Dovecote, a vintage boutique in Aspinwall Pennsylvania, located on Brilliant Avenue. What a great address. Brilliant!
My friend Vincie and I were shoe shopping at Soothe the Sole on Brilliant Avenue and Holly (at the shoe store) suggested we check out Dovecoteright across the street.
Here’s what we discovered –
The boutique is definitely eclectic and affordably priced. Scroll down for more details. There are vintage items, consignment items, handcrafts, antiques, jewelry, home decor and holiday fun. Sports team theme including black and gold potholders and darling onesies with hand sewn embellishment, adorable ruffles.
The felted Mr. Rogers created by Artist Christine caught my eye, and the Pennsylvania ceramic platter would be cool to serve from at a dinner party.
“If your style is eclectic with a vintage vibe, this is the place for you! We offer a wide variety of vintage & antique home decor items, as well as new & vintage clothing & accessories. From tables and lamps, paintings, and dishes; to jewelry, shoes, candles imported from Spain, gifts, vintage-inspired greeting cards, and more, there is something for everyone in our cozy store. We carry Lindsay Phillips’ line of shoes & sandals (SwitchFlops), as well as Naked Bee’s organic skin care creams & lotions. Need to make space in your closet or sell your unused home accessories? We offer resale and consignment options. Visit our vintage boutique, and then follow us on Facebook for frequent updates!”
A place to take things when you need to downsize! Good to know.
This is a collaborative guest post by two wonderfully creative women who have been friends since forever.
Colleen and Joanne hail from Nova Scotia. Joanne, living in Florida, collected the photos and good information about Colleen and her love of colorful quilting.
Colleen says “I have a huge stash of fabric that I like to look at for inspiration. Some I have had for many years and almost everything was purchased in the US. I order online occasionally but it gets expensive with taxes, customs and shipping and delivery to Canada can take a long time – so much for instant gratification! Currently Florida is my “go to” shopping locale because I’m there at least once a year. Found a great quilt shop in St. Augustine” http://www.beesquiltshop.com
Here is Colleen, looking to the sun.
Colleen’s cookbook shelves were featured on the blog about five years ago
When I was visiting the family in Ohio for an extended stay, one of the last days I was there we went to Von Maur, a lovely department store in Columbus at the Polaris Mall.
Maura and I saw all the elegant Spring/Easter hats on display. She tried on a gray one that matched her Ohio State Swim shirt. A gracious salesperson asked if we needed any help and of course, we did not. But she didn’t seem worried about trying on a hat.
(*see Men’s Hat Posts below the photos)
Growing up, almost all women in church wore hats.
.The Kentucky Derby, the first Saturday in May, is a place to wear a fashionable hat. Or a Derby party as you watch the race on TV. You see Royal Wedding attendees sporting stylish hats. I wish I’d looked inside the hats to see where they are made. Do you own a hat and on what occasion do you wear it?
Putting on a hat can change your whole persona, help you feel dressed to the nine. The epitome of dressing up in style.
“To the nine” is an English idiom meaning “to perfection” or “to the highest degree” or to dress “buoyantly and high class”. In modern English usage, the phrase most commonly appears as “dressed to the nine” or “dressed up to the nine”.
Thanks to all who have responded on the positioning of the photos when they view the blog. It has been beyond annoying and frustrating, especially for those who get the photos sideways.
Today I spent time rotating and saving and resizing the photos which were shot vertically. If they are on their side, I hope you will inform me right away so I can go back to the drawing board. When I look at them they look correct but not for all receiving them.
I heard from a woman I photographed last week about the auto rotation of photos on various programs. Here is the link to that information
Saturday afternoon McWalker Yarns in Millvale PA hosted the November Sweater Challenge (NaKniSweMo) Fashion Show.
All of the sweaters were made with yarn from McW Y, had at least 50,000 stitches and were knit between 12:01 on 11/1 and midnight 11/30.
Knitters were to wear their sweaters if they knit them for themselves.
One sweater knitter had to be at work today and was unable to attend the fashion show but we’ll try to add a photo.
Margaret “Maggie” Toth brought her husband Chris who was modeling the sweater she knit for him – Berocco Man’s Sweater free pattern “Dan”.
