Sisterhood of the Traveling Hat

I recently had the extreme honor of participating in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Hat.  What is that, you ask?  This is a project created by the creative and talented Tanith Rowan who hails from the opposite end of the world, Australia.  She is an extremely gifted maker of hats.  From vintage inspired, to costume, to modern styles and everything in between, her hats are fun, whimsical and charming.  Recently, she came up with the idea to make a hat and have it travel around the world and document all the adventures it partakes in.

When I read about the project on Tanith's Blog I excitedly emailed her immediately telling her how happy I would be to participate.  Allowing her hat to make it all the way to Alaska. 

I received the hat in the mail a little over a week ago and have finally had the chance to wear her and take some pictures.  I was really hoping to get some good pictures sooner.  However, I live in Alaska and we are experiencing an extremely smokey summer.  Our state is on fire!!!  Leaving the clear and beautiful days more rare than we all would like.  

  I took this picture the day after I took all the pictures of me wearing this darling hat.  That's not fog or smog, that is thick smoke making it very hard to breathe outside.

 

So, on our first sunny and clear day I jumped at the chance to take the hat for a spin.  I paired her with my black vintage, sateen, shirt-waist dress a navy blue belt and vintage pearl brooch and earrings.  Although this outfit came together beautifully, it proved to be very uncomfortable.  Anything made of thick black fabric worn in the blistering 90 degree evening sun would be though. Thankfully, I found a few shaded places on the boat to pose.  Us Alaskans just aren't used to these tropical temperatures.

The stairs leading to the upper deck of the ship was one of the shaded, and therefor cooler places.  As soon as I sat down to pose Cupcake jumped on my lap to cuddle (and pose).

This little girl sure knows how to steal the show.  I'm sorry Tanith.  I wanted to focus solely on your lovely hat but Cupcake clearly had other plans.

 Although Cupcake would have preferred me to be holding her, I didn't allow her to be in EVERY shot.  It was a heck of a lot of fun to run around on the boat finding good spots for pictures.  Even if I was a bit embarrassed to be doing so with a few of the crew downstairs wondering what the heck I was doing and why. 

If you are a hat person (who isn't?) I highly suggest you check out all of the amazing creations Tanith has made in her Etsy Shop.  If you aren't a hat person (shame on you) I'll happily accept anything in her shop as a gift.  She even does custom orders!!! If you have an idea, she can create it.

Thank you again, Tanith, for allowing me to participate in the adventures of the traveling hat and accepting me in to the sisterhood.  It has been an honor and a wonderful experience I will carry with me for many, many years.  And now the journey continues for this hat.  It was a bit painful to pack her back into her box to send her on to the next lucky sister.  I would have happily kept her with me.

XOXO,
Cherry

Vodka Lemonade and the Gun Range?

Yep, but it's not what you are thinking.  I would never in a million years drink and shoot.  However, I will wear my Vodka Lemonade Cardigan to the range.  See, that's the name of this sweater pattern.  With a name like Vodka Lemonade, how could I not want to knit this darling up? 

Just because I was wearing a skirt doesn't mean I'll give up the opportunity to take a trip to the range.  As you may have guessed, I was the fanciest gal there and stuck out like a sore thumb.  Not that that has ever bothered me one bit.

After the range, we took a stroll through a local car show.  Oh my how I loved each one of these classic babies.

I think this Studebaker was my favorite.  Just look at the propeller on the front.  That is seriously awesome!

Oh, don't mind me, I'm just checking my lipstick.

And pretending that I know what the hell I'm looking at under the hood.

But hey, let's talk about this sweater.  Like I mentioned earlier, it's the Vodka Lemonade cardigan by Thea Colman.  My mom had the idea of knitting this sweater together as our own little knit a long.  We both started it in December while I was visiting her in Nevada.  I finished it in February, but wasn't loving it all that much which is why it has taken so long to make it on the blog. 

It is clearly a spring/summer cardigan which may be why I wasn't in love with it in February.  Also, the pattern description says it has a "vintage feel" and I'm not really feeling that.  Maybe it's a bit early 60's but it doesn't have that 40's or 50's feel that I usually like.  I changed up the pattern a bit.  The lace panel in the back wasn't part of the original pattern, it was supposed to be just around the bottom but I thought I would get bored without it.

I also prefer that my sweaters have some sort of closure and this pattern doesn't have any.  I improvised with this little poodle and heart pin.  Super cute, but kind of a pain in my ass.

