I’ve been knitting a Flutter Scarf for my mother for Christmas. Ok, I lie. It was for her birthday, but I discovered, shockingly, that I couldn’t knit as fast as I thought that I could. So, since her birthday was yesterday and the scarf is only 1/3 of the way done, it has become a Christmas gift.

This reminded me of other “Christmas” gifts I’d like to make. Like my Forget-Me-Not Shawl for my grandmother. I’m not in the mood to wrestle anymore with mohair this week, so I decided to look up a nice cast-on, pick a number, and start knitting some soothing rows of stockinette stitch. I feel that this project would make me feel accomplished because I could get through 100 rows of stockinette in a finger-snap. Unfortunately, there are multiple methods of casting on. I’m undecided which is better and what I should use, or how many rows of a knitted border I should have.

So I moved onto looking for examples of the lace pattern – the Shetland cat’s paw lace. The cat’s paw lace creates six holes that resemble petals, and even though a forget-me-not flower only has five petals, a cat’s paw only has four main digits, so I think that I can be as “imaginative” as the Scottish people were and say that this is the abstract idea of what a forget-me-not flower looks like.

Unfortunately, there is not one single way to knit the cat’s paw lace pattern. Oh no. It could never be that simple. There are oodles of ways to make the lace pattern that causes the lace holes to shift and slide in different directions. Wendy Knits’ blog has a nice diagram that outlines most of them. And by “nice,” I mean, “it hurts to look at it too long.” Then there are a couple others that involve strange things like k2togtbl that I found other places. So now, before I cast on for anything, I must knit myself multiple little swatches of the Shetland cat’s paw, using all sorts of methods, until I hit on the one that creates the nicest, most round version. headdesk

I followed her as she wandered cluelessly back to her home, back to a bedroom filled with burgundy and golds and other rich tones that made it look primed for royalty. My Grandmother couldn’t remember who she was. Senile. A state of confusion. She was beautiful though, old but with long locks of golden blonde hair. I got the feeling he’d spent his life trying to help her remember- remember her life. Or her lives. I was there, unsure as to why she lived in this daze- but then he gave me a look of understanding and sat me down at an old vanity. It was white washed wood with light turquoise trim and sitting on top was an old fashioned hair brush and a music box that had “Margot” written across it in plain block letters. I tilted my head up into the mirror and like I was fast forwarding a movie I saw it all there. My face didn’t change but as all of my lives, all of her lives, all of his lives passed through my mind, the hair on my head changed in the mirror like I was changing wigs. I didn’t really see it all play out as much as I was hit with a sudden knowing of what had happened. Time was no factor in this world. A sudden understanding that yes, he had spent all his lives longing for her, taking care of her, and we were now in this in-between world and he was trying to help her remember it all so they could finally go off into eternity together. She could look in the mirror and remember, but she couldn’t hold onto it once she looked away. Not yet, anyway. Perhaps she wasn’t ready. I looked at her, beautiful and delicate, lying in her canopy bed, and then I nodded at him with understanding- and woke up.

Except that I was never really asleep. Or… I was, but I was in that in-between state, where you know you’re dreaming but you know darn well you aren’t creative enough to make this crap up even in your subconscious.

I had to write it down before I forgot.

I’ve been thinking of getting a tattoo to memorialize my Grandmother- you know how close we were. A few months ago I found this one on the internet with a Forget-Me-Not (her favorite flower) that says, “You know that place between sleep and awake, the place where you can still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you… That’s where I’ll be waiting.”

Do you believe in the afterlife? Do you believe in reincarnation, in past lives? In soul mates? 

My borders are grey, but I do. I always did I suppose.

That’s French for “forget me not.”

Since I’m all for French and flowers, I thought I’d share another uncommon bouquet. I was wading through the wet market of Tiu Keng Leng in Hong Kong one Saturday, tasked to buy cheap flowers to serve as centerpieces for our tea party when I saw this perky, purple, impossible-to-miss bunch. It looked a lot like this from www.daisyandwaverly.com:

Until now, the image of that bright bold bouquet lined up with all the other cheap flowers in the market lingers in my head.

The forget-me-not is a flower associated with faithfulness and enduring love perhaps because of that legend of a knight and his lady who were walking along the side of a river. When the knight picked up some flowers on the riverside to give to his lady, he fell into the river due to the weight of his armor. As he drowned, he threw the flowers to the lady and shouted “Forget me not!” (Okay, did I just hear someone say, “How stupid is it to drown while picking up flowers?”). Anyway, that’s just one of the stories. The rest you can read on Wikipedia.

