Author Archives: pennygj

Knitting as Therapy – The Joy of Socks…

I’ve rediscovered the joy of knitting socks…hooray!

I don’t know why I stopped, but I started again over the Christmas holiday when the seasonal cold germ dropped in, uninvited, and ground everything else to a halt.

I was rummaging pathetically around in the studio looking for something to do which required no flash of inspiration, no tracking down of supplies, no complicated instructions to follow and there in a little bag I found…the yarn…the pattern…the needles…and one completed sock just waiting for it’s mate to be knitted up – perfect!

I’m embarrassed to say that just now whilst looking through the archives to find past sock adventures I discovered when I made the first one of the pair…2011! We were taking Aimee to Uni when I made the first sock and in the time it’s taken for me not to finish the second one she’s graduated and is well on the way to being a qualified teacher! Oh dear…

Anyway, not only has this lone sock been matched with it pair, but I whizzed out for more yarn when I was feeling better and I’ve just completed a second pair. To add to the mix my friend Kit arrived with a little cheer up bag containing…pink and green socks, so I’m well on the way to replacing all the ones which have succumbed over the years to the four legged sausage shaped ‘moth’ which makes holes in soft furnishing and garments willy nilly.

The Planet Penny Moth!

…and the socks he has chewed!

So what’s so good about knitting socks?

Well, the little pattern I use is probably the most basic one you can find, it came free with a ball of sock yarn a while ago. And when you’ve used it a few times it sort of lodges in your head, and you can trundle away, following the plot of Broadchurch or The Killing (with subtitles) without getting flustered.

It’s a bit fiddly to start off with, casting on 60 stitches and dividing them between three DP needles and getting that first rib row set up, but then you are off. Once the rib is done you’ve got rows and rows of straight knitting, and because you are in the round, every row is a knit row and you still get stocking stitch!

I like to use the self striping sock yarn because seeing what colour is coming next gives you something to aim for, ‘I’ll just finish the blue, or the pink, or the green’…

knitting socks - yarn

Turning the heel is an event, (you should have seen the first one I ever did!) but once you see the logic of where you are going it’s a little challenge in the middle of the project to keep you on your toes. and then you are off again, round and round until the toe arrives, a simple little decrease which makes an elegant seam each side.

And then…the wonder that is Kitchener Stitch! It’s a fabby way to end your sock, weaving in and out of the stitches with your needle to make new knitting stitches so you can’t see the join. It took me ages to get to grips with it so don’t shudder and turn away at this point, it can be done, believe me. I can be heard muttering ‘Front – Purl off, Knit. Back – Knit off, Purl’ a little mantra to keep me on the straight and narrow.

And then, when you’ve finished, and tenderly pressed them (about the only time I like to get the ironing board out!) you’ve got something warm and delightful to enjoy yourself or to give as a very special present. What a joy!

If you feel like joining in with a little relaxing sock knitting therapy one of my favourite online ports of call is The Sock Yarn Shop, where the most difficult thing is choosing! This what I’m hankering after at the moment…

sock yarn knitting It’s like a spring sunrise, something to dream about just at the moment!

Are you a sock knitting fan, or have I inspired you to have a go? I do hope so… If you are looking for some help, the Sock Yarn Shop recommends this set of tutorials.

I’ll be back soon with Happy Friday. I’m going to try and get it posted on Thursday evening to give more people a chance to join in so look out your happy photos or jolly moments and get ready to link up…see you soon…x

Join in with Happy Friday!

Hello, and welcome to the very first Planet Penny Happy Friday!

As I said last week, this is our chance to lift the winter blues by sharing images which made you happy during the week just past. It can be anything you like, any special moment you have captured and would like to share. If you’d like to elaborate in words, that’s absolutely fine! So this is how to join in…

1. Pick one special moment that made you smile, and write a Happy Friday post of your own, mentioning Planet Penny Happy Friday. That way your readers will find their way to the Linky and the other posts.

2. Add your own post to the Linky below which will take readers from this blog to your own. It’s a fun way to discover new blogs, and maybe gain some extra followers of your own.

3.Add the badge below to your blog or post or wherever so people know what Happy Friday is all about.

You can also join in via Instagram with the hash tag #PlanetPennyHappyFriday.

This is my special moment of the week, spotted on the notice board at my mum’s care home.

A visit from Santa - Happy Friday

It’s not technically a great photo, but to see my mum looking happy on Christmas Day after everything which has been going one means so much.

(She also told me, with great delight, that when Father Christmas perched on the arm of her chair, he sat on the control which makes the whole thing go up and down, tip forward etc and nearly deposited them both on the floor!)

So I’m really looking forward to seeing your Happy Friday images…

The Linky goes live from midday on Friday 9th January…

EU VAT Regulations – a Tax on Creativity

What’s this? I hear you cry… Penny writing about VAT? EU VAT regulations? I don’t come to Planet Penny for that!

EU VAT regulations

Well, please bear with me because this is something which has had a big impact on me as a business, and for thousands of small and micro businesses, many of them deciding to stop trading as a result of this new regulation. And also on you as a customer.

I’m not going to try and explain the details of this, there are others who have done it much more clearly than I can. The basic problem is that anyone selling digital goods on line to someone purchasing from an EU country is liable to pay VAT on the sale to the country in question (VAT rates differ across Europe) The threshold is zero, so if you only sell ONE item, you are liable.

The VAT threshold in the UK is £81,000, so I was never going to exceed that with my little business, but this has thrown a massive cat among the pigeons. HM Revenue and Customs completely underestimated the number of us out there who run our own small creative businesses, who are affected by this and who didn’t know anything about it until it hit social media in the run to Christmas, spoiling Christmas for many people.

