Fashion: Yarn Style

Christmas, Paris Style

 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! When it is cold outside it is wonderful to be warm indoors, surrounded by the sparkle of Christmas decorations and the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen. This morning I made chicken stew while we were opening gifts so we could enjoy the savory aroma filling the house.

 

In the German tradition, there are boxes of cookies, not stockings under the tree, so my husband was busy trying to track down German cookies this week, which took him to Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats and Wurst-Haus. Here is the resulting cookie box:

 

My favorite Christmas decorations this year came from Paris. The porcelain boxes are Limoges, probably from the 1950s, and I discovered them at a bargain price in a wonderful alley of antique shops in the Marailles district of Paris. It turns out that on Sundays, all the antique sellers on rue Saint Paul open up their shops and display their antiques on tables in the little cobblestone courtyards behind their stores.

Nearby patisseries sell long sheets of pink and yellow marshmallows and red candied apples on sticks. At a tiny little café, I had the best fish I ate in Paris, a crispy trout with lemon cream sauce. My husband contented himself with a green salad and Berthillons’ famous chocolate and caramel ice cream. To remind him of our Paris adventure, for Christmas I bought him this marvelous pictorial book by Vahram Murattan:

 My favorite page is devoted to emoticons in which the author contrasts the pessimistic French attitude with buoyant American positivism: 

 Considering that entire sections of films have been devoted to the French pout, it seems only fair that emoticons should reproduce it as well with a resounding "non!" As for the American "can do" attitude expressed by the smiley face, you don't realize what a comfort it is until you are traveling somewhere else and all you hear is "non!"

 I kept my Christmas eve table decorations simple last night as three of our guests were under seven years old. While I worked on the wild mushroom cream sauce topping, my husband was flipping crepes on the stove like a professional chef. Eli, a dinner guest approaching his fourth year solemnly declared, "I quite like this when it's brown" as my husband hustled to flip the crepe for him until it was puffy and seared to his liking.

 Now that Christmas day is here, the carols are in full swing and we are opening gifts and sampling the German cookies from the box. My father sent a French pronunciation CD so I can daydream about going back. And I received a wonderful surprise gift from my Aunt, who is herself a very skilled knitter:

And a total surprise from my husband!

I was so overwhelmed when I unwrapped the pin, I just sort of babbled for a long time and then I ran to try it on with my Coco cardigan. At last I am finally happy with the fit of my jacket—the pin is so strong that it holds the jacket fronts in place and it looks right.

What greater happiness can there be? Love and Gratitude, whether in snowy Whoville where the Grinch resides or Paris or here in warm Sunnyvale. Merry Christmas to all!

  

Gabrielle in Winter

 

During our visit to Paris, my husband and I visited the Chanel boutique by the place de la Madelaine. As thrilling as it is to be surrounded by so many gorgeous things I am never really at my ease in a Chanel store. Everywhere I go, I am followed by a vigilant guard, so I can’t even imagine how stressful it would be to try something on. There were far more sales clerks than customers and their eyes were all fixed on me. And, of course, the more a crowd of people stare at you with gimlet eyes, the more furtively you begin to act. I did peek at a jacket that I found inspiring, but when I raised my camera the guard pounced on me as apparently no photos are allowed. Embarrassed, I edged out of the store with a few impressions lodged in my brain of metallic edging on a red floor-length coat.

 

Now, however, a momentous occasion is here. No longer will I need to lurk around a designer boutique, fearfully straining to catch a glimpse of the beauties within. I have my very own “couture” knit. Gabrielle is finished!

 

After having slaved over this project for all of three months, it feels as if there should be trumpets sounding. That is how excited I feel. I love my finished Gabrielle, and am certain that I will get a ton of wear out of it. After all, what I wanted was a glamorous winter top that I could wear with a simple pair of grey slacks when dining out with my husband, and I think I achieved just that. And it fits very well.

None of the construction problems that plagued me with my two Chanel-style jackets got in my way, for the simple reason that this time I made something I was familiar with—a simple knitted pullover. I now realize that if I am going to make another Chanel-style Jacket in the future I am going to have to learn more about tailoring. Perhaps the secret instead is to knit a simple piece, like a pullover, that I have already mastered, but let the complexity of the fabric be the challenge. Something for me to think about for future projects.

