do you mind if i knit

Potatoes in disguise.

Hello dear readers, lovely to see you! How would you like a bit of something to bring a smile to your face, rather than a colour fix, today?

And what do you think of the potato dressed up as a baby?! With a diaper! Don't you think it's hilarious? If not hilarious, well, pretty amusing then...........

I think this baby was meant to have that circle of tinsel on its head, as a halo, not on its  face. Some wings would have been the finishing touch in my humble opinion.

Who would have thought that a square of kitchen towel could have looked exactly like a diaper, when wrapped 'just so' round a potato.

And what about the little chap above?  The simplicity of this one is just, quite simply, beautiful. It's some Ginger, cunningly disguised as either a Crab, or a Lobster, I can't quite decide.

Maybe I'll go with the Crab idea.

This potato, craftily disguised as a Dalek, caught my eye.

A Dalek Potato, how splendid!

Or is it just that, if anyone was to get hold of a potato, and decorate it to look like something other than a potato, it's funny? Potatoes, I've discovered, can be fun.

So why isn't there such a thing as potato decorating parties?

Maybe there is. I just don't know about them. They do exist? Oh! They're for children only? Oh! Adults can only join in if supervised? Oh.................. I see, I'm too old.

The above photo is more my age group is it? Well, I don't know, I prefer the children's category.

(And just as an aside, was the person displaying these vegetables having a joke?!!! AND he got first prize. Maybe the judge was having a joke).

I had to put this cat picture in for all you cat lovers...................... is soooo sweeeet.

I'd love to own a cat that looked exactly like the one painted above.

A good use of plastic bottle tops in the miniature garden above, don't you think? A bottle top as a tiny table, and a bottle top as a fish pond, with Goldfish in it, or should they be Sharks? Toothpicks create the structure for the swing, which is very nice, but not as nice as those chocolate hundreds-and-thousands, that are meant to look like earth. It must have been so tempting for all those little eyes at table height, to reach their little fingers over, and gobble a tiny bit of 'earth'. As for the grass/gravel stuff, what do you think it's made of? My guess, and I'm sticking with it, is grated Cheddar cheese.

The grated cheese on the above miniature garden had been cleverly dyed green. I detect the input of an adult in this one, the wit is quite sophistacted for a young child, don't you think?

I had to show you this one. Potato disguised as a baby bird. It might not be as witty, or as funny as the potato diguised as a baby, but it sure is CUTE.

I agree with the award of first prize for this egg. Isn't it beautiful! So simple, love it!

Aaaahhhhh, for the summer months of entertainment, when we went to the Agricultural shows where all these photos of potatoes in disguise were taken. Heaven, I love them. And I miss them in the winter months.

About March time, Hugo and I start to wonder about the shows out loud, and we get quite excited about their imminent arrival. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, talking about them now, especially as Christmas hasn't even gone by. I am quite simply, Not going to mention that word, Christmas. I'm wondering if maybe this year we need to get a real tree, rather than drag the fake one out of the attic, then I might start getting excited about putting up Christmas decorations. Or maybe I need to borrow a child, and be infected with some seasonal excitement. (I think I just heard lots of Mums shouting "you can borrow all my children for the weekend").

I bought our fake tree years ago, and it's still going strong. The reason I bought it, was that I hate to see dead, dried up Christmas trees abandoned infront of people's houses, after the Christmas season is over. It really does make me want to cry when I see the skeleton of a Christmas tree, lying in the street. I seriously, seriously find it distressing. BUT.................... I do love a real Christmas tree, there's nothing quite like it is there? the lovely smell. I know my in-laws always plant theirs outside when they've finished with it indoors, which I applaud. So I was DELIGHTED last Sunday, when I was watching Country File on the t.v. to see that a man has set up a company where you can hire a Christmas tree, one in a pot, that stays alive. You can even hire it year after year, have your family's name on it, and they look after it all year round, till the season of good will arrives. I'd have a real tree if there was a company near us doing the same thing. Untill then, I shall just have to carry on scrabbling around in the attic, and dragging our fake tree down a wobbly ladder.

This was meant to be a light-hearted post wasn't it?! Sorry, got a little side-tracked there, by my feelings for Christmas trees.

The Agricultural shows are often held in huge fields, set in spectacular landscape.

Like this dramatic setting. I tell you, I could bore you to tears with photos I've taken of the beautuful landscapes surrounding these events. But I won't.

And of course, there is always a 'refreshment' tent at these events, which is almost first place in the importance of things for us. The 'Industrial tent', where you see all the entries for the knitting, baking, flowers and veg and miniature gardens, and disguised potatoes, has to be first place in the importance of things, for me. The photo above shows the inside of one of the refreshment tents, I thought this was a particularly splendid one, because of the old-fashioned tables and chairs, which have obviously been brought out each year for a long time.

I took these last two photos whilst waiting for Hugo to get the tea and cakes. These refreshment tents are normally jam-packed, and it can be hard to find a seat, but we must have done that "let's go and get some tea and cake before seeing everything else" thing. In other words, lets get to the cake before everyone else does. So that's why the photos are looking empty of people.

