New Sources of Inspiration..........

What shall I write about today? I've been continuing to ponder my knitting, crocheting and embroidering projects. (And trying to ignore sewing -- too many obstacles at the moment...I'll bore you with that another day.)
I am gradually getting some ideas, and will trickle those out in the next few days. I wish I could figure out how to blog ahead of time. I tried it once and had a post or two stacked up to share as I went into a busy week. Then I found that as I posted them, they displayed with the date on which I had created and saved them and not the date on which I hit "Publish Post". So it looked like I posted 3 times in one day, and not once daily for 3 days. Does it matter, I suppose not, I just want it the way I want it. Don't you? I thought about writing the post in Word and then cut-and-paste on the day I want to post, except that the time-consuming part of posting is uploading the pics (a real drawback in Blogger if you ask me), and besides I edit my writing to accomodate where I am able to place the pictures. (I am such an amateur at this, it's amazing I stay with it. There's something to be said for being stubborn.)

In the meantime, I want to share some New Things I have, and am drawing inspiration from.

Do you remember my early Christmas present? Well, what better way to heat the water than with the brand-new electric teakettle Jeff got me for Christmas? I LoVe It!

The other night after I chilled my feet practically to frost-bitten at a hockey game, (I know, don't say it...), I came home and heated a full pot, filled the hot-water bottle and made a cup of hot chocolate, put on a flannel nightie and a bed jacket, and snuggled in bed with TCM on the tube. Let me tell you, that kettle heated my water soooo fast. And by the way, if you have never put a HWB in the foot of your bed, you really should try it. It was still warm in the morning! I love discovering old-fashioned utilitarian items, that can't be outdone by anything new. (Like the humble wooden clothes-pin, or a wooden kitchen spoon, or handknit wool socks.) Along with a tea-pot cozy (or cosy, for our friends in the UK), I want to hand-knit a HWB cozy. I collect vintage patterns for both items, but haven't made any yet....why is that?

The next two items I bought with "birthday money" sent me by loved ones. If you've read my ravings about Victorian Trading Company, then you won't be surprised that I shopped there. I love flannel nighties, and think they get a bad rap for being un-sexy. I think that while they may not be alluring, they can be feminine and dainty, and really very pretty. For a long time, VTC has carried a white ruffly nightgown called the Anastasia, which while very pretty, just wasn't quite what I was looking for in a nightie. Then they added a charmer made of pink rosebud flannel, and I remember thinking that they'd have gotten me if it were blue. When I was a wee little thing, my mother made a pink rag doll with yellow wool hair and blue button eyes, to look like me, and the only garment I really remember her having was a little dress (nightgown?) made from the classic blue rosebud calico, with a light blue binding at the neck, sleeves and hem.

Well, now VTC seems to have expanded their clothing line and perhaps with their own label, which I think sums it up: The Hopeless Romantic. What else are we if not that?

And so now, they bring us the Bonny Blue nightgown. (How do you like that? "Bonny Blue", right out of GWTW!) I bought it and I love it. The flannel is really thick and soft. The print is beautiful. The buttons down the front are little round pearls, and there are pintucks around the neckline. The sleeves are called poet sleeves, so you have to be careful not to drag them in the jam when getting your tea and crumpets in the morning, but so far I have managed them. Now that I know how lamb-y soft the flannel, I just might be going back for the Rosebud............

The second gift I got myself with the B'day $, as if the Bonny Blue weren't enough, was this book of vintage knitting and crochet patterns: A Stitch in Time, by Jane Waller and Susan Crawford.If I've given you the impression that I'm all about Victorian fashions and sensibilities, then I've given you too narrow a view. I love the fashions of the thirties and forties. I am a sucker for a bias-cut silk gown in 1930's movies. Classy Claudette Colbert and Slinky Jean Harlowe and Sweet, Spunky Myrna Loy were definitely stylin'. Did I forget Ginger Rogers? Talk about glamour...........Maybe I should devote a post to this book, someday. If you get a chance to leaf through it, you'll drool. You can't even get it on Amazon. I had to order it from the publisher, from the Knit-on-the-Net website. If you are a Ravelry member, you can do a search and see lots of pictures from the book and the versions various knitters have made. Get your tea and curl up with your laptop; it's a real treat to see them!