do you mind if i knit

Grey.

Hello!

Even the special photographic lights I was given as a fourtieth birthday present this year, can't penetrate the dull day we are having today.

It's one of those days that makes you think of the word leaden, which is quite a beatiful word, especially when contrasted with the word pink. Or orange, or lipstick red. Leaden can be a word and a colour that makes other things sing when contrasted. Like a comedy double act, where the straight man or woman makes the funny partner shine and sparkle, setting off and showcasing their comedy.

I was given a deep bright pink Amaryllis flower yesterday, (by the florist because the flower was about to wilt and die, and I was admiring its beauty). And she wrapped it in a leaden grey coloured paper, and the flower's colour sang even more.

But my camera is not photographing well in the dim light today, so I can't show you the splendid Amaryllis unfortunately.

I did photograph a new Evangeline I have made, earlier, but the photographs are not good, hopefully we'll have sunlight tomorrow. Or even light.

So here I am, without photographs, except one I took last week of a rooster Hugo fashioned from pastry and placed on top of the steak and ale pie he made for supper. I'm working on a sculpture of a splendid cockerel at the moment, so that's why Hugo made the pastry rooster, it was rather wonderful, made me laugh.

The striped diamonds are progressing nicely. They are addictive to make, and I love seeing how the different colours knit up in to stripes.

Before I go, here's something you might like to listen to that may well make you smile, even laugh. 'In and out of the kitchen', comedy with Miles Jupp (from the superb, wonderful, fabulous series 'Rev'). If you do have thirty minutes where you can sit down and listen to the radio, perhaps curled up with your knitting or crochet and a nice beverage, please can I entice you to listen to 'in and out of the kitchen', link here. (unfortunately it's only available to listen to on i-player till 18th November). I'm sure you'll come away glad you listened, with a smile on your face.

A good way to start the weekend, with a smile, don't you think?

Cheerio!

Vanessa xxx

Exciting news! Roll up, roll up! Chick alert!

Hooray! Chick births over on blog Purple Podded Peas! If you like small fluffy chicks and big fat beautiful black Hens that's the place to be visiting.

I last reported in this blog post back on June 1st, that there were eggs being incubated in the world of Purple Podded Peas. Well, it's been a bit touch and go apparently, I think Celia was worried that they weren't going to hatch at one point. But they've finally hatched, and you can see a lovely little film clip in this blog post, showing mother and nine children tweet tweeting away over their breakfast. One little chick tries the tea towel out for gourmet possibilities.

It's been a strange old week here in my corner of the UK. Thunderclaps and torrential rain one minute, the next moment, bright clear skies and sun. We've been timing our moments. The moments we step out of doors. Apart from a little dog walking, I've been cooped up indoors most of the week, and found myself getting a bit of cabin fever. Staring hard at the garden whilst the rain pours and pours, and then pours some more.

The light goes too. You know how heavy the down pour is going to be by how many lights you have to turn on indoors.

It was duting one of these dark moments of being incarcerated in the house, watching the weather resignedly, that I found myself traipsing around some of the house photographing things.

Knitting bags in the living room. Hmmm, not terribly exciting, but it does lead me neatly to the progress of my knitted dress.

You know, I don't think mannequins are terribly representative of the human form, not mine anyway, I'm much less smooth than my mannequin. But pinning the back of my Debbie Bliss dress to the mannequin does give you an idea of what it could look like on a nice smooth figure.

I'm worried about the band that joins the skirt to the top half, I don't think it's long enough. I pinned the bit of the front half I'm working on, to the mannequin, and I really had to stretch the band to meet with the back half. I shall ponder that little problem when I finally come to join the back to the front.

I did take a photo of the front half pinned on, but it looks too rude to show you. You work from the band downwards first, then you pick up your stitches for the top half and knit upwards. I'm only at the stage where I'm knitting the skirt section, so there's no top half. The picture of it on the mannequin looks like the mannequin is topless, it's a bit alarming.

