knitonlybutalso

What’s on my needles - October (Juliet)

Messy corner - this feels very October-ish, Kirengishoma, Chinese lantern and Geranium

I love this month, we are officially into autumn and no one can quibble over whether or not it really is this season or the tail end of summer. It means that officially one can do full-squirrel mode and that always seems like a celebration of the homebody stuff that makes me deliriously happy.

Begun in Carlisle, and then knit in Paris and Bologna...yet to be finished

So, first project is my Pic n Mix cowl that I bought at Beautiful Knitters way back with Yvonne… JCRennie yarn (total fandom here, Wee County Yarns sells mini balls as well as full balls and the colour range is sublime). I left out the white, the beige and the yellow as I wanted something quite punchy - but aren’t those mini yarns or “elf balls” just the cutest. I was knitting the cowl in France and Italy and have stalled at the sewing up - must get a grip and just do it. But yeah, knit your own reminder of a lovely break away - it’s a thing.

Aren't they just the cutest...

Happily cold mornings mean coffee...

Childhood coffee grinder - my pride and joy

... it’s a choice between 2 Moka pots - that bigger one, the Bialetti was our souvenir from Bologna and is a “9 cup” or rather 2 mugs which is my basic starter for the working day… the other one is the posh one. Somewhere in a dark cupboard, we have a third one without a handle as I managed to melt that off, it is kept for unspecified emergencies.

My main knit project is Coloured Crosses by Anne Ventzel, I started with a white background and quickly decided nope it’s not working for me, so a red jersey it is - which is a bit out there and a departure for me but I’m sticking with it. The contrast stars are plum and grey.

What have we been doing in up in Cumbria in October, not a lot. I have been painting (half) the dining room and we went looking for crab apples. Our first batch we found on a couple of small trees coming out of the cute little village of Brampton, the next batch we found near the tiny hamlet of Staffield - oodles of them. 14 kg of them. 14 kg that Gravel-guy is now trying to ignore after making one batch and then hiding the rest in the shed whilst he scarpered off to Uxbridge. It does make the most amazing jelly - but I'm not the person that cares for that sort of thing much on my toast, I love making jams and marmalade etc but rarely if ever eat it. Such a pretty colour though and it has a pleasingly fresh tart taste.

a slightly blurry photo as I believe even my phone was sticky by this stage

Having failed to contain the Gravel-Guy and his sticky mess with jelly making, I have retreated to making mess of my own - painting! The dark innards of a dining room cupboard have been painted a soft chalky pink.... it brightens the dark corner where that cabinet is situated, the cabbage green walls are gradually going to be painted soft, pale blue in a low allergen non VOC paint, seriously, I had my nose right up to it and it doesn't smell. We are hoping a joiner will come soon and build some bookcases, so we may as well paint and tidy up so the whole task is at not totally overwhelming. Gravel-Guy would paint everything magnolia, I initially wanted a dark blue, but decided it is quite a dark room already so we have compiled a fine selection of light blues - Gravel-guy has chosen one he can live with... If I get it done and tidy up, he may not even notice. The chandelier thing in the dining room will be replaced and curtains are being considered. The new gas fire makes my happy little heart skip a beat, I love delft and 9 flowers and tiny Mr Mole make me feel very cheerful. 

Update: most of the room done, and Gravel-guy hates it, a different pale blue chosen… why did I even ask him? He changed the chandelier thing to a new pendant light, did a great deal of hissable muttering and has skulked off for "fieldwork" on a Sunday... I should have just chosen the blue I wanted.

"Dorchester pink" and a mishmash of china

Blue camo - I was tempted to leave it like this

In the mean time the tiny garden is having its last hurrah before it all goes to sleep - my asters are doing their absolute best to brighten things up.

aren't they sweet

we have some lovely seed heads which I pull off and throw back onto the soil

A hydrangea in a pot was meant to be an elegant petiolaris type, it sadly isn't - when it initially flowered I was a little perturbed by the rather showy pink, but now its fading down rather nicely...

Getting better with age, just like people

and the Virginia Creeper is having a final swoosh of leafy exuberance before next doors gardener gives it a thorough "doing mid November" and takes it right down to grow back in a strong and a slightly more organised way. 

Shhhhhhh a haircut its a-coming

Paris (Juliet)

I don't even need to say this is Paris....

Paris – well it is as lovely as last time we were here pre-Covid. We got the EuroStar from St Pancras and popped up on a late Thursday afternoon in central Paris. Easy peasy, I much prefer this to flying – everything about it was preferable. We were staying in the Batignolles area, other areas ARE available and I am sure they are lovely – however I just love the village-vibe here. The few times I have been lucky enough to come to Paris, this is the area that has me totally smitten and as it was up to me to organise the hotel here we are. Hotel des Batignolles – small, cheap and rather cute.. it is right slap bang next to a hardware/domestic stuff type shop – I never got in to investigate but I LOVE that sort of thing, there is an anthropological delight to pondering lives lived with other peoples stuff. I firmly intend to arrange a repeat stay at our hotel just so I can explore that shop. No, that is not weird behaviour.

shall we start with a little breakfast?

I don’t want to sound all casual as though we pop over to Paris “whenevers” as we certainly don’t – this is a huge thing for me and so I am determined to soak up every tiny millisecond of being here, I am also going to recommend this area tucked below Montmartre as it seems a bit quieter and without the Instagrammers clogging every pore of the area with their posing and pouting (I wonder what they will all do when Instagram is no longer the hip thing??? Everything has its season doesn’t it – what happens when these young things are no longer young and quite so aching at peak?). Anyway, the Batignolles is sweet and I’m rather partial to this area – close to Montmartre, Abbesses, Opera…but neighbourly, and very local if you get what I am trying to say…

Friday, we were up and out for an early start at the Atelier des Lumiere – this is something that utterly entrances me, this is my third visit over the years, I visit every time I am lucky enough to get to Paris. A huge old warehouse gutted and painted black inside upon which are projected artworks on the walls and floor. You are completely immersed in the art works of Van Gogh or in this case Cezanne and then Kandinsky to carefully thought-out music. People are very quiet and just mesmerised, it is quite one of the most fabulous things ever that I could recommend anyone tries.

On the outside, maybe a little meh...

... on the inside, extraordinary

plenty of space for quiet contemplation

you wander about at will and just absorb everything

I’d happily spend all day in there, but I’m with Gravel-Guy and even though he enjoyed it, he has his limits. We emerge slightly spaced and wander past the Bastille and along the Fayolle Marine, and on towards the Jardin des Plants.

Huge and fabulous

Art Deco gloriousness

and inside the jungle...

fabulously tall specimens

and looking up - it is so beautiful

outside into the baking heat to cool down

There is the spectacular glasshouse the Serres d’Auteil – it is quite wonderful but stinking hot and a series of delightful gardens also needs exploration. La Drogeurie has a series of PDFand paper sewing patterns of cute little summery tops and other things one of them named after the greenhouse (a sweet little v neck blouse that is very nice to make and wear) – and yes, as they have one named after this greenhouse and I have made it, I am sad enough to NEED to explore this… And so we explore this art deco delight and then the garden of evolution before sitting at a kiosk and having a lentil salad each (lots of lovely lentils but relatively light on the leaves compared to what we expected, but still quite delicious. I kept the tiny and impossibly cute bottles of balsamic vinaigrette as y’know… reasons, no I don’t know why I squirrelled them into my bag apart from cuteness and you never know when a balsamic dressing emergency may strike at future dates).

