If you’re in the Seattle area and looking to escape the malls for your Christmas shopping, you should hit up the Punk Rock Flea Market in Belltown.

The name is definitely a bit misleading.  When we were there purely as shoppers back in September, there were families, teenagers and lots of posh Belltowners–there were tattoos, sure, but this is Seattle after all.

It starts at 10AM with bands going on stage at 6.  The admission is only $1 and all proceeds benefit low income housing.  I’ll have all of my inventory and will be sharing a table with Dawn and her awesome crocheted goods.

I know plenty of other local Etsy sellers will be there, including Sara of Rekoj and Tyesha of Florid Designs so if you don’t see me at my table, it’s probably because I’m shopping.

I’d seen these gorgeous fabric floral arrangements but never knew the name for them until the other day: hana kanzashi.

A quick browse on the internet makes clear the distinction between kanzashi, which is the term for any type of hair ornamentation worn by geisha, and hana kanzashi, which are the fabric floral versions of this.  Given the rigidity of geisha life and appearance, I shouldn’t have been surprised to see that kanzashi are even designated to be worn at particular times of the year.

• February – Usually deep pink or sometimes red ume blossoms, which are seen everywhere in Japan at this time and symbolize young love the and the approach of spring.  Another less common theme is the pinwheel.
• April – Trailing pink cherry blossom (sakura) mixed with butterflies and bonbori lanterns, signalling the approach os summer.
• May – Trailing purple wisteria (fuji) and flag irises (ayame), usually of the blue variety.  Irises denote the height of spring. Small silver butterflies also pop up as extra decorations in May.
• June – Trailing green willow (yanagi) leaves with pinks, or less commonly hydrangea (ajisai) flowers. Willow is a traditional image associated with geisha. This month is the rainy season in Japan and therefore willow (a water loving tree) and the washy blue of hydrangea is appropriate.
• July - Kanzashi featuring a display of fans. These will usually be of the round uchiwa variety, but occasionally folding dancing fans are also featured. The fans refer to the Gion Festival which takes place at this time, a huge event held at the Gion geisha district in Kyoto, which involves hundreds of traditional dances by geisha. Other kanzashi worn during July are the fireworks kanzashi and tsuyushiba (dew drops on grass).
• October – Chrysanthemum (kiku). These are well loved in Japan, and are a symbol of the Imperial Family. Usually the chrysanthemums are red and white, a combination which signals the height of autumn.
• December – The Japanese make mochi at this time of year, and often decorate trees with them, to represent white flowers. It is thought to be good luck to wear kanzashi featuring mochibana, or ricecake flowers.

Of course, I barely have room for the bobbie pins, hair ties, random clips and other things in my bathroom drawer so I don’t think I’ll be collecting as many as are suggested in this guide.  However, there are plenty of gorgeous options on Etsy–little blossoms on pins for every day, or gorgeous, complex arrangements for special occasions.

GocheMoche carries versions with elastics while the ornate pink version with trailing petals would be so pretty on a bridesmaid.  And Michelle of Green Kitchen just opened a shop specializing in multi-colored versions with gorgeous vintage buttons.

If someone would have told me that I’d be drooling over sequinned gingham, fantasizing about swanning around Christmas soirees like a sophisticated clothes horse who can understand the undiscovered complexities of gingham, I would have easily told them they were crazy and belonged on a corner shouting at pigeons.

If you don’t believe that this beauty is gingham, take a look at the close-up.

Only $265 at RetroDress.  If only it matched my measurements.

Despite their new advertising campaign, I still have a hard time thinking of Overstock.com as the place to go for discounted designer goods.  However, a quick browse through the outerwear section of their site is working hard to change that impression.

Love the dropped waist on the plaid coat and the empire waist on the gray coat (I never said I was consistent.)

Unlike some discount secondary retailers, Overstock actually has a few deals.  I can’t quite believe that the swing coat is only 39.99 or that the single breasted trench is only 44.99–it’s got the pleated pockets I’ve noticed everywhere lately.

They’ve even got dressy coats, in subtle and Beyonce versions, that would look perfect over dresses for holiday parties.

Of course, there’s also the type of coat that looks like Mr. Hanky designed it–which is probably how it ended up on Overstock in the first place.

Most of my necklaces have a focal pendant but lately I’ve been having fun mixing and matching a variety of beads on simple chains to create clusters of unconventional charms.

These are the result of bringing my beads with me to Walla Walla.  All should be in the shop by this evening.