I'm coming to the conclusion that the medium size I'm knitting is too small. Usually Debbie Bliss patterns turn out larger than expected, so I'm surprised this seems to be the opposite case with my knitted dress.

And my other dress? The sewn one? I don't know, do I admit this?.......................... I think I don't really like the pattern. It came free with a magazine, and I thought it would be nice in the red gingham.

No. what it is, is I really like the top half, but I really don't like the skirt on the dress. And I don't like the waistband.

I'm meant to be making pattern B.

I can't get it out of my head that the dress is a bit too 'neat' for me. It's perhaps a 'smart event' dress. For someone else.

My confidence as a new sewer is in the balance a bit here, which might seem a bit over-the-top but that's just the way it is. The dress has a half finished waistband, and is currently lying in a dejected little heap on the table. I did experiment with a bit of shirring. The idea was to have a shirred waistband to soften the midrif a bit, but I chickened out after shirring a few rows on a long length of fabric. There's a wonderful friendly tutorial by Flossie Teacakes here. Don't you think the name Flossie teacakes is wonderful for a blog?

The only thing I can think of is to try and re-design the bottom half of the dress, which does seem ludicrously ambitious for someone with my limited skills. What do you think about creating an a-line skirt that starts from where I left off in the picture above? Will it look totally crap? Can I be bothered in my current 'about to give up' mood? Advice welcomed gratefully.

So aren't I the jolly one today!

I'm just going to give you one more link before I tootle off.

If you are a watcher of programmes like Grand Designs, you may well find the house building going on over at rose hip, in this blog post here, fascinating. I love Grand Designs, and any programme that involves making a nest, house building, housey stuff. Just one little warning, you may well get a little sidetracked by the beautiful pillowcases with their gorgeous crochet edgings that rose hip makes.

Have a good weekend! Vanessa xxx

What a Wedding! What a day!

Hello! Today is going to be about just one thing, the good excuse to have a party and the AMAZING effort my Parents-in-Law went to, to decorate their home with all things red, white, blue and patriotic, last Friday, that famous day of the Royal wedding.

Alan and Susan (my parents-in-Law), went all out on getting things to create a fantastic atmosphere. They went to a huge effort, and I think the success of our day wasn't down to watching the wedding on t.v. so much as the tremendous party Alan and Susan put on for us all.

We were sent a special 'by Royal command' invitation to the party, which set the feeling for the day just perfectly, and the dress code was red, white and blue.

The boys were all presented with Union Jack socks (see the first picture of this post), and us girls were givem either a copy of Kate Middleton's engagement ring, or earrings similar to the ring.

Can you see the copy of the engagement ring I'm wearing in the picture above?  I love it!

I found out much later that I'd drunk far too much sparkly stuff. The older I get, the less resistance I have to getting a headache when I drink alcohol. I do like a bit of bubbly though, don't you?!

  Susan did a tremendous job keeping us well fed with yummy food, Alan did a great job of topping up our glasses, and Cassie (Hugo's Niece) did a fantastic job making a biscuit fridge cake, the one that is meant to be Prince William's favourite cake, and was apparently at the wedding breakfast.

There were ten humans and three dogs all watching the ceremony on the t.v.

I took my knitting with me, but ended up being so fascinated by the extraordinary spectacle on the television I didn't touch my knitting.

All those happy faces! Wonderful to see, and nice to enter into the spirit of it all. There's something very joyful about being happy along with millions of other people, I really enjoyed that.

Kate looked so beautiful didn't she? I'd been thinking about what style of wedding dress she might wear, that morning, and I thought the Grace Kelly lace and simplicity would look beautiful on her, so imagine how strange it felt when I saw her wearing something reminiscent of Grace Kelly's wedding dress.

Yes, what a lovely day, thank you so much Alan and Susan, for making it something extra special.

Douglas, my dear darling Douglas, was pretty much stuck to Hugo or myself the whole day. He's terrified of children, it might have something to do with a child grabbing his nose and twisting it when he was very little.

