Boots this winter

Ah, its winter again.
So I'm looking futilely, for shoes and as usual comping up with empty, looking at the holes in my existing shoes, the slow disintegration of the cheap shoes I was forced to buy last year and wondering if I need to resort to mens shoes again this year.
So I google waiting for the wonders that google will bring.
For some unknown reason I never look back to all the things I have discovered previously instead looking always for something new. Perhaps men do the same with "acquiring" women and also wonder why they do it then continue...relentlessly.

Anyway, I was looking on the internet, checked all the usual places, Evans, Long Tall Sally, Barratts, Big Shoe boutique. Not coming up with anything suitable and the suitable things are just too overpriced. One day I will be comfortable buying a pair of boots for 160 but I am not there yet. How much will I need to earn to do be able to fork out that type of money with the effortless ease that retailers expect us to...one day.

So, I head along to ebay, my old trusty friend where people intentionally mislabel or misspell their listings so, I hapless victim that I am, am forced to spend hours and frustrated hours looking for a pair of brown slouchy boots,some black formal ones and a gray pair. I occasionally come across a pair that ticks all the boxes only to re read the listing to find that an american size 10 and they only do extra wide up to a size 8, in the colours that I don't like. The shoes that do work are ugly, so ugly.

I dream of my perfect pair of shoes, something fluffy, pretty, with ribbon, but no bows.
To my surprise I find these, beautiful things called Mohops. You can make your own shoes with ribbon, they give you the base to tie it to. I can't believe such dainty pretty things actually exist, and they are made of ribbon too. And you can change the ribbon to suit your outfit. They cleverly tried to overcome the fact that you would not be able to wear their shoes in the winter by teaming them up with socks. I read promotion that declared the long term fashion scorning of socks and slippers to be over.

What could be more perfect? Of course the price tag halted me in my steps. $150 plus for bigger sizes with a different shoe shape, they kept adding on the costs.

Edit: More sandals like this from SwapTopShoes egs Slinks, Bare Sole, SwitchFlops by Lindsay Phillips and Zipz

Nearly£120 for what was essentially the base of a shoe. Ridiculous, there must be a cheaper way, after all didn't Giannyl make slippers from an old tyre and some ribbon? Didn't she also make some leather extensions, using a leather skirt, to her shoes so she could wear them as knee high boots?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QSNxz9DvLk


Yes, she did and actually that solved the problem of wearing slippers in the winter. Because, I still scorn socks and slippers, I have no intention of wearing them.
So, I started simultaneously looking for shoe extensions and some tutorials for making or re-using the soles of shoes as there were no handy bits of car tyres for me to use.

I found an amazingly, clever woman who made slippers using an old pair of flip flops and a tshirt

http://annekata.com/2010/07/make-your-own-summer-sandals/


I found some other clever people who show you how to make rope shoes

http://tipnut.com/shoe-makeovers

and how to reupholster shoes.


Then I found the lovemaegan website(http://www.lovemaegan.com/search/label/myDIY) she has a brilliant tutorial on how to make boot extensions for slippers but she also has so much good stuff on there too. She has so much on that blog so many pictures of her and her cute little dogs that I sure she can't possibly have a job and makes stuff purely to pass the time and lessen the dent on the credit card. Still, she is very talented and I want her little dogs.

I kept looking for boot extensions which she calls shoe accessories.
http://www.lovemaegan.com/2009/05/diy-christian-louboutin-petal-sandal.html


Absolutely gorgeous and very clever.

I also found a wonderful keyword called spats which I put into Etsy for a wonderful array of delightful boot covers. Some of which I could make quite easily, thereby ending my futile and frustrating search for comfy winter boots. I mean did tall women know about this? How easy it was to stretch one pair of ugly functional shoes into boots?

I'm off to try them out, see how they work.

How to make your own clothes

You know how they say you can find anything on the internet? Anything at all, well you never know how true that is.

On my search to find ways to tie a tshirt I have discovered tons and tons of resources.
Far too much for me to ever use and I really have to share it.


