Christmas Come Early! the isobel and cleo advent calendar!

Do you guys like free stuff? I mean GOOOOOOD free stuff? What about FREE stuff from isobel and cleo? Well then, keep reading! The month of November is all about being thankful right? Well I'm thankful for YOU, my fans! SO November is FAN MONTH and we're doing something a little special here. Starting November 1st we're having an advent calendar that counts down to Black Friday. Every day we will release a photo from an isobel and cleo fashion shoot. All you have to do is 'Share' the picture with your Facebook friends and after sharing write, 'I Shared!" in the comments box below the pic. Pics will be posted by 11am and must be shared by 11pm to qualify. Share it on your profile page, your business page, share it with your family, whomever! All sharers will be entered into a drawing and one winner will be selected at random. You can share on the same day more than once to increase your chances of winning!! Prizes and winners will be announced the following day. There is NO LIMIT to how many times you can win BUT, at least 5 people have to share the post for a drawing to happen that day. You MUST share the picture using the 'Share' link button on Facebook and you must do so publicly. Meaning it cannot be in a private message or shared with a private group. This is so we can track your shares! Questions? Leave them in the comment box below and we'll get back to you ASAP! Good luck!!

To Enter:

Go to isobel and cleo's facebook page. If you don't already like it, 'Like' us already!!

Step 1: Select the 'Share' Button. (Make sure you're sharing the right picture for that day!)

 

 Step 2: Choose who you want to Share with. You'll have to repeat this step to share with more than one person, but you've got till 11pm!

 

Step 3: Select the blue Share button. Repeat if desired!

 

Step 4: Write an 'I Shared!' message in the comments box below the picture. That's it!

Questions? Leave them in the comments below!!

The Final Pics of the Fall Event at Cisco Brewery!

Lots more where these came from.

All pictures are by the amazing Nathan Coe.

The Snowball Effect

The Snowball Affect. 

Mohair Stripe Fringe Cardi on Etsy was Tumblr October 11th.

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Pics from last week's show at Cisco Brewery!!

I cannot BELIEVE that the Cisco Brewery show was only last week! If you missed it (like I did, as I was backstage) here are pics from our event, courtesy of our awesome photographer Nathan Coe. Thanks again to Cisco Brewery, all the models, N Magazine, Nathan Coe, Pete Ahern, Megan Maureen and Bridget from Darya's Salon and Jeff O'Neil. And of course, my lovely assistant Mallory Epping who pulled 2 all nighters with me and went above and beyond!

If you like to buy anything, most things are available on my Etsy shop. Otherwise you can contact me in the comments section for more info!

x

Charlotte

Fashion Show TONIGHT at 5!! Cisco Brewery Nantucket

Can you use Quid Pro Quo in a Sentence?

Like this Wrap-round? The person who comes up with the best and most correct use of the phrase "quid pro quo" in a sentence wins it! And we're not giving it to any sub par entries! It's gotta be good people!!! You have till Sunday, winners announced Monday. Post your answers at Charlotte's label's Facebook page.
x,
Charlotte

N Magazine Photo Shoot Sneak Preview!!

I've been packing up what feels like the entire Union Textiles studio for our first ever photo shoot held on location in the "Serengeti"* of Nantucket Island for N Magazine. While the shoot is mostly going to use pieces from my Fall 2011 isobel and cleo collection, there will also be a couple Seaweaver pieces and one collaborative Union Textiles garment in the shoot. I personally would have liked to get some more Seaweaver and Union Textiles pieces in the line up but unfortunately a good chunk of our collection is stuck in Charleston awaiting the announcement of the new date for the Music Loves Fashion event. I hope that it comes soon and that all our friends down South weren't badly affected by the hurricane. Here on Nantucket, it was just very windy with slight drizzles here and there that lasted all of 5 minutes. Everyone abandoned the island in fear and those who stayed boarded up their property. In the end it was way safer here than the rest of the East Coast. Several of my friends even went to the beach, where the waves to be fair, were massive and awe-mazing. Forgive me, I'm babbling! I have a cold in AUGUST and I'm a bit verbally discombobulated right now.

Anyway, I've totally gone off topic. N Magazine. Right. Check out some of the styling and looks that are inspiring the editor and photographer Nathan Coe:

Hot right?! It's going to be a sizzling photo shoot tomorrow morning, but I better get some sleep as our call time is 7am and I have to pick up Cara and the make up artist! Make sure to follow all the action tomorrow on Facebook and Twitter!

x

charlotte

*will explain that later

It's a small world after all...

