Pink jeans, leopard cardigan, bright red WHO THE FUCK ARE THE DIRTY NIL? concert swag.

I thought I was hungover but it turns out I just hadn’t had any coffee yet. Let’s do this thing.

• I have the day off today and my plan is basically just to make things & also go to the library my life is the best life.
• Wearing a bunch of colour (for me) to combat the fact that somehow, IT IS STILL WINTER. Dudes, I am over it, and I am ready to be on a patio now.
• My sweater is coming along so great. It’s pretty major actually. I am really excited to be turning into a person who can make sweaters.

• My babe Elliott and I went to go see that babe SOLANGE KNOWLES this weekend. Possibly the most stylish audience I’ve seen at a show. Solange was as regal and beautiful and fun and stunning as you could hope for… and she covered Selena. It was killer. I mean just listen to her sing. How is she real?

• Coffee! Coffee! I love you, coffee.
• Makin’ new friends who wanna go with me to rock and roll shows is AWESOME. The fact that they are girl friends for once is also AWESOME. Getting post-show pizza is ESPECIALLY AWESOME. For real tho, I am pretty sure there was gender parity in the crowd for a garage rock show last night, pretty mind blowing. Now if only we could get some gender parity on the stage too. (Is there like a genderqueer etc. – inclusive version of this term? Because there should be.)
• Internet babe bought a round of drinks for me and my ‘ladies of rock and roll’ posse last night. Paypal, aww! INTERNATIONAL TECH-ENABLED KINDNESSES. If that’s not the best good thing I don’t even know what is. The future is here and I like it.
• At the bar they were playing Conan the Barbarian which has GRACE JONES in it & I just wanted to mention GRACE JONES in all caps. GRACE. JONES. 

Golden retriever cuddle jamz

• I missed last Sunday’s post because I was in PUPPY HEAVEN. Geraldine was my Valentine’s Date & that date lasted all weekend long basically and one night I fell asleep holding her paw and we walked all over the city and I told her I loved her over and over and I fed her a billion treats and she is my favourite.

Dog, Ducks.

• Also last weekend was Gretchen’s FOURTH BIRTHDAY PARTY. We blew up some balloons & took some selfies together. I leave you with this epic mirror photo:

STYLE ICONZ

Last week my bff Rebecca spent many, many hours of loving labour with some bleach & some more bleach and some dye and some other dye & she is an artist and my hair is purple & I just love her & it feels nice to be a brightly coloured thing in the winter again.

White! Grey! Leopard! Knits! Can’t resist backlit photos in front of my enormous windows. These grey tights are merino wool & make skirts in the winter totally doable. Leopard dress is absolutely an all-season wardrobe staple.

Kinda love being totally monochromatic except for my hair & lipstick. Something fun & kinda tough about these totally unnatural pops of colour. I think I was being a bit inspired by this white & grey & knits outfit from this week’s Hel-Looks.

Forever reppin’ something that my brother Reilly made for me. Initial pin circa mid-2000s.

Operation fancy eyeliner has extended into glitter makeup for daytime, all the time. Oh yeah.

Vintage shopgirl day six. I knit that cowl with my own two hands. 

I need to remember that I have been writing these posts for years because they work in a depression-alleviating way. They are not for generating page views or comments or for posting cute photos. So this week I am going to write a Good Things post and actually post it  - even though this hasn’t been an especially good week.

Instagram outfit detail: feathers, lace, & knitwear.

• This week I worked a lot. Probably too much. But considering how stressful it is to be un(der)employed, I am going to stay happy about this. My jobs both allow me to: wear what I like, pick my own music, work by myself, spend a lot of downtime looking at fashion blogs, & hang out with customers who are in relax-mode. Those are all huge plusses that I would miss if I was doing other work.
• I am finding that, at least for the moment, my body will tell me what it needs to feel better. This self-knowledge is a huge gift. Thx brain for telling me to go for walks, cuddle a dog, go to bed early, find something to laugh about.
• Shopping for natural perfume samples online. I think I enjoy this so much because it is such an imaginative exercise – shopping virtually for something that isn’t actually visible. I can be pretty scent-sensitive (& I know others can be too) but good smells are a real source of calm & comfort, too. Thinking of doing an order from Illuminated Perfume - if you’re near me & want to share shipping, get at me.

Q by Illuminated Perfume.