Although this may not be my favorite sweater that I've ever made, it was a nice pattern and it goes very well with many of the skirts in my wardrobe.  Including this skirt I made last summer.  If I were to make this sweater again, I would alter it to have buttons and also use a yarn with more stretch to it.  The cotton yarn I used from Jimmy Bean's is awesome but I don't think it was the right choice for this pattern.  I just loved the color so much and knew it would fit in to the mix well.  

I'm glad I got to wear it once before we started hitting the high 70's and low 80's.  I can't believe what a nice, hot summer we are having here in Alaska.  Now, I'm going to go dip my toes in the water with Cupcake and a real Vodka and Lemonade (don't worry Mom, all my homework is done).

XOXO,

Cherry 

Circle Skirts and Shenanigans

I am completely in awe of the amazingly wonderful spring we've had here in Alaska.  Last years summer was the wettest/rainiest summer we've had in recorded history.  The one before that, we completely skipped over spring and after an extra 2 months of snowy winter jumped right in to summer.  So I think it is about time that we get a proper spring around here.  Halleluiah!  This spring, and ideally all summer long, my go-to, outfit of choice has been a circle skirt (usually hand made), a tank top and comfy flats.  It may seem like that formula could get a little boring but I haven't tired of it yet.  With novelty prints, like the one above, that have so many colors in them and a rainbow of tank tops in my drawers, the combinations are damn near endless.  Not to mention my ever growing piles of colorful accessories to add to each outfit.  I sure haven't gotten bored yet.

 Cupcake, as always, likes to be a part of as many pictures as possible.  I made this skirt back when I was in the Spring for Cotton mode but decided that for the sew-a-long I would focus on the 1940's blouses because those were something new for me.  Skirts, on the other hand, are the main focus of most of my sewing endeavors. I wish I could tell you what pattern I use or have used for most of my skirts but I really don't know anymore.  The pattern has been cut and hacked and taped back together and cut down again so many times it no longer resembles the original pattern at all.  

More exciting than wearing my skirt out of the house for the first time was WHO I got to spend that day with.  Fabulous clothes are made even more fabulous when you get to wear them in the company of fabulous people.  My dear friend Terri is one of the most fabulous people I know.  FABULOUS!!! Unfortunately, she lives about 300 miles away from me so we don't get to see each other all that often.  Consequently,  each and every time we do get to see each other is that much more special. 

One of our first stops was a local antique shop, Thriftiques.  It is one of the smaller shops in town, but it is jam packed with all sorts of little treasures.  We always seem to find a little something that we just can't live without.

How adorable is she, right?  As we were leaving the shop we spotted, in the parking lot, the coolest trike I've ever seen.  And you know, I've seen my share of cool trikes.  This one takes the cake.  So much so, that I ran back into the shop and very excitedly asked the shop keeper if we could take pictures on it.  He happily obliged and came out of the shop to move it and take a few pictures for us.

  Can you believe this thing?  What's even cooler is the shop keeper rides this to work every day!

Each time Terri and I get together there are shenanigans to be had.  This day was no different, serious shenanigans here.  For two gals who, together have a suitcase full of anxiety issues, those all seem to melt away when we are together.  Leaving us free to be silly, crazy and obnoxious with no fear of consequences or weird stares from strangers.  Of which, we get a lot!!

We continued our day at a few other antique shops and had amazing food out on the deck of a local restaurant, washed down with margaritas.  I didn't get many more pictures of our day because we were just too busy being together to worry about our phones or cameras.  Not that we don't love our pictures, but it's our conversations and time just spent together that we really enjoy.  I am truly blessed to have such an amazing friend in my life!!

  By the end of the day, I was exhausted in the best way possible and just a little bit sunburned.  Oops, 1 layer of sunblock in the morning, before I leave the house is not enough to get me through a whole day spent mostly outside.  Lesson learned, I now have a bottle in the house, in my car, and even a tiny one in my purse. 

Do you have a standard summer wardrobe 'formula'?  What sort of shenanigans do you and your friends like to get in to?  I'd love to hear from you.

XOXO,
Cherry

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, our 3 day, Memorial weekend has come to a close and it is back to the normal daily grind.  Considering that I don't currently work, that statement might not mean much.  However, today is the first day of Summer Semester so I really am getting back to my normal grind as well.  Before I get ready to hit the books and find an apple for my teachers, I thought I'd share with you some photos of my Memorial Day weekend.

