Author Archives: pennygj

The Final Push

I’m sitting inside now trying to get warm having spent most of the day outside with Tim and Will doing the final clear out of the studio, store and shed. I have Higgins stuffed up my jumper, fast asleep and snoring. He makes a good hot water bottle. He’s had an anxious day, confused by all the activity and helpfully running backwards in front of anyone carrying a heavy box. I have been trying hard to remain positive by painting pictures in my head about how good it’s all going to be when I’m in the new studio but I do tend to get anxious and fussy when confronted by confusion. I’d quite like to be stuffed up a nice warm jumper to snore until it’s all over!

I’m stepping outside the bloggy thing of posting only loveliness to show the ‘before’ pictures, otherwise how will you appreciate the transformation? So this is ‘The Blue Shed’ in all it’s glory, the left hand side Tim’s, and to the right my little studio. With insulation and electicity it was a cosy little place to work until I just outgrew it. And last summer it looked pretty with window boxes and hanging baskets. In the far corner is my little wooden store shed, which has been the source of much fear and trepidation this week as I cleared it out because of the spiders!

Tomorrow the builders arrive, and the view from the back door will be very different by this time tomorrow.

P.S. I haven’t gone mad, I know I said I wasn’t doing photos, but the distance outdoor ones are fine, It’s the fuzzy close ups! Something else to sort out tomorrow…

P.P.S. Just discovered a drawback to having a dachshund up your jumper…wind, if you get my drift. I’m getting the drift, it’s all escaping from the neck of my sweater…phew!

I Haven’t Gone Away…

…but I am on the verge of committing cameracide, if that is what you can call flinging one’s new camera on the floor and jumping on it. I’ve given it two months now, I’ve printed out all 64 pages of the manual that came on CD – why couldn’t be in a handy handbag size book? I just can’t get the nice crisp photos I was getting with the old faithful Fuji, and I don’t want to put fuzzy photos on my blog. So the post I’ve been working on will have to wait until next week, after I have been back to the shop . Please bear with me, I will be back.

I shall leave my guard dog keeping an eye on things…

Woops, late again…!

I’ve been conspicuous by my absence so far this year and a m only slightly comforted by the fact that most of my favourite bloggers seem to be in much the same boat. I had such good intentions too!

So, an update. Firstly, Higgins is just a little less of a dog this evening having gone to the vets to be modified today. He is rather sleepy and subdued just now but we are assured in a day or so we’ll be struggling to stop him bouncing around while he recouperates.

Thank you for all the guesses for the use of my mystery object in the last post. I have had a lovely time reading them. I’m going to keep it running for a little while longer and see if I can find a couple of prizes, one for the most accurate guess and another for the one that makes me laugh the most so do please keep them coming in.

My final excuse for being a little tardy with my posts is an eye sight problem so I spent this morning while Higgins was safely at the vet with the optician. I’m hoping the amazing space age super duper lens being flown in from Germany in a week or so will do the trick. Judging by the price I should also have Xray vision and be able discover new planets without the aid of a telescope so seeing the computer screen clearly will be a doddle.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible…

Forward Planning

I decided quite a while ago I don’t really DO the New Year thing. I like the fireworks, but I’m not really into crowds, kissing strangers and Aul Lang Syne. And anyway, it’s just man made numbers, a hook on which to hang the passage of time, and get our taxes paid regularly. (Sorry, this sounds like a cue for a grumpy old woman alert!) We decided quite a while ago to turn our year around at the Winter Solstice on the 21st of December, a more satisfactory arrangement in tune with the natural order, and with the promise of longer days ahead. This is celebrated with close friends with much jollity, silliness, good food and wine. So my new year has already started.

However, having said that, there is much to be said for a review of the past year when looking at the last page of the diary and seeing the unsullied fresh pages of 2010. If I have a resolution it is to procrastinate less, and to be more creative. (If you’ve heard this one before, don’t all shout at once, I’ll be deafened!)

The big project for the next few weeks is a humdinger – a NEW STUDIO! I have a little shed which was great before I overflowed out of it into every room of the house. Now I have to find somewhere to store it’s contents (it has turned into a glorified cupboard) so it can be dismantled and transported to a new home leaving space for – the NEW STUDIO! So much hangs on this because I have been struggling for so long with not having all my materials and equipment easily accessible. by the time I’ve tracked down every thing I need to realise an idea, I’ve run out of time, or energy or inspiration. I’ll also gain space in the house, and it might (might) just stay a little tidier …well I can dream…

I’m off now, to pack a box or two, but I shall leave you with a little puzzle. This is my Christmas present from my dear friend Kit, who is also my creative partner in crime. What do you suppose it is? Do leave me your guesses…

…and in the meantime I hope that 2010 brings you everything you could wish for, see you in the next decade!

Happy Christmas…

…from me and from Higgins, who has decided that snow is FUN!

We’ll be back very soon, have a wonderful Christmas….

All stitched up – crochet scarf

Having confessed to having such a butterfly mind even making two matching socks challenges my boredom threshold you will not be surprised to hear that I have struggled to complete one of my latest projects. I am comforted to know I am not alone in this lack of application, I recently heard someone confessing to never sewing up her knitted creations, she found sewing the knitted pieces together so boring she always got her mother to do it. I’m not that bad, although I have every sympathy with her. This being said it was probably asking for trouble deciding to make a Sophie Digard inspired crochet scarf from my basket of hand dyed wool.

I first saw these wonderful scarves in Selvedge magazine, a year or so later I saw them on the Selvedge stand at the Knit and Stitch Show and this Autumn one graced the pages of an issue of Country Living. I was not alone in being inspired, Vanessa of Do You Mind if I Knit was not the only blogger to render their own interpretation. Sophie Digard’s take is in the finest wool, dyed in wonderful jewel or landscape colours, tiny, tiny postage stamp sized pieces of delicate crochet. One initial reaction when finding the price is ‘HOW MUCH!’ but it only takes a short time trying to duplicate such fine work to realise they are worth every penny

I did have a few Higgins generated setbacks but over the last weeks I have soldiered on, crocheting the little squares leaving short tails of wool with which to sew each one to it’s neighbour, and finally it is finished. It could possibly be wider, and longer, but the next project calls and it is perfectly sized to keep me warm and happy when I wear it. I will announce now that is unique, no other scarf will be made using those colours in that wool, it’s price is above rubies as there is no ruby large enough to induce me to ever make another one!

Life is too short…

Planet Penny

Crafts, Crochet, Patterns & Tutorials