She Knits By The Seashore

Loving Lilly

I first heard of Lilly Pulitzer back in the 80s, when she was featured in The Official Preppy Handbook. (Yes, I still have my copy). At that time, I rarely saw her clothes available in shops, and the company hadn't branched out to things like paper goods or linens yet. But every once in a while, while on vacation, I'd see someone wearing a sundress or skirt that I knew must be Lilly.

The cheerful prints and bright colors called out to me, and I wanted a skirt or dress of my very own "someday." Unfortunately, Lilly's things tend to be in the designer category, and since I could only really wear them in the heat of summer around here, I saved my splurges for other things I would wear mostly year round.

A couple of months ago, some friends and I were checking out a new consignment shop. The store owner had a number of designer things, some with the tags still on. I asked about Lilly, and she said to check back in March and April. Look at what I found!

 

This has only been worn once or twice, and is of a longer length I can wear. Some of the newest Lilly skirts are too "mini" for me. I love the scalloped hem, and "Lilly" hidden inside the pineapples. I can't wait until it ever warms up around here, so I can put this on with a T-shirt and a pair of sandals. And maybe it needs a hot pink knitted cardigan for the inevitable air conditioning?

When Lilly started making clothes in the 1960s, she definitely wasn't a designer. She bought inexpensive fabric and sewed her own wash-and-wear clothes, like so many people on Etsy. It makes me wonder who on Etsy may be the Lilly or Amy Butler of tomorrow?

If only Target would strike a deal with the Lilly people, and put some of her prints on things the way they did for Orla Kiely or Liberty of London! And while they're at it, if they could also talk to the Laura Ashley and Cath Kidston people and bring back some of that rose chintz...I can dream.

Thank you for your kind comments on Rainy. I took her for an ultrasound this week, to rule out anything terrible going on in her abdomen. Thankfully, "everything looks good." (direct quote from veterinarian). He advised against anything further, unless she were to have more seizures, which she hasn't had. Paws crossed that it was a one-time incident, and that she'll start gaining weight too. We may be the only people who consistently have an underweight cat!

Have a relaxing weekend, and if you are Italian American like me, Happy St. Joseph's Day! Enjoy your zeppole!

Purple Sweater Progress at Last

I'm sure you're tired of reading about it, but the "beginner" Forever Tweed sweater has been a real challenge. After ripping it back three or four times, trying various fixes that didn't work, and also going to the LYS where no one could help me, I gave up and took it to a help night at a large, not-so-local LYS.

This was the best thing I could have done, as I proved to myself, It's Not Me. The shop owner discovered that the math didn't work as written. I got nervous when she started talking square roots and geometry of triangles for raglan sweaters, and I couldn't follow that enough to rewrite it here for you, but the short answer is that if the gauge is 4"= 20 rows (5 rows an inch), and if you are to knit 8" down from the collar according to the schematic, that would be 40 rows. But the directions say, "Rep Inc rnd every other rnd 15 times..." which totals only 31 rows. Maybe you all would have figured that one out on your own, or made up your own directions, but a math person I am not. My gauge is a little different with the Rowan yarn, so I have approximately 45 rows, and I'm closer to 9", as she figured out with her geometry. No matter. Once I knit through the revised directions and tried on the sweater, it fit well enough that I could proceed to the separation of the armholes.

 

I dearly hope this is the worst of it, and this project will now begin to fly off the needles. Otherwise, I'll be taking the FO photos for this wool sweater in 80 degree weather, as I did last May. :)

It's been a really rough week around these parts, and to be honest, I am worn out. In addition to a promising job hope that fizzled out faster than a Fourth-of-July sparkler (after a whole lot of work), our beloved Rainy had a mild seizure last Sunday night.

 

I am OK and I just want to take a nap!

We took her to the emergency vet (Thank God for emergency hospitals for animals!!). Her blood work & blood pressure looked pretty good, so we took her home with us for the night and had her stay in our room to keep an eye on her. On Monday I took her to the regular vet for X-rays, more blood tests, and we should know something tomorrow (Friday). We may need to do an ultrasound or MRI.

The veterinarians don't know for sure what happened, but possibilities are a dormant virus, a blood clot, epilepsy, or a one time thing. I'm not even going to "lesion on the brain." I was fortunate that about a month ago, I was talking to a woman in a vet waiting room and she had told me about her cat's seizure -- because of that I knew what happened and what to do and felt at least a bit prepared. I don't leave Rainy alone for more than a couple hours at a time right now, and every little noise sends me running to make sure she's OK. If you all have any stories or advice or experience with this, I'd be so grateful if you could send me an email and let me know. My email is scarlett22770 at yahoo dot com.

I wish you a happy weekend, dry basements (lots of Rain predicted here; our girl is up to something!), and lots of stressfree knitting and reading.

