Monthly Archives: November 2012

Angels and Light – Part 2

A brief pictorial post to bring you up to date with the angels from this post.  I’d like to share the beauty of our local church, St Michael and All Angels,  and the talents of people in the surrounding area who have made it look even more beautiful for this festival.

Wooden Angel

Dolly peg angels

You can see Knit and Stitch have quite a selection of angels, apart from the dollypeg ones!

wheat sheaf Angel

Angels on the font

Hessian Angel

The one I found most moving was the British Legion Angel, an amazing labour of love made as a tribute to all the lives lost to date in Afghanistan.  Four hundred and thirty five men, three women and one dog…

British Legion Angel - Angels and Light

British Legion Angel  Angels and Light Festival

Each poppy an individual tribute to a lost life… Such a waste…

flying Angels

Angel Banners - Angels and Light Festival

If you live in the Norwich/Broadland area this is well worth a visit.  The church is open until next weekend from 10 -4 and you will also find some lovely ladies serving delicious soup, cakes and tea and coffee!

And if you are too far away, I hope you enjoyed this virtual visit!

See you soon…x

Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children

My goodness, what a week!  I’ve just galloped in from manning the tea urn at the Angels and Light Festival and switched hats so I can tell you all about the exciting time I had last Thursday meeting Debbie Bliss and the Save the Children crew at the launch of Christmas Jumper Day.  I could almost say I was blown in, it’s sooo windy, I hope those of you who live in the west are not flooded out, as a Somerset girl I’m thinking of you…

My adventure began with hopping on the train in Norwich, I’m almost  blasé about it now having done the same journey not all that long ago for the Buttonbag launch.  No panics about the possibility of getting lost on the tube this time!   I met my daughter in London and was able to have a peek at where she is currently studying, the Central School of Speech and Drama. Maybe  I  trod in the hallowed footsteps of Judi Dench and Jennifer Saunders, Lynn Redgrave and Virginia McKenna? Or touched the same door handle?  Who knows…!

After a bite to eat we set off at a brisk walk to Primrose Hill where the evening was planned at the Mary Portas’ Living and Giving shop.

Save the Children Primrose Hill shop

image – Save the Children
(click for info)

A completely different concept for a charity shop,  I could quite happily move in, it’s beautiful…

Christmas Jumper Day in Living and Giving Shop

Christmas Jumper Day in Living and Giving Shop

Christmas Jumper Day in Living and Giving Shop - dress

Christmas Jumper Day in Living and Giving Shop wall storage

Christmas Jumper Day in Living and Giving Shop Dolls House

Christmas Jumper Day in Living and Giving Shop

But I wasn’t there to admire the scenery.  I, and a group of other knitting bloggers  had jumpers to make!

Christmas Jumper Day in Living and Giving Shop

Christmas Jumper Day in Living and Giving Shop

We were given a warm welcome by the Save the Children ladies, and by Debbie Bliss herself who was sporting a sling having broken her wrist after an argument with a wobbly chair(don’t ask!)

photo – Save the Children

Once we had been plied with yummy Christmas nibbles and a glass of something nice we were ready for Debbie to introduce our task for the evening, mini jumpers, for egg cosies!

Christmas Jumper Egg Cosies

We were all given a bag of yarn and the patterns and set to work.  It’s not easy chatting,  eating drinking, working out the pattern and knitting but we had a good stab at it…

knitting a Christmas Jumper Egg cosy

without too much unpicking or dropped stitches!

It was a fabulous evening, and so lovely to meet not only Debbie and so many other like minded bloggers, but also the Editor in Chief of Vogue Knitting magazine, Trisha Malcom, who was over from New York.  All very exciting for someone who lives at the corner of a field in rural Norfolk!

Christmas Jumper Knitterati

But I need to tell you what it was all about don’t I?

“On 14th December, more than 250,000 people (and counting!) will be wearing a festive woolly to school, offices and workplaces all across the UK, with everyone taking part donating £1 to Save the Children.

Think fluffy nosed reindeer and cross-stitched snowmen! Anyone can take part – you can decorate an everyday jumper with tinsel and baubles, rescue an old one bought in a moment of festive joy, or even knit one if you’ve got the skills – it’s completely up to you.

Money raised from Christmas Jumper Day will help bring life-saving care to some of the world’s most vulnerable children. In the world’s poorest countries almost 7 million children die every year from easily preventable causes like diarrhoea and malnutrition. Simple solutions, like vaccines and mosquito nets, save lives – so your knitted jolly jumper could make a real difference.

We want to spread the word far and wide to get as many people as possible involved in a day of jumper joy on 14th December. “

Do follow the links, there’s so much going on and I’ll be wearing my Christmas Jumper on the 14th, will you?

If you want to knit the jumpers, the patterns are available here and if you want something a little more manageable in size the egg cosy patterns are here

I had the needles out on the train home the next day, and have now finished all three of the patterns…

Debbie Bliss Christmas Jumper Egg Cosies

Debbie Bliss Christmas Jumper Egg Cosies

We thought these would also be lovely hanging on the Christmas tree, strung together as a little garland for the fireplace or even to decorate a bottle!