I've decided it must be National Small World Week. On Sunday morning a friend of a friend that I let couch surf with me in Scotland 3 YEARS AGO and haven't seen since was on Nantucket Island. Of all the places he could have eaten breakfast at on his one day on island, he ate at my restaurant. Then today at dinner, I got to talking to a girl who ended up working for Teach of America. When I told her my college roommate also worked for them, we unearthed that she is good friends with my ex-roommate's current roommate, a TFA star. But that's not all. Before meeting the TFA teacher, I was in the Union Textiles Studio. I had received a package of clothing that I'm showing at the Music Loves Fashion event next Saturday in Charleston, SC. Well, I couldn't put the looks together without trying it on a model so my friend and neighbor across the hall, Ben from Lucky Dog Vodka suggested I go grab a girl off the street. Which I did. And who would've guessed the first girl I grabbed was the girlfriend of one of my old Nantucket friends from three summers ago, who haven't seen since and who had been on the island for days but was leaving in a few hours! Small world right?!

While I marvel at the small world moments that have occurred this week (there were TWO others I'm not mentioning), here is a (**makeshift**) glimpse at the isobel and cleo collection for Music Loves Fashion, modeled at the spur of the moment by the lovely Skylar:

x
charlotte

My pants, Cara's cashmere top.

Whole lotta hand knitting going on!

New colors of our Massive Plait Necklaces are in store now!

Concrete Jungle Where Dreams are Made...

Yes, that's right, New York. Everyone sings about it, from Jay Z to Frank Sinatra. So with such illustrious figures paying homage to the city that apparently never sleeps, who are we NOT to go there and see what it has to offer?

We arrived in New York on 28th and 7th Ave, right smack in the Fashion District, on the steps of FIT. Has there ever been another sign so telling and appropriate? Immediately upon our arrival we set off to work. A wee bit of shopping in Soho. Now this isn't fun, regular shopping, no it was work shopping, an entirely different breed of monster. Our task was to gather ideas and get inspired by what we saw in the stores. We hit Free People, Top Shop, and All Saints (one of my favorite British stores that has now crossed over to the US). Needless to say Cara loved my favorite store, All Saints (not sure if you knew this but we've come to realize in the past couple of months that we are indeed, the same person), and we got some great ideas to build on for our own collection.

The next day we hit the Met to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit, Savage Beauty. The lines were hellish and after waiting outside of the museum before it opened and waiting again inside in the admissions line, the entry into the exhibit itself was still another 2 and 1/2 hour line. We ended buying a Met membership to skip the queue! Mr. McQueen never one to disappoint, was amazing. It sounds like such an understatement to say that, but I've been sitting here for l5 minutes trying to think of a word to describe it other than, awesome, amazing, fantastic, etc. The rest of the day consisted of Cara and I running around the city to our various yarn appointments. But let me stop yapping and let the pictures below do the talking!

To see all our pictures check out charlotte's label's page at facebook.com/isobelandcleo.

Shopping List:
Free People
All Saints
Top Shop
The Met: Savage Beauty Exhibit
The Yarn Company
Tender Buttons
Silk City Fibers
Karabella
Habu Textiles
Lion Brand Studio
Shareen Vintage

Downtown Yarns
String
Beads of Paradise

x
charlotte

a piece from the McQueen exhibit

a piece from the McQueen exhibit

the Yarn Co, on the upper west side. this was a favorite new yarn store discovery

Tender Buttons. Amazing store, there is also one in Chicago across from Barneys

silk city fibers, a yarn company that we use alot

Cara pontificating over yarns in Habu

yarn at habu. I love how they package it!

Charlotte became so overwhelmed she just had to lay over all the yarns

at lion brand yarns

Knitwear Designers and the Pursuit of Happiness

There was a really awesome blog post from a few days ago by Design Catwalk. It was entitled, Are Knitwear Designers Happier than Others? Now, I love that question especially because it's one that I've joked about in the past. I guess it really depends on the person, but in my case I LOVE TO KNIT, even though I am consistently stressed out because it takes so much longer than you think to make anything! Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, I love yarn, I love buying yarn, I love putting tons of yarn into my cart at Yarn.com, and then taking it all out again, I love texture, I love sculpting texture with yarn, I love knitting with my hands, I love knitting with my machines. I love traveling to see knits in muesems, in stores, in NYC, in Paris, in New Zealand, in Scotland. I love that you're still here reading this love fest. And now you shall be rewarded with pictures. For more pics and to read the article yourselves visit Design Catwalk.

x
charlotte

Happy Accidents Make Sweet New Designs!