One thing that scores loads of points, in my book, in these refreshment tents, is jam jars stuffed with flowers, sitting on each table.

Like these above. If this happens, I'm usually so happy and satisfied, the cake can be 'not very nice', and I won't mind. Flowers on tables at country fairs, make my day. The tables in these photos are looking a bit bare aren't they? Well, I forgave the tables for being bare at the time, because they were such nice tables, and I was sitting on a vintage chair. And I felt transported back to the 40's.

My system of scoring points for these events is very complicated, I know.

Would you like to see one more photo of potatoes in disguise? Yes? Oh gooody, this one is fab!

Did I say how much I love country shows?! Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em!

Now that's me done for today. Cheerio and cheers. Love Vanessa xxx

Something for a six year old Rainbow.

Hello, hello! And one more hello for good measure.

I do feel happy, because tonight's knitting group night, and I love it. My Wednesday night happiness. Do you have any groups you belong to that make you feel the same way?

I didn't forget my promise from yesterday, to show you the dress I crocheted for Millie, my Niece, who is soon going to be six years old. Like a Rainbow, Millie is a force of nature, and I love her to bits. I see her almost as a little sister. Much to Millie's delight, (but probably not her parent's delight), I've always encouraged her love of bling and bright colours.

Apart from knitting her cardigans, I've made her jewellery, my first necklace for her being this pink flowery thing in the photo above, which was crocheted.

I also made this necklace for Millie, above. Well, I made the flower, and then I crocheted the chain, for which Millie chose the colours.

Here's my little Rainbow modeling the necklace I made for her.

So, knowing that Millie likes an array of colours, I decided to bear that in mind when making her dress.

(There was also the small matter of not being able to bear the thought of crocheting a dress, however small, using only one colour).

Here we go! One very colourful dress!

I wonder if I could crochet one in a bigger size, for myself? Will give that a bit of thought.

The pattern is called "Flower Yoke Top", by Robyn Chachula. It was published in the July/August issue of an American magazine called "Crochet Today!" The pattern is for children from the ages of four to ten years old.

I made some slight changes to the pattern. I made it longer than the pattern required, to make it into a dress, rather than a top. And I added the ripple at the hem, by increasing the stitches in the last few rows. The pattern also tells you to do some extra crochet stitches around the completed flower shapes, but I decided not to do that, as I wanted the flowers to look delicate.

Above we have the flowers on the front of the dress.

And here we have the flowers on the back of the dress. 

Millie might decide she prefers the back as the front, and the front as the back! Whilst the colours of the flowers around the neckline are all different, the back and the front, which are crocheted seperately, and then sewn together, were done in the same coloured stripes, same order.

DK yarn was used throughout, and it was all the cheapest acrylic, in the brightest colours, no dull colours were allowed to stay in this one. I did try one more subdued colour, but had to take it out, it just didn't work, it had to be BRIGHT yarn all the way through.

I did enjoy crocheting this little number, a lot. It must have been working with all those bright colours that kept me happy. And it seemed to progress so quickly, but then that's crocheting for you, it is fast isn't it? If I'd been knitting this dress, it would have taken at least double the amount of time to make. So as a quick project for a small person in your life, I'd recommend this pattern.

So there we have it, one dress, hanging up on the Molly Brett picture, on a wall in my studio. I just need to sew my special 'a little something by vanessa' nametape on it, and then I can wrap it up and trust it to the postal system. hoping it arrives in good time for Millie's Birthday. Her sixth Birthday, so grown up!

And I am now off to my knitting group, for a lovely evening of chit-chat, tea and a biscuit. Cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

"You're arriving TODAY, not tomorrow!"

Hello, hello dear readers. Dear readers, it's ever so nice to be back. You o.k? You fine and peachy? Yes? GREAT!

I still feel a bit numb and generally pooped from the little surprise I got last Thursday. All my own fault of course.

I knew my sister, Fiona, was coming to stay for a few days, and I was sure it was Friday evening she would arrive. On Thursday morning, I got a call from her, asking a question. Just as she was about to call off, after our conversation, she said "see you in a few hours". I genuinely thought she was joking. After some enquiry, it turned out she was perfectly serious, she was just about to head out the front door and begin her journey up to me.

I found the scribble later on.

My scribble.

My scribble on a piece of torn paper noting the date of my sister's arrival. As noted months ago. Yep, she'd got the date right, and I'd got the date wrong.

There was a short silence on the other end of the line, when I phoned Hugo to tell him about my mistake.

Thank goodness Fiona phoned  in the morning, rather than the usual "I've reached Newcastle" call, which means she's an hour away from our train station.

It gave me time to clear the spare room, make up her bed, and also tidy the whole of the area we were hosting a Birthday celebration for Hugo's Mum, that evening. And do some urgent work.

So that could explain why, by the time the party was underway, I didn't pay attention to that 'one glass too many', and had a thoroughly fun evening, with Hugo's family. Fiona arrived at the end of the meal.

And that will explain my delicate state the next day as we did a tour of the shops. Gosh, I felt like a knife had been slashed through my brain. So annoying, I really hate drinking too much wine, and always limit myself to two glasses max. Even that can be too much.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the headache, the interminable headache, an unexpectedly early visitor (lovely as her visit was), tiredness and lack of sleep, all came together to make me feel thoroughly sorry for myself.

