A little day trip - victory rolls and thrift shopping

Well, I have to say I am feeling much better already.  After yesterdays post I decided to force myself to set my hair.  I knew I was meeting a friend today and there is nothing like and occasion to get one in the mood to make the effort.

Inspired by the adorable Miss Amethyst I decided to give victory rolls a try, after all, it had to be something that would withstand the foul snowy damp weather we are having, and set my hair for the night in pink perm rods at the nape and upward facing pincurls at the side to help with rolling.

These are the tools:

After brushing out my curls in the morning I followed Miss Amethyst's instructions and backcombed my hair.  I usually shy away from teasing it as my mother who was a 60's hippy chick, always told me it was terribly damaging.  I realise now that this is a load of old rubbish however.  :-)

I then rolled the hair.  I am rubbish  to doing this with my hands though and relied upon my trusty old YSL metallic mascara tube for rolling the hair around.  I then pinned the rolls at each end and put the curls up into a snood (made by me) as I just knew my lovely curls would wilt in the damp air.

I smoothed any flyaways with my rat tail comb and some heavy duty hairspray and then I was good to go (well after putting my make upon...and some clothing.)

I was very pleased with the results - still not as perfect as as Miss Amethyst but then again she is a professional!  I cannot believe the difference the teasing made and am surprised more tutorials don't mention this step.

Here is my hair:

And my outfit - casual but warm:

Snood - crocheted by me
Jumper - knit by me
Jeans - 50's Freddies of Pinewood (the 40's ones trail on the floor and get wet in this weather)
Shoes - spectator / saddles from Anne Klein (eBay)

I then swaddled myself up in my warm coat (not the parka!) a big scarf, popped by knitting in my bag for the journey and headed to High Wycombe to meet my friend.

We has a lovely day.  I ate the world's greasiest panini and raided the local charity shops.  I brought home quite a haul:

Hobbs yellow, white and black sailor top £3.50:

70's apple design jug and 5 glasses £3.50:

Hardy Amies silk scarf £1 (have seen on the Internet for around £55-60 - booyah :-P), the cat was already here:

50's / 60's silk scarf £1:

Beatrix Potter knitting book - so cute £1.50:

 Hobbs almost ankle length red and black chevron tweed skirt £4.50:

All in all a fantastic day. It was so good to get out of London even for just a few hours.  Thank you Judith!

New old purchases

First off, I feel crapola for not having blogged for ages - there is so much I want to write about but I've just not been in the right frame of mind over the past weeks; the combination of a sick kitten, a sick self, a Mad Men addiction and a house guest haven't helped urge me on either, so this is just a small post to ease me back in.

My guest and I went charity shopping today, taking the bus from sunny Crackney all the way to...North London.  Golly, I'd forgotten what the wilds of Seven Sisters Road were like, and it was a football match day so all the beer drinking and loudly swearing burly blokes ended up giving me quite the headache after a couple of hours.

Anyway - I had some shopping success and managed to purchase for myself a really beautiful biscuit barrel which I shall use to keep my teabags in (I know I should use leaf tea, and I do have some, but I prefer PG Tips and from a pyramid bag by jove!).  It really is a pretty little thing, off white with a gold floral design and wicker handle, with the original lid, and only £2!  I'm very happy with it, as is Marlon:

Egad!  In that first picture you can see my chipped nail polish.  I'll have to fix that this evening!

The barrel is made by Sadler, a UK based teapot manufacturer.  The company started in 1882 and is still making its famous "Brown Betty" teapots to this day.  The mark on this piece dates it to the late 40's.  Hurrah!

There was another lovely pair of biscuit barrels which I considered buying too, but they were £17 for the pair and while lovely I resent paying that much when thrifting and left them behind.  I am slightly regretting it now though as I'd like one for sugar and one for coffee (not that I drink the muck but still, its good to have it in for guests and the like).

In another shop on our trek back eastwards I found a lovely wool tweed skirt - probably 80's I'd say but it looks incredibly 40's on.  Its a brown check with dark red, mustard and blue accents, mid calf length with large wide top-stitched pleats.  It is from Kinloch Anderson and, having looked at their website, my £3.50 was a bargain.  I'm at a bit of a loss at what I've got to pair with it - might knit something.  Any ideas welcome.

Finally, this wasn't a purchase today but I'm just thrilled with it  A knitting bag.  Its huge and so contains all three current (and neglected) projects.

I do so love shopping.