it ain't my fault!
Monday, November 29, 2010 at 8:36PM I don't know what "it" refers to, I just know that whatever it is, I didn't do it. Neither did my children. It wasn't them. It never is. It could not be them, and it is silly of me to even think that the person who sneaks the miniature Butterfingers and hides the wrappers in my eight year old's sock drawer is my eight year old.
It was not him.
Sure as shootin'.
You betcha.
This is unrelated, but I thought it should be addressed.
1. The woman on the cover of the Lookbook is my sister. She's married, and she has four children. (Which means, gentleman callers, she is unavailable.) Yes, we look like sisters. No, we are not twins. The wheels in your mind can stop spinning now.
2. I am on printed page 1 of the Lookbook. In the upper right. See, me? Blonde hair, skeins of yarn?
Sister? Brown hair. Cuter. She's on the cover, not me.
I don't think I would put myself on the cover of my own Lookbook. That seems a little...self important? Arrogant? High falutin'?
Would you put yourself on the cover of your own Lookbook? I don't mean as a "Here's our family portrait" kind of picture, I mean in a, "I am a MODEL. A model who sits on a vintage SUITCASE next to my leather JACKET in my swanky SWEATER with my pink STILETTOS" kind of way. Would you do that? Really?
Would I do that? No.
3. You can see the places where the Lookbook photos were taken on the very very last page of the Lookbook. Click past the How to Order page. It's there. All of the models are also there. Note that I did not include myself as a model. Note also that I did not include the names of the children in the book, because they are adorable, and they should have their privacy respected.
I did, however, give myself a photography credit. (I am so generous with myself! How can I ever thank myself enough?!) Me = not a model. Me = other side of the camera. So, what you see is this stunning woman on the front cover. But what you don't see is schlumpy me with two cameras and two bags of camera gear around my shoulders in my dirty jeans and my tennis shoes leaning backwards, all precarious-like, bracing myself against the small concrete wall separating me from the deep, cold ship pier. There were times when I was lying on the ground in a puddle to take some of these pictures.
And let me tell you: two tall women who are obviously related, one looking homeless except for the expensive camera gear and one looking svelte and radiant, traipsing to various locales to get the pictures we needed? No, that didn't draw any attention whatsoever. Nobody even noticed. At all. Because the upper Midwest is just like Hollywood, with all the flash bulbs and the paparazzi and the spray tans and the lip injections. It's just second nature to us here, we're used to it.
4. Here is what I am willing to do for my Lookbook:
a. Get dirty (a given)
b. Look semi-homeless (also a given)
c. Spend one million hours taking and editing photos
d. Spend two million hours lamenting my own lack of photographic skill
e. Lie in a puddle.
f. Take a picture of our Winter Muteds Collection, because I like it. (L-R: Dorian Gray, Heathered Lilac, Carey, Sea Glass, Brighton, Brown Eyed Girl, Bellini, Winter Birch.)
5. Here is what I am not willing to do for my Lookbook: (simultaneously. I may be willing to do letter A, for example, but not A-F all at the same time.)
a. Do my hair and makeup so I look dishy.
b. Put on the sweater that Trisha Paetsch knit, along with my pencil skirt and stilettos.
c. Perch atop a vintage suitcase I scouted at a flea market with the original luggage tag attached.
d. Set up a camera near the pier, perched precarious-like next to the water.
e. Take pictures of myself in public while I stare out into the water and the freezing breeze gently blows the hair I dyed dark brown just for this photoshoot.
f. Put myself on the cover of my own Lookbook under the above conditions.
Going back to the original theme of this post, which has apparently veered far, far afield: whatever is going wrong with the universe today, I forbid it to have anything to do with me.
You betcha.
Reader Comments (18)
Lori Krolikowski owes me a million dollars.
Yes, that comment really was related to this blog post. :-)
I have always been perplexed by the many people who mix you and Carolyn up. Yes, you look like sisters, but there are so many differences too. You and Carolyn and Sara are equally lovely, and your lookbook is so fun to page through. I think you all did a wonderful job.
Carolyn graces the cover, you are on the inside in a couple of places and spent years of your life putting this together, but can your readers guess which model in the pages is your other sister Sara? :)
Will you settle for M&M's? Maybe the photographer's daughter would like some. (No wrappers to be found)
You and your sister are equally lovely! In the not so recent past you had red hair if I recall correctly! As far as not putting your photo on the cover; well I think you should have. This Book is a peek inside your artistry and that of your fellow design artists and knitters. You should well be on the cover! You are, in fact, Her Royal Highness, Full Time Yarnista and the photo on the front is very Grace Kelly-esque.
I am waiting for Oprah to take herself off the cover of every issue of her magazine, somehow, I don't think that will happen.....
Though she has made her fortune in the mid-west, somehow she has not picked up the midwestern modesty.
I want to thank you and your family for producing a laborious lookbook of fiber art. It is a masterpiece you should be proud of!
I love the Winter Muteds Collection! Seeing them all lined up gives me ideas ;)
The cover shot is my favorite! I want to dress up and go somewhere, too!
I can hardly wait to get the new lookbook in my little gnarly hands (cold dry weather - at least by L.A. standards).
I am so glad that you included a lot of pictures of the yarns knitted up. So many times the yarns look very different knitted up than on the skein!
Thanks!
In response to Yarnista's Mama's question...
I would bet that lovely sister Sara appears on the lookbook page 35 wearing the Sustenance Sweater in the wonderful blue Eavan color.
Good guess, Elfielori! Sara is in several places, but pages 37 and 52 are the best, IMHO. The one you guessed is Carolyn, the same daughter as on the cover of the lookbook. :D
Oh my - all those colors right next to each other....just made my club selections even harder.
it will be fun to go through the LookBook again just to sort out all the members of this handsome clan.
perhaps the most beautiful photograph of all - the 2 little girls in their long pretty knitted dresses, walking hand-in-hand through a field, photographed from behind. They must be your daughters. A photograph to treasure.
I totally agree with Patty. Fabulous work by everyone involved!
The Lookbook is stunning...and I don't say that just because some of my work is in it! ;-) Such beautiful colorways with such gorgeous knits! (And a very stunning Yarnista.)
This is somewhat unrelated but am I the only one who goes to the club selection for December and has her head explode? I keep looking and the choice just becomes less and less obvious.
Love the post, except for the part about the 2 million hours lamenting your photographic skills. That's just plain silly, and I think you should stop doing that. When I first started showing my husband pictures of the website, he commented on how the photos must be professionally taken. When I started paging through the Lookbook, I got completely lost in the dreamy photos and forgot that it was also the Yarnista's photos, until you mentioned taking the pictures. It looks like a professionally published magazine. You are an amazingly skilled Yarnista, and an amazingly skilled photographer. With a beautiful family!
Your sister is lovely, but she's not the one I have a secret crush on....perhaps I've said too much. >.>