clare art

Happy New Year of the Dragon

2012-01-23T12:08:00.000Z

Here is Fiery Fred the young dragon who had not fully learned to control his fire: I painted him early last year, but he seems very apt for today! Happy chinese new year of the dragon.

I've been very quiet on the blog, partly at least because my fabulous friend Deadly Knitshade showed me how to use Instagram ! This app is fantastically easy to use, and cuts out a whole layer of techy stuff with scanners, etc that I use to post things to my blog. With the on going s-l-o-w healing of my damaged hand, Instagram has proved fantastically user-friendly: I had a lot of fun making a Pumpkin advent calendar on Instragram in December.

The good news is that I also found some brilliant hand exercises, designed for musicians, which work on the tendons: the Cowling System . I've been using exercises twice a day since the beginning of November, and have seen great improvement to the strength, mobility and control of my hand, so I can highly recommend these.

More good news: this gang of humpties went to live together with a lovely young lady and two cats, and have been having some great adventures from photos I have seen:

Finally, I'm both drawing and playing my guitars again, so there will be more to see here soon!

Pumpkin's adventures part two

2011-11-05T18:45:00.000Z

On Sunday evening, Pumpkin was very excited to join me and friends Nick and Paul at a Jameson's Cult Screen Club screening of "Invasion of The Body Snatchers" at the Union Chapel. Here he is admiring the magnificent building, and enjoying watching the actors who are setting the scene before the film starts.

Then on Monday, at Stitch London, Pumpkin made friends with a crocheted and knitted zombie completed minutes earlier by the talented Toria, and I suspect had a sneaky swig of my glitterberry drink!

Here he is with another new friend, the famous Cooey the pigeon! Pumpkin enjoyed these adventures so much he's keen to accompany me again, although he has drawn the line at going to work.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-30T14:17:00.000Z

It's almost Halloween, so Pumpkin humpty has come alive! He's already found an ally in Poppy the black cat. I'm wondering what mischief they have planned for tomorrow night?

Undiscovered Voices

2011-10-18T09:12:00.000+01:00

This is the drawing I made in August for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators "Undiscovered Voices" competition: I had great fun making the drawing - those are my own casually discarded boots on the floor!

Congratulations to the eight lucky shortlisted illustrators: Kim Geyer, Jennifer Graham, Julia Groves, Amber Hsu, Heather Kilgour , Shana Nieburg-Suschitzky, Nicola Patten, and Rachel Quarry. I'm looking forward to seeing their interpretations of "Undiscovered Voices" in December, when the six winners will be announced.

Cranford knit-a-long September 2011: finished mitts

2011-10-01T15:39:00.000+01:00

Here are the completed Cranford mitts: I actually began knitting the darker pair in April ie before I broke my finger! Then while the finger was healing I decided to put the mitts on hold, lest my guage knitting the new-fangled English style was different to my life-long continental style knitting. So, it feels a mile stone in the healing process to have completed this pair of mitts : )

Bookworm and Knit The City

2011-09-24T15:13:00.000+01:00

Gosh! Comics was the exciting venue for a book signing by my friends at Knit The City on 16th September. I knitted a tiny friend to take with me:

Questia, a Blinkin' Book Worm (the pattern can be downloaded for free here from Whodunnknit). She was rather taken with Plarchie the recycled plastic squid - something about liking his colour - but felt it wise to gaze at him from a relatively safe distance, although he usually only eats humans. She did not notice the tip of tentacle creeping from behind the books! I left Questia at Gosh! - she seemed so at home there among all the fabulous books.

Hand healing is progressing painfully slowly

2011-09-20T09:51:00.000+01:00

The healing of my broken finger and damaged tendons is progressing - as confirmed by the physiotherapist yesterday, which is excellent news. However, the process is painfully s-l-o-w. Unfortunately for me, the precise way I hold my hands to draw and paint is extremely painful. When I forced myself to complete a new detailed illustration for a competition in August, my fingers swelled up again, and I felt like a character in Harry Potter being forced to draw by Dolores Umbrage! Apparently, tendons are like elastic bands, and in the healing process they have been tightened by scar tissue, so I need to loosen the scar tissue and very gradually stretch the tendons again to full range of movement.
Naturally, I am very disappointed about this: I am keen to get back to normal work with pen and paintbrush. Patience is required though, and acceptance that I can only do very short bursts of drawing at the moment. These tiny sketches are from the fantastic Womad at Charlton Park in July, and are of a scale and type that thankfully I can currently do.

Etsy shop

2011-09-15T08:38:00.000+01:00

I'm very excited to have updated the link from here to Dragonfly Sky,my etsy shop: the etsy mini app creates a far more attractive button on my blog, and it shows an item from current stock!

Orange hat

2011-09-13T08:28:00.000+01:00

This orange bobble hat I knitted over the weekend is now on its way to the excellent St Mungo's, whose work with the homeless impressed me in the days when I did development work for housing associations. It was very easy to say "yes" to knitting a hat for them when Stitch London asked for volunteers to contribute to the knitting of a batch of thirty hats, and I'm looking forward to seeing how St Mungo's use them!

At the edge of the photo you can just see a glimpse of children's character story I am developing, too: I will post some drawing soon.

Head injury and the importance of getting checked

2011-09-11T10:34:00.000+01:00

Life has thrown me another of it's curve balls, just when I thought I'd be able to get back on track with my plans!

This photo is of me and my friend Nick on a wonderful day out in Whitstable on 5th August. On August 12th he sustained a nasty bang to the head on the tube, which resulted in a small cut, but no signs of bruising. However, Nick did begin to suffer continuous headaches which pain killers did not disperse, and also began to vomit heavily and frequently. Neither of us made any connection with the bang to his head. To summarise what happened, I found Nick collapsed in his flat on September 2nd, and thanks to the wonderful ambulance crew and The Homerton Accident and Emergency department, Nick discovered that he was in urgent need of an operation to relieve bleeding and fluid on his brain which were the internal consequences of that bang to his head. Following successful surgery at the excellent The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Nick is thankfully recovering well.

In the meantime, along with Nick's other friends, I am helping him with practical matters, hence my lack of posts and drawing.

I decided to post here about what happened because I now know how very important it is to get bangs to the head checked out - especially when sypmtoms like head ache, vomitting, confusion, co-ordination problems, etc become apparent: Headway has some excellent information on head injuries.