 

When I furrow my eyebrows out the window, watch out! Storms are on the way.

Birthday Road Trip & Knitted Shawl

Last Saturday, Chris and I went to Rhode Island for a birthday road trip. Having a winter birthday when you are a summer girl at heart is one huge compromise. I'm never going to have an afternoon lying on the beach with a book without a head-to-toe parka or birthday dinner on the patio unless I eat with mittens on unless I travel very far south, like, the Caribbean. So, I try to plan a day where I get a taste of my favorite summer things to come.

We spend a lot of time on Cape Cod and in Rhode Island in the summer. Not only are there great biking roads, and book and yarn shops, but there's a summery state of mind there that I don't feel at home, even though our own beach is five minutes away and we have tourists here too. They have managed to keep the big box stores and chain restaurants away and maintain a village feel, with little clothing boutiques and coffee shops that give their towns a special charm. There is also something about the light -- maybe it's because they are surrounded by so much ocean, but the sunlight there has a shimmery quality to it that makes me feel alive.

Since a trip to the Caribbean was out, I planned a day in Rhode Island to visit some of my favorite places, starting in Westerly:

 

There are a couple of shops here like Seaport Downtown and Christina's, which have little sister shops in Watch Hill during the warmer months. Those shops, in fact, the entire commercial Bay Street of Watch Hill, were completely boarded up when we drove past!! They won't open until April, so visiting the main stores in Westerly had to suffice.

 
At Seaport Downtown, I found this pretty beaded necklace, and a plaque that has one of my many life mantras. I take these things to heart and try very hard to live them out, so it's a sweet reminder.

After Westerly, we drove up to East Greenwich. In my state, Greenwich is a very wealthy, New York-like suburb, and I try to stay away from that part of the state as much as possible. But in Rhode Island, Greenwich is a little town that is undergoing a revival, with indy clothing shops, antique shops, restaurants, and coffee shops like Main Street Coffee. In the warmer weather, the front windows are open, and there are little tables and chairs where you can sit outside and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and their incredible pastries. They have colorful window boxes and vine-like plants, and it reminds me of the cafes in France. This was an inside visit. :)

 
Click here to see it in all its summer glory!!! Our winter photo doesn't begin to show you its character.

Also in East Greenwich is this yarn shop. I'll be honest -- I was surprised at how much it's changed since my last visit. There was minimal yarn or pattern selection, no more knitting books or their formerly enticing displays that I could see. Mostly, it was a big table and chairs in the middle of the shop for the local knitting group, with some yarn on both sides of the walls. I did, however, see this:

 

Summer Flies. I've been looking for a shawl that doesn't have the vertical row of yarnovers down the middle of the back. I don't know why, exactly, but I don't like that. This shawl is a circular design, so doesn't have that. It's just smaller than what I'd like, doesn't fully cover the arms, so if I knit it one day, I'm going to have to figure out some math to enlarge it. UGH. The saleswoman tried to explain it to me, but I couldn't follow her for the life of me. She gave me a copy of the free pattern, which you can download from Ravelry.

 

The copy of the pattern I received had very bleached out, black and white photos, so I asked permission to take my own photos of their sample. I need to see the stitch patterns up close when I start a new project.

After E. Greenwich, we went to Cranston, to Garden City. It's an outdoor mall; Chris pointed out that they've removed their white metal awnings since we'd last been there, which is why it looks different to me. One of the main reasons I wanted to go there was to check out the opening of the new Anthropologie store. I don't think I've ever been in one, and so many bloggers love it that I wanted to see it for myself. As much as I love vintage, there wasn't anything in the store that I fell in love with. If you love Anthropologie, maybe you can share your favorite things that I might have missed?

 

I bought a T-shirt top and scarf at Loft, and then we headed home for dinner. Since I didn't splurge on clothes at Garden City, I treated myself to these pillowcases:

 

Lilly started her shop in the 1960s in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is why she used such bright, cheerful colors and patterns. And though I am very far from West Palm Beach, geographically and temperature-wise, having a little Lilly is one of the best birthday gifts and antidotes to winter I can find. Maybe one day, I can spend my birthday in West Palm Beach.

 

Come Dine With Us

A little more light now...

 

 

before photos are here

I had nearly settled on a light tan paint, which I wasn't excited about. But after looking at some photos on Pinterest, I realized that the rooms I pinned were mostly painted white. In effect, the color scheme from the Domino decorating book photo I like is reversed: white walls with blue curtains instead of the blue walls I originally wanted. This room will look even better once I can put the off-white area rug down again, and cover up some of that orange wood floor.

I need to fiddle with the curtains a bit more; I might remove the rings and hang them directly on the rods for more stability. I love the soft, ethereal feeling they give the room. They remind me of the blog This is Glamorous. I want to live in that world, and now I have a little piece of it.