I’ve been longing for a hooded leather trench for a long time but searches on ebay turned up results either far too big in size, or far too expensive.

Even if this particular item hadn’t been on my mental wish list for more than a year, I would have to have been brain damaged to pass it up at this price.  A whopping $8.50 at 50% off, I got this pristine coat for at least $45 less than the average cost of a coat at local Seattle thrift shops.  Only in Walla Walla.

Of course, given how crowded our front closet is, and how little some of my jackets are getting worn, there had to be a bit of a purge that will hopefully see some of these go to new homes.

In the meantime, I forgot about my final Walla Walla acquisition, these gorgeous little jeweled items that the madre bought for me at the Shady Lawn Creamery.

The madre had to explain to me what these are.  For all of you vintage lovers, leave me a comment telling me you too know what these are and there might be a pair of earrings with your name on it if you’re right. Unlike me, a lot of you knew these were for the tips of your collars right off the bat.  Shona, I’ll be in touch since your guess was the first one in–and thank you to everyone who commented!

The last time I went shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving, typically the 2nd or 3rd biggest shopping day of the year, I was fifteen.  As much as I dislike crowds and as much as I try to stay away from retail, I’ve never regretted the fact that I miss all of the deals to be had that day.

To my surprise, I discovered this weekend that in addition to the madre’s sweet dogs, I have another reason to love Walla Walla:  thrift shopping.

I can’t even pick a favorite place of all the shops we visited on (gasp) the day after Thanksgiving.  St. Vincent De Paul, the Humane Society and Goodwill were all having 50% off sales.  Given the already low prices, I would have been an idiot to pass anything tempting by.  And given the population of Walla Walla is in the neighborhood of 30,000 people, the crowds were easy to bear.

Perhaps the thrift shop with the most character was the Shady Lawn Creamery, a business that has been in the same family for more than 100 years (a long time by West Coast standards.)  Inside, I saw old black & white photos showing how this little place once turned out butter, milk and ice cream.

In addition to an enormous case of vintage jewelry, most of it priced at no more than $4-5 dollars, there were old buttons, suitcases, leather chairs, and this sewing notions holder that brought a smile to my face.

Besides the vintage handkerchief I picked up here, I also found a vintage bangle unlike anything I’ve seen browsing ebay and flea markets.

It was the most expensive find of the trip, a whopping $15 as compared to the yard of green corduroy, heavy purse chain, and hooded leather trench I found for much much less.

More pictures at flickr and I’ll be sure to model the coat tomorrow.

Before I show you the amazing things I found for prices that are unheard of on the other side of the state, can I just take a minute to show you how cute the madre has done up her new house?  Built in 1949, the little bungalow has most of the original fixtures, including this fireplace mantle.  I love the past’s idea of what modern looked like.

The madre is the one who cursed me with a love of all things antique but the inability to willingly pay much for anything.  Because she constantly has her route of thrift stores she visits on a near weekly basis (a habit she quickly re-established after moving to Walla Walla), she gets the freshest picks at the best prices.  Including this drop leaf desk and leather bound stool, mini-chandelier, and so much else.

This old travel trunk covered in vintage wallpaper is her most favorite purchase since having moved over here.  The hardware was lovingly restored and the interior still smells of verbena.  Even better, there’s a sheaf of extra wallpaper should the exterior get damaged.

Her use of old handkerchiefs is something I’d love to replicate but for the fact that our windows are so enormous and take up practically the entire wall of our living room.

Regardless, I picked up my own vintage handkerchief from a local antique shop that was stuffed with vintage jewelry and furniture for ridiculously low prices.  I’m thinking it’ll make a lovely pillow and am starting to wonder if perhaps I should have grabbed more than one; there were literally baskets full of old linen covered in French knots and delicate flowers–so irresistible.

I’ll fill you in on the details of shopping in Walla Walla once I have more time.  The short of it is that thrift stores here are amazing–the long of it will come tomorrow.  Happy Friday to those of you not enjoying the long weekend!

Even I forget how diverse the landscape of Washington state is; I rarely leave Seattle but for vacations where I’m generally trying to get as far away as possible.  Besides concerts at the Gorge, which I quit doing a few years ago, I didn’t have much of a reason to cross the mountains and experience eastern Washington.

Mountains give way to desserts, snow and evergreens to brush and desert–then fields full of dormant grape plants and orchards, all in about four hours worth of driving.

