While I didn't bring much vintage on holiday with me, I did travel in my 30s style dress from Lady K Loves teamed up with my newly completed Date Maker cardigan.

Well, semi-completed.

Actually I still have to crochet round the edge and add a belt buckle, but I really wanted to wear it and there wasn't time to get a buckle before I went on holiday, so I will complete those last bits at some point soon.

Overall it's a pretty easy knit for someone of my level (I'd say maybe intermediate or so) but despite making a tension square, it came out a little bigger than I think it's supposed to be. I don't know why I bother checking my tension, my knitting often seems to come out bigger anyway. I think in this case it's possibly down to the yarn being too chunky (?). Anyway, I'm happy with it on the whole, and it's super warm. It's really too heavy to get a lot of wear out of it just at the moment, but I think it will be great from late summer onwards when the evenings and then the days get cold again.

I had to have some photos taken in front of this big metal thing (garage maybe?) because it reminds me of an Anderson Shelter (albeit a very large one).


If you want to knit your very own Date Maker, you can download the pattern for free from By Gum, By Golly.

(*Sorry the photos look fuzzy, they're fine on my computer! Grr, Blogger). 

Here is an assortment of photos from the first week of my recent holiday in the Scottish Highlands. While I could have done without two weeks away in the middle of my research project at university (I won't go into the reasons that it happened, it's too long and boring), in a sense it couldn't have come at a better time as I was glad of the break and the opportunity to allow the aches and pains from bending over my research all day to subside.

It was hard to choose just a few photos as the scenery is so beautiful, and for the most part we were blessed with glorious sunshine. The main downside was that I had packed for bad weather, and stuck mostly to clothes that wouldn't matter if they got wet, dirty, torn etc (more on that first outfit in next post). I'd have been sad if any of my nice clothes got ruined! I did pick up a lovely 1950s two-piece while I was there though, which I'm sure will appear on the blog in the future.

That is definitely not me jumping off that waterfall, by the way. Apparently it's something called 'canyoning', which you can do with a company called Vertical Descents. The name alone was enough to put me off. The waterfall extended quite a long way in both directions from what you can see in the photo. Fun for all the family (?). We didn't do any of the sports activities on offer this time, but we went walking, went on a wildlife cruise, saw some seals (too far away to take photos with my current lens unfortunately!)...

These photos are a mixture by me, my dad, and my brother.

Today I have to go and work in the lab at uni again so my choice of outfit is influenced by that. I usually like to wear something simple and comfortable so that it's practical and allows ease of movement, and I avoid vintage just in case my clothes get messed up. I do wear a lab coat so there shouldn't be any problem, but I work with a lot of messy substances so I prefer not to risk it.

I have a couple of these stretchy dresses which I get a lot of wear out of when I need something comfortable and easy to wear. They're great for travelling too! I wore these white shoes to pop out first thing in the morning, but I will have to change them before I go to uni because open toed shoes aren't really allowed in the lab for safety reasons.

My hair looks pretty modern today, I think, in a rockabilly kind of way. The back ended up straighter than I had intended because I took it out while it was still a bit wet, but the front is inspired by a photo of Betty Grable that I was looking at earlier. I don't usually bother setting my hair for working in the lab, I just wear it straight - but perhaps this is what Betty Grable might have looked like had she been born the same year as me.


This is the first time I have tried this particular placement of rolls, but I will definitely revisit it another time when I am able to dress 40s and set the back of my hair properly!

 Back in about April (I think, time does fly...) I modelled some of a new line of 50s style dresses made by a local company called Honey Bee Corsets. Anna who runs the company also makes bespoke corsets (as I'm sure you guessed), wedding dresses, ball gowns and the like. These new dresses also have matching accessories such as the hair bands seen in some of these pictures, petticoats, and I believe there will also be matching bags available as well. The dresses will be £85 each and will be available in any size you wish. I think they will be sold through Etsy, but you can follow Honey Bee Corsets on Facebook for updates and more details, plus photos of other designs which were modelled by Kitty. I love this blue tattoo print one!




Hair for this shoot was done by Jac from Tip Top Hair Design. I really enjoyed having the huge rockabilly hair - it's completely different for me but a change is good once in a while.



The photography is by Steve Bond Images (Facebook/Website). I've chosen some of my favourite shots here from a personal point of view, which seem to be mostly portrait type shots rather than the ones that show the dresses full length etc. However I've uploaded some more of the full length ones to my Facebook, and of course you will be able to see them on Etsy when the dresses become available.



I had some real fun with this pink dress. There was much silliness and posing. In fact I think Steve could barely get me to stop posing, haha.







I'm pretty sure I'm not going grey as the above photo seems to suggest (let's hope, I'm only 22). Must be just the light as I haven't noticed it in my hair normally.

I'll be off now (thesis beckons) but I will hopefully have some more pics from another shoot to share with you soon. I got to model some more beautiful clothes as well as some of my own things, and had more great hairstyles. Much more fun than coursework!

A couple of weeks ago the roses on the rose arch started blooming but to begin with there were only one or two flowers. Then a few days later they all came out; they seemed to all flower overnight. We have white on one side and pink on the other, but the pink ones flower later in the year. You don't really get the full effect of them from this angle so at some point I might have to take a photo from my bedroom window so you can see how many there are.

It started raining just as I was taking these photos so I had to rush and get them done before it got going too much - actually it didn't amount to much in the end but did result in this silly photo:


See you soon!