Author Archives: penny

About penny

I live in Norfolk, England in a cottage on the edge of the Norfolk Broads where it can be peaceful and beautiful, or wet and muddy, or occasionally wild and windswept. With me is husband Tim, Henry the elderly and opinionated tabby cat, and Higgins, the miniature dachshund with a massive personality. You’ll find me chattering on about wool and textiles, knitting and crochet, recipes, books and patterns, exhibitions and shopping and of course, the adventures of a small dog! Planet Penny has a Facebook Page, you can find me on UK Handmade and I am featured on Channel4/4Homes Favourite Craft Blog List.

A Sunny Sunday and Using Up Leftovers

No lie-in allowed this morning! Last night’s weather forecast promised us we’d lose the sunshine in the afternoon and the beach was calling. We were there by nine o’clock, bright sun, an incoming tide and a stiffish breeze. Very bracing. Only two other cars in the lane ( the beauty of our favourite beach is that there is no car park, no tearoom!) so once we came over the top of the dune the beach was nearly deserted. Higgins is now reliable enough to run off the lead, although he really misses having someone young enough to run with him.

Considering his reluctance to set foot outside when it’s raining and puddly he’s quite intrepid when it comes to the interesting pools forming as the tide raced in…

He hasn’t quite found a deep enough bit to actually have to swim yet so I hope I have the camera to hand when he does.

While Higgins sleeps off all that exercise I’m sorting out my leftover yarn.

I have a bit of an obsessive thing about winding wool. I have a lovely gadget for doing the big balls, but these little bits get wound very carefully by hand so they look pretty. (Yes, OK! I know it’s weird but it makes me happy…)

And it’s something to do while I decide what I else I can make.

I’ve lost my diary. It’s slim, anonymous, dark blue. Perfect for slipping in between books and magazines and losing forever. Well at least long enough to be madly inconvenient. So I decided to get something more substantial, an academic one so I can start it now.

But it’s not really me, is it? But, with a little application of brightly coloured yarn it can be made much harder to lose…

Although Tim has pointed out that I’m going to lose it as soon as I put it down on the blanket….

I’m also suffering from rapidly cooling coffee, but not any more…

… there are STILL bits of wool left, but I have a plan! Bunting! Well, everyone loves bunting. In fact, it would be quite nice to think of a new slant on bunting….

….Pompoms!

I’m very happy with the pompoms…and I still love all those colours. I also have lots of cushions just waiting for covers…and a new sofa which needs cushions.

Which is why I went back to the market on Friday…

…for fresh supplies!

Cue Drum Roll…

…Fanfare? …or just a plain old Da-daa? It’s a show and tell moment. Blanket time! I’m feeling very happy about my blanket. As someone who has been known to struggle with finishing something (that butterfly mind thing where I find a new project before the end of WIP) I’m feeling just a little smug…

And it’s a happy blanket. Lovely summery colours which are going to be very cheering as we go into gloomy old winter.

It’s a good size too. The right size for a single bed or a throw over the sofa and also perfect for curling up in front of the fire. I used 17 different colours, 100grams of each and it was almost exactly the right amount. I then bought a couple of extra balls to do the edging and I really liked the greek fishing boat blue shades.

I thought I’d do a bit of an arty shot in the garden, but I had a slight problem with my photographic assistant…

He didn’t quite ‘get’ what I was trying to do…and then got very tired…

I thought it might look rather nice in the studio…

Ahem, excuse me, can I just get past please…? Thank you…

So if you are ready..here we are…

And also, on the bed…

I’m almost, almost but not quite looking forward to cooler weather now!Ii’m still in love with the colours so I’m very tempted to buy another batch and have a bit of fun with matching cushions.

But now I have one or two other little projects on the go so I can’t rest on my laurels. I’ll tell you about those next time…

‘Good Enough to Eat’ Swap

A while ago I joined in with a Bloggy swap organised by Em’s Shabby Shack. My partner was Kelly, of Kelly’s Recipes for Life. It’s taken a little while to complete the swap as pregnancy and wedding plans (not mine!) unexpectedly got in the way. But we’ve done it now and I’d like to share my excited unwrapping of all my little gifts.

Firstly, this is what we had to do:-

“This is what we would like you to included~
A handmade item that looks or smell good enough to eat.
An item that is Green~Fair trade.
A Delicious cake recipe.
A couple of items which you would consider look good enough to eat !”

Everything came out of the box tantalisingly wrapped in pretty pastel tissue…

Firstly, a card…

Gosh, Iced Gems… I haven’t had one of those for years. You’d bite the icing off and suck it, and then be left with that boring little biscuit. (I think I used to give it the dog… Poor thing, no wonder it was fat!) But they are SO pretty.

Then,

…coffee to drink while I plant the Basil seeds!…

…something to make me smell good after a bath…

Mouthwatering notecards…

…a Cath Kidston mug to drink my coffee from, and a fruity lip balm.

An icecream cookie cutter which will be a big hit with the grandsons…

..and recipes which will be an even bigger hit!

A cupcake bath bomb…

…and a candle to light while I’m relaxing in the tub.

And finally the little icecream picture box which Kelly made herself.

I feel extremely spoilt, Kelly! Thanks so much (Pop over and visit Kelly to see the other end of the swap and to join in with this month’s giveaway)

P S I’ve been running round with the blanket, the camera and Higgins taking photos for the Blanket ‘reveal’ post. I’ll be back with that very soon!

