Category Archives: Life in General

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.

Photos added in tribute to Vanessa…

Celia Hart

Dotty Cookie

Jacqueline

Judith Crossley

Susan Greenhow

Koko Okamura

…and many more on Instagram…

Happy Christmas from Planet Penny!

Happy Christmas

Here’s wishing a very, very Happy Christmas to all, but especially to the Planet Penny blog followers and everyone who has taken the trouble to pause and leave a comment. I haven’t always been able to respond, but I read and appreciate everything you say.

2014 hasn’t been the easiest year but I’ve felt supported by all my ‘virtual friends’ out there in cyberspace. There are lots of plans and ideas for Planet Penny in 2015 so I hope you will join me (and Higgins, of course!).

Thank you, and have a wonderful time, wherever you are xxx

Vanessa Cabban – a Tribute

Yesterday I was shocked and so saddened to hear of the tragic death on December 17th of Vanessa Cabban, a talented artist and illustrator who’s blog ‘Do you Mind if I Knit‘ was one of my inspirations when I first began to write here on Planet Penny.

I’m sure many of you who visit here will have come across Vanessa’s blog, where she wrote so entertainingly about her adventures with yarn, her two wire haired dachshunds, Ellie and Douglas and also about her life and the beautiful area in which she lived.

We bonded over our mutual love of dachshunds and Vanessa was a big fan of Higgins. Her colourful and funny children’s books were a big hit with my grandsons when they were small, and Vanessa’s papier mache sculptures are a joy to behold, so vibrant and full of joie de vivre.

Sadly, Vanessa’s marriage ended a couple of years ago and her work took a different direction. Still beautiful, but quiet and reflective. When we last corresponded she wrote of her determination to move on to a new era in her life, and I am so, so sad to realise that that life has now come to end.

Vanessa Cabban was hugely talented and although we never met in person she seemed a warm and lovely human being. I cannot begin to think how her family and friends are feeling, or how they will come to terms with their tragic loss, but I know they will be in the hearts of many of us in the blogging world over Christmas and beyond.

Rest in Peace, dear Vanessa x

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

Ed to add – 30/12/2014: So many people have been remembering Vanessa today, the day of her funeral. Find out about the ‘Do You Mind If I Knit?’ tributes here …

Ed – 10/05/2015: A beautiful crochet blanket made by bloggers inspired by Vanessa’s creativity has been made to raise funds for the Mental Health Foundation. Follow this link to donate and be entered in the draw.

Habits…and Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That!

I’ve got to admit to lots of bad habits and trying to conquer them is a WIP, but the one habit I don’t want to lose is the Blogging one and things have slipped badly just lately. I’ve dived in with one or two on a set subject, but when I look back to when I first started writing here I realise I miss just turning up for a chat!

The main reason for my absence has been the ongoing concern about my mum. The problems started back in August and look set to continue for a while yet. She is now in the local rehabilitation hospital and her ankle has healed, but physio is set to be long and slow as she’s been in bed for so long. Added to this, there have been various administration errors which have added to her distress which I have now taken up with our MP so this has been quite time consuming.

And coming up, we have our Two Rivers Trail Festive Fair. It’s in less than two weeks…eek! It’s the only fair I do these days. I usually sell as I make rather than having a stall full of wares, so preparation takes a bit of time.

Two Rivers Trail Festive Fair

You can find out about the fair and the other artists taking part on the Two Rivers Trail website. Last year’s fair, our first, was a huge success and took us quite by surprise! This year we have a special guest the well known author, TV presenter and explorer, Nick Crane from BBC’s ‘Coast’ opening the Fair, so if you happen to be in the area do come along. It’s promising to be a great day out.

And Higgins! I know there are some of you who like to find out about Higgins, and he is on fine form.

A bit fed up with the weather…

…so he has decided that all watchdog activites should be conducted from the comfort of his own armchair…

…when he’s not on bed testing duties…

Planet Penny was always meant to be my happy place, and right now a happy place is where I need to be so I intend to be here more often. I’ll certainly be along with my fair preparations, the felting needle is red hot already!

I’ll see you very soon…x

Just Coasting…

Goodness, it seems an age since I was here! How are you all? It does feel rather that the blog and I are coasting at the moment, what with my preoccupation with my mum. Also, some weeks ago, thinking that this month would be fairly quiet and calm (!) I booked myself on the Photocraft Course which is now in full swing.