• Had an early-morning friend date with my pal Rebecca this week which included huge coffees, a spontaneous gift exchange, and a big heart to heart. Seriously, that woman’s heart is enormous. Feeling thankful for her & for people like her in my life. Also it is the best starting out the day relaxing with a friend. Want to do that way more.
• Drank many beers with Elliott this week. We laughed. Thx for being a crucial part of my post-work anti-stress system.
• Yesterday I was supposed to meet my BFF Bridget for tea but was too tired to leave the couch. She indulged me with a real talk text message hangout. Virtual friendship means never having to get out of your pajamas. But actual tea will happen soon, I think.
• I have tomorrow off after working a six day week. I am going to celebrate by buying a pumpkin and putting it on the porch. Domestic life 4 ever.
• My roommate keeps ordering pizza and I keep eating the last few slices. We aren’t even fighting! Lucky. Also, I treated myself to my favourite ever mac and cheese from the best veg restaurant across the street from work & it was delicious, duh. CHEESE.
• Working on a new knitting project that I have ripped out twice already. Third time’s the charm, yes? I am looking forward to getting it just right.
• My parents are just the best. Once as a tween my dad read a livejournal post in which I flippantly wrote, “I hate my parents.” Dear everyone: my parents are just like absolute gems & I am lucky that they raised me.
• Also, my friend Scott is a writer who you should be reading.

That was a summer which turned out a joyful rage and all its costs of aches in the morning and slow sips of recovery. Rage does not make you strange to yourself, I think, but it is yourself finding what is already there and strange within. It is a foamy realization and fulfillment of absence. You can clench its taste on your back teeth. – Upon my Breath

Leopard print tunic, mineralogy hat, big earrings, black cardigan.

Leopard tunic, snakeskin leggings, woven leather flats.

Quick vintage-shopgirl-with-a-hangover outfit from last week. All animal print everything.

The evenings are finally cool enough to get away with wearing some hand-knits.

Shawls! Cowls! Hats! In a week or two, I’m positive you’ll catch me with fingerless mitts. Do I actually *need* to wear any of this stuff yet? Not really. But I’ve been knitting all summer long & it’s so lovely to be able to wear my finished projects rather than tucking them away.

To celebrate the beginning of knitwear season, I pulled some bulky grey yarn out of my stash & got to work on this quick (and free) hat pattern – Kelly McClure’s Mineralogy Hat.

The diamond stitch pattern is pretty subtle, but it’s there! I changed the brim & top of this hat to make it fit my tiny head perfectly.

Uniform: skinniest jeans, flats, black & blue striped tee, superlong rhinestone-chain earrings, new hat!

Hopefully this cooler knitwear-and-layering friendly weather lasts for awhile. I have a huge backlog of not-yet-blogged knits to show you.

<3

Fresh manicure! & you can see a tiny bit of my white ink tattoo in the bottom left.

Yesterday like an egomaniac I was bragging to my healthcare lady about how life is the best & in the summer I never get depressed.  I didn’t knock wood, but maybe I should have.

Today I woke up and the “feels like” portion of the weather report was in the ’40s. I feel like a tube of toothpaste being squeezed. Being weather sensitive is just shitty, straight up. I miss my partner & all the pals I only get to see when he is home.

When I work in the evenings I often pressure myself to do a full day’s worth of errands beforehand, but today I ripped my to-do list in half and focussed on keeping my shit together.

Took a nap before noon. Made many iced americanos. Listened to a bunch of podcasts. Did my nails.

Grey stripes & dots & a little green heart.

I think manicures help because they demand that I focus & stay still but they aren’t actually difficult. They’re temporary so it doesn’t really matter if they look perfect.  This particular design was inspired by something I saw on The Dainty Squid, but desaturated, obviously. Black & grey forever. I am also really into designs that leave some of your natural nail exposed.

green heart green wall

Since some of y’all think these things happen by magic, I’ll let you know that they were done by adding straight nail stickers over some base coat, painting the grey tips, then peeling the stickers off. Kinda like when you paint a wall. I added the dots & heart using the tip of an old plastic knitting needle.

& while we’re talkin’ about good music, Nick has sent me the link to this new Dan Romano song like fifty times. Nick, I listened to it & it’s awesome, okay? PS everyone else: check out that pedal steel action.

Well hello there. I just thought I’d let you guys know that I got dressed. Again. And some people do shit like eat breakfast before work but I skipped that to play fetch with Geraldine / experiment with my new tripod.

This animal lives to photobomb my shit.

Coordinated accessories: I suppose that my belt is indeed tennis-ball coloured.

This tripod thing is making it way easier to show off this updated haircut that Rebecca did for me last weekend. From the front it looks like an asymmetrical bob but it actually has one hell of an undercut goin’ on too.

Gonna namedrop Bloodline Parlour here again because what we have goin’ on is one of the best creative partnerships in my life.  Rebecca! Babe! Thank you.

I maintain that leopard print is a neutral, but greyscale leopard definitely is. This dress is a few years old but the embroidered-chevron shape on the bodice is exactly what I’m into right this second.

Have begun wearing all the bangles! Working at the brewery always peels my nail polish off! Last night’s gay dance party lipstain didn’t come off so I just layered it up again for today.

I bought this belt for a DIY project that I obviously have not done yet – but I keep finding myself wanting to wear it even tho it’s too big for me. Like this wavy braid situation that I figured out today. Also, bee tattoo! Sometimes I forget that my tattoos are visible to other people. Also, boobs.

Coral shoes, again.

