Everybody hurts

I have been listening to a lot of R.E.M. recently and I had forgotten how uplifting their music can be. A particular favourite is 'Everyone Hurts'. It so perfectly sums up the human condition and the way that I am feeling at the moment. http://



I am blessed with a wonderful partner and amazing friends. The past couple of the weeks have been quite difficult. My health has not been great and I have been dealing with a very unpleasant and stressful situation at work. You really find out who genuinely cares about you at times like these and I count myself very lucky.

Spring is definitely here and that makes me feel much better. It seemed to be such a long time coming!


Last week my OH and I went to London for the day. I almost didn't go with him as I was feeling quite low emotionally and physically. At the last minute I changed my mind and I am glad that I did. We had a lovely day out. When we arrived at Victoria we walked around the corner to Baker and Spice for a coffee and a blueberry muffin. Rather unexpectedly we ended up sharing a table with Anton du Beke of 'Strictly Come Dancing' fame. Then OH wanted to go to a Syd Barrett exhibition. So, whilst he did that I had a wander around Liberty's. I must admit that I was disappointed by their range of fabric and yarn. I suppose it is a sign of the times that they are cutting back on stock. I do think it is a shame though! I then walked the short distance to Kingly Court which is just off Carnaby Street. The small shops are arranged around a central courtyard. It is such a haven of peace andf tranquility that you would not think you are a stone's throw from the hustle and bustle of Oxford Street. I visited 'Buffy's Beads' and 'All the Fun of the Fair'. There is also a vintage clothing shop with the wonderful name 'Fur Coat No Knickers'. Unfortunately it was shut when I was there. My OH met me outside the Camelia Tea Rooms and we had a salad for lunch and a cup of herb tea. they have an amazing array of teas. The canisters are on display and you can browse through them, take the lids off and sniff the teas before making your choice.

Unfortunately, I still have not finished my 'Jewel Bead Necklace as I have not been feeling well enough. However here is a picture of one of the beads. Hopfully I will finish the entire necklace this weekend.

One of my friends showed me some ribbon yarn recently. She bought it from 'IKnit London' and she is making a scarf with it. When I was in 'All the Fun of the Fair' I saw the same yarn for sale and couldnt resist buying some. I am sure P. will forgive me for copying her.

Weekend adventures

Each weekend we make a point of going somewhere for the day. A couple of years ago we resolved to come up with a list of fun things to do, to make the most of our free time together.

One such trip was to London a few weeks ago. I was keen to see an exhibition at the Foundling Hospital near the British Museum. The exhibition was called 'Threads of Feeling'. During the Eighteenth Century mothers were given the opportunity to take their children to the Foundling Hospital on Coram Fields. If the children were illegitimate, or the mothers simply could not provide for their child, they knew that by leaving them at the Hospital their son or daughter would be well fed and cared for. The idea was that they gave official guardianship of their offspring to the Hospital and if their circumstances improved they could come back for the child. In reality only 1% of mothers returned. In order to identify their son or daughter the women left tokens. Many of these were scraps of clothing, ribbons, small charms or buttons. The result is that the Museum has one of the finest collections of Eighteenth Century fabrics in Europe.

The exhibition was very moving. The ledgers were on display with a description of each child and the scrap of cloth or ribbon. As we walked around the Museum there were facts about everyday life in the Eighteenth Century displayed on the walls. One really shocking fact was that in Eighteenth Century London 75% of children would die before the age of 5. That really stopped me in my tracks. It is really easy for us to look at these things with our 21st Century view of life with its childhood vaccinations, good quality health care and long life expectancy. My heart went out to these poor women who had to make the decision to hand over their children with the knowledge that they would almost certainly never see them again.

I have recently become interested in creating memory jewellery. A way of incorporating fragments of everyday life into my work. This exhibition certainly gave me food for thought.

The exhibition has finished now but here you can find out the background to it. If you every have the chance to visit the Foundlings' Hospital I would urge you to do it. I am told that they graze sheep in Coram Fields, in front of the Hospital, and that in the Spring and Summer the air is filled with the sound of sheep calling to each other. Quite a strange experience in the heart of London!

