Here I Go Again

I had my first meeting with Megg Hewlett today. Megg makes beautiful and funky knitted-then-felted handbags, which are functional, sturdy, but most of all, exude fun. (I always forget to photograph her or her work, because I'm so bedazzled by her colors.) I don't have a bag by her yet, because I can never decide on the color combination.

I first met her at the Artists' Retreat in June 06. I'm sure I've seen her around at other times, too, but we had lunch together during a workshop leading up to the Expo, and then talked some more during the Expo. Whilst once again handling her bags and trying to see if I can settle on one bag at the Expo, I talked to her about two things: 1) we'll do a swap, a scarf for a bag, and 2) we'll have a joint exhibition. The second one just popped out, but today's meeting was about the joint exhibition.

Megg is intelligent, decisive, (and tall), and as I said, had incredible (and possibly instinctive) understanding of colors and proportions. She just picks up balls of yarns and matches them to create an attractive combination, in the same time I pick up one ball and feel it and read the label and try to imagine the texture and appearance when it's woven in, say, a 2/2 twill. We were at her house for maybe 45 minutes, and one after another, we decided the rough outline of our plans and the steps we will take to realize our plan. Just like that.

And, in between these discussions, she gave me some advice on mixing/matching colors, and all I could do was to understand and remember what she said because, you know me, I'm going to have to design, sample, and mull over the results over many weeks. I just hope she can put up with that.

Putting on an exhibition with her will be a fun process, and the show will have a nice, clean, sumptuous looking collection of works. Suffice it to say, we're hoping to have it in June 08, but the rest, I'm not spilling the beans just yet.

PS: She got orders from five (5!!) places at the Expo, and there were beautiful bags all over her house in various stages, which was fantastic.