The Call of the Sea! Or, How I Spent the Last 3 Months of My Days & Nights

I am damn proud of this thing.

I swatched, I gauged, I casted on, I persevered. 

Knit mostly in the evenings after dinner while relaxing with my Husband as well as in the hours after he went to bed, 3 months later (1 day shy, actually) I have my very first hand knitted bathing suit taken from a reworked original 1920's pattern!

(Here's a very accidental glow-y photo

from a smudged lens, though I think it works!)

This is a huge deal for me, considering that in the 7+ years I have been knitting, I have *yet* to make a single sweater, pair of socks, or even a fraxin'* scarf! All of those "typical knitter" type projects just bore me to hell and back. I'm also 100% sure it has to do with the fact that I'd rather crochet that kind of stuff anyways-- much faster, easier, and more fun overall to just crochet something even remotely substantial!

Although, knitting vintage patterns has its own kind of reward... I feel more connected to the past, and in my own experience of just leafing through them, I wish a time machine would appear and suddenly take me there wearing the outfits I wish to have been magically knit for me. (If you couldn't already tell, I have very specific craft related time warp fantasies.)

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Update: I wrote this post last Summer and am just now realizing that I never finished it. I have worn this many times since then and will have plenty more to add to this project <3

Adventures In Vintage Cocktail Land Pt. 1

Today was just another day. Until I realized that it was Friday. And then things got good.

Dishes? Done. Laundry? Knocked out. Thirst? Banging on the roof of my mouth like a downstairs neighbor that fusses over every little sound from above. So I did what any respecting vintage-loving housewife would do.

I got out my Calvert Party Encyclopedia from 1965, put on the swanky tunes of the time, and got to work shaking and stirring. NBD.

First up, we have the "Around The World" cocktail.

Not sure what makes this worldly, but I was hoping to find out.

I measured everything to exacting amounts, and loved right away the neon-ness of the color! (No, that's not a word, but yes, I used it anyways. It's my blog and I can use made up words if I want to.) The photo isn't doing justice to the vividness of this green. If I could choose a word, it would be "toxic" green or "radioactive" green. Apropos to the era, wouldn't you agree? Just say yes, and we'll move on.

Cheers, my friends!

Sipping, tasting, pondering...

It's a moderate winner!

The green creme de menthe makes it a bit syrup-y, but that's not entirely a bad thing. The pineapple is really interesting with mint, not something I would think of or expect to be put together. I think I would have loved these in my early 20's (jeezus I feel old just saying that), but nowadays I would definitely top it off/thin it out with some club soda. Also, there is nothing "worldly" about this. More like "otherworldly"-- the neon-ness (there's that word again!) makes me feel like I'm drinking some kind of alien libation you'd see on Star Trek the original series. All in all, not a bad drink to make when you want a color show and a flavor play.

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Next I have another gin-based drink called "Attention", from the same book.

I'm sensing a theme here. Though I didn't know what that was until I started stirring the drink. As would be expected when recreating vintage recipes, there were substitutions that had to be made. Ansone or Abisante are clearly in the anisette/absinthe vein, and Pernod did just fine. Creme de Noya is likely just a different spelling of "Noyaux". Check and check.

As you can see, this drink is red.

Like, REALLY red. And this, my friends, is the theme.

The accidental theme. Toxic/Radioactive/Atomic, if you will.
(I also think it is fitting that it looks like I am raising a glass to Heisenberg.)

Not sure what to make of it.

Taking the plunge...

Yeeeeesh!

This is really, just....attention-getting for sure. I thought the "Around The World" was thick and syrup-y, but this one was just. too. much. It wasn't even the gratuitous amounts of Pernod or Vermouth, because I drink Absinthe using the traditional preparation and I really do love me a wet Martini. Luckily there was enough room to top it off (and I mean all the way off) with club soda. And even that was just a desperate fix. I would prefer to abandon this recipe entirely, but if I were to "fix" it, I would scale back the Creme de Noyaux to 1/4 and Pernod to at least 1/2, and scale up the gin to at least double. Because that's how I roll.

More tunes to shake your drinks to (and anything else you've got): LittleMissLounge

CHEERS!

An Update and a Promise

I'ts been almost a year since my last post.  A lot has happened since then. Like, a LOT. I moved from Portland to Sacramento, lost weight, gained employment, lost employment, and am currently seeking employment-- just to name a *few* things.

In the meantime, I plan on sewing. A lot. Like, a WHOLE lot. I've been bitten by the bug again, and this time I'm sticking with strictly vintage and true vintage-inspired. I say "true" because there's too much "vintage" out there from the 1980's-- and now the 90's is considered vintage?? Come on people... it was only 20 years ago and I was just a kid then-- and still kind of am! Sheesh.

Anyways.

I am currently adding more things to my library section over there. To the left. Upper left... keep scrolling-- there ya go! You found it. A for effort. I have a good amount of original vintage sewing patterns lined up to work on for the foreseeable future, and here is a sneak peek of just a few:

Well what do we have here? Another pencil skirt?? Why yes, Yes, a resounding YES! (Details to follow in the library section.)

Goodness, this had better turn out like the illustration, wasp waist and all. Oh wait, I guess you have to actually *have* a wasp waist to begin with. Sigh. A girl can dream, can't she?

This is one of those mail-order patterns, but sadly the date isn't on the postmark. I'm guessing it is from the late 40's to early 50's. I don't see a copyright date anywhere on the instructions-- further googling is needed. (Details to be added in the Library Section soon!)

So this is pretty much just a drop in the bucket of what I have planned. A very shallow bucket, but a bucket indeed. I will be figuring out how I want these patterns structured in the Library-- individual entries, or just one big entry under a "Vintage Sewing Patterns" type category. Either way, each pattern will have more details like how/where I acquired each one, and a direct link to the blog post(s) as I work on each one, and any worthy historical tidbits as they apply. A compendium of sorts, if you will.

IN OTHER NEWS: I got a serger, I got a serger, I got a serger, hey hey hey HEY!

She's a basic Brother 4-thread, and I couldn't be happier....

Just look!

My wonderful husband got it for me from Amazon for a friggin' steal shortly after I yelled at him exclaimed "If I had a serger I would make these vintage panties until the cows came home!" I secretly (or not so secretly) think he gets a kick out of my crafting binges. Especially sewing, since it doesn't happen a lot and he has mentioned more than once that he would love to have home made clothes. Such a grandpa great guy.

Okay. Enough with the snarky strikeouts. I am off to sew my first practice pair of granny panties! (Couldn't help it. It was too good not to do it.) I look forward to adding much more to this blog in the coming weeks, and despite my good intentions when I started this thing a year ago, I will make good this time, promise fingers crossed!