Cranford knit-a-long September 2011

2011-08-30T19:01:00.000+01:00

Last year I took part in a Cranford knit-a-long for P/Hop (Pence per hour of pleasure) to help raise funds for Medecins Sans Frontiere on Ravelry. It was so much fun, and is such a fab pattern (kindly donated to P/hop by Jane Lithgow), that fellow p/hoppers have decided to do another knit-a-long this September!
I am looking forward to casting on another pair on Thursday, 1st which has a double significance for me as it was my mum's birthday, and I like to do something special in her memory that she would have enjoyed, too. Watch this space!

Journey

2011-07-22T12:03:00.000+01:00

The healing of my broken finger continues slowly: the actual bone is mended now, and healing the damaged tendon will be take longer it seems: the joint still swells up when I do something ordinary like the vacuuming, and there are still everyday tasks I simply cannot do! I notice tiny improvements everyday, though, and I have been so fortunate in having excellent treatment at The Whittington, right from my first visit to the Accident and Emergency department, to the current physiotherapy. Knitting is proving to be a valuable therapeutic exercise, as well as the tendon glides and playing with the lovely green Theraputty.

This illustration, originally inspired by an Illustration Friday on the topic of "journey"way back in April, seems to fit my life at the moment: slow progress towards my goal of full hand recovery, and interesting discoveries along the way! When the topic was posted, I came up with the idea, and then did not have sufficient time to carry it out and post it. However, I liked the idea so much I decided to make the illustration anyway.

Fortunately, I drew up the framework for the painting just before the accident, and have found I can do the water colour a very tiny amount at a time.

I'm looking forward to being able to draw again properly soon: it has been a real surprise to discover how much of a two-handed process drawing is for me.

Motivation to work my fingers

2011-06-27T11:05:00.000+01:00

Just before I broke my finger, I thought of the idea of knitting Patrick Moore for the Stitch London "Stitched Science" event with the wonderful Science Museum: I love the way Sir Patrick Moore has made astronomy accessible and understandable through his enthusiastic presentations on The Sky At Night.

Then I broke my finger, and seriously doubted that I could participate in the Stitched Science project in any form, but it was very good motivation to persist with tendon glides, hand rehab, etc. Making plarn for planet earth, and knitting a strip for venus proved to be excellent hand therapy. The a couple of weeks ago, I tentatively cast on to make the pieces I had sketched out for Patrick Moore.
Hooray, I succeeded:

I had a little help from Lauren O'Farrell aka Deadly Knitshade with the stretching and stapling of the night sky, and loads of encouragement from fellow Stitch Londoners. Thanks, guys.

Stitched Science was a fantastic weekend altogether: Sarah MacIntyre's review of her visit captures the excitement of it all: http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/411443.html

Broken finger and learning curves

2011-05-10T08:58:00.000+01:00

On Monday 2nd May I broke the little finger on my left hand, so I am currently facing some very interesting challenges in getting on with life.

It is amazing to discover quite how left-handed I am: usually I think of myself as ambidextrous, though favouring my left hand for many tasks right-handers would use their right hand to do. Fortunately, I do mostly draw with my right hand. For painting and drawing for the next month or so the challenge will be about size of paper because of the weight of the drawing board, and being unable to stretch paper for painting. So I shall be investigating much heavier weight paper which may not require stretching!

The way forward with knitting is for me to learn the english style - something I had been planning to do anyway to help with two colour work. So, Linda kindly cast on for me at Stitch London on Wednesday, and a green sock is very slowly growing: I've knitted about 3" in the past week.

I've also been given very helpful tips by lovely friends who have experienced similar injuries, and am accepting lots of help from friends and strangers, so am getting by.

Here is a pen and ink drawing I made recently called "Creepy", which somehow seems to fit with this post because of the little girl's movement towards the unknown:

Royal Wedding Gerty

2011-04-29T08:47:00.000+01:00

Here is the Gertrude Woolsworthy illustration made for the Royal Wedding edition of the Stitch London newsletter (If you scroll down the page you will see Gerty alongside her fabulous advice!).

The inspiration for this particular painting came from the Union Jack cupcake, which is visible here . Then, naturally thoughts of battenburg-style knitted bunting followed, together with a tiara based on Stitch London's logo. Great fun to dream up.

Work In Progress

2011-04-18T09:05:00.000+01:00

Time really does fly! I've had such a busy month, mainly with preparing my children's illustration portfolio, etc for the London Book Fair, and my blog has been on the "important but not urgent list".

Today it is great to look at my painting desk with the immediate pressure to complete work off for the first time in months. Here is what is on my desk this morning: the union jack cup cake is a prop for something I will be working on this week, not yet started. In the meantime, I am taking a breather this morning.

On being a Stitch Sage for Stitch London

2011-03-16T16:17:00.000Z

I am happy to be one of Stitch London's team of Stitch Sages who teach people to knit for free, and was asked recently why I do this, so here is my reply (Which naturally involved painting!): firstly, I still remember my own excitement the Christmas I opened a parcel to find a lovely cardboard basket containing tiny balls of wool, and pair of gold coloured, 4 year-old Clare-size, knitting needles! I was very keen to learn how to knit, and my Mum taught me the basics - cast on, knit, purl, and cast off, as she had been taught them - not by her own mother, but by a kind American lady on a ferry from the UK to Denmark. More of this later.

Secondly, passing on needlecraft skills and tools is very important to me: the photograph shows my Stitch Sage badges; one of my original gold knitting needles; a pair of green plastic knitting needles that belonged to my Mother, which my Dad had commissioned me to buy on her behalf together with some pink yarn for a baby jacket, when my sister arrived prematurely, and my Mother wanted something to do in hospital; the scissors, silver thimble and very worn, red leather case given to me by my Granny (who was a trained tailor) when I was about 8 years old; and a pair of Victorian tatting shuttles which I think belonged to my Great-grandmother. Unfortunately, the knowledge of how to use them was not passed on, so I am planning to learn to use them this year.

Finally, in teaching people to knit, I have learnt that the style of knitting does not really matter, just the the joy of developing skills in making a fabric out of a system of loops! The kind American lady taught my Mother to knit continental style, which she then in turn taught me, which was great, except that my class teacher at junior school thoroughly disapproved of my not knitting English style, and made my life miserable in knitting classes over this. In fact, I held back from teaching people to knit at Stitch London for sometime because of this teacher's attitude, and making me feel I was doing something wrong in knitting the way I do. Lauren O'Farrell encouraged me, though, and the folks I have taught have been very appreciative, as well, which is very rewarding to see.