There I was last week, knitting away on my Brother knitting machine, and I was livid. I mean I was in a really foul mood. My crush was doing my head in as per usual, I mean, does he like me or not, what gives? I thought all that vacillation ended in high school. Then I came into the studio only to find that somehow overnight my knitting machine had stopped working. Which, unfortunately is still the case, but luckily I have 6, so I just popped a new one on the table and kept working. I was DETERMINED not to let ANYTHING get in my way. I had come to knit all day and nothing was going to stop me. Except for running out of yarn. Oh yes. Even seasoned knitters like myself, inevitably have a project where the yarn we ordered just isn't enough. It happened to me so much in the past that I had gotten to the point where I was overestimating too much. At one point I returned over $500 bucks of yarn back to Webs. I preceded this return with a apologetic "heads up" email to their customer service department. Well, unfortunately the yarn I was using for this particular project that I was doing was a from a remnant order and I had no chance in hell of getting more of it. What was a girl to do? I decided to bind off and this was what I was left with:

a happy accident

This accident was so happy I decided to make another one in a tape yarn that I got at Silk City Fibers warehouse sale (see blog post below for more info on that). And now we've got a new style over here at Union Textiles: The Float Capelet. Both style are available to buy on Etsy, just click the pictures for the links.

x
charlotte

I've got the money, You got the STUFF?

So. I have a problem. Anyone is knows me KNOWS I have an addiction. And even though Cara isn't around right now to confirm this about herself, I don't think that she'd be upset if I told you she's got a little problem too.

We have a LOT of yarn. We could probably start our own yarn shop. It'd be a place that sold remnants, like the remnant section at the fabric shop. Hmm. Maybe we should do that? Anyway. I thought if I'd tell you about my favorite dealers AND why I buy from them.

See what I mean. That's mostly my yarn. Cara's doesn't even fit in the studio.

So without further ado here is the list. And this is not exhaustive nor final. This list changes ALOT (see earlier blog post about my ADHD).

1. flock, nantucket island, massachusetts
why I love it:
- the owner Shelia, is freaking HILARIOUS. Worth going in just to talk to her alone.
- For such a small space, Shelia has a beautiful selection of yarns. My favorites? Check out the hand painted mohairs and the chunky thick/thin novelty yarns (see pic below).

an awesome novelty yarn at Flock

2. downtown yarns, nyc
this place is literally crammed from floor to ceiling with yarn. and in a place where good space is hard and expensive to come by, there's no surprise why. the staff here are really helpful and even went so far as to ship my favorite yarn to me in Nantucket, even though they don't have a mail order or e-commerce business. favorite yarns: best bet for recycled sari silks.

3. silk city fibers, paterson, new jersey
This place is a godsend. I thought I had died and gone to yarn heaven. Albeit a cold and large warehouse heaven, but I didn't care. The majority of these yarns are on cones for machine knitters and weavers, which is so hard to find (see my plea below). Anyway, I left Philadelphia at 4 am and took a taxi and a train to NYC, where I then walked to the Port Authority bus station. I then took 2 buses to get to New Jersey where the hold their monthly warehouse sale. This place is just that good. I nearly dropped $900 and obviously had to reign it in to a more reasonable amount. Like $600. And the owner gave me and my rolling duffle bag which I thankfully decided to bring, a ride all the way back into NYC. Clearly great customer service!

4. fabulous yarns, tivoli, ny
This place is on here because of their FABULOUS discounts. Sure, they may not have the flashest website, or the the most streamlined e-shop, but for a struggling knitwear designer like myself, I'm much more concerned with finding a good deal and awesome yarn. They over free shipping on orders over $100. The automatically DEDUCT 10% off EVERY ORDER. And then they offer a 5% off code, which when used with their volume discounts can save you 20-30% depending on how much you spend. 30% off? That's a better deal than I got as a retail employee off my own store merchandise!

5. a quarter stitch, the french quarter, new orleans, la
i just LOVE the shop. I think it may be near perfect. The staff is ridiculously nice and friendly. The yarn is all amazing, most of it is hard to find novelty, which I love blending with other everyday yarns to get awesome texture and combinations. I also love how it's set up. It's not organized within an inch of it's life. It has personality. The yarns sit in baskets all over the store, and it's lovely to rummage through them all. And it's in the french quarter in new orleans, need I say more?

through the window at A Quarter Stitch.

6. webs, northampton, ma
this may not be the biggest revelation on the list of my favorite yarn shops, but webs carries yarns on cones, which is oh-so-nice for us machine knitters. They also do good novelty yarns and have their own label, Vally Yarns which is sold at very reasonable prices. Webs also offers volume discounts on orders over $60, but no free shipping.

Those are some of my favorite places, but if you have any to share, please add them in the comments! I would love to know where I can get more yarn on cones!

x,
charlotte