Category Archives: Life in General

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

An Aside…

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It’s hard to know just how much to share when writing a blog. Planet Penny is meant to be a happy place, and who wants to visit Blogland for a spot of light relief and be confronted by a lot of moaning?

So I usually stick with the highlights, the colourful and the jolly alongside fun things to share, and from all your lovely comments over the years it seems to be a mix which works.

But I’m not super woman, and sometimes it’s a toss up between being less than upbeat and not writing at all. And not writing really bothers me, so for better or worse, here I am.

Occasionally I mention I have M.E. . I’ve had it a long time and I’m one heck of a lot better now than I was in the beginning. Managing it is the key, I’m pretty rubbish at that. If I’m feeling reasonably well and upbeat I’m liable to rush off after the next exciting ‘thing’ and then go SPLAT. Life doesn’t arrive in handy bite sized chunks, and I’m damned if I’m going to turn down any ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunities because of it.

I’m a bit ‘SPLAT’ at the moment I’m afraid. M.E. messes with the immune system so I’ve got various niggly things going on, and topping it off with rather a lot of an antibiotic which hasn’t agreed with me has meant I’ve been very wimpy and snivelly for the past week or so. (Tim is very lucky to be in the middle of the North Sea and missing all this!)

But I’m still here! And that’s good… I’ve got lots of ideas, they’re just going to arrive a bit more slowly for the moment. The shop’s still running and I’ve just taken delivery of 2 enormous boxes of yarn and I can doing the packing sitting down.

So please bear with me!

If anyone out there ‘in the know’ has any tried and trusted recommendations for vitamins or supplements for boosting the immune system it would be great to hear about it. Preferably not of the ‘Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog’ variety though…

Thanks for listening, it’s nice to know you’re out there…x

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Postcards from the Past

One of my dear OH’s pastimes is an interest in history, which mainly keeps him out of mischief, and when he’s home from offshore the television seems to be mainly tuned to ‘Yesterday‘ and Time Team. He also has an Ebay habit, and when he’s not buying shirts (don’t get me started on the shirts!) he’s looking at photos and postcards, military badges and bugles. The photos and postcards are a great resource for interesting stuff about uniforms apparently and on the whole I’ve paid just a passing interest in the odd things which turn up in the post to be squirrelled away in his ‘office’.

But yesterday I was called in to help open a well taped little packet which required the use of fingernails and small sharp things which a crafter would have to hand.

When I eventually got through the wrapping I was confronted by this…
…which stopped me short. These days everything is documented, photographed, passed around, tagged. And yet within living memory one photograph maybe the only record that a mother may have of her not quite grown up son as he is sent off to fight for his country.

And this is the photograph. Regimental cooks with their ladles and pots, striking a pose and some of them looking so young… How many survived? And if they survived what injuries, both mental and physical, did they carry with them? We don’t even know who wrote the words on the back. Was it the young man at the back, hand on hip looking defiantly at the camera, or the slightly nervous lad on his right who looks barely old enough to shave?

And this one….

postcards c1914

…sent. I presume to a sweetheart. from B. E. F. France on Monday 12th November 1917…

…which says:

My Dear G,

….as promised it is a photo of a group of Signallers we had taken here. I hope you will survive the shock of looking at it. Many thanks for your letter here received quite safely today. I am pleased you are well as I am in the pink at present. Kindest regards to Eileen, with love from your (I think) Frank xxx

I hope Frank returned to Miss G Rogers and they had a long and happy life together, ‘in the pink’…

But who knows?

Planet Penny isn’t usually a sad place, but sometimes we need to stop and think.

I can’t imagine how it must have felt to wave goodbye to a son, a husband, a sweetheart, a brother and send them off to war. For a short while yesterday, looking at those photos from nearly 100 years ago, it seemed very real and I wanted to share them with you.

I hope these postcards from the past move you too….x

The End of the Summer – A New Term…

The sun might be shining, the sky might be blue, but there is a definite ‘end of the summer’ feel as soon as the long school holidays are over, even when you are not actively involved in the school run any more. And even though its ever so many years since I was last at school, the ‘new term’ feeling has far more resonance for me than New Year for fresh starts, new ideas and new leaves turned over.

I still get a thrill from an unsullied notebook, and a new pen to write in it with, and possibly even a pencil case! It isn’t just me, is it?

But before we get down to business, there’s the ‘What I Did in the Holidays’ essay to write, and Higgins is just getting over the excitement of having his ‘boys’ to stay.

There was the beach…

…and swimming…

…camping…

…tennis…

… more swimming…

…and birthday celebrations…

So all in all it’s been a pretty active summer!

But now it’s time to get to grips with some new projects. I’ve already tantalised you a little with my last post, I’ve had the sewing machine on the go in between the fun, and I’ve a Rainbow Ripple on the crochet hook for when I’m on the sofa in the evenings…

Now I’m looking forward to getting back into my blog routine with the new projects, I hope you’ll come along with me!

I’ll be back very soon….x

Just in Case…

…you’ve been wondering where I am, I’ve been sewing in the garden!

I’ve also been running round after plumbers, and builders, and decorators and getting ready for a visit from our favourite little boys (arriving today!) So I haven’t run away but I doubt there’ll be much time for blogging over the next few days…

Bear with me, I’ll be back before long to explain what’s going in the photo!

Enjoy the rest of the summer holidays, I’ll see you soon….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