I don't think I could have looked at these BRIGHT photos untill today, without getting another headache. So the fact that I'm enjoying a bit of bright and cheery in the photos I'm putting up today, means I must be recovered, don't you think? I was wondering if I was coming down with something. We went to Edinburgh on Saturday, and it was intolerably crowded. I wondered if I'd finally caught something nasty, but I haven't, it appears.

I have been doing a lot of 'sitting quietly' though. Sitting quietly and wielding my crochet hook. I've finished crocheting a dress for my Niece Millie. Would you like to see it? It's very brightly coloured, (surprisingly). You would like to see it? Oh goody, I'll take some photos of it tomorrow then! (Ever so sorry if you expected photos of the dress right this moment). I tell ya, I could see myself wearing this dress. I don't have the figure of a six year old, at this moment in time, so I won't be doing that thing of "maybe I'll just keep it, and wear it myself, she'll never know it was meant for her".

Well folks, I do declare, a bit of tapping away, or chatting away, at the computer, has worked wonders for my listlessness. I feel quite back to my pre-Thursday Surprise self. I'll be off then, with a hop and a skip! See you tomorrow. Love Vanessa xxx

Y - arniversary.

Hello!

I know, I'm running a day late on my promise to show you my gift from Hugo, ever so sorry about that, I do have a valid excuse though, well, I think it's sort of valid.

Photos of the gift were unavailable yesterday, as I only got round to taking photographs today. Just could not find a moment in those short daylight hours to do a little photo shoot. Our days are so short on light at the moment. 

So, here we have it! Hugo's gift! Rather than a bouquet of flowers for my wedding Anniversary gift, Hugo bought me a bouquet of yarn! I tell you, I was THRILLED! Hugo knows exactly what makes me happy in life.

I knew there would be a yarn shop to visit, whilst we we were on Skye, so I took the precaution of taking a crochet pattern with me.  I've been wanting to crochet the Big Bow Cardigan, in the photo above, for a while. (You can buy the pattern here). It requires aran weight yarn to be used. Our local yarn shop doesn't stock a wide range of aran yarn, so I thought I'd take my chances when we went to Skye. It worked out well, because there was one yarn shop open, and that was Shilasdair Yarns.

Oh gosh! What a wonderful place to shop. The location and shop were lovely.

(Just before I continue, I have to sheepishly admit something. I didn't take a single photo whilst on our short trip to Skye. So very unlike me, I'm normally clicking away all over the place. I just didn't feel like it. Very lame, I know. It did rain the whole time, which wasn't conducive to getting out of the car and taking photographs at all. I know that doesn't explain why I didn't take photos inside buildings, but well, I needed a break....................... So, thoroughly pathetic and wishy-washy, I know, but there you have it, I just felt lazy. We'll be visiting again, hopefully next year, and I'll be snap, snapping away on my camera for you then).

You can see I've made a start on the pattern already, couldn't wait to get going!

I love the fact that the wool I'm using is British wool, gives me a warm glow to know I'm crocheting with good old home-grown yarn. And this aran weight yarn feels quite bulky to work with, even though it's only a little thicker than DK yarn. Using this aran wool yarn, makes me feel very close to the sheep it came from, it feels like real sheepy wool, has a very woolly feeling, rustic, with tiny shreds of grass still stuck in the fibres. I can hear that sheep baaaaing, see it's little face, hear it chomping away at tufts of grass, and I can feel its fleece, all springy and cuddly. The sheep on Skye looked very clean, because it rains a lot there. They must get washed by all that rain. The sheep all looked like fluffy white clouds with spindly legs and a little head poking out. Just how you like to imagine sheep.

I thought you might like to see the leaflet that came with my bag of yarn. My lovely bag of yarn.  The aran weight yarn wasn't the only yarn they were selling of course. There were shelves stacked with hand-dyed Silks, Merino, Cashmere blends, and various other fibres. And all the colours were dyed in a room behind the show room, which we were given a little tour of.

On the Shilasdair leaflet, there's a picture of the area with the dyeing vats. The room itself was like a dank old barn. There wasn't any dyeing going on when we visited, but I imagine the place gets very hot and steamy, with the vats of dye bubbling away. It was wonderful to be allowed into the dyeing area though, fascinating.

And here we have some Daffodils. The first I've bought, a little early, don't you think? I usually spend the Winter trying to enjoy the cold and dark to my best ability, but secretly harbouring a wish for Spring to appear. I find that buying early, (much too early), Daffs, makes me feel like I'm cheating winter a bit. Probably a dangerous tactic.
Still, it is so nice to see their happy faces, they're so cheery, even if they're not seasonal. I like the 'idea' of sticking to buying seasonal flowers, it's a nice tradition to do that don't you think? But in practise, I'm afraid all that goes out the window, and I just love to have some of my favourite flowers around.

