Monthly Archives: April 2012

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la Belle anniversaire pour la belle Jane

Funny how some people get – mention them once in a blog and they so enjoy the glare of the spotlight, however fleeting, that they come to crave on-going publicity.  So, today is Jane’s birthday. The lovely, serene, auburn-haired Jane with the understated elegance and subtle sense of humour that can only be achieved with polished maturity. Here are three old school friends: Jane on the left and Karen on the right, I’m in the middle. We were at La Belle at the Alphen Hotel, and the reason why the food display behind us looks so depleted is because we had just eaten up all the cheesecake and lemon pies.  Jane had many other friends there to celebrate with, but I was the only pleb with a camera.

 
The other really nice thing that happened today was meeting Letitia* for coffee in the afternoon. An erstwhile colleague and belly dancer, she is looking for unusual and amazing tassels with which to embellish her dance ensembles. I have seen photos of Letitia and her dance group doing their stuff, they really are extraordinarily gorgeous and flamboyant.  These are two “tribal” tassels which had to be imported, apparently they are hard to find in South Africa (you don’t say?) so I’m going to see if they can inspire me to come up with something a bit different myself.

I have no cowie shells, but I do have lots of bells, whistles, beads and glitter. It’s my challenge for the evening. Pic soon.

To be continued… 

* Not her real name.

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Kirstenbosch 22 April

Jam Tarts live and unplugged at Kirstenbosch Sunday 22 April!

What a full day – from getting up at the crack to made sandwiches and coffee and pack car and do last minute stuff, including rummaging for easels at the back of the garage (that’s easels, not weasels), to getting home at 3.30 worn out and hungry but very satisfied with our second guest appearance.

There were some memorable moments: Karen managed to get caught up in Anne’s flower bunting and almost throttled herself (I was laughing too much to help and the gazebo nearly collapsed as the more Karen tried to writhe her way out of the noose the more she dislodged the poles that the bunting was tied to); the gazebo I thought I had been so clever to get cheaply through gumtree turned out to have one foot missing and a broken pole – luckily Michael found us a nice fat twig which Rob then bound across the broken bit with sticky tape and pink ribbon; and then there was a bit of a to-do with the Nazis German women with the jewellery stand next to us.  They felt we were too close to them on their side but the Afrikaans couple on our left were protecting their own territory so we couldn’t shift too far in their direction either.  We managed to make allies of the Boers eventually, but the Germans remained hostile throughout.  It’s hard to be as neutral as the Swiss when you’re being actively targetted, but after their second surprise attack we were forced to retaliate and then they stayed in their bunker. 

We were visited by the lovely Catherine, who picked out an original button frame, and the gorgeous Reid who graciously succumbed to the pressure to buy his beautiful wife Adrian-Gail a frothy scarf.  (If you get a mention in my blog, your name will automatically be prefixed by a glowing adjective!)

I found the perfect peace sign pendant for Jane to wear to her hippy party this weekend, and Rob got me a rabbit decal for my car.  I have no idea who the girl in black is, she was just someone with a great sense of style walking past and I admired her necklace. 

To be continued…

 

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Sorry, Anne!

We have just received a new consignment of 40 scarves from our star knitter, Dawn Dove, in East London, just in time for Sunday’s market at Kirstenbosch. Here are two draped over the back of my chair, and I have my own beady eye on the purple/mustard/crimson one, so I hope nobody buys it.

There is also a beautiful white one, which is pictured here modelled by Anne, in her office earlier this morning.  She made me promise to crop her face and head out of the picture, but when I edited it and did that, it just looked silly. So, sorry, Anne, but it’s all in a good cause, right? And besides, you look stunning today :-)

Hope to see you on Sunday at Kirstenbosch, 09h00 to 15h00.

To be continued…

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Needlepoint and knangles

I have just put together a little needlepoint kit for an old customer of mine; she saw a photo of the ellie bag and decided it would be a good project to take with on her overseas trip to the states, as a large part of her time will be spent with her mom in a frail care centre.  Always nice to keep one’s hands busy.

When I got back home yesterday from work and the supermarket (all so boring boring boring), I sat myself down to start and finish the idea that was in my head for that circle of foam. Yes, it was foam – Dawn and Janet were both right but in slightly different ways, and Janet gets the box of smarties for wry humour (“a foam rubber circle – you could make one of those cushions you get to sit on after the episiotomy”) !!!

 

It’s the inner foam ring that gives wool doughnuts their shape.  See above. The wool is Elle Elite double knit and it has a lovely texture but it’s quite a thin double knit so I end up using it with something else for extra substance. Anyhow, I got it into my head that a knitted bangle would be just the latest trendy thing, so I knitted up a storm while watching my soap, and here is the finished product:

I call it the knangle (KN-itted b-ANGLE). I used a chunky Elle Timber in a dark red with light flecks, and 5.5mm needles; c/on 34, worked 22 rows stocking stitch, and bob’s your uncle. It’s really nice and snug and soft, and makes a change from the collection of jangly metal bangles I usually wear and that makes such a clatter and racket when I type. 

Or maybe it could just be a doughnut!?

To be continued…