Besame Makeup Giveaway

Last chance to enter to win the great Besame makeup on The Rockabilly Socialite's Blog. The contest ends on Sunday and I'm posting as many entries as I can because who wouldn't love to get a ton of free vintage-inspired makeup?

Look out for a post very soon with estate sale stuff, vintage hair adventures, and the finished skirt!

Nancy

Preshrunk Today, Estate Sale Tomorrow

I've been putting off all sorts of projects because most of my stash is NOT PRE-SHRUNK!
Today I went on a bit of a rampage (I think it's because I've been sick and kind of antsy) and shrunk all of my wool. I was a little anxious about the results because I decided to go with the wet towels in the dryer method, but it worked perfectly and now I can use wool whenever I get the urge (this is a hint about a near future post on cold weather wear!) If you're feeling adventurous with your wool, I got my specific directions from the Off The Cuff Style blog. I don't have a dryer so I'm not sure how hot my towels were as much as I tried to dart across the lawn to the laundry room with expediency, my dripping towel bundle and appropriately wet shoes.

There are all sorts of rayons I am getting hand washing going on too. I have limited space for drying so it's my extended project. I did however wash my lining fabric for my plaid skirt. Remember this?:

Well, shortly it will be lined and banished to my wardrobe (not without a picture escort of course) and a new project on its way in.

Tomorrow I am going to an estate sale after being out of the loop for a while, hopefully I'll have some good finds to show off afterward.

This is Part MMA Blog - Where's the MMA?

A bit of an old picture, at the last gym, getting ready for Thai Boxing

So, today I was home sick, and, thusly, missing one of the major nights of training that seems to go on anymore. I used to train six days a week, but have been bumping along from gym to gym to stay with my instructor (he's very talented, whether it be wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or (Muay) Thai Kickboxing and awesome circuit training and plyometrics) and its been worth all of the training with him! However, while I keep hoping things will change for the better - more classes, it's not seeming like this gym is working out either.

Classes with my main instructor have basically cut down to two nights a week. One night is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the other night is Muay Thai and Submission Wrestling. So, if you're tired (or sick) on a day or time that class is happening, you're missing out on a lot! I've been doing cardio four or five times a week for 40 minutes to try and keep up my endurance, but I feel like I've lost a bit of that. I'm trying to not be down about it because I know this is just a bump in my training! (Using an exclamation helps cheer this up, doesn't it?!)

The plan:

So, I still want to hold on to hope that classes could increase. There's been some talk of it, and if it means a little lost time, it's worth it to stay for the level of instruction.

In the meantime, my goal is to post a lot more stuff in my Etsy store. Really, I'm hoarding here. I realistically need to make more money to be able to put this plan into action; start going to a second gym also.

I'd really like to go to Portland Thai Boxing. The gym I'm at currently focuses more on ground game (wrestling and Jiu Jitsu), I've been to PTB and the class technique was amazing, and I absolutely love kickboxing so I hate to go with minimal training on that end.

There will be more MMA and combat sport posts in the future. I had several videos I filmed from class but unfortunately the sound is not working on my video so those are a no go until I can get that fixed.

I end with an MMA video for those who are curious and want a short and sweet sample.

Sakuraba v. Royce Gracie (notice Gracie is wearing his BJJ gi).

To anyone who is reading this: Are there any questions you have about MMA, BJJ, Muay Thai, etc that you have or topics on this that you may like to see me cover? Please let me know!

My First Blog Award

Oh, I'm forgetful (but not ungrateful). I wanted to say thanks to Brooksie at The World According to Art Deco Girl for my first blog award!

The conditions that come along with this reward are:

1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog along with the name of the person who awarded it along with a link to their blog.


2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have recently discovered.


3. Contact those bloggers and let them know they've been chosen.

I'm not sure if I'll reach 15 - there are so many great blogs I've found but I don't want to repeat after all.

• New Vintage Lady I love her posts on sewing. She's extremely talented and takes the time to scan catalogues and post them every Sunday!
• The Long and Winding Bobbin Lots of sewing and outfit posts
• Sewing is Hard The woes, throes, and accomplishment in learning to sew.
• Vintage Rose Vintage lifestyle blog with loads of photos
• Vintage Starlet I've got a high level of hairstyling envy! Lots of pictures (Hmm, a theme?)
• Wearing History Been watching this blog for a while, a huge inspiration for sewing and a lot of eye candy
• Welcome to Deluxeville A favorite for vintage home decor accompanied by sweet stories of her and her new fiancé
• Casey's Elegant Musings A very well-designed blog with tons of inspiration photos, tutorials and projects shown
• La Couturière Dimanche She's about two months into documenting her outfits for a year.
• Shrinky Inky's Fine Adventures Lifestyle blog. Posts aren't as often, but there's a lot to go through. Outfit posts and documents her huge weight loss!

