Listen to Silence

"You can listen to silence. I've begun to realize you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all it's own. It talks to me sometimes. I feel myself alive in it. It talks. And I can hear it."

The words came out in a soft singsong. He sounded exactly like his father.

"You don't understand that, do you?" he asked.

"No."

He nodded. "I didn't think you would."

"What do you mean, it talks to you?"

"You have to want to listen to it, and then you can hear it. I has a strange, beautiful texture. It doesn't always talk. Sometimes- sometimes it cries, and you can hear the pain of the world in it. It hurts to listen to it then. But you have to."

~ The Chosen by Chaim Potok

(Photos by me)

I've been making things...

In my lengthy absence, guess what I've been doing? Making things! Of all sorts too, and here are most of them for your enjoyment. Above is a shirt that I just added the lace too, nothing incredible but I still love how it turned out and doesn't it look nice on that chair? (my dad found it at the dump last summer) The most recent skill I have begun to acquire is that of needle lace, and really, I have only just begun. This jean jacket is the first thing I've tried it on, all I did is some sort of netting on the pockets, I can't even remember what the stitch was called. However, I do like how it turned out and want to get (a lot)better at it.




Next a new skirt, sorry for no better view, but you can get the idea pretty well from this one, I made this skirt from an little girl dress that I had already stolen the buttons from, so I figured, why not take the skirt off of it too? I'm really glad I did too, because it turned out so bright and summery and happy that I'm not sure I'll be able to stop wearing it! Oh, and the lace I got at a garage sale last year.

This dress is what I find by far the most impressive, I've been working on it for a really long time, it might even been the first dress I've ever finished, I can't remember. Either way it is very special. I made it from a pattern from the 50's and I wore it on Easter, and oh, it makes me so happy.

To finish this off I've been doing some art journaling lately and I thought I would share part of a page with you. Traveling has been almost all I can think about lately, I just feel so ready to leave and explore and discover things I can't find here.

one day I slowly floated away

I wore and planed on posting this a long time ago, things have just gotten busy and my motivation suddenly vanished, but it's come back. Since then it's warmed up a lot, thankfully, just look at my cold little fingers!



None of the pictures I took of my hair turned out extremely well, but this blurry things sort of demonstrates what it looked like. I did these braids a whole lot last fall, I was in a Heidi mood for the longest time last year.

A back view, the sweater I got from Value Village, it's a vintage cardigan from the 60's I think. The collar is on the dress, by the way.

The dress I also got at Value Village, it was really big, so I took it in and shortened it, and now it's the perfect little sailor dress, I wear it all the time too, because it's so comfy.

Again, not the best, but the closest to a full view I could get.

So, I went outside to take some pictures, we have a park not to far from our house, so I went out there, it was a lot of fun. At first I felt really awkward with all the car driving by, but then I got into it and had fun.

Some just for fun pictures...

So, tomorrow is Easter and we'll see what happens in the next week, I'd like to get on but I'm probably going to be very busy. I'll try my best. I've been doing a whole lot of sewing lately and some other things to, so look forward to a post of that sort reletively soon.

Until then, Clara

la la la life, and some knitting

This is what it looks like outside in Alaska right now. Well, at least from a parking lot's view.

This will be a rather random post, just full of odds and ends that I feel like rambling about.

First thing, or things, up are these vintage patterns I found at Value Village last time I was there. Now these are not the first vintage patterns I have acquired, believe me there are a lot more, (maybe some day I'll introduce you to them) but what is significant about these is that the vest pattern there is my oldest I have to date! It's from 1948 and in very good condition too. I don't think I'll ever use it, probably just hoard it, occasionally bringing it out to wonder at the fact that I found something that old. I do that with my fifties house dress and vintage magazines too, those things are, I guess, things that seem to me to be to good to be true.

I recently finished my 9th journal, another wonder, and I have started my 10th, seems crazy that I'd have that much to write about. Yet, I have been realizing lately that my life is actually pretty interesting, I mean considering the fact that I'm nothing like the majority of other kids my age and I have a lot of rather unusual opinions.

