Friday blues

I hadn’t expected my red shoes to work so well with the rest of this outfit, but actually they were far and away the best choice.

Necklace – handmade
Top – Boden
Skirt – White Stuff
Tights – M&S
Shoes – Clarks

Meanwhile, after a week in which every day seemed to be One Of Those Days, it’s nice to be home and looking forward to spending some time in my craft room (now with added pinboard). Even if that time may be spent reading the case study materials for the course I’m on on Monday rather than doing actual crafting. And I got home this evening to find two parcels waiting for me: gorgeous yarn from The Yarn Yard and a copy of Nancy Bush’s Knitted Lace of Estonia which a friend offered to lend me. I’m looking forward to a couple of nice quiet days recharging my batteries!

That Friday feeling

Today’s outfit is another version of this comfortable Friday outfit from a few weeks ago.

Scarf – Flowers in the Rain
Shirt – Gap, via charity shop
Dress and leggings – M&S
Boots – Timberland

I think the conclusion to be drawn from this is that I’m frequently so tired by the end of the week I can’t really summon up much in the way of originality!

They call it easing the Spring

The combination of pink and green always makes me think of spring. Given that today’s forecast was for sunshine (the first time in about a fortnight, I think) and temperatures as high as 13C I wanted a spring-like outfit while not running the risk of being too cold, either first thing in the morning or at work, or of looking ridiculously over-optimistic if the weather didn’t live up to the forecast.

Shawl – Travelling Woman
Cardigan – Boden via clothes swap
T-shirt – Dorothy Perkins
Skirt – Boden
Tights – M&S
Boots – Dune

As it was, it was sunny but hazy and although it wasn’t cold I don’t think it was as warm as promised. Still, it was nice to see the sun and I noticed that there are tiny leaf-buds on the trees now, so maybe spring really isn’t that far away…

It isn’t always easy getting dressed

Some mornings I find getting dressed very easy; I may have started with an idea of an outfit, or I may just be struck by inspiration as soon as I open the wardrobe door, but either way I end up dressed and ready to take photos within ten minutes of getting out of the shower. Other mornings are rather different. Today I was sat on the futon in the spare room at ten to seven (which is about the time I’m normally taking photos; if you’ve ever thought I tend to look (a) grumpy and (b) half-asleep, that’s why) wearing nothing but my underwear and seriously considering phoning my boss and telling her I couldn’t come to work because I didn’t have anything to wear.

Fortunately I managed to find something that more or less worked.

Shawl – Goddess Shawl
Dress – Per Una
T-shirt – Dorothy Perkins
Tights – M&S
Boots – Timberland

I’m not entirely sure, looking at the pictures, that the two different shades of pink (tights and t-shirt) really work together. Still, it’s a lot better than going to work in my underwear!

This is what a feminist looks like

There has been some interesting discussion about feminism and appearance on the style blogs I read recently (and also on Ravelry, in fact). It started with Fashionable Academics‘ Call For Papers on ‘This is what a feminist looks like’ (which is open until Friday, so do join in!). Franca at Oranges and Apples blogged in response to the call and subsequently decided to set up a Feminist Fashion Bloggers network. Most recently, Interrobangs Anonymous have picked up the conversation, with Katie giving her take on This Is What A Feminist Looks Like and Millie “Martha bloggers” and modern ideals of femininity (I think that the ‘Martha’ in question is probably US icon of domesticity Martha Stewart, though I may be wrong).

Now, I don’t think I’m a ‘Martha blogger’. I don’t have a perfect house – as you can see from my outfit photos, I can’t even find two feet of clutter-free wall to pose in front of (and there’s a reason the photos are so tightly cropped, believe me!). I don’t have perfect (or indeed any) children. I don’t think this blog suggests I have an ideal life which I expect other people to aspire to (you don’t, do you? I really hope not!). But I do write about traditionally ‘feminine’ things here; knitting, sewing, clothes. I do try to focus on the positive things in my life. It’s not exactly Subversion City here.

Cardigan – Hey Teach!
Top – H&M via clothes swap
Skirt – Clothes swap
Tights – M&S
Boots – Dune

I don’t intend to change that. I like this blog the way it is. One of the reasons I do this is because I suffer from depression and focusing on the things that make me happy does me good. But I’m still a feminist and always will be. I don’t believe that gender (or any other arbitrary accidents of birth) should affect people’s chances in life or the way they are treated. I believe feminism is about equality and making sure that everyone gets the same chances in life regardless of whether they’re male or female; it’s as important that men have the chance to be the primary carers for their children as that women can become CEOs of global corporations. I also think that we are a still very long way from that equality, that inequality hurts men as much as it does women, and that anyone who says we don’t need feminism any more needs hitting about the head with the clue stick a few times. And sometimes I want to stand up and shout that from the rooftops.