I do really feel the most satisfaction in having created a fabric that is ethereal in color scheme, like the original design, and that gives the impression of woven fabric. It is also really delightfully warm and soft, and it looks expensive. What a relief to finish this experiment at last!

 

December in Paris

Instead of our usual Christmas trip, my husband and I ventured

abroad this year. My husband’s brother and sister-in-law live in

Zurich, and invited us to meet them in Paris for the first week of

December. Paris? Impossible to resist. After 8 wonderful days spent

in the city of light, I am still vibrating with excitement from all the

delicious experiences not to mention pastries!

 

Laduree, credited as the inventor of the macaran, that scrumptious French creation of egg-white meringue, delicate pastel coloring, and cream fillings ranging from pistachio, rose, salted caramel and chocolate, celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. To commemorate the occasion they are inventing a new fabulous dessert every month. I was happy to try out “la duchesse”, a buche (log)- shaped creation which was a marvelous confection of chestnut paste, whipped cream and dark chocolate. Combined with a piping hot cup of orange blossom tea, it was a divine moment that I will not readily forget.

 

If this were not decadent enough, Ladurée has decked out all their window displays with a constructed pyramid of chocolate macarans frosted in gold leaf as a daring version of a Christmas tree. Thumbing through the catalogue I see that, in true Paris style, this gold-leafed wonder is not simply an inspired bit of decoration but is actually on sale to the general public for 600 euros!

Does the price seem astronomical for a Christmas table topper? Look around! Everywhere  Parisiennes carrying huge Louis Vuitton purses in the jeweled tones of glossy red and burgundy swathe themselves in furs, revealing the true wealth of Paris! The real estate ads only underscored how expensive the city really is. Our amused perusal of the blurbs posted in the windows of real estate offices seemed to reveal that $500,000 brings at most a one-bedroom apartment of 400 square feet with a postage-stamp sized kitchen.

 

And the fashion! December really shows Parisiennes at their best. Confronted with 30 degree weather and rain, they have found an ingenious solution to the problem of how to stay warm and look glamorous at the same time. Fabulous scarves were ever present of course, and thick wool or quilted down jackets were ubiquitously worn to keep out the chill. But the daring solution of skin-tight pants or mere black tights underneath the pouff of a winter coat repels dowdiness entirely! While the top half of Parisiennes may be practically warm, the bottom half is all allure. And knee high black boots only serve to emphasize the sexiness of the tight pants they wear.

This street fashion image from Elle is one example:

 

 

I also saw several Parisienne wearing short denim shorts over black tights in the style of the image below:

 

For more great images of Paris streetwear, go to this website:

http://thefashiontag.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/paris-city-of-lights-love-fashion/

 

Luckily, my previous experience of Paris last October had prepared me, and I arrived armed with the requisite skinny black jeans, faux-leather black leggings and voluminous herring-bone tweed wool coat that allowed me to blend in with the crowd. And a giant wool scarf at all times! That goes without saying. I wore my Filatura di Crosa faux fur cowl the most:

Followed by my “Covet” snood by Kim Hargreaves.

        

 

But the most fabulous winter ensemble that I saw Parisiennes wearing this December was the combination of skin-tight black pants or patterned tights with a wool tunic that hit the mid thigh. (The whole, of course, is worn under a voluminous wool coat.) I thought this look was so chic that I am determined to create one of my own. Rowan, as usual, has come to my rescue with a marvelous tunic pattern called “Foxy” using the fabulous new Kidsilk Haze glamour yarn:

In keeping with the European trend, this airy wool tunic is paired with skintight metallic leggings. I have some of my own, not metallic, but damasked in black and dark blue, similar to this pair, from Bloomingdales, which I wore everywhere in Paris:

 

 

 

My pair is navy and black damask, and I think the blue in the leggings will harmonize beautifully with the light blue of the Kidsilk Glamour yarn, and the little flashes of light from the sequins that are embedded in the yarn should provide additional textural interest.

 

As for my Gabrielle, the Chanel-inspired V neck I have been laboring over for almost 3 months now, I returned from Paris refreshed and ready to finish the front, which is now blocking again. The sleeves have been sewn up and trimmed with the crocheted edging, so the last step only remains of assembling and sewing the whole thing together.

After so many months of work, I feel an enormous pressure to bring the thing off, but considering that I made the whole thing up out of my head with no previous experience of this type of project I do not know that my expectations should be that high. At any rate, next week I will share photos of whatever I have completed.