A Canadian gal in Stuttgart, Germany, who loves nothing better than crafting by the seat of her pants. See her snip, sew, knit, knot, glue, sculpt, splatter, spin, and of course, talk about herself.
You are all just the bestest ever! I swear, just as I had clicked the publish button, there was this little rush of panic as I though - Oh my god, did I really just post a picture of myself in pink fishnets on the internet!?! Not that I'm the type to get easily embarassed - if y'all knew have the stupid things I do on a regular basis, you would be hard pressed to believe I wasn't doing it on purpose. But there's just something a bit intimidating about knowing that your stupidity has been saved for all prosperity on a medium that is open to the whole world.
Hehe. Actually, come to think of it that's pretty funny! Maybe I should post pictures which are really embarassing, like those of me at the annual Whores and Transvestites Party (oh google, who will you send to my blog now?) . The idea of it is that everyone who attends, whether male or female, must dress like a horribly tawdry hussie. It's loads of fun! I think one of the things I miss the most here is dressing up for Halloween, so when this party comes round, I take full advantage. I just love dressing up! It's so much fun to look for the tackiest, trampiest things possible, and to help the boys with their boobs! I am the official champion boob maker. We use latex gloves we still from the lab and fill them with water. Not too much though! Otherwise you have fingers sticking out of your boob ;) You tuck the fingers underneath and put the "boobs" into an extra big bra - and voila! Boy with boobs! Anyway, back to my makeover-in-progress, I really appreciate all of the comments and suggestions, as obviously, I need all the help I can get ;) As I said, I need to get away from the frumpy things I have been wearing lately, but I'm not sure I can go back to the things I used to wear before the descent into frump began (ie pink fishnets). I think Risa made a good point that I could maybe find a compromise between the two extremes. It is very tempting to go back to one of my many past looks...the hippie in torn jeans and beflowered hair, the punky girl with combat boots and purple hair (and the fishnets of course) or even the Bjork fan with little buns and dots on my face. But the idea here is for a new me! As I think I may have hinted at before, Stuttgart is not so much a style haven, so me needs be looking for inspiration someplace else! Although I have had a long term love affair with Vogue, what I really love best is your everyday style queens. Growing up in Toronto, I was constantly amazed at the things people wore - so I was really happy when I noticed there are quite a fewTorontofolks on Wardrobe Remix. If you haven't seen it before, check it out - it's awesome! If you find looking through that many pictures a little tiring though, you can always check the week's highlights on Bits and Bobbins, which is run by the group's creator. There are also links to other street fashion sites, like the famous Sartorialist and the cute cute cute Hel-looks of people in Helsinki, many of whom qualify as walking works of art.
But of course, inspiration aside, the main component of real style is certain personal je ne sais quois. It's all about working what yo mama gave you ;) As we all know there is nothing more beautiful than just being your own wonderful self. With that in mind, I leave you with a poem that darling Helen left a link to in reply to my last post. Enjoy!
Everybody now - 'I feel pretty....Oh so pretty...."
We all know that women are known for certain weaknesses....shoes, chocolate, designer handbags...I'm sure many a husband or boyfriend could adds scores to such a list. I, of course, am just a girl like any other - I too often get my thrills from a shoe or clothing rack. And as I mentioned in my post about Ireland, I am not above shopping my blues away ;) It must be said, however, that since I've been living in Germany this tendency of mine has nowhere near reached the heights it did while I was in Canada. This is mostly due to me still being aghast at many of the prices here (it takes me micro-seconds to figure out what each price would be in "my money" ie Canadian dollars) and that this does not happen to be a region that caters to the vintage or retro shopper. That said, I am ashamed to admit that my manner of dress has gone appallingly downhill over the last year or two. I have slowly gone from being a dresses-and-skirts-with-funky-bags sort of girl to a rarely bland mix of jeans with t-shirts and usually not so exciting cardigans. It's amazing how something like this can sneak up on you! I think my younger self would have been horrified to know that I would become a regular wearer of dull outfits like these...
