I think I need a shirt like this

Cold weather

Here are my tops tips! for cold weather

- Wool everything. I even used to have a lovely soft wool vest from a German department store, but it got moth. This year I got some lovely merino wool mix tights from Marks and Spencer. I'm still looking longingly at lovely ribbed Falke wool tights though.
- Uniqlo sale for lovely wool cardigans.
- Wear a slip. It stops draughty gaps when wearing a shirt and skirt.
- Avocado oil for horrible dry winter skin. I use it as a night cream. I have a marvellous bottle from a French supermarket which has the avocado smell added in (because avocado oil doesn't actually smell of avocadoes). I love it when things are artificially made more natural.
- Lots of thin layers is better than one or two thick ones.
- Wear a big scarf. If it's cold, it adds a useful extra layer, and it's more glamourous than a cardigan.
- Always wear enough hats and gloves and scarves to stay warm outside. Being avoidably cold is the most miserable thing in the world, and all you will think about while you are out is the lovely woolly hat you left at home.
- Boots, of course, for warm legs. And a pair of socks between the boots and the tights.
- Cycle to work. It's much nicer in the cold than in the heat, and it warms you up for the first hour of the day.

Objects of desire

Oh, look at this. So beautiful. It's like one of the suits Anne Vernon wears in Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (you can see her here). Now I must stop talking myself into buying it. I don't need it at all, in any way.

Favourite inauguration outfit

I LOVE Sasha Obama's orange/pink/red outfit, and such cute shoes!

(Photo from the Guardian)

From The virgin in the garden, by A.S. Byatt

Frederica affected a long white nightdress with full sleeves, and a yoke of broderie anglaise threaded with black ribbon. She liked to imagine this garment falling about her in folds of fine white lawn. It was in fact made of nylon, the only available kind of nightdress, except for vulgar shiny rayon, in Blesford or Calverley. It did not fall, it clung to Frederica's stick-like and knobby limbs, and she disliked its slippery feel. She was always too easily seduced, when buying clothes, by some Platonic ideal garment possibly, though not necessarily, also envisaged by the makers of the cheap imitations she could afford to buy. She would have had a Yorkshire sense of quality in cloth if she'd had the money to go with it. Lacking money, she refused to be shrewd about the second-rate.

I made this

It's Vogue 8409 - a Very Easy Vogue - and the pattern was a dream. The material is satin with a slight stretch, and I lined it in bright pink, which you can't see, goddammit. (First time I've made my own lining, so I was enormously pleased with myself.) I loved the pattern so much I might well make it again in black wool for work, if I can work out how to make the crossover neck slightly more modest. At the moment the dress is a bit 'Hello, these are my boobs' which is fine for special occasions but not for the office.

...and other resolutions

- Cut my fringe back in.
- Stop buying shoes. Gah.
- Wear eye make-up.
- Write more on this blog. (Blah blah as usual.)
- Do some more crafty things. I want to make a patchwork quilt!

Things I am going to make this winter

- Two full, wool skirts, in red and in black, probably to this pattern or one like it.
- A knitted snood in grey, that I can wear as a scarf or pull over my head to keep my ears warm.
- A grey or dark blue pinafore dress.
- An A-line black wool skirt with a waistband.
- A wool smock dress in green or mustard or bright blue, to cheer up my very grey wardrobe.
- A plain red jersey dress. Empire line. Sort of swingy. Maybe this pattern, but without the rolled hem.
- A smart dress with the beautiful fine black wool challis I have.
- A really chic 1940s style hat.

I'm also going to try and finish the grey wool coat I started on (before realising I was using the worst pattern in the world). I think I can salvage it, and the material is beautiful: lovely nubbly grey boiled wool. I must make a coat this year. I am fed up with not having a decent smart everyday coat.

Things I need

For 'need', read 'want':

These boots:They're like the perfect boots. The zip goes up the back of the leg, and the heel is an inch and a half high, the perfect heel height for winter boots: you can cycle in them but it still gives you a bit of a lift. They are totally perfect, and a lovely black leather (you can't tell from the picture but I've looked at them in the shop).

I think I have a bit of back pay coming in my next pay packet, and then these will be MINE all mine.

Things my mother told me

I remember about eight years ago, I was complaining to my mother about the fact that I only seemed to attract Tories (my most recent boyfriend had been a Territorial Army type who thought Douglas Hurd was a great statesman). My mother thought about this for a bit and then said 'I don't think left-wing men go for girls who wear straight skirts - maybe that's it?'.