I must say it’s very interesting, and the embryonic skills I will have aquired by the end of the course are going to be so useful as I build on them and use them in the future. More of this to come.

But in the meantime, I used the week long break in the middle of the course to have a break myself. With my mum recovering slowly in hospital and with various family members keeping up with the visiting I decided to take myself off to the North Norfolk Coast for a couple of days in a B & B and have a little camera practice.

Now I would say, going on my present record, don’t whatever you do book a holiday at the same time as me if you want good weather!

Because of all the drama around my last trip away I didn’t get to share the photos I took then, but a lot of the time it was like this…

…wet and windy.

And then this time, heading off to an entirely different part of the coast, it was like this…

…and this.

I went to Holkham Hall…

So you sort of get the picture, don’t you? Not really the weather to lift the spirits.

To add insult to injury, the very same bank of fog casting it’s gloom over Blakeney, Wells and the surrounding area was also keeping poor Tim stuck on the gas platform where no helicopters could fly instead of joining me at the bed and breakfast!

All was not lost though and Tim eventually arrived, along with a burst of sunshine and warmth at lunchtime on the day before we were due to return home! We took ourselves off to Holt for the afternoon which is always worth a visit, especially when there is tea and cake on offer!

And having been starved of light and colour for a few days I was so pleased to rediscover Ruth and her relocated shop ‘Glory Days’. The original shop was in Norwich; I loved it and wrote about it here. It sadly closed, but the new location in Holt is perfect, and in such a pretty little flint and brick cottage.

And it’s just so pretty and colourful! If you are in the area, do call in to say hello and get a colour fix!

So on that happier note I will sign off, and hope to be back before long…x

A Tale of the Unexpected

Hello! I didn’t intend to be away for so long…in fact most of my intentions have flown out of the window this month and keeping up with the blog is one of them.

When I was last here, I was off to the South Coast for a few days with the family. Any time away from home is fraught with complication because of having to make sure that everything is in place for someone to take over my role in caring for my mum, so I don’t actually go away very often at all, and never for more than a few days.

To be fair, my mum really appreciates this fact, and is always very keen to reassure me that she will be fine, nothing will go wrong, and to have a lovely time.

So the last Friday in August saw us wandering around the gardens at Great Dixter, me with my camera in hand, enjoying some peace and relaxation. And then my phone buzzed with my sister’s ringtone and there was a message…’Where is mum? The house is all locked up and we can’t see her’

(To put you in the picture, my mum is very disabled, can only just walk round the house and has to have a lot of assistance to get out through the door.)

Of course the phone signal was poor, my battery low and it took a panicky gallop back to the car to plug in before I could respond, which I did by phoning my mum, because it couldn’t be true could it? It was all a mistake and she’d be sitting in her chair like always. But her neighbour answered, and yes it was true, they were in the house, the bed was made, the washing up done and there was no sign of mum…

And I was miles away in Sussex…

Several phone calls later we had established that she had been taken to hospital and had a broken ankle after slipping off her bed in the night, thank goodness for the alarm button she was wearing round her neck, and the help of the people who turned out in the night to help her and call the ambulance. (Which arrived so quietly that the neighbours didn’t hear a thing!)

And the one thing in her mind was ‘Don’t tell Penny, it will spoil her holiday!’ I can’t believe that I had been out of the county for less than 24 hours when it happened.

She apparently thought she had sent a text to my sister from the ambulance but a combination of shock and a bumpy ride meant that it disappeared into the ether, rather than getting delivered. Her first response to me when I sent her a message at the hospital was a text to say ‘I’m really cross you found out!’

I didn’t rush home( I would have been told off!) she was safe and cared for at the hospital and we returned as planned on the Sunday having had our lovely family time, albeit a little subdued.

But now I’m spending a lot of time behind the wheel, visiting her in hospital which is about 3/4 of an hour away. All things considered she is doing well, it was a clean break and while there were a few bruises they have nearly gone. There is a huge question mark hanging over the future now because her ability to cope living at home was getting increasingly problematic even before the fall…

While I usually try to keep Planet Penny an upbeat place trying to pretend that big things aren’t happening in the real world would make things fake, and that isn’t what I want just here so that is why I’m posting about it.

Now you know I hope you will bear with me if things are a little erratic. This was the quiet (ish) slot in the year for which I had booked in my Photocraft Course, which is great, but very intense.

I have this stuck up on my wall…

It seems like it’s the only way to keep going sometimes…