Christmas Jumper on a bottle

If you’d like to visit all the other bloggers  and find out their take on the evening, you’ll find them here, do call in and say hello…

And now it’s time to leave you with another link, this time for Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour where you’ll find lots has been going on as usual!

I’ll see you again soon…x

Angels and Light – Part One

Do you remember me mentioning our forthcoming  Angels and Light Festival and my date with dolly pegs?  Well, I spent a dolly peg day or two last week and have created a dozen assorted angels, all ready for setting up the display in the church at the end of the week.

I don’t know whether spending a few hours in the company of angels went to my head or not but having spent a few hours with white lace, white yarn and white parchment  coming out of the studio blinking into the bright Autumn light for a walk with Higgins gave me some magical moments which I tried hard to capture in the next few photos.

A beautiful Autumn day is a treat, coming in the midst of rain and wind, mist and fog and needs to be savoured.  I set off with Higgins and took our usual route across the footpath through the stubble and was amazed by a sight I never noticed before, and yet I must have past it time and time again looking up, looking down, thinking of to do lists and never actually seeing.

The low sun was shining across the stubble creating a shimmering pathway, like the moon on the sea…

Autumn sun on stubble

…which when I looked closer was caused by thousands, millions of spiders webs spun across the tops of the stubble and reflecting the golden light of the sun…

light on cobwebs

Shooting into the sun with a compact digital camera without specialised lenses or setting was never going to give me the best of shots, but I hope this will give you an impression at least.

It was mesmerising.

After Higgins had charged across it hot on the scent of a rabbit and returned I found he is just the right height to be a cobweb brush!

Mini dachshund with cobwebs

At  far side of the field, where the footpath continues in the shade of the hedge the previous nights mist was still lying on the grass…

mist on grass

..and the cobwebs here were beautiful in quite a different way…

mist on spiders webs

mist on cobwebs

(It was only later that evening I realised that as an arachnophobe I must have been in the company of thousands of the little beasts!)

The golden light continued…

Autumn Light

Autumn light

Autumn light

Everywhere I turned was another photo opportunity…

Autumn bracken

Holly

Golden Oak leaves

umbellifers

It was quite hard to return to work and the angels but they are all done and dusted now and ready for next weekend.  I’m sure you’ve been wondering whether I would ever get round to showing you!  These have auburn locks, made from Wensleydale fleece…

Dolly peg angels for Angels and Light Festival

…and these have blonde hair, made from dyed Merino fleece.

dolly peg Angels for Angels and Light Festival

They are made in the same way as in this tutorial using oddments of Broiderie Anglaise edging, white felt and cotton yarn.  the wings are cut from parchment printed with sparkling flowers.  Next week I hope to share the pictures of them as part of our display at the Church.

Talking of next week, I’m off to London again with an invitation to spend an evening with Debbie Bliss as part of the promotion of the Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day  As yet I don’t have any details to share, we are knitting a ‘Christmas Surprise’ but I’ll be back next weekend to tell you all about it!

Finally, do you remember Higgins being an artists model?

drawing of miniature dachshund

You can now find out a little more and see some other little sketches by visiting the Thomas Taylor – Author website.  I’m struggling to keep up with his fan club by the way, he now has over 200 ‘likes’ (or should that be licks) on Facebook!

I’ll leave you now with the usual link to Handmade Monday.  Thank you to all the lovely people who turn up each week to comment on the blog.  I do try to return the compliment as far as possible  and wish I had time to visit everyone,  but I do read all the comments and really appreciate them.

I’ll be back soon …x

Sew Over It – Book Review

Sew Over It by Lisa Comfort This is the second of the books I was sent to review a few weeks ago, and it’s timely to do so now as Lisa Comfort has recently appeared in Kirstie Allsop’s new Channel 4 Show, Kirstie’s Vintage Home. Sew over it Shop I grew up in the era when home skills were taught in school, Domestic Science, we learnt to sew, dress-make and cook.  I do have to admit to being hopeless whilst at school, but as a young married mum without a lot of cash it soon made sense to have the skills to repair and alter clothes, recycle dresses into baby clothes and run up a pair of curtains.  Most women’s  magazines had knitting patterns, some gave away paper patterns for dress making and amazing part work series were published teaching all sorts of skills from embroidery to macrame!  (Such a useful skill – macrame plant pot holder anyone?)

All that seemed to get swept away in a great feminist rage against being hemmed in by domesticity to the point where you had to hide any desire to occupy yourself with a little light embroidery, and ‘homemade’ was considered an insult.  Schools did away with cookery classes and sewing lessons and a whole generation were left without useful life skills such as sewing on a button or cooking.

That’s why I’m loving this whole re-emergence of making and upcycling, creating and recycling which is movement of the moment and Lisa Comfort’s book fits right in as an ideal starting point for anyone wanting to dip their toe in the creativity pool. Lisa Comfort in Sew Over It Shop Lisa charts her beginnings from stitching with her child-minder through the London College of Fashion to her sewing café and shop in Clapham, South London where she teaches the skills to be found in this book. If you’ve never threaded a needle let alone sewn on a button, never fear. Lisa starts you off at the very beginning introducing you to the needle and thread, the mysteries of the sewing machine, customising and altering your clothes, making accessories and finally measuring yourself and making a skirt from scratch.