To escape the baking summer heat, we then went into the museum of minerals – its not big, but wowser upon wowsers it is just crackingly good. Gravel-Guy was a very happy Gravel-Guy and thoroughly enjoying himself. I have to admit I loved it – I was always that kid entranced by brightly coloured rocks, sad maybe but there we are, these were amazing. Their quartz examples were mindblowingly enormous. Totally worth it.

I seriously want an entrance like this, Gravel-Guy says no

Some of the quartz specimen were almost as tall as I am

the knitter in me says these colours would be perfect in a jersey

and the knitter in me says I'd like felted pink mittens

yep, all minerals

grey and honey - stripey jersey for sure, or perhaps a teacosy to end all teacosies

I have quite a lot of yarn this colour already...

possibly a favourite colour combination

mineral equivalent of an orange mohair jumper

love this colour, bit like my lovely yarn from Deb....

We pottered back along the Seine taking in the incredibly sad sight of Notre Dame. 

sad, but she is on the mend...

We took in a bit more Seine, taking a look at the fabulous exterior of the Pompidou centre and then magically we just happened to find ourselves at the outside of the Passage du Grand Cerf.

still vibrant and interesting to look at after all these years

On the pretext of sheltering my anglo-pink skin (usually the bane of my existence but in this case a brilliant excuse), we entered and quell surprise! A yarn/fabric shop – Lil Weasel which takes up two tiny shops opposite each other in the passage. Gosh - isn't that just marvellous as a stroke of luck/serendipitous moment??? Actually yes it is, as my sense of direction is utter pants so even though I wanted to get there, the chances of zeroing in like an exocet missile are slim to none normally as I am so easily distracted by all sorts of other things.

cute and adorable - before I even got inside the shop

situated on opposing sides of the passage, two dinky shoplets

Naturalment, I HAD to go inside and look, Gravel-Guy hunkered down in a glowering heap outside much to the consternation of the lovely ladies, as if a grouchy Gravel-Guy has ever put me off yarn pfffft. Once I managed to convey there was no way in hell Gravel-Guy is likely to set foot in a yarn shop, they were much more chill and I had a jolly good rootle about – Malabrigo – tick, Katia – tick, Fonty – seems kind of a European equivalent to Rowan and must investigate later… a little hand dyed yarn and of course some notions and tools to investigate. All very pleasurable – a delight to visit and very lovely ladies who opened up the annex on the other side of the passage so three shoppers could have a good look. Lovely.

We ended up somehow in Montmartre at a wonderful littl, out of the way Italian for dinner before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night with 31 846 steps registered on my phone.

Day 2

Today was a gentler day after yesterday, we decided to take a more leisurely stroll and head off to the Musee Montmartre which is a wonderful little place to explore in Montmartre, funnily enough it is never hoachingly busy – lots of French people seem to visit but I guess if you have to pay to enter maybe that puts the young Instagrammers off? They all seem to be milling about in the busy bits of Montmartre but not in there with its pretty gardens and excellent exhibitions. It is a cracking place – I highly recommend it.

a view of the Montmartre vineyard - the wine apparently isn't that great, but that doesn't matter, every year there is a harvest festival...

random staircase - lovely and sinuous

enjoy some wandering about the beautiful gardens

yes, we are actually in the heart on Montmartre

Currently they have the fauvist Charles Camoin, if you like brilliant colours, a little bit of the south of France, you would probably like him. The musee also has works dedicated to Montmartre (what a wild and crazy place it was) and an especially good selection of works by Suzanne Valodin (what a wild and crazy woman she was too I suspect) along with her studio left as it was – superb, and really rather moving.

le chat noir - synonymous with the area

fabulous and intense artwork

... I particularly love this woman, I bet she was wild

a quick peek out the window and a pinch-me moment that I really am in Paris...

and into the exhibition

beautiful... you can smell that piney foliage almost

all of it, beautiful and you can feel the hot milky air

everything about this painting - gorgeous

Suzanne Valodin, self portrait, what a strong face - what a presence

her cosy little apartment

isn't this incredible!!!

From the sublime and serene back into the melee of Montmartre and the Instagrammers, down into Abbesses, I made a vague pretext of my pallid-pink skin needing a gentle cleanser and my foofy whitish hair needing a conditioner to get me into Monop’Beauty whilst Gravel-Guy did his pound puppy schtick outside… the skin thing didn’t persuade him, but he hates chewing mouthfuls of my hair when we are in bed and he is trying to sleep, so anything to control the curly “foof” is something he will fall for. I can report – Monop’Beauty are super good, lots of mid range French/European names you’d recognise if you like skin care stuff: Caudalie, Leonor Greyl, a very happy experience I could have spent ages and the assistant that materialised as I was gawping blanky at shelves with French explanations was fabulous – she was NOT letting me buy anything except what was right and proper and no, she didn’t sell me the most expensive but what was the best fit for my skin and hair, I could have happily stayed there for eons, however I had more plans in mind and didn’t want to try gravel-Guys patience in too much.

quite a jump from the musee to the outside

Out I come and immediately straight across the road and down one block before turning right into Rue Cortot we just “happened” across another yarn shop. Petit Points Paris is small but delightful, it was shut for “vingt minutes” as we arrived but the lady inside saw me dribbling at the sight of all the yarn and came scurrying forward to welcome me in.

how cute is this? irresistible...

... and inside, even lovelier

the darling owner!

Love at first sight from me and for her darling shop, lots of Fonty yarn etc and a small selection of yarn she dyes herself, we had a great natter about yarn and she knew of Loop in London and Knit with Attitude but not Beautiful knitters or Tribe. In terms of the nicest yarn shop in Paris so far?? This beats La Droguerie which I love and Lil Weasel which is ace, this HAS to be the best so far – tiny but super lovely in terms of the yarn and also the fabulous owner, she was super delightful and had the most beautiful spectacle frames ever – I want to look as gorgeous as her when I grow up, she slid a flyer for the Lyon yarn festival into my purchases... Lunch was at a delectable Lebanese café in a small square somewhere in the Pigalle before we toddled towards the Musee de Gustave Moureau.

yes another staircase, but so pretty

The Musee de Gustave Moureau is nuts. I loved it – Gustave had the idea of kitting out his house as an art gallery, there are pictures upon pictures upon pictures, if there had been a Madame Gustave I don’t know how she might have coped (she was previous by the time he set about this grand and rather mad vision) – the man’s vision of what he wanted was all consuming. Even the personal apartments are picture upon picture upon picture, nuts – but wonderfully nuts. Sadly he only lived for three years here before he too became a bit previous.

fair to say, Gustave liked his stuff

it's pretty full...

but look at that sublime staircase

We decided to ease our way back up to the hotel, stopping in at Notre Dames des Lorettes (how pretty! And how unexpected), a couple of covered passages and past the vertical garden in the second arrondisement (Gravel-Guy knows I like that sort of thing and it will briefly stop me harping on about covered passages and pallid-pink skin and yarn shops and weird museums)…

why yes, I AM excited by a wall of plants

very excited

but we can head into Notre Dame des Lorette - its cooler in here

... and very beautiful

and serene

Through the Domaine National du Palais Royale (Gravel-Guy says non! to the lovely spherical balls in a pond for our garden by the way…)

I was very tempted to dip the toes, I didn't

like walking through an impressionist art work

heavenly gardens

the balls Gravel-Guy says no to... I want! I want!

and past the Place Collette where there was a live band and people dancing jive (that guy in the boater and his partner in the blue dress were totally knocking the others out of the park).

the couple in front - fabulous!

