Weekend Archer #2

Here's the other one, which I wore yesterday because the print makes me so happy.  Like everyone else, I'm chomping at the bit for spring to arrive; this fabric lets me pretend it already has.

Yes, it's more of the same Anna Maria Horner voile I used to line my coral coat last year.  After I made my coat, I couldn't stop thinking about how much I loved the fabric and what a great shirt it would make, so I ordered some more.  In two different colorways.  And yes - I fully intend to wear this shirt with the coat once the weather warms up!

I did the prescribed sleeve placket on this one - not that you can really see in with this crazy print:

And used these sweet peachy-pink buttons:

For this soft voile, I used Pro-Sheer Elegance Medium to interface collar, cuffs and button bands.  It gives a bit of structure without too much stiffness.

For my pictures, I decided to experiment:  I paired the shirt with some boyfriend jeans and nude heels:

NOT!!

How ridiculous and awesome are these Seychelles Strike A Chord heels?  I bought them last summer because I loved the neon yellow surprise at the back, but they go with almost nothing!  But I loved them too much to send them back.  Even Hubby wanted me to keep them!

So, the remainder of the photos are really all about the shoes :-)  I'm not 100% sure I'm down with the whole boyfriend jeans + heels thing, and my lifestyle isn't very heels friendly at the moment.  But I love them so.

I also tried out the "half tuck" and I'm not sure about that either.  But it's fun to experiment, don't you think?

In real life, this shirt probably will be worn with jeans or a denim skirt, but with flats.  Yesterday I wore it for running some errands with my trusty, clunky Dansko Professionals (snakeskin print, natch).  So here's one more heels photo to remember them by:

What do you guys think of the heels + rolled jeans look?  Can an older lady (such as myself) pull if off?  I always love it when I see it on other people, but felt pretty awkward wearing it myself!

As Promised

Going back to the second sequin top I made.  As it turns out, the pictures from NYE were truly horrific - the lighting at my friend's house wasn't any better than it is at mine!  So I donned the outfit again the other day while I was taking the photos of my third (and for now, final) sequin top.

Not much to say about this that I didn't say in the construction post!  So here are a slew of pictures of me wearing the top.

fit pic from the front

fit pic from the back

I discovered that those sequins in the hem really like to get hung up on my pants, so the thing pretty much never lays flat.  For the first few pictures, I wore the top with the jeans and flats I had on, and I don't think it looks bad that way!

But here is how I wore it on NYE - with black wool ankle pants and gold heels.

Let's take a closer look at those shoes, shall we?  Kirsty B, I'm sure you recognize these - I became completely obsessed with them after seeing them on you, and finally tracked them down at a great sale price!

Pour la Victoire Elle in gold snake.  Can you hear the angels singing?

And because I'm in a generous mood today, I leave you with this silly pose:

The Happy Accident Skirt

When I went shopping for skirt fabric last week, all I knew was that I wanted corduroy.  I really didn't have a particular color in mind, and when I came across this shade I thought it wouldn't really go with much.  But I loved the color so much I couldn't leave the store without it. 

Happily, it turns out I was wrong!  When I got home, I realized it went with my new Renfrew, and I was pretty excited.  But yesterday after I finished the skirt, I went digging in my closet and came up with about ten different sweaters and tops that look great with this color!  So now I'm even more excited!  This morning I did a little outfit roundup of my favorites from the pile.

You'll notice that I left this skirt pretty long.  The first time I made this pattern I took quite a bit off the bottom, but for winter I'm kind of digging mid-calf skirts and dresses over tall boots.  Of course, not one of these looks incorporates tall boots, LOL!

First up, the full-sleeved Renfrew, along with my beloved Frye Carson Oxfords (SO comfy) and winter white legs:

Next, with the "Betty" sweater I made two years ago and have worn . . . never!  Such a pity because I love this sweater!  But I never had a skirt I felt looked good with it - until now!  It's such a cropped style that it requires a skirt (or pants) with a higher waistline like this one.   These Cuban-heeled Seychelles "Scene of the Crime" pumps are from 3 years ago.  They were sold at Anthropologie under the style name "Ancient Woods Heels."

I'm pretty excited about the next one - look how great this color goes with my latest Archer shirt!!  It's like they were made for each other!  Also, I'm wearing this sequinned leather belt I bought from Loft years ago and haven't been able to wear much, because it's waist-sized and most of my jeans and pants hit me at the hip.  Glad to have a use for it, as I think it's a very pretty belt.

And finally, here's my very favorite look.  This is a sweater I bought probably ten years ago from Anthropologie.  It's always been one of my favorite pieces, and I used to wear it quite often when I was still teaching.  I haven't worn it for a couple years though because it's a little small on me now, and so has to be worn as a top rather than as a cardigan.  The colors in the print are just perfect with this corduroy - I'm so excited to be able to make an outfit with this sweater again!  The shoes are Kensington Suede Loafers from J. Crew probably 5 or 6 years ago.  I think they are so amazing - I bought them in three colors (black, aubergine and the vicuna shown here) and I'm so glad I did.  I wear them all more frequently than I do a lot of my fabulous shoes, because they are actually quite comfortable.

