My Mom's closet

I love her jacket, flared jeans and the dash of color her scarf imparts to the outfit!

Whenever I visit my hometown in California, I always pore over my family's photo albums. My parents were stylin' in the late 1970s and early 1980s! (They're still stylin' now). When I first got into vintage clothing, I asked my Mom why she hadn't saved any of her clothes and she said "how was I supposed to know you'd like old things?" Boohoo.

My Mom's earrings were made of tiny pale blue silk flowers. I used to wear them. I think I may have destroyed them, actually. Oops! Check out my Dad's gray slacks and plaid shirt.

My parents' first apartment. See how awesome it is? Look at those funky floor cushions! The modernist coffee table! The rug! This is late seventies decorating at its best.

My parents feed a squirrel at Grand Canyon. Check out my Mom's Lopi-style knitted jacket!

In Taipei. My knitted cardigan had orca whales on it and was made by my grandma (my brother had a matching one in pale blue).

Ooh, we look so 1981 here! I love my green crochet poncho with the fringe and my Mom's puffy vest and plaid shirt.

These are just a few of the photos we have of my Mom in her awesome outfits. I'm looking forward to scanning in more pics next time I go home. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

My clapotis is done... finally!

Way back in late 2007, I started work on my Clapotis shawl. At that time I was studying Mandarin on a scholarship, so I couldn't really afford to buy luxuries like Noro Silk Garden yarn. When my parents came to visit me that winter, however, I managed to finagle them into visiting a yarn shop with me. I planned to find a less expensive variegated wool yarn, but then my Mom offered to buy me enough Silk Garden to make a full-length Clapotis. Obviously I was thrilled! When I got home, cradling my bundle of precious, precious luxury yarn, I immediately cast on for my shawl. I spent the next few weeks working on it... and then got bored.

For two years, my Clapotis languished in my yarn drawer. During that time, I finished a nine-month-long language intensive, started working at features writing job where I had to conduct interviews and do research in Mandarin, learned more about my family's heritage and background here in Taiwan, made new friends and got married in San Francisco. All those things happened and yet Clapotis sat in a lump, unloved and forgotten because the thought of having to do yet another meter and a half of mostly stockinette stitch made me want to eat my head.

A few weeks ago, I pulled out the Clapotis again and decided to finish it. I felt guilty for all that nice yarn sitting in my closet, unused. At first I thought about unraveling it and finding a more exciting pattern, but Noro Silk Garden is a very sticky yarn and that would have taken forever. So I just clicked on with my knitting needles... and now I have a nice, warm Clapotis! Yay, just in time for summer!

Fortunately it's been a cloudy and windy lately, so I still have time to enjoy my Clapotis before I have to put it away with my winter clothes. I'll try to work it into an outfit post soon. In the meantime, my cat will court it. He's totally in love with my Clapotis. When I was finishing it the other day, he plopped down on top of it, kneaded the soft wool and then started suckling it. AHHHHHHH!!!

Eureka! Eureka! Eureka! in Taipei

I'm still working on getting my outfit-making mojo back. It's getting warmer in Taipei (finally!) and all I've wanted to do is wear t-shirt dresses and avoid thinking about another muggy, hot summer. In the meantime, I want to share one of my favorite Taipei-based fashion blogs, which is run by the owner of Eureka! Eureka! Eureka!, a cool boutique in Taipei.




The woman in all these photos is Sandy Wu, who opened Eureka! Eureka! Eureka! in her mid-twenties. I interviewed her a few months ago. She's very soft-spoken, a definite contrast to her outfits. I love her sense of color, proportion and fun. Also, her store recently started carrying those Les Queues de Sardines tights you've probably recently seen on a few fashion blogs and the only thing that is stopping me from running over and grabbing a pair is that we have an insane cat who is good at sensing when things are expensive and delicate. He caught him gnawing a pair of socks I'd knit the other day. Bad cat!

I'll be using Sandy's blog as inspiration for my own summer outfit planning. There's a definite art in dressing for weather that's extremely humid. I'm a big fan of just pulling on a sundress, but I realized while going through my wardrobe the other day that I don't actually own that many sundresses. I want to invest in more separates so I have some more variety, but I'm also not great at mixing and matching! Sigh. Anyway, for those of you who are looking forward (or not) to very hot summers, what are your wardrobe survival tips?