Fiery Fred and where do ideas come from

2011-02-26T09:44:00.000Z

Domestic upheaval in the form of the annual gas safety checks for the boiler has prevented me from posting to my blog for a few weeks: the reason being that having moved everything around to enable access to the boiler, the scanner was inaccessible! I am planning to have some images in hand on my computer to post when such events happen in future, as inevitably they will. Or to live somewhere much larger, so that giving access for maintenance does not create quite the domestic chaos that are the product of shoe-horning my busy creative life into a relatively small flat.

In the meantime, I have been working on Fiery Fred for the diploma course: the brief was for to paint a vignette to show a "young dragon who is not yet fully in control of his flame, and to show his bafflement at having set fire to a thatched roof". A fun brief for someone who likes to draw dragons! As usual, I found myself making up much more story, hence the top picture. The idea and story evolved over a few days (often being pondered when travelling on buses, or walking), interspersed with some sketching out of potential ideas and layouts to see which worked best.

The fire brigade bears appeared because I wanted the occupants of the thatched cottage to be visible and responding to the fire, and I then realised that the occupants did not have to be humans!

Bears, and teddy bears specifically are occupying my drawing thoughts quite a lot at the moment: (Research for a children's picture book which I have written and drawn the first draft of, and which am now working to improve). So at the beginning of February, when I spent a morning at the Museum of Childhood with some friends from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, I focussed mainly on sketching some of the fabulous teddy bears in the collection. I will post some of the sketches another time. Hence bears seemed to be a good choice for the occupants of the cottage, especially as I could then have fun playing with the roof shape!

Gertrude Woolsworthy appears again

2011-02-04T18:09:00.000Z

This week I have mostly been using pink paint again! Stitch London invited me to illustrate their Agony Aunt Gerty Woolsworthy's imaginative Valentine's advice: you can see this here, near the bottom of the newsletter: Valentine proposal.

The eagle-eyed among you may recognise the handsome hunk of Wollemeise that I'd photographed at loop on 28th January as part of my research!

Where do ideas come from?

2011-01-30T09:42:00.000Z

Following on from my last post here, here is some of my current food for visual thought.

The drawing is a quick sketch I did on Twelfth Night (6th January) of how an outsider might see the Christmas tree being taken down in our household.

A very quick impression, but one that is staying with me mentally, so I sense that a more worked drawing up is brewing. What I like about this drawing in particular is how I've captured something of the character of Toby, who is a very inquisitive and bright cat, as well as being large, fluffy and solid! He'd only lived with me for six weeks at this point, so was still very much learning about me and what I do.

Then here is a small collection of recent acquisitions that are feeding my creative imagination!

The book is "How to Draw in Pen and Ink" by Harry Furniss, originally published in 1905, and discovered by me in the Oxfam shop in Cirencester over the new year holiday. I've been drawing with pen and ink for years, and I found some useful tips in this book, plus interesting observations on the composing of illustrations at the point in time when photographs were becoming more frequently used instead in newspapers and magazines.

The small plastic character toy was another charity shop find, and was used as the model for all of the plastic figure toys in the "Sebastian's Sink City" I made. Being able to study the construction of joints, and exaggerations of body proportions to enable the toy to stand, etc was very helpful.

The wonderfully evocatively shaped "nest" ball of yarn is currently home some tiny owls I knitted last year

Painting, knitting and planning to combine the two

2011-01-28T17:58:00.000Z

Here is the illustration I have mostly been working on this week: an improved version of "The owl and the pussy cat", with an anatomically correct cat! Previous versions included an elbow, which a kind friend reminded me cats do not have. I also prefer the tortoise shell and white colours for the cat.

Knitting-wise, I've had fun making this log cabin square for The Log Cabin Blanket 2011 to help with fund-raising for the excellent Medecins Sans Frontieres via p/hop.

I'm also intending to knit a couple of squares for the barn-raising blanket; then if I am brave, for the crochet one, too!

Planning to combine painting with knitting led me to visit the fantabulous Loop this afternoon to photograph some lace-weight Wollmeise for next top secret at the moment painting!

Oh, and while I was there, a lovely sea blue ball of Lima found it's way into my bag, so will be casting on later.

Humpty and the Windmill

2011-01-19T11:43:00.000Z

A humpty has found his way into my drawings!

This is a pen and ink drawing project that I had begun before Christmas, when I was ill with the bronchitis, but refusing to give in and simply be ill. The conseqence of this was that when I looked again at my work when I was well again, I discovered a fundamental flaw in the composition, plus that I was thoroughly bored with the project. Not good, and thankfully, very unusual for me. So, I began again, and began again, etc, and was still stuck, and increasingly frustrated.

Then one morning I had the bright idea of actually making the cleaner bottle windmill, which miraculously solved my artist's block! Now I am pleased with how the drawing has turned out, and will be happily adding to my portfolio.

Love Bites Wrist Warmers - completed!

2011-01-03T13:12:00.000Z

These really were the perfect project to take with me to my dad's over New Year, and the joggless stripe method worked a treat! Also achieved success with the cunning plan I had thought out to knit the little fair isle hearts: the challenge there in knitting in knitting the mitts in the round is that the yarn for the hearts ends up at the wrong end of the motif on every other row! I solved this particular problem by slipping the heart stitches; then reversing my knitting and purling the hearts; then turning knitting back to right side, which leaves the heart on the left needle, and needing to be slipped to the right needle; then slipping the heart stiches onto the right needle, carefully undoing and re-knitting every other stitch so that I could hook the main stripe colour yarn along the back. Fiddly, but worked well, and only had to be done on three rows.

I am a confident knitter, so was not daunted by the prospect of fiddling this way. However, an alternative way to achieve the same visual result would be to knit the wrist warmers without the hearts, then darn them on afterwards. Thanks to bluestockingstitching for this suggestion.

New Year, New (Knitting) Challenge

2010-12-30T09:50:00.000Z

Santa gave me a fabulous book of knitting patterns: Pretty In Punk by Alyce Benevides and Jacquline Milles, and I have the yarn to knit myself a pair of "Love Bites" striped wrist warmers. The pattern is straightforward: narrow stripes with an fair isle heart written for knitting flat, then sewing a seam afterwards. However I much prefer to knit everything in the round and avoid seams altogether! So time to learn a new knitting skill: joggless stripes. Fortunately for me, Techknitter has provided some very good instructions on how to do this on her blog here . So this will be my project for the few days away over new year. Watch this space for photo of the finished articles!