And now to the knitting, I finished the main part of the tiny twists camisole, and it turned out great, except for the fact that it's to big. Because of that it's been put on hold (like numerous other projects) and I'm letting my attention be pulled in other directions. I really, really, want to finish it, but I'm just not sure what to do. Should I tear out the whole thing, or what? I have gotten extremely sick of ripping things out, but what else can I do. I just don't know. Ugh.

On a cooler and happier note, my little brother has learned to knit! He just completed his first project (juggling balls) today and he has already started a scarf, I'm so proud of him. In the picture my mom is knitting a circle of some sort, once it's done we're gonna try to turn it into a beret. That's about all for now, hope it wasn't to dreary, I'll try to be back tomorrow, I have quite a lot to blog about.

bouquets, Clara

an almost fashion post

When I started this blog I intended to frequently do fashion posts, obviously though, that hasn't happened. The main reason why is because I haven't figured out how to take full body shots without a tripod and I really don't like asking members of my family to take them for me. Just recently, however, I realized I don't have to show the whole outfit. Yes, it would be preferable if I did show the whole thing, but partial is better than nothing right? I hope you think so. Anyway, I'll tell a little bit about each piece as it's show in the pictures and I hope you enjoy it.

That owl pendant is from my mom, she got it when she was a kid and didn't remember it at all, however, it's been worn plenty since I found it.
Jumper is from Lauren, (I seem to mention her in just about every post) handmade by someone, I have no idea who.



Hair bows are just scraps of cloth, actually from the lining of the sweater purse I showed a while ago. The cardigan is also from Lauren, maybe sometime I'll show you some of my clothes that DIDN'T come from her. Smile.

And this one's mostly just to show off how long my hair is and my braids, I love braids.

I thought since this was a clothing post I might as well mention my most resent fashion dilemma. Swimsuits. I'd really like to have a vintage or vintage inspired swim suit that I can actually wear and use. The problem is they are all so expensive and I can't afford even a knock-off. Regardless of my non-existent funds I decided a little window shopping/inspiration hunting couldn't hurt so I went to Glamoursurf and looked at their goods. (that's where all of these images are from) Aren't these just the sweetest things?

from the 40's (look at that little diver in the corner!)
I love the back of this one.

another 40's

Mid 50's, and here's the original advertisement.

Since all of these suits are over a hundred dollars I figured a good alternative would be to make one. I'm still on the hunt for a good pattern though, this one is also from Glamoursurf and if it was about thirty dollars cheaper it might be on the way to my house right now. Oh well, we still have a least a month before I could actually wear this and probably more before I'd have the time to make it.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week.

Love, Clara

As you can see I've been knitting a lot lately, mostly during school. You know, while I read text book and all of the literature(right now it's grapes of wrath). This beauty here is the Tiny Twist Camisole from Inspired to Knit and I'm less than an inch away from the cables.

I would show you a picture of how it will look once it's done, but I can't seem to find one anywhere and I'm to lazy to take one myself from the book. It's really pretty though, and I promise I'll show lots once it's finished.
Here's one of the "pleats" that are at the bottom of the "skirt." I really love how it looks already. The yarn was originally from a different project that didn't turn out, it's such a pretty color, one of my favorites, but it looked extreamly ugly. Now, however, I feel like it's finally being done justice. Anyway, I have to go now, love you all!

Well, so much for posting a lot this week, I had some trouble getting the computer to do what I wanted, but now that's fixed. I thought I'd show you some pictures of my new hair cut. Actually, I didn't really get my hair cut, just my bangs, but I love how they turned out. Lauren cut them for me, we were bored and the last time we were together we dyed her hair, so this time we decided to cut mine.

They were inspired by Pride and Prejudice and Violet in A Series of Unfortunate Events, I hope you can see the resemblance.

It's been alot of fun so far, I like having bangs again. None of the photos I took that really show off how they look turned out well, so I'm only showing you the pretty, artistic ones. I'll let you imagine the rest.

There isn't much else to say, so have a wonderful weekend.

~Clara