Don't let the romantic German background fool you! I am clearly a woman in need of help. Now, you can't tell in the first picture, but I'm almost positive I was wearing running shoes. Not that there's anything wrong with running shoes - they're very comfortable, practical and have their time and place - but they'd never be called glamorous, or even stylish. Besides, we're aiming for girlie, sexy even. I mean, let's be perfectly honest here, I have no problem with getting older, my mother is pushing 65 and still by far the most beautiful woman I know - but it's a fact of life that the effects of gravity on my girliest of parts is becoming more palpable by the year and frankly, I think I need to show off what I've got while I still got it ;) If I am lucky enough to live that long and still have my wits about me, I still plan to be the most colourful of fashionistas when I'm 80, but I'm pretty sure I won't be doing it in a short skirt. So, in the spirit of looking like a girlier girl, I could not resist this hot little number I found today at H&M. I tried to take as good a picture as I could, but I sadly had little success in capturing the cuteness of this dress. It's cotton jersey in teal (*so* comfy! and still girly!) with 3/4 length sleeves and cuffs with 3 little buttons. I'm a sucker for cuffs. There's some gathering at the yoke and at the tops of the sleeves, as well as the cutest little keyhole in the back! (oops! forgot to get a pic of that too)
As can often happen with a solid-coloured dress though, it needs some kind of waist definition, hence the pink sash around the waist. I'm going to look through my fabric stash for something I can make a belt out of, which I also need for another tunic-y type dress I have. I've been wanting to make a couple fabric belts ever since I fell in love with those used over dresses by Noa Noa, a Danish designer who makes the lovelist fairy princess type things. I have already collected a few of said things, but they have such a light, airy quality to them, they seem out of place in any weather other than balmy sunshine, so it looks like I will have to wait a bit before pulling them out of the closet :( But I'm hoping this new purchase will be a good transition outfit, until I can start wearing my summer things (which are not quite so hopeless) and most importantly, get me to wear my pom-pom shoes more often!
I really love these. They're just so ridiculous, and they match the dress perfectly! I found them on sale for 10 Euro in the middle of fall, which was very grey and rainy - not good for suede flats. So these have been living in the closet since then. Do you think the pink fishnets are too much? I couldn't help it, I've been starving for colour. Now I've got to go rummage around in my collection of trinkets and try and get in the habit of wearing jewellery again. Enough of lonely, neglected earrings! No more spinster necklaces! Mama's not only got a new (sorta) pair of shoes, she's got a new dress to match - and she's gonna show it off ;D
Just a quick post with another great swing video, since you all seemed to like the first one so much. Although her partner is younger, the woman dancing here is in her sixties - just goes to show that swing is both a lifelong source of fun and keep your tailfeather in good working order ;)
Oh, and I also fiddled with my blog a bit. It looks ok in my browser, but if anyone notices any overlapping of things, or it just looks funky, please let me know. Have a happy Thursday, y'all :D
I must say I'm pretty pleased with myself. I've never made an animated gif before, and to be honest the idea didn't even occur to me until I looked at the pictures that Matthias took of me and my little tea cup (and in my pretty German Tracht blouse). Being all very similar, but in slightly different positions, it reminded me of those cartoon flip books you make in school. Remember those? They were so much fun! Anyway, I just had to see if I could make a little animation out of them. Then it would be like I was really with you all at Risa's Tea Party! If you look carefully, you can even see me stick my pinky out as I drink LOL.
Oh! And before I forget, my virtual bring along are blueberry scones, which I've been making lately using the recipe found here. Grating the butter is a bit of a pain, but otherwise they're super easy and yummy as all hell. And if you have a food processor (not me - *sniff*) it's a snap, cause then you don't have to grate the butter or even knead the dough. I love them with blueberries (both fresh and frozen work) or making them savoury by cutting out most of the sugar, and adding parmesan, herbs and sun dried tomatoes. A must for any tea party! I hope everyone else is enjoying this as much as I am, I love a good tea party :D
**ETA** I've been popping in to see the rest of you ladies, it's so much fun! I really want to thank Risa, as well as the rest of you for the wonderful atmosphere and a great time. I hope we will do this again!
