Bad news and good news

I give up on the sontag. For now, at least.
The circular needles are not good at all. They're certainly better at keeping the stitches on themselves (the needles). The matter is, they're too good at it. I had trouble getting the stitches that had gone from the needle part to the cable part back to the needle part when I needed to knit them (if that makes sense; I lack the proper English terminology for this). Which means every row was taking me much longer to knit than it usually would. So I only made about 17 rows. Until I arrived to a stitch that had got too tight and simply would not go. At. All.
So I apparently have to start again. For the third time. And I'm positively fed up with it by now. By now I should have been somewhere at the winged part, as others are. Instead I'm back at the beginning. And it's frustrating me, and it's pointless to keep struggling with a project that's frustrating me. Plus I have a medieval dress to make, among other things.
So I quit. I might pick it up again when I have more time and come up with a good needle solution. The time is not now.
That was the bad news.


The good news is, we were on the exhibition opening yesterday, and the Latvian president did arrive, and made a (very nice) speech, and we were not the most casually dressed ones there, nor the most dressed up, so I guess we managed well. Many thanks to all people who gave me their opinions, here and on the Sense & Sensibility boards, and on BurdaStyle.
The exhibition is nice, too - photos of the "Baltic Way", the human chain people from the Baltic countries created back in August 1989 when they were not Baltic countries, only the Baltic part of the USSR. There were interesting things. Like photos from a photographer who had a chance to go take photos of the human chain from a helicopter, but declined the opportunity, because he believed it was more important to document the funeral of a Latvian soldier who died in the Soviet army. I still cannot decide whether he was stupid that he declined such a historic opportunity, or whether he was wise to go and take photos of a funeral that probably hardly any people paid attention to at that time (and even less so now), just because he believed the person deserved it. The creators of the exhibition probably thought the former - I guessed so from the short description, because it said "unique opportunity". But I'm not so sure about it myself.

Anyway, because Stephanie Ann asked for a "fashion show", here you go:

Me - "Bisha meets woodpecker"


(I look a bit weird. That's because I was just trying to tell my sister that she probably had the camera tilted, but she was already taking the photo. I think it's mostly Adéla's fault, not my sister's. Adéla's seriously taking up about one eigth of our whole garden.)

I wore:
- the red headband
- a rather old, dressier, white T-shirt
- a thrifted black wrap cardigan
- a black corduroy skirt from a clothes exchange
- white heeled shoes
- old white purse that's been lying in the wardrobe for ages
- my sister's bangles

I'm rather delighted by the fact most of the things I wore were secondhand...

Just to make thing more fun and tense: I had originally wanted to wear my hair loose, but when I set out to arrange it that way yesterday (I sleep with my hair braided, it saves a lot of trouble combing it), I foud out that I had the infamous Bad Hair Day. Somehow, when I last washed my hair, the grease only proceeded further down the hair and was not completely removed. I did not notice, because I braided my hair wet. And it looked weird, and I did not have time to wash it again. So I wore two braids instead, and felt a bit silly and childish and quite good at the same time.

It's "Bisha meets woodpecker", because Bisha, my cat, is black with white "bib" and feet, and because of the red headband.

My sister - In black and white and violets


She wore a black skirt, and white Indian blouse (which I hemmed for her to be shorter), shoes that used to be my other sister's, violet shawl of uncertain origins and in her hair (which you might see a bit of on the bigger picture) a violet bobbin-lace butterfly our wonderful crafty grandma made. And bangles.

What to wear, oh what to wear?

That's not a question I'm bothered with most of the time. Not much.

But now I am. Because I have an opportunity to go to the opening of an exhibition... and there will be the Latvian president present in there. So I suppose it's going to be a very formal occasion.

So, please, could you you help me out? What would be appropriate to wear to such an event, when it takes place at 16:00 / 4 PM? That's about as much as I know about it...

The beginings of a sontag, take 2

I'm rather busy with other things. It's not much. But it's something.

The very simple favourites

I already posted something today, but I felt a need to share my very simple favourite things to wear...


- The usual headscarf
- Thrifted hoodie I got from my sister
- A cheap, long, flowy broomstick skirt, part polyester, part linen(!) - the linen part certainly must be what makes it so popular with me.
- My Andrea blouse underneath the hoodie. You can see nothing of it, but I have to include it for sake of integrity.

That photo is a proof of why I won't make this a daily feature. I started hanging the laundry to dry, and then I realised that I put it in the view of my usual self-photographing backdrop, so if I wanted to take photo of this favourite outfit of mine, I had to experiment with another place to put the camera and another place to stand. (There was Adéla in the usual view, too, apparently bent more by the recent rains - you can see a bit of her in the bottom right.) And that's why you see only part of my favourite skirt. Our garden is very small and very much like a jungle. That's probably the reason why the cats like to live there.

