If I have one Life to live, Let me, wait, no...

I'm sure you've seen those silly makeover sites. Well, I've been seeing a bit too many of them. Here's what I've wasted my sick hours on (I'm recovering from some weird virus.)

This was all using an old picture, so I finally took a new picture and here is what I came up with for the recent picture. (The hair here covers up the broad jowls very nicely!)

Free Form Crochet

Here is the state of my crochet piece after the car trip to the Renaissance Festival.

I found the cutest little hat today

I found the cutest little hat today, and when I say little, I mean LITTLE!  It was Renaissance Festival day today and I went hatless, because I couldn't find anything that was 16th century enough to match my costume.

I know it looks much more Dickensian that Renaissancy, but I just don't have 16th century garb lying around in my closet. (I do have a lot of belly dance stuff hanging around, though, so that's what I ended up combining to try and look Elizabethan.) I think it looked better than it does in the picture - you can't see the beautiful ruffly under skirt, but anyway, I digress.

The big order of the day once we got into the fair by showing our Irish green clothing was to find a hat to match my outfit. I really, really wanted a top hat, but all the fancy black ones were too big, and came down over my eyes and ears. I tried on pirate hats and flat hats, Henry the VIIIth hats and was about to give up when I spied a teeny tiny little browny beige trimmed one. (Brown with my (Go Green) Irish day Renaissance Festival costume!!!!Harrumph!!!   Well, It was marvelous and really tiny! There was a point in time when tiny hats were all the rage in the Elizabethan era. (And it actually looked good with my green clothes!)

For some reason I couldn't find any actual photos of these hats from the Renaissance although I hear they were plentiful! (Google must have been ailing today!) ...But there were some lovely photos of recreations.

Well, the one I fell in love with was even smaller. It is black with a matte beige satin band and some black lace. It has a veil that hangs down in back and it looks just like an Undertaker's hat (for a teeny tiny little undertaker). I adore it! Unfortunately I don't have a very good picture, but I kid you not, it is 7 inches from brim to brim and has a crown that spans an entire 4.5 inches!

Here's a picture!

Tell me that isn't the most adorable hat you've EVER seen!!!

Some Incidental Images

Just a few pictures for the week.  The kids asleep on the couch:

A very serious looking girl:

The current free crochet project - don't know what it is going to be, but it has been fun to play with! (About 3 " in diameter right now!)

Stitches Midwest 2010 Fashion Show Middle Part

I'll continue my description and pictures from the Stitches Midwest 2010 fashion show.  We have reached the more sensible part of the program, so many of these designs are practical and suited to the office.This design is called Nuss/ It is done in Berocco Blackstone Tweed.

Knit one Crochet Too designed this cabled cardigan in their Brae Tweed. Note the cable embellishments on the sleeves.

And if you like complex cable patterns this "Simply De Vine" Cardigan might be to your liking. Kathy Zimmerman has scored a hit with Kollage Yarns' Milky Whey.

According to my program, this is Kollage Kimono by Kathy Zimmerman, but this does not seem right to me.

Kollage's 1/2 by 1/2 was used to evoke the "French Quarter" in this cardigan designed by Sandi Rosner. 

This was a very graceful piece, called the Cactus Flower Cardie. It was designed by Helene Rush for KnitOne Crochet Too. It was a bit more delicate than the other pieces in this section and I liked it quite a bit.

Another Kathy Zimmerman design is this Bold Textures Cardigan. It was done in Fantastic.

Next are three designs by Barry Klein using his Trendsetters yarn. This one is called Sierra Swing. It was knit with (what else) Sierra Nevada yarn!

This is a pleated jacket (pleats in the back) in Vigna yarn.

Barry Klein stuck leaves on several of his pieces this year. Autumn IS coming, but I guess I'm in denial and didn't want to see that. This Soleil Jacket was knit with Toreador Metallic and Kid Seta Mohair from Trendsetters.

You  can't really see the metallic glitter in this peplum jacket, but Fontelle Jones designed it with cotton/silk/rayon that also has metallic content. As with many of the pieces this year, texture played an important role in the overall effect.

This one is made from Alpaca - doesn't it look dreamily soft! It's called Alpaca Angles.

Vladamira Cmorej struck a chord with this Moonlight Cardigan. I'm sure sonatas could easily be written in its honor!

Gwen Bortner shows off more of her entrelac ingenuity in this Flounce duo done in Claudia's Handpainted Linen.

YOu can't really see the asymmetrical stole that matches this flared jacket by Bergere de Franc and Trudi Van Stralen, but it was quite a unique piece.

This is Liz Tekus and Claudia McLean's  work with Claudia's Handpainted yarns.

Here is a look at the back side so you can see the shaping a bit better. Frankly I'm not crazy about the hemline, but I'm not in the position to be able to wear a knit dress anyway.

This was pretty restrained for Laura Bryant's designs.  Knit in Prism's Arts Symphony, it is a cardigan and pullover with more subtle striping.

This was a fanciful set. It is quite original with all its flaps and overstitching Maggie Jackson calls it a Cloughjordan cape and skirt and the pattern can be found in Maggie Knits Book 16.

I think the faux fur collar is a bit much, but the oversized overstitching does help balance it out.

This is a lovely and understated entrelac design by Gwen Bortner. It  was done in Trendsetter's Tonalita. Look for the pattern in her book!

She calls this one Arlis  Cardi.

This garment was quite striking in its eye-catching red color. Joan McGowan Michael of White Lies Designs calls it the Julianne suit. I like the little bit of lace at the bottom and the slight ruffle. It was knit in Cascade's Sierra.

The next model wore one of the nicest sets in this section of the show. Called simply a charcoal cabled suit, Ann McCauley fashioned this one of Cascade's L'ana D'Oro and it can be found in the Fall Issue of Knitters.

The lines are so clean and elegant!

Helen Hamann's Rainbow cardigan uses more than 20 colors of yarn.

Berrocco used Borealis to fashion this sweater called Dors.

This one was fun with it's shaggy texture and unusual shaping. Susan Brennan designed the Mass Ave Jacket in her Knot Sweater Yarn.

Ellen Liguori calls this the "Boomerang Basket Jacket". It is doen in Fiesta Boomerang.

The last piece I'll show in this part of the blog was interesting structurally. It is called the Color Changes (after the yarn) Ruffled Jacket.

I sort of liked the flounce in the front and the colors shifted gradually in a very pleasing way.

Next time I'll put up the last section of the Stitches Midwest show.

Wedding Pictures

A friend asked me recently if she should get married and whether she could have a Goth wedding. When I got married Goth was not a style yet, (and would have so loved a Goth wedding) but I told her to do her own thing, that I had been married in red and black (against traditional mores). She wanted to see some pictures, so I thought I should put some up somewhere. You can't see the hat but it has a black net veil and is a lovely little black felt hat with a point that comes toward the forehead. I'm wearing white gogo boots and a red satin overskirt with black trim. It's all way more girlie than I would go today, but at least it beats a  big white satin dress with a train!