Four and Twenty Blackberries…

…to bake in a pie! That seems to be all I can find. Just enough berries to colour an apple pie prettily pink. Certainly not enough for jam or jelly. I know they are late this year but an awful lot appear to have shrivelled and died before even ripening. Higgins doesn’t like blackberry picking. HE likes to decide when we stop and start on a walk, and he’s not going to climb into prickly places with HIS short legs, Oh no!

Still, I might just make the most of these by making Blackberry and Apple Crumble Icecream. I’ll report back on that later so bear with me.

I’m happy to be able to show you the latest baby gift before it goes off to my great nephew. ( Why does being a Great Aunt feel so much more aging than a Granny?)

I’ve also tried one of the patterns from my new knitting book. (You didn’t think I could wait ’till I’d finished everything else did you?) Remember these?

Being an American book I had to find alternative yarn, but I was more than happy with what I got.

Cashmere….Merino wool….Silk…Machine Washable! It’s lovely, really soft and cuddly…

It is Sublime baby cashmere merino silk DK which I bought in Norwich for £4.50 for 50gms but I’ve since ordered some other colours online from Shadow’s Discount Wools at £3.90 a ball. I’ve had a sock thing for ages, as you might recall, so these are perfect to add to my repetoire for present giving.

Finally, there’s the blanket. I’m SO near to finishing. Remember this?

Well, this is all I have left…

Just three more rows of edging to go and I’ll be ready to show it off, Hooray!

What Happened Next?

Just a little post about a mystery…

We’re having such lovely weather, and now I’m back on my feet my crafty partner-in-crime and I decided we needed a little sea air, acompanied by Higgins, of course.

( Do you like his Super Hero car harness?)

So off to our usual patch of Norfolk coast, absolutely gorgeous and inexplicably for such a lovely day, almost deserted.

The tide was coming in, and exciting little pools were forming.

Suddenly from over the breakwater two little terriers came bustling along, joined by a short lead. Higgins was very pleased to meet them…

…but they were all on their own.

We spotted people walking along the dunes and assumed they were the dogs owners, but ten minutes later they had disappeared over the horizon, and the dogs were back with us. Then we spotted someone lying by the breakwater in the distance and thought ‘Ah, that’s it’ and carried on shell spotting. A few minutes after turning round however, there they were again, and we were worried to see that while one little dog was dashing along happily, the second dog looking completely exhausted, was being dragged.

At this point three women came strolling along with their their own dog and stopped to admire ‘our’ dogs. Once we’d explained they too became concerned so we had a look at their collars where we found three mobile numbers. Alas, only one phone between the five of us and no signal.

We pointed out the distant, recumbant figure and they decided to walk the dogs back that way to see if it was indeed the dogs owner, and failing that said that the dogs couldn’t possibly be left tired on the beach, with the tide coming in and if necessary they would take them home and contact the owners from there.

And that was how we left it. I’m sure it was all fine, they were obviously dog people like us. But how could it happen? I don’t take my eyes off Higgins when we are out. Was the person lying on the sand unwell? What happened next?

We’ll never know…

Confessing a Secret

It’s no good, I have to tell you. My name is Penny, and I’m a bookaholic.

It started at a very young age. I blame my mother.

She was a librarian and indulged her habit in Bristol Library before she was married. When we moved to Norfolk when I was very small our local village only had a voluntary library service in the St John’s Ambulance hut and it didn’t take long for Mum to volunteer. Once it was taken over by the County Library she worked there part time and by the time I was at High School there was a posh new Library and Mum had a full time job until she retired.

So right from an early age, there was a never ending flow of books through our house. I can’t remember not being able to read, but I can remember getting through seven Enid Blyton books a week in the summer holidays. I actually struggle even now to choose books in the library because for years I was spoilt by my mother handing me books and saying, ‘You’ll love these’, and I always did.

Now there are sooo many temptations to indulge my little habit. There’s Bibliophile, ‘Three for Two’ and ‘Buy One Get One Half Price’ offers in Waterstones and W H Smith, and the most tempting one of all, Amazon. I get into trouble about my Amazon habit, My son, as a writer, (That Elusive Line) tells me stories about how it’s affecting publishing, and independent bookshops and I agree with what he says, and understand how frustrating it is to those who are affected by the march of big business. But I’m doing my best to support EVERYBODY! We have a lovely new independent bookshop in Norwich, The Book Hive, and I make every effort to support it,(and it’s not hard!)

But Amazon. It’s like a wicked siren insinuating itself onto my emails. ” Hello-oh! Look…. You bought this, so we know you’d LOVE this…Go on, you know you want to…”

And I do…I do..and with one click it’s mine, and is delivered next day (Well I have to subscibe to Amazon Prime, don’t I?)

These days the temptations are always the books which feed my creative habit, and Oh, they are SO tempting. So colourful, such wonderful photography and then, when they arrive so many of them even feel gorgeous, even sensuous, with satiny, velvety papers and covers…

And I wasn’t well, and I needed cheering up, and there was this book…

It’s just gorgeous…

(Sorry about the shiny bits, it’s that sumptious paper you see.)

These are so CUTE, and 2010 is the year of the baby in our close and extended family…

An entrelac blanket, so no sewing up required…

…and a simple sweater pattern sized from toddler to extra large man.

Somewhere to store all those yarns…

And even suggestions for wrapping up all the gifts for giving…

So today I’m off to Norwich to buy that last ball of yarn to finish the crochet blanket, and I might just have to indulge in a ball of something gorgeous to knit a little something or other…

Do you have a secret book habit? Go on, you can tell me…

P.S. If you want a chance to win a childrens’ picture book, follow the link to the blog mentioned above!