I don't know if you know the blog 'coffee with a canine'? Well, Ellie and Douglas were approached a few weeks ago, about starring on that blog, and you can see the results here. It's a short interview.

Righty-ho, I'm going to have a little walk in the evening sunshine now, I haven't been out all day. Hugo's away sailing for a week with three other lads, on the West Coast of Scotland, so my days are to be run to my own rythmn, which is actually just working, and more work. I'm missing Hugo.

Cheerio then! Love Vanessa xxx

 

 

 

A four and a zero!

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been wanting to pop in and say hello all week! Hellooooooo!!!!!!!!

The weeks holiday (which was fantastic), has led to me being away from my blog longer than I anticipated, I thought I'd get back here on Monday, all bright eyed and bushy tailed, but I've been finding it hard to adjust to going from a week of no responsibilities (such a luxury), to being back in the real world of working a thirteen hour day.

This week following our return from holiday has just whizzed by.

I have been spending hours sorting through the holiday photos (274 of them to be precise), it's time consuming to do, but I'm almost there.

And recently, I've gone from having a three in one of the numbers that represents my age, to a four in the two digits.

Forty. It seems very strange to have reached this age, part of me feels like time is playing a trick on me.

I'm a little spring chicken, but our customs say I am now officially middle aged.

My sister told me that the age of sixty is now considered middle aged. It's because we're all living longer. That sounds spot on to me.

My families, (my family and Hugo's family), and my friends, made such a fuss of me. They made the day of reckoning, (which might have to be my new name for my Birthday), a really, really special day. I was dumb-struck by the generosity of the gifts, and the feelings of love and goodwill that came my way.

I was very, very touched that Hugo's boss and two of his work colleague's gave me cards and gifts. That was unexpected, very unexpected, I thought it was the nicest, most touching thing.

There was a small celebration with Hugo's family, where Hugo cooked the most amazing meal, (simple, but absolutely delicious, my favourite kind of food). My family are all hundreds of miles away so couldn't be there. My parents are in South America at the moment.

The weeks holiday we just had was partly our annual holiday (we save up for them, a little bit put aside each month), and it was also timed to coincide with the celebration of me entering my fifth decade.

We had the most wonderful time, really, really, really wonderful. I thought I'd share it with you on Monday, when I'll return to my usual blogging routine. How does that sound?

And the first two photos of this blog post show the card my seven year-old Niece Millie made for me. Very precious this card. I love the 'wish glitter' stuck on the inside. It reminds me how important it is to always make a wish on your Birthday. I'd love to know what Millie wishes for when she cuts her Birthday cake, but of course, you're never meant to reveal what your wish is, are you? I made a wish when I cut the cake Hugo made me for my Birthday.

Have a good weekend. See you Monday! Cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

Spring-like.

Hello! I have to give you a great big thank you, your supportive comments on my last post have been extraordinary. Infact I haven't got through all of them yet, because each comment is so interesting and valuable, I'm reading them a little at a time, and digesting them, each and every one of them. We're a real community aren't we? Thank you!

I was wondering to myself today, how long I've been doing my blog, and it's over three years now. My first ever blog post was on 13th October 2007, you can see it here, it's very short! I'd been reading other people's blogs avidly for about a year or two, those were the days I had the time to leave long comments on people's blogs, and read every blog entry of each blog I read. My overriding influence was the famous Jane Brocket, who's blog was then called Yarnstorm, but is now called simply, Jane Brocket. (I remember how I'd wait for each of her blog posts to appear with great anticipation). It was her stunningly gorgeous photographs and eloquent words that inspired me to start my blog. I wanted to be creative like her, and express the way I looked at the world through a blog. My comments on people's blogs were getting so long, they were almost like blog posts in themselves, so I knew I had something to say. I ummed and aaahhhed about it for about a year, feeling it was a huge step, that I would have to do it seriously, or not at all. I remember debating the name for my blog whilst on a walk with Hugo and the dogs. "Do you mind if i knit" just popped into my head, and that was that, I couldn't shake it off.