Hugo's just called me for supper, then I'm off to my Wednesday night knitting group. I'll be taking my crochet, Big Bow Cardigan with me to work on. Thank you for all your fab comments on my last post, I loved them, it was fascinating to hear how many people have upped and moved to start life anew. Very inspiring. I really must dash, or the chef will not be amused. Ta-ra and take care. Love Vanessa xxx

Shall we get back to normal Vanessa?

Hello, lovely to see you, so glad you've popped by!

I'm half back...................... My body is sitting here at home, and my mind is over in Skye, where we went on a short holiday last week.

Oh we had the most GLORIOUS time, just glorious, and I wanna be back on holiday, I don't wanna be back in reality.

This sound familiar to anyone?!

It's the post-holiday blues, isn't it? And many of us get it, after we've had a wonderful break. After dipping our toes in dream land, where  all stresses and strains slide off our shoulders, and we just exist to enjoy ourselves. Which is just what Hugo and I did. No arguments, no strained silences, just compatability and loveliness.

And I fell in love with the Isle of Skye. I'd like to live there, and that's all I've thought about since returning home.

Have you ever returned from visiting a place on holiday, and thought, "I could live here, I really could"? Many of us have, I know.

After we returned mid-week, last week, I felt kind of rebellious. I just wanted OUT. Out of work, out of this town I live in, and out of reality. I very much wanted to be back on Skye, in that beautiful, rugged landscape, where life is of a simpler variety.

And the residue of that feeling is still with me.

But all holiday blues must be overcome, musn't they? Real life must be embraced. And carried on with. And what better way to kick myself back to reality, than with a big, bold, electric shock of the thing I love, COLOUR!

And what is happening with these crochet Granny Squares, you might ask? I think the intention was to make a cushion cover. I've been working on other things since I started this, so the intention for its finished state is still under revue.

This weekend just gone, I started on the step-by-step tutorials for my scarves. The peril of putting things off, leads to more work in the long-run, and that is how it is with these step-by-step thingys I'm doing. They take ever so long to do, and ever so much longer when there's three of them to do. But I'm getting there, and at least I've made a start, some of you will be glad to hear.

There is one thing I'm forgetting. While we were away, it was our wedding Anniversary, and I want to show you what I got from Hugo, instead of flowers. A really very lovely gift from my wonderful husband. Is it o.k. if I wait untill tomorrow to show you this wonderful gift? Great, I'm taking that as a reluctant yes!

So I'll see you tomorrow dear readers. Oh! Did I say?..................... It's wonderful to be back chatting to you, I almost feel back to my normal, reality based self. Thanks ever so for the chat. See you tomorrow. Love Vanessa xxx

My "Sarah London Scarf."

Hello, I've got something to show you!

I have to come clean, I've started a crochet project, without finishing my last project. Shockingly undisciplined, I know.

It's the scarf you see in the picture above, and it's a pattern I've worked out myself, inspired by someone who's crochet and colours I aspire to, Sarah London. She has a fabulous blog, which you can go to here. Infact, she's been doing a mystery crochet project over her last few posts, in which you can join in, by following her superb instructions.  Why not pop on over to her blog to see what the mystery is? I know how you like a bit of mystery.

I don't know if you remember these photos from a past blog post? I was showing you my "Granny Zig-Zag Scarf". This is the scarf I've abandoned for a short while, because I'm getting on with the new scarf. I've been working on it a little, here and there, and was working on it when I started my knitted "Hourglass Sweater", the pattern by Joelle Hoverson, from her book, "Last Minute Knitted Gifts". I have finished that sweater, but need to take photos of it, before I can show it to you.

So, let's see, what have we above?  Well, in the foreground, there's the "Sarah London Scarf", in the middle is the finished "Little Squares Scarf", and at the back, is the "Granny Zig-Zag Scarf".

Hmmmmmm, that's a few patterns to write up for you, isn't it? Let me apologise to those of you waiting for patterns for two of these scarves. I started to do a step-by-step pattern for the Little Squares Scarf, but it just kept on going wrong, or the light wasn't good enough to take photos. It takes a surprisingly long time to create those step-by-step tutorials, I was surprised just how long, when I did the pattern for my crochet square, that went into the Sisterhood Crochet Blanket. (Tutorial in the sidebar to the left, just incase you're wondering).

Anyway, back to the subject of the Sarah London Scarf. I'd like to show you the inspiration for the scarf, here. Sarah was doing these fabulous squares, that would make the most delicious blanket, if you made lots of them. The images of her squares have been lingering around in the recesses of my mind for a while. I decided the diagonal lines would look fab in a scarf, so I got crocheting Sarah's squares. But that didn't work out, the lines were zigzagging all over the place, when I was joining the squares together, and I thought that sewing lots of squares together wasn't what I wanted to do. So I had a think about what I could do to just make one continuous strip of diagonal lines, and after a bit of trial and error, I managed to work it out. So I've done all the trial and error bits for you, you'll be delighted to know, and now I have a healthy working pattern (not written out yet, but will be). I also worked out how to get the pointy bits on both ends, which you can see in the top photo.

This is the first time I've done any of this major "figuring a pattern out" malarky, and although it's really only a minor bit of working it out, I still feel I've achieved something.