By this time, I was getting tired of changing clothes, but here's a little peek at another old sweater that looks great with this skirt.  This one is probably about ten years old too, a floral printed lambswool/angora cardigan from Boden that I used to wear all the time.

So, what a happy accident!  Probably it wasn't an accident at all - I guess all these items were tucked away in some deep corner of my memory, which nudged me on to pick up this fabric.   Does this ever happen to any of you?  You're drawn to a fabric and can't figure out why, and later you discover it fills in a hole in your closet?

San Francisco Ate My Shoes

Hello, hello!  I wonder if anybody guessed that I've been gone for the last two weeks? 

The last five blog posts were scheduled before I left :-)  I'd planned to continue replying to comments and commenting on your blogs as well while I was gone, but I discovered that it's not that easy with just a phone and an iPad!  I'm also starting to feel that Bloglovin' is a hindrance in some ways, but that's a story for another day . . .  At least I was able to keep up with reading your posts and your comments here - thank you for all the lovely comments you left!  I was especially fascinated by all the different approaches to list-making.

Anyway, Hubby had a conference to attend in San Francisco, and since we have a fair number of friends and family in that area and we hadn't been there for ten years, I decided to tag along.  And this time,  instead of staying in bed with a sinus infection like I did ten years ago, I went out and about while he was busy with his meeting. 

Before I left, I organized meet-ups with three bloggers who I've "known" and followed for a long time - I'll be telling you all about those adventures in the next few days.  I did consider making an "announcement" a month or so ago with an invitation to meet up, because I know there are at least a few other bloggers in San Francisco who I follow.  But as I said, we have quite a bit of family and old friends that we also wanted to see - there just wasn't time for everything!  While we were there, Amy at Sew Well announced a meetup at Britex for the following week.  I was bummed to have to miss it, especially as our hotel was only a couple of blocks from there.  But we'd had that evening set aside to see an old and dear friend, so I had to let it go.  I'm hoping it won't be another ten years before we make it out there again!

We were blessed with nice, if cool, weather on our trip, so we mostly got ourselves around by walking.  I always prefer to walk if I can, so I brought along my trusty old Dansko Margrete shoes.  These things are at least ten years old, and have been all over the US, Europe and Turkey. 

These have always been one of my most comfortable pairs of shoes for walking, but about half way through the trip I started noticing that they weren't so comfy any more.  But I just figured, "Hey, I'm getting older, I can't take all this walking as easily as I used to."

I also noticed some black pieces of rubber on the floor in the hotel room on a few different occasions.  And I thought, "Hmmmm, I must have dragged something in off the street."

On Sunday morning, as we were taking all our stuff to the lobby of the hotel to start heading toward the airport, I started feeling really wobbly, and thought, "What is going on here?!"   I finally checked the soles of my shoes and this is what I found:

They were completely disintegrating!  How hilarious is that?!  And no wonder I kept feeling like my feet were rolling to the outside!

It's the end of an era.  These shoes have stood me in good stead for many, many years.  If you look at the first photo, you can see that I had to replace the elastic on the left shoe a long time ago, and I only had white on hand.  I think it's finally time to retire this pair.  Fortunately, I'd bought a new pair of Danskos just before we left; I guess it's time to start breaking those in!

And time to get back to life as usual!

Fancy Shoe Friday. I didn't forget.

In fact, I wore these while watching It's Only Money on Netflix and knitting the first sleeve of the Jan Sweater - close to being done!

Frye Rose Woven T

Look at that wooden heel.  Me likey.

And the weaving.

I also love that the Frye symbol is stamped
into the wood.

And there's that sleeve, posing nonchalantly on my knee.

Fancy Shoe Friday. Now with added polish!

Today's fancy shoes were chosen with the express intent of showing off the polish I'm currently wearing on my toes,  Essie Braziliant:

I really love the color.  You can't see it in all lights, and not in these photos, but it has a very subtle hot pink shimmer.  I had some trouble applying it though - it was rather streaky.  It took me three coats to even it out.  Well worth the trouble.

The shoes are another pair that have only ever been worn for FSK, and here's one of the reasons why:

Yikes, that's a high, unstable heel!

Also, they don't really go with anything.  I bought them on sale, probably 6 years ago (the box was stamped 2005, that's how I know), because I loved them.  But I could never figure out what to wear them with.

Also, I have really goof pinky toes that just don't do well with strappy sandals.

I was able to do a fair amount of knitting the last couple days, and have finished the back of the Jan Sweater and about half the front, started Maris, and also started a second crocheted hat.  Here's what was on my nails while I did it:

China Glaze Starboard, looking sad and bedraggled after a couple days wear, just before being removed and replaced with Zoya Minka.  But that's tomorrow's story.