Then I did it, I took the plunge and started a blog. And I haven't looked back, I love blogging, wouldn't miss it for the world.

Whilst I've been developing my interests, and blogging away, Jane has gone on to phenomenal success with her books she's had published. And she still manages to find the time to do beautiful and interesting blog posts. She's someone to aspire to isn't she? She always will be.

I can't see my life without blogging now, it's absolutely integral to keeping me challenged and thinking, and appreciative of the world around me. And long may that continue.

I've been getting excited about the arrival of Spring in the last couple of days. We may still be in January, but my Hyacinth bulbs are 'springing' into action in their pot on the window sill, and for me, any plant growth at this time of year heralds Spring's arrival. And then Summer will be hot on Spring's heels, and happy days, warmth. Spring is my favourite time of year for flowers, I love them all, probably more so because of the preceding bleak winter months.

Whilst I was trawling through my old photo files, looking for spring pictures, I dipped into my paintings section. At the moment I'm very involved with doing paintings of collections of cups and other vessels, either with a background, or simply on their own, so it's quite refreshing returning to these paintings of single cups with flowers in them. I always say to myself, "I must do some more of these little paintings". And then I go back to being involved with what I'm working on, and forget my mutterings. I must have another look at doing some more of these small paintings, there's something charming, simple, clean, uncluttered and direct about them.

Snowdrop. Such an exquisite name for a flower don't you think? I almost love the name more than the flower itself, although I do like Snowdrops very much. So delicate and unassuming, so fragile.

I do love brightly coloured flowers best, so just before I go to join my Wednesday night knitting group, here's a splash of colour for you.

These photos were taken back in 2008. I received an impressively large bunch of Tulips for Valentine's day from Hugo, along with something else.............

............This handbag made of sweets. I've never eaten it, it's too charming to consume, so it's stashed away in one of the cupboards in my studio, I come across it occassionally and smile.

Must dash now, I don't want to miss the tea and bicuits at knitting. Or the chatter, warmth and feeling of contentedness. Cheerio then! Love Vanessa xxx

Isn't this little strawberry delicious!

Hello dear readers, hello new week, hello hello hello!

Is this not the most delicious looking strawberry you've seen in a long time?

This is Nancy Pearl, and she belongs to some friends, Miles and Bob (full name Barbara).

Hugo and I were invited to Miles' and Bob's for Sunday lunch, yesterday.

I'd got wind of a strawberry outfit for Nancy arriving in the post, and found I was beside myself with excitement at the thought of Nancy wearing a strawberry costume.

I don't know why I thought this would be some of the best entertainment ever, but I did.

I probably shouldn't admit this, because it's probably not 'cool', but as I'm not in the cool gang anyway there won't be any harm. I think the work of Anne Geddes is adorable. I love the way she dresses babies up as bumble bees and cabbages and anything else you can think of, they are just so sweeet. Too sweet for some, but not me. And you do have to admire how she manages to get those amazing photos of babies, because I imagine they're not the easiest subjects to photograph.

The hat was too big for little Nancy, so I'm hoping there's lots of growing room, and this won't be the last time I get to photograph her in her strawberry costume.

Wouldn't it be great to see her walking around, examining things, (like toddlers do), in her strawberry costume?!

I think this photo above is my favourite, she's just so sweet and beautiful.

Because the costume is padded, Nancy becomes extra cuddly in it, a little padded baby wearing padding, lovely cuddles there.

 

And my knitting? Well, some changes going on there, undoing of knitting, scrunched up face expressions going on, you know the sort of thing, when we get frustrated with what we're doing? I'll tell you about it on Wednesday. Stoical. I'm being stoical. Good word that don't you think?

So dear readers, I shall say cheerio, as Hugo needs to sit at the computer, to help me with something. Cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

Time with my family

Hello! I'm back from visiting my family in the South of England, and seeing publishers. Such a busy week, busy busy busy and very full-on with activities, but very, very nice to be doing all the things I did, and to be amongst my family, lovely infact.

