Which doesn’t, of course, mean we can’t keep looking for them!

Here on Planet Penny, I’m still finding little flashes of springtime promise, (even though as I type the wind is howling and rain is lashing against the window!)

Higgins is not quite so cheerful because although the ‘boss’ came home from work last week, he’s had to go away again on a course…so Higgy hasn’t got his early morning vantage point.  The routine is that Tim sits in the reclining chair to drink his morning tea, and Higgins gets as far down the chair as possible, so he can lie on ‘ a person’, always the best place as far as he is concerned, on red alert, looking down the garden ready to leap, like a coiled spring when the post lady and the paperboy arrive.  This is how he does it…

After my last post it’s been very cheering to have lots of enthusiasm and lovely comments (thank you!) for the Planet Penny Cotton Club project, and I’m still trying out different ideas…

…and I’ve been happy to pack up the cotton packs in the pretty pink mailing sacks!

(If you’d like to join in do get in touch, there are still some packs left, and if I sell out there will be a waiting list!)

This is the last Reasons to be Cheerful post and Linky for now,  I hope you’ve enjoyed it, either joining in or just following the links to meet other bloggers.  I know I’m really happy to have gained some new bloggy friends!

Please join in for this last Linky below, or leave a comment so we can go out on a high, I do love to hear from you…thank you for taking part x

It’s time to tell you about my detective work, which started back in the Autumn and all because I really, really wanted something.

And what I wanted was a rainbow…

And I knew there was one to be had, because I kept seeing them, out there in cyberspace…

Lots of beautiful crocheted bit and pieces, in a rainbow of glowing colours.

I looked and looked, but couldn’t find anywhere to buy exactly what I had seen in the UK.

So, having got the bit between by teeth  I trawled around the net searching for clues until I found the supplier, in Europe, who confirmed that they didn’t have a UK stockist.

The good news  was that I could buy the yarn, my rainbow, directly from them. However, the bad news was that I would have to buy…a lot…

More than I would probably manage to use up in a month of Silent Sundays or Handmade Mondays.

But it occurred to me that if I love it, then maybe you out there would love it too, and maybe it could be the start of something exciting, and something we could share.

I took the huge step, and ordered the minimum order, which was still a great deal of money and yarn, and three months after started the search and the negotiations I took delivery of a large carton of gorgeousness.  I opened it full of trepidation, having chosen from a huge colour chart of tiny swatches but it was a bit like opening a treasure chest…

…just an explosion of colour!

I’ve shared with you some of my experiments over the weeks, the crochet carnival bunting…

The Hearts and Flowers Garland…

 The Stuff Jar…

and all the other bits and pieces.

 …so I hope it’s whetted your appetite!  Initially I have just 15 12 10 9 rainbow packs of mercerised cotton DK, comprising one  50g ball each of 13 different shades.  It has a lovely sheen, and I’ve found it very easy to work with, sometimes cotton’s lack of stretch can make it less easy to use than wool.  It knits beautifully too, and I imagine would lovely for bold and colourful embroidery.

I’m selling it for £30.00 a pack, that’s £2.50 a ball plus one ball free, plus P&P of £3.50 (UK Mainland – limited to one pack per order and on a first come, first served basis).

My idea is that with the patterns here on Planet Penny which I will add to, any books which I use and can recommend we can set the ball rolling.  As people start to come up with their own designs, or have pattern book recommendations, we could have a  Planet Penny Cotton Club  Linky to bring us all together and a Flickr group so that everyone can join in.

This is an step in the dark!  I don’t think this appropriate for Folksy, but I can take payment via Paypal if I have your email address.  If I get a big response I will put people on a waiting list and order more yarn.  So, what do you think?  Is this something you’d like to be part of, or will I be giving my family and friends rainbow coloured lovelies for the rest of my life!?

Do leave comments, but if you would like to buy a pack or have any queries  contact me via the contacts form here.

I’m linking up with Handmade Monday again on 1st Unique Gifts, I hope I qualify even though this week has been mainly sorting balls of yarn and getting ready for the needlefelt class I’m teaching on Tuesday at the OutHouse Studio.

I’ll be back soon, I’m looking forward to hearing from you! x

But it’s not far away, and so I’ve decided that next week will be the last Reasons to be Cheerful Linky for a while, as I started it to get us through the winter gloom.  Not that I shall stop looking on the bright side wherever possible, Planet Penny is supposed to be jolly place to visit!

So I’m going to share my own Reasons to be Cheerful this week, and hope that as many of you as possible will join in for this week and the next and we can finish on a high.

Firstly, there were flowers, Valentine’s Day flowers, flame coloured tulips, frilly orange roses and lilies, such a lovely surprise…

Despite the cold the seeds I’ve sown in their mini propagators are beginning to germinate, always a moment of magic.  If you are interested in my garden project for this year I’m keeping a note in The Garden Dairies, with weekly updates on the drop down menu at the top of the blog.  Nothing much is happening just yet, mind you, but it won’t be long!

And yesterday I had a small parcel, which made me very cheerful…

Sometimes you see things you just can’t resist, and this was one of them.  Over on Fan my Flame, Gina is on a mission to raise funds for an exhibition and has started a project, putting little books in altered match boxes.  You can read all about it here.

Anyway, one of the had my name on it!  And this is it…

Alice in Wonderland, a teeny tiny Alice in Wonderland, in a matchbox…

She is just exquisite, so tiny… Don’t forget,  a matchbox is only 2″x1.5″ or 5cm x3.5cm, and even enlarged here, the details are perfect.

Gina is making 50 little books in altered matchboxes, for the incredible price of £10 each, no matter how intricate they are.  If you visit Gina’s blog you can follow the project, and see whether you fall in love with a matchbox book like me!