Fancy Shoe Friday

Behold today's Fancy Shoes:

Velvet-trim Kitten Heels, Boden

Today's look is especially in keeping with the spirit of Fancy Shoe Knitting, because I am wearing my House Cleaning Clothes (having just cleaned the house):  grungy, old mesh capri exercise pants and an old t-shirt.  And my legs are unshaven.  The incongruity of it delights me.

Here's a better look at the shoes, which deserve so much better than what I'm giving them at the moment:

I love the (what I imagine to be) 60s vibe.  I also love that the sole is bright pink:

As you can see, these have been well-loved!

Fancy Shoe Friday. On Saturday.

I was so excited about all the sewing stuff, I already got sidetracked!  So I'm doing my Fancy Shoe Knitting today:

Fancy Shoe Knitting

I'm working on finishing up Mandarine.  I've completed all five pieces of the body, and am at the point of doing the (separate) collars.  I've got about half the first collar done, so I may be able to finish this weekend, if I can keep from getting further distracted!  I'll need some buttons though, which probably requires another trip to the fabric store.  Uh-oh!

J. Crew Penelope Mary Janes

I'm wearing my "PMJs," as they are known among a certain sector of Gleeks.  These babies have only ever been worn for FSK.  That's right - I have never worn them out in the wide world.  I love them though.  I bought them when they were in the store, years ago, but I believe they have become quite the sought-after item now.  Here's another peek:

PMJs

I actually sort of wish I had bought the blue/red combo - one of the reasons I've never worn these is that I have a hard time figuring out what to pair them with.

OK, now I'm just teasing you.

And here are some nail pix.  I put on Zoya Heather last night:

A really lovely color.  Zoya lists this as a 3 on their opacity scale of 1 to 5, but I'd call it a 4 myself.  I was expecting it to be sheerer.  This is only two coats.  It was a little tricky to apply, but evened itself out with the second coat.

Today I added some Konad:

I'm dubbing this "Fredericks of Hollywood."

This is Konad plates m57 (fishnet) and m71 (wallpaper).  I'd seen a few other bloggers do this look, and I liked it and wanted to try it.  It's one of the reasons I bought the m71 plate, although it has lots of great designs I see myself using.  I stamped with Sinful Black on Black, and boy, was clean-up a hassle.  I still haven't gotten off all the residue around my cuticles, and I killed one of my brushes trying to get it off.

I'm sure you've figured out by now that the shoes and nails are all a ploy to distract readers from the lack of tangible knitting content  . . .

Fancy Shoe Friday

Since I divulged the other day that I am a shoe lover, I thought I'd bring that into the mix as well.  Actually, I've been thinking about doing this for a while.  I hesitated to do a weekly feature because 1) I get bored easily and doubt my ability to keep it up and 2) I'm a little perverse in that, as soon as I voice an intention to do something, I generally no longer want to do it.  Sigh . . .

There's a back story to this.  When I still lived in St. Louis, my BFF and I instituted a practice we called "Fancy Shoe Knitting."  We'd get together for a knitting night, either at her house or mine, and while we knit, we wore fancy shoes.  Usually the rest of us was not so fancy - sweat pants, leggings, sweatshirts, tee shirts, no makeup.  (Although there was that one time when we put on false eyelashes and huge, gaudy earrings from the dollar store.)  But our feet were pretty, and that made us both happy.

Since I moved to Chicago, my usage of Fancy Shoes has experienced a dramatic decline, for a variety of reasons.  The biggest factor is the difference between the suburban and urban lifestyle.  In St. Louis, I drove everywhere I went, so since I would only be walking a few steps, I could wear 3" heels with no problem.  Here, I do a lot more walking - either all the way to where I want to go (measured in miles rather than steps) or a total of several blocks incorporated with public transportation.  And I'm currently not going to a job, so I don't have to dress up. And my BFF is not here.

So occasionally, I'll do Fancy Shoe Knitting all by myself, in my little knitting corner. And yes, I do feel silly.  But I have a lot of gorgeous shoes that haven't seen the light of day for quite some time.  Here's what I put on today:

Frye Maya Vintage Stud Sling

Aren't they beautiful?  I have a particular weakness for Frye shoes and boots.  And of course, for yellow.

While I wore them, I worked on The Jan Sweater:

I had a couple of problems, of my own making, due to fuzzy thinking in the arithmetics area, but things are sailing along smoothly now.  And speaking of sailing:

China Glaze Sea Spray, Anchors Away collection, spring 2011

I put on Sea Spray this morning for the first time, and I'm completely smitten with it.  I'm declaring it the most beautiful blue polish I own.  And it goes so nicely with my smallthings ring, doesn't it?  This woman's work truly amazes me.  I'd love to get more of her pieces.