About Vintage Grrl  Mid 30's Sydney-sider, wife & mother.
I love vintage fashion, swing dancing, Jazz, shoes, hats, handbags, make-up, chocolate, techno-gadgets, horror films and sci-fi.
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Since having our son, we tend not to do a big New Years Eve celebration. We find a vantage point in the neighbourhood and see the fireworks the best we can at 9pm, then go home and let the boy fall asleep watching a movie or something… this year it was Mythbusters.
New Years Day is also quiet for us, but we’ll spend it doing something together, and this year we went flying kites.
Well, the boys flew kites…
I knitted on my Line Break Shawl.
We were lucky to get a public holiday on the Monday after New Years Day this year, and we had a nice sleep in, but decided the afternoon needed to be spent out of the house. So we trudged along to the Powerhouse Museum. We knew the Harry Potter exhibit was on, so we were prepared for some extra traffic, but we weren’t prepared for 1/3 of the museum to be taken up by it, and about 1/4 of what was left was under construction. Then there were the ginormous queues for the exhibit! Not just outside, either…
We did head in to the exhibit shop, however. In search of a button, pin or patch to put on my new bag. NOT A ONE! No “flash” of any description! There were tees, cloaks, ties, scarves, beanies, stickers, broomsticks, jelly beans, chocolate frogs, Hedwig keychains and bookmarks galore… Rather disappointed.
Also at the museum, is the Love Lace exhibit. I was very excited about being able to go and see it. I have to say that overall, I was expecting something else. Some of the pieces there had me amazed, like this metal chain piece. I think the definition of the term “lace” was greatly stretched. The one yarny knitted piece was stunning, but I couldn’t take a photo of it. Not because I wasn’t allowed to, but the lighting made it too hard with the way it was displayed (too many shadows – you really had to look really closely to see the lace).
I had to take a photo of this cab.. mainly because now I can look at it and fantasise about riding in one. It’s so cool.
At the end of the day, we decided it was time to upgrade our son bag from a backpack.
He had been admiring my husband’s Bag of Holding, and my new bag (both messenger bags), and he decided he wanted a “Bag of Lightning”. So we were off in search of said bag. But it seemed where our luck had failed on the Harry Potter bling, it was redeemed with finding a cool messenger bag for our boy. It’s about 1/3 the size of mine and polyester instead of canvas. But it fits his medications, a sandwich and a couple of his smaller toys. Where he used to palm off his backpack once he got sick of wearing it (or it made his back too hot), he just adores his messenger bag, and thinks it’s fun that he is old enough to have a bag just like his parents. Now we just need to find a lightning bolt patch or badge for it.
So far, January has been fun, and I look forward to the rest of 2012 being just as wonderful!
I usually post about what gifts I’ve made at for Christmas. The plain fact is that this year, I didn’t make any. We bought gifts this year, which was so much less stressful! I may make gifts for next year, but I wouldn’t count on it.
I did, however, receive some wonderful things this year that I think deserves some air time.
My husbands extended family bought me the yarn for my 2012 projects, which was superbly awesome. Bendigo Luxury in Junior Navy in both DK and Fingering weight (8ply and 4ply), with enough yardage for my cardi, hat and gloves.
 I also got Rebecca Danger’s Monster book! So excited! I may have enough left to make myself a matching monster. I enjoyed making her Hippo so much that I see monsters scattered throughout my house in the future.
 My husband did really well this year. There’s usually a time of anxiety prior to Christmas when he tries to surprise me, to which the normal answer is for me to choose my gifts instead. This year, he went and bought me something anyway. And there it sat, under the tree for almost a week. In different wrapping paper, so it was like a big flashing sign saying “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT I AM!!!”. Luckily for me (and for him), I DID love it. One of my favourite movies, The Blind Side, on Blu Ray.
 So as not to break a long standing tradition, however, I did find myself in need of a new bag by Christmas, and I wasn’t going to get the Bag of Holding that I wanted due to exorbitant shipping fees (and the fact it wouldn’t have arrived by Christmas.. plus the husband already has one, so it would be wierd). I actually found something a couple of days before Christmas, which ticked all the boxes. It’s big enough for my phone, tablet, wallet, keys, makeup, knitting, waterbottle and a sandwich. It’s canvas and neutral coloured (and kind of looks like the little sister to the Bag of Holding). It has lots of pockets, internal and external, so it also fits my son’s medications if I need to carry them. It is awesome.
My In-Laws have said they will forgo a Christmas gift for me this year to help me get the spinning wheel I want for my Birthday in February.. YAY! I also got some money from my parents to put towards this.
I think all in all I did very well this year, I love everything and appreciate that the people in my life have been so thoughtful.
I seem to ebb and flow with my posting, don’t I? I’ll be happily posting away, and then life throws me a curve ball and everything, especially my blog, suffers.
I have been busy, with preparations for Christmas, wrapping up my son’s school year and generally keeping my head above the proverbial water.
  I have been to a Not-Quite-High-Tea with a group of Sydney knitters, at which we had an ornament swap. I made a hyperbolic ball and a cross stitched reindeer ornament, which Lyn happened to choose. I picked up a gorgeous knitted star made by the awesomesauce Bex. It has pride of place on our little tree.
I have revisited my holiday season knitting, and the lace shawl isn’t happening right now. I have decided, instead, to continue my Nuvem shawl, as it’s easy and I really don’t have to think about it. Plus it’s red….
My friend Lisa and I did a mini present swap for Christmas, too. The idea was that we’d spend around $20 on 1 metre of quilting fabric to send to each other to make a bag or something out of it. Lisa (and her son) made a great choice for me. I LOVE IT! I wasn’t so lucky with finding fabric that was perfect for her. I *did* find something else that was awesome. Lisa is a bit of a Tim Burton fangirl, and we have a great figurine shop not too far away that happened to have the ideal gift. A Jack Skellington dressed as Santa figurine set. JACKPOT. Total bonus is that she loves it.
Here is our humble tree. We have two, one is 5 foot, and this one is a tiny 3 foot one. Just big enough for a side table in the loungeroom. Perfect for when we don’t really have the room to put up the bigger one. Poor thing is more gifts than actual tree. And yes, we have a tree tree-topper. Stick one of the globes of the fairy lights in it and it glows. I’d like to have more hand made ornaments, and who knows… maybe next year I will.
Apart from that, it’s been life as usual. I hope to have more to blog about soon, but I know that next year will bring lots of projects and many more posts.
From my family to yours, have a marvelous holiday season. Stay safe and be good to each other.
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