Category Archives: Etsy Shop

Crochet Balls of all Sizes!

Oh my goodness it’s been difficult not using my sore elbow! I’ve got so excited about the crochet balls I’ve been making. They started off as Christmas baubles but they are so pretty I think I want to have them on display all year round! I’ve been doing a little bit here and a little bit there and ended up with a bowlful…

and then had a happy time with needle, thread and beads giving them hanging loops.

Having discovered a little dish of small crochet balls lurking on the back of a shelf I had a brainwave and threaded them in random sequence onto white cotton yarn…

…and then made a long crochet chain, working the crochet balls and beads in as I went.

Add the original bigger crochet balls and you can see why I am now having to rest my poor elbow yet again!

This pattern really suits the Planet Penny Cotton colours. There are so many combinations to put together, it’s great fun. Would you be interested in a pattern? I’m currently working on it and it’s always time consuming but hopefully it will be available by next weekend.

(Ed to add: The pattern is available here!)

It’s been a busy week in other ways. There’s been a lot of weather about, hasn’t there? I do hope you haven’t been caught up with any of the aftermath of the strong winds blowing us about for the past few days. I’m currently waiting by the phone to see if my dear OH is going to have a helicopter to fly him home today which will only happen if the wind drops sufficiently.

The middle of the week was glorious in Norfolk and I called in at the Craft Fair at the How Hill Open Day. My Open Studios partner and all round best buddy Kit was there with her prints and cards, and several other members of our Two Rivers Trail group. We’ll be getting together later this month for our own Craft Fair and Exhibition so if you are in the area do come along to say hello. You can find out all about the event and the artists taking part on the Two Rivers Trail website.

I also met the lovely Sue of The Mercerie who had a stall at How Hill and drooled over her beautiful wool and colours…

And had a word with the alpacas from Burnt Fen…

..before heading back to the car via this amazing view over the Broads…

Before I go I’ve just time to tell you that I have a fabulous giveaway coming up in the next post, an early Christmas present! So don’t forget to call back or hit the ‘Follow’ button to make sure you don’t miss it.

I’ll be back in the next few days, so see you soon …x

Perfecting the Art of Procrastination…

…or indecisiveness…

Which is it? I can’t make up my mind!

So here’s the problem. I have done quite a few things over the past few weeks, have LOADS of photos and I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few days being completely unable to write a blog post about anything because there’s TOO MUCH STUFF…

Which means I either never write another post, or I just metaphorically throw everything in the air, grab some bits here and there and see what happens.

We went to the Knitting and Stitching show a couple of weeks ago. So much to see, and some amazing exhibitions. I hope to follow up on some of the interesting stalls at a later date but in the meantime, well, I did treat myself. Last time I went, a couple of years ago I fell in love with the wonderful Throw kits on the Colinette stand but there was such a huge choice I just couldn’t make up my mind, and have been kicking myself ever since. I don’t know when I’m going to get time to make it, but this time I did buy one at the special show price I wish you could feel how wonderfully soft and warm the yarn is, and the colours are fabulous…

perugino skylark throw Colinette

My other great buy was a pinnie from Alison Hulme Textiles…

Hand printed by Alison on denim, it’s almost a dress! It’s a good extra layer, will fit over a woolly jumper and has two big deep pockets so it’s a perfect work uniform for me when I’m in the studio.

And then I went off to the seaside…

Just a few days on the South Coast and it was lovely. There was lots of weather…

Bright and breezy…

Wild and windy…

Rainy…

…and peaceful.

A teachers strike meant I had a precious day with my grandsons, a trip to the Observatory Science Centre which I enjoyed as much as they did! I was allowed to have ago on all the scientific apparatus and no one told me I was too tall, or old to join in, and a tour of one of the telescopes. A great way to entertain a granny!

Now I’m home I’m gradually unpacking all the things put away to make way for the decorator and seeing them in a fresh light. It’s so easy to stop actually ‘seeing’ things, isn’t it. when you’ve had them a long time in the same place. I’ve got shelves in a redundant fireplace which is ideal for china and other small and fragile pieces. It spent several years with a perspex sheet screwed to the front when the boys were small, so with another little one coming along in the New Year, I need to make the most of it before we have to replace the perspex!