Happy New Year: may your dreams become reality in 2011!

Christmas soap and mug

2010-12-22T11:26:00.000Z

Gradually catching up with work, and preparations for Christmas festivities. Lots of xmas pressie knitting going on here: there will be some photos after the presents have gone to their recipients!

The special xmas tree soap - which spells spicy - has been brought out, and likewise my xmas mugs!

This red-nose reindeer one is my favourite for coffee drinking : )

Absence and a pink tree

2010-12-17T17:15:00.000Z

Blogging absence is down to being poorly with bronchitis, something I have not had before. Fortunately, I have a viral type, and am on the mend, just still very weak! It's been most disconcerting being ill for more than ten days: I'm rarely sick for longer than a day or so.

So to cheer myself up, today I treated myself to a pink tinsel Christmas tree, and some white lights for it.

All the glass baubles, etc are ones I've treasured for many years. The cute chubby angel-fairy on the top was a lovely gift. The little glass santa at the foot of the tree was saved from the original set of fairy lights my parents had when I was small. Enjoy!

Gertrude Woolsworthy and Cranford mitts

2010-12-05T10:05:00.000Z

I was recently invited to create a festive seasonal illustration of the fabulous Agony Aunt Gerty Woolsworthy for Stitch London's 2nd December newsletter.

For those not familiar with her, Gerty is a giant ball of pink variegated yarn, with a penchant for gin and cake (especially Battenburg), as well as dispensing pragmatic and hilarious advice for all manner of loosely knitting-related problems!

Fortunately, I have met Gertrude in real life, so dreaming up how she would celebrate at this time of year was great fun.

These are my fabulous new Cranford mitts, which I knitted in November in a Ravelry P/Hop group November knit-a-long. (A knit-a-long is where several people get together on-line and agree to all knit the same pattern and compare notes, photos, etc). A grand total of fifty pairs of the mitts were completed in November, raising funds in the process for Medecins Sans Frontiers via Pennies per hour of pleasure. All of us had such fun knitting the mitts from Jane Lithgow's lovely pattern that we agreed to extend the knit-a-long to the end of December, so there is still time to join in!
The eagle-eyed may spot that I knitted one less repeat after the thumbs: this is because these are my painting mitts!

Pink fairy armadillo and other creatures

2010-11-27T10:46:00.000Z

Yesterday was a day for feeding my imagination in the company of some fellow children's illustrators: we all met at the Natural History Museum for a morning of sketching there. A truly amazing place for drawing, both the exhibits and the people looking at the exhibits (or on their mobile phone!)
My plan was to head straight for my favourite of the mammals galleries - the one with the whales and dolphins, then I got distracted on the way there by the bats! I never feel quite comfortable looking at stuffed, dead animals, but reminded myself that this is probably the only way I am going to get the chance to study bats up close. Such dainty creatures, and with a lovely contrast between the soft, fine fur of their bodies, and the leatheriness of their wings. I especially loved the way the shape of the nose of the spear nose bat echoed the shape of it's ears.

My discovery of the day was the wonderfully named "pink fairy armadillo": a tiny creature from the Argentine pampas, that I had never heard of before. In spite of it's name, the specimen in the glass case is not pink - more of a slightly pinky beige fur, with creamy plates on it's back. I want to find out a lot more about this creature.

I was also excited to see some of the fossils Mary Anning discovered in Lyme Regis, having thoroughly enjoyed reading Tracy Chevalier's "Remarkable Creatures"

The Coming of Cats

2010-11-25T11:23:00.000Z

Life at home has been lonely and sad without a furry feline companion since the beginning of October.

Happily, this was all changed yesterday. I painted this birthday card last week for a friend, which presciently had a tiny black cat peering round an open door!

At the top is Poppy: she likes hiding out and watching what is going on from safe spaces, which will make getting a good photo of her quite tricky for a while.

Toby is the handsome black and white long-haired boy who loves to be groomed, which is just as well given how long his coat is!

Both cats have agreed to pose for drawing, and to refrain from playing with paintbrushes, or sitting on paintings. As for interfering with knitting, that remains to be seen!

An Owl, A Pussycat and A Sheep

2010-10-27T10:11:00.000+01:00

Edward Lear's poem "The Owl and The Pussy Cat" continues to hold a fascination for me: I like to imagine the story with a contemporary setting, and also answer questions like how did the pair meet? I think there will be a children's book in the musings eventually.

So here is my latest water colour version of the invitation to go to sea! I'd love to know what you think of it.

This little ewe, from a very rare breed, attended Sarah McIntyre's book launch for "Vern and Lettuce", which was enlivened no end by being also a "Stitch a Sheep" evening with Stitch London. Tiny Lady Kidsilk was delighted to meet many other wonderful sheep, and also to win a medal for "Most stylish sheep"!

More adventures with yarn

2010-10-17T21:37:00.000+01:00

More tiny items I have knitted in the past few weeks.

The tiny hats are for Innocent's annual fundraising campaign with tiny hats on their smoothie bottles: Big Knit . It's always fun to come up with new ideas, and this year's contributions are cat-themed in honour of Willow.

Plarn Dragonfly encounters the woolly yarn dragonfly! I knitted both: the tiny yarn version is my own design, and pattern is in process of being written up. The plarn version was designed by Lauren O'Farrell for Stitch London's workshop at Prince Charles's Start Garden Party in September, as was a tiny sheep. Lauren's sheep pattern is for woolly yarn, but I got creative and made the perky plarn one shown here!

the adventures of Mini-me, Part 5

2010-10-07T15:34:00.000+01:00

Remember the mini-me from earlier this year? She now lives with another 256 stitched-selves at the Fleece Station, but currently they are all very excited to be on a trip with Stitch London to the Knitting and Stitching Show at the very fabulous Alexandra Palace in north London! Can you spot mini-me? (A clue: she is on the grey wall). Thanks so much to Deadly Knitshade for the photo : )

Willow 1990 to 2010

2010-10-03T04:22:00.000+01:00

Beautiful and very loving Willow lived with me for over twenty years.