But I couldn't have done it without Sarah's help. I've already e-mailed Sarah a picture of my scarf, and explained what I've done, and asked her permission to put up a pattern. She's very happy for me to post my pattern, which I was relieved about, I have to admit. I'm very conscious of not stepping on people's toes, and so I think it's very important to o.k. something like this with the person who's pattern inspired you, keeps everyone happy, and makes everything 'above board'.

Talking about patterns, Sarah has beautiful crochet patterns available on her blog. Some are free, some she charges a small fee for. I can't find a section in which all her patterns are conglomerated into one list, so you'll have to scroll back through her posts, but it's very enjoyable, you'll get the most enormous colour fix you've ever experienced.

And talking of colour fixes, aren't the yellow leaves above beautiful? Especially contrasting with the soft blue/green of my gloves, and the pink on the walls of my studio. I collected these three leaves while out walking the dogs yesterday, and spent the entire walk holding them in my gloved hand. You see I didn't want them to get crushed by being put in a pocket or bag, which is what normally happens. It was only at the very end of the walk I realised how lovely the yellow of the leaves was, against the colour of my gloves.

I thought to myself, "I'll photograph my gloved hand holding these leaves, for the blog".

Then I saw a ball of yarn.

This ball of yarn, in the photo above.

This is a colour in the Debbie Bliss 'Baby Cashmerino' range, and it's a completely new colour to me. Oh boy! I LOVE this colour! And I thought it would be the perfect finishing touch in my leaves photo.

Thought you might like to know the details on this yarn. Debbie Bliss Baby cashmerino, colour 340030, just incase you feel like treating yourself.

I don't know about you, but I love Debbie Bliss's Baby Cashmerino yarn, it's just wonderful to work with. I know it's not cheap, but it is so very 'worth it'.  I hope Debbie Bliss will carry on adding similar bright shades in other colours, to this range.

Now, what is it I meant to tell you?

Oh yes! Hugo and I are going away for a short holiday. While we're away, we'll be having our seventh wedding anniversary. It really doesn't seem like seven years we've been married, it's whizzed by. So I'm going to love you and leave you for a short while. I should be back blogging next Thursday hopefully, to tell you about our adventures, where we went, what the weather was like. And hopefully I won't be reporting any arguments. It's times like these, arguments happen, isn't it?! I'm sure we'll be just fine! We're going to a beautiful place, but I'll tell you where on my return. Take care, and I look forward to 'seeing' you when I get back. Ta-ra and cheerio, love Vanessa xxx

Mist - - eerie -- ous.

Hello! Would you like to know what Ellie's favourite word is? (That's Ellie above, who will be familiar to many of you). Her brother, Douglas, will be on the floor somewhere.

You'd like to know what Ellie's favourite word is?! Actually I should say phrase really.

I don't know if I should write it on my ever so clean and unblemished blog, it's pretty rude.

I'll tell you at the end, so I don't put you off reading the rest of this post.

There's Douglas, my beloved small boy, waiting patiently for his Auntie Anne. Auntie Anne is my dog nanny. You never heard of a dog nanny?! Oh, and her nannying services are entirely free of charge.

I know, I'm a very, very , very fortunate dog/child owner.

Anne takes the doggies for walks in the morning, on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday is her day off, but she takes them out on Friday. It makes the most enormous difference to the amount of time I have to get on with work. Huge.

Anne adores our dogs, and they love her to bits.

I do the walking when she can't, and recently, she's been away, so I've done all the dog walking, and it's something I've enjoyed, even though it seems to be very time consuming.

So, the mornings Anne walks them, they wait, tense and excited, sitting like they are, in the above photo, while I'm at the computer, reading all your lovely comments, from my blog post the evening before. Then the doorbell rings, and there is much squealing and barking, and Douglas tries to rugby tackle Ellie, and she barks frenziedly, and there is generally much excitement, while I open the door to greet Anne with a big thankful smile. 

Anyway, as I mentioned, I've been doing the dog walking recently, because Anne has been away. And the other day, I was very glad to be doing the walking, because outside, the weather was 'ghostly'. I took my camera with me on the walk, so I could share the atmosphere with you, and here are the photos I took.

Here we are, on our lane, at the start of the walk. Don't the trees look bare?

The mist makes everything look exquisite. Corners are softened, perspective enhanced.

It's the church yard, but we're not going into the church yard.

We're walking past the church yard, and on a bit, till we reach this lane. 

A grumpy man with his frail looking Greyhound mutters as he whisks past me, (strange behaviour, because the other day I got chatting to him, as we walked our dogs, and he was very friendly).

His wife, lagging behind with a little Jack Russell, apologises for her husband, and his stepping into my camera shot. "Isn't it horrible weather," she remarks. I couldn't help thinking the mist was atmospheric, and quite exciting.

I linger on the spot, till the man and his wife, and their doggies, disappear into the mist in the distance. 

Walking on, the doggies snuffling around behind me, we arrive at this circle of trees. Within the circle of trees there are a few benches dotted around. I've never seen anyone sitting on them.  

Oooohh, what's beyond the Beech hedge?

Nothing? 

This is the 'nothing' beyond the Beech hedge.

I do love a bit of mysterious!

