After Knit Nation ended, Anne and I headed over to Alice’s, and I collapsed on the couch. We stayed in London for a couple days to catch up on sleep, say farewell to the other teachers and to attend the Hussein Chalayan talk at the V&A. It was great to listen to him speak about his experience as a fairly independent fashion designer. Of course “independent” in the fashion world is quite a bit different than in the hand-knitting community.

I’d seen a stunning exhibit of his work a couple years ago at the Design Museum in London and didn’t pick up the show catalog because it was heavy, and I figured I could order it when I got home. Big mistake! By the time I’d looked it up, the book had gone out of print and was selling for over $300. This time I jumped at the chance to buy the book and have it signed by the designer himself. I had a slight fan girl moment.

The next morning, we picked up Carole and hopped on the train for a short ride over to Brussels, home of fabulous beer and chocolate. Mmm! Our hotel was situated next to the Botanical Garden which housed stunning flora and fauna.

We made it to the Grand Place, the main historic square in town where all the guild houses were located.

There was chocolate buying and tasting.

Lots of beer and coffee drinking. I love the Belgian ales and would light up every time I drank one.

We even managed to hit a cookie shop. I thought it would be good research for my sock and cookie club, but I ate through those cookies like nobody’s business. They weren’t even around long enough for a proper photograph.

On our walks, I spied a Brunello Cucinelli boutique across the street and just had to head over. They are a high end fashion house that specializes in cashmere. Unfortunately they were closed, but I really want to know where they got the candles for their shop display.

After a couple days of exploring Brussels, we headed to Antwerp to meet up with Dominique and see the Knitwear in Fashion exhibit at the Fashion Museum. This was the highlight of the trip for me. We were able to see so many iconic knitwear pieces up close. I wish I hadn’t left my camera at home because the dim lighting (to help preserve the pieces) wasn’t so great with my phone camera.

I knew as soon as we entered that there was a lot of fun in store for us here.

I gasped out loud when I saw that Vivienne Westwood’s socks were included in the exhibit. I love the transition between the leaf pattern and the frost flowers pattern. I’d first seen these socks in Sandy Black’s Knitwear in Fashion book, which I don’t think is related to the exhibit.

There were TONS of knitted socks. The foot construction on these was interesting.

And beyond knitted socks, this Maison Martin Margiela sweater is constructed from socks. You can see how the heel shaping is used for the elbows, shoulders, and bust shaping. I wish this sweater had been included at the Maison Martin Margiela exhibit at Somerset House last year. That exhibit left me… disappointed and less interested in Margiela’s work. Luckily, this piece and the accompanying write-up in the Unravel catalog has renewed my interest. I think it’s cool that MMM published directions for how to make your own sock sweater in A magazine (see page 93).

We were able to see some Elsa Schiaperelli pieces which I tried very very hard to photograph the best I could. Kristi and I went to Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp a while back and met Joyce Williams, author of Armenian Knitting. I remember learning there that Elsa Schiaperelli’s trompe l’oeil sweaters were handknitted by Armenian knitters and were therefore stranded in the traditional Armenian way and not intarsia as you might expect. It was great to be able to view this up close and see the stranded work.

I was also really really excited to see some of Sandra Backlund’s work. She’s a contemporary knitwear designer whose work I admire.

Of course, that’s only a small sampling of what we saw. I could not capture the black TO DIE FOR Alexander McQueen crazy cabled dress at all. Or the Missoni patchwork sweaters.

After a lovely time at MoMu, we headed off to lunch where I tried the eel. Eel “in green” is a traditional Belgian dish. Mine was eel “three ways”, so I think only one of those ways was traditional. The fried eel was my favorite.

Dominique, our gracious host, showed off the socks she designed during my class at the Socktopus retreat earlier this year.

She also told us about the special type of bowl-shaped glasses they use for beer in Antwerp and ordered some for us. I asked why there was a hand on the glass and Dominique explained that legend has it that there was a giant who lived by the river who collected toll. If someone didn’t pay the giant, he would cut off their hand and throw it into the river. The name Antwerp means “to throw hands.” And that’s why you see hands all over the place in Antwerp.

Thanks Dominique, for a fantastic time in Antwerp!

Sadly we had to leave, but at least the train station was glorious, both inside and out.

I am in love with the inside of this train station.

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