Through the Tuilieries garden (so beautiful) and up towards Park Monceau, before arriving at our hotel and having a dinner locally. 24 698 steps all in all, a relatively quiet day but for some reason more knackering than the day before.

timeless, yes just like a painting...

Day Three

Our final day in Paris was a special treat – off to Fontainbleu, or as the French royal family probably used to call it, the bach. The train ride was about 40 minutes and we walked through the forest to the more formal grounds, it seemed a good idea to at least walk off breakfast a little – the grounds are very lovely and huge. Really huge. I was just getting used to this idea of huge or very hugely huge, when we saw their holiday house, I am just going to say nonsensically huge, yes it is very beautiful but, for a wee French royal family – just a tiny-teensy bit excessive.

quite a nice approach to the bach...

I can imagine a knitters retreat maybe?

largest parterre in Europe, Gravel-Guy says no to a parterre

yeah, he said no but he'd have knocked a couple of bits off or chipped it before we even had it up

no to a series of chandelier as well

no to decorative panneling

no to fancy ceilings

he was mildly taken with this, but still no

loving the barrier idea - he says no

and no

more no from Gravel-Guy

dinky bed for Napoleon, I like the steps

back staircase, nope from Gravel-Guy

doesn't every holiday home need a small chapel?

off to the Les Jardin des Diane

exquisite, no to the fountain as well

... and he says no to a raised walkway

Gravel-Guy says “NON!” to a canal, boating lake, fountain things, all of it in terms of transplanting ideas back to our garden or tiny house... He was a little taken with the long gallery of books and the globe but it was still “NOPE”... slightly despondent by his lack of enthusiasm for digging up the tiny back garden and rearranging everything, I trailed through the local woods after him as he looked for “the interesting rocks” he has read about… interesting rocks proved harder to find than expected - mainly as he wanted to follow the road for some reason which isnt normally his thing - he likes heading directly through brambles, it wasn’t until we decided to take a short cut through a car park that we found the interesting rocks – lots of them.

These look very "Camoin" style

normally covered in climbers practicing

but very quiet when we were there

So, are these very special rocks?” I ask, apparently not. They are just ornery ol’ sandstone but when everything else abraided away around them, they obdurately remained. They are quite lovely nevertheless. How about these for the garden I ponder? Maybe, he says, maybe.

Whats on the needles (Juliet)

It’s been warm and muggy in Carlisle so naturally my thoughts turned to winter knitting… a chunky hat (like I ever wear hats, pffft but they are a perfect size to get a yarn or an idea out of the system), and mittens, fingerless mitts preferably - I am wanting to start the Pom-Pom lackadaisical mitts, they are just the cutest. 

I am going for Holstgarn, probably in 2 differing greens

I am awaiting a package of yarn to come with the yarn for them, but I am currently in London about to head off to Paris in the next 3 days for holidays, so the yarn will come whilst I am not home. That will be something nice to come home to...

In the mean time, a Tin can knits pattern got a skein of pretty colours out of my system - Maize mittens “sort of” as I’m not sure I followed the pattern properly but I had this Malabrigo kicking about and needed something to knit, as I just had that urge to play with those colours. I should tackle the thumbs – the thumbs are always my least favourite bit even though it’s a sign a fingerless mitt is nearly done… I should knit the thumbs before I lose the yarn and wonder where it went. As I mentioned, I'm now down in London and the thumbs are not done, I have carefully put mittens and yarn on dining room table for when I get back.

Surreal huh?! very malabrigo yarnlike...

Maize mittens!

Anyway back to the hat – not entirely sure about the yarn but I’m starting to like it more, I guess it was not quite the colours I expected for some reason the intensity of the tones wasn't how I imagined. So, it is just a plain 6mm hat, no pompom or bobble or whatever, just plain-Jane. It will go with lots of clothing I have so even though I am still not 100% fangirl of the colour just yet I will probably get a lot of use out of it - if I ever get around to wearing hats. It's a yarn that is a linkup between Purl Soho and Manos Del Uruguay called Hummingbird which is wonderfully chunky and satisfyingly solid knitting, I chose the "Point Break" colourway, no actual pattern - I just cast on and chugged away to see how the colours would work out. The colours are growing on me, I like it more now I am not fretting over it. Loved the yarn when I was knitting it.

Gradually starting to like this...

I seem to have quite the thing for teal and bright pink, they are my kind of colours....

In the mean time we are also having a summer holiday – in Europe! Lovely, lovely Europe (Paris and then on to Bologna by train) I am so over-excited by the thought of this at the end of this month I have struggled to logically think as to what knitting to take or even to try and finish and ostensibly wear… Yes, I set myself a mission to finish the odd thing – a sweater that felt like it would not end is done and dusted. This is the Paint Pail sweater from Purl Soho, a slog on 3.25mm needles, and dull, dull, dull. I went with their Linen Quill yarn as suggested, it's a very pleasant yarn - a nice fleck to the colour, a lovely feel, and just enough "floof" to stop it looking too hard around the edges and some very pretty colours to dither over. It is actually a very pretty thing now it is done, I love the idea and the look, and I LOVE that it’s over. Yes, it is yet another PurlSoho thing  can you tell I have had a slight obsession to work through? But I love how they have a clean simplicity to many of the designs which makes them quite approachable for new knitters as well as the slightly older and more jaded knitter wanting to cleanse their palate every now and then - the shapes and designs are simple and lovely, the hard work is done by  their gorgeous yarns....

Lovely - once off the needles....

How about some pyjama shorts for this heat and the hot sticky nights. Liberty quilting cotton from a local shop, pattern is Carolyn Pyjamas, and the shorts have lovely deep pockets for a hankie or maybe snacks and stitch markers... they took about a metre and a half. Quick and very comfy, I’ve made at least 4 of the full length pyjama bottoms and probably this is my third pair of shorts over the years – gingham, flannel, leery prints…. It’s a favourite pattern, however I have NEVER made the top, one day...

Carolyn Pyjamas from Closet Core, in Liberty cotton

Yup definitely have a teal thing going on.