Each Memorial Day Weekend, my man and I participate in the Alaska Vet's Motorcycle Club's Memorial Day Run.  It starts with a weekend camping trip in Trapper Creek, Alaska and on Sunday we ride from up to Mary's McKinley View Lodge at 134.5 mile Parks Highway.  There, we meet up with ALL the other Motorcyclists (150ish in total) and ride to The Alaska Veterans Memorial (mile 147 Parks Highway) for an amazing Memorial Ceremony. 

I'm not wearing riding gear in these first photos because I was driving a support vehicle down to Trapper Creek behind the small pack that my man was riding with.  Not only can my messed up back not handle the 4-5 hour ride down to Trapper Creek, but we also need support vehicles to carry gear and to be there in case of any accidents.

Here I am at the Lodge, trying to get as many bikes in the background as I can and failing miserable.  It is seriously, an amazing experience to see so many motorcycles in one place, at one time.  All of whom are coming together to remember all those who have fought for our freedom. 

This year I had the Honor of riding at the front of the pack in the "Diamond" carrying the Alaska Vet's MC's Battle Flag.  There is nothing more amazing than being in the front of a pack of 150 motorcycles, turning around to look behind you and seeing bikes for as far as the eye can see.

Senator Lisa Murkowski rides in with us each year to show her support.  She rides on the front bike, carrying the American flag.  I don't know much about her politics, but she was an amazingly nice and supportive woman.  We are honored to have her be a part of our ride and to speak during our ceremony. 

On a side note.... Every summer, a sort of tug-o-war happens in my wardrobe.  On one side, are novelty prints, circle skirts, and petticoats.  On the other side, leather jackets, boots, chaps, and helmets.  Then there is me, caught in the middle.  This weekend, I think it's clear to see that the leather won.  Today, though, is a different story.......

I sure know how to make a helmet look good, right?

Behind me there are bikes for as far as you can see..... That's pretty awesome!!

Lisa Murkowski, speaking during the ceremony.  I don't know how she does it.  Each year her speech is moving and powerful and never gets old or feels repetitive.

Fallen Warriors Ceremony. The "Cross" is known as The Fallen Soldier Battle Cross and is a symbolic replacement of a cross on the battlefield for the soldier who has been killed.  Made up of the soldier's riffle with bayonet attached stuck into the ground, helmet on top, dog tags sometimes hanging from the riffle and the boots of the dead soldier nest to it.  It's purpose is to show honor and respect for the dead at the battle site.

Last year, I stood with the other wives and friends of the Alaska Vet's  MC and it cause my back to cramp and spasm something fierce.  This year, I decided to sit.  Thank you to the Alaska Bush Riders Group for clearing me a seat.  And thank you for help with the bikes, road sandwiches and water.  You guys were were awesome to have around!!

After the ceremony, we took a few pics with the Navy part of the memorial, in honor of my man's service (and also, my cousin served in the Navy).

Words cannot express how proud of my man and his service to our country and our freedom. Ian served in the Navy from 1999-2005 and was on the first ship to launch missiles on Afghanistan after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. I may not support every war that we are a part of, but I will always support our soldiers and all of the sacrifices they (and their families) make for us.  THANK YOU!!  And thank you to the Alaska Vet's MC for putting on an amazing weekend and ride and welcoming me into your family.  I love you all.

Now, I'm off to curl my hair, put on my prettiest novelty print circle skirt, and get ready for another semester of school.  Let's do this!!!!

XOXO,

Cherry 

 

Mary Mead Cardigan & a Photo Challenge

My dad commented to me last week that it looks like I haven't been knitting as much as I used to lately.  From the looks of my blog, he may be right.  Please believe me, I have not abandoned my knitting, there's not enough antidepressants in the pharmacy to deal with me if that were the case.  But I have been in school and that has really dipped in to my knitting time.  Especially since I like to knit bigger projects (mostly sweaters), they are taking a bit more time to accomplish.  Here is my most recent finished project the Mary Mead Cardigan.  Yes, I KNOW, another Andi Satterlund pattern!!!!  I am seriously addicted to her patterns.  They are well worth the money, all the instructions are very clear and the schematics she gives are so detailed it makes any indiscretions in gauge easy to deal with as long as you follow the measurements.   Considering I have an absolute horrid time with gauge, having her diagrams is a massive help.  Seriously, if vintage patterns had measurement diagrams I would most definitely use them more.  But they don't, so the next best thing is to find amazingly talented designers who love vintage styles and use them as inspiration for their designs.