"I'll see you again when the stars fall from the sky"

Knitting while life goes on

2010-09-25T08:41:00.000+01:00

Life sometimes has a way of throwing a large spanner in the works, so that even the best made plans have to be re-jigged. Hence the lack of painting! There have been some good times amidst it all, mainly adventures in knitting, which is somehow easier to do than drawing when I am distressed. The photograph shows my haul from iKnit Weekender: some gorgeous New Lanarkshire blue yarn for a shrug, 2 mm circular needle, and most importantly Hedwig and three bat stitch markers from The Bothered Owl.

I also helped out Stitch London with knitting sheep and plarn bugs at Prince Charles' Start Garden Party To Make A Difference : fuller explanation and photos here! It was great fun, and I was astonished to meet Brian Blessed (who can knit!), plus catch sight of myself on the edge of news items about the event.

Goth seaside Day 4 Version 2

2010-09-13T10:17:00.000+01:00

Here is version two of paddling at dusk! I am much happier with this painting than the previous one: her proportions are better, and I prefer the way the skirt is bunched up.

I've got one more idea for this mini-series of illustrations, so that will be here in the next day or two. Then I'm going to be doing an "Alice In Wonderland"/"Through The Looking Glass" project.

Goth seaside Day 4

2010-09-01T14:01:00.000+01:00

It proved surprisingly difficult to paint this one: the problem for me has been getting the proportions right with her feet hidden in the waves! Not to mention the sea breezes blowing her hair. For this painting I could definitely imagine the sensations I associate with paddling in the sea, but then found this hard to translate into paint. I'm going to have another go to see whether I can catch better what I want to depict.

Little Lion and Tiny Squid

2010-08-30T11:19:00.000+01:00

This handsome accordion-playing lion has come to live with me, thanks to Ladysnail.

The tiny yellow squid is impressed, and quite fancies a turn with the accordion himself! He thinks having multiple tentacles would give him an advantage with playing intricate tunes. I knitted him in preparation for the exciting Stitch A Squid event at the Natural History Museum, where I was a Stitch London "knit a squid teacher".

I am part way through knitting Mr Squid a companion using DeadlyKnitshade's pattern for the Finger-fighting stitched squid.

Goth seaside Day 3

2010-08-26T12:19:00.002+01:00

September 1st Giveaway Humpty!

2010-08-25T10:34:00.003+01:00

This cheerful humpty dumpty has been specially knitted for my blog "give away" on September 1st!

I like to do something special on September 1st, which was my mother's birthday. It was my mother who taught me the rudiments of knitting: how to cast on, knit, purl, and cast off when I was tiny. She also encouraged me to experiment with knitting, and allowed me to delve into her knitting encyclopedia to discover fancy stitches like cable that I could use to embellish the doll's clothes I made.

On September 1st, I will pick a winner at random from amongst all who have left a comment on this blog post about "September 1st Giveaway Humpty". Please also provide an email address so I can contact you if you win. Good luck!

Goth seaside Day 2

2010-08-24T11:41:00.002+01:00

Am enjoying painting this project : )

Goth seaside Day 1

2010-08-23T17:16:00.003+01:00

The current skull lace obsession has led me to ponder what goths would do at the seaside, and the idea of a mini-blog project was born. Here is day 1: the goth sand castle at dusk

Of Lace and Yarn

2010-08-18T11:36:00.004+01:00

Currently I am on a mission to knit new lace edgings for a well worn and much-loved cotton and linen summer cardigan, which now has huge holes on the cuffs and bottom. It occurred to me that I did not have to emulate the existing lace, but could knit something more me. My inner goth requested skulls lace, so I set about devising a skull edging of appropriate size. After all, it could not be that difficult: I'd dreamed up a skull humpty dumpty in April, and knitting lace is simply a matter of increasing and decreasing stitches to create holes in specific places. Quite a few attempts and experiments later, I decided that a better understanding of the construction of knitted lace would help, so I have embarked on making a lace sampler scarf. It is not creating the skull shapes which has been the problem, but figuring out a satisfactory openwork background to set them off, without making the lace edging too deep. Wish me luck!
New additions to my stashes of yarn and buttons: this fabulous 2 ply lace yarn came from Yarn to Knit . I was lucky enough to win a £10 voucher for the shop in the monthly draw from news letter subscribers, and then even luckier to be able to meet Martina in person at Of Cabbages and Kings, and so choose the yarn and button in real life.

A Cluster Of Humpties And Slippers

2010-08-10T10:07:00.003+01:00

Here is a group photo of the "class of summer 2010" humpty dumpties, all are going their separate ways after growing up together. They are a diverse mix of characters, who have had all sorts of fun and disagreements, chattering away in my work box and on the shelf. It will be fun to see where they set off to for the next stage of their lives via my etsy shop, Dragonfly Sky.

It may be August - one of the summer months in the UK - but chilly weather last Friday prompted the knitting of these delightfully squishy and warm "Grown Up Booties" from Ysolda Teague's "Whimsical Knits (see Summer Holiday post). I used some approximately aran weight, gorgeous tweedy wool that I bought from The Handweavers Studio . They were quick and very easy to knit, so the pattern is recommended. I am now working on another pair, this time with a plan to vary the toe area to better fit my natural bunion joint toes! A foot shape which although less common, is hereditary in my family.

Summer Holiday: Womad and Knit Nation

2010-08-04T10:17:00.005+01:00

It's August, and I am back from the very best kind of summer holiday in my view: music, friends, family and creativity. As anticipated, Womad was three days of marvellous and intriguing music from all over the world, including some favourites of mine: Salif Keita, Afro Celt Sound System, and Gil Scott Heron, plus great new discoveries: Toumast, The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain (just about visible over the heads of the crowd in my photo), and Imogen Heap. Also experienced the most squashed viewing conditions ever: in an odd billing decision, Rolf Harris was on stage in the Siam Tent: everyone it seemed, wanted to see him live! Well worth it: very entertaining set.
I made up for missing my regular evenings of knitting and chatting with StitchLondon by going to Knit Nation 2010 with kindred spirits Deadly Knitshade and The Fastener from the fabulous yarn spinners Knit The City. The vast range of gorgeous yarns, and all manner of knitty accessories was overwhelming! My purchases were restricted by a tight budget, so I just bought another two Addi Lace circular needles (which I use for knitting almost everything!), and Ysolda Teague's "Whimsical Knits". Ysolda very kindly signed the book for me, using my Ravelry name of dragonflyknit2. We also attended the very splendid Ravelry party, so I am now the proud possessor of the gorgeous project bag, and a Ravelry badge.