I've always wanted to be able to believe in ghosts, by bumping into one. Sadly, I've never met a ghost, though I've heard other people talk of their terrifying ghostly experiences. When I was a college student, many years ago, I went on a trip to Wales, and we stayed in an old stately pile. The girls were all put in one enormous room, and we each had an old bed to sleep in, that looked like it had been used in the First World War. We were told that a ghost had been seen in our dormitory, which seemed to unsettle everyone.

Well, everyone, except for me. I wanted to meet the ghost.

So later on in the evening, while everyone was carousing like students do, I slipped away for an early night.

I got into bed, feeling like some brave explorer, wondering what my reaction would be, when the ghost appeared.

I waited.

And waited.

And nothing happened, so disappointing. Then some of the other girls came into the room, to go to bed, which was extremely annoying, as I hadn't seen the ghost yet. And of course, the ghost never turned up.

So, it's not that I don't believe in ghosts, no, that's not it all. What I believe is this. Ghosts sense I'm not frightened of them, so they deliberately don't appear for me.

Just kidding!

No, I'll believe in ghosts, the moment I see one, but till then, well, I'm healthily unfrightened by the thought of them, which probably means I don't believe in them, doesn't it?

It's getting dark, so time to turn back, head home.

Back down the lane. I've always loved this lane, lined with trees.

When we get to the church, we go back around it in a different direction.

There's the church, LOOMING darkly. 

And there's the church yard, with all the old grave stones.

You may think I'm morbid when I say this, but I find graveyards fascinating. Sad, but fascinating  never-the-less. As I read and mull over the loving inscriptions carved into the headstones marking each grave, I feel very sad when I see a baby is buried there, or think, how amazing, that grave dates back to 1782, I also get a sense of relief, that I'm very much alive, and how much I enjoy life.

These branches in the photo above, are like a curtain.

This walk, in the mysterious and eerie atmosphere of the mist, makes me feel like I've been transported onto the set of a film, a film set in North Yorkshire, the script adapted from a wild and passionate book by one of the Bronte sisters. It's very exciting, that feeling!

Must get on home before it gets dark and the vampires emerge.

Noone else is out and about, noone relaxing on these benches. 

Not even a ghost, on this lone bench.

That would have made a great photo opportunity, a ghost sitting on this single bench, all alone, don't you think?

Righty-ho, we're going home, back to the warmth. Back to a steaming hot cuppa and a fire blazing in the wood burning stove. (You'll have to imagine the cuppa and the fire, because I don't have photos of those).

Now, at the beginning of this post, I promised I'd reveal Ellie's favourite phrase didn't I?

"Bugga off".

Yes, that is Ellie's most used phrase. She's an independent little girl. Likes her own space. Doesn't always take kindly to affection, or being picked up, or being told what to do.

Ellie sighs A LOT.

So, my dear readers, this post today was a little out of character for me, wasn't it? Very little bright colour content, I know. I just had to share my misty walk with you, and mist isn't really very colourful, is it? Infact, it has a way of softening things, and making them disappear. But tomorrow, I have a post in mind for you, and that's all colour, colour, COLOUR! So sweet dreams tonight. Cheerio. Love Vanessa xxx

Sock happiness.

Hello, it's me, your spotty sock loving lady, (try saying that without tripping).

I've been saving this spotty sock subject matter for just the right moment.

Actually, the truth is, I was going to take a load of photos of my feet modelling these socks, with various coloured trainers, but that hasn't been 'got round to', and I'm ever so keen to show you these socks. These socks my very generous husband bought me. I thank my lucky stars I have a husband who is prepared to spend lots of money on socks, how many husbands would understand, and actively welcome sock loving? And buy this boxed set of socks?

This box set of spotty socks from Boden. 

I must admit, I did drop a casual "how would you feel about buying me the most gorgeous socks ever?" And I warned him that they were very expensive, and would he like to take a look at these ever so lovely socks on the Boden site. The fact that I rarely, if ever, ask Hugo to buy me something, other than for Christmas and Birthdays, went very much in my favour, because he realised I REALLY REALLY wanted these socks. (I wonder how much time should elapse before I repeat this? Five years maybe? When I want to, and with important things like this, I have a razor sharp memory. Shame it doesn't stay razor sharp at other times).

I do like my socks, you may recall from a couple of posts I've done in the past. I like Mr. Sock-man's stall in the Wednesday market. He didn't seem phased by my request to photograph his socks, infact he seemed quite proud of his socks, and tried to give me a bit of directing in where I should take my photos from.

He was ever so keen that I photograph his stall as a whole, which I did dutifully.

Shall we get back to looking at my spot socks?

I love these colours, especially the brighter colours. When I wear the brown socks, it will have to be with my battered old turquoise trainers, because I think that brown and turquoise contrast nicely.

It's very difficult to choose a favourite amongst these pairs, too difficult. 

I do love the green and purple combinations.

The coral and turquoise pairs do it for me too.

And what better visual exercise can there be, than  finding yarn that mimics the colours in some of my socks? 

Did I actually say it?

I LOVE these socks.

LOVE 'em LOVE 'em LOVE 'em.

