Knit one, purl two, knit...wait...What??

A couple of weeks ago I started my first real knitting project. Yup, that's right, the first. I had learnt to knit at school when I was around ten, but it never really "caught on". I mean, I did knit the obligatory scarf and dolly blanket back then, but as far as I was concerned, knitting wasn't something I did. I would drool over vintage knitting patterns and items made with vintage patterns, but that was it. It always seemed like too much faff to even begin a project.

But when I was looking at vintage patterns a while back, I suddenly realised "Hey, I could do that. How hard can it be?" Bahahaaa. No but seriously, it's not hard. There are only a limited number of things you can do with a knitting needle and yarn and they can all be learnt.

Easy peasy...

With me it was always a lack of motivation that stopped me from beginning. I wanted to knit something I'd actually use, like a cute vintage cardi. This meant I'd look at patterns calling for a thin cotton yarn and teeny-tiny needles. Sometimes, I'd even get as far as casting on and knitting a few rows. But then...couldn't ...quite...get...further. And stopped. I know quite a few knitters and it always bugged me that I wasn't one of them. It was like a club I wanted to join, but couldn't quite muster up the inspiration to fill out the application form, if you get my meaning.

The beginning of a.....err...Nope, can't remember.

Luckily, like I mentioned, I know knitters and they guided me towards a suitable pattern. And I found one on Subversive Femme's blog: The Target 'Quick-To-Knit' Cardigan from the 50's. The size is right (no alterations to width needed), the yarn and needles are a reasonable size ( which means I'll make quick progress despite my slow knitting speed), it has some flourishes (which will be a nice challenge) and it's QUICK-TO-KNIT. Perfect!

So this is what I've been doing with some of my free time. Only change I'm making is that mine will be shorter so that it will go nicely with full skirts as well. I've already finished the back and am currently knitting the left front. Look, I even did popcorn! The whole popcorn-border-bit took some figuring out to begin with but it looks so cool that it was definitely worth it. Anyway, I'll show you how it turns out once I'm finished.

Popcorn!

Lorelei

So  a week ago spring had taken a few steps back, although it looked like it had already come for a moment. Nope, winter wasn't ready to loosen its grip. So more snow, icy wind and freezing temperatures it was. On the upside, the boys had a ball playing in the snow, of which there has been very little during the winter. And I was able to wear one of my favourite dresses at least one more time before putting it away for the summer.

Icy wind. Nice.

The dress is Lorelei by Cherise (seamstress, designer and all-around great gal), who, by the way, has her own adorable blog Vintage Follies. The dress was part of her A/W 2012 collection. It has it all: full hem, nipped waist and Peter Pan collar. It's made from a lovely medium thickness cotton-rayon blend textured fabric, which is just perfect for fall and winter. To finish off, there are four black cut-glass buttons. I mean, what more could you ask for?

I wore it with my trusty black beret, black leather gloves and a pair of vintage Clark's ankle boots. Now, as it was rather cold, I naturally wore a jacket over it, but I don't have a picture of that, for some reason...

Walk-in Wardrobe Revamp

This is a little revamp I did last summer but only now got around to post. Remember my Tiffany Blue Bedroom post? Well, our bedroom has a walk-in wardrobe (one of the few things I insisted on when we built the house). It was dreary. I know it's not a place where I spend a lot of time but that's no reason, in my opinion, not to make it pretty.

Since the two long walls are taken up by shelves and a rail and the other short wall being basically all mirror, there is really only the far wall I can do anything to and most of it is covered by a chest of drawers.

This is the view that greeted me daily:

A plain white wall with a pine chest. Nice.

It just so happened, that I had found this short roll of gorgeous vintage wallpaper at a flea market. And it just so happened there was enough for the visible part of the wall. Hooray!

I don't know what it is, but I'm in love with this wallpaper! It kind of reminds me of the wallpaper in my maternal grandmothers house in Austria...I have a suspicion that it's by Pihlgren& Ritola, but I have yet to make sure. Will report back when I know.

Then a lick of sunny yellow paint on the pine dresser and this was the result:

Cute, no? Now every morning I'm greeted by a bit of sunshine.

A Quick Hi

Just a quick hi, to let all you lovely readers know that I'm still alive. Apologies for the long pause, but it was a rather trying fall and winter, and many of my hobbies, blogging included, just fell by the wayside for a bit. However, now that it seems spring is here and I feel I have regained my joie de vivre, you can expect some lovely new blog posts in the near future. See you soon!

Tiffany Blue Bedroom

 

I had a touch of writers block with this post so finishing it took a while. About a month ago I repainted our bedroom because I wasn't happy with the colour it was. It was a kind of grey/brown colour. I mean it was OK, I suppose. It gave the room a sort of, umh, sleepy feel. (See, writers block, told you.) But now that both boys are sleeping in their own rooms, I wanted it to become an oasis of calm in an otherwise hectic and cluttered home.