Duct tape dummy
A duct tape dummy. I was very shocked to discover that such a thing existed. Until this point I thought that becoming a seamstress just spelled a myriad of spiraling costs for something that only had a marginal chance of you ever being able to make a career out of.
But what if you could make your own Mannequin? your very own store dummy to fit clothes on from nothing other that, America's favourite fixer upper, duct tape?
It is actually possible to do, the secret being to make sure to do the boob area just right and cutting it off in a zig zag. See the tutorial. I have copied here

Duct Tape Dress form
by David Coffin
from Threads #75, p. 38

Joyce Perhac, a teacher and sewing-show organizer from Monroeville, Pennsylvania, has perfected a quick method of form making that uses ordinary duct tape as both the body-casting material and the final form. She's written a booklet describing the entire process ("Make Your Own Body Form," available for $10 from her at www.sewingevents.com), but we'll cover the highlights here. (Pure Whimsy no longer carries the booklet.)



Start with your "victim" wearing well-fitted undergarments of her usual type under a long T-shirt, which needn't be too tight. Begin by wrapping the tape horizontally at the bottom, mid-thigh, ideally with a tape-cutting helper (use old scissors, as the tape gets gummy; a size-10 figure requires 1 to 1-1/2 60-yd. rolls of tape). Wrap snugly, but not so tight as to rearrange or compress the body. At the waist, wrap a little more loosely on the first layer, allowing folds to form as you follow the contour, if necessary.


Three layers of duct tape make the form. Wrapping horizontally, start at the thighs and work up. Wrap snugly around the thighs and hips, a little looser at the waist.




At the bust and underarm, cut the T-shirt sleeves if needed to allow the tape to follow the figure, and use shorter pieces arranged radially over the bust. Protect the neck area with plastic wrap, then wrap to form edges at the neckline and armholes similar to those you'd want on a fitted bodice.

In the bust area, use shorter tape and change direction. Short pieces of tape capture the contours of the bust better. Arrange them so they radiate out from the center of the bust area. Protect the neck area with plastic wrap; wrap to form edges at the neckline and armholes similar to those you'd want on a fitted bodice.

When the first layer is complete, wrap twice more, first vertically, then again horizontally, further compressing the waistline to fit each layer more closely, and smoothing over wrinkles this causes with more tape.

When finished, have the "wrappee" bend slightly to reveal her waistline, and mark it (and any other points you want identified) with marker or later with colored tape.


Mark the waist. Bending slightly will reveal your wrappee's natural waist. Mark all around with a permanent marker. Cut carefully up the back. Keep your hand between the tee shirt and the wrappee's body to avoid cutting undergarments or flesh.

Cut off the form and T-shirt layer at center back with your other hand between scissors and body to avoid cutting undergarments (or the wrappee!). Then close the form with additional tape, stuff it with poly batting, and place it on a stand (read on for stand ideas). Joyce's finished form has a polished look, similar to an industrial dress form.

http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3630/duct-tape-dress-form-1
There are various different methods too. See the link for more

http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3659/clone-yourself-a-fitting-assistant/page/all
You can also make it from Paper mache or something called paper tape. I have never heard of paper tape before but if it involves ordering it from some obscure place on the internet than I am not interested. If it involves walking into a large branch of B&Q or even better, the 99p shop then I'm interested.

Now you have dummy you just need to think about getting the materials. Fabric can be expensive and if you are nervous about looking at a big long length of cloth and too scared to make a big mess then remodelling existing clothes is the way to go.
You can do tons and tons and tons with tshirts. I like them because they are really cheap, they are forgiving, you can get away with not hemming either.

You can also adjust clothes that don't fit properly. You can find this stuff in a charity shop or in a thrift store, as they call them in America.

All the other stuff like a good pair of scissors, a sewing machine a good table to cut them on can be found quite easy in charity shops. Nobody sews so much anymore so you can normally find these things for cheap, and I mean really cheap.

The only thing left is inspiration.

Here are a few sites that feature people doing amazing things with awkward fitting clothes and old Tshirts


Gianny L
What can I say? This girl is truly amazing, the things she does with shirts, a bit of elastic and a pair of sharp scissors is nothing short of pure genius. The videos are speeded up at just the right points to give you the jist of what she is doing. She doesn't speak in the videos so you are not forced to listen to a fumbling American twang as you try to find out how something is done. Her eagerness to strip off for the camera though is a bit worrying but I guess she takes the "if you got it flaunt it" adage really seriously. Still who else do you know on youtube that can show you how to make slippers from an old tyre and a sexy babydoll dress from a tshirt? Who do you know that can create a sports bra from men's pants or a bikini out of a tshirt?
That's right, no-one.

www.giannyl.com/
or her youtube
www.youtube.com/user/GiannyL
or her instructables
http://www.instructables.com/member/giannyl/
I wish I was from Paraguay, maybe its something in the air over there?