Holiday anticipated

2010-07-21T10:47:00.002+01:00

It's the summer holiday season when life becomes even more busy as I try to cram in all the work, etc before I go away! As ever, main holiday will consist of watching lots of music: Womad 'Not sure who I will be seeing, because I need to have the official programme with performance times to work this out: inevitably, there are some clashes where I cannot be in two places at the same time. Whatever, I am certain that I will see and hear some wonderful music, and have a fab time with my friends. This year, too, my cat will have company while I am away, in the form of a house-guest, who will be staying here and looking after her.

Illustration Friday - "Diary"

2010-07-13T09:59:00.002+01:00

This week's Illustration Friday topic of "Diary" was irresistible, especially as I find myself constantly juggling the things I want to do, with things I have to do, and actually have time to do! It also gave me a perfect topic to play with and ease myself back into drawing as a habit, after a couple of weeks without the space to dream and draw.

I loved the idea of creating an illustration that looked as if it could have been crudely block printed, in the style of early printing because there is a time-less quality about the way people use and have used diaries over the centuries.

A "Fascinating" Time

2010-07-12T19:27:00.000+01:00

I will be drawing again very soon: it was surprising to me to discover how much I need my own space to be able to dream and work. My friend is staying elsewhere now, so have my drawing table, etc back! I am also currently trying to find out what time of day is best for me for painting and drawing: something I had not thought about previously, but has been prompted by a book I am reading.

In the meantime, Saturday was spent at Craftacular in the delightful company of Deadly Knitshade and The Fastener from Stitch London. As well as eating wonderful heartshaped raspberry tarts, we also learnt how to make a "fascinator". (This was especially timely because I will be attending a wedding next weekend.) The photo shows my less-than-conventional creation: the lovely Amy from the make lounge taught the workshop well, so that it was both fun and successful learning.

The adventures of Mini-me, Part 4

2010-07-11T09:24:00.001+01:00

I next caught up with Mini-me at The Science Museum on June 30th, where she and 258 of her mini-person friends starred as an exhibit for one night only! This was another event organised by Stitch London. Mini-me is just under the letter "y". Much more information about the evening, and far better photos here - do take a look: all the mini-mes have developed lives of their own, which I find very interesting from a cultural perspective. Essentially, the mini-mes are dolls, and humans have been making them since pre-history: see a brief history by the Connecticut doll artists here. I don't know where mini-me will appear next, but am looking forward to seeing her again.

The adventures of Mini-me, Part 3

2010-06-28T10:48:00.001+01:00

Posts will be a tad sporadic, because I currently have un-expected house guest.

In the meantime, I knitted Mini-me a friend in the form of a tiny perching pigeon, from a pattern by Anna Havrochec . Anna joined us last week for Stitch London 's Tiny Pigeon Perching party in Trafalgar Square. Mini-me and pigeon left together and went along with Deadly Knitshade, but I expect to see Min-me again later this week for her next public adventure!

2010-06-21T11:38:00.000+01:00

She made friends with Sky Rockit and Axis of Evon from the Steam Rollers

The adventures of Mini-me, Part 2

2010-06-21T11:34:00.000+01:00

Then Saturday afternoon found her watching the very fabulous London Roller Girl teams Suffra Jets compete against the Ultraviolent Femmes:

The adventures of Mini-me

2010-06-20T17:57:00.000+01:00

In spite of lack of appearances here, I have been busy making and drawing over the past few weeks. Stitch London's Science Museum project prompted me to knit a mini-me: I had lots of fun making her, then she developed a bit of a life of her own over the weekend. On Saturday, she went along to enjoy the opening of Loop at their fabulous new shop in Camden Passage.

Flyrate

2010-05-12T21:19:00.000+01:00

This wonderful KnitTheCity flyrate has been keeping me company since I rescued him from the pouring rain on Sunday May 2nd. He formed a part of the yarnstorm leading to the Pirate Castle at the Camden Crawl, and had lots of fantastic companions on the Saturday: regular pirates, mice, and fellow flyrates. When I returned to Camden on the Sunday he was all alone, and soaking wet, so taking him home seemed a good plan! He is also been a great reminder of happy times and companionship which has been so valuable to me over the past couple of weeks.

Pause for reflection

2010-04-22T09:31:00.000+01:00

Not a lot of useful drawing and painting has occurred for the past month or so, because I have been very pre-occupied with urgently rearranging some day to day living arrangements. Drawing has continued, which has kept my eye and hand co-ordination up to speed, but not of the kind of quality I'd want to share!

This pause has given me an opportunity to reflect on the contents of my various portfolios, and I have realised that in my efforts to be consistent in what I am displaying, I have lost some key elements of me as a person from the work - the guitar-playing rock chick who is a Very Important Fan of the London Roller Girls, and a proud knitter member of Stitch London. So, now experimenting with some new work to add.

Artist's impression of me as a coin

2010-04-20T07:39:00.001+01:00

Some fellow creative pals and I visited the medieval rooms at the British Museum, and the talented and lovely Chichi has produced these drawings to commemorate the occasion!

Sneak preview of box and humpties

2010-04-16T10:06:00.001+01:00

I suspect that I have not learnt to do photography properly before because there is so much to consider that I overwhelm myself with information.

Here is the box: I will be on familiar territory converting this into a lightbox, wielding measure, pen, knife, tape and tracing paper. So much so that I have even dreamed up an improvement on the design! This photo taken how I usually do: find some reasonably good lighting in my flat, and adjust shooting distance to get the image framed nicely.
I did something similar here, with this sneak preview of the new members of the humpty clan.

Photography to do list

2010-04-16T09:29:00.000+01:00

Photography is rather a mystery to me still: sometimes my photos are stunningly good by accident, but mostly lack lustre. I have had loads of feedback now that my photographs of things I've made to sell on etsy, etc do not do justice to the items in real life. So.. I need to make a concerted effort to learn to photograph small items better! There are lots of good photography tips on etsy, so I am starting with some small non intimidating steps:

Make a light box. I've got the materials - carton, tracing paper and tape, and good instructions.
Learn what the settings on the camera mean.
Experiment by snapping the new humpties as I usually do, and then following instructions from etsy article.

Wish me luck!

Easter Bunny

2010-04-04T15:18:00.001+01:00

It is a glorious day of spring sunshine and showers, so I have been out for a walk to my favourite Finsbury Park . Look who I spotted scurrying among the daffodils: a tiny Easter Bunny! She also spotted me, and climbed higher for a better look, before running off again, I know not where. Maybe to find her friend The Easter Bunny - the one who delivers the chocolate eggs. Happy Easter!