 Andi's inspiration for this cardigan came from the BBC show "Call the Midwife".  If you haven't seen it, check it out on Netflix.  Nurses, midwives and nuns dealing with the post war baby boom in a poverty stricken area of England.  I'm not a fan of nuns or babies and generally try to avoid pregnant women like the plague, but I have fallen in love with the show and have re watched it, in full while knitting on my cardigan.

 Aren't these little kitty buttons just the cutest?  Yesterday, I went to 3 different antique shops in search of the perfect buttons for this cardigan.  I found 9, yes 9 of these adorable little suckers at the first shop I went to.  It can be very hard to find more than 3 or 4 of the same buttons when searching for vintage ones so I just knew I needed to scoop these right up.  I wasn't, however, convinced that they were a perfect fit for this sweater.  Although I adore unique and quirky buttons, I seldom use them for fear that they will make the garment less wearable with many outfits.  With that hesitation in mind, I went to 2 more shops and found some other options.  When I laid them all out and showed my boyfriend he immediately said the kittens were the best choice.  With that vote of confidence, I sat down and sewed them on, on the spot.  I couldn't be happier with them.

 In honor of Me Made May, I paired my new Cardigan with a skirt I made last winter and talked more about here.  The fabric is vintage 1940's and I took my chances winging it and not using a pattern.  I was a bit worried that I wouldn't have much to go with it, but it turns out that I have 3-4 cardigans that go with it wonderfully.

If you recognize this yarn, that's because you've seen it before.  I originally had other plans for this yarn, but that just wasn't meant to be.  It was clearly meant for this amazing cardigan.  I did make a few alterations to it however.  Because my gauge is always an issue, I did a lot less rows on the sleeves and did some serious fudging on the decreases.  Also, because I have a medium front and a small back (thanks to my big boobs) and I forgot to make the adjustments (damn it), when I was picking up the stitches for the button band, I picked up a lot less than recommended through the back and shoulder area so that it nipped it in a bit.  So far that seems to have done the trick and my sweater isn't falling off my shoulders like so many others like to do. 

All that was left to do was pick up my lovely girl (ok, young woman) and bribe her with ice cream to take some pics for the blog.  Words cannot describe how proud I am of this young lady.  At 16, she is graduating from high school in a few weeks and has already registered for her first semester of college in the fall.  She is a constant inspiration to me. 

She even convinced me to climb up on this giant fish.  Of course, I made her do it first though. 

All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon spend with my most favorite young lady walking around Pioneer Park, eating ice cream and smiling the whole time. 

In other news, my friend Jessie who blogs over at Lonely Hepkat is organizing a 12 week photo challenge this summer.

Each week will have a new challenge like, "go on a picnic", or "take a picture with a classic car", or "get wet".  I think this sounds like a lot of fun and I plan on participating. If this sounds like something up your alley, head on over and join the flickr group.  I'm really hoping we can get a bunch of lovely ladies to join in the fun.

XOXO,
Cherry

1940's Sewing Projects

 As I mentioned, back in March, I have joined the Spring For Cotton sew-a-long hosted by the lovely and talented (not to mention always inspirational) Rochelle New of the blog Lucky Lucille.  Although I have hit a few bumps in the road, I have finally finished the 2 projects that I had set out to make. 

This is the pattern I purchased from Joann's (at 50% off) and I planned on (and mostly succeeded) in making both view B and D.  I did not realize that both tops had called for a side zipper closure when I was buying my supplies.  You can imagine my surprise (anger and frustration) when I got to that part of the directions.  WHAT?!?!  Oh you have to be kidding me?  So here is my first 'accidental' alteration to the pattern, I did not put zippers into my tops.  Thanks to having boobs that are a few sizes bigger than the rest of my body and sewing patterns being based on boob measurements (among other measurements) my shirts fit wonderfully in the chest area but a bit too big in most other areas.  Thanks to the little bits of extra room, I am able to fit both tops over my head and on without having the opening on the side.  Although I will say, with the lack of stretch in the fabric it is best to get dressed before doing hair and make up.  Putting these on or taking them off can sure mess up a good do and you are risking getting lipstick on the neck.  Oh, first world problems.

The extra room in the body of the tops also means that I'll be wearing both tops with a belt to help it not feel like I'm wearing a potato sack.  But I'm ok with that.  Especially when I found this perfectly matching belt at Value Village for $3.