So this was what I started with: brown with a pink accent wall behind the bed. I don't know what I was thinking. I like bright colours and a turquoise blue was an ideal choice for the bedroom. I suppose it took me this long because I read somewhere that blue was the most popular colour choice for bedrooms and I didn't want to be one of the herd, so to speak.

I love my bedroom. Sorry, I mean mine and Hubby's bedroom. It is the only room in the house we are keeping a completely toy-free zone. It's a room for relaxing, for getting away from it all. No mess, no toys, no TV or computer. It is the place where I apply my make-up and get dressed.

My bookshelf with light bedtime reading...

Jewellery racks made by darling hubby.

Here's another before and after.  I really like the way the blue makes all the other colours pop.

I still have one problem, though. What to do with the wall behind the bed? I've been toying with the idea of a wallpapered accent wall, but that's gotten a bit old. A narrow shelf would be nice, you know the kind you can prop small pictures on...hmmmh, I don't know.

One Sunny Weekend

About a week ago we went to a junk market held in Loimaa, Loimaan Rompepäivät. It is quite an old event as Loimaa has hosted a junk market for the past 20 years. This is a somewhat different junk market as it is held in the city of Loimaa, with some of the streets closed off instead of, say, a large field. I found some bits and bobs including this paper package with what seems to be the front of a pattern envelope attached to it...

I also found a HUGE picture for the boys' room. I saw it and bought it straight away. I had to leave with the seller until we were ready to leave. As I was walking away, I realised that it might be too big to fit in our car. That was such a "woman" thing to do, buying something first and thinking about the logistics later. I phoned Hubby, who had gone ahead of me and explained that I had bought something very large...but the colours, turquoise, red and yellow are my favourites and the old F1 cars are so right for the boys! The picture was actually made by gluing and varnishing a piece of fabric on chip board and then adding a frame. I've found out that the fabric is by Finnish manufacturer Tampella. Anyway, the picture fit, just.

Just look at those colours!

I also found a very pretty mirrored dressing table tray. A bit more pricey than my usual finds, but I mean come on, how could I not buy it?

***

On Sunday we headed for Forssan Pick-Nick. A truly massive vintage car event in held in Forssa's Pilvenmäki horse track for the 31st time. With 2 500 cars in the show area, hundreds of motorcycles and 30 000 visitors in one day, it's the biggest one day car show in Northern Europe. Oh yes, and it also has a junk market. Didn't really find much there though, apart from a lovely pair of earrings.

Vintage 50's cotton dress bought from friend. Red sandals from Facebook group. Necklace 60's vintage bought from friend. Bracelet, hat and bag modern.

Found these gorgeous screw back shell earrings from the junk market.

It's really a day for the whole family to hang out, meet friends, see cool cars and, yes, even have a picnic. This year was, again, a bit of a half-arsed affair as we only took Peanut along and hopped into Hubby's father's car at a nearby petrol station. We saw nice cars, but didn't have a picnic. And didn't see any friends. Sigh. But next year we are going for the whole day, all of us, and we're taking either Bessie or my vintage Volvo. And I'm going to make dates with friends so I don't miss them in the crowd. An we're having a picnic, dammit.

Our ride for the afternoon: a 1965 Oldsmobile 98

What I did on my Holidays

A few days after the buffalo we, that is to say Hubby, Junior, Peanut and I, went to the nearby "big city" of Tampere and did the touristy thing. The Hubby and I have this tradition of visiting a place in Finland for a day every summer and couldn't at first think of a suitable place. It needed to be close by as Peanut isn't one for long drives. He won't sleep in the car, you see. So Tampere was an easy choice. We started off at Sorsapuisto (duck park) and had lots of fun looking at the different birds on display.

A beautiful balcony photographed from the Erkkilän silta bridge

Then we went to Tammelan tori market and had some sandwiches. After that we continued to the Tampere Cathedral. The cathedral is famous for its frescoes, painted by the symbolist Hugo Simberg between 1905 and 1906. It's absolutely stunning.

The altar

The Garden of Death

Outside the cathedral. I'm wearing a vintage 50's dress bought from a friend and the red bag was a find from Suvi-Vintage.

Then it was over the Tammerkoski rapids via the Patosilta bridge and to Keskustori square for some ice creams. After the ice-creams it was already noon and nap time, so we headed home. All in all a lovely summer day.

Love padlocks on the Patosilta bridge

View from the Patosilta bridge

Performing the "T-Rex song" with Junior on Laikunlava stage