How is all this greenspace actually in my back yard? I always forget.

This is one of those outfits that are from the mall but that perhaps don’t look it?

Dress – H&M

Belt – Old Navy

Shoes – Gap Outlet

Bangles – Costa Blanca, vintage

& a bucket of bright orange Joe Fresh lipstain.

I’m at work & my pal Linz just dropped in. We have a comically similar (and obviously impeccable) range of fashion influences. & today she *also* had on a black-and-white animal print dress. I love that shit. Hard femme dress code.

You know how tough it is to have a fashion blog when you can’t take photos of your entire outfit? 

It’s fucking hard!

But, you know how hard it is to use a self-timer, even with a tripod?

It’s – as you might have guessed – fucking hard.

If you want to take a bunch of photos from the same angle where you are blurry & have your eyes closed, you should totally get a tripod. Because holy shit, will that thing ever deliver.

Still, I actually really like these shots. I took clearer, more fashion-y photos on a white background but for now I kinda like the “Oh hey! Here you are in my house!” vibe of these. Come on in, yo.

My beginner skillz mostly mean that these shots are pretty honest. With mirror photos you just pose until you look hot, smile, and then press the shutter button. Here, I have basically no guaranteed way to control what I look like. Okay, to rephrase, I have no idea what the photos will look like, including whether I am even in the frame.

For me the whole point of this outfit is the highlighter-pink of these jeggings with the poppy orange of my flats & my earrings. Do you know how hard it is to get your face and your shoes in one photo?

It’s fucking hard.

But I am also excited about being able to represent my body in a more complete way in photos, even if that means that the photos themselves are less “flattering”.

Here you can see both hands – and both tattoos – at once! I’ve never taken a photo of that.

The backs of my shoes have little bows, okay? Do you see the bows? Bows!

Also, here is a photo of myself from behind, which I don’t think I have ever taken before. Can you see that the back of my hair is asymmetrical? The old ladies at the grocery store were loving this new modified bowl cut, and I love old ladies.

I also have a matchy-matchy manicure with poppy/berry/orange zigzags, but two-handed close-up shots are beyond me, for now.

Oh & because you’ll ask, my shirt says “Timber Timbre.” Nick booked a show for Taylor in Ptbo last spring in a beautiful church here & it was such a perfect event.

I have almost stopped buying band shirts because I rarely like the way they look on me (or their “girly” tees are American Apparel and are automatically too small.) But this one is black, soft, and fitted, which means it’s in at least a bi-weekly rotation on my bod.

Okay we’re done now. I’m sure I will wear clothes again soon: stay tuned.

I wear clothes every day. Shocker right?

Yesterday I tried out that thing where I take pictures without a helpful friend or a tripod. I kept only the most ridiculous poses for you, internet.

This one actually feels pretty appropriate, given my mood. I’ve been working double & sometimes triple shifts. I love being able to work with friends & being a gal-about-town has its charms… but I’m tired. A customer who I saw at three stores in one day said, “You’re everywhere!” & I said, “Except at home.”

Signature tight-mini-and-boots silhouette. I used to feel like I “needed” to wear loose & knee-length outfits because my bod wasn’t “good enough” for these sorts of clothes, but fuck that. I was way frumpier when I was more covered up.

Everything I wear is accessorized with a tennis ball. Hyperactive golden retriever lifestyle. That neon is a great pop of colour against my market bag huh? Too bad I didn’t want my strawberries crushed, Geraldine.

My big leather tote, houndstooth skirt, & turquoise doc martens are all from work at Sympathy for the Rebel.

The tee, tights, cut glass necklace, & nail polish are from my boyfriend Joe Fresh.

I finished knitting my Simmer Dim shawl that I talked about a few Sundays ago. Couldn’t resist taking a couple of photos under Tango‘s beautiful fitting room lights. Don’t know what it says about me that I basically always time to take some fashion photos while I’m at work…

I love this pattern because of the geometrical look that the lace & picot edging has at the bottom… seeing it next to my new honeycomb tattoo just cemented the fact that my personal style is super consistent, ha.

I’d say that at this point the hardest thing about knitting isn’t understanding the patterns or executing the stitches… it’s getting your brain & hands to do what the pattern is actually saying. I re-knit this bottom section an excruciating FOUR times. The desire to have my knits look just right has taught me patience that I didn’t know I had. People who are impressed by my knitting skillz really ought to be there when I’m in the middle of things, ripping back stitches and swearing (& opening many beers.)

If you have a Ravelry account (& if you knit or crochet or think you want to, you should!) I’ve added a whole bunch of project photos for all kinds of things in the last week or so. Go see! Let’s be friends!

& to follow up on my post about the difference between the time it takes to get inspired online & the time it takes to make something… I bought the yarn for this pattern in Toronto in April, cast on almost a month ago, & knit this in allll my downtime for three weeks or more. I’ll love it for life, but even so… good  things take time, yeah?