Here’s the earliest postcard of a forget-me-not:

Henry David Thoreau once wrote of the forget-me-not: “It is one of the most interesting minute flowers. It is the more beautiful for being small and unpretending; even flowers must be modest.” True, true.

Enough pontification. I really just love these cheap flowers in a cheap market. I hear they’re being sold in Dangwa, too? Hmm… I want some.

1. Otrera Evil Eye Chiffon Scarf, $205. Net says “summer scarf”.. I think most scarves are appropriate for most times. Especially ones that have little evil eye charms hanging off of them.

2. Calypso Love Quotes Scarf, $95. Love the ombre and the soft colors. An easy scarf that will make any casual outfit chic.

3. Forget.me.not Magical Forest Scarf, $365. A large, silk, whimsical scarf. Have: been coveting Forget.me.not ever since I spotted one in Barney’s last summer. Haven’t: figured out how to justify a scarf that costs as much as an Hermès.

4. Maje Fringed Cotton Scarf, $190. The embellishments and fringe in neutral colors make me want to wear this with everything in my closet, rain or shine.

5. Ashley Ashoff, Human Heart Signature Scarf, $195. From a handmade collection inspired by the intricacies of the human heart. Edgy and rock chic, the only thing cuddly about this scarf is the luxurious silk. It would look right at home under my Helmut Lang Upside Down Jacket.

6. Prova for Barney’s Co-op Dena Sandinista Scarf, $395. Vive la résistance.

Forget Me Not is a series of art digital prints silk scarves designed my French London based Coco, a well-known illustrator in the fashion industry.  Coco has a background in fine arts and has collaborated with major fashion magazines. Her work is a mix of several medias from drawings, paintings and digital techniques to create the finish product. The scarves reflect a visual universe of minimalistic and surrealism montages for an enchanting reality. Her illustrations combine geometric patterns, animals, talismans and children’s tales. Small limited quantities available on her online shop and Asos.

http://forget-me-not.me

http://www.asos.com/search/pgeSearch.aspx?q=forget+me+not

It’s graduation weekend and Sandy Channing, the popular class president of her high school, should be enjoying the time of her life. But when her friends start disappearing, Sandy discovers they have unwittingly awakened the vengeful spirit of a girl they wronged long ago. As each victim dies, all trace of their existence is mysteriously erased. They are forgotten by everyone except Sandy, who must unlock a dark secret from her own past before it’s too late.

STYD had the above photo from the film.

The film stars Carly Schroeder, Cody Linley, Micah Alberti, Brittany Renee Finamore and is due on at the Screamfest 2009 festival on 22nd October.

Saludos fanaticos de la celuloide!!, como muchos al igual que yo estan cansados de ver peliculas en la cual un estudiante fustrado comienza a matar personas porque se burlaban de el o ella en la secundaria. Pues “Forget me not” es una producción que ira por ese mismo camino al parecer, en este primer trailer se muestra mucho de lo que sera la pelicula en si y la verdad no me animo mucho a verla.

Aqui esta el trailer, a ver que opinán ustedes:

Entre los clichés más usados del cine, sin duda está el del o la estudiante que fue burlada por un grupo de compañeros, y de pronto éstos comienzan a morir de formas misteriosas. Sin embargo, Forget Me Not parece ser una de las honrosas excepciones. Si bien la premisa es muy usual, el trailer no deja de sorprendernos, pues al parecer la historia da un vuelco totalmente inusitado en la historia, por lo que es posible que nos sorprenda, aunque tampoco podríamos apostarlos. Quizá cuando se de a conocer algo más, posiblemente nos podamos dar una idea más clara, por lo que tendremos que esperar.

tool talk…

…a ring around the rosy…

Obviously I have  pattern design on the brain now. This week, it’s the contemplation of the perfect shawl for my grandmother. Well, I suppose I’ve been building toward this. First I had to acquire the perfect yarn:

Check.

Then I had to find some inspiration:

Check.

Then I had to find the perfect pattern:

Uhh…

See, the problem is that the yarn’s colorway is called “Forget Me Not.” The yarn itself looks like the flowers from a forget-me-not, and I was immediately drawn to the idea of creating a shawl for her that looked like forget-me-nots. At first I thought Miriam Felton’s Seraphim Shawl would be divine, but hers used fingering weight yarn and I really wanted something a bit more flowery. Unfortunately, the only flower-like shawl patterns are either ugly, or, in the case of the Forget-Me-Not shawl patterns on Ravelry, look nothing like the petals of this flower.