My visit happened to coincide with my Nephew George's third Birthday.

Aren't they sweeeet at that young age?

We all got stuck-in to preparing for his Birthday party. My mum, dad, myself and my sister, all working away making and decorating the cake and various other bits-and-pieces. It's all a bit of a blur now.

George's big sister, Millie, wore her party dress, made by my mum. I love this picture above, I look at it and see Millie's mind working away at high speed, probably thinking about her next move, there's never a dull moment around Millie.

At the grand old age of three, George is very interested in keeping up with his big sister. They've started to play together a lot more, or maybe it was Millie playing with George's birthday presents, and George being allowed to join in.

Millie and George playing together does take a bit of pressure off auntie Vanessa to play in "Millie Land". You have to have an official ticket to get into Millie Land. And in Millie Land you have to do exactly what Millie tells you. At one point in my visit, when I was not in Millie's Land, I remember saying to Millie that I wasn't used to being told what to do by a six year old. Millie did look a little surprised, and then apologised, bless her. You can actually do straight talking with my Niece. But you do have to be constantly on your toes, ready to handle her next move, or should I say, missile. I do adore her, I just had to mention this incase you were wondering.

So shall we go on to a different subject? That first photo of this blog post, what is it?

It is this! A knitted pincushion watch!

I made this for Hen, from blog HenHouse, as part of the swap we've been doing. I didn't photograph all the other goodies in the parcel, (of which there were a lot), just this watch, because I knitted it, so I thought it might be of some interest to you.

My parcel was the last of our swap parcels. I've had to withdraw from our swap, not because I don't enjoy it, not at all, I love it, but because the time it takes to put all the gifts together is time I just don't have, I've found, which is a real shame. Hen has been very understanding about it.

Hen was thrilled to bits with this pincushion, it's lovely to get a thrilled reaction to a gift you've made isn't it?

I fell in love with this watch too! I'm going to have to make one for myself, one that isn't a pincushion, and not as bulky, so it can be worn more like a bracelet. Don't you think that would be quite fun? The pattern for this pincushion is from Jean Greenhowe's Bazaar Knits. You can see her website here.

Hugo has just returned from work, and lit the wood burning stove. I'm anticipating an evening infront of the fire, knitting and watching the goggle box, lovely to be back, and in my old routine. Cheerio till Monday! Love Vanessa xxx

 

 

Blue skies, bright mood.

That BRIGHT blue sky we had, this weekend just gone! GLORIOUS!

Joyous it was. It's a rare event to have two consecutive days of blazing sunshine in these parts, but we had it, we did, we did! When we have good weather, it's sometimes difficult to take it in. I always feel slightly desperate, because I don't know when it's going to end, I don't want the sun to stop shining. So despite having to work over the weekend, nothing was going to stop us going out and about, and enjoying ourselves a little.

That meant going to the beach with the doggies, and taking my crochet scarf to work on, when we stopped for a coffee after our stroll.

A little light beachcombing was inevitable, plus some examination of bird's foot prints, aren't they so delicate? I think they must be Seagull foot prints.

I like beachcombing, never tire of it ever. The whole process of observing makes every shell, pebble or bit of driftwood something to be marvelled at.

These pebbles are smoother than my hands I've just noticed.

I like to search for the smoothest, flattest pebbles I can find, preferably ones with a single line of white running through them. I've got a 'growing' collection of these pebbles, which I sometimes arrange on a flat surface, admiring their simple beauty.

On Saturday morning I woke up, opened the shutters, and lay in bed watching huge meringue-like clouds drift by. That whole day the sky was full of picture-book cotton wool clouds, ever so plump and fluffy. A blue sky with big woolly clouds gliding past has to be the nicest sort of sky, don't you think? A sky without a cloud, whilst pretty, is not as interesting as one peppered with drifts and puffs of cotton wool.

Yes, we made time for relaxing. Coffees on the promenade when the weather is good is a must.

