Crinoline Robot’s vintage week

I love these old china flower earrings.
Most ones you find are a bit nibbled,
and these are no exception, but they're
frilly enough that it's not noticeable

Heh, it’s been a while since I wittered on about the everyday side of life. I have bought a few bits and bobs, including a very nice black crepe 1940s dress from Darlings Vintage.

 My local charity shops seem to be succumbing to the curse of price creep – Advantage In Vintage visited Bath recently, and didn’t think much of the prices there. I’d been thanking my lucky stars that, despite living not far from Bath, the ones in my town weren’t at those levels, but now they’re starting to get that way. Bah. There’s no way I’m paying £8 for a supermarket dress. I saw a Welsh tapestry bag in one last weekend, for a fiver – and not only was the lining torn, there was a great big, irreperable hole in the vinyl on one side (the bag was a clasp one, and the tapestry was on the flat faces only). A fiver, for an unusuable bag! Ridiculous. Last year I paid less than that for a much better, leather, bag that just needed a quick repair to the lining. It’s hit the point where my best purchases are coming from professional dealers and junk shops – they may not be the cheapest options, but they’ve weeded out all the old tat.

Still, some things are still good value in the chazzas, CDs in particular. I’m on a 50s kick at the moment; I listen to it a lot at work right now. Sinatra and Dean Martin for £2 each? I’ll take ‘em. Hopefully some Bobby Darin or Julie London will turn up at some point…

 This was also a week for thinking about my hair. When I moved jobs, my former workmates got me a couple of splendid books, and the one showing 1930s hairdressers the right way to put in perm rods has fuelled some thoughts. I am too lazy to faff around with curlers, but a perm… hmm… That sets the cogs turning. Lucy, my hairdresser, reckons I should stick with the bob because it suits me, but I shall continue to mull over a perm. It’s that or change the colour; my natural colour has come through and reminded me why I’ve spent nearly 20 years dyeing my hair. I wish it would hurry up and go grey so I can do the full Mrs Slocombe rainbow! Mr Robot thinks a proper cartoon red, or even blonde, would work on me. Other options to consider...

Bright!

 Now my hair’s nice and short, I’ve really been rocking the giant clip-on earrings. They probably do look tacky. I don’t care, I like them. I just have to remove the left one when I’m at work or I end up clunking it with the phone. The earrings at the top of the page were one of my junk shop bargains. One has a 'nibbled' leaf, but for 50p I aten't complaining.

 Finally, the knitting for myself is going slowly as I’m working on a design for the Christmas issue of Simply Knitting, heavily influenced by 1960s graphic design. I shall tell you more about that when it’s in print! I shall let you have a peep at the colours, though.