Grrr. Just a quick post to vent, this time in defense of Germany. I was more than a little surprised and rather dismayed to see that while answering a comment containing the word 'Germany' the ads that popped up on my Google sidebar were for Nazi films! Nazi propaganda! (who I wonder, will google me now??) I find that really sad. I may have my issues with living here sometimes, but one of the things that bothers me is a complete lack of pride that has developed here among the young people in their own country. Can you imagine they more or less learn to be ashamed of it in school? In spite of fairly little interest in football (you know, soccer lol) I was so happy to see thousands of young Germans going out and celebrating in the name of their team and country. It's almost as though the footbal arena is the only place they can justify displaying a sense of pride. There is so much more to German history and culture than the second World War. And as the daughter of a German, I have always been proud of my background for a variety of reasons too complex to list right now. I just think it unfair that such casual associations between Germany and the Nazi movement should be something that will even now still be thrown in the face of impressionable young people who have already more or less been taught their country is the root of all evil. I mean, it's bad enough that muslims are discriminated against now because of current terrorism, does that mean they will still be thought to be terrorists in 60 years? I really hope not.
Sorry for the ranting! I swear, happy crafting coming soon :)
Since my last addition to the list was very doom and gloom, I thought it would do me good to think of things that have made me happy lately.
61. My new sweater dress! I'm not as much of a clothes horse as I used to be, but occasionally I really get a kick out of buying myself something pretty and girly. This dress is definitely that. Also, I think it's the shortest thing I've worn since I went to a friend's 'white trash' costume party about 5 years ago :D
62. Having breakfast with Bunny. During the week I rush to get ready and run out the door because of the long commute and always eat on the train, leaving him on his own. But on weekends or holidays (like today!) he will often get up before me and make us eggs benedict. So yummy, and really nice to sit and enjoy it with him.
63. Spending the day in beautiful surroundings. This can be in nature, or in historic areas, which there are a lot of here. Today we spent the afternoon wandering through the woods, which was great, but have no pictures, so instead I'll show you one of another beautiful day a week or 2 ago when we went to Tübingen.
64. A bucket of candy. My mom is totally the sugar/fat/anything good police so the little girl in me still gets a little excited at a pile of junk food. I don't even have a sweet tooth, I think it's just a sense of something forbidden ;) And since we didn't end up having any trick or treaters this year, guess what I'm stuck with?
65. Trying/making new things. In the last month or 2 I've gone to classes to try stained glasswork, metalwork and lampwork. Being a total textile girl, it was so exciting to work with totally different materials. Here's a pic of the pendant I made, with 2 beads I found to fit. I was hoping to have 3, but have not found one to fit in the smallest spot, so I may just use one. What do you think? If you click on my flickr pics there another of the pendant naked, plus another of my wonky glass beads! It was great fun making them, but will not be something I'll be pursuing.
66. This video. I found the link on a blog, but don't remember which one. And it led me to a similar one of a girl who did her own Free Hugs campaign in Toronto, my full-of-wikkid-awesome-people-hometown :D It made me cry, especially when she describes the children just running up and attacking her. So sweet!
67. A happy cat. Except for our first cat, which we lost, Abby and Lily are my first none-caged pets. I hope I will never get so used to them that I am not absolutely delighted whenever they roll around in front of me purring like lawnmowers because they're just so happy I'm home. 68. Traditional German knitting patterns, like these I found on ebay. So cute! The cablework on some of these cardigans is just to die for. My biggest problem now is deciding which one I want to make since I'm in love with several and they're really not a jiffy knit. What do you think? This one? Or maybe this one? I really love the back. And then of course there are some drool worthy socks and my favourite, the über sexy legwarmers for men! LOL
69. A good idea. Don't you just love it when you think of something great to make? You just get all worked up and pleased with yourself, and feel more motivated to get stuff done. I just thought of what I could do with a shrunken sweater that seemed to tiny to be used for anything, even a purse! So I'll make mittens! I can picture them perfectly and if I can manage to get a whole pile of stuff done at work, I can take make them this weekend instead of working like last weekend! 70. And last, but not least, doing things for others. I think there are few things in the world than can so easily bring such a sense of satisfaction and well-being. It's practically selfish! I'm really enjoying knitting things for Dulaan, and although work has been crazy the last week or so, I am making time to spin and knit more things. I'm really happy with the latest to be done, as they're my first mittens, and I love how the rainbow handspun knit up. I hope they will make a child happy :)
***Oops! I thought I had my email addy set to available...you can now find it on my profile. Sorry for the confustion :( ***
I really want to thank everyone who entered, I had a lot of fun seeing people's pictures :) I think next time I will think of something a bit more knitting related and less embrassing, because I get the impression a few were scared off. Sorry! I guess now I know for next time. But hopefully those that did join in had a good chuckle too. And now to the important part...the winners!