Where did the time go?

2010-03-29T20:51:00.000+01:00

It is amazing to me that it is more than a month since my last blog post: where did the time go? I know I have been extremely busy with a lot of very tedious paperwork of a financial nature! Fortunately the end is in sight for this now, and there will be time once more for normal creative endeavours.

A tale of two scarves

2010-02-15T15:08:00.000Z

Whilst access to the internet has been tricksy (required a visit from ISP, plus a new modem to fix!), I have completed the knitting of two scarves! The top one knitted in double-quick time - less than two days, because I was very intrigued to see how the shaping worked: the scarf is assymetrical and fastened with the padded heart, which surprisingly was the first part to knit. I used this pattern by Kate Gilbert from the Twist Collective. This is a present for a special little girl.

The second scarf is the wonderfully warm, simple lace stripes (which automatically create the chevrons) that I knitted for myself from the Fifteen Knitting Kit that I wrote about on 1st December 2009. I was spurred on to complete it by the exceptionally cold weather this winter!

Drawing at Kew today

2010-01-27T16:23:00.000Z

I was surprised to find I had made 24+ sketches today. The Palm House ones are the best - probably because I was at least warm. Kew provides good opportunities to draw school children, too, who seemed to be enthralled by the tropical plants.
Although I thought I was going to Kew to draw plants, I discovered the amazing Marine Life display in the basement of the Palm House, which is inhabited by seaweeds, corals, and fish! It was an amazing chance to draw a living plaice, and to be stared at by the animals. Seriously, they were all coming to the glass of their tanks to peer out at me - maybe they are bored?

These are my newly knitted wristwarmers aka fingerless gloves, specially completed in time for my planned trip to Kew. I made them from lovely soft Colinette jitterbug yarn, using Fishtail wristwarmers pattern designed by Alexandra Brinck. They certainly help for keeping my fingers warm and flexible enough for drawing out of doors in the bitterly cold weather this January!

Illustration Friday - "Clumsy"

2010-01-22T17:07:00.001Z

A bit of Illustration Friday fun! I began sketching out ideas for adults being clumsy, but almost inevitably, a child crept onto the pages of my Moleskine, along with this snippet of story:

"Little Peter is upset because Wolfgang has clumsily knocked over the paint water - all over the picture Peter was painting!"

Cards "Seconds"

2010-01-21T11:31:00.000Z

The snow has gone now. Very pretty indeed while it lasted, and also very slippery, so I am relieved to be able to walk around once again without fear of injury!

It's very much back to focussing on work, both the creating of new images, and learning how to make and sell things I have designed. Interesting, enjoyable and challenging in surprising ways all at the same time. An unforseen consequence of the learning curve with my greetings cards is that I now have some "seconds" of my "dragonflyclef" and "in theory" designs: these are cards which have not folded as neatly and cleanly as I would like, so I am offering them for sale at half price. If you are interested, please email me for more info.

Snow Legs

2010-01-09T11:46:00.000Z

This was the pretty sight which greeted me on Wednesday morning! We do get snow every winter in the part of London where I reside, but it is usually a fleeting visitor, staying no more than a day or two. This winter is taking a different tack: thick snow in the week before Christmas, and now again a gorgeous and treacherous blanket of snow and ice seems set to be here for at least a week or so. So, adapting to life with snow has led to changes in wardrobe: regular foot ware outdoors is now my glamourous site boots + some neon pink leg warmers hastily purchased in local shop. Truly, the 80s have returned: that was apparently the last time we had so much snow in London, and also the last time I wore leg warmers!
I figured that not only humans in this part of the world are unaccustomed to such extended cold weather, so have put out some seed and fat balls for the birds, having first been very careful to remove the nylon netting these are sold in because the birds can injure their feet in the netting .

In my sketchbook, I am playing around with stick figures in the snow!

Happy New Year

2010-01-04T12:08:00.000Z

Happy New Year everyone! This is the time of year when for remembering successes and high points of 2009, and dreaming up goals for 2010. As well as things I think would be wonderful at the start of the year, amazing new opportunities occur in my experience. 2009 was no exception: particular highlights being:

that thanks to encouragement to pursue finding some knitting companions from http://www.emmamccann.blogspot.com/, I became a proud member of Stitch and Bitch London !
For planned goals, with help from Treacle Toffee and Paintgranny I set up my etsy shop : )

Essential work, making gifts and dealing with life amidst the rare heavy snow in London very much took over my life just before the Christmas holiday, hence the lack of completion of my blog advent parcels : ( Equally, my severe shortage of time prodded me to experiment with making my Christmas card by using a drawing from one of an existing series I have been working on - the twelve days of christmas - and adding a layer in Painter to incorporate a touch of colour. Then mis-reading the printer's upload instructions led to my shrinking the card, with the happy result of increasing the Victorian feel! All of this is encouraging me to complete the series by September this year, so that I can offer them for sale.

advent: Parcels day 15

2009-12-15T21:16:00.001Z

Today's parcel contains a hand sewn gift : )

advent: Parcels day 14

2009-12-15T21:15:00.001Z

Inside this parcel is a lovely knitted present for a dear friend!

advent: Parcels day 13

2009-12-13T19:37:00.001Z

A weekend of making presents : ) Mr Reindeer seems happy about this!

advent: Parcels day 12

2009-12-12T19:00:00.001Z

More wrapping, too : )

Advent: Parcels day 11

2009-12-12T18:59:00.001Z

Hugely busy making presents at the moment!

Advent: Parcels day 10

2009-12-10T18:49:00.000Z

This is the "Secret Santa" present I received last night. I had a sneak peek, or to be precise, full look, modelling and posing for photos!

advent: Parcels day 9

2009-12-10T11:59:00.001Z

Ooops - a day late! So busy this week, and yesterday was not anywhere suitable to paint. Here is the wrapped "Secret Santa" pressie I knitted for Stitch and Bitch London's Festive party last night.

Advent: Parcels day 8

2009-12-08T21:25:00.001Z

I love tying red bows on presents! Today I have also been tweaking photos in my etsy shop, with some help from from lovely friends Red Flannel Elephant and Treacle Toffee .

Also found time to check out Moo's advent calendar .

Advent: Parcels day 7

2009-12-07T20:40:00.001Z

Something hand-made for a sister! The Christmas tree has come indoors ready for decorating, too.

