tales from the sock drawer

...and here's my humble offering from the exhibition, along with the tale from the sock drawer...

Learning to Fly

"Old Mrs Habberknackle has a large chest of drawers in her bedroom, where she likes to keep her stockings and her balls of yarn for knitting, nestled cosily beside each other. It is a great joy to her every time she opens the little brown drawer full of all the colours of the rainbow and she always has a hard time choosing which pair of stripy socks to wear under her long swishy skirts or exactly what colour yarn to use as she knits another incredibly loooong scarf for one of her fifteen grandchildren.

The trouble is, it is not just old Mrs Habberknackle who loves the drawers so much. A few of the cheeky birdies from the neighbouring woods have discovered just how cosy it is to nest in balls of yarn – so much more comfortable than twigs and moss. So now every time old Mrs Habberknackle opens her drawers she is not quite sure who, or what, is about to fly out next, as each doting mother teaches her chicks the basics of taking off and landing!

However, she doesn’t mind, why should she be the only one to benefit from such a glorious set of drawers filled with a cosy, warm rainbow? Although next time she pokes her hand in, she had better be careful as I am sure I spied some sort of strange and hairy creature burrowing through the yarn last time she opened it – can you spot him?!"

Origin

I visited Origin yesterday in its new venue at Spitalfields market. I must admit, the new venue was a little disappointing. I have loved visiting Somerset House for the show for the past few years. There is a magical quality to that building and even though the Origin hall was always set up in the courtyard, I did love passing through the gates of the House. In contrast, the purpose built hall at Spitalfields had no roof and there was a strong wind a-blowing through the market. The temperature dropped rapidly yesterday meaning I did not remove my coat the whole way round, and I must say I didn't really savour the exhibits as it was just a bit too cold to dawdle, not to mention the pigeons we spotted nestling just over some beautiful knits...

I went with the lovely Bee, my parter in crime over at Make Do Mend. After my hectic summer of knitting I am onto a bit of a crochet binge and as Bee is also a huge crochet fan, we were especially searching out evidence of this beautiful craft.

We were not disappointed. There were some really stunning pieces. My favourite of these were created by Korean, Jeehyun Chung (pictured above) who combined strong linear wire shapes with ultra fine crocheted cotton and nylon monofilament. The oversized neck pieces were striking and fabulous as art pieces as well as accessories.

Aside from the crochet, I had a fondness for Joanne Tinker's recycled foil works, as she makes tiny little goblets from sweet wrappers, just as my granddad used to make for me to 'drink' from every time we ate sweets together.

It was also great to see Abigail Brown's adorable birds in the flesh. My favourite was this stunning flamingo. The attention to detail and handwork involved in these critters is amazing, the colours are beautiful and each has an irresistibly charming personality. Abigail was on hand to explain how each was made and I wish I could have taken one away with me, perhaps one day soon I shall treat myself, they would make a fabulous companion for my own Mr Crow.

Another exhibitor I admired and was unfamiliar with was Debbie Smyth who creates artworks from pins and thread. I must have mentioned hundreds of times how much I love linear art pieces, especially those involving thread, so her work is right up my street. I do regret not purchasing something now, but that blasted icy breeze did somewhat dampen my will to browse at leisure, although Bee made a smart purchase of a fabulous jaquard knitted neckerchief from the lovely Hikaru Noguchi which I was mightily jealous of as we walked briskly back to the bus stop!

japantastic

I took a trip down memory lane yesterday when I visited the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture at Middlesex University's Cat Hill campus; I was a student on the constructed textiles course there when it was built in 2000 and it was a great resource. The museum is a little gem if you are interested in interiors or textiles, with a fabulous and extensive collection of artefacts which you can use for reserch or just for inspiration.

The current exhibition is called Japantastic and is small but perfectly formed. There are beautiful Japanese inspired textiles fom the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, when there was a craze for all things relating to Japan. The wallpapers and fabric were produced by the Silver Studio, who supplied designs to Liberty.

I would highly recommend that you get down to see this exhibition if you can and if you haven't been before, check out the permanent exhibition Exploring Interiors about domestic living from the early twentieth century. There are some fabulous pieces, including a stunning singer sewing machine cabinet, which I could easily have walked out of there with if it wasn't so darned heavy....