Prize for funniest picture goes to Tigerlilith for her hilarious pic of Corey Haim! It is such a horribly cheesy 80s pose, my sides hurt from laughing. Congrautulation, Tigerlilith, you win the Opal Hundertwasser yarn!
Prize for the most embarassing crush goes to Stariel for not only being brave enough to share her crush on Marilyin Manson but to even show us her drawing of him from high school! So, for going above and beyond, I think she's really earned the Jawoll Cotton Jacquard :)
And last, the hottest crush and the hot pink yarn goes to Liz for this pic of Lee Montgomery! For those that don't remember, he starred with Sarah Jessica Parker, who has since become the Sexpert in the City, in Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I had totally forgotten him and the movie, which I must have seen several dozen times when I was younger, so not only is it a good pic of a cutie, but also a nice trip down memory lane :)
So if the winners could email me with their addresses, I will get your yarn out ASAP. Tomorrow I will finally have some crafting to show, as I got a much anticipated order of fibre on Friday and have had a hard time prying myself away from the wheel this weekend. So expect some good yarn porn tomorrow ;)
Today's the last day for the contest, so whoever is looking to get some free yarn has to enter by tonight. I've had a lot of fun looking at the entries so far. Don't be shy ladies!
First off, thanks to Arleta for getting us started. You rock! I thought I'd offer some inspiration (and show I likely have much more to be embarassed about) by showing a couple of my crushes. First, the obvious:
That's right. To hell with Joanie! I love Chachi! He was so much better than the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonzie. But sadly, just not the same when he became Charles in Charge (Wow! It even has it's own Wikipedia entry - who knew!). But much more embarassing is that is one of the few that were anywhere close to my age. Other men I was just dying to marry before I was even old enough to drive included:
Joe Perry from Aerosmith (not as scary as Steven Tyler but not much better) and Robin Williams! Wow, do I have great taste or what? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they'd both been married or had children or both by the time I left kindergarten. In my defense, I would still much prefer an old school rocker to the pretty boy or gangsta types people listen to now. And as for Robin, well, I'm kind of a sucker for men who can make me laugh, always have been :) I admit though, still kinda scary. If you don't see why, take a look at his arms in this picture. Yikes!
There. So now none of you have to feel the least bit embarassed about whoever you liked ;)
Hi all! I'm all kinds of excited about givin stuff away! I should have done this ages ago :) Ok, like I said yesterday, I had forgotten about my blogiversary but still wanted to have a contest to celebrate. I did some thinking yesterday about what you could do to enter and I think I came up with something fun. At first I thought I'd do something about forgetting things, like birthdays, anniversaries, or maybe a key article of clothing in a rush to get somewhere? (Or do things like that only happen to me? lol!) But then I was inspired by an entry on Selena's blog. She mentioned how her memory just ain't as good anymore, but that she still remembers some really odd things, like Kirk Cameron's birthday. I thought that was really funny (Thanks Selena!). So here's what you have to do: First, think of someone you had a big, fat crush on way back when. Then, put them through Google images and pick the best/hottest/funniest picture you see. Put the pic, or a link up on your blog, and leave a comment here so I can see your old crush! I'll give away 3 prizes, one for the hottest (I reserve the right to pick this according to my wierdo taste, so be warned!), one for the most embarassing (did you secretly love Uncle Fester?) and one for the funniest! I'll give a week, that sound fair? So everyone has til next Friday night (Sept 29th) to find a pic. And now, the prizes!
I wanted to find something that may be trickier to get in other parts, so I thought 'Fancy German sock yarn!'
This is the Opal Hundertwasser Jacquard. The colours and patterns are based on the painting of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, a famous Austrian artist who is responsible for a number of beatifult, famous and bizarre buildings in Austria and Germany. I couldn't get over the idea of knitting artsy socks, so I just had to get it :) It's colour 897 - Silver Spiral, and you can see a pic of a knit sock here.