The reason for this trip is that the madre finally decided the median price of a house in Seattle was something she’d never be able to afford and bought a place in Walla Walla with her husband.  Having never been, the boyfriend and I decided it would make a great trip for the long weekend.  The madre swears by the antique and consignment shops out here so I’ll be sure to post any finds I make–and where we go should you ever find yourself in this little corner of the northwest.

To those of you in the states, have a happy Thanksgiving!

I finally allowed myself to have a go at the canvas that’s been waiting for me to finish up with my various felt projects, most of which are in the shop but some of which are piled around my sewing machine like a sad, fluffy pile of rejects.  I’m thinking some of the final remnants would make lovely stockings for my little cousins but that will have to wait until after my one craft show of the holiday season is out of the way.

Obviously, I’ve been really jonesing to get my stitch on because by Sunday night, I had three new bags hanging over the kitchen chair.

I’m feeling much too proud to put them away quite yet.  And I’m not quite sure if I’m going to keep one for myself…

Of course, I’ve got lots of canvas left as well as plenty of coordinating cotton so you may see some of these trickle into the shop while I brainstorm the penultimate version for myself.

You never know.

I was enchanted by the lace necklace Bethany made some time ago and which I must have missed either because I didn’t discover her blog until recently or because my brain is like a sieve at the moment.  Regardless, it had me instantly obsessing over vintage lace and wondering if I could find any for myself.

Given the condition of my wrists and elbows when I’ve been knitting too long, I don’t think I’ll be attempting to make lace any time soon.  The intricacy and detail of making something so beautiful entirely from thread is just too daunting–which really does account for it having become somewhat of a lost art.

A quick search turned up plenty of jewelry made from lace, though very little was as breathtaking as Bethany’s necklace.

Two of the prettiest are by Modesign and Agnieszka, who also sets her creations into little frames to hang as pendants or earrings.

Of course, there is plenty of machine made lace available if you want to play around with this look yourself.

M& J Trimming has tons in varying widths while there’s also plenty of vintage lace available on ebay.

If Depeche Mode is going to be stuck in my head, I have to get it stuck in yours, too.  (Hey, if Wendy is going to post the Mah-Nah song and Shona’s planting ear worms, I can do it, too.)

Every time I see a boot with buttons on it, my saliva glands kick in.  From Infinity Shoes and Zappos respectively.

Or perfect wool shifts with just a little detail, like this one from Nordstroms.

Also, despite the fact that I haven’t worn any rings since my junior year of college, I can’t stop gawking at them online.

From Lucid and Pink Mascara.

What can’t you get enough of?

It’s not like I didn’t wear those terrible ornament earrings around the holiday when I was a fashion challenged middle schooler who should have known better.  But maybe having lived through the trauma of bad thematic jewelry, I do my best to steer clear of it now.  This holds true for the jewelry I’ve been making in the past week as well.

Lots of white crystal and glass hints at snow and ice without being too obvious. 

And hints of green and star-like flowers with the faintest suggestion of poinsettias can’t hurt.

Just keep the blinking reindeer brooches away from me.

 (Everything’s in the shop until December 1st, when it will all be removed due to my participation in the Punk Rock Flea Market.

Things I learned at the M.I.A. concert:
1.  M.I.A. has a diverse following, including crossdressers.

2.  M.I.A. has no problem inviting nearly half of the crowd to get on stage.

3.  A typical Seattle crowd that is far too cool to act as if they’re actually listening to the performer on stage will scream every word, dance as if their life depended on it and keep their hands in the air long past the encore for M.I.A.

4.  M.I.A. has the most awesome shimmy that you will find yourself trying to replicate at random moments.

More pictures over at flickr.

The knit category is obviously the redheaded stepchild of categories, neglected, overshadowed and mistreated by all of the delights churned out through sewing and beading; it’s the imprisoned good twin to the evil twin of shopping.  I have one project in mind for the winter but have no intention of buying any yarn whatsoever until after the Punk Rock Flea Market takes place on December 1st–until then, all of my crafting will be towards bulking up inventory for my participation there.

Let’s not get into the hows and whys.  You can’t tell someone why you don’t love them anymore; it really just makes it worse and doesn’t satisfy them anyways.  I’ve moved on, is all–not that interesting things done with yarn don’t still catch my eye and make my fingers itch for a pair of needles.

Simple & casual, the ring by Extra Animam is one of many in her shop.  I think the versatility in color is what appeals to me most about this.  The painting by Shoofly would be wonderful for any truly dedicated knitter–obviously not me.