She used Cascade ECO yarn– colorway Shire.
Here’s Lauren Eicher modeling Jamestown Sweater knitty.com by Amy Christoffers
Yarn Malabrigo Rios “Archangel”
Christine’s niece Rebecca baked Gingerbread Men cookies sporting Holiday Sweaters
And here is Christine modeling her Free Range Kimono Corner to Corner Crochet
Pattern by Jess Coppom Yarn Cascade Wave “Nightshade”
Christine standing by the display showing yarn she used for her Free Range Kimono
Meet Barb McAbe modeling her Sideways sweater designed by Joji Locatelli in Laine Magazine#6 Autumn/Winter 2018 Wow, look at those cables!
She used Shepard’s Wool in the Mint Colorway
Here is Denise Kaliowski wearing her Kimono Cardigan by Linda DeRuiter
Yarn is Painted Mist in Misty Rainbow (6 skeins) She made notes that it is very drapey and soft and she loves the colors. We did too.
Amy McCall (owner of McWalker Yarns) knit Selenity by Annie Rowden Laine Magazine#6 Yarn Scout Colorway Blue Heather
How about this detail?
Here I am sporting Humulus Sweater designed by Isabell Kraemer
Photographed by Amy McCall
Yarn- Lore by The Fibre Company (Earthy colorway) and Sunflower Heather is by Scout
Aimee Benswanger cheered us all on as we modeled our sweaters and here she is with her Entrelac Scarf www.frecklesandpurls.com Berocco Remix Colorway Pool
Denise is working a baby hat
Already onto the next sweater. Amy McCall inspired us to complete our November sweaters. We had a fun afternoon. The challenge produced a lot of creativity and camaraderie. Amy gave us all a sheet of Temporary Knitting Tattoos for participating.
There was a grand prize drawing for a $50 store credit and the ticket was drawn by a Sock Club member. I was fortunate to win so am planning my next sweater to start AFTER Christmas.
An early Christmas gift, created by Marlene (my DIL’s mom-we share four grandchildren). This year she and her husband hosted Thanksgiving Weekend in Hardy, Virginia.
Know you’ve seen me on the blog more times this week than the rest of the entire year but I wanted to show you her thoughtful and creative gift. Marlene’s Cricut machine skills are amazing. She purchases and downloads an SVG file from the computer, cuts it out of different colored vinyls, centers it, then uses a special machine to press it on thoroughly. I love how she made the heart a sparkly red.
Marlene knows I enjoy knitting so this design* was perfect.
Thanks Marlene. I can’t wait to wear it.
Photographed by Erika
*About the design- It’s from an Etsy Shop specializing in SVG files- Sammo from Vicksburg, Michigan
Aubergine yarn in two light- a great color name, isn’t it?
A friend gave me a sweater’s worth of Harrisville Designs Highland Yarn. Wooly warmth for next winter! I never worked with it before and it is nice to wind and knit. I’d like to finish it before summer’s full heat kicks in.
I used my iPhone to document progress of the sweater (pattern is Larch by Pam Allen, available on Ravelry).
I snapped the front, then the back. Ooops, the flash went off in the second shot.
Sweater in two lights
Available light-
Electronic Flash below –
some of you will want to pick off the little fuzzy lint in the photo There’s a bit of vegetative matter in this wonderful yarn
Watch this two minute video to see how wool is milled and spun into yarn – Harrisville, New Hampshire.
A Day in the Life of an American Woolen Mill
From their website-
“Highland is one of our flagship yarns, available in 64 tweedy, heathered, woolen spun colors. This yarn is perfect for a cozy New England sweater, or a favorite pair of mitts. The yarn was engineered to wear better and better with every wash. Don’t let the crunch fool you. After 10 years of constant wear, you’ll know why we spun it this way.”
How about this detail?
Here I am sporting Humulus Sweater designed by Isabell Kraemer
I saw this beautiful bicycle Bell on a purple bike, propped up and locked on a neighboring fence.
Electronic Flash below –
some of you will want to pick off the little fuzzy lint in the photo There’s a bit of vegetative matter in this wonderful yarn 
