And the winner is...

The Valentines day hat giveaway has ended and I have now pulled one name out of -surprise, surprise- a hat! So without further ado, the winner of one heart shaped hat is...

Tanja! Congratulations!

Please e-mail me you address to hippie_pippie(a)hotmail.com as soon as possible so that I can mail you your prize in time for the 14th. Thank you all who entered, better luck next time!

Valentines day hat giveaway!

My hat collection just keeps on growing. I finally got around to making this particular hat after I found some red felting wool on sale...The inspiration was an old image from the 40's that I had saved on my old computer. The one that crashed. And no matter how much I googled, I haven't been able to find the image of the lady wearing a heart shaped hat again. I think it was paired with another image of a lady with a hat shaped like two lips with a cigarette sticking out...If you know what images I'm talking about and where to find them, I would very much like to see them again! But anyway, here's what it looks like;

Since Valentines day is coming up soon, and I had enough felt to make two heart shaped hats, I though I'd give one away. Sound good? The hat has an elastic band to keep it in place and it's made from soft 100% wool. Leave me a comment before 22.00 on Tuesday 8th (Finnish time) if you'd like to wear one for Valentines day! If you want a better chance of winning, put a link to the competition on your own blog and tell me about it in a separate comment. Good Luck!

Dressing like a granny

Hello readers! This is what I'm wearing at the moment of typing;

I just finished turning the skirt from a size 38 to a size 34 and I just had to wear it right away. I won't be wearing it too much longer though, Mr Kitten and I are soon going out for a meal with some of his friends and after that, we're all going to see the local revue "Oopåålapåtte". I'll probably go wearing my red jeans and something more rockabella-style than 40's inspired...Mr Kitten tends to think I dress like his grandma did when I wear vintage and I'm not sure that's the impression I want his friends to get of me, hah.

Anyway, I managed to finish a non-sewing project this week also, I turned this;

Into this;

A lot more to my taste...I used gift wrapping paper and some leftover plain black paper. Didn't even take that long! Right, I'd better go have a look in my closet so that I have an outfit ready when it's time to go, hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Would you ever consider going out with a table mat on your head?

Funny how I blog so much less the weeks Mr Kitten and I work similar hours, as in happen to be home at the same time...Anyone else get that? There's no time to read other people's blogs and keep one up myself unless I got the flat to myself, and there's enough light to take photos, and I have something to take photos of etc. I just don't get how some people are able to post every single day?! Don't these people have work, families and so on? Maybe I'm just a slow blogger...

Anyway, since it's been a while since the energy to take photos has occurred on a sunny day with no work, I'll show some older photos. Here for example, is a table mat turned hat and a pair of cute leopard-gloves that I don't think I've shown before.

Both from Citymarket. I made the "hat" by wetting the middle part of it in sugar and water, and then shaping it between two bowls until the water had evaporated. The material seems to be some kind of plastic, (a natural material would probably get a stronger/better shape) so I 'm actually surprised it changed shape at all! Once dry, and stiffened by the sugar, I just attached an elastic band to keep it on my head and voilá;

I am considering making the brim a bit smaller though, to better suit my small head. I'll also add some flowers or something, depending on occasion and whether or not I'll ever go out with a table mat on my head...A tip for others who wear hats, is to get those candle decoration thingies (ljus-manchett in swedish) and use the plastic flowers from those to vary your hats, or match the hat with the colours of the rest of the outfit. Around here, the decorations only cost 10-50 cents at the flea-markets, so it's a really cheap way to get hold of hobby material. Have you ever tried your hand a hat-making?

Good hair day

I was rather pleased at the way my hair came out on Saturday. For once, I got the fringe to stand up a bit, just like in the pictures of old movie stars...

And then I went and covered it all up with a hat. I don't think I've showed this vintage hat before, even though I've had it for quite some time. It's made from a really warm and soft and wintry material, but only covers a small part of the head, so it's a bit tricky to know when to wear it. On Saturday I wore it tho the antiques and vintage fair/market held in Kokkola, and got a few nice comments about it...

The fair had very little vintage, only two sellers who sold vintage clothing and no retro furniture whatsoever (which is what I was looking for). But among all the antique porcelain, glassware, books etc I did find something with a fifties style to it. It is quite possibly the first piece of art I have ever bought, it's about 30 cm high and it looks like it could be made of teak...And I absolutely love it and pretty much go "Oh" every time I see it;

How was your weekend?

I've got my red jeans to keep me warm

I have done a few nice finds lately (see previous posts) and here's proof of another;

A pair of red jeans have been on my list of things to keep an eye out for when thrifting for a long time now. I found these (top also) in a flea-market in Vasa before x-mas, and they have been in use quite a few times already. Because no matter how many skirts/dresses I buy/make, when I get home from work I still end up wearing jeans or sweatpants in the winter. I am too cold in skirts and really cannot be bothered to add layer upon layer of tights to keep me warm, when all I do most days is sit by the computer/sewing machine/couch and only hang out with Mr Kitten. If I'm going out it's a different story, but still, it was -26 C on Wednesday which is not really my idea of skirt weather.

I haven't been very busy playing with hair styles lately either, because going outside means wearing a hat, as in something that will keep your head warm-but also ruins most hairstyles. Winter is tough. But tomorrow, when it's only going to be around -8 C, I am putting on a skirt and fixing a hairdo that can be worn with a warm-ish half hat, and I'm going to an antiques and vintage fair in the town of Kokkola. I'm not quite sure what to expect, but I got some money for x-mas and I wouldn't mind some more vintage stuff, be it clothes or furniture, I can do both! Wish me luck!

P.s. I've only used baking soda once for washing my hair since the beginning of December, water only the rest of the time! Ina is doing something similar and wrote a really good post about it here. Check it out if you're interested in going shampoo-free!

Christmas and cardigans

Almost a year ago, I started knitting. I haven't knitted anything more complicated than leg warmers since we learned the basics in school, so it has taken me some time...But now it's finally finished, my first knitted cardigan!

I can't seem to stick to any patterns anymore, so this is made without, and therefore slightly too wide in front of the shoulders, the arms slightly too tight in the same area and so on. But maybe it's still wearable? We'll see...

Remember this?

I've taken it in and shortened it now, and I'm pretty pleased with the result! It wasn't all that difficult either, as I had read this tutorial by Casey. Very helpful.

Did you have nice holiday? Our Christmas and new years have been very low key, Mr Kitten has had the flu the whole time so we've pretty much stayed at home and watched movies.

Happy new year!