katiecrackernuts: #opshopscore

November 15, 2015

SPRING 2015 || 40-YEAR-OLD MACRAME CRAFT GUILT GONE

November 12, 2015

SPRING 2015 || A THEORY I HAVE APPLIES TO OP SHOPPING

February 18, 2015

SUMMER 2015 || GET SOME GOOD INTO YA

February 01, 2015

SUMMER 2015 || MY DIRTY LITTLE OP SHOP SECRET

katiecrackernuts.blogspot.com || my dirty little op shop secret

A TRIP to the beach means throwing on a pair of togs, grabbing a hat, enough cash for a coffee or milkshake - should either take my fancy - sunscreen, a hat and light cover-all for sun protection and the a towel.

Over the summer, the beach kit has been thrown into a newly thrifted beach bag - a cute crocheted bag that's perfect for the beach because all the sand shakes out of it on my way back to the beach car park. In fact, all my beach kit is thrifted. The leather wallet I pop my coins into was an op shop find; the wide-brimmed hat I love because it fits snugly and won't blow down the beach with a single gust was an op shop score and still has the name of the previous owner inside. My 1970s fringed towel. Op shop. The cover-all I made to wear over my togs was made from $2 worth of fabric. Op shop.

And yes, even the togs. Op shop.

But cossies from the op shop? Who does that? Me! It's my dirty little op shop secret.

Well, what's the issue? I do check the amount of, er, wear, before I make a purchase, any purchase. I check as much for stains under the arms as I might for how the seat of a pair of shorts has worn and it's the same with togs. It's a bonus if they've got a swing tag still hanging from them but if you think through why someone would pass on a pair of togs I think it's safe to suggest they probably weren't worn a great deal. They've either been a gift that was the wrong size; maybe even bought online and couldn't be exchanged. Perhaps the wearer loved them in the store but on the beach found them not to their liking. The owner could have changed in shape, had a bub, who knows, but there are few people who would pass over the worst of their worn wardrobe to an op shop and few op shops who would choose to damage their reputation by putting out dirty clothes or clothing unfit for use.

And, of course, with a wash at home and a good airing on the line they're close to being as good as new.

So, what's your dirty little op shop secret?

katiecrackernuts.blogspot.com || thrifted crochet beach bag

#opshopfind // crochet beach bag, $4, East Gosford Vinnies

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August 28, 2014

WINTER 2014 || MAY THE OP SHOP GODS SHINE FOR YOU

I USED to be able to op shop in my lunch breaks. I worked close to a half dozen op shops and whenever I wanted a break from the computer screen I’d steer myself in the direction of my favourite fix.

These days I work far from home and far from an op shop and because op shops don’t have opening hours to suit the weekday, long-haul commuter, my treasure hunting trips are less frequent. If travelling I’ll plan to visit an op shop, or two, and if free on a Saturday morning, I may factor in a lazy café jaunt close to where I know an op shop will be.

Though the op shopping has been curbed, my passion for it has not and the pulse can still quicken over a recently deposited stash of fabrics, wool or pattern books; a new-to-me wardrobe piece in just the right cut and colour; something new for the kitchen or a book on a subject close to my heart.

Blog posts about my finds are neglected too, with days, weeks and sometimes months between a purchase and a post to document the gem. Small piles of accumulated treasures stack up on the kitchen table, my bedside table, or the desk in our home office waiting for the day – especially in winter – when I’ll have good light or a surface clear to set up a photo. Most piles dwindle as the item comes into use, and the moment is lost.

Winter knitting patterns are put away; ready to be looked over when I plan next year’s projects. A stash of linen yarn sits waiting for a summer knitting project I will take up soon. Ancient cooking pamphlets promoting flours and butters with recipes for scones and rock cakes and other ages-old tasty treats are tucked away on a shelf to be dragged out when the festive season baking begins – a page marked with notes from the previous owner falls open easily to a gingerbread recipe I hope to try.

Elsewhere, a swath of cool cotton fabric harking back to the 1970s lies ready to be cut into a shirt for the coming summer and a jumper abandoned to the mending basket has now sat for so long I can’t be sure I like it enough to bother darning the few silverfish holes I’ve found in it.

While the op shopping posts are light on, as is the op shopping, rest assured it’s not lost to me or my small corner of the world wide web. Happy National Op Shop Week to you all. May the Op Shop Gods be with you.