Sew Over It Contents PAge

This is not a book for a seasoned dressmaker but I would definitely recommend this to a complete sewing novice needing a virtual hand to hold and guidance starting out on their sewing journey.  Probably it would be helpful to have a hands on lesson if you’ve never used a sewing machine but I believe shops like John Lewis offer this when you buy a machine from them.  Apart from that, all that is needed is a little imagination and Lisa’s know how and tips. The projects are clearly illustrated and explained, and the book as a whole is colourful and appealing, the photography is inspiring, a great Christmas present idea for a aspiring stitcher !

The ‘Sew Over It’ book is published by Ebury Press and available to buy from Lisa’s on-line shop of the same name, (which is a rather dangerous place to visit if you happen to like fabrics, and buttons, and haberdashery….)

 

 

Norfolk Nature Walk

Welly Boots on a Norfolk Nature WalkThere’s nothing like a walk to kick start the system when you’re getting over a cold, and I would recommend the ‘Norfolk Nature Walk’ as a great remedy, especially when the sun comes out after days of wet and murky weather.  I did my usual thing of going ‘splat’ when trying to multi task, and the combination of getting ready for, and actually attending the Craft Fair alongside all the other things going on meant the bugs swarmed in.  I’m well on the way to recovery now, although my voice disconcertingly disappears at inopportune moments, usually when I’m on the phone and sign language doesn’t work!

I’m on dog walking duty now Tim’s back at work, so I’m really grateful for the relatively balmy weather and Higgins is always happier when he doesn’t have to wade through muddy puddles with his little legs.  We can skirt round this one fortunately…

Norfolk Nature Walk muddy puddle

…and the road is pretty clear…

country lane on Norfolk Nature Walk

We don’t have to walk far along the road to reach a little leafy lane which might just see a tractor once a week, and a horse or two which make it much more fun for Higgins…

leafy lane

…and he can do a bit of charging about…

miniature dachshund in a hurry

especially when he sees a horse…

Horse in field

I well remember Autumn Nature Walks when I was at Primary school, coming back with leaves and berries for the nature table,it’s so much easier now to come home with a camera full of images…

bracken against the sky

Autumn images

miniature dachshund in lane

Autumn images

It’s been rather nice to write a blog post which hasn’t got any ‘making’ in it for a change but I do feel a little guilty as I have an outstanding engagement with a bag of dolly pegs.  If you’ve been visiting Planet Penny for a while you may just remember our Knit and Stitch Group taking part in a Crib and Wreath Festival in our local church which I wrote about in this post and this one.  This year the theme is ‘Angels and Light’, and we’ve been putting the final touches to the display idea which will show off our little host of Angels.  They won’t all be made from dolly pegs, but will be dolly peg size, and will be made from the group’s different skills in sewing, knitting and crochet so we should have an interesting collection.  It all takes place at the end of the month so more about it then…

Well, it’s just turned dark outside, I can hear a blackbird complaining about it loudly!  And it’s just about time for me to go in, stoke up the fire and feed Henry and Higgins.  I’m sure Higgins will have an appetite after his walk…

miniature dachshund

…and poor old Henry seems to find snoozing very hungry work!

I’ll be back soon…

Craft Fairs and Family Fun

It’s been a busy half term week here on Planet Penny what with the How Hill Craft Fair and family fun with a special visit by two little boys over half term.  Not that they were always recognisable as little boys…

Halloween Family fun…slightly troubling for a granny!

The craft fair went well, such a lovely venue…

How Hill Craft Fair

with beautiful views over the gardens and the Norfolk Broads…

How Hill Gardens and View

How Hill

The robins proved very popular and quite a few flew off to new homes…

wire tree with needlefelt robins

So the felting needle will be red hot again next week to refill my little tree!

Higgins has had a lovely week with his favourite boys, and even had his moment as an artists model for Thomas, their dad…

miniature dachshund being drawn

…but didn’t quite get the hang of posing!

He was invited along with the rest of us for a wonderful lunch with my second son, and my talented daughter-in-law produced a fabulous cake worthy of the ‘Great British Bake Off‘, and Higgins even managed to get in on the act with this too!

Fraisiere Cake with chocolate dachshund - family gathering

It was all most enjoyable…

Miniature dachshund takes a nap

So creating has been a little low key this week,  I actually have something on knitting needles for a change, but I’ll save that for the next visit.

I’m sending my continued thoughts good wishes over the ‘Pond’ to everyone who has been affected by the horrendous weather.  I hope you have all the help you need to get back to some sort of normality as quickly as possible.

I would also like to send a big, BIG thank you for all your visits, and lovely comments and the support you give me here on Planet Penny.  Today I reached the huge milestone of having 200,000 hits on my blog since its very tentative beginnings in December 2007.  100,00 of those visits have been in the last 7 months!  I have my thinking cap on for a celebratory Giveaway so watch this space…

I’m leaving you for now though with the Handmade Monday link and I’ll be back soon…x

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