HMRC’s stance is that if you sell through an online marketplace such as Amazon or Etsy, then they should take responsibility for the tax, but Etsy has stated that they will not be doing this.

There’s an awful lot going on behind the scenes at the moment, lots of alternatives to Etsy, petitions to sign (and I hope you will) but for the time being I am staying with Etsy. Because, and I hope I’ve got this right, if there is human interaction during the transaction then the regulation doesn’t apply, after purchase I will email the patterns within 24 hours. This seems like a huge step backwards, and it inconveniences everyone, including people who live in places where none of this is of any relevance, but for now it’s the only option and I needed to explain.

The following link explains everything about the EU VAT changes with a little animation. Please watch, and if you would like to support me and all my fellow small creative businesses, please sign the petition!

2015 – Looking Back, and Moving Forward… to a Happy New Year

The last year hasn’t been easy in lots of ways and now is the time to look back, take stock and move into 2015, hopefully a Happy New Year.

2014 was the year we lost a very dear friend. Bill was the husband of my partner-in-crime-and-Open-Studios, Kit. Bill Calladine was an amazing artist, engineer, inventor, teacher with a quick wit, a lover of life. After a life threatening condition was diagnosed at the beginning of the year he bravely coped with surgery, with paraplegia and infections until he lost his battle last autumn. We still can’t believe he has gone and he’s left a big hole in so many lives.

This little picture is a treasure from Bill which I thought I would share with you. I bought a tiny canvas from an art shop, only a couple of inches in size, and gave it to Bill joking that if I ever bought a William Calladine painting, this was the only size I could afford. A few weeks later the canvas came back, beautifully framed and signed on the back. A perfect little miniature!

Miniature painting by William Calladine

Life has been difficult for my mum, too. She is still not home after her fall at the end of August. Her ankle has healed, but she’s very wobbly on her feet and is currently in in respite care in a care home about 4 miles away. It’s such a difficult situation as she just wants to be in her own home, of course, but she also needs able bodied carers to be at the end of a buzzer. I dread the thought of her being alone at home.

So of course, I feel so guilty because the care I’ve given her over the last few years is not going to be enough, and the the last few years have taken such a toll on me both physically and mentally.

Anyway, that’s the sad aspect of 2014. The big happy news was the arrival of our third adorable grandson last February. It’s hard to believe that this time last year we were all waiting expectantly for his arrival, and already we are having to move low lying ornaments and cover the electric sockets and wires!

And that’s what I want to take into 2015, Happy. I’ve noticed other blogs picking on a word to work with for the new year, Fun was one, I like that too. But Planet Penny is meant to be cheerful place for me to be, and for you to visit.

Sometimes life is grim and it’s hard to find the positives, (especially in January!) but looking for that little moment, clear blue sky on a frosty morning, a bunch of daffodils, a baby’s giggle or a dog’s waggy tail and holding on to it will help get us through.

So I’d like to invite you to join me in holding on to your happy moments. Starting next week there will be a Happy Friday link up. If you have a blog put your image from the week in a post with some words (or not) and link it here. If you don’t have a blog you can leave your happy moment in the comments. I’ll be running it on Instagram too so you can join in there. There will be full details of how to take part with the first Happy Friday post.

I’ll be back soon with crafty stuff and news and my usual ramblings but I’ll leave you with my favourite happy image from the last week, my ‘big’ grandsons with their Christmas scooters!

photo: ©Thomas Taylor 2015

In the meantime I’d love to know if you are joining in with Happy Friday… and what brings happiness to you…!

See you soon…

Wishing You All…

…a Happy New Year, and best wishes for a healthy, prosperous and wonderful 2015!

Norfolk sunset

Thank you for all the support, comments and general loveliness over the past year…

I’m looking forward to being back here in 2015.

See you soon…x

Do You Mind if I Knit – Vanessa Cabban

Many of you will have read my tribute to Vanessa Cabban in this post, and I was not surprised by the depth of feeling expressed by so many people on reading about her tragic death.

Fellow blogger and friend, Lisa of Bobobun has had a similar reaction after her own tribute on Instagram and we felt there must be a way for Vanessa’s online friends to mark the day of her funeral. Lisa has made the following suggestion to everyone who would like to remember Vanessa on this sad day…

Vanessa’s funeral will be at 11am on the 30th of December. As a mark of our online friendship and out of respect for her memory I will be posting a photo at 11am that day under the heading Do You Mind if I Knit? #vanessacabban. It would be wonderful if as many of you who knew or were inspired by her joined in too. Post a picture of something you’re making, it doesn’t matter if you can’t knit. Vanessa also crocheted, made clothes, created papier-mâché sculptures, brooches, painted and illustrated books. What she did do though was make sure she had time to knit a few rows every day to set the day right. Penny @planetpenny will also be hosting the same via her blog Planet Penny.

So I hope you will join us tomorrow at 11o’clock to remember Vanessa, with a picture of something you are making. If you are on Instagram you will find me @planetpenny and Lisa @bobobun68 and when you post a picture don’t forget the heading and hashtag. If you are not on Instagram you can send your photo to me at planetpenny.co.uk(at)gmail.com and I will add them to this post.

Please feel free to share this blog post to spread the word as far as you can, it would be lovely to send this tribute across cyberspace to mark the life of a talented and inspirational lady, Vanessa Cabban.

In memory of Vanessa, her family have set up a Just Giving page where you can make a donation to the Mental Health Foundation.