But there's just one thing, although I'm a knitter, and I have knitted myself one pair of socks, knitting socks just isn't my cup of tea. I always feel that, after all that knitting work, I would want my efforts to be visible, and socks are on the subtler side of subtle. My tastes lie on the louder side of loud. I don't want my knitting to be hidden away in my shoes.

There's a very nice lady at my knitting group, who only ever knitted socks. She was obsessed with knitting socks, and used to knit them every waking moment. She'd arrive at the knitting group, wearing a pair of her hand knitted socks and a bright green pair of shoes, and I thought they were wonderful.

Then she stopped turning up to our Wednesday night knitting group.

Many, many months later, she returned, and after returning a few more times, (and my noticing that she was now knitting jumpers and cardigans, on large needles, not socks), I tentatively asked why she'd not been coming to our knitting group. Well, one reason was that the group clashed with a fundraising event that she was doing every Wednesday. But the other reason was that she had to stop knitting. She couldn't hold the needles to knit. Knitting was painful. She had done so much sock knitting, (and that is mostly done on thin little double pointed needles), that she'd got a condition where it was too painful to knit. (At this point in her story, I GASPED with horror, I can tell you). When she recovered, the doctor advised her not to knit with tiny needles, or the pain might return. I think she was off work for two months with the pain, so if the pain was to return it would be disastrous.

So she's now knitting things on a much larger scale.

One evening, she said something which I thought was interesting. She said that people now comment on her knitting, they never used to when she knitted socks.

And that is precisely why I don't knit socks. I'm a sucker for praise, and I like people to comment (preferably nice comments), on my knitting, and to do that, they need to be able to see the knitting in question. That's not so easy when your socks are tucked into your shoes, and under a trouser leg.

Don't get me wrong, I think knitted socks are gorgeous, and was very happy to receive a pair, knitted just for me, from my Mother-in-Law, Susan. I just don't like knitting them myself. I wonder if people who love to knit socks are attracted to the speed of achieving a finished project? For them, it's not about people seeing their endeavors, they just get huge satisfaction from having completed a pair of socks in a fraction of the time it takes to finish a sweater.

Maybe sock knitters are the sprinters of the knitting world, and sweater knitters are the long-distance runners? I'm a long distance runner myself.

Just before I leave you to go to my Wednesday night knitting group, I'd just like to share a lovely message with you. This relates to yesterday's post, and the subject of very nice messages I've received by people who have bought my paintings. Lorraine bought a painting from me recently.

When she e-mailed me on receiving her painting, she hadn't read my blog post from yesterday, so she wasn't in the least bit prompted to write the things she did. I asked her if I could include her message in a post, and she was happy for me to do that. I want to include it in todays post, because, well, it's just rather wonderful, I think you'll agree. Here it is.

Hi Vanessa,
  Just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU!!  My little heart skipped a beat when my beautifully presented painting (these little touches mean so much) arrived today - how excited was I to receive this delightful work of art - I love, love LOVE IT!!!!
  I knew it would look perfect in my living room and it really does.  My day, which had been on the down side, was lifted beyond my dreams.  How delicate are the winter berries in that beautiful little oriental teacup...just perfect -
 So imagine my surprise when I looked on your blog just now -WOW!!!  My poor little heart nearly jumped out of my ribcage and cartwheeled around the room - How gorgeous to see my pretty parcel, so carefully wrapped with my lovely label - Thank you, thank you , thank you!Please keep inspiring and generously sharing your colourful life with us.
 Love and blessings,
 Lorraine xxx

I think that's a very heart warming message, don't you?

Well, dear readers, before I go, let me thank you for all your lovely comments on yesterday's post. I appreciate them enormously, but you already know that don't you? Still, I like to say it anyway.  Cheerio, I'm off to knitting. Love Vanessa xxx

Just taking a look back.

Hello dear readers, did you think I'd done a runner?! I know Lucy at Attic 24 is cutting back on her blog posts, and I imagine that anyone who has a blog sometimes feels weary, and can identify with Lucy. I know I come across as chipper and energetic all the time, but sometimes that's me ignoring that I'm feeling tired, and not wanting to admit it to you, dear readers. There is such a thing as "blogging happiness", something inwhich, as you sit down to do your blog post, the brain clicks, and zap, happy, happy. The moment I type in that word "hello", that's me off on my happy hour. I may have not been feeling up to blogging a moment prior to that happy hello, but that magic hello deals with any weariness. Plus, all your comments keep me going on this blogging journey. I love to receive comments, just love it!

It's become a big thing for me when I miss a days blogging, I always feel like I've failed somehow. But yesterday I just didn't feel like putting up a post.....................

Anyway, on to the subject of today's blog. My little watercolour paintings. The number of pictures for sale in my etsy shop is dwindling. I've gradually been selling them, which is very nice, I have to say. And last Thursday I sold another one to Lorraine, which has been packaged up and sent off, hope she's pleased with it.

This is the painting Lorraine bought , in the photo above. It always feels a bit strange parting with them, I don't know why, just does.

