winter palette

 

From my winter inspiration board, I think I've created the perfectly haunting, coastal New England, with a splash of winter bird palette for the Perenboom winter collection.  Grayed out lilacs and marine blues and hints of cardinal red and tangelo.  It makes me feel like I'm dreaming of ghosts...and bird ghosts.  Now onto drawing (and more knitting of course)!

rapunzel

photo from spacenk.com

My hair desperately needs to grow out of this awkward phase.  Has anyone used 3 More Inches by Michael Clarke?  At this point, I think I might be willing to waste the $38 to find out.

why cats paint

We went on a little thrift store adventure yesterday in the Fairfax District and my oh my was it fun and...interesting.  We began our stroll at what was the last silent film theater in the world, aptly named The Silent Movie Theatre.  I got really excited (like jumping and clapping) until I saw that September's showings include both King of the Hill and The Garbage Pail Kids.   I was hoping for more along the line of Louise Brooks, but oh well, c'est la vie.  The thrift stores, however, I could've dug through for hours.  A bright and shining gem was a book on Why Cats Paint: A Theory of Feline Aesthetics.  Although our two kittens are adorable, apparently they are not 'spontaneous reductionists' like Tiger or 'trans-expressionists' like Bootsie.  Nor do they sell paintings for $19,000 like Lu Lu and Wong Wong.  Sometimes, while napping for the hundredth hour, they do strike some amazing poses (that's Mr. Powder Pants in what I like to call the 'supine upward cat').

Just about the time when I almost bought a vintage pantsuit, my grumbling stomach stopped me and we decided to eat a late lunch at Canter's.  I had never heard of it, but like in all of our spontaneous adventures, we stumbled upon a famous hangout.  Canter's has been in business since 1923 with a huge menu of Eastern European style food, and was the haunt of one Mr. Arthur Miller and Mrs. Marilyn Monroe.  It tasted just like my grandparents' house.  They serve pickles for the table and have eleven different coffee cakes on the dessert menu.  Yum-my.

We decided to give a little curtsey to spontaneity and went to a play at Cafe Club Fais Do-Do called Guided Consideration of A Lamentable Deed.  The script was pretentious at times (as we all are when we graduate college and before we enter the real world, I suppose), but the plot, acting, lighting, music, and free pre-show kegger were phenomenal.  A perfect mix of sensory stimulation.

Then, naturally, we ended the night with another meal at Canter's.  And now, I desperately need to work out.

knit, purl

Sometimes I honestly feel like I could knit for days on end with no break.  I don't know if it's because I get obsessive about things or because I'm so impatient for the final product, but sweater, I. Can't. Quit. You.  All morning long I watched documentaries (September Issue!) and began knitting the test for a Perenboom sweater.  I was so deliriously happy.  Knit, purl, knit, purl, pet the kitties, drink some espresso from my amazing new Kourig knock-off, knit, purl, knit, purl.  I've also been working on knitting up a prototype for some yoga socks/leglets.  They came out a little too big (man, oh man does wool stretch) and I'm not too pleased with the pattern.  Time to consult my knitting pattern bible and pick a new combo!  Taniel has off today, so as soon as she wakes up, I plan on convincing her to do yoga with me.  She's the only person I know who hates downward dog more than any other pose.  Then maybe we can take a stroll down past the silent movie theatre on Fairfax and do some vintage shopping/cafe eating!  I like this day already.

*the artwork on my door was done by my late grandmother who was quite the provocative artist in her time.  She had a million stories - one in particular about how she got tipped a quarter under a full glass at her soda shoppe by a would-be suitor - and a talented mind and hand.  Not to mention she was quite the looker with a full head of ginger curls*

blue and grey

Speaking of inspiration, I just saw that Renilde of At Swim-Two-Birds posted photos of 'The Blue Path', a collection of woven textile art.  It is, as the artist says, "about a quest, getting lost and darkening."  The pieces are quite melancholy and haunting. It gives me the same feeling as when I read The Story of The Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - that sort of half-hearted struggle to survive.  Anyway, I really love the whole collection, but my absolute favorites are these:

 Here's the entire collection.

photos from At Swim-Two-Birds

Sadly, en route to a show, the whole collection was lost in the mail.  So. awful.  I really hope that it's found.  It's one of those instances where you just cry and cry and cry from frustration.  At the very least, I'm thankful that she got excellent photos of everything.

So, I'm back to knitting test pieces for the Perenboom winter collection.  I'm really hoping that my yarn comes in today so that I can start test-dyeing.  Yay!  I'm so excited; I've never dyed my own yarn before.  My goal with this collection is to have mostly hand drawn/hand dyed textiles, so we'll see how that progresses.  I'll post more on my knits tomorrow.

winter 2011 collection inspiration

I've been dreaming of living in Rhode Island ever since I visited when I was seven or eight years old.  There is just something about the cliffs, the hanging fog, the monochromatic feel, and that piscine sting that takes me to my happy place.  And I don't know if it's the fact that it's always sunny and 70 in Los Angeles, but I am craving some wintery weather.  As I impatiently wait for my fiancé Taniel's transfer to Boston, while excessively listening to Bon Iver and running the A/C, I've been trying to shape the Perenboom winter collection organically.  By daydreaming about a snowy New England coastline.  Ghostly harbors, whipping winds, gray skies, all dolloped with brightly colored winter birds.

And for some reason, the word mystic has been popping up in my life lately, so I'm taking it as a sign that:

- I need to move relatively close to Mystic, CT, as my dearest friend Kellan insisted.  He lives in Cambridge, Mass and we've got plane tickets to see his handsome face in October.  Perfect weather for gathering inspiration!

- Heliodor (Beryl) must be involved.  What could possibly be more mystic than a stone that never retains its original color.

- A ghostly pallet with splashes of random color is a possibilty

With all those things in mind, I've developed this preliminary inspiration board for the Perenboom Winter Collection 2011.  I really love the thought of winter bird colors on natural knits.  I'm not so sure about the addition of Navajo art...though I love it, I'm not sure it really fits in.

welcome

I'm going to start this blog by telling you a little bit about Perenboom.  The name originated from the crisp, clean taste of slightly unripe pear and a love for the simple and line conscious renderings of the Dutch.  Perenboom is about natural fibers, impeccable construction, simplistic silhouettes, anthropological artifacts, and environmental textiles.  It's my pet project and I couldn't be more excited (scared, overwhelmed, anxious) about developing my first ever Perenboom collection for Winter 2011.  There will be handknits catering to a functional and yoga-friendly lifestyle, basics for everyday wear, and accessories from a time before modernization.  While the shapes, knits, seams, and dreams come together (or fall apart), this blog will serve as Perenboom's story.  Handwritten by me, in my tiny West Hollywood apartment studio and hopefully soon-to-be from the foggy, frigid New England coastline.