New Dress A Day
Next on my hate list, I mean people who inspire me, is Marissa. The lovely Marissa has decided to make 365 dresses in a year. Its not that she is making 365 dresses which in itself requires a certain amount of talent and organisation, sewing it, finding somewhere to wear it. Taking so many photos, uploading them and writing a blogpost. Lots of work.
And she is making them from ugly, old frumpy dresses that she paid a dollar for. Yes, her talent and ingenuity has no end.
http://www.newdressaday.com/


Cut Out and Keep

Then there are the good people on Cut Out and Keep
http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects
Is their talent limitless? I look at pictures of girls wearing a ballgown saying, I made this in an afternoon from an old bedsheet and some lace I had lying around the house as I remember the skirt I threw away because the zipper was broken.



Generation T
The lady on Generation T. Meg Nicholay is also really good. She can make a halterneck out of a tshirt in a few snips of her scissors. She has a book out as well. Read it and weep
www.generation-t.com/

Cutting Tshirts

http://www.trashtocouture.com/p/diy.html

Well, I just went to notting hill carnival. Notting hill represents many things to many people but to me there are two main things wearing a tshirt or wearing a costume.
On the tshirt day I saw so many nicely customised Tshirts I didn't know what to do with myself.

I was mainly jealous though. Very, very jealous and upset that I had not come more prepared.

So I have spent the days after the carnival looking for ways to customise tshirts.
I have found load of interesting things. I liked the ones that are very creative obviously made by experienced seamstresses whose talent knows no bounds. Such as a bikini made from a tshirt
www.viddler.com/explore/giannyl/videos/5/


Or how to make a wedding dress from tshirts
www.blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/06/how-to_t-shirt_wedding_dress.html


One woman called Angela Johnson actually had a ball gown from tshirts, have a look.

http://www.angelajohnsondesigns.com/store.html

This woman is clearly so talented I probably don't even deserve to breathe the same air as her. I should probably kiss the ground she walks on, or bow or cover my factory made clothes in shame should I ever spot her anywhere.

But I digress, why was I looking at things you could do with frumpy tshirts? oh yes, so I could "shock out" at carnival like everyone else. Instead I found a tutorial for a tote bag tshirt that I was eyeing up on Etsy
www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/plastic_grocery_tote
You can also cut bits from your tshirt and make it into a hair rose which I like the idea of, very much. Perfect way to keep those xtra large tshirts that my mom always brings me as I have far too many oversized shirts using as nighties.

http://www.generation-t.com/t-shirt-projects/april-showers-bring-may-flowers-part-2/

You can also add quirky tags to it, all you need is a pattern and some broken jewellery. You can find out how to do this if you watch the end of this video about making a corset tshirt.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdmsPTLnhRA
I won't be making a corset tshirt as I am not cutting anything into six pieces and restiching it.


There is tshirt necklace, another handy way to get rid of those pesky thirts from mom

http://thisolddress.blogspot.com/2010/05/diy-recycled-t-shirt-braided-neckpiece.html

A variation on this, you can make a fringe necklace from a tshirt
www.kapaalidesign.blogspot.com/2009/08/diy-fringe-necklace-from-t-shirt.html

Or even a bracelet
www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/tshirt-bracelets

Or coasters
www.generation-t.com/t-shirt-projects/coast-to-coasters/



There is a way to make jogging bottoms out of a tshirt, perfect. One day I will have on oversised boyfriend who will wear oversized tshirts which I will steal and use to make these cute shorts and parade around his house in them. Yes, that's what I'll do

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/yoga_pants_keep_that_logo_on_your_tshirt

Most of the stuff I found was from a website called Cut Out And Keep. I need a whole blog post to dedicate to that one, but they have a duct tape ring on there. A nice option for an unusual ring.


Anyway, after all that distraction I have found some nice links I will be practicing with for carnival. Hide your tshirts!