So I’ve done some research today. I wandered through my favorites first, looking for something that might look like a flower, and then through the other flower patterns on Ravelry. And I found something! As I was wandering through one of my lace books, Victorian Lace Today, I noticed a really intriguing edgework that implemented a design feature that looked like the six petals of a forget-me-not flower.. “A Curved Shawl with diamond edging” apparently uses the traditional Shetland lace stitch “cat’s paw” with some success. I think the best picture of the edging can be seen here, on jeanneknits2’s Ravelry project page. I don’t think “cat’s paw lace” looks anything like a cat’s paw. Well, ok, it remotely resembles a cat’s paw, but what it really resembles is a small button-type posy of a flower. After seeing it knit up on some other shawls I’m excited by the idea of a whole shawl knit out of it:

Photo courtesy the blog, "Knitting Through the Looking Glass" by Pamela Lee

I tried to find a pattern that used the petals like I wanted them to be used (starting at the shoulders with just a few and eventually scattering outward until the shawl is covered with them), but that pattern just doesn’t exist – except in my mind. I’m not sure I’m experienced enough yet to actually physically design this pattern, as currently my only lace shawl, the Ishbel, is sitting in purgatory until it learns to behave itself, but…we shall see. My grndmother is old, and doesn’t have many years left, so that should spur me into learning how to do this quickly!

Maybe if my house was full of reminders like this one I would not have forgotten my first blogiversary last week!  Have you seen this series of reminders by Recovering Lazyholic?  They are clever and funny, and are doing the rounds on the blogs at the moment.  If you have a few minutes click on over to the album, sit back and enjoy.

Perhaps this sterling silver forget-me-not ring might have helped me to remember.  It’s so pretty and delicate, just the sort of jewellery I like to wear (partly because it’s nice, and partly because I’m not brave enough to wear big bold chunky pieces).  Even better, it’s only $10 due to the jeweller’s commitment to creating durable fashion jewellery at reasonable prices, as she was apparently fed up of buying pretty things that just didn’t stand the test of time.  Yay for the rest of us!

Isn’t this felt forget-me-not mug from Martina over at Inside The Wooden Box adorable?  Apparently her mother collects mugs with forget-me-not patterns but Martina has run out of mugs to buy her, so this mothers’ day decided to make one for her instead.  It’s not exactly practical but it certainly is pretty, and it combines my love of mugs and my love of felt, so I think it’s pretty fabulous!

Finally, I wonder if a super fun blackboard like this one might have helped me to remember my blog birthday?  Brooke of Playing Grown Up makes a whole range of fun and colourful chalkboards, but this one is just my absolute favourite.  Pop over to her etsy shop to browse the rest and pick your favourite!

Forget.me.not is a collection made by Parisian designer, Coco. She studied Fine Arts in Paris before working as a design consultant for French fashion designers and houses. Her craft mixes painting and drawing along with digital techniques to design these amazing scarves. They come in extra large square shapes and features designs with animals and other imagery. The Autumn/Winter Collection 10 features scarves in purples, golds, blues and berry colors. The designs channel Hermes, but with a edgier vibe.

It’s easy to get caught up in the make believe world of fashion during the international Fashion Weeks. I often make believe that I can actually afford to buy designer clothes. Reality is, that’s just not the case. I’ve always lived a champagne lifestyle on a tap water budget so I’m loving the rise of designer high street collaborations.

Enter ASOS Hub. ASOS has teamed up with 15 of the hottest emerging fashion and jewellery designers to bring an exclusive series of collections to form the ‘Hub’.

The Hub is currently live and collections have dropped from Florian, Forget Me Not, Ligia Dias, Louise Amstrup, Ostwald Helgason, Poltock & Walsh, Scott Wilson and Swash are ready to be scooped up here.

I thought I’d only have eyes for Poltock & Walsh but after a sneak peek, I’m holding out for Holly Fulton and Louise Gray. Especially after Gray’s offering at London Fashion Week!

For me, ASOS has always been about accessibility. Offering everything from high street to designer labels, and on trend pieces with their own ASOS brand, not to mention the afternoon e-mails that arrive at the perfect time for a mid-working day distraction. ASOS makes it far too easy to get your fashion fix and the Hub makes owning cutting edge designer clothing easier than ever. Fingers crossed it’s not a one-off and even more designers are included in seasons to come!

Poltock & Walsh for ASOS

Holly Fulton for ASOS

Louise Gray for ASOS

ASOS rarely puts a foot wrong and these collaborations are oh so right.

Asos launched a Designer Collaboration called the Hub today, giving the Christopher Kane collection at Topshop a run for its money I am sure.

Here are some of the amazing things you can pick up:

n.b. the gold supped up shoulder top below doesn’t appear to be for sale yet but it is amazing!

Given that I am a big fan of silk scarfs and had intended to buy a wool snood I am very interested in the way they styled the above scarf… something to experiment with.

- Flowers for the flower?
- Care for some nuts?