This is some more pretty sock yarn, Cotton Jacquard from Lang. It's a wool-cotton mix, so it makes for good fall/spring socks, not just winter. And it comes with the neat-o matching reinforcement thread which hides in the middle. I really like this because it's like a Kinder egg, but with yarn!
And finally, the non-sock prize :) Sadly, there is a lot in the way of novelty yarns here which, though maybe not sold in other areas, are sometimes downrightscary, and I refuse to inflict that on you people! So instead we have 2 skeins of this fun looks-like-handspun wool yarn in a variety of pinks. Each skein is a bit over 100g (~3 1/2 oz) and has about 120y, so together they should be enough for a nice scarf.
Ok, that's it. Go find some good pictures! I can't wait to see what each of you thinks (or thought) is a hunka hunka burnin' love!
I forgot to mention it then, but a couple weeks ago the boy and I drove to Bavaria to attend the Kaltenberger Ritterturnier, a medieval festival complete with jousting tournament. It was a lot of fun. They set up an entire village around the Kaltenberg castle and recruit a bunch of people to camp out in garb for the whole month. We decided on this only about a week beforehand, so we didn't have time to find or make something to wear, which was a shame, because I really love dressing up. The couple things I have left from my earlier, more grandiose wardrobe (the joys of being a teenager with nothing to do but play dress up!) are stored somewhere in Canada, at my brother's place, I think. And Matthias has nothing even close to medieval. Next time we go though, I definitely want to have something fun to wear. Before the tournament, they held a parade of all the village 'citizens'. I took lots of pictures, because like I said, I love this sort of thing, and thought it would serve for later inspiration. (Pics on the Flickr page) I was especially impressed by the costumes of the various knights. Who wouldn't love to have their man decked out like that? Growr! Ahem. Yeah, so I got the idea of knitting up some chain mail. Pretty decent looking chain mail can be knit using a semi-bulky yarn, or even better, some kind of twine or cord which is stiffer and then painting it silver. This is often done in theatre or for movie extras. Although the knights in the picture were all wearing real mail, I did see some others who had knit mail, and even from a pretty close distance looked pretty good, and is definitely a lot more comfortable to wear. I managed to find a site with patterns for various chainmail garments, and this PDF has instructions on how to use a really neat technique for actually applying metal foil to the fabric for a quite realistic look. In the second link they recommend using nylon cord, but I read somewhere else that cotton cord or some other natural fibre is better. I guess it's something I'll have to play with.
I can't stop giggling. It's terrible. Embarassing really. I am responsible for looking over the abstracts for an upcoming conference here at the university, and I just recieved another one. And guess what's so funny? The author's name....Assman. Hahaha! Ok, it's not that funny, but it amused me.
I've seen talk about alpaca shearing on a couple of the blogs...at farms or at fibre festivals and such. Somehow though, everytime I see one of those shorn little alpacas, I can't help but think of Anthony Michael Hall, back in the 80s when he was in movies like the Breakfast Club or Pretty in Pink. What do you think?
She stills needs some buttons, and I haven't decided if I want to add a bit of a crochet edge, or maybe just some ribbon facing, but other than that she's done. I've always been a fan of gathered sleeves and empire waisted things, and thought I could try and incorporate that into a cardi. Of all the things I've just made up, I like this one by far the best. It's not so much a cardi like I planned, it's become more top-lik, but it's still quite nice for covering up a bit when your tank top seems too naked. The yarn is come basic cotton I've had in my stash for a while, which I think is meant to be used for dishcloths. I just though the colour was very fitting, so I went ahead and used it anyway. I knit it on 4mm needles (US 6, UK 8) from the bottom up in the round, separating the back and front when I got to the arm. The sleeves were knit separately and sewn on at the end. I found the leaf lace pattern on a tank top in one of my Rebecca magazines, and the sleeves are done in berry stitch. I will definitely make another one of these, especially since I have a bunch of cotton laying around from an ebay spree a while back. The other cotton I have is nicer, mercerised, and knits on 3mm needles, so it will make it look more delicate and polished, and even more like a top, since it'll be thinner. But that's ok. This was fun and easy to make, so while I'm making up the next one I think I'll put together the pattern for it so others can make a Lizzie too! Then we can all be super girlie together. Won't that be fun?