This weekend was jam-packed with events in our town. The Slow Food Festival was on, and it was Open Doors day, where we got to access buildings and parts of the town the public don't normally get to see. The town is surrounded by Elizabethan walls, and there are tunnels under the walls that are usually shut off, so we did a little scurrying through tunnels, and up dead-end staircases, which was fun, I love a good explore.

One of the highlights of the food festival was seeing the piglets. Some very happy piggies, with their enormous mothers.

We were looking at them, longing for a cuddle. Hugo did stroke one piglet, and said it was like touching silk.

And there was a stall selling handknitted items, made from Alpaca yarn. I forgot to photograph the delightful Alpacas, standing eyeing everyone up and looking soft and kissable. The owner says that some of them do give her kisses. I was mortified that all her yarn had sold out very quickly, and had to console myself with buying a pair of hand knitted fingerless gloves. They're very soft, and the colour is the most gorgeous slate grey. Apparently it's very difficult to breed Alpacas with a grey fleece, they mostly pop out of their mums in a white, brown, black or a mix of all of those colours. The grey is very covetable. My tag that accompanied my gloves explained the yarn used in my gloves comes from Kate (who is apparently a bit grumpy, despite her beautiful grey coat). The husband and wife who run Barnacre Alpacas were lovely. They give all their Alpacas names, and don't have more than fifty in their herd, so they have time for each animal.

Well, dear readers, I must be off, I've got things to do and things on the brew. See you on Wednesday. Love Vanessa xxx

Twelve hours at sea on the Lifeboat.

So much to show you, but today, everything has to be put on hold, for the RNLI (the lifeboat).

This morning we were woken in the wee small hours (three a.m.) by an urgent buzzzzzing sound, as Hugo's pager, that alerts him to lifeboat launches, hopped about urgently on the bedside table.

When his pager goes off, Hugo stops everything, (as a volunteer for the lifeboat), and makes his way as fast as possible to the lifeboat house.

(Apparently another volunteer was having a bath the other day, when his pager went off, and he literally shot out of the bath, threw his clothes on without drying himself, and arrived at the lifeboat station soaked through, but ready for a launch).

So off Hugo went, and I drifted back to sleep.

When I woke up to the alarm, Hugo hadn't returned, so I knew it was a serious call. And it was, very. Hugo called me on his mobile to report that they were among many vessels searching for the body of a boy in the North Sea, because a ferry had ploughed into a fishing boat and sunk it. There were two people on board, the fisherman, and a sixteen year old boy. The fisherman survived, but the boy didn't.

After about twelve hours searching for the boy's body, it still hasn't been found. The police have been brought in, and the ferry taken back to Edinburgh for the whole matter to be investigated, and the accident has been reported in the news.

Hugo returned about an hour ago, wolfed down some chicken and chips, and then sunk back on the sofa with the doggies.

They both look dog tired, don't they? Ellie hasn't been at sea searching for a body though, she's been for walkies, had some carrot and a chew for lunch, and had a bit of beauty sleep, which might not sound busy to you and me, but may well sound tiring to other doggies, with equally tough lives.

Hmmmm, I'm just trying not to dwell on the tragedy of the boy, still lost at sea, and his horrible death. It's tragic. Must try not to think about it, and his family, whose lives will never be the same again.

I don't think I'll talk about my Fair Isle dress and it's progress just now. I was going to show it to you on Wednesday, but I was so tired, I went to bed. I missed my knitting group meeting on Wednesday evening, which is quite simply unheard of, I never, ever miss it, unless I'm away on holiday, so that shows how tired I was.

I've been reading all your supportive comments about my prints, and want to say a big thank you for all the lovely things you said, I would love to be able to reply to each and every one of you, but I can't quite keep up with my time management at the moment, I'm ever so sorry. I'll let you know when the full selection is finally in my etsy shop.