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May 12, 2014

AUTUMN 2014 || MY TIME IS VERY DIFFERENT TO 'ME TIME'

katiecrackernuts.bogspot.com || thrifted sandals and sun hat

MY time is up. Today I return to work after a glorious two week holiday at home. The first holiday at home post children. The first real holiday at home since I started a new job. The first holiday at home where I wasn't planning dinners in my head by 9am, plotting out my days to get washing done, in, ironed, shopping for dinner groceries, picking things up and putting them away, picking people up or dropping them off and negotiating or nagging, mostly nagging. Even the first holiday where I wasn't thinking ahead to when I'd walk the dog and whether I'd get that hour in before it rained or some other thing stole my attention and time. (We put down a very, very sick and clearly suffering Axle on my first day of leave.)

#opshopscore // leather sandals, $6, East Gosford Vinnies; raffia hat, $5, Kincumber Vinnies

katiecrackernuts.bogspot.com || thrifted dress and West German vase

All that responsibility, gone, and in its place, time, loads and loads of time. Time to op shop. Time to cook meals I'd never cooked before with recipes I'd saved and collected but never found the time or patience to try. Time to read and to write. Time to blog. Time to take photos. Time to be in the garden. Time to spend an hour in a café with last month's magazine, and one from this month. Time to see friends. Time to pen a letter. Time to write a card. Time to clear out a cupboard and mend a dress, or two.

#opshopscore // appliqued dress, $3, Wyoming Lifeline; West German pottery, $15, Kincumber Vinnies

katiecrackernuts.bogspot.com || home made toastie and sponge cake

Time to make things. Time to read knitting patterns. Time to harvest last season's crops and share them. Time to enrol in a course of study. Time to explore others. Time to talk about the future and start really planning for it. Time to write Girl Guide programs and even run a Girl Guide meeting, and enjoy it rather than be annoyed at how little I'd prepared and how much more I could have done.

katiecrackernuts.bogspot.com || point of view vest and knitted socks

Now my time is up and it's back to early alarms and schedules and to-do lists, and plotting ways to carve out more little parcels of 'me time'.

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May 06, 2014

AUTUMN 2014 || A POINT OF VIEW ON FOUND YARN STASHES

April 08, 2014

AUTUMN 2014 || GEM SCONES AND COMMONSENSE COOKERY

March 27, 2014

AUTUMN 2014 || WHO SAID RICE COULDN'T EXCITE?

December 14, 2013

#OPSHOPFIND || MISS MING'S SILK SINGAPORE SUIT

OP SHOPPING isn't just about an affordable wardrobe, the treasure hunt for something special or unusual. It's not just about recycling and giving something a second life. It's not just about giving to charity and supporting social services in your local area.

No, op shopping is also about the stories. It's been such a long time since I illustrated my op shop finds and it's something I want to start again next year but in the meantime I am amusing myself with imagining the lives my op shop finds had before they came to be in my hands. What had it been purchased for? Who had taken in the sides on one piece, or cut away the hem on another? Where was it worn and what prompted the original purchase?

For some pieces, the stories in my head are clear. I have a pair of leather brogues that are marked 'David Jones' on the inner sole. I imagine a city woman squirrelling away savings from pay envelopes until she had just the amount to buy the shoes. They're a winter shoe and I've conjured the woman's wider wardrobe of Fletcher Jones pleated skirts, sensible twin sets and shirts with carefully laundered shirts with pussy bows. A whole character has formed from one pair of shoes.

It's the same with a suit I bought recently. The green, patterned silk is stiff and the tailoring is so precise. It's beautiful actually. The suit is for a woman in her late 30s, maybe her 40s. She's looked after herself. The cut is slim but a more mature look just hinting at a younger woman's sass. There's a little bit of show and style. The fabric sparkles but not in a way that's too showy.

Miss Ming's, of Singapore, is the tailor. This was once a modern woman's shopping destination, I am sure. The era is late 1960s, early '70s.

The suit is silk. Was it an expensive choice for the time? A decadence allowed, a frivolity? Was it chosen on a port leave shopping trip - the cruise boat heading into more exotic waters as it headed north? Was it bought by a woman who chose to live in the city at a that time? I peer into the street scenes of the HBO tele-drama Serangoon Road to see whether I can see a resemblance to this mystery woman of my imaginings.

Whoever it was chosen by, she didn't wear it, at least not very much. The linings are still stiff and there are no markings of wear - no tell-tale stains under the arms (Singapore is hot, after all), nor colouring on the cuffs or hem. It's been stowed away in a cupboard or trunk and in recent weeks was chosen to be discarded to the op shop where I came across it and finding it an okay fit, forked out my $10. Not a bad spend for an afternoon of day dreaming.

#opshopfind // silk suit, $10, West Gosford Salvos

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