And finally for knitting I am working, on an Oenling top which I am not sure about - such skinny yarn on 4mm needles and my version of the pattern looks hideous to start with but the actual top in photographs is really cute. I am hoping this is a cute and painless knit... I have brought it down with me for travel knitting as it packs up really small. In fact I have no idea if I remembered various clothing or toiletry items but I DID make sure I packed the pleasure reading and the stitching projects - priorities. I think I got things pretty small and dinky, when we open our fantasy yarn shop there will be notions/tools and ideas for travel knitting, its terribly exciting matching these little treasures to the project... I took inspiration for colourful tape measure and stitch stoppers from the Pic n Mix cowl I bought a while ago with Stash, when we were at Beautiful Knitters - embarrassing to say, I am just about to start it now as it is quite a perfect thing for travel I reckon. I also packed a needlework and a tiny embroidery hoop... cough, the needlework kit came from PurlSoho (yes, I must have emptied their shop and sucked it all down the internet to Carlisle).

Aren't these skeins cute! too cute to knit perhaps...

Oenling top pattern in background

As to where we have been in Cumbria – well we went to Lowther Castle on a blisteringly hot day (this is just outside Penrith) actually on possibly the hottest day of the year locally… the old castle was partially deconstructed in a bid to try and save the estate and so the empty shell has been landscaped by the famous Dan Pearson – him of the Garden Museum in a previous post. I always find my interest is piqued by any mention of him as I think he is just fabulous is a very gentle but interesting way, he has a magic to the way he puts plants together. The inner gardens as well as the rest of what he had created was sublime. The Lowther estate is working actively to rewild their grounds, this is going to be such an interesting place to revisit over the ensuing years, I’m very excited at the thought.

So 11.45 Sunday night or so in GravelGuys flat, he has gone to sleep and I am high as a kite at the thought of the EuroStar to Paris and the possibility of whatever we get up to in that gorgeous city and beyond.... 

What’s on the needles (Deb)

Hello from a cold and wintery Tasmania!

I am currently knitting on 2 projects - of the many sips that I have :)

The first is Sofia, a set of overalls for the granddaughter of a work colleague - her first grandchild:

I’ve finished one of the legs and almost completed the second, after which they are joined and the body worked.

the second project is a scarf for a friend of mine.  She lives in Queensland, so much warmer.  I have chosen Scheepjes Stone Washed.  So soft!  The pattern is linen stitch and I’m trying to get the stripes relatively random.  Harder than it seems!

July excursions and makes (Juliet)

Life has been pretty quiet since the excitement of meeting Stash and Deb. There was a brief and lovely sojourn to London earlier this month but sadly Stash was elsewhere so all my excitement at being in the big smoke was slightly tempered by her absence. No Debs and no Stash – how funny that we have only recently had our first physical meet, and how quickly/naturally did that feel so brilliantly right and perfect. I did still venture forth for some adventuring (Kew Gardens has to be visited, as does the V&A) and also I went to explore 17th century Ham House in Richmond (along with a wee visit to Tribe Yarns) and then on to the Garden Museum in Lambeth, but knitters in arms are the best kind of comrades for venturing forth... Gravel-Guy and I managed some bonding at the Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum and then out to the Horniman Museum and Gardens. But y’know, Stash and Debs, their presence just brightens any adventures and they don't complain about yarn or looking at things.

British Museum - inner courtyard, this roof....

Stonehenge exhibition last few days, utterly cracking....

these look a little like tiny trees the way they are displayed or maybe very sharp popsicles

fantastically well curated, really atmospheric

metal gauntlets? not sure they caught on

every item - beautifully lit and given space

knitting helmet? No one is going to approach casually

photos don't actually do justice to how well this was curated

The Horniman museum and gardens has won small museum of the year 2022. It is so well deserved, one wing is a traditional museum of stuffed creatures hauled back by enthusiastic Victorians and displayed in cases. I am a total sucker for that kind of thing - I adore the old world charm, even if I do feel somewhat sorry for the creatures displayed. The other side is a mad and exuberant collection (again in glass cases) of indigenous cultural artefacts - it is a riotous collection of colour and just wonderful.

I love a glass case of exhibits

totally my kind of vibe - I could spend hours here

Wally - undisputed star of the animals at the Horniman

for a stuffed critter, this little guy looks remarkably cheerful

and the human side.... exuberant and a total celebration

isnt' this cool! so much to look at all in one case, all the cases were full to the brim

Outside there is a delightful park and also excitingly, a butterfly house. it's just a short walk up the hill past this glass delight....

isnt this a confection! Gravel-guy says no to having anything like this in the tiny garden

how cute, how knitterly

drought-tolerant planting, really colourful...

...really colourful

Into the butterfly house, at the top of the gardens... it is small but breath-taking. You have to pay for this bit, but it is so worth it, it is enchanting!

The actual purpose of the trip down south was to find out what madam had done her masters in at Bristol. She is now doing her equally mystery Ph.D at Leeds but with current work experience in Reading, what that is also on I am not quite sure, but the masters was sports science, nutrition and public health. Yes, we are proud if by that you mean are we skint. Yes, we are very proud/skint. I didn’t manage many photos of the special day as little Miss-Instagram generation was/is very in charge of her image… Bristol by the way is lovely – we had a delectable lunch in some hipster place she used to frequent, dinner overlooking the gorgeous bridge, and photos in front of some fountain. I would rather like to go back and explore Bristol, and I felt a little sad that having a delayed-because-of-covid ceremony meant we never met her friends/flatmates on the day.

Look how proud Gravel-Guy is with the daughter

famous suspension bridge

some fabulous rocks, they look tipped out of a Bundt baking tin...

Of course, I did give Gravel-Guy the slip now and then, I had a few days when he was being busy and working – I got out to Richmond and saw Ham House a National Trust Property. It is really beautiful – the formal gardens are more my thing that the over blown interiors of that period but it was lovely. I also got to Tribe a titchy and delicious yarn shop in Richmond – I’ll be going back and yes I order quite a bit from them online so it was a treat to get there in real life. They are really quite wonderful and have some fabulous yarn and treats for knitters, a great range of excellent colours to knit and pattern support and the 65 Ealing Broadway bus trundles past Kew Gardens as well as Ham House and Tribe that makes for a nice easy-peasy day out mooching.

the cutest and dinkiest of yarn shops... Tribe in Richmond

examples of yarn loveliness

Ham House

... yes I want this in my garden

wild flower lawns, divine, I also want this in my garden

the "wilderness" gardens... which are little rooms of solitude, yes I want this too

these little houses were dotted about the wilderness, originally they could revolve and be pointed towards any direction one so desired, if one could find a servant handy and willing, Gravel-Guy says no to this as well

kitchen gardens - a feast for all the senses

lavender - it smelt incredible, utterly breathtaking

I saved Kew Gardens for another day and as always it was wonderful. Every time I visit I discover a new favourite - this time the student gardens really shone with wit and vibrant enthusiasm, that is definitely a new favourite along with all the other favourites. One of the few parts of Kew that doesn’t do it for me would be the rose garden behind the huge tropical glasshouse, so many roses just seem overwhelming and they don’t really shine as they are almost plonked in agricultural type formation. The hot weather makes the blooms appear slightly jammy or over baked. Its not my thing, but there are so many other parts and places that are – especially the gardens behind Kew Palace, they are a total delight.