And while I'm on the subject of my painting, do you remember me lamenting how I'd lost two paintings? I went on about it in this post. A couple of weeks ago, I found them in a pad of paper. I'd slipped them in to keep them safe, when I was moving my studio into the house. When I found them, just by chance, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was happy to find them, on the other, I was extremely annoyed with myself for having put them in such a silly, non-sensical place.

So, selling another picture, and finding the lost pictures, got me thinking, and wondering. How many pictures have I sold on etsy and privately? What have I painted? Well, numbers, (unless it's about how much money I have to spend on yarn or whatever), don't interest me, so I'm not sure how many I've sold. And as for what I've painted, well, there's only one way of finding out, and that's to rummage through old photos of paintings, and see what I've been up to.

Would you like to join me in having a look?

These aren't all the paintings I've done, I just had a look in my etsy shop, in the sold section, but I can't find the photos to add to the mosaic. I haven't done any more of these little paintings for a while now, crochet and other things took over, but I would like to do some more, I enjoy painting them, it's something fresh, away from work. I'm my own master when I do these paintings.

Occasionally, when someone receives a painting they've bought from me, I get a lovely message from them. I think there's one person who's messages charmed me completely. When I asked Nessy if she'd mind me sharing her reaction with you, she was happy for me to go ahead. These are the two e-mails she sent me, which bowled me over. 

Hello Vanessa
Your painting arrived today and thank you so much for sending it special delivery so it wouldn't get delayed by the postal strike. Mr. Postie and me had a good old chat about recent strike behaviour which we both find a bit silly. And annoying.
Anyway.
 I have been squealing with excitement all day and am yet to unwrap it as the
anticipation of the spotty jacket is part of the thrill. As a result I am still admiring it sitting patiently on the desk over wine, spooks and the raised eyebrows of my husband.
 Wine-ramblings aside. I have attached my favourite shot (it has travelled to the fuschia pink tea set unit, the kitchen table and back to the living room today). 
 Will no doubt darken your email inbox once I have opened it!
 many thanks
 Nessy
   
And then, a few days later.

Hello, hello, hello.
A busy weekend punctuated with peeks at my lovely new painting! The unwrapping had to happen in stages. First glimpse in the evening as the house was finally calm and tidy. Then repacked so I could enjoy the big reveal the next day in good morning light, before the clamour of the breakfast rush began.
 I love it.
 The irridescence on the flowers leaves almost look like they have been touched up for show by a make up artist. I love the way the depth of the watercolours contrast with the gentle, quiet emulsion blue.
 This new gem is going to be much admired in the dining room. I was thinking of a simple white frame if you approve. Photographs of Spotty will follow once she is nestled in her new home.
Hope you and yours  are doing well.
Nessy   

Nessy even sent me a photo of the package, still wrapped, waiting to be opened, but I can't seem to transport it from the e-mail to here, which is a shame. 

This is the painting Nessy bought.

Are they not wonderful, her messages?

I must, must, must do some more paintings!

Well, I'm off to do some crochet now (!). Ta-ra and take care. Love Vanessa xxx

My favourite type of matting.

Well hello there! Isn't it ever so nice to be at the beginning of the weekend? I must admit, I'm feeling a bit tired. I have myself partly to blame, because I've just been sucked into the site that is Ravelry, searching for patterns for crochet dresses, (31 pages), and then going to the knitted dresses section (over 80 pages, I gave up through lack of stamina). I fancy crocheting, or knitting a dress. That would mean abandoning all my unfinished projects, so I'm just going to have to exercise a bit of self control, and put it off for a while.

I did knit a dress once, from Lily Chin's book, where she uses big yarn. But I obviously got the tension completely wrong, because it turned out to be a bit short, and so is now officially a jumper. It was the guage instructions that stumped me at the time, the instrustions were to work out the guage over cables! I gave up, just couldn't see how you can count the number of stitches in a row over a cable pattern.

I'm getting a little side tracked here.

I've also realised that my normal method of revealing what I'm working on, (as in showing you a piece at different stages, leading to the big reveal), has been diminished by my first photo of this post, revealing the finished hooky mat, the one I said I'd show you, in yesterday's post (where I revealed the proddy mat I'd finished).

The hooky mat, in the first photo, has a very different look to the proddy mat above. I prefer the first, hooky mat . Maybe part of the reason is the large area of navy in the heart cushion, I really don't like using dark colours, but that's what we were provided with on the course. I managed to sneak the brighter colours in, from my own stash of wool fabric. I also prefer the detail you can achieve with hooky mats, rather than the big, bold statements you get when prodding.

To get the best effect with looking at this craft, you really need to see them from a distance. I'll take a photo of my hooky mat (the one with the flowers on it), from a distance, when I've made it into a cushion cover, then you'll see the full effect.

I have my next design already drawn up, and stretched on a frame. A frame, I have to add, that was made by my lovely husband. He also made the stands. He's really quite wonderful. I know just how fortunate I am to have a husband who is a DIY'er and a great maker of things. Very fortunate lady indeed.

I'm positively itching to get started on it, but first I have to cut about fifty jumpers into strips. Yes. Fifty at least. Well, heigh-ho, I suppose I should get going on it then, shouldn't I?! Have a lovely weekend, take care, and see you on Monday.
Love Vanessa xxx