I apologize to those of you who recently were unable to access my blog. My host, typepad, had experienced a hacker attack this week. Now everything seems to be working again.
Before these technical issues intervened, I had promised to report on the unusual and fun party I attended in Paris at the invitation of Fabienne G. who works for Anny Blatt. Here is Fabienne, the host of the soirée herself, wearing a wonderful angora sweater. You can see she is wearing a label to help the Anglophones to identify her!
Anny Blatt, for those of you who don’t know the company, was founded in the early 1900s in Deauville, and dates back to the time of Chanel. Anny was the founder of the yarn company, and she catered to rich customers who were vacationing in Deauville. Anny Blatt and Bouton d’Or are part of the same company now and they comprise a spinning mill and dying house in Sérignan du Comtat. Yarnmarket has a lovely spotlight article on Anny Blatt which you can find through the link below. Their spotlight includes this marvelous photograph of the Anny Blatt production line:
http://www.yarnmarket.com/newsletter/spotlight/anny-blatt.html
Yarnmarket is the best source of Anny Blatt yarns and magazines I have found in the U.S. The best source in Paris is at the Modes et Travaux which I described in my earlier post:
http://yarnstylist.com/2014/04/-yarn-shopping-in-paris.html
When I was shopping there, Fabienne invited me to the party Anny Blatt was hosting four days later for 50 Northamericans traversing the canals of France on a knitting cruise. This was an irresistible invitation. In spite of an inflamed ankle, I hobbled over to the Hotel Pavillon de Saint Augustin, which was located on the same block as Modes et Travaux. I had to sit down on the sidewalk and rest several times on my way but I was determined, and that determination paid off.
As I approached the hotel, I saw two women wearing American-style clothes walking ahead of me, so I followed them into the hotel where a slim Frenchwoman waved us into a tiny room which was packed to the gills with people. 50? 60? 70? I’m not sure. When every available corner of the small space crammed with people, it was impossible for me to photograph the room. Not to mention the logistical impossibility of asking everyone present for their permission to take their photo. So I am afraid you will have to imagine the eager throng of sunburned women, ranging from late 30s to 80s, along with a handful of whitehaired men. Inching forward, I squeezed into the crowd and watched as several French women dressed in high-fashion handknit jackets handed out glasses of wine and canapés to the assembled throng.
Hotel Saint-Augustin, Paris
Speaking to the women seated on either side of me, I learned that the assembled knitters came from Canada, and regions all over the United States, from New York to Iowa. There was even one American woman there who was residing in Germany. The name of their tour company was Craft Cruise, and they had spent 10 days traveling the canals in France, with highlights in Burgundy and Provence. The final hurrah of the trip seemed to be this yarn crawl in Paris. I have found the itinerary of the Burgundy and Provence Knitting Cruise online for anyone who thinks it might sound like fun to do something like this someday. Just click on the link below:
Once Fabienne caught sight of me, she led me to the front of the room, and told me to translate for her. She announced to the entire crowd in French that I was not a part of the knitting cruise but since she had met me, and I was American, she invited me to the party anyway. I translated and there was a roar of applause from the crowd. I was a bit embarrassed to find myself in the spotlight in that way, but it was extremely kind of Fabienne to welcome me! This experience reminded me of how informal American culture is in contrast to most other cultures of the world where knowing the right people is so incredibly important, and to have the priveledge to be introduced to others opens so many doors. Take this party, for instance, which was not only a wonderful celebration itself, but allowed me an introduction to talented masters of the craft of knitting whom I could never have found on my own. If this were America, no doubt I would have been left to drift about the crowd on my own, but Fabienne introduced me to several people, including the tour guide, and made sure I received a glass of wine. I did not see Fabienne for the rest of the party, as it was her responsibility to lead tours of 15 people at a time to the Anny Blatt store for shopping. I was certainly glad I’d already picked out the magazines I wanted there the week before!
But before Fabienne left, she wheeled a rack into the room to entertain the rest of us---and entertain us it did! The rack contained breathtaking knitted sweaters designed by Anny Blatt that had been executed by the French knitters there. I would very much have liked to photograph the individual pieces on the rack for you, dear readers, but the crowd of eager enthusiasts surrounding those gorgeous pieces made it impossible. As much as I cropped my photos, you can still see all the eager hands reaching for the rack at once. The minute I took one sweater in my hands, I was asked to translate the profuse compliments of the English-speaking ladies to the French garment makers, which was a fun challenge in itself.
But I was much more interested in the French knitters than even their garments. Fabienne had mentioned to me that her group loves to meet foreign knitting groups. She said her group delights in discovering, in spite of all the language and cultural differences among Russian, Japanese, American and French knitters, for example, that the passion is the same the world over. So I was very excited to meet such open-minded Parisiennes. By great good fortune I was able to meet one lady in the crowd who introduced me to four other women in the group, and for the rest of the party, while the others went and shopped at Anny Blatt next door, we sat apart and had a wonderful chat in French.
These women's level of talent was absolutely extraordinary. Monique had made several incredible hand-beaded sweaters on the rack. She is the dark-haired woman wearing the fabulous green and gold sweater, which she also made by hand. Christine’s blue jacket was absolutely ravishing. She kindly allowed me to take a closeup:
I wish very much that I could have taken close-ups of everyone and also found out who had knitted what on the sweater rack, but time was limited. I had given up lunch to chat with my new wonderful Parisian friends, without even time to snatch but one of the canapés that were handed around. After that short but very happy hour, I hobbled out again to find a cab to take me to my father’s flat where I could ice my foot before we headed to the Louvre. Still, I left France with the invitation ringing in my ears to join this amazing knitting group the next time I am back in Paris, and I will certainly make it a priority the next time I find myself there again!
In the meantime, here is my treasure trove of Anny Blatt yarns.
Above you see the Victoria ribbon yarn in white and claret which produces such a wonderful sheen, as well as the Muguet which is the metallic yarn which is often used for trims, in black and pink. This will be quite an interesting yarn combination, won't it? All the yarns go together in order to knit this Anny Blatt pattern from Magazine 216 Collection Printemps Eté:
Classic Chanel-style, is it not? Next time, I'll share more photos of the Anny Blatt designs I fell in love with in Paris!