It’s all been a bit slow on the making front, alas. I’ve been suffering from RSI in my elbow and operating the mouse and the crochet hook seems to be the culprit, which is so frustrating. I really want to write a pattern for the Christmas balls I’ve been making with the Planet Penny Cotton which requires lots of crochet experiments and ‘mouse work’ for the photos, and rest is really the only answer for RSI.

I’ve been good though and have only done a bit here and a bit there so I hope it won’t be too long before I’m back up to speed.

Getting my rainbow colour fix is always good for the spirits!

Well, I have both Henry and Higgins telling me it’s teatime and although they are an hour too early I won’t get much peace right now!

If you are in the UK and are watching out for the weather warnings for tomorrow’s predicted storm as we are here, keep safe and warm.

See you soon…x

Thank you…

I’ve got to start this with a great BIG THANK YOU! I’ve been overwhelmed by the the lovely messages, kind thoughts and helpful suggestions after my last post. I’m working my way through a list of things to investigate! I’m feeling much better now I’ve come to the end of the course of antibiotics. I struggle to keep my brain functioning rationally at the best of times, and adding fogginess and gloomy spirits to the mix was not not helpful. However, I’m much brighter now, I’ve just got to keep a tight rein of myself and not go galloping off after the next exciting thing, wear myself out and go SPLAT again.

It’s heart warming to know there is a big supportive network of kind people who really want to help one another, even though we are very often half a world apart. There are plenty of negative things to say about the internet but this can only be a big plus.

We’ve been really lucky here in Norfolk to have had some beautiful weather over the past week or so. It’s very uplifting for the spirits and I’ve tried as much as possible to get outside. Higgins has helped of course although he gets a bit impatient with the pace, and my inclination to stop with the camera or pick blackberries.

Autumn is a lovely time of year, but it’s overlaid with sadness that everything is coming to an end, which is why I prefer the optimism of Spring. But the autumn light is fantastic, misty in the mornings but golden later in the day and the night sky is spectacular. And I never tire of photographing the richness of the hedgerows, and the warm glowing colours of the berries…

It’s been pretty noisy in the early mornings here. Not traffic, although there’s been quite a bit of farm machinery on the move, but Greylag Geese. It’s lovely to see (and hear) them fly overhead, but I’ve never managed to get a reasonable photo with my little camera. The past few days however, they’ve been congregating in the neighbouring field…

And despite the limitations of a compact camera the zoom didn’t let me down…

Worth hanging out of the bedroom window for!

Planet Penny hasn’t been completely neglected through all this though, I’ve had the crochet hook on the go on and off, and a two very large boxes arrived the other day full of yarn so I’m very well stocked. It’s just as well the nice young man with a van is happy to carry them into the studio because I would never lift them myself. They will sit there now until I’ve found places to stow all the yarn packs and I will treat them like a roundabout!

I’ve added half size packs to the Planet Penny shop, seven balls of either the Sunshine or Shadows shades suitable for smaller projects…

And, and I have a question to ask…Would you like White? Last year I tried a small quantity of white yarn, Snowdrop, which I sold as a Christmas pack with patterns, do you remember?

I tried to buy more because white is such a good background for the rainbow colours…

…but the dye batch was wrong and I wasn’t happy with it.

Now a new batch is available but if it’s the right bright white I will have to buy a whole case of it. Before I completely fill my little cottage with yarn and move into the garden shed I thought I’d better see whether there’s a potential market for it! So do let me know so I can do some forward planning.

And that, for now, is it. I’m off to put my feet up and peruse the weekend papers with a cup of tea, while Higgins and Henry fight over my lap (Henry always wins too, poor Higgins!)

I’m linking up this week with Handmade Harbour for Handmade Monday, do call over to see all the crafty makes there and I’ll be back soon I’ll be back soon…x

Sunshine and Shadows…

Having lost the label I’ve decided this is my Sunshine and Shadows Plant! I’m sure someone out there will know the proper name but with it’s bright sunshiny petals and gorgeous purpley leaves I think my name really suits it! I do know it likes to be a bit damp, and that’s been real headache this hot and sunny summer. The lawn has pretty well given up.