Sexify your shirt

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/cut_tshirt

You basically need to fold the back of the shirt in half, then do the cuts, you can then tie the back so it fits you nicely.
You will also need to cut off the neckline or it will look chunky

http://www.emybloom.com/?p=656

Links

Here are some good videos to guide you through.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NqsaCcsv7U

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GngQ1jO48rU

fancyfunkyfresh.blogspot.com/2010/07/cut-up-t-shirt-tutorial.html
Here are some sites with so much stuff, its bound to keep you amused for hours.  
   

Lots of stuff to do to a tshirt including making a camisole.

www.ohmystars.net/craft/index-surgery.php      

GenerationT    

www.generation-t.com

London underground

I have gone on Holiday to the remarkable world of the United States of America.
I am here stocking up on shoes, clothes, food that I can't get easily or in fact at all in London.
I am enjoying seeing my parents even though they live 100's of miles apart in the same country, and also putting to rest rumours of clothes that I can find here.I was told the truth by two shop attendants within moments of walking into a store.

Rumour number one laid to rest is
Old Navy has a tall clothes on their shop floor.I was told tall was an online exclusive only!

Rumour Number two
A very tall lady with an impressive inseam of 38 told me that the best place to get my jeans was American eagle and Banana Republic for the fancy clothes.

Thank you anonymous beautiful tall ladies of America, I love you dearly.
Anyway I think I may call individual stores from London next time to save me all this trouble.
Aside from all these shannegans I also realised that I missed London dearly and I used the internet alot.
SO for comfort, because I could spend my morning relaxing and not waking up going into the cold/dark/two beautiful a day to be going into work, so I could stuff myself into a train that was stuffy/overheated/overcrowded I decided to consult my Google reader and check up on all the things I was missing in London.

One of my favourite blogs, Going underground () started talking One under, which is what the LUL staff call people who inadvertently end up under a train.The official announcement seems to be _ we are experiencing delays due to a passenger under a train. This is their way of giving you lots of information but no information at all. Who jumped, where did they jump, why did they jump, were they pushed, is the driver ok, are they still alive, how long will that take to clean up, does this mean I will be late? These questions all go unanswered. They never normally end up in the paper either so you have no way of knowing what happened to this genderless, ageless, motiveless person.

London Underground are financially bound to keep trains moving at all time s and I suppose they learn to chose words careful to keep us sheeplike masses informed as without alarming us. They have many ways of describing delays. Some official lines they give for delays include

We would like to apologise for delays on the tube due to passenger action.

This line is normally delivered with so much sarcasm such scathing, vitriolic venom that you feel sorry for the person who it was directed at. You feel sorry for the idiot who pulled the passenger alarm because someone had fainted cos they were too dumb to realise the tubes were hot so they needed to take water with them. You vow silently never to be one of those idiots. See also the description of a passenger action here.


We would like to apologise for delays on the tube due to a customer incident.

Also delivered with sarcasm, slightly less though, which indicates that
it was something between two passengers, for example, passengers fighting. Probably at the foot of the escalator.Or as they got out of a train.

The whole mention of suicide bombers reminds me that, there were some suicide bombers on the trains in London. That happened in 2004, I think, but for some reason my mind is drawn not to that terrible event but to Wookies. Wookies and the film Four Lions, a brilliant film about incompetence and featured these classic lines

Control- This is control. The target is a bear.
Sniper 1- I see a bear. Clear to fire?
Control - Yes, engage the bear. (Costumed figure falls.)
Sniper 2 - No, that's a Wookie!
Sniper 2 to Control - Is a wookie a bear?
Control - Negative, a Wookie is not a bear.
Sniper 1 - I took out the bear.
Sniper 2 -That wasn't a bear, it was a Wookie! Wait, there's the Honey Monster. Sniper 2 to Control - Control, is the Honey Monster a bear?