Monday blues

I thought of this as a blue outfit with a pink cardigan, but you can’t see the blue t-shirt under the cardigan and actually, the pink dominates rather.

Scarf – Scroll Lace
Cardigan – clothes swap
Skirt – White Stuff
Tights – M&S
Boots – Timberland

Even though it’s only February and cold and wet and grey I’ve found myself pondering summer clothes recently. I was looking at the pretty little tops they have in Monsoon at the weekend and thinking that maybe I should make the effort to wear something more interesting than plain scoop-necked t-shirts this year, but then I found myself wondering about trying to jazz up some plain t-shirts myself rather than paying through the nose for ready-embellished tops. I’m thinking ribbon or braid trims, maybe crocheted/knitted/fabric flowers or little crocheted lace collars. It’s got to be worth a try, anyway – I might start with the t-shirts I have left from last summer, as most of them are worn enough that if I do mess it up completely and end up with something fit only for dusting I won’t have lost that much. My sewing machine opens up a whole world of possibilities!

(Saying that, can anyone suggest exactly how they would go about attaching crocheted flowers to a t-shirt? I suspect hand-sewing might be the best way.)

Floral Friday

Jeans are perfectly acceptable in my office and there is normally someone wearing them any day of the week, but I generally prefer to keep mine for casual wear. I like to have a distinction between ‘work clothes’ and ‘casual clothes’; that way I can change into my jeans when I get home and feel that I’ve left work behind me.

However, I was feeling rather fed up with tights (hardly unusual by this stage in the winter) and given that it is Friday I decided to wear jeans for once.

Scarf – Scroll Lace
Dress – Dorothy Perkins
T-shirt – People Tree
Cardigan – Per Una
Jeans – M&S
Boots – Timberland

I’m just mad about Saffron

I don’t normally wear yellow, or grey come to that, but there was something about this dress from People Tree that really appealled to me, and when I saw that it had been reduced to less than £20 in the sale I decided it was worth a go.

Cardigan – February Lady
Dress – People Tree
Tights – M&S
Boots – Dune

I like it a lot, and I’m really pleased with how it looked with the pink cardigan. I had been wondering what on earth I’d wear it with, and then when I tried it on I thought that it looked a lot like something Ysolda might wear, so I just asked myself ‘What would Ysolda wear with this?’ and realised that the answer was obviously ‘a swingy handknitted cardigan’. Duh.

(Of course, I have now had ‘Mellow Yellow’ stuck in my head all day. And I’m pretty sure that may have had something to do with buying a skein of saffron Crannog from The Yarn Yard, too.)

A to Z

When I started knitting shawls I was a little worried that I was putting a lot of work into something that I would barely use, however beautiful it was. Although I was used to wearing pashmina-style scarves a lot I felt rather self-conscious about shawls. Since I’ve been writing about how I wear the things I’ve knitted, here, I’ve been wearing shawls a lot more; at first it was a conscious effort but now I’m probably more likely to reach for a shawl than a pashmina when I’m getting dressed.

(Saying that, today’s outfit is shawl-free, because the shawl collar of the cardigan doesn’t work all that well with a shawl as well. But that’s a rarity.)

Cardigan – Mya
Necklace – made by Helen
T-shirt – M&S
Skirt – Per Una
Boots – Timberland

I normally have a shawl as one of the knitting projects I’m working on (I usually have three: socks, or something similarly small and portable, a shawl, and a jumper), but I still seem to have accumulated a vast list of shawl patterns I want to knit ‘some day’. I was browsing through the PDF files in my Ravelry library earlier today and found myself thinking ‘You know, I could practically knit a whole alphabet of shawls from this’. And then I thought, well, why not? I’m not imposing a timescale on it (realistically it will probably take years) or saying that I should only knit shawls until I’ve done it (that way madness would certainly lie!), but I’m going to try to knit a shawl pattern for each letter of the alphabet, using patterns I already own or which are offered for free as far as possible and only using yarn I already own (thereby killing two birds with one stone and transforming it into a stashbuster!).

I happened to mention the idea in the Yarn Yard group on Ravelry, and found several other people who liked the idea; there’s a thread to discuss it here. Anyone else want to play along?

Vintage

I bought this dress in the posh Oxfam shop in Bath at the weekend (an ‘Oxfam Boutique’, which basically seems to sell the vintage and designer stuff, leaving the ordinary Oxfam shop on the other side of town with the usual chain-store offerings). It’s clearly vintage; I would guess at 1960s or maybe 70s although I don’t really know that much about these things. All I can make out from the label is ’100% Polyester’ and some faded washing instructions.

I tried it on, because it’s pretty rare to find vintage things in my size and it was only £8, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a perfect fit. It’s not quite as exciting a purchase as the sewing machine, but I’m very pleased with it. There’s something about the front zip which makes me feel all space-age.

Shawl – Goddess Shawl
Dress – vintage
T-shirt and tights – M&S
Boots – Dune