I don’t water the lawn, do you? It seems to bounce back as soon as the season changes and between Higgins and ‘his’ boys (who are coming for a visit very soon, cue much excitement!) it’s never going to be a bowling green. I’ve just about managed to keep the pots and tubs going, the veg garden and my ‘Sunshine and Shadows’ Plant. I say the veg garden, hmm… this year I’ve managed two bowls of strawberries…

There’s what is shaping up to be an enormous pumpkin…

and so far, two runner beans… What a good thing Tim is away so I don’t have to share!

It’s been quite busy on Planet Penny over the last week or so thanks to the Rainbow Mice appearing in the Australian craft Magazine, Homespun…

It’s amazing to think there are little Rainbow Mice running around all over the globe!

Recently several people have bought more than one pack of the Rainbow collection of yarn with throws and blankets in mind and this has concentrated my mind on something which has rattled around for quite some time. I wrote last week about the problems of being ‘Just the One‘ and never having enough time, or pairs of hands to do all I want to do, and one of those things is to make a big enough crocheted piece to work out what sort of area one pack of yarn would cover, in granny squares or a ripple. And this has held me back on an idea I’ve had for ages, because I kept thinking it would raise the unanswerable question.

But I’ve decided, stop faffing around, Penelope, get on with it and see what happens!

So, and this is where the Sunshine and Shadows theme appears again, I’m readdressing the Planet Penny Colours from either end of the spectrum, and making up packs which would be perfect for making cushions, throws, baby blankets etc with a more defined colour palette.

Put together Aubretia, Delphinium, Cornflower, Eggshell, Aqua, Jade and Apple and we’re in the shady woodland end of the garden…

…and meanwhile Rose Red, Gerbera, Petal, Peach, Marigold, Buttercup and Lime reflect the sunshine and heat on the terrace…

The packs are the same size, but with 2 balls each of the seven colours in the Sunshine or Shadows colours and they are going in the Planet Penny Etsy shop today…

I’d love to know what you think and if anyone has made a throw, cushion or similar with their Planet Penny Cotton I’d love to see it, and to know how big it is! I’m going to be working on a baby blanket because not only have I got my prospective Grannification next year, my niece is expecting this month so baby things must done! My crochet hook will be smoking!

And speaking of baby things, this week I made these…

I’m getting very excited!

This week I’m linking up with Handmade Harbour do call over to find lots of handmade lovelies to admire!

I’ll be back soon, have a lovely week…x

Just the One…

Can it really be August already? The time flies by so quickly…

As I sit typing the harvester is rumbling up and down in the field next door, no doubt covering my washing with straw dust. The joys of country living! Never mind, the sun is shining and it’s warm, life could be much worse.

And I think I’ve seen more butterflies than ever before this summer. They were late starting after the long cold winter but over the past few weeks the lavender and buddleia bushes have been smothered in butterflies and humming with bees. I’ve spent so much time dancing around with the camera not getting them in focus…!

This year for the first time I saw a Swallowtail butterfly in the garden. I was so excited, but between that excitement, the butterfly’s erratic progress round flowers and the breezy conditions every photo was a disappointing blur!

One of the things I really appreciate about writing this blog is the way it has given me a focus. A focus on capturing the seasons, recording visits to beautiful places, exciting discoveries and new crafts, it’s been a lifeline on occasions. And the added and unexpected bonus has been to link up with so many like minded people all over the world. The internet is an amazing thing, opening up opportunities for virtual socializing and making it possible for so many people, especially women with families to run their own small businesses in a way which would have been impossible only a few years ago.

When I went on my detective journey eighteen months to find the yarn I had spotted on line, tracked it down, found there were no UK stockists and took a big gamble buying a wholesale amount I really had no idea what I had started. For all I knew I might have ended up making rainbow colour blankets and cushions for the rest of my life to use up the huge packing case of yarn which was delivered!

But everyone who has bought it has loved it, just as much as I do. It’s been bought by people all over the globe over the past year and I haven’t had one scrap of negative feedback. Everyone has commented on the lovely quality, the wonderful colours and value for money. And despite being surrounded by those colours everyday, I still love using it.