I didn't quite follow the rules because I only have ten so far!

A New Setup

On Friday my new computer arrived! It's hard to make out anything but the computer in the picture but maybe you can see a hint of superexcitedohmanican'tbelieveihaveanewcomputer in my face! I haven't had a new computer in maybe seven years (thank you financial aid!) so this is a huge change for me. I have some plans for some pdf's in my Etsy store and Right now 'It's Fun to Make a Hat' is staring me in the face just asking me to scan it. This also means some inspirational scans from all the old sewing pattern books I have from the 20s through 40s!

And first official picture of me on the blog! I went out for the day with my Mom yesterday and I'm wearing my first snood. I wish I had gotten a better shot of it but it was black and camera phones, no matter how good, only make it look like lumpy, gravy-like hair on the back of your head. I decided to be ambitious too and (while completely ignoring the beautiful plaid skirt that needs lining still) whipped up a knee length, high-waisted slim skirt out of some black cotton jersey to wear for the day.

I haven't got any action shots of going out, probably because after tasting a couple wines and cider options at the Farmers' Market, I was thoroughly buzzed(!) We did stop by a vintage shop later in the day and I snapped a two inspiration shots in the dark fitting room. Here was a gorgeous 60s Oscar de la Renta tailored top with peplum.

If I had a bit more money, it might be in my closet right now, but I have stuck it in my inspiration folder, hoping to recreate it at some point. And then there was a seafoam green sailor style dress with a drop waist. It was so cute, but the seams looked as though they might give within the first wearing (and had a price issue too.)

Alright, that's that for now!

MIA Already!

It's been a long week away from my new blogging world! And, wow, five followers already, thanks you guys, I look forward to reading your posts!

Soon, my scattered posts should be a thing of the past. My own computer broke down earlier in the year and I've been without one since. Well, I got a new one! It's supposed to be here sometime mid to late next week and I'll be able to get rolling on posting and keeping my Etsy store more regularly updated. I'm very excited!

I'm starting to get into the swing of things with school. I'm taking web development classes mostly. I used to create a lot of web sites in my spare time and so it's nice to get back to it. Plus I'm taking a drawing class for me. I'm not very good with drawing, but I've got hopes to get better at it.

Onto projects:

Remember how I was having trouble with the purl stitch? Well, I decided to go a little more modern with my approach and watched some YouTube videos.

I haven't checked out any of the other videos - and there are plenty - but this helped me make my first stockinette stitch!

I dropped a few stitches but I'm pretty proud of it!

And, in case you thought I forgot about the Hollywood Pattern skirt, I was about done and then got the notion that I should probably take the time to line it. So here's a little picture of the progress on that too (by the way, soon I will get better at this blogger layout with the pictures and all! Haha)

And I know I haven't mentioned anything about combat sports yet. Today I went to the Oregon Open to root on my friend, and fellow gym mate, Jenny. This was her first BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) tournament and the competition was really tough. She's only been at it a short while and the Beginner's bracket was 18 months or less. I think she got a lot of nerves out of the way and it was good to experience competition. I haven't competed yet because I'm a bit of a wuss about it so far. I just always want to be really prepared. Here's a photo of Jenny at the beginning of her very first match!

I have to go get my cardio in before the gym closes so I'll leave you with that. Bye guys!

Knit One, Purl None

I think I see it! The knitting booty! Dropped stitch marks the spot! Okay, hopefully my injection of humor will get better as this blog goes on. Onto the knitting results:

There's been some scarf knitting in my past, maybe five or more years ago, but they were always scarves that looked like that <<. And, I'd love to move past that!

So here I am looking through the "Learn How Book" and I have to say I think the illustrator might have used a little creative flair with the illustrations - I mean, maybe they didn't exactly read the instructions while they were drawing. They just went off of memories of grandma knitting in her rocker.

I remembered the knitting motions a little though and got my way through the regular old knit stitch. When I got to the purl stitch though, I just got stuck - I think I understood how to do it but each time I'd try to do a row of purling, after a row of knitting, the loops would just be too tight to manage. In fact, the picture you're seeing shows that little piece of knitting about to bite the dust. I think I might have to resort to YouTube-ing it and check back.

Also, does anyone have any tips on regulating your stitch size? I'm not sure if you're supposed to stay kind of loose from the needle or if you want to stay relatively close to its gauge. Any beginner tips that changed your knitting for the (much) better?

Finally, have you ever gotten a numb thumb from knitting? I'm beginning to think these knitting needles were recycled from a past life as poison darts.