Its good in writing but even better when you hear the clip, its the sheer anger and confusion in both their voices that really does it for me. As these guys were suicide bombers and I was after all thinking about the tube, I wondered how many suicides took place on the tube.
I thought the LUL website itself would be useless, so would the TFL one.
I tried googling for hints, all i could come up up with was a few studies using data from 2003.
I found some news articles which stated their sources as

Office of National Statistics


but the best source of all was the BBC always the champion who stated the Rail Safety and Standards Board would be the best place for information.
And it was depressingly


I am so glad I am on holiday and not on trains in London, I am going to bed to enjoy the heat and the fact I don't have to wake up early to take the tube tomorrow.
One last fact before i go, did you know that in the American state of Georgia, they decided to do away with public transport completely? Well for a few months anyway, because they did not have any money. yes, this happened in America.


Nite

Full length skirts

I love these and I am fancying one right about now, where can I find though??
first thing I did was to chuck some words into google and then to check ebay, nothing much came up on there

Then I remembered that these types of skirts also come up as prom dresses, so I dug around and found these wonderful descriptions of pattered skirts from Be Flirty Dresses.

http://www.beflirtydresses.com

Gathered at the waist


This one was described simply as lifted


Ruched


Tucked





Bustled Skirt

From http://www.retroscopefashions.com/

and again

I find this last one mouth wateringly beautiful. I'd wear it to Morrisons on the weekend!

The best thing about these dresses is that they also seem to have a name, princess dresses.
I need to look some more.

I also looked on my old favourite Etsy

I found a seller called beyond clothing, with some truly amazing skirts

http://www.etsy.com/shop/beyondclothing

Who will take on this Dutty Bungle?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dutty%20bungle

Duuty Bungle, according to Urban Dictionary and my memory, is a very bad thing indeed but if you are "Dutty yeah" as uttered by Sean Paul then that is a good thing indeed.

So, I have spent years trying to find this song. Even with the power of the mighty google behind me, I was unable to find anything. I have put notices on various reggae notice boards and forums.Still nothing. So this is what I remember so far,
these words from the chorus.
No dibbi dibby
Cos mi Muh wan no old
diutty bungle
Cos me no maan nooo


That's it. What I remember most was some very proper looking people in a kind of choir singing in patwa. It was hilarious. I should have written it down but I have moved continents twice since then so I think I am unlikely to have kept it even if I had found it.

I was looking for another song as well. Took me ages to find it but eventually I gave up on google and found it in a book. The old fashioned way. Sadly this book on Jamaican music did not have that song in it.


So these are the songs which feature the words dutty bungle but they definitely aren't the songs I am looking for

Major Mackerel - Dutty Bungle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffsPuFWxv54

Back Rankin - Dutty Bungle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ermx9L4ImpQ

Its in that mix somewhere. I sat patiently, I listened. It wasn't that one.



So, while googling pointlessly for the lyrics to the song I recollected some other half forgotten lyrics


Jump spread out and jump spread out and jump spread out and wiiine
When mi come a dance a sing
Every man a do a ting
Jump spread out and jump spread out and jump spread out and wiiine
EDIT: This song is Beenie Man Maestro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOGJeS4RN_o

Sorry that was the only video I could find!



I did however find some classic songs that I hadn't heard in a while including

Uptown ranking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iD_qZ3hTDo

Just check out the hair, the sunglasses and the safari suits !!!!





Wanga Gut by Tiger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RlKVVEV0yw

I am loving his suit and the guy why drinks a massive bottle of poison and ends up convulsing on the floor. Ku pan him to :)




Natty Dread by Lt. Stitchie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM1-DOjxkKE

Yes, this one caused so much problems. At the time there was only one Jamaican radio station RJR, and people where on there complaining furiously about how Rastafari had been represented on this song. What a ting eh! RJR (which stand for Real Jamaican Radio has come a long way since then, they even have a website, see

http://www.radiojamaica.com/

it was down when I copied this link but I hope by now they have recovered)


Two white Girls Pon a Minibus - The Word


Ah this song, when I was little, it was hilarious, those women reminded me of Punky Brewster.They were talking about Jamaica. I loved it, I laughed in wonderment with them too. Ha ha ha it was so funny. My mom hated it, I could not figure out why she was being so miserable. There was little mention of it on the radio stations though my mom did call up and say it. Now, though I look back and find it ludicrous that they took a journey on a bus and released it on a national scale, they must have been rich, but if so why were they on the bus?



Anyway, it produced lots of other songs that sounded like it including Professor Nuts - In A The Bus and some others





Then there was "I will survive" By Papa San

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVxymRzj9xU

The Jamaican version of the the great gay anthem I'm sure they would disapprove.