But, and here’s the rub. I have become a victim of it’s success. I have ideas for new things, more patterns, more fun…

And there’s only me…

Just the one…

I started the Mouse Kits and the Crafty Cotton because I was aware that the Royal Mail shipping costs made it difficult for some people overseas to afford the yarn. But they require time. Time to wind (and weigh) the yarn, to label, to pack.

And gradually over the past months it’s taken up more and more time and instead of being creative and innovative, I’ve just turned into a yarn processor…

And meanwhile everything is suffering. The garden is suffering from the erratic watering, my dear husband is suffering ‘cos I’m forgetting how to cook, the blog is suffering… The only ones not suffering are Higgins and Henry!

So for the moment with apologies, I’m calling a halt on the kits and the Crafty Packs so I can get back to exercising my creative muscles for new things for Planet Penny.

Planet Penny Cotton Packs will still be available. The overseas shipping costs are lower now for the US and Australia than when I first started, and a pack of yarn will be enough to make up all the Planet Penny patterns which are currently available on Etsy with plenty left over for the new patterns I hope to have time to write now I’m not Winder-in-Chief!

And finally I will share the biggest and most important reason of all. A couple of days back I was shown a small, grainy black and white photograph of the latest precious addition to the family… a new grandchild arriving early next year! I just can’t wait to knit some teeny tiny socks!

So I do hope you understand, and stick around to find out what happens next…

I’ll see you soon….x

Beautiful Blues

I’m suffering from the Blues a bit here after last weekend. No lounging in the garden for me this time, but it’s all full on for Open Studios in 10 days time, and anyway the weather has gone back to it’s default setting – Rubbish! I can’t believe it’s nearly mid May and I’m back to lighting a fire in the evening. Not that the four legged members of the family are complaining, they can’t believe their luck!

I didn’t even find time to write a blog post either, and I’ve been collecting lots of photos over the week. Mother Nature is a lot more robust about the weather than I am, she’s in ‘I’ve started, so I’ll finish’ mode and the garden is filling up nicely, and the hedgerows and verges too.

I love the way Spring has a sequence of colours, it’s reminds me of the little mantra of names I run through when I’m packing the Planet Penny Cottons…Aubretia, Delphinium, Cornflower, Eggshell, Aqua, Jade, Apple, Lime, Buttercup, Marigold, Peach, Petal, Gerbera and Rose Red. Spring starts white, with Snowdrops, but almost immediately there are yellow Aconites…

photo: Van Muewen

…and then the Daffodils and Primroses arrive.

Not long after, pink is added to the mix, with Primulas, Tulips and all manner of blossoming trees. But get to May, and it’s blue…the Beautiful Blues and probably my favourite time of year. I’ve tried and failed so often to capture that mysterious ethereal blue of the Bluebells but it always defeats my little camera…

…and anyway I can’t catch that glorious smell and save it in a file on the computer, can I? It’s an experience, and all the more exquisite because it’s impossible to completely capture it.

In the garden, there are Forget-me-nots.

….Periwinkles…

and Cornflowers, and quite a few of the ‘Wrong sort of Bluebell’ , a European interloper, very prolific but not quite achieving deep glow of our native species. Still, it looks pretty good as a flower arrangement…

There are also Irises, but I can never bring myself to pick those…

…aren’t they amazing?

Back in the studio the challenge is to turn the working space of one incredibly messy worker (Moi!) into an exhibition space for two, and it’s a l-o-n-g job. I can always think of so many things I would rather do than tidy up! T’was ever thus. My dear Mamma, listening to me moaning said, ‘Well, you always used to stuff things under your bed…’ Too late….full!

I’ve tried hard to keep the creative vibe going though. I mentioned the on going white cotton theme in this post, and I’ve at last found time to complete the project which required it. I found this gorgeous pattern…

…with a tutorial here which was just perfect for the Planet Penny colours. One day I might have time to make a throw, but in the meantime, there is this…

It looks perfect on the dresser.

If you are looking for white cotton, there are still a couple of packs left from this post and of course all the other colours can be found in the Etsy shop.

I might be a little random in my appearances over the next week or so, there are a couple of family birthdays, a confirmation and much travelling round the country coming up, but I’ll be back, like the proverbial ‘Bad Penny’!

See you soon …x