Another fun exhibition was a bit closer to home in the Salisbury Arts Centre. We went to see a touring exhibition called the 'Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef'. The project was created by Margaret Wertheim, the Director of 'The Institute Of Figuring' in Los Angeles. It is quite simply, as the name suggests, a coral reef made entirely out of crochet. It is touring the world and everywhere that is appears local people are encouraged to add to it. The reef even has its own web page and blog. It was absolutely fascinating, particularly as close inspection showed that parts of it were made from crocheted wire, plastic bags and even lengths of audio and video tape. One of my favourite parts was the large octopus. I think it is nice to think that like a real coral reef it is constantly growing and changing.

I would certainly like to use some of the ideas, shapes and textures in my beadwork. A very inspiring experience.

I am still working on my 'Jewel Bead Necklace' due to the continuing problems with my right hand (which have now been officially diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome). Hopefully I will be able to show it in my next post along with an account of another recent visit to London.

Sunshine and shadows

At one time I used to make quilts. I haven't made one for a while, although I have to confess that I do have a quilt top lurking in my spare room, neatly folded on top of a roll of batting. One day I will get around to uniting the two to make another (hopefully) much loved quilt.

I have always liked Amish quilts and admire their complex patterns which seem so simple on first glance. Their use of clear colours and the balance between light and shade fascinates me. One of the things that has stuck with me is the idea of 'sunshine and shadows'. The Amish believe that you can only experience great joy in life if you have known great sorrow - life is made up of sunshine (joy) and shadows (sorrow). This has great resonance with me at the moment as I am definitely going through a 'shadow' phase in my life.

I have made eight quilts in total and have given half of them away. One full-sized bed quilt to my Mother, one baby quilt to a friend and two memory quilts, also to friends. I have four that I use everyday. The first quilt that I ever made, a log cabin quilt, is used as a Summer bed covering when the duvet is too heavy and warm. Another Mariner's Compass quilt is draped over the back of the sofa in our living room. I can see it out of the corner of my eye as I write this. The other two, a nine patch and an Ohio Star, are folded up on a rocking chair in our spare bedroom having done their duty as winter lap quilts and an extra layer on the bed when needed (my OH can testify to the fact that I suffer from chronically cold feet in the Winter!). They might have points that don't quite meet and the odd wobbly quilting stitch but they are very important to me. They remind me how far I have come in my sewing life. I have learnt so much making them. I still vividly remember cutting out the strips for the log cabin quilt without the aid of a rotary cutter. What was I thinking! I went out and bought one pretty quickly after that I can tell you.

I had a similar experience recently when a friend asked me to repair a necklace. It is actually one of mine. She bought it from me several years ago and she wears it a lot. Unfortunately one of the fire polished beads on the edging has become detached. It was really interesting for me to see it again after so long. I made it as part of my City & Guilds Level 2. I was looking at it earlier today and I started thinking about how I would have done things differently if I was making it now. For one thing I would use a different thread, probably Fireline, to avoid accidents such as the one that I am having to repair at the moment. But despite its flaws she loves it and that is the most important thing.

Sadly one of my friends lost her battle with cancer last week. Although we knew that her condition was terminal the speed at which she faded away was a shock. She was one of the first friends that I made when I moved to Bournemouth nearly eight years ago. I still find it hard to believe that I will never see her again. In the last conversation that I had whith her she said 'We have had so many laughs together haven't we? Remember that when I am gone, don't be sad'. I am going to try to do just that, although it won't be easy. She will be remembered with much affection by all who knew her.

Catching up...

Sorry for the long break from posting but I have been struggling a bit with my arthritis. Quite frankly by the time I get home from work and cook a meal I am just about ready to go to bed. I have done very little knitting and beading recently as I have been having problems with my right hand. My GP suspects that it is carpal tunnel syndrome and I am going to Poole Hospital tomorrow morning for some nerve conduction tests to establish how bad it is.