The baby version of staying alive from age 1-
My favourite line, "My Mom and dad tried to talk to me but I couldn't talk so properly"




Wear Yu Size by LT. Stichie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5D3j_TKjZg

Maybe its because of this song that I refused to squeeze myself into shoes that don't fit me.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTNrJ8OGufQ
I found this one.
It's a guy dancing to Barrington Levy's Broader than Broadway, its not his original video but I do like his interpretation of the song.



Finally

Wild Gilbert- By Lovindeer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0d6c99HSKo

Gilbert was hurricane that devastated Jamaica in 1986. knocked over the coconut tree in our front garden, but much worse happened to other people. I loved singing this song :)

Byron Carter

As my attention span is very small, I tend to watch videos or have them playing in the background to get me going.

So today I was watching videos, youtube is starting to display some ads which the ad blocker at work does not like so I have been dredging around the net trying to find some alternatives.
Hardly any of them have reggae, Myspace used to be really good for reggae but now people put so much on one page that when I go to visit, it mostly crashes. This has happened alot and made me use my myspace alot less. I was considering deleting it when they aquired another music site I used to use alot, Imeem. They promised to merge my playlists but only dragged one song accross and none of my friends or other contacts. I was very annoyed and started to hate myspace. It was actually the final straw.

But anyway, I found this site
Muzu tv
http://www.muzu.tv/
They had a few good, long playlists on there and I was watching beyonce videos, for some reason I was watching all kinds of random things, when the Get me Bodied video came on.

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg114/TerrenceCouture/Get-me-Bodied-Beyonce.gif


I noticed that dancer, boy he was good. I had to google to find out who he was.
Fortunately I was not the only one who thought so.

I found some handy links

There is a fan page with all the videos he's done on it incuding ads and some footage from The Beyonce Experince Tour in 2007
http://www.myspace.com/bcfanpage






This is an interview with him for dance spirit
http://www.dancespirit.com/articles/1665


This is him leading a dance class, and some relevant links on the side of the page.
Byron Carter on On America's Most Creative Dancer @ Midwest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs7rafH7IYQ



A link from planet dance, where he seems to be working at the moment in Cincinnati, Ohio.
http://www.planetdance.info/facultyframe.html
here is a little blurb from there

He is currently working with Michelle Williams and was Co- Choreographer and dancer in her new music video, "We Break The Dawn." He has also worked with other artists such as Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Amerie, and Rhianna. Byron's mission is to share his passion and gift of performing with the world and inspire others to do the same

I think this is his youtube page. He's only got one Ethiopian video on there.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BCZEE



I found most of the links through other people's questions. My favourite request for information was this one on google answers

faithful

Member since:
June 14, 2006
Total points:
817 (Level 2)


Does anyone know the Cincinnati based dancer Byron Carter?
He has danced for Beyonce on her most recent tour and back when she was in Destiny's Child. This man is sooo fine and talented. I heard he's married though :( and judging by the way he moves, he prolly has a bunch of kids too ;)
2 years ago

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080218122757AA5fMp5

Half gloves and soda can hair setters

Well. I have been watching lady Gaga videos and although I just say the video is just rubbish, I actually quite like the gloves. To save you the excruciating horror of watching that 9 min video, I found a screensho

and here is a close up without the person

There isa whole blog dedicated to aspcts frm this see it at GagaFashionland. Read more about this from video from the Guardian.
Apparently, these are called half hand gloves and there are even links of where to get them. I did not even bother to click these links because it is probably going to be some faraway place that doesn't deliver to England and will probably cost a bucket of money so I dreged on ebay instead. I found this.
cgi.ebay.com/New-Fashion-Leather-Four-Fingers-Gloves-Half-Five-Color-/130374176943


I will definitely look into buying some of these.I have seen these gloves before though, years ago, in a Jennifer Lopez video. I did a little bit of searching and turns out I was right! It's in the Play video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=190cupYNxN4
You can see them about 1.59 seconds into the video. I also like the coke can hair setters. Something beautifully primal and ultra American about that. Apparently she liked it too as she didn't only wear it on set but left her house wearing it.