Before I send this category to pasture, have a look at the yarn in this pile and let me know if you want any.  It’s the remainders of a once much bulkier stash that I’ve been slowly and steadily giving away.

Leave a comment and a way to contact you so I can get your address.  Because seriously, looking at a ton of yarn is only going to give me craft guilt and I know neither one of us want that.

Happy Friday, everyone.

My latest trip to Red Light was entirely impulsive.  I didn’t even have the annual Christmas costume party in mind.  To my surprise, I not only found a costume, I found a pristine wool dress in the deep yellow that is everywhere at the moment–and my absolute favorite.

The blue striped dress with it’s dropped waist will be perfect with a jaunty sailor hat and blue patent shoes (the theme this year is nautical.)  The yellow dress appears to be handmade with the seams on the inside strangely showing the outer fabric at the edges.  It’s so gorgeous and in such pristine condition otherwise, I had to have it.

I’ll be sure to model it this Saturday when we head out for a friend’s 30th birthday party.

Found via Persephone’s Awakening, my last hour has been spent figuring out whether I should use a different ‘K’ for this flickr version of my name.

Just try to resist spelling out dirty words.

As much as I love pouring over covers of magazines at the grocery store and flipping through the boyfriend’s various music and news subscriptions, I generally don’t buy the things myself.  Part of it is that I’m cheap while the other part is that they all start to feel the same if you’ve read enough of them.

I picked up a copy of U.K. Harper’s at the airport in Amsterdam because we had a bit of a layover and I wanted something mindless to flip through.  To my surprise, not only did the cover feature a woman I admire for her talent and grace, including an ability to keep her private life out of the press:

But one of the cover’s stories addressed a practice that other publications in fashion and beauty seem to be taking as a matter of course–or not addressing at all.  The article, by photographer Alison Edmond, wasn’t a bash-you-over-the-head lecture, but a pragmatic and even funny take on why she won’t be forgoing her ability to wrinkle her forehead any time soon.

Charlotte Gainsbourg is featured in a quick one page spread, a nice surprise given that I love her singing and adore her style.

The other two main profiles were on Helen Mirren and Joanna Lumley.  These weren’t necessarily in depth pieces with insights about the meaning of acting or relationships with pages detailing their childhoods–just a few photographs, a few paragraphs and on to the fashion spreads.

What I realized, though, is that this entire magazine featured women who could only be described as mature.  Mirren, 62, Lumley, 61, Blanchett, 38 and even Gainsbourg, who’s 36, are all women well into adulthood with careers and reputations established through hard work and reams of talent.

It’s quite the contrast to the racks of magazines I see at my grocery store.  It’s either Keira Knightly or Beyonce or Kate Hudson gracing the cover of the latest In Style or Cosmo or Lucky.  Don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against any of these people but it definitely presented a contrast to find a fashion magazine that more closely reflected the actual range of ages of women in the world–in addition to featuring women who have a lot more going on than just their latest project.

After having never found myself on the front page of Etsy, I woke up bleary eyed on Monday to see a pair of my earrings there–in a yellow and gray treasury, no less.

Then, just as I was winding down that evening–watching old episodes of ‘Robot Chicken,’ browsing Google Reader, and sipping lemon tea, I popped back to Etsy to see my shop rapidly gaining hearts again.  Yet another treasury featuring one of my items had made the front page.

I was beyond flattered to see my items alongside work by the incredibly talented Daughter of Luxury, dkim, and J. Nic Designs–among many others.  Honestly, I’m still boggling.

I can’t say how grateful I am to Stealth Girl and Modesign for including my items in their treasuries.  This kind of exposure is priceless and I’m so thankful to have been seen by so many people in such a short time.

I don’t know if whales will ever become as ubiquitous as owls given the various connotations of the word, let alone the creature itself.  Nonetheless, they seem to be popping up everywhere and I personally find them charming.

Discovered via Meighan’s blog, My Love for You is a Stampede of Horses (Seriously, go read her blog now.  You will fall in love with just about everything you see there), this print by Eveline Tarunadjaja is one of many with a whimsical, detailed style that it’s impossible not to be infatuated with.  The original just happens to be available though you can get a print for $40AUD.

Random browsing led me to Elegant Musings as well, a shop kept by a dedicated Wardrobe Remixer, thrifter and blogger.  I instantly adored her felted pins and accessories, but especially the little whales against bright pinwheels of fabric.

These are just two examples of a wider trend that I’m starting to see everywhere.

Whale coin purse, whale earrings and whale tote.