Weekend Report
Dec. 9th, 2018 08:35 pmSaturday — went to the Friends of the Merrill holiday party*, came home to find out there’d been an anti-immigrant demo for which I’d failed to attend the counter-demo. These were the gilets-jaunes people who held coordinated demos in multiple locations. Very worrying.
Today— Andrew had asked me to find a base for his crystal ball, so I went toSpatula City Tap Phong kitchenware the Dufferin Mall, where I bought a stainless-steel cat-food bowl with an anti-slip rubber base, and it is supporting the crystal most elegantly and securely.
Don came by, bringing pies, and I cooked some chicken and we three had dinner and talked about stuff, mostly pulp fiction.
*I wore the green cloche which is now mine— last weekend, after complaining about my obsession with Charlotte Ritter’s hat despite not having seen any actual episodes of Babylon Berlin, I remembered the beige cloche my mother gave me a winter or two back and dyed it with food colouring, sewing on a couple of rosettes (hair ties) to cover the spot where the dye took unevenly.

Today— Andrew had asked me to find a base for his crystal ball, so I went to
Don came by, bringing pies, and I cooked some chicken and we three had dinner and talked about stuff, mostly pulp fiction.
*I wore the green cloche which is now mine— last weekend, after complaining about my obsession with Charlotte Ritter’s hat despite not having seen any actual episodes of Babylon Berlin, I remembered the beige cloche my mother gave me a winter or two back and dyed it with food colouring, sewing on a couple of rosettes (hair ties) to cover the spot where the dye took unevenly.

Crocheted Hat
Jun. 29th, 2013 04:26 pmSo, apparently I now have the ability to learn crochet. I guess it just took the right motivation -- the motivation in this case being that a lot of cute vintage hat patterns call for crochet. The trick appears to be to just jump in, and google up how-tos for each type of stitch as it becomes necessary. Will post pictures if the hat turns out.
Bazaar of the Bizarre, Spring 2012
Apr. 1st, 2012 07:51 pmI did not sell a single hat in eight hours of manning a table while techno (?) blared in the background. Mind you, the woman next to me who's a veteran of these shows and makes beautiful hair ornaments only sold, like, two of them, so maybe it was just a slow day. I'm trying to draw lessons from it for next time:
1. Use a plainer fabric for my table cloth - no one actually said so, but I suspect a lot of my wares were hard to see against the pattern.
2. Brighter colours - Half the people there had hair dyed black or dark red - the hats and hair ornaments wouldn't have stood out if they'd tried them on.
3. Different fastening mechanisms - I sewed those stretchy circular hair combs to my hats, because I've found them to be the most comfortable and secure way of holding them on my head; but the learning curve was too steep for my potential customers. U-shaped hairbands are ugly and uncomfortable, but at least people know how to put them on.
4. Maybe I should avoid calling them "hats." At least three people said "oh, they're lovely, but I'm just not a hat person." Possible if I stick to really small fascinators and call them "decorated headbands," people won't be scared off.
1. Use a plainer fabric for my table cloth - no one actually said so, but I suspect a lot of my wares were hard to see against the pattern.
2. Brighter colours - Half the people there had hair dyed black or dark red - the hats and hair ornaments wouldn't have stood out if they'd tried them on.
3. Different fastening mechanisms - I sewed those stretchy circular hair combs to my hats, because I've found them to be the most comfortable and secure way of holding them on my head; but the learning curve was too steep for my potential customers. U-shaped hairbands are ugly and uncomfortable, but at least people know how to put them on.
4. Maybe I should avoid calling them "hats." At least three people said "oh, they're lovely, but I'm just not a hat person." Possible if I stick to really small fascinators and call them "decorated headbands," people won't be scared off.
I just spent at least forty minutes hot-gluing sisal rope to a foam-rubber ball. Suspect making display stands for hats will prove to be more labour-intensive than making the hats themselves. Meanwhile I haven't heard a peep from BotB, so this exercise is being conducted in a spirit of purest optimism.
I just spent at least forty minutes hot-gluing sisal rope to a foam-rubber ball. Suspect making display stands for hats will prove to be more labour-intensive than making the hats themselves. Meanwhile I haven't heard a peep from BotB, so this exercise is being conducted in a spirit of purest optimism.
Craft Update
Feb. 11th, 2012 08:13 pmJust applied for a table at this spring's Bazaar of the Bizarre; will see if my latest round of hat-making proves popular, or at least acceptable to the jury. I'm not sure they're bizarre enough, though.
(no subject)
Jul. 6th, 2011 08:14 pmYesterday I took some cardboard down to the recycling bins, forgetful of the tiny fez I had on my head. Our resident Crazy Old Guy started in astonishment when he stepped into the elevator.
I must take care not to repeat the performance tonight in a plastic tiara. Possibly I should post a note on my front door:
ARE YOU WEARING A HAT?
IS IT A SILLY HAT?
I must take care not to repeat the performance tonight in a plastic tiara. Possibly I should post a note on my front door:
ARE YOU WEARING A HAT?
IS IT A SILLY HAT?
(no subject)
Jun. 27th, 2011 07:57 pmLots of hat-work this weekend. Am going to try putting them in the Polaris art show. Also began this wonky steampunk.....something. Probably a fascinator.
'Nother Silly Hat
Jun. 18th, 2011 03:37 pmThis time out, I knit a somewaht larger mini-fez in green, then tortured it into a most un-fezlike shape before gussying it up with my last felt coaster and some ribbon. There are beads strung on the ribbon, but they don't really show up.
Knitting News
Jun. 9th, 2011 09:52 amStopped at the Zellers near my workplace yesterday, in hopes their pet department would have cedar shavings (we have moths in our apartment), but they only had pine. The search continues.
However, I did browse their yarn shelf – mostly acrylic of course, but there were a few kits left over from xmas (and therefore marked down) for making felted ornaments – the yarn was therefore 100% wool. I bought one for $3.50, which netted me a couple of small skeins (one red, on green) at what I figure is about half the price I’d normally pay. I’m trying a miniature fez from the red yarn – I’ve about four more rounds to go before casting off, and I’ve only used about a quarter of the skein. We’ll see how it looks after felting. The pattern is actually to make a fez for your cat, for the lulz, but I think a mini-fez would make a cute cocktail hat, possibly for Dr. Who-themed parties.
However, I did browse their yarn shelf – mostly acrylic of course, but there were a few kits left over from xmas (and therefore marked down) for making felted ornaments – the yarn was therefore 100% wool. I bought one for $3.50, which netted me a couple of small skeins (one red, on green) at what I figure is about half the price I’d normally pay. I’m trying a miniature fez from the red yarn – I’ve about four more rounds to go before casting off, and I’ve only used about a quarter of the skein. We’ll see how it looks after felting. The pattern is actually to make a fez for your cat, for the lulz, but I think a mini-fez would make a cute cocktail hat, possibly for Dr. Who-themed parties.
(no subject)
May. 22nd, 2011 10:20 pmMore little hats. These didn't felt so well but I still went to town decorating them (it's what they're for, really).
(no subject)
May. 14th, 2011 09:24 pmKnit a small green top hat and ran it through the wash. It's still not fully felted; should run it through again:
