hats

November 22, 2018 ~ Gillie ~ 2 Comments

On my return from Loch Ness Knit Fest in October, I showed the Boss my purchases. Yes, all my purchases! One of them was this gorgeous little number from Tine and Floyd.

8A6A4C85-EB2C-448B-88EF-E6DBFC2C9AA6

The Boss took a shine to it and suggested it would make a fine hat. In particular it would make a fine hat with ear flaps. A fine hat with ear flaps that would be perfect to keep his head and ears warm whilst out fishing. Since the wind off the North Sea is pretty piercing if you are on land I can only assume it is vicious when out at sea.

So I disappeared down the rabbit hole that is Ravelry and found this wonderful pattern by Mitzy Moore

IMG_5187_small2

Obviously I am doing it in one colour way, but after a month or so of lacework I am loving the speed with which it knits up! I’m not sure about the bobble though. Not quite his style I don’t think!

What’s on your needles today?

Love Gillie x

lacework

November 20, 2018November 20, 2018 ~ Gillie ~ 2 Comments

It was many years before I was brave enough to try lace work. I will never forget going to a workshop at the wonderful WhistlebareYarns and after we had chosen our yarn and settled down I saw a line that could have been written in Arabic for all I understood it. I panicked. I looked at the women around me who were all happily clicking away. And then I got to the dreaded line, it was line 9 I can remember it well.

My heart headed south faster than a swallow in autumn. But do you know what it was dead easy! Just follow the instructions and keep knitting. It does help to have pencil and paper to record where you are up to. I rather like these as well.

Also if you are easily distracted, don’t do the lace row when you are watching television or people are trying to talk to you. It is the Devil’s own job to frog a lace row!

When people look at lacework so many of them take a deep in breath and declaim they couldn’t possibly do that. But in all honesty all lacework is is a planned pattern of holes! I think we can all put our hand on our hearts and say we can make holes in knitting. If you can knit, purl and wind yarn around a needle you can do lacework!

This is my work in progress using the silk and baby camel hair (just writing that makes me go all gooey) I bought from Dye Ninjaat Loch Ness Knit Fest. The pattern is Rogue Wrap by Helen Dillon (available on Ravelry) and is a doddle to knit, particularly when using such gorgeous yarn.

Only a short post today as the weather is awful and it feels like a knitting kind of day!

Love Gillie x

P.S. Don’t worry if you lacework looks like a dishrag! All lacework looks like a dishrag until it is blocked (well mine does!).

autumn

November 13, 2018November 13, 2018 ~ Gillie ~ 1 Comment

924AAD35-8F5F-4674-A9A8-8DFE7450671C

The colour of the light in the early morning and last of the windfalls feeding the pheasants who have taken up residence in our orchard remind me that autumn is coming to an end and it will soon be time to prepare for winter.

The changing seasons bring up all sorts of different emotions in me. During the long hot summer this year I wanted it to go on forever. I wanted to be able to get up and fling on a sundress and flipflops every day and dreaded the mornings when I would have to think about what to wear because I would need woolly tights, cardigans, I would have to think about coats and scarves. There would be the usual marital grumbling about whose turn it was to bring in the wood and empty the grate so we could light the fire.

Autumn arrived gently, warm days lasting longer than expected and gradually interspersed with shorter colder ones. Fortunately there have been few grey days; I think it is the lack of colour that gets me down in the winter. The harvest was truly bountiful, my preserving pans, dehydrator and pickle and fermentation jars went into overdrive. I have put down my light cotton crochet and picked up my soft winter knitting. Our meals are heartier and warmer, the Christmas cookbooks have come out and I reread Making Winter and The Christmas Chronicles. It is time to dig out The Box of Delights.

I am ready now.

Love Gillie x

remembrance

November 11, 2018 ~ Gillie ~ 4 Comments

2A14BAC7-8B45-4F20-8D81-61AFE412C996 — Brancepeth Village War Memorial 11 November 2018

At 10.59 on the 11th November 1918 Henry Nicholas John Gunther an American serviceman died when attacking a German machine gun post in an attempt to regain his rank of Sergeant after being demoted to Private after writing home about the conditions in the trenches. He died, one minute before the Armistice was declared, some 5 hours after it was agreed in a train carriage in Picardy.

However his was not the last death as a result of the First World War, many civilians and combatants continued to die as a result of their wounds both physical and mental for many years. And the seeds of the next World War were sown in that carriage.

Whilst we remember, and continue to remember those who died in conflict perhaps we can find in our own hearts some tiny thing, some tiny action or intention that helps pave the way, however small and apparently insignificant to a world of peace.

I learned this song from an album my father often use to play, More Folk at the Phil by The Spinners. It was written by Pete Seeger and I have never forgotten it.

Last night I had the strangest dream
I’d ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

I dreamed I saw a mighty room
Filled with women and men
And the paper they were signing said
They’d never fight again

And when the paper was all signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands and bowed their heads
And grateful prayers were prayed

And the people in the streets below
Were dancing ’round and ’round
While swords and guns and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream
I’d never dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war.

You can hear that same recording from the Liverpool Phil here.

Love Gillie x

goddesses

November 8, 2018 ~ Gillie ~ 1 Comment

In between getting my head down and concentrating on a lacework shawl and trying very hard not to drop any stitches because they are a right pain to try and pick up again in lacework, I have been playing with goddesses.

The Boss and I go to a pottery group every Wednesday and deciding that we now had enough platters and bowls I started to play around with sculptures. We then had plenty of animals and vases. So after our trip to Malta this summer where we saw some of the most amazing early goddess statues I decided to have a go at making my own.

The one at the top is based on an actual sculpture in Malta and was my first attempt. When I was making the hips and feet a fellow potter looked over my shoulder and asked if I was making an armadillo! I would have preferred to have given her bigger hips but it didn’t work out right. Better luck next time maybe. However, she is a nice size that fits comfortably in my hand and often travels around with me.

Next up was more of a wall hanging goddess.

She is about 10″ tall and I am very fond of her.

I love walking the labyrinth and am still working on the Boss as I want to create one in the meadow. Meanwhile I thought I would have a go at making a finger labyrinth for my table. I love the goddess but am no so keen on the glaze.

Finally I made a meditation yoni. I have a friend who makes the most beautiful yonis out of parian porcelain. She made one for me which I carved and glazed. I decided to have a go at making my own. I am very pleased with this one, it’s the perfect size to fit in my hands as a meditation tool.

Whilst the clays were going in and out of the kiln I thought I would have a go at goddess interpretation with textiles. I loved the colours in this one, my sea goddess.

This lady is still a work in progress, dark evenings are perfect for playing with embellishments in front of the fire!

Now I think I need to get on with that lacework!

Love Gillie x