Osborn Fiber Studio

Here is a thing I never thought would happen: me participating in an art show. Let alone an art show that was also a fashion show.

Rewind to two Fridays ago, 11/11. Fellow student and former fashion designer Renee had approached me months previous about doing some living art stuff at Uncommon Grounds Cafe, contributing some art to a show that was going to be focused on fabric and texture. I agreed, not having any knowledge of what I was getting into.

Since it turns out that there aren’t a whole lot of independent fashion designers in and around Aliquippa, the show was really a celebration of local crafters, largely knitters. It was so random and fun that I thought I’d share a sampling.

The wall art was mostly quilts, incredible quilts made by the wife of the chap who runs the shop. My Evenstar got to hang right next to my favorite one.

The fashion show itself was presented in chunks, and you figured out pretty quick what each crafter’s specialty was. Someone was really into summer tank tops that involved Noro cottons:

There’s the awesome Seth (center) who likes to crochet dudely hats of his own design:

One person had a collection of dresses that I coveted very much:

I always recognize the work of Susanah, the seminary’s alpaca-obsessed head librarian:

And Jo, the fellow seminarian who is my major inspiration for making slouchy hats (I love slouchy hats!):

Renae (pictured below) had several of her pieces on display, some amazing crazy jackets and coats and some really theatrical pieces. Renae, want to do a barter of knitwear for jacketage?

My contributions were two in number. My goal for the first was to put as many knitted objects as possible into one outfit without looking tacky. I ended up with hat, sweater, scarfie, gauntlets, and socks. I was surprised at how big a theme purple is in my collection. Also: it was very very warm in that cafe.

Roommate A is awesome and agreed to model the In Dreams shawl for me. It was thrilling, really, not just to have the shawl used for the second time ever within a week of the first time ever, but to see it on someone. It’s really a thing that’s meant to be worn; the big beaded rhombuses fall neatly on the shoulders, so what I thought was “sag” is in fact a convenient feature to keep the thing on. And don’t you wish you looked that good in white?

It was quite fun, and I hope I’m invited back for the repeat in the Spring. I’ll have a better idea of what to submit next time.

Not something that happens every day, but then again, unusual things happen at this cafe all the time.