Inspiration of Wallis Simpson

With the new movie "WE" making its appearance, thanks to Madonna, the style and life story of Wallis Simpson comes to the fore, once again.  If, by any chance, you don't know the story, Edward VIII abdicated the throne of England in order to marry the woman he loved, the divorcee, American Wallis Simpson.  Well, wasn't that a scandal?!  A romantic notion, if ever there was one!

So, Wallis, who reportedly said that you could never be too rich or too thin, became a figure of hate and distain.  But there was no denying her style!  There is a good write up on Wallis and the movie "WE" in today's issue of the Telegraph:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ under culture.

This salamander reminded me of some of Wallis's jewellery, in that she too, liked animal shapes encrusted with  diamonds. OK, so mine are rhinestones (let's not be picky.)  There is a romance element to this brooch as well, in that when we were out shopping, I spotted it and Gorgeous Husband volunteered to buy it for me. This might not seem like such a big deal, except that no one ever has bought me things that caught my eye in a shop except my mother, and now GH.  In fact, the first time that he did it, I knew he was "the one."

The coat is fanastic lime green swing coat with 50s styling, although it is not vintage.  The label says "the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about" which I liked.

Apparently Wallis is quoted as saying," I am not a beautiful woman so the only thing I can do is dress better than anyone else."  I wouldn't say I dress better than anyone else, but, like her, I do realize the value of looking as good as one can!

How Thrilling! A photo of me in someone else's blog!!!

I am so thrilled to report that there is a photo of ME on the blog, thatsnotmyage.com.  I feel so honored to be in the company of such fantastic women.  Judith Boyd of Style Crone has always been a favourite of mine, and I check her blog, http://www.stylecrone.com/ out every day.  Oh, to have her beautiful soul, as well as how beautiful she is on the outside!

A knitting project for the future

When I finish Gorgeous Husband's socks, (I'm aiming for Valentine's Day) this is in line for one of my future projects.  I took it into my head to UNRAVEL this very long pullover because, although I love the colour, it never really looked that good on me.  Hence, I became a bit obsessed with unravelling this, which isn't as easy as it sounds.  I'm pleased that I now have enough to re-knit this into something else, although I do feel like this might be taking the "recycling" and "make do and mend" message a bit far.  You'd think there was a war on or something!

Knitting Men's Socks, also known as the Devil's Own Work

                                                     Handknit socks, begun 2011

Here are the handknit socks that Gorgeous Husband was to have had for Christmas.  I had to give up in despair a few days before the Big Day, and concede that even with elves, I was not going to finish them on time.

The reason I decided to make socks was that my dear one said, "No, don't bother knitting me a sweater.  It's too much work."  In my innocence, I thought a pair of socks would be just the ticket to make instead.  I had NO IDEA how difficult it would prove to be.  Just look at those 4 needles chasing each other around and around.  It's the Devil's own work, I tell you.  It didn't exactly help when a lady old enough to be my gran said, "oh, I haven't seen anyone knit socks since my mother did it!"

Let me tell you why no one knits socks anymore.  First of all, the "raw materials" cost £7.  Then I had to buy my "knitting tutor" a coffee (twice) for her help in sorting me out (£2.30 x2= £4.60.  I wasn't sure if I would have enough yarn, so I had to buy an extra ball in case I ran out (another £3.50) The pattern and the needles were borrowed, so that's a mercy.  Bear in mind you can buy about 6 pairs of socks for £1 or something ridiculous.

The reason the eyeglasses are in the picture is because they are magnifying glasses, which makes the knitting so much easier.  It makes the strands of wool look like ropes.  Thank goodness for that.

Everything that could have gone wrong with the project did so, and some of the screw-ups happened more than once.  Once all the stitches fell off one of the needles because it accidentally got caught on something.  So I had to laborously pick them back up, making sure they all "faced" the right way.

The pattern is mostly gibberish but with the added spice of being written in abbreviations.  But I can now S1,K1, psso and turn with the best of them!

At this rate, I think I may be finished in time for Valentine's Day.  I only started in November, so really, I'm racing along.  If the needles weren't so fine it feels like knitting with eyelashes, no doubt I'd zip along faster.

And you know what the real heartbreaker of it all is?  Once they are done, what have you got?  Just a pair of black socks, which will be hidden under trousers and stuffed inside shoes.  There's no bragging rights with this at all! 

New Year's Eve with the Nubians

New Year's Eve, 2011

I must admit, New Year's Eve with the Nubians sounds a lot more exciting than what it actually was.  The Nubians made the necklace, that's all.  It was a gift from my dear friend who went to Egypt to celebrate her 60th birthday and her 40th wedding anniversary.  She told fellow travellers the 60-40 story, although some of them misunderstood her and thought it was her husband's 60th birthday and her 40th birthday.  (She's that ageless.)  Apparently when Reg complained, she said, "Be happy, they've knocked four years off your actual age!"

Anyway, on the course of her trip down the Nile, there were a group of Nubian entertainers one night.  So, in addition to teaching the others to belly dance (talk about taking coals to Newcastle!) she also bought 20 or so of these necklaces to give to her friends back home.  What a sweet thought.  She said they cost next to nothing, but what a lovely gesture.

So, the Nubians came with me to New Year's Eve, which was actually populated more by Chinese, seeing as we went to a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet.  The food was wonderful, but really, your stomach will only let you eat so much.  Although Gorgeous Husband and I did test the limits of a stomach's stretchability! 

May 2012 be good to us all!