Antipodean corner by the Princess of Wales Greenhouses

Thalictrum - lovely little thing

student gardens

Kew Palace

... and behind Kew Palace one of my favouritist bits of Kew ever

Big creeper-y thing, very lovely and barely anyone looked up to see it

newly discovered species of waterlily - been there at least 100 years...

The weekend I was down there meant time with Gravel-Guy so we went exploring locally the parks and nature areas – in Pinner for instance there is a Heath Robinson museum. Our family always loved the gentle humour and poking of fun at pompous overblown ideas of progress. Two rooms and a lot of pleasure – the man had serious watercolour skills as well as his more graphical style, an absolute delight and then lunch next door at the café in the park. Eastcote has a gorgeous walled garden - I find it wonderful/amazing/uplifting that in little out of the way places there are pocket garden jewels and museum treasures dotted about, that’s a phenomenal thing about London - the are some lesser known museums and sites to visit that are world class.

....a quiet place away from it all

I just love the character in his drawings

not such a daft idea if your beloved snores...

Pinner Park - delightful

Eastcote Manor Walled Garden, the manor no longer exists but the garden is divine

as if anyone could resist a hollyhock

very serene, and semi formal

My final big expeditionary mission was to Tate Britain and the Garden Museum across the river, the Tate is always interesting – a lot of the art is almost creepy to me (the strange ladies), a lot of it is very beautiful and a lot of it is quite wonderful…

the creepy twin ladies with their babies, I'm sort of repelled but also fascinated by them, especially by the dead-psycho eyes of the lady on the left

Le Passeur by William Stott 1881

Farm at Watendlath by Dora Carrington 1921

Portrait of a young man by Richard Dadd 1853

large installation by Hugh Locke, joyous and unsettling at the same time

The Garden Museum over the river from Tate Britain is tiny – it is a converted church with a small courtyard garden designed by Dan Pearson which is also part of the fantastic café. The grave stones of William Bligh and John Tradescant the elder (famous plantsman and connected with the Chelsea Physic garden which is a cracker of a place to explore) are here, it is slap bang next to Lambeth Palace. It is very small, but very sweet and the staff are so delighted you came as I guess it is slightly off the beaten track. I was encouraged/exhorted to climb the tiny spiral stairs in the tower for a lovely view, but really the joy was the courtyard and also the exhibits such as the tiny wheelbarrows for children (still very covetable I think). Unless you are deeply into garden history and planning to explore the café menu (the focaccia looked ahhh—mazing) maybe it isn’t the museum for most people, but I thought it was enchanting.

super views from the top, the spiral staircase is very steep and narrow

an old converted church saved from demolition, not huge but very, very nice

Beatrice Hazel-McCosh exhibition, these paintings were beautiful

I want this tiny wheelbarrow very, very much

and this little guy, I want him too

a heavenly spot just metres from all the hurly-burly traffic

A flat white, a delectable slice of cake and a darling little flower to keep me company....

So that was London. The trip back up to Carlisle is quite a slog if you don’t break it up – Gravel-Guy finally gets this. Shugborough near Stafford is great for a walk about, it is slightly unkempt in a really splendid way – those plants in the vege garden are beautifully chaotic and healthy. They also sell some of the excess produce, the main star of the estate are the huge grounds and expanse space to wander about, just the ticket for a trip north and the chance to shake a leg a little. The staff are heroically and loving tending the grounds back to order, there are significant areas they are working on, I love seeing a story of a garden unfolding and being reclaimed or transformed.

Wonderful countryside - a perfect place to stop and break a journey to Carlisle

a very large memorial to a cat, what is not to like?

yummmmmmm

flower-power chaos of the best kind

Back Home

What have I been up to since I got back – not a huge amount. I made a sweet little top from a pattern by La Droguerie, instructions are in French but the pattern is pretty simple to make and it is a delightful little top – a couple of pleats at the sleeve cuff, a pleat at the centre front and back, slight gathers at the shoulder seam – it makes for a nice and very wearable top.

success! excellent pattern and excellent fabric

I made it in some Liberty linen, if you haven’t sewn with this fabric before let me tell you it is the absolute business – a lovely lightweight, not sheer fabric. It sews beautifully and I have another couple of metres in a different pattern still waiting for a project. I am quite charmed by how nice the linen feels. Anyway that pattern went together very well, although I think my next La Droguerie – a little summer vest with ties at the shoulders was less successful not through any fault of the pattern. This is also a very sweet make, quick and easy-peasy but because the ties/bunny ears at the shoulder need to tie into a bow it takes quite a bit of fabric. I thought I had enough of the outer liberty stashed away, but it took some jiggery pokery to get the front and back from the fabric I had, so the back liberty print is upside down (I seem to have a thing for non symmetrical Liberty fabric) and not quite centred (bum). I didn’t have enough to make the inner lining in the same fabric so went for another Liberty that I think goes well enough… I had to order that metre for the inner and it came super quick (Liberty are rather good at that) it’s a very cute dressmaking pattern and just right for a super hot back garden. Would I make the pattern again – absolutely, but next time NOT a one way fabric and also maybe check I have enough of it as this pattern is fabric-greedy! La Droguerie patterns like so many these days are available PDF if you can face rolling about your floor sticking yourself together with sellotape and swearing at bits of paper.

the front is quite pleasing to me, the back less so. I think it is a back-garden top and only to be seen from the front as the back isn't centred as well as I think I could have done

My final makes for this post are two little cardigans for the freshly hatched great-nieces Tilly and Ivy-Rose. The pattern is Tilly and it's knit up in a very nice and squishy yarn called Pudding also by Mrs Moon, how can anyone resist a yarn called pudding, I think that is quite delightful. I really like the pattern (well I like it enough to knit it for two little girls) and I loved the yarn – it really is a pleasant feel to knit with, very soft and yet it feels quite robust. I just hope the young ladies like their cardis.

2 cardigans for 2 little ladies, they or their mums can choose who gets which

Boheme boheme (Juliet)

Wooooot happy midsummer. Isn't this lovely, it's just along the road and called The Swifts, I think it is just sublime. Its a great place for a local wander.

Although I'd class myself as mainly a knitter, sometimes I sew and make other messes. More often than not I squirrel fabric and ideas and patterns and buttons instead. However I did finally make a pattern that I had had on my mind for a while. Boheme (Atelier Scammit). It is a simple pullover type top in a woven fabric with a light fabric frill around the neck and with a flattering curved hemline that dips at the back and swoops up lightly to the front (great for hiding my drooping bot).

Atelier Scammit - Boheme, I bought the pdf version to print and adjust at home

I spent ages looking at pictures and fabrics and potential ideas and came up with the idea of white double gauze. Elegant, pristine, easy to sew - what could go wrong?

lovely white double gauze, cannot remember where I bought it

I'd say the fabric is a great choice for such a top, if you don't mind transparent - it is pretty see through, however it is a lovely and easy fabric to cut and sew, I think I'd use it or something very similar for a wafty kimono type wrap/over-jacket for summer as an alternative to a cardigan.  I did a fine zig zag around the neck frill to tidy the edge then found the original frill I'd cut seemed very flat and ungathered.

First neckline, looks a bit mean on the frills

I recut the neck frill much longer and then gathered more or less until I felt the gathers were about right, sewed it all together and then realised one side is slightly more frilly.

Yeah, it's not a keeper - at least not this one

Live and learn I guess. I did find the double gauze was quite bulky for the wrapped neck hemming method, it would have been much better to go for a thinner fabric. It's a top for the op-shops I think. Undeterred, I then had the idea of making Boheme again but in grey tottorri fabric - a fine and delicate seeksucker from Merchant & Mills and a huge crush of mine. This went together much better, I cut the frill fabric along the selvedge to use the slightly frayed edge and this one despite the wonky photos is a keeper.

... but this one is

Overall I think it s a lovely top to make but would make it for light/thin fabric, the neckline was much neater and easier to get right. It is also a lovely thing to wear. can I be bothered to unpick and redo the white gauze version? Nope, I have already moved onwards - I am making Melilot....

Melilot - Deer&Doe

This is a rather nice rounded collar / Grandpa collared shirt from Deer&Doe, its again available as a PDF and the instructions are in French and English. I decided to make it in a Liberty tana lawn, the particular fabric pattern I chose was one I fell in love with in the actual shop and scuttled back with despite no idea of what to make. Anyhooo, the fabric is now made into Melilot and all I have to do is make buttonholes and stick the buttons on once I find them,. No pockets - they are not my jam, the pattern goes together really well and the instructions are great - lots of french seams to finish things inside nicely, it is a lovely tidy make. I will make it again, probably in a plain fabric next time (hmmmmm how many things can I have in tottorri? that's a serious question)....

one directional pattern - that meant a lot of collar pondering

Apart from that, midsummer England has been calling and we were out and about - a picnic tea at Silloth, yes Skinburness IS an actual place and it has a lovely beachfront overlooking the Solway.

Filthy car window screen - that's how we do things

and the beachfront - nearly all to ourselves...

Gravel-guy trying to escape...

Then of course we had to head to Watchtrees and also Caerlaverock - both bird watching places for fresh air and more Solway Firth. Watchtrees is an old WW2 disused airbase, but originally the name came from trees to watch for border reivers, that would loot and pillage, and yes the reivers gave us the word bereaved.

sweet little friend at Watchtrees

Watchtrees is particularly interesting as it is a cycle inclusive place - lots of cycles for 2 or 4 people that can be hired. It still has a lot of the huge wide runways and there is a perimeter route as well, all quite splendid.

Of course as it is midsummer there is elderflower, it is so beautiful.

Caerlaverock is a national wetland and on the other side of the Solway - out through Dumfries and along the coast. It is marshy and beautiful, quite other worldly…

I love the big sky - isn’t that magical.

but finally have a little wild patch near the cricket grounds - a sea of wild daisies and some runaway poppy, you’re welcome.

 

Introducing Stash! (Stash)

Hi I'm Yvonne aka as Stash for very obvious reasons.

I haven't blogged for several years and since retiring I've forgotten how to do most things on a computer so bear with me whilst I re-learn.

I'm originally from Yorkshire but have lived in the outskirts of London for 46 years. Life in a one bedroom flat is a challenge when you enjoy working with textiles and I had fabric, yarn, books & equipment squirrelled away all over the place, including, at one stage, yarn stored behind the bath panels!

Since retiring 3 years ago the plan has been to try and get it all into one place, the eventual aim is to get it sorted and organised but that might still be a way off. To do this I rented another garage which is in the same block of flats that we live in and with the occasional help from a very good friend some order is being created. I do have a number of health issues that restrict what I can do & for how long so this is a seemingly endless process. 

One of the things I've done for the last 30+ years is to enjoy teaching beginners how to knit & crochet and try to get involved in local community events. Last Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public day but it was also World Ocean's Day so I spent part of the day at The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich teaching people to crochet to contribute to a coral reef. Here's some of the things we got up to

 

 

Get it together

I am contemplating making changes to my blog - hopefully making it an "our" blog by sharing with some rather wonderful people that I enjoy the company of very much I think that will make it much more fun and full of ideas. I was minded of this by a recent trip to London and meeting up with Local-Yvonne (originally from further north but she KNOWS London) and Tasmanian-Deb. Funnily enough we have known each other for over 20 years initially via an email group for knitters, it was the first time all three of us managed to make it to the same place and meet. The wonderful thing was that it was like we had always hung together - no gradually settling into each others company or angst about how we get on. The real surprise to me is that we aren't already living hand in each others pocket as it were. Why haven't we moved into the same street with yarn-lobbing from one small pocket garden to the next (tennis rackets being my fantasy choice of weapon for this), and why haven't we opened a fantasy yarn-shop, maybe with tea/coffee prescription to go with choice of yarn and project and knitterly need...

or maybe a library card system - where we catalogue and match tea/coffee to knitters and their projects...

I suspect it would look a lot like Beautiful Knitters or Knit with Attidude.... but with a fortifying cuppa....

We had a fantastic tour of Local-Yvonnes old work patch and stomping ground of Bermondsey, we enjoyed the Royal School of Needlework exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum London then we had lunch and just soaked up the great company. The two girlies even wore clothing that had the same hues and feel to it.... The fascinating thing to me is that although I take loads (hunnerds) of photos, looking at our facebook pages later I realise we each have our own angles and thoughts which got me thinking - a shared blog could be really interesting to us at least when we compare and contrast projects or ideas. As facebook is well and good but sometimes you also want more space to consider the attraction or ideas that drew each of us. Of course there are also the solo expeditions which can act as a great leaping point for new finds - new yarn, new fabric or new inspiration.

Liberty - iconic and lovely, but the shop assistants are like sharks

... and just as pretty inside...

....truly pretty

Even when we took in a similar venture - the V&A for example, Tasmanian-Deb and I went on different days and had reactions to quite different things we saw, reminding me to go back later or to look further than my favourite routes through the V&A, I feel enlivened and excited by what other people see.

Medieval sock - lovely in a museum less lovely in domestic laundry

Yes, I'm a total sucker for glassware, or ceramic

renovated tea rooms

liking the lighting very much

... or maybe a cup of tea outdoors?

And of course when it comes to stitching - thats how three of us became friends in the first place, the recent Pom-Pom anniversary edition had us oohing and aaahing, but if we knit the same mittens (quite probable) how will they look in comparison with local yarns or choice of colour??? Reminder: I WISH I had taken MORE photos of the jewel-box that is the Fashion and Textile Museum and also from when we then had a private shopping experience at Beautiful Knitters arranged by Local-Yvonne, how genius is this woman???

Local art

A dress AND a snack!

I just loved these cards

Oh my beating heart

Beautiful

Who knows how often how often or whenever any of us post, I don't suppose that matters.

 

Groove me

This vision of bucolic wonderment is near the city centre, how can you not be happy in Carlisle with this close by?

