam looked interesting only to the guy behind you, and nothing happened near the face for you to see.
and that is what i changed. i charted a mosaic pattern of a flower, as good as can be done using "mosaics knitting", thus "squares" instead of circles.
i used two colors, one for the top and it's yellow to keep the sunflower reminder cabling, and blue near the face to highlight it. the mosaic flowers are in yellow on that blue background.
i also introduced a baby blue color satin ribbon and made a little bow on the ribbing because it would be a shame to have this sliding off one's head.

the look is very "versailles" and "monarchy" then.
it's just that a Marie-Antoinette is so coquette that she'd probably have worn it to keep her rollers (bigoudis) in place till her hair took on curls. she would not be caught dead "decoiffée", without a hair adornment.

i'd wear the bow at the back, but then it's a personal preference.

Marie-Antoinette's Guillotine Cuff

it is said that Marie-Antoinette had her jeweller design her guillotine cuff links after her favorite castle chef’s dessert: a chocolate “biscuit” drizzled with a “crème à la pistache” and topped with a “cerise confite”.

this is my crochet version of it, in homage to my gourmet sense of taste and let's hope for the best for me.
you will notice that the cuffs, having been on the woman's neck formed a "ribbon of blood" that was silky
yes, death "is sweeter" on the more gracious necks.

my booth "Zaz"

i had a booth pre-christmas under a yellow tent above water (not a submarine).
it was very much fun, cold, a donkeys' booth facing me and lots of other different "sentient beings".

my work was much appreciated, some was not "wearable" as to per the passer-bys' standards but "trés joli". they'd stop and stare.
chris explained to me that they can like an item very much but not visualize themselves in it.
my response was: but i have those on sale and they are small items, they can try without loss!

i guess people sometimes prefer to not venture into what they do not know. it is maybe like how it gows with the dying and them clinging to their body.
(this won't make much sense to some, i know but it's my rye humour).

even the baby booties did not all sell, but it's a bad bad year and whenever you have a chance to NOT take money out of your pocket then you won't.

it will teach me to give more of my time knitting more complex things for the same price. i have to offer my already very high quality yarn along with the complex stitches the new chinese machines are coming up with.

i do it already for the luxury items, it is fair that the luxury items have complex stitches "fait main" (handknit), understandable even because knitting time is money and physical effort (let alone creativity). they also are sold at a higher price because they are "pièce unique" (exclusive pieces).
but now i have to apply those crazy stitches unto my small items made by the bunch like hats and scarves without charging for my time.
and in no way am i going to cheapen my yarn.

ceci est mon stand de la periode pré-fêtes de fin d'année 2008.
c'était trés agréable malgré le froid et tout le monde a beaucoup apprécié.

n'oubliez pas ce rendez-vous l'année prochaine, c'est le premier weekend du mois de décembre, à bientôt!

welcome back my friends!

my "torsades" hats for the decembre exhibition.

my choice for this time is cables!

for kids in acrylic, boys and girls each their hat.

women and men have their hip hats in brown, lie-de-vin, grey and black.

"Tortue"

looks like a turtle's shell. it is very soft and fun in colours. it sure wll bring some sunshine on rainy days.

if you wish to buy it hurry up because it is going to go in my exhibited collection!

"Tortue" porte bien son nom et est très doux à porter. vous ne vous cacherez sûrement pas dedans comme dans une carapace. fun, il est bon à porter les jours de grisaille.

si vous le voulez dépêchez-vous de me l'acheter avant mon exposition!

"Amazone"

is a new vest of my own creation. it reminds me of tropical forests, it fitls from size XS up to size XL because of its extremely stretchy stitch.
the main body varies between the greens and the browns with a red bottom reminding of some exotic plant of rich reds.
it uses stranded knitting or fairisle or colourwork.

the open slit in front gives it a hide and seek sexiness.
if you hurry up you may be able to buy it before i exhibit it!

ma création, si vous souhaitez l'acheter avant mon exposition alors dépêchez-vous!

for TIBETAN babies

i am making a whole lot of baby booties from acrylic for the babies in france to sell at the christmas fair to generate money to buy 100% wool yarn to make baby booties for TIBETAN babies.
fair trade, i think, with europpean mothers wanting to dump everything in the washing machine.
and tibetans having no washing machine and scarce water... and it's so cold up there, they only can get warm enough with 100% wool.

so far i decided to sell the pair for 5 euros and no pair is alike so you can have your own unique pair :)

i've heard it's very hard to find wool in india and nepal etc, as they export all they sheer to us in europe and other countries to generate some money.

