"Settling into a new country is like getting used to a new pair of shoes. At first they pinch a little, but you like the way they look, so you carry on. The longer you have them, the more comfortable they become. Until one day without realizing it you reach a glorious plateau. Wearing those shoes is like wearing no shoes at all. The more scuffed they get, the more you love them and the more you can't imagine life without them.” ― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams How true it is that the more we become familiar with something or someone, the more comfortable we are using it or being in that person's presence. Crochet a silver bauble necklace to go with your little black dress and give your look a touch of elegance and class. The more you wear it, the more elegant your attitude. "Occupied in observing Mr. Bingley’s attentions to her sister, Elizabeth was far from suspecting that she was herself becoming an object of some interest in the eyes of his friend. Mr. Darcy had at first scarcely allowed her to be pretty: he had looked at her without admiration at the ball; and when they next met, he looked at her only to criticise. But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she had hardly a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness. Of this she was perfectly unaware: to her he was only the man who made himself agreeable nowhere, and who had not thought her handsome enough to dance with.” ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth Bennet's allure was not obvious in her first encounter with Fitzwilliam Darcy but her appeal grew exponentially through subsequent meetings. Darcy became so besotted with her that he was willing to offer her marriage even though she was socially below his station. This pearl necklace cum bracelet is made with pearl beads and silver 4 ply thread which, like Elizabeth, has hidden beauty. When worn with a slinky black dress, your inner diva will shine through! Beauty is baffling, and difficult to define. John Keats once said that, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." [Ode on a Grecian Urn / John Keats] But this truth for Virginia Woolf is far from perfection, “Beauty was not everything. Beauty had this penalty — it came too readily, came too completely. It stilled life — froze it.” [To the Lighthouse / Virginia Woolf] "Look how we live, an’ wheer we live, an’ in what numbers, an’ by what chances, an’ wi’ what sameness; and look how the mills is awlus a-goin’, and how they never works us no nigher to onny distant object-‘ceptin awlus Death. Look how you considers of us, and writes of us, and talks of us, and goes up wi’ your deputations to Secretaries o’ State ‘bout us, and how yo are awlus right, and how we are awlus wrong, and never had’n no reason in us sin ever we were born. Look how this ha’ growen an’ growen sir, bigger an’ bigger, broader an’ broader, harder an’ harder, fro year to year, fro generation unto generation. Who can look on’t sir, and fairly tell a man ‘tis not a muddle?" [Hard Times / Charles Dickens] Contemplate Stephen Blackpool's quandary to make sense of the "muddle" in the world of Dickensian England while sipping a piping hot cup of Yorkshire Tea. Crochet a simple mug cosy to keep your tea steaming hot and potent. “At the bottom of her heart, however, she was waiting for something to happen. Like shipwrecked sailors, she turned despairing eyes upon the solitude of her life, seeking afar off some white sail in the mists of the horizon. She did not know what this chance would be, what wind would bring it her, towards what shore it would drive her, if it would be a shallop or a three-decker, laden with anguish or full of bliss to the portholes. But each morning, as she awoke, she hoped it would come that day; she listened to every sound, sprang up with a start, wondered that it did not come; then at sunset, always more saddened, she longed for the morrow.” ― Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary I am sure we have all felt like Emma Bovary, a hopeless romantic, who is waiting for excitement to come into her mundane life; dreaming for a Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet and take her away to an enchanting far away land! Or then and again, you may think about Shrek and the chaos in Neverland! Here is something you can crochet to tickle your romantic fancy...a pair of lovely ballet slippers to slip into at home (or on the plane). They are easy to make and come in UK size 8 or UK size 4 (see previous post for the smaller size). Happy crocheting! Elizabeth Barrett Browning [1806-1861] wrote some beautiful poetry in her epic poem Aurora Leigh which advocated more equal rights for women in the Victorian era. "With quiet indignation I broke in. 'You misconceive the question like a man, who sees a woman as the complement of his sex merely. You forget too much that every creature, female as the male, stands single in responsible act and thought as also in birth and death. Whoever says to a loyal woman, 'Love and work with me,' will get fair answers, if the work and love being good themselves, are good for her [...]" Virginia Woolf once said that, "for most of history, Anonymous was a woman," and that "a woman must have money and a room of her own [...]" How true that last sentiment is. Today, more than ever, a woman still needs her own space - even in the family home. That is why I have designed these beautiful slippers for you ladies who are the 21st century's "angel of the house". Put your feet up and crochet a pair of Victorian inspired ballet slippers to wear around the house. You deserved to be pampered! |
AuthorSerina Cheung Archives
August 2014
Categories |