I think I have found my happy place in Carlisle now we have been here over a year (extraordinary - time has flown). I am settling into a very comfortable rhythm - walks through the local parks and along the river, a couple of favourite teensy fabric shops and a divine bookshop with the sweetest little garden cafe out the back. Life feels a millions miles and lightyears from Balfron. I guess I am now a sophisticated an urbanite with a town garden and that rather suits. I am delighted with the opportunity to people watch and plant watch peoples front gardens - there is scope to explore in so many directions my tiny brain synapses are constantly firing on all cylinders with the charm of living here and the potential of what is to come. Seriously I have no idea where the year has gone - it is not as though we have done major renovations or anything to the house, the garden is a work in progress (as in a very lazy work in progress) and my pride and joy. I love it here, I am so happy I could burst.

Once a month market by the Cathedral

Then of course there is this delightful cafe garden at Cakes and Ale (a Somerset Maugham novel) behind BookEnds and BookCase... it's yummy, it is oh soooo pretty and has an outside and it is a great place for a spot of cake or salad lunch with a flat white. Carlisle pleases me very much. The photo below is on a cloudy/drizzly day - not that I cared, I can sit outside with cake and a flat white - bliss. Bookcase - the second hand bookshop is splendidly chaotic and three floors of a Georgian building - no one, NO ONE can resist its charms, I took a reluctant/disgruntled Gravel-Guy in there and he emerged well after me clutching a mysterious package, and looking well, decidedly quite gruntled for him, it has definite labyrinthian charms.

Cakes and Ale - cafe garden

...the actual bookshop, three floors (and a basement) of book carnage.

The main landing with tidal flows of books

A random perching place

where does it go? where will it end??

Top floor with a view of our Cathedral

Our little house and garden are a happy place for me - gardening is so much about reading a relationship with place - soil, weather, aspect and even what gives a sense of who the garden is, in many ways it is not that different to other sorts of making such as knitting or sewing - everything comes together, or not. The soil is gradually improving, the birds and I have a compatible relationship where I feed them and they are getting quite tolerant of the chubby human poking at things with her trowel.

The far end of the tiny garden

Our previous garden was very sunny and in many ways that made it quite one dimensional, it had no redeeming features when we moved in whereas this little space has a high brick wall and that means one side is quite shady - and that means different plants and a new approach of how that gives the garden a new environment and even atmosphere to explore. What I would have considered a bit of a bind is actually a lesson in thinking broader and exploring more - I can't say I have it down pat as yet but a shady side is very exciting to me. I planted bulbs and every single bulb came up (muscari and endless thalia a divinely beautiful narcissi that is white and elegant and simple - neither grew in Balfron with the slug issues, so all of them coming seems a little overwhelming but imagine my delight) but my bulb planting swathes are not as effortlessly seamless as maybe I would like - that happily means more thought, and more to learn. Progress - and hopefully no full-stop in sight.

...early May and now progressing

Queen of Sweden - I love her

Unknown auricula child

Thalia - a lovely narcissus

Now we just need the plant babies to grow a little (or preferably a lot) this was just after we moved in, as I have gone around the lawn space making the amorphous splodge lawn shape circular-ish. I have dug and dug and ferreted out chunks of masonry, or concrete or bricks or..... the garden fork suffered from being used to leverage things out to make way for my plant-babies the prongs go in different directions I suspect we don't have a lot of digging left to do once the plants establish.

A year ago, all this came out of that small area - plenty more in there...

It looks a bit pathetic still, but a couple of little trees, primroses, tiarella, sweet woodruff, ferns and astilbe have since made a soft delicate area of slightly shade loving plants... then the other side of the steps are my herbs. I am hoping my herbs will like it, they seem to..... The signs are they are pretty happy with the sunshine and the drainage. We have a small lavender hedge and tarragon that overwintered, we have thymes and hyssop and chervil and other little treasures. Our mint collection is elsewhere - somewhere a little more shady.

Gradually... eventually the soil be hidden

There are pots starting to break up the hard lines of the patio, we have some going down the return with small trees, elsewhere we have daphne and magnolia underplanted with various small plants and in the edging beds either side of the patio we have anchusa one side, and lily of the valley, solomons seal, periwinkle and ferns the other. We have a swooshing wave of clematis montana blossom that lights up one wall in a big exuberant swoop of flower in May time and on the other wall what looks like Russian vine and some Virginia creeper, it is all very exciting. We have a collection of auriculas smiling at me first thing in the morning - I never really rated them as a child but now I am totally enamoured. I love their associations with inner cities especially Spitalfields and urban small spaces but mostly I love their slightly strange colour combinations and mysterious names - WHO was Helen Ruane? Why did someone think Kirby was something/someone to commemorate? I very much prefer my plants names to have that bit of mystery - calling a rose after the princess of thing doesn't do it for me - we can all figure out who she was and she probably didn't really scratch about in pots and glasshouses or wherever, whereas Helena XXX or ???? They really must have been quite special to someone and now we really are left with a forgotten story of love or admiration that gently faded away like their dear little flowers. I like that - some things are unknowable and that just adds to their charm.

A spot for quiet contemplating

Although the tiny garden is gradually filling up I still have plans - most of them involve Gravel-Guy saying "no" and sometimes even "NO", usually after we have been prowling a National Trust property. Bodiam Castle - moat? no. Standen - a large sunny conservatory? no. Lamb House - a tree with seating around it? no. Acorn Bank - a whole apple orchard perpetually in bloom? no. I see his point, our garden is tiny but still I am disappointed by his lack of vision... A giant Chestnut tree with those ostentatiously Liberace-like candelabra type inflorescence? Still no. No, no and NOPE. 

Bodiam castle - no, we may not have a moat

Biddulph Grange again - no, we may not have architectural hedging

Standen - no, we may not have a lovely little knitterly corner

There are some successes in the battle with Gravel-Guy, I have a feeder for small birds as well as another for the jackdaws. The small birds flit quite close to me and seem to be well on their way to tolerating me at least. We have a blackbird couple who make an absolute hokey of a mess, but one glance at me from Mrs Blackie and I am putty, she can make almost as much mess as she likes. We also have Lionel, Lionel fledged on the steps to the lawn - isn't he a splendid study in utter hopelessness, don't be fooled - his mother was never far away and that look of helpless grouchiness was well practiced, his mother was distinctly unenamoured with him by this stage of sparrow adolescence.

Lionel

I am still not entirely sure where all my supplies after over a year, so I just have to work around that - patchwork quilt that never seems to progress? tick I'm on it. Fabric to make into tote bags? tick. Liberty fabric made into some pillowcases? tick. Yarn to knit something or other with? tick. A couple of cushions from fabric that is eons old? tick. A quick little needlepoint of a fly - done and dusted and actually framed, yes that would be a fly on the wall and in the dining room no less (I find that hilarious). So some stitching progress has been made, but my general plans are a little stymied by the lack of knowing where the yarn for a specific project is or the actual fabric I was going to use to make that thing - I'd get so much more done if I didn't just sit and ponder these things I suspect. I even made a table runner and small table mat for an upstairs table, the table runner of course sits over the back of a chair - like when does one use such things??? My dining table is either work laptop or sewing machine or home laptop or all three - a dining table runner, utter useless nonsense I cant even imagine the clearing necessary to lay it down.