Advent: Parcels day 6

2009-12-06T17:05:00.001Z

Making a parcel of a favourite : )

Advent: Parcels day 5

2009-12-05T13:39:00.001Z

Another oddly shaped package: maybe all will be revealed on December 25th!

Advent: Parcels day 4

2009-12-05T13:38:00.001Z

Whoops! Yesterday's parcel got painted but not posted..

Advent: Parcels day 3

2009-12-03T12:32:00.001Z

Advent: Parcels day 2

2009-12-02T20:19:00.001Z

Another unusual package shape!

Fifteen knitting kit

2009-12-02T09:59:00.001Z

This painting is of the fab Fifteen knitting kit that I was delighted to win in a competition run by Stitch and Bitch London! It is a limited edition kit, containing lovely pink and grey wool from the sheep that supply lamb to Fifteen's restaurant. Naturally, I had to start knitting straight away, then paused to set up the kit as a still life to paint. The kit is very well thought out: as well as the three balls of yarn, there is a pair of gorgeous wooden knitting needles, and a choice of five knitting patterns for items that the wool could be used to make. I'm making the lacey scarf, and very much enjoying the knitting of it, so can recommend the kit as a fab special present for someone who loves knitting, or wants to learn.

Advent: Parcels day 1

2009-12-01T19:27:00.000Z

The first day of advent and I am painting my advent calendar again this year! This year I am making a lot of presents for people, which is resulting in some unusual parcel shapes and which I think will be fun to paint : ) There is a clue on a previous blog post about the contents of this package!

Percy The Pigeon

2009-11-30T11:31:00.000Z

Another little creature: I have had fun making Percy the Pigeon from a knitting pattern I found on the anti-bullying campaign's website www.bullying.co.uk. The delightful knitted Percy was designed by Alan Dart, and is based on an illustration by my lovely friend Sarah Miskelly for Anita Hunt's book "Matty-boy and The Secret Pigeon Racket" . A very worthy cause: bullying wherever it takes place makes life so miserable.

Black Cat

2009-11-28T19:47:00.000Z

Crochet is not something I do often, and then I came across an amigurumi pattern on Lion Brand's website for this little black cat, and could not resist!

Twelve days of Christmas 1

2009-11-23T11:41:00.000Z

This year's Christmas card design will be based on the traditional rhyme of The Twelve Days of Christmas, in part because I keep receiving requests to print the entire set up for sale! I've been working on the series for a few years, and this is the only colour version of designs I have drawn originally in black and white pen and ink. So far, the designs have been very classic and not connected with any particular period in history because the ones I have completed have been birds and the five gold rings. This year I fancy tackling some of the people, so will need to choose what historical setting to use!

First studio

2009-11-18T10:59:00.000Z

Second thing in the morning, after I have done my "morning pages" (from Julia Cameron's excellent The Artist's Way) I do some random drawing. This is me, aged about four, I guess: I used to sit between the sofa and upright piano with all the pencils I could find, and draw for hours! The lovely striped cardigan was knitted for me by my granny: there is a family tradition of crafts, which I have followed.

Thinking about Christmas already

2009-11-06T11:42:00.000Z

This year I am excited to have two Christmas cards for sale for the first time. You can buy them from my etsy shop - see shiny new button on the right!

Bonfire night

2009-11-05T08:55:00.001Z

Happy Guy Fawkes night! This drawing is the result of twenty minutes scribbling first thing starting out with no particular idea in mind, other than that today is November 5th. Simple and rough, and I think evocative. (It is brilliant having the scanner easily accessible again)

Don't forget to keep animals indoors, and turn up the tv/music to drown out the loud bangs that frighten them.

Pumpkin Advenutre

2009-11-04T14:10:00.000Z

This halloween was my first time ever making a pumpkin lantern, and pumpkin soup! It was great fun - doing the research for recipes, then finding out how to carve out the pumpkin; and then realising I could toast the pumpkin seeds, too, to make a yummy snack.

Naturally, all of this activity found it's way into my sketchbook!

Ravatar

2009-10-27T19:31:00.000Z

It has been a while! Restoring my home and studio to a useable state post-builders is taking far longer than I had anticipated because I am using the enforced movement of my possessions to reconsider where to put them. This is probably a good thing.

Today, I made the scanner accessible again, so can show you the water colour "ravatar" I painted to use on Ravelry*: a dragonfly shape cunningly fashioned out of a circular knitting needle and yarn!

* Ravelry.com - an on-line community of knitters, crocheters, etc

A Hooray and a peacock

2009-09-21T15:57:00.001+01:00

Hooray and hurrah! The scaffolding shroud cutting out the day light from my flat has been removed after seven gloomy weeks. So now I am in the midst of finding everything I need to get on with painting/life, having put it all "in a safe place" for the duration of the building works.

I was not entirely idle, though: I drew this knitting peacock for Creature magazine's special "End of The Road Festival" edition - the brief was perfect for me, so I had lots of fun doing the drawing : )

Gardening August 2009

2009-08-16T17:59:00.000+01:00

My flat is in a state of chaos (hence the lack of paintings!) due to the cyclical decoration of the outside of the building: the scaffolding all has to be taken through my flat! Plus takes up a lot of the side area where the pots shown here usually live. So this August is a lost cause for gardening in itself, but I do like the colours and textures in this photo of the disarray : )

Innocent smoothie hats 2009

2009-08-15T09:48:00.001+01:00

I've knitted little hats for Innocent's big knit for the last few years, and had company making this years first three in the form of my knit pals in Stitch and Bitch London and Innocent's own staff. We all had a fabulous evening of knitting, cake and smoothies at Fruit Towers for the launch of this year's campaign : )

More Womad

2009-08-11T10:52:00.000+01:00

Here are a couple of pen and ink sketches from Womad:

Womad and builders

2009-08-10T08:57:00.000+01:00

Hello again : ) Painting is somewhat difficult at the moment due to omni-present builders and scaffolding making everywhere gloomy and with dark shadows across painting desk. The good news is that they have almost finished their work, and it will look great when complete!

In the meantime, here is a watercolour sketch I made at Womad this year:

dragonfly sky

2009-07-16T11:55:00.000+01:00

My blog has been languishing neglected recently while I focussed on learning how to use etsy's software to set up my new etsy shop , for which this painting is the banner! So much to learn, and very exciting.

Organising Knitting day 3

2009