This Second's Obsession

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dark red spiral mesh cap

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I knit this hat from a pattern in the book Domiknitrix. I bought the right weight yarn – aran – I checked on Ravelry. I got some Rowan Scottish Tweed in 013, from the sale bin at John Lewis Bluewater. It’s this lovely dark red with flecks of other shades and the occasional blob of purple. I used the right size needles. I even checked the gauge! I often can’t be arsed to check the gauge! I measured my head. I decided a small was the right size. I cast on. You can never really tell the size when you’ve just cast on. I did the picot band. I did a few rows of the hat body, and then I stopped.

It was clearly coming out too big. Damn. So I knit the rest of the hat, so that I could judge exactly how too big it was. I looped the thread through the cast-off part without cutting it, and I took this horribly blurred photo, so you too can see exactly how massive this hat came up.

It covered my nose and I could fit both fists inside it at the same time as my head. Bemused and amused, I took it off, pinched it about to see how much less fabric there needed to be, did the appropriate maths, and then frogged it. I left it a couple of days because I was feeling annoyed, then made sure I had plenty of episodes of I Should Be Writing on my mp3 player (I’m catching up on the archives), and cast-on, for attempt number two.

I am delighted to say that my maths did the trick perfectly! I took another horribly blurred photo to prove it!

I must learn how to use self-timer or remote control on the dSLR, so that I can show you decent photos that are not taken at arm’s length. My camera has self-timer, but you have to put it on again after every picture and I can never be arsed to try it more than twice.

But isn’t the hat cute? I love it! Nobody else in the blogosphere or on Ravelry has reported sizing issues with this pattern, so I will blame my small head and probable inability to accurately measure it. I will review the whole book once I’ve tried a few more patterns, but I really enjoyed this one and wanted to show you my work.

I wore it the day I finished it with this teal-green cardigan (Topshop via Red Cross shop), a black vest top, my grey and black striped skinny trousers (H&M), and a red bag. The only full outfit photos that got taken that day were in purikura booths, and I haven’t been e-mailed them yet. When I do I will show you, or I may just wear that outfit again as it was hot!

Top Obsessions of 2007

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After reading the post The Item of the Year Award at Flying Saucer, I started to think about all my most favourite things from 2007. After a little bit of thought, I realised that there is no one item of clothing that I favoured above all others last year and so I decided instead to share my Top Obsessions of 2007!

Frequent motifs
These are the images and shapes that delighted me throughout the year. They were: stripes, crowns and hearts and there is no overall winner for this category, because all these motifs were combined most excellently in my Christmas present to myself, the necklace on the left. If you are charmed by this necklace, the creator has three similar designs available in her Etsy shop.

Best newcomers to my style
These are the things I tried out for the first time this year. First came skinny jeans. I am not entirely sure I’m satisfied with them. The pair I’ve got keep falling down my arse, which is not the look I really want to achieve. They also draw a lot of attention to my large feet, and I am not sure whether I like that. I love my feet but I’d rather have people look at my head. I do love them, but I think I might love them more on skinny indie boys than on me.

The colour red was another obsession. The roots of this took hold in 2006, when I performed in The Vagina Monologues for the first time and discovered the joys of red lipstick, and the fact that some shades of red do actually suit me. After I wrote the blog post My Rainbow: Red, I soon became obsessed with obtaining a red coat for the winter, inspired by Clare Devine, the red-coat-wearing femme fatale of cheesy soapdom. I stopped watching Hollyoaks shortly after she made her final exit, because the plotlines got too bad and there wasn’t her incredibly cute style to admire as compensation. Seriously, evil has never looked so good.

After reading Gala Darling’s article about cat’s eye make-up, and Merriam at Miss Vintage’s instructions for Audrey Hepburn-esque eyeliner, I decided to investigate the possibilities of liquid eyeliner for myself. I prefer it with quite a thin line, but a long tail that curls up long enough to end just below the end of my eyebrow and at an angle. I don’t wear it quite that long everyday, and I am still experimenting. I usually press dark green or dark purple eyeshadow (I prefer Bourjois’ Little Round Pots in ‘ Noir Emeraude 07’ and ‘Noir Précieux 04’) over the top of the eyeliner to give it a softer, more interesting look.

I conclude that the colour red has been the most exciting and best addition to my style in 2007. It makes me feel grown-up and glamourous, and it actually looks surprisingly good with purple. I really need to take some pictures of my red coat to share with you!

Most adored make-up item…

This presents me with the above dilemma all over again. It is really between liquid eyeliner and red lipstick, although glitter has also been much used and loved last year. But I think red lipstick was more of an item of 2006, whilst the eyeliner was worn more regularly this year, so 2007’s crown must go to liquid eyeliner! It has transformed my look no end!

What did you love the most in 2007? Did you manage to work skinny jeans or are you going to be glad to see the back of them when they go out of style? I’m not too bothered about them vanishing for myself, I wear skirts more often than jeans anyway, but I think it will be a shame when they are no longer sported by all the artboys in London!