RED FOR TIBET

est mon projet pour les bébés tibétains.

les bébés français en se chaussant "Zaz" contribuent à l'achat d'une pure laine de couleur Rouge pour tricoter des chaussons aux bébés tibétains.

commissioned work

i met a person at a designers' exhibition where i had a booth full of knits (sweaters, luxurious). he bought all of his christmas and birthday gifts off me and we "designed" his sweater to be fo me to knit.
he commisioned orders where we discussed together for a year. this was my first time doing this.
i enjoyed the money as much as i enjoyed looking after his needs (alpaca, etc) at a fair price.

it was a question of trust, i looked for yarns, called to give different prices, and gave him the choice. he knew the value of handknitting (maybe because he's venitian aristocracy?!).

i miss it to say the truth. very little time was left for my own knitting but you have one sweater to keep you warm and the rest is superfluous. i remember i made fun stuff for me that were crazy and took little time because i had to be quick, i'd wear them to meet him and he'd sometimes want to buy them off my neck with the yarns still "out".

who did charity to whom? i guess we both were happy, i loved the putting ideas together...
the money was just a fact of life (you don't go through a knit project with just the price of the yarn redeemed.
he also got his joy: he knew he participated and could have what he had in his head and could not find in readywear market nor in highfashion market because he'd have to pay much more.

things for us for a change

i have finished knitting a coat for myself that i yet have to hide the extra yarn ends of, one mitten for chris which originally was supposed to be mine but it turned out too big (the second is on my waiting list), two hats for my dad one of which is black and needs daylight for me to sew it, and a pait of slippers too.
dad is pretty old now and never has enough warmth it seems.
i've also had managed to slip in two sweaters for me from stephanie japel's "fitted knits".
i am not sure i want to post those here as they are not my design but will see.

i have to inquire about coming exhibitions but been too lazy to check.

i am kind of in the mood for knitting some pretty modern layette, is anyone interested in placing an order?

je me suis tricotée un manteau dont les fils ont besoin d'être rentrés, une mitaine pour chris qui était au final trop grande pour ma main (la seconde devra attendre ainsi que ma paire a moi en plus petit), deux chapeaux et une paire de chaussons pour mon papa chéri qui a toujours froid.
j'ai réussi à faire glisser dans tout ça deux pulls pour moi de stéphanie japel choisis dans "fitted knits". je ne suis pas sûre de vouloir en poster des photos ici mais on verra.

je dois appeler pour connaitre la date des futures expositions...

l'envie me prend de créer de la layette belle et simple, quelqu'un est intéressé par une commande?

last minute christmas gifts/cadeaux de dernière minute

le bonnet rose ainsi que l'écharpe rose sont chacun maintenant chez leurs propriétaires respectifs.

l'écharpe turquoise est partie ainsi que le bonnet turquoise, restent l'écharpe douillette longue et les mitaines.


15 euros chaque!

je vends chaque article dans cette photo a 15 euros.
les mitaines se marient bien avec l'écharpe très longue et douillette.
le chapeau adulte bleu peut être marié à une écharpe dans le même mélange alpaga acrylique.
le chapeau rose lui passe de la taille bébé à une taille grand enfant grâce a une système ingénieux de bouton et de liens qui le maintiennent bien sur la tête, il se déplie quand votre enfant grandit.

the bestseller hats

MERCI Frank, marie-no, clarisse.
frank, tu es tellement photogenique que tout le monde a voulu essayer les chapeaux que tu portais.





i ran short on time so the photos were taken without my presence. i like them though.
well, the blue big one is not worn at its best nor the chinese-looking one (the square-shaped one with tassles).
two people fought over that last one, funny, that one started off as a scarf, but i got frightened at the idea of knitting a metre and a half of double basket weave stitch so i turned it into a hat with some shaping in the back for the roundness of the skull.

christmas exhibition

ok so i took a booth and designed a few items for people to buy fast and easy like hats and mittens and scarves.
i enjoyed it a lot, Zaz was the only designer of clothes, most were selling goods for eating or drinking, but all had a passion they were showing the public.
all in all it was very good, and this kid asked his mom for two christmas balls for the tree i had.