Although I have not been feeling up to doing much in the evenings I have been trying to get out and about at the weekends. I have also made a couple of things since I last posted, although my progress has been slow.

Three weekends ago there was a bead fair at Poole Arts Centre. I went along and met up with some of my beady friends. It was great to see them all and to catch on all of the things that they have been doing. I bought a few beads and a couple of patterns from Oaktree Crafts. As a result I have made a butterfly brooch and some beaded beads. I am particularly pleased with the 'Jewel Beads' and will be making them into a necklace, with some lampwork beads and pearls. Pictures to come in my next post. I have to bead in short burst at the moment due to the fatigue and problems with my hand, but I am determined to finish them.

I made some fingerless mittens for a friend. It was my way of saying 'Thank You' to her. Over the last couple of years she has given me numerous lifts and fed me on a number of occasions. She is one of the three women who I count as my closest friends and I am grateful for all of their help and support over the last 12 months.

She greatly admired a pair of Veyla mittens that I made for myself last winter and so I decided to make her some (Ysolda Teague's patterns are great fun to knit - if you haven't tried them yourself you really should). I was really pleased with how they turned out and P was thrilled with them.

I am going to leave it there for now. In my next post I will tell you about a couple of fascinating exhibitions I have visited in the past few weeks and progress on my necklace.

Life is full of surprises

Early last week I had a nice surprise. I was literally going out of the front door on my way to work when I found the Postman on my doorstep bearing a large parcel. I just had time to open the mysterious cardboard box quickly before leaving. This is what I found -

A yarn swift. At the beginning of December I ordered a Sunflower Swift from Brownberry Yarns with some of my Birthday money. They are handmade from a mixture of beech, ash and sycamore with a solid brass spindle. A 'Girl In Winter' has kindly let me borrow hers in the past, and I loved it so much that I decided to buy my own. The bad news was that as they are handmade to order there is a waiting list, therefore I might not get mine until the end of February. So imagine my delight when it arrived early. It really is a beautiful object, skillfully made, built to last a lifetime, and a delight to use. I have bought a ball winder so I am all set to wind my skeins into lovely sqidgey cakes of yarn.

I have been so tired recently, a combination of my arthritis and the weather that my beading has virtually ground to a halt. This only a temporary set back and to try to jolt myself out of the malaise I took some of the beads that I bought at Bijoux Beads in Salisbury recently and made a quick bracelet for myself (it is based on one that they had on display in the shop). Now that it is done I am not sure if it really suits me. However, it has got me thinking and I have come up with some more variations on the theme, using beading stitches rather than stringing.

I have also created wire links with some heart beads and headpins which will be incorporated into a necklace. They seem very apt given the date.

On the knitting front I have been making something as a gift for a friend. All will be revealed in due course.

FO's and a Grand Day Out

Over the past week I seem to have hit a bit of a hiatus where making things is concerned. This wasn't helped by my contracting a really revolting head cold, which doesn't show any signs of going away and has turned my brain to mush. So I decided to make something straightforward and mindless, that I could knit without thinking too much.

I finished knitting a green version of Woolly Wormhead's Limpetiole beret a couple of weeks ago and wanted to make a scarf to go with it. I looked through Ravelry and my own books and magazines and could not find anything that I liked so I decided to improvise my own pattern. The scarf incorporates half a skein of Manos del Uruguay, left over from knitting the hat, with some scraps of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino and some Mirasol Tupa. I am not going to pretend that this scarf is a completely original idea. There are lots of ready made scarves in the shops, and a few patterns where the scarf is made lengthwise but most of them use linen or herringbone stitch. I decided to make mine entirely in garter stitch.