Just ignore the tea bags I'm holding in my hand in a few of these pics.  I had a little disagreement with my curling iron earlier in the day and burned the crap out of my finger.  Pinterest told me that cool tea bags can help ease the pain.  Thanks Pinterest, it totally helped and it was much easier to do my makeup while holding tea bags as opposed to the giant ice pack I was using at first.  By the way, I am not ambidextrous.  Trying to put my makeup on with my left hand was a learning experience.  Yes, I learned that I AM NOT AMBIDEXTROUS.

 

 Of course Cupcake had to be in a few of the pictures with me.  I think she is the official mascot of She Knits in Pearls.

Another 'accidental' alteration that I made to both tops was the complete omission of all of the details that required me making little ties out of the fabric.  I absolutely hate cutting those tiny little strips of fabric and trying to sew them close enough to the fabric edges so that I can actually turn them right side out, but not too damn close to the edge or the fabric unravels and it's all shot to hell.  Instead, I used matching ribbon on the redish/orange one for the button loops.  On the green one, I didn't do the sleeve/neck bows and for the back closer (that I forgot to take a picture of) I used a hook and eye closure.  BAMN, take that stupid little fabric strips, I don't need you. 

I did learn one very valuable lesson during these sewing projects.  Pay attention to the direction of the fabric.  It's easy to do when the fabric pattern is big, but not so obvious when its a teeny tiny, little birdie pattern.  Case in point, look at my adorable, little, upside down birds.  Yes, the fabric for my whole top is upside down.  Oops!  Rookie mistake, I admit.  At least you can't tell unless you are really close to me and if you are that close to me, the birdies on my shirt are not what you are thinking about.  You didn't even notice until I pointed it out, did you?

I had a blast participating in the sew-a-long.  Considering I usually only sew skirts, this was a wonderful opportunity to break out of my comfort zone and try something new.  You can see more of the amazing creations of the Spring for Cotton Sew-a-long over at the Flickr Group.  Talk about some amazing inspiration for future sewing projects.  There are some seriously talented seamstresses out there.

It's finals week for me, so I need to get back to the studying.  It's been a long semester and I'm super excited that it is almost over and I will have more time for creating and blogging...... Oh, wait, I'm taking summer classes.  DARN IT!!

XOXO,
Cherry

DenaliWood - It's Senior Prom Time

It is spring time again and with it comes my most favorite event of the year, the annual Senior Prom at Denali Center.  Denali Center is the AMAZING assisted living facility that I had the immense pleasure of working for, for almost 4 years.  Although, due to my back, I am no longer able to work there, I still love this place and consider it my home away from home.  I am truly honored to be a part of such a wonderful place, even if I no longer work there. 

This year I was on the prom planning committee and our theme was "Old Hollywood Nights".  I don't know exactly how it happened, but I got talked in to dressing up as Marilyn Monroe.  I think it started off as a joke, and then snow-balled into madness. 

I couldn't show as much skin as Marilyn (this was in a nursing home, after all) but I hope I did her justice.  The residents all got a great kick out of it and that really is all that matters.  I wish I could share some of the pictures of me with the residents.  Those really are the best ones, but given HIPAA laws and privacy issues, I'm sorry that you'll have to get by seeing all the ones of me with the cardboard cut-outs.

I just couldn't resist a little naughtiness with Bogie. 

The evening was filled with some wonderful live music and a dance troop from the local high school.  We also had hockey players from UAF, and a JROTC group all dressed up and ready to dance with the residents.  Oh, it's killing me not to be able to share pictures of all of the dancing.  And anyone who says that you can't dance while in a wheel chair doesn't know, just how much fun it can be. 

All in all it was a wonderful evening filled with some of my favorite people and memories were made that I will carry with me for as long as I live. 

I think spring has finally made its way north to Alaska now.  We actually had rain today, NOT SNOW and we were able to go for our first real motorcycle ride of the year.  Hallelujah!!!  Spring is a rough time of year for me, April in particular.  Which is why it has been a bit quiet around here lately.  A time of year that should be a glorious re-birth as we emerge out of the darkness of winter, usually finds me drowning in uncomfortable, indescribable sadness (not to mention a serious case of writers block).  So, be patient with me, dear readers.  I'll be back in the vintage loving, crazy knitting, blogging swing very soon.

XOXO,
Cherry