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| Hey there quirky beans! :o) |
I was in town thismorning BY MYSELF I know don't die of shock (I haven't been into town on my own in months...I usually go with hubby so I don't get scared, yes I'm being serious) I bought a coffee whilst waiting for the Post Office to open and whilst I was at the cafe, kinda awkwardly sitting there with people bustling around me attempting to sip my coffee without missing my mouth and pouring it on my shirt (It happens, trust me) and me being paranoid about the fat rolls showing through my jumper whilst I was sitting so I was fidgeting and pulling my shirt down and trying to flatten my stomach as I sat. Welcome to my world! I am truly THAT awkward in public! I was even aware of my facial expression, I felt like I should have bought a book with me so I wasn't just sitting there looking...well AWKWARD!
But anyway, so the coffee was fab as always...it's the same cafe we buy our ground beans for our coffee machine from, I could have had a coffee at home but it's not the same as when someone else makes it for you. (I would have taken a photo but I was afraid I'd look stupid) so you'll just have to imagine what an amazing coffee looks like. Then I hopped along to the Post Office down the road. Which wasn't open yet. And then I realised I'd left my umbrella at the coffee shop *slaps self in forhead* DAH! It would have to wait, I'll get it later. Finally getting into the Post Office I stood in line for a few minutes before I realised I was holding my drawing in my hands and was going to post it as is. Another superb DAH! moment, so I left the line and found a post bag, jotted down the address, popped in the drawing and resumed my place at the end of the line. What fun times I have when I'm alone! HA!
The letter is now safely posted, and should HOPEFULLY arrive at it's destination in one piece.
So then I trotted back off the coffee shop to collect my umbrella, and they gave me a free blueberry muffin :o) Apparantly they'd been overcooked in the oven that morning and couldn't be sold, I think they took pity on my and gave me one...maybe it was because all the other customers were so thin and I wasn't, so they figured I'd accept one....either way it would bloody delicious! Free food is a WIN in my books! It was still warm and absolutely chokers with yummy blueberries! Again, I'd share a photo but I ate it :o)
Umbrella in hand, I went to try the library again hoping to borrow The Great Gatsby, the next book I want to read in my quest to complete the
100 Best Novels of All Time BUT turns out the library doesn't open til 10am. I checked my phone, it was only 9am. Poo I thought to myself, I can't have another coffee to fill in an hour! So I started off home. Suprisingly the breeze wasn't too nippy thismorning, I was lucky to be out in an Armidale morning where I DIDN'T get frostbite from 5 minute wind exposure. I was passing an op shop when I thought to myself, 'when was the last time I had a peruse?' the answer is over a year ago!! Having no spare money at your disposal does that.. but hey I had $10 so why not! It didn't open til 9.30am...at this stage it was only 9.10am. DRAT, oh well, I'll wait. Another eager early morning op-shopper arrived and we had a nice chat out front whilst waiting :o)
Let me just say, I ADORE op-shops! Alas when you only have $10, there's not a lot you can buy...I tried not to look too closely as there were tons of lovely dresses and tops and jumpers and coats and even a gorgeous fedora hat which I so desperately would love to own! I made a beeline for the fabric, zippers and buttons section *drool*..but still only $10. And I also have a fair amount of those things here at home already, I really shouldn't buy more...SHOULDN'T being the operative word there. I resisted. I was just about to leave when I noticed a medium sized long white box in the window marked 'Newcastle Surgical Appliances'. I was pretty convinced that the box did not, in fact, contain surgical appliances but I got closer and opened it... turns out it was somekind of surgical appliance. I think!...I'm not sure, to me it looked like an underbust corset of some kind, but now that I have it home and am inspecting it a little closer, noticing all the steel boning, the heavy duty lace up system it seems to have going, it
is a surgical appliance! It's a size medium Surgical Back Support Corset! I did a bit of research and I found this!
Mine is very very similar though there is less to it! I don't think it's circa 1955-65, but it is a very close make and design, perhaps just an available variation. Either way that just makes it even more AWESOME! I like finding oddities, and this is certainly an odd find! And whats more, the buckles and steel boning will make for an amazing Steampunk cosplay! And hey I'll have great posture all day!
It kinda resembles a straight jacket, which I love!
The staining I can bleach out, I'll replace the ties up the sides with black ribbon or chord and I'll dye the whole thing black and rub the bones down with some bronze boot polish. I'm going on the lookout for an old alarm clock that I can frankenstein and make jewellery out of the cogs with. It's been too long since I got to play with a soldering iron! All in all... a GREAT day!
Oh! Also, last night I started a new crochet project,
Pineapple Crochet Shawl with the same dark burgundy red I made my top hat with..I have plans for it ;) At first glance the pattern looks confusing, but I'm working through it row by row and it's alot simper than it looks. I promise to share progress photos :o)
Happy Wednesday guys!
P.s I also have had the pleasure of dealing with a nasty virus that affected a certain social networking site... if you find something called 'Amazing Apps' in your computer's ad-ons, I'd disable it if I were you. I can't go into too much more detail but I'd just check that if you have a spare sec.
Isn't she a beauty? This gorgeous pattern you can find for free on the Caron website and I highly recommend making one either for yourself or as a gift! It is just so B-E-A-utiful! The pattern is suprisingly simple to follow, and depending on your crochet speed, won't take too long to complete :o) I just gotta say how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE the black and the purple together! I had visions of being clever with black and orange to create a butterfly wing inspired shawl using the same pattern but we'll see ;) It's now wrapped in red and white striped paper, tied with a bow and under our Christmas tree. 
I've been in Christmas present making overdrive lately... that happens when you leave everything til the last minute! Typical Tash :o) But I'm slowly making headway, I've been focusing on getting all the gifts for the girls done first.... mostly because I'm completely stumped as to what to do for all the manly men! Oh well..I'll think of something! Lucky I have so many free patterns and inspiration stored on Pinterest...or I'd be pretty well stuffed! One of those things happens to be this beautiful free shell lacey scarf pattern from The Art of Zen Crochet which, I might add, works up an absolute treat! 