If you are interested in making your own version this is what I did -

Materials
Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend - 80 grams (Shade 7325)
Debbie Bliss Cashmerino - 60 grams (Shade 340016)
Mirasol Tupa - 50 grams (Shade 817)
5mm circular needle (at least 120 cm long - 47 inches long)

Finished dimensions - 6 inches (15 cm) wide and 65 inches (165 cms) long, excluding the fringe

Making the scarf
Cast on 260 stitches using a long tailed or similar stretchy cast-on. Working in garter stitch knit the following sequence -

Cashmerino - 4 rows
Manos del Uruguay - 4 rows
Tupa - 4 rows

I repeated the above sequence 5 times and then ended with 4 rows of Cashmerino. I deliberately left 8 inch tails, rather than darning them in, when joining in and breaking off yarn which were later incorporated into the fringe. I cast off with the 5mm needles but very loosely.

To make the fringe I cut 16 inch lengths of yarn in all three colours. I put one strand of each colour together and folded them in half. Then, using a crochet hook, I pulled the loop through the edge of the scarf where two colours join and pulled the strands through the loop to make a half-hitch knot. I repeated this on both ends of the scarf. I then trimmed the ends level and it was ready to wear. I did not need to block it.

You can experiment with different colour combinations and numbers of rows, using whatever scraps of yarn you have to hand. One side of my scarf is striped and the other has a more blended effect. I really love the effect of the two next to each other when the scarf is wrapped around my neck. Of course you can also make it shorter or longer, and vary the width. Whatever yarn you choose I would recommend using a needles one or two sizes larger than normally recommended for the yarn to give it a nice drape. My finished scarf is soft and squishy and very warm. I love it!

I wore it on Saturday when we went to Salisbury. It was bitterly cold and I was glad of my new scarf and the Limpetiole hat too. We had a really good day, despite my cold and the fact that my leg was rather painful by the time we got on the bus to come home. We went to one of our favourite places in Salisbury, Fisherton Mill. They sell beautiful items created by local craftspeople and the upper level includes workshops occupied by a jeweller, a milliner and a weaver plus an art gallery. They also have a great cafe which sells wonderful home cooked food. We both had a bowl of their lovely carrot, coriander and lentil soup served with freshly baked bread. Just what we needed on such a raw day. Afterwards we paid a visit to Franklins in Fisherton Street where I bought some King Cole Baby Alpaca DK in a lovely shade of green, called Lichen, to make some gloves.

My final port of call was Bijoux Beads on the edge of the Market Square where I bought some beautiful beads and some thread - more of that in my next post.

Happy New Year

I am only too glad to be saying goodbye to 2010 and starting a new year afresh. The last twelve months has seen us sadly losing two family members and a major health challenge for me. I am not normally one to make resolutions but this year I have broken with this and resolved to face the year ahead with optimism.

Christmas turned out to be very stressful as my Mother was taken seriously ill on Christmas Eve. What was originally thought to be a heart attack turned out to be blood clots on her lungs, a complication from recent surgery. Luckily it was caught before it could become life threatening and she is receiving treatment. She was a bit annoyed at being forced to spend the Christmas period in hospital but to my delight she was discharged on New Year's Eve. The hospital staff were great, doing their best to make Christmas fun. She enjoyed lots of festive food and even went to a carol service on Christmas morning in the hospital chapel. She will need many months of treatment and careful monitoring but she is on the mend.

I had been looking forward to time off over Christmas after a long and stressful three months at work. I had a list of projects to make and things that I wanted to do. Instead I found myself on an emotional roller coaster. The result was that I didn't achieve anything. I feel as if I need another week off to recover!

It has not been all bad. I have had some quality time with my OH and time with friends. On Boxing Day we went for a walk by the sea. The pictures above don't really give a sense of how cold it was. I was well wrapped up but my face was completely numb by the time we finished walking. However, it did give my OH an opportunity to play with his new camera and it gives you a good view of my hand knitted hat. It is 'Rose Red' by Ysolda Teague, knitted in Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend yarn. It is super cosy as I can pull it down over my ears so I have been wearing it very frequently over the past few weeks.

I know it is usual to take some time to look back over my achievements during the past twelve months. I am not going to do that instead I want to draw a line under 2010 and look forward rather than dwelling on the past.