There's nothing quite like pets to come home to after a traumatic event is there? Just giving them a cuddle and seeing their tails wagging is soothing. Of course, Ellie and Douglas's excitement at seeing Hugo on his return, was absolutely nothing to do with the chicken he brought home with him.

Well, I'm going to pootle off now, or "puff" off, as I once heard a two year old announce as she left the room, which sounds ever so charming, don't you think? Have a lovely weekend, and I shall see you on Monday, fresh as a daisy hopefully. Love Vanessa xxx

Sweet things.

This card touches my heart, even though it was for Hugo and not for me. It is soooooo sweet it squeezes my heart.

It was Hugo's Birthday recently, and I have this image in my head of Millie, my Niece, pen held tightly in her little hand, all the experience and learning of her six-and-a-half years, (I know how important those halves, quarters, and three quarters are at that age), being put to good use as she hunches over the card, concentrating on not making a mistake.

I have to say, as her auntie, it's very difficult not to be impressed by the neatness of her writing. Is it neat writing for a six-and-a-half year old?

George, who is two-and-a-half years old, chose the card, I understand from my sister. It makes sense that he should choose a card with vans on it, because he is utterly and totally obsessed with machinery of any kind.

When I last stayed with my sister, I read a bedtime story to George, and it was very hard not to laugh. The book had no narrative, it's content was pictures of aeroplanes, cars, trucks and lots of other things that go vroom-vroom, with their names underneath. I tried to put as much expression into reading each name as I could.

The thing about this birthday card that touches my heart is that my Niece and Nephew like Hugo enough to send him a card (I imagine there was some prompting from my sister, but still, isn't it adorable?).

Talking about adorable things, look at this little girl:

Cuckoo, from blog the cuckoo is a pretty bird gave me this ADORABLE Dachshund she bought at Fanny Adams Vintage. She's supposed to be called Fanny, but like with any newly acquired pet, I fancy giving her a name of my choosing and calling her Clementine.

It must have been quite hard for cuckoo to part with Clementine/Fanny, don't you think? She's such a sweetie, with her pompom nose, and little bow perched on the end of her tail. Her expression is a mixture of cheeky and naughty, and like most Dachshunds, she's got tons of personality. And as for the fabric she's made of, isn't it lovely?

Clementine/Fanny was a gift out of the blue, very generous don't you think? I understand she's meant to hang from a doorknob, but I want to be able to see her properly and at all times, so she's in my studio, hanging on the wall where a picture used to be, near my desk. 

Now for a bit of the latest on my fair isle knitted dress.  Last seen at this stage:

The skirt section has reached it's full length, (which I haven't photographed yet, so there's more to see of the skirt pattern than is shown in the above photo), and it now needs to be cast off.

But in the meantime, I've started on the first sleeve.

This is the top part of the sleeve! Totally different from the pattern's sleeve specifications, and I haven't a clue  yet whether it will work, until I fit it into the dress. A mix of feelings here, excitement, and dread that it looks awful and I have to start again.

The red yarn at the bottom is a crocheted provisional cast on, which, when unravelled, will expose live stitches, and then I'll just continue knitting the sleeve downwards till I get to the right length, with a bit of shaping along the way.

I'm going to knit a fair isle pattern below the cabling, as I've done with the main body of the dress. It won't be the exact same pattern as in the dress, but I'll use the same colour combinations.

So there you go! The plan for my sleeves revealed! Wouldn't it be GREAT if it worked!

I've got to go now, I'm off to my usual Wednesday night knitting group, to do some more work on the sleeve, drink tea and eat my chosen biscuit. Lovely. I'll see you Friday then dear readers. Cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

P.S.  We just skyped my sister, and Millie and George were there. I remarked to Millie that it must have required lots of concentration to write that message in the card, and her reaction was a vigorous shaking of the head, and a resolute "no". My romantic auntie imaginings were dispersed immediately, and I've found myself looking at the card again, and thinking "gosh, did Millie do that in a bit of a hurry?" Still, she's trying to do joined-up writing, and I always think, it's the thought that counts. A very sweet thought.