Apart from her, I tried to find some other people wearing it

or here

If I hadn't already got curly hair, I would have ran out to try this. There were more dicussions of back in the 70's and what my grandma use to wear.
I'll put some links here, but I don't know how long they will stay live for

Carmen Curlers.
www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=1206&pst=354100

Long hair community
http://www.longhaircommunity.com/archive/showthread.php?t=30086

A Fork Ring

I am irresistibly drawn to jewelery made of cutlery. I can't explain why.
I like jewelery but I find it wasteful and excessive. I love scraps and botched bits and pieces. I have never like the scent of a new car or unwrapping layers from a package. Instead I like discovering treasures in Junk.
So finding jewelery that is essentially junk pulls me in in a crazy way.
I found these while browsing on Etsy but somehow they were not exactly what I wanted.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38133822



I found some Spoon rings as well, which apparently was what British servants were using as wedding rings as they couldn't afford to buy them. I find that heartbreakingly and amazingly touching. I'm opposed to marriage in principle but seriously, if a guy went down on one knee and held out a box made of cardboard and felt with that ring inside, I would probably say yes. :)

Here is another store I like as well.


http://www.etsy.com/shop/goorsendjewelry


He has tons of amazing stuff, this is one of my favourites




I'm going to order one of these but I am still making up my mind. Hope none of them get sold before I decide.


So I googled and found a wealth of sites, here are some of my favourites.



http://forkometry.wordpress.com/


A plastic fork ring


http://www.flickr.com/photos/25009364@N02/2906784294


I'm going to try the plastic ring at home one lazy Saturday.


Best for last

http://www.silverspoonjewelry.com/Public_Main_Rings.html

Eating food you find growing outside

Who knows why I like the concept of foraging in the forest? Or maybe its the wild that appeals to me.

I really like the concept as opposed to the practicality.

I have tried growing herbs in my kitchen, every year I try. Every year I fail, in a more spectacular way.

Plants are temperamental little things. They are not like a computer, that you plug in and it starts to work, you have to prod and encourage them and make sure they do.

Also it annoys me that my house does not smell of herbs,apparently this only happens in hot weather or when they are dried.

No change of growing them outside my window because my windows face south east which is bad news for plants.

The rising sun kills plants in their tracks especially in the winter, I have some weeds growing in there though, have cute little flowers in there as well.

So wild food

Wildman Food


Self sufficientish


Wild Foodie


Eat weeds


Wild Food foraging

Food you can find outside by season. Its mostly in the summer but still good.

Here is a nice article about wild food.
Its the sarcasm I love more than anything
Foraging Failures

My Ideal Life wear

If work were not an issue I would be dressed like this always.

I have been looking around for something that matches my fashion sense exactly. Seems like I have seen in the this very funky small store.

http://www.funkipixi.co.uk/

It is far too expensive though, £60 per outfit. At least. I have my eye on the now pixie coat. What a cute idea. I have been trawling the web so far , certain that there must be a few people doing the same thing.

I located Etsy.

www. etsy.com

I have logged in there and bought this awesome hip bag and now I am waiting anxiously for it to arrive.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/utilitywear

Locating it has been difficult, so far these are all the names I have found to describe this one item

Cargobelt

Tool belt-bag-pouch

Cell phone-PDA-Ipod-wallet Holster

Fannypack / Apron

Urban Holster

Mini Urban Holster

Service Pouch

Pixie Pockets

saddlebags

Hip belt

Pocket Belt

Detachable pocket

Hiking belt

No wonder its taken me so long to find it. I personally like the term pixie pockets most of all. It reminds me of running through the forrest with the tip of your pointed hoodie blowing in the wind getting caught on brambles. I was also swayed by the stuff in this store,

http://www.etsy.com/shop/everythingok

but I'll see how this goes and then maybe I'll try them.

I'm also looking on ebay.

I found a shop that show promise

http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/AVALON-ELEMENTAL-CLOTHING-CO

Will check this out and report back later

Mukluks, mulkuks everywhere, but not a pair for you

Well, I have been looking for shoes as usual. Searching, tracing; wide and far. I found some shoes, some beautiful shoes but not many to fit me.

I want some Muluks or Uggs, or anything that will perform the same function. I need them to be big,to be fluffy, to be comfy.

I looked in all the usual places.

Tallgirl has some beautiful ones

http://www.tallgirls.co.uk/boots-1-2/sheepskin-ribbon-boot.html

but seeing them onsale at £100 quid kinda stung. I kept looking.

I found some finally in my size at a good price but the wrong width. I sometimes do that. I get so caught up with trying to find a size 10, I often forget that I still need to find a shoe at the right width.

So naturally my focus turned to width, I put in a search for wide width shoes. There were quite a few results. I know most of them but as they occassionaly update, I went looking again, in the minute hope that their changes would open up another avenue of choice for me.

http://www.shoetailor.com/

They are brilliant. But again not for me. I did not even open their site as google usefully told me wide range of sizes and widths, up to a 9.

http://www.duoboots.com/

These ones really wound me up, by saying "style is nothing without fit" The only width they were concerned about though, was the width of the calf. Yes, they have missed the point entirely

http://www.widefitshoes.co.uk/

I looked at their site. I checked out their shoes. I had a look at their logo."We care about your feet" they said. I wish to amend this to, "We care about your feet but not about your fashion!"

http://www.dbshoes.co.uk/

Who proclaim themselves "Specialists in wide feet"

You know when they said a picture is worth 1000 words except when you are thinking about the memory space on a computer?
I beg to differ, look at this shoe

What's not to like about this shoe? It's white, its shiny, its got holes cut in it, big stitches for no apparent reason, it would go perfectly with my skinny jeans, wouldn't it. And I really like the buckle, reminds me of being a little girl in primary school. And Hey!!!Retro is in, isn't it??!?!

The quest for the perfect coat

picture from http://image.yesstyle.com/assets/33/930/l_p1005093033.jpg

Sooo, I have been looking fruitlessly for a coat for years without being able to ever get my hands on one. I decided that finally I must make one.
All I needed to do was to find a pattern, right. How hard could that be? But as, is usual with everything tall. I found nothing.
I changed my search terms around on google and spotted this site
Roz designs, I was immediately hopeful and even my heart may have started beating a bit faster in my chest, what would I find? Some nice snazzy designs? A few basic patterns? What? What? I clicked and found this site instead.

http://www.rozdesigns.com/

Now, I know design does not make the site and some sites have all kinds of fancy flash progams on it and their stuff is basically rubbish but this was just dire. What were these akward, dowdy drawn stuff meant to represent. And the prices? Could I bear to part with my hard earned cash for this?

I kept on searching as I had been hoping to come across a coat for years and sitting there looking irritaed at my computer screen wasn't going to help any.
I found a site which had decided to call itself the Giraffe, we have clothes to fit tall women it proudly proclaimed. I instantly decided it must have been created by a man as I don't know any woman who would describe her self in such a way. I noticed also the cute and endearing logo of a giraffe, who couldn't quite reach the floor. I am not sure why the nagle, was show ing the rear of the giraffe but as i said before, I suspected the site was designed by a man.

http://www.thegiraffe.net/

It reminded me of a store I once found in Brixton called Elephant feet that catered for sizes 9 and up. It was filled with a large ranged of beautiful high heeled impractical shoes and as usual really ugly dowdy falt shoes, occuping one shelf, in the corner colour range, black and shiny black. The joys.

I kept the page open in a tab, sighed bitterly then kept on my search. Then I came across a site about knitting. She was also tall looking for a perfect pair of lounge pants. They couldn't be knitted so she had actually signed up to go to a class to learn how to sew.
I wondered why google had brought me to this site then I noticed in the comments, people talking about being tall, then finally, the very last comment said try shopping in Old Navy

http://girlwhoknits.wordpress.com/2007/08/25/the-quest-for-the-perfect-lounge-pants/

So I dragged myself across the the multi tiered store they share with the other stranage souless names Gap, Banana Republic, Piperlime and Athleta. I had read about them doing a tall section but I didn't know the range or anything. Not only did Old Navy have a tall section but they had tons of clothes in the tall section. I got so excited with the tunic tops I had also been on the look out for appearing there. Finally clothes in just one colour with no horrible floral design, and there were tons of them and they were one sale.

They still didn't have any coats, well except for the white hooded coat. But I was definitely going to add that to my list of stores to visit on my upcoming america trip.

Now back to searching for patterns.