Goodbye 2009 Hello 2010!

Just seeing out 2009 and seeing in 2010 with a lovely new Hermes scarf - Brides Rebelles.  I just love the colour on this scarf it really pops!

Pleated Frills with Half Ascot and plain single knot (thank you to my tpf friend you know who you are!) This style really shows off the contrast border and hem to great effect.

Half Bow Knot with Fur Collar

A Berlin Knot - well that's what I like to call it!!

With a scarf ring

A Friendship Knot

Here's to a happy new year CHEERS!!

Happy Christmas!!

Here are some of the lovely handmade lace decorations I bought in Berlin.  They are very pretty and look like snowflakes on the tree!

The candle in the big photo is 2 candles and one has a split in it to allow it slide up the other one to make a 3D effect.

Last year in Frankfurt I bought some beautiful hand carved sheep from a Tirolean wood carver from Austria - I love the design of the sheep and it was hard to pick which ones to buy!  This particular maker really makes lovely things.

Reflecting the travelling I do let's go over the Pond to the USA!!  One of the other things I collect are the White House Christmas Ornaments.  I started collecting in 2004.  It is now an annual puzzle as to how to get them over to the UK because the postage from the White House website is more than the cost of the ornaments!! I am usually lucky to find a friend with relatives who can accept delivery and then post on to me or send with the next visitors!!  Here is the first ornament I bought:-

Happy Christmas!!

Berlin - and a little something from Hermes!!

I just visited one of my favourite cities, Berlin in Germany. I went to see and enjoy the Christmas Markets and I was not disappointed - they had lots of lovely things to buy and lots of lovely Christmas trees and lights brightened up the city:-

Gendarmenmarkt

Unter den Linden

The Opern Palais Cafe Christmas Tree

and we enjoyed wonderful cakes at this cafe -highly recommended - here is my Marc de Champagne Kuchen - yummy!!

A market stall "am Rotten Rathaus"

The gluhwein on sale around the markets was delicious and I found a jelly jam of the same flavour - that is certainly very delicious at breakfast!!

I went to see The Nutcracker performed by my favourite ballet company, Staatsballett Berlin and it was wonderful, especially the dance of The Snowflakes with their Snow Queen it was magical.

The trip ended in a winter wonderland as it snowed!! I visited the gardens at Charlottenburg Palace and revelled in walking through the snow - it was beautiful - the only thing missing was a horse drawn sleigh ride!

 
View of the Palace from the far end of the gardens over the frozen lake!
 
 
 
 
   Finally no trip would be complete without a visit to Hermes - and I was lucky enough to find a new SS10 Twilly in just the colour and design I wanted - Tohu Bohu in blue.  And as a special gift from Hermes I was given a Kelly Bag shaped biscuit cutter as I left the store - you can just see it in my photo so I will have to get baking with the recipe provided by Hermes!!

Fur Fun!!

All the ladies on tpf are having a ball with their fur collars.  Here's my favourite look with my Hermes Dancing Pearls Plisse threaded through the collar and pulled through a scarf ring to give the flower knot effect.

Friendship Knots!

I have updated my original post to include links to some useful aids to tying the Friendship Knot which should compliment the video in my earlier post.

Friendship Knot Video

Vintage Scarves - Part II

For the next instalment I thought I'd post my blue vintage scarves, so here we go!

Brandebourgs

Worn with a basic fold and simply thread ends through a scarf ring to give a tie look.

My next blue scarf is from the Mens' range at Hermes - The Parade - it is covered in lots of race horses leaving a H gap in the pattern - it has a lovely red and orange striped border.

Worn with a basic fold with the inner edges pinched and pulled through a scarf ring to give a frilly bow look.

and worn simply in a basic fold tied around the neck twice

and knotted discretely

Finally Expeditions Polaires Francaise in navy featuring those delightful Huskies! 

This scarf requires a bit of thought to get the huskies so they show!  So here I am wearing it cowboy style - triangle fold and tied at the front with the scarf pulled over the knot to hide it.

And secondly worn equestrian style simply tied with the scarf pulled out so it shows the pattern

Finally just worn in basic fold with scarf ring.

 

Hope you enjoyed the blue collection!

Vintage Silk Scarves

The 70cm x 70cm vintage silk scarves made by Hermes are probably my most favourite size of scarf, being small I sometimes feel I get lost in the 90cm ones!! The silk is much softer and more flexible than 90cm scarf silk and it even hand washes very well - Hermes do not recommend washing but I prefer it!  Hermes started to offer the 70cm size in 2007 and now each season they usually reissue some older designs and some new fresh designs in the 70cm size.  I already have my eye on a few of the SS10 designs.

Anyway inspired by a lovely lady on tpf here are a few of my 70cm scarves - lets see the black ones first....there'll be another instalment of another colour another time!

Brandebourgs

I bought this because I love military costume and as you can see from the far right of the photo I have it in blue too.  This one folds beautifully to show off the braid swirls on the corners.

Please Check In

I bought this scarf to reflect my love of travel - I thought the design was very clever by Dmitri Rybaltchenko.

PCI worn with a basic fold and pulled through a scarf ring.

Graphic Night

This purchase was inspired to 2 lovely tpf ladies - and because I love New York City - this is really a man's scarf and reflects the twinkling city skyscrapers at night and is covered in little Hermes "H"s and has a lovely red contrast hem.  I was lucky to get this as it was the last one at Hermes FSH!!


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

My GN worn cowboy style.

One of my Favourite Scarves and a New Addition to my Collection

Today I wore one of my favourite scarves Carenvale de Venise - just worn simply in a cowboy style with a knot over the top.  I love the strong colours in this scarf, especially the red it gives a real pop of colour as well as reminding me of my beloved Venice!

At the weekend I went to Paris to see the ballet Giselle - it was beautiful.  This meant I had the opportunity to pop into Hermes FSH and I managed to find the last Graphic Night mens 70cm vintage silk scarf and lucky for me it had red in the colourway and a red contrasting hem!  Here shown worn as flower/butterfly "knot" using scarf ring.

Paris was beautiful and so were the cakes at Laduree and the patisserie near my little hotel!

Let's get to the Point..u

I have a number of Pointu scarves and I have been trying to come up with new ways to wear them. Today I found this looked nice:-

It is very easy to do and is a play on a knot you can do with a normal square scarf.

I am wearing/using my Hermes Carre en Carre Pointu which I bought in Hermes Berlin Friedrichstrasse last January.

Take the pointu and place it right side up.

Then pull one end over to meet the other end so that the wrong side is showing on the triangle you have made.

Then pinch together the right angle/square corner you have made along the longest part of the triangle

Then gently make a knot and pull tight - try to avoid straining or pulling on the hand rolled hems

Next flip the scarf ends open to reveal the right side again and tuck the knot down behind the twist of silk

Then put the scarf around your neck, you can either put the scarf in place by tying a knot at the back or you can cross the ends over at the back once and bring the ends back to the front and knot again under the twist at the front.