Fly - an Emily Peacock design

Look! a finished thing!!!

Happily I sometimes find forgotten treasure - this very old Jennifer Pudney kit, I don't even think she makes this design anymore.. I call her my "kitchen goddess of great blessings" or the lady of the salad. Not sure Gravel-guy likes her much, which reminds me I wish I had made her and him a bit more like us.

Queen of the salad or Kitchen Goddess or ....

 

Move me

We have moved house, or as they say in Scotland, we have done a “flit”. At last – goodness, paperwork takes a long time – not ours, we had ours done in a flash, but yes – we are done and moved. Carlisle I am delighted to say must be one of the UK's best kept secrets, it’s a dear little city, sweet and friendly and I am very in love. We live near Rickerby Park which is slap bang on the edge of the town centre, it is a reasonably large open patch of ground with the river Eden flowing through. On the diagonal side of the road is Bitts Park and there is a dinky cricket oval – something that warms the cockles of Gravel-Guys heart a great deal. We are two doors from a mini market shop and about 10 minutes from a Morrisons supermarket and I can buy pretty much most things I could want within normal UK parameters. I am almost delirious with joy, I could theoretically buy a leek a day (I won’t – not efficient, but….. I am no longer expecting a leek emergency ever again unless it is national or global so I feel pretty good with life, my general leek-related anxieties appear over for now).

We really have landed in clover - leeks, open parkland, historic and super-delightful town centre in walking distance... Closest of all, Rickerby Park is a lovely tract of land with The Swifts on the other side of the river – The Swifts is another big open area with lots of work being done to minimise flooding by returning watermeadows and such like – something very dear to the fluvial geomorphologist husband, I suspect he will go running and nod approvingly at the same time.

Rickerby Park - a lovely new space to explore 5 minutes from our house

The Swifts - across the river from Rickerby Park, wilder and also exciting

Of course there is also Bitts Park. This is kitty-corner to Rickerby Park and full of soft hazy foliage just starting to soften the skyline, it's next to the castle (yes, we have a castle - and a cathedral....).

Bitts Park - more manicured but so pretty and full of new leaves and blossom right now

The house is dinky, I am smitten – a sweet little Victorian terrace, and the back garden is a walled garden – all the way round. The downstairs rooms have original cornicing and ceiling roses, there are old fashioned fireplace surrounds, a huge, solid front door and inner door with etched glass… and a walled garden. Not to labour the point too much but it has a walled garden, that is a fantasy I’ve held since I first read The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgkin Burnett) now I can be my own Mary Lennox and set about “restoring” it. Gravel-Guy ever the sensible, suggested we wait the year out and see what pops up from the bark mulch – silly him! I had already test-scratched at the bark chips and discovered weed suppressant cloth. Nothing will stop my plans now – we have a spot ear-marked for herbs (terribly important), a couple of little apple trees planned, an acer planned for a large pot, a hydrangea in another pot, a staphylea near the tiny shed, a magnolia over there, a dwarf mock orange blossom about there, some shade loving iris, an auricula theatre…….. Gravel-Guy has left the ladder and the bike rack for the car in the middle of the little lawn in silent protest, of course I will overcome this. We/I have overcome already his laundry issues (a tiny washing line that cuts across my view of the garden from the dining table where I work), words were exchanged and after some firm negotiations, and an attempt at a standoff he has now promised not to hang his graying, fraying pants (specifically his under-frillies) in my eyesight (I sound rather Hyacinth Bucket there), gentlemans’-bunting as I called these rather drab and forlorn looking items a-dangling are NOT part of my plans. But how heaven is all that! A walled garden with good bones and weed suppressant cloth means I can plant my schemes as I wish as it is basically waiting for plants and soil feeding and such like, not much can get better than that.

Yes - we have moved in and effectively trashed the place....

New plant children - pet auricula and a super-whiffy hyacinth

To ensure Gravel-Guy feels that he has some dominion over our little empire I have magnanimously let him use the front bedroom and choose the paint we will paint it (I did suggest dark green was rather nice, and after pondering this, he has agreed... he is therefore allowed to choose from three near identical shades – generous of me I know). I have also bought him a sofa bed and will be buying him a desk – which also sounds generous until I mention that I chose that new desk (mwhahahahahahaaaaaa) as a gift for him to replace a very scabby old table. The desk is a mid century design that will go with the chair and the sofa bed and be ideal by the window where he likes to work, and it will have storage for his bits and bobs and even his bobs and bits. He is extraordinarily pleased with life – for a Gravel-Guy.

Still to paint, no paintings, no bookshelves... but Gravel-Guy has moved in

So a couple of weeks in, we are as happy as three little clams. Nr.1 child has been outside and gone walking quite contentedly in daylight (major achievement), the house of course is still a complete guddle – we have boxes, and the boxes we are not unpacking yet are now those ones no one wants to unpack as they are full of useful stuff that no one wants the responsibility of, or to take the effort of figuring where those sensible things should go. We need bookcases, we need wardrobes but it is all good really. We each have space to rattle about and the local neighbourhood is lovely, Nr.1 child was delirious with delight that we had a Chinese takeaway from across the road the day we moved in. I know where most of my knitting and fabric and stitching is, the wool winder and swift are readily to hand –I know where the yarn or fabric boxes have pitched up, but not necessarily which yarn is in which box… I know where the sewing machine is, I know where my thread is and the ironing board and the iron. This is happiness. I think we are all going to like it here.

I have barely touched any knitting, but I do have a needlepoint in progress. 

bzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Our belongings are mostly here too, some are still in Kirkintilloch in a lock up, but we did get an old sofa out of storage – 15 years of storage. Sadly the old sofa was past it, so Gravel-Guy chopped it up and it is now in my darling little garden, however the sofa yielded a very special treasure as a last gift to us. A sock, a sock buried so deep that Gravel-Guy can’t fathom how it got way into the internal workings of the sofa – a Simon sock. So, I guess that’s Simon blessing our new home as that was one of Simons favourite socks when he was small and he had a very particular relationship to his socks. That sock is immensely special.

A Simon memento

It is now Easter. The daughter invited herself to stay and immediately commanded Gravel-Guy retrieve her from Leeds, however she did “remind” him to swing past her local Waitrose and find smoked hummous and as many different varieties of tofu as could be found. In return, she has made us risotto one night, and sushi another then she baked a gluten-free, lactose-free ginger cake and has effectively splattered the kitchen from one end to another. She has taken over the spare upstairs room with a mountain of clothing, deposited clothing to be cleaned in the utility room and sequestered the front room downstairs for Netflix binging and more embroidery. She has also taken over the shed and has suggested a spare set of keys to come and go as she pleases when lockdown is over… Hurricane Frances will leave Tuesday or Wednesday - when we have run out of smoked salmon and avocado I’m guessing. It is delightful to have her here, but by hokey, she makes a mess.