Crinoline Robot's vintage bimblings
The turban is a two colour one, and I'm making it in berry and charcoal grey Excelana. It's growing so quickly in comparison to the cardigan! (The berry shade looks very red in the photo, but it's actually rather dustier looking.)
On the telly front, I've been watching lots of The Avengers, by which I mean the 1960s show with Steed and Peel, not Marvel. While even Diana Rigg in her prime will not convert me to wearing Crimpelene, I do greatly enjoy the look of the show. It's so colourful, and while parts of it are clearly filmed on studio sets, the artificiality works because so much of the script is bonkers anyhow. Watching 'Never, Never Say Die' with Christopher Lee so soon after his death was particularly poignant - and oh, wasn't he handsome in his prime? My favourite so far has been 'The Winged Avenger' for the Batman parody, especially the fight scene at the end.
On which note: we are getting Agent Carter in the UK. It's starting on Fox on the 12th of July, hurrah!
It's been a dry old time at the charity shops as far as clothes go - the hospice shop has opened up a 'vintage' section but it seems mostly 80s and later to me, not even much from the 1960s. Part of me wonders if the drive in recent years for people to 'declutter' means there will be less vintage clothing hitting charity shops in the future, as people simply won't have it kicking round in attics or at the back of wardrobes. However, we've had a bit of luck with other stuff. The two little Edwardian cookbooks were a recent find, and we picked up six of these Denby plates for £3.50. That's for the whole set, not each! They're not vintage as the pattern ('Boston Spa') was only discontinued in 2001. We really needed some everyday plates to replace the battered, chipped ones we had. The old plates had had a good innings; some were ones my mum gave me when I went to university in 1992, but it's lovely to have some smarter ones for daily use. Denby did some fantastic patterns in the 1990s, 'Luxor' was one I especially loved. 'Boston Spa' plates like these go for around £15 each at china replacement firms, so at less than 60p each we got a proper bargain.
Your turban looks lovely. They are things that I have seen few people wear but are really very elegant (and can hide a multitude of sins). The charity shops here are woeful. Full of Primark and not much else. Love your plates and cook books. Denby is lovely and hard to find second-hand. My Mum has one that belonged to my Dad's Mum. The recipes are hilarious, lots of offal and things needing 3 dozen eggs. Xx
ReplyDeleteI was amazed to see the Denby, though good china does seem to pop up a lot in my local ones.
DeleteOne fo those little books has a whole chapter on foods for invalids. Mostly egg things.
Oo well done on the books and plates!! And I love that you're knitting again, I hope you'll share some pics of the finished articles. I think you're terribly clever for having that skill, as I'm sure I've told you before.
ReplyDeleteAs for Agent Carter, if you can't wait, I've found it on a Russian website?! Let me know if you want the link.
xx
No, I shall wait for the UK broadcast. I've seen Russian websites do illegal copies of enough of the magazines I've worked on that I really don't want to encourage them.
DeleteIt's good to ket my knit together again; the fair isle did rather sap it.
I've caught occasional episodes of The Avengers and "The Winged Avenger" was one of them - so delightfully bonkers!
ReplyDeleteThey're great fun. Just the right amount of off-the-wall, though the black and white ones are my favourites.
DeleteHooray for Agent Carter! You are my new TV guide. Thanks. The turban looks great, is it moss stitch? Look forward to seeing your fair isle.
ReplyDeleteIt's not moss stitch, though that's what I thought it would be from the original photo. It's sort of halfway between moss and bobbles. The pattern is worked over repeats of four stitches and is:
DeleteRow 1: P3tog, (K1, m1, K1) into next stitch
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: (K1, m1, K1) into next stitch, P3tog
Row 4: Knit
It produces a really nice-feeling fabric - I'm tempted to work it into plain patterns in future.
I've never seen even a clip of The Avengers. Our one was The Persuaders and we moved on to The Saint, but it isn't half as much fun as the former and we only got two or three episodes in.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Christopher Lee was incredibly handsome ❤
I love the Saint books, especially the early (1930s) ones,
Deletebut wasn't so much into the telly programme.
Those books and the plates were a great find. Mum & Dad had a Denby service as their wedding pressie in 1966. I donated it to the chazza when I cleared the house and it soon went. xx
ReplyDeleteI seem to have more luck with homewares than with clothes of late, that's for sure. I'f I had more room, I'd have a serious pottery hoard.
DeleteI'm so excited to see your cardigan finished soon.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with collecting china is that you think you don't have room, but somehow (as the china cabinet groans a bit more) you find it-or I do anyway! My weakness, I admit it. I've never seen that pattern, but it does have a Deco feel to it, and I like it very much (better look away before I get ideas of building a set of my own).
I do like a bit of Denby; all our plates, most of our kitchenware in fact, comes from chazzas.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing the turban when it's finished - I like them on other people but sadly I look dreadful in them! Crimplene, on the other hand, is a joy, I love it! xxx
Oh, those books, you lucky thing, you! I'd have pounced on them too.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing your Fair Isle when done.
I have some Denby, Savoy, plates, I remember my mother's friend had them when I was a child. I loved them because they had the little house and I used to make up stories to myself about who lived in it!
Liking the look of the turban, lovely colours. Looking forward to seeing the cardi too, don't envy you all those ends. I have had no charity shop luck with clothes recently either. Where are they all?!
ReplyDelete