I hope you’ve liked my little dose of cheerfulness this week and I do hope you join in by adding a link to your blog on the Linky below, or in the comments.  It’s always lovely to hear from you…

See you soon…! x

There’s been a lot of weather about this week!  Anyway, moments like this when you’re out for a walk make it worthwhile, even when it’s below freezing point.  And no apologies for sharing another snowdrop picture, I’m getting a little obsessed by seeing things from a miniature dachshund’s viewpoint!

I’ve been happy and relieved that this week at our monthly Knit and Stitch meeting  the little heart pattern was tested out by a relatively new crochet-er, and it worked !  (Bearing in mind I might have been crocheting for a while, but I’m a novice pattern writer!) Not only that, but having cracked the pattern, Carol went on to reinterpret the heart with crochet wire and beads, which is so pretty…

They look huge here, but they’re not much bigger than a 10p piece, delicate crochet jewellery.

My latest rainbow creation from my gorgeous cotton yarn basket is a new version of  crochet bunting.  I know the white Christmas Bunting is very popular but there’s been a lot of white around just lately, and I needed an antidote!

I’ll be posting the pattern in Tutorials very soon.

Which brings me to the fireplace.  And the hearth rug.  the scene of many a power struggle amongst the four legged members of the family.  On the one side is Henry, who has been here for getting on for 17 years, who isn’t in the best of health, but who know exactly what is due to a senior citizen  and is quite prepared to use all his ‘Grumpy Old Man ‘ tactics to make sure he gets his way.  And on the other side is Higgins, who is absolutely sure that everything is all about him…

Today my sister arrived with a special present just for Henry, and I rather knew it was going to cause trouble…

A beautiful rag rug, exactly what a old and bony pussy cat needs…

um…hang on…

…that’s better…

But when a little chat about ‘sharing’ fell on deaf ears…

Higgins retired to the sofa…

Hang on, can’t you see him?

It’s a dog’s life…

But enough of all that.  It’s Handmade Monday again, and it’s time to visit the lovely Wendy over on 1st Unique Gifts and find out what everyone else has been creating this week.

Next week I’m hoping to share a new idea with you, one you might just want to join in with…

In the meantime, see you soon! xx

I will get out yesterdays photos and try to talk myself out of the glooms…

The day started beautifully, and despite the low temperatures managed a slow thaw during the day.  I spread bird seed under the cherry trees and had a lot of visitors, chaffinches, sparrows, tits and a robin, three blackbirds and to my delight, a song thrush.

Also a mystery guest, slightly bigger than the thrush and blackbirds, and rounder with feathers in shades of grey.  It didn’t get close enough to see properly, and I only managed these slightly grainy shots with the zoom…

Anyone got any clues? (Edited to add: Celia, of Purple Podded Peas, has enlighted me…A Fieldfare, thanks Celia!)

We went for chilly walk…after a disagreement about wrapping up warm to go out…

and despite the fact that by 4 o’clock it was freezing fast…

It was still very enjoyable…

and in the evening I made lots of little crochet flowers and leaves then sewed them together with the hearts from this pattern to make a Valentine’s Day garland.  What do you think?

So I hope you’ll join in with some reasons to be cheerful  to dispel any negative thoughts floating around.  I must finish to get ready for this month’s Knit and Stitch meeting, that should cheer me up!

So do join in via the Linky below where you can leave a link to your blog, or by using the comments list.  It’s always lovely to hear from you.

See you soon x

(and if you look closely you can see someone has made a little bow wave!)

Funnily enough, after the early morning excitement, Higgins was NOT very enthusiastic about a walk later on in the day…

But he soon got into the swing of things…

…and definitely appreciated the coat in the end!

So there’s been a good excuse to linger indoors and do a bit more crochet.  I had a lovely book for Christmas which is full of inspiring things to make…

…and had some fun with these…

and in the spirit of re-using containers, and as excuse to use this fab ribbon…

I gave a tin of Heinz Tomato Soup a whole new lease of life!

I started on a little something for Valentines Day…

…and if you’d like a pattern I’ll be putting one on soon.

 I’d also like to share some other little handmade lovelies which although are designed for Easter, are much to pretty to hide away. One of the wonderful things about the blogging/making world is the new friends you make.  People you would never otherwise have met.   I had lunch with one of these friends last week, a couple of hours of frantic chatter, comparing notes and trying to fit everything in!  Gabriella and I both had stalls at the Pick’n'Mix Market last year, run by another blogging/maker friend Lisa of Bobobun, you might remember this photo of the Moobaacluck Stall.   So I was so thrilled by this present from Gabs…

I don’t think I have enough handles in the house!

So now it’s time to join in with Wendy’s Handmade Monday over on 1st Unique gifts, where you’ll find all sorts of yummy things going on!  It’s well worth a visit!

See you soon xx

So the plan is to have a designated place, and a promise to sort it out on a regular basis. (It’s now down in black and white, that promise!) So the cogs have been spinning in the brain…where to put the stuff…

…stuff….snuff….where did they keep Snuff?

In a JAR!

And what have I been collecting over the year because ‘they are just too useful to throw away’?

Coffee Jars!

I’ve got them tucked away in the studio holding craft materials, and on the mantlepiece filled with Mother of Pearl buttons, and sea shells…

But I keep drinking coffee, and I keep collecting jars!

And then there is my basket of gorgeous rainbow yarn…

And so I’ve made a STUFF Jar!  Would you like to see?

But you’ll have to excuse me now, I’ll have to go and empty out all those random places full of little bits of Stuff…

And I’ve just thought of something else I want to make!

See you soon x