A little thing to make me happy

I bought acrylic paint. And, among other things, I painted a poor solitary wooden button from the stash to my liking.

I've wanted a button like that for a long time, to go on the mobile phone case I made. (I thought I had posted about the mobile phone case on my Czech blog, but apparently I had not, and now I'm left with a mystery where did I actually post it, because I remember getting suggestions about possible closures for it from other people online...)
I was looking for red wooden buttons with a shank in shops, but that's clearly too specific a requirement. Then, after quite a lot of unncessary frustration with a tiny thing, I realised what I usually realise soon with other things, that the easiest way to get what I want is to make it. And because I had other ideas what to do with acrylic paint accumulated in my mind, I finally bought acrylic paint.

I thought acrylic paint was expensive for the amount you get in one small bottle. Turns out that it's not. Turns out that, with my uses for it, I could be using that one bottle for years and years.
Of course, I have more than one bottle. I have seven: red, yellow, blue, white, black, silver and gold. I think I can achieve just about anything with those seven colours, except that I'll probably have to buy a lighter blue, too, if it's available. The one I have is a darker shade and it turns out it's really, really difficult to achieve paler but bright blues with it. It took a lot of mixing (with yellow and white, and more yellow, and more white, and eventually also more blue...) to achieve the blue on the button, and it's still not exactly what I had in mind, but it looks good on the button.

For the record, this is what the poor button looked like before:


I dare say what I did to it is definitely an improvement. Especially because it was a lonely, solitary button lingering in the stash, and now it's going to be used and look pretty.

Considering I probably suffer from a mild case of koumpounophobia, it's really a blessing that a button can make me happy.

(That link leads to a video of Neil Gaiman talking about buttons as a promo to the film Coraline, which I haven't seen. The video - posted on his blog - was the first thing that allerted me to the fact that my disgust of buttons might be more common. Fortunately for me, I'm not really scared of them. I just find those ordinary ones with holes disgusting and unpleasant. I don't mind fabric covered buttons or buttons with shanks - those I actually often find cute, on their own. Thank God for that, really!)

Uncountable blessings

Sometimes, Someone is trying to tell you something.
I won't elaborate. It's complicated and personal and stupid (on my part). Just this: if you ever feel like I'm getting selfish and self-centered, please, do me a favour and whisper "woolen thread" into my ear.
Woolen thread, because I've been gifted this:


I'm actually not sure if all of it is 100% wool, but even then...
Most of it is actually something between very thin yarn and thread, but even then...

Just do me that favour, please.


A person may count their blessings, one by one. I'm not that person. I am not good with numbers. I think my blessings are uncountable, and I like it that way.
But I should keep trace of them more often, or I forget that they are blessings.

So here are some of them:

Blog posts that make me giggle.

A sprig of lavender:


A dandeliony flower:


This sight out of a window:


Featuring Lemmi, The White Tomcat, The Tomcat That Looks Like A Rabbit:


And the butterfly bush, AKA Adéla:


(Adéla is named after the crazy Czechoslovakian comedy "Adéla ještě nevečeřela" = "Adele Hasn't Had Her Dinner Yet", namely after the flower of that name in the film.)

And the butterflies which I cannot photograph, but which have spots of matching violet colour on their wings.

And then, of course, my dearest Bisha The Black-And-White One Who Is Not Having Legs:


And Yksi The Penetrator whom you already know:


And Kaksi The Jostling One, The Most Cuddly One, Who Is Hard To Photograph:






Which now makes you acquainted with all the cats we currently have.

And my family's love for language(s) and my father's tendency to give our cats Taboo Names, which I'm copying here.

And the infinitely comfortable linen dress I'm wearing.

And a friend who's willing to help me make a duct tape dress form.

And C.S. Lewis's writing, but that's most certainly not only my blessing.

I think there's a word for all this, and it begins with ineff-, and everyone who's read Good Omens knows what it is. And referring to a funny book is not exactly the best way to end this post, but I can't help it.

For those who have not read Good Omens, the word is ineffable.

How about a Regency kit?

Remember the first giveaway I posted about?
I posted about it at the last moment, and Rachael saw it, and entered the giveaway, and won the giveaway.
Well, now Atlanta - Bonnyblue is giving away her Regency kit.
I want that one. But, whatever, if one of my friends wins it, I'll be just as glad, only maybe a little sad that it wasn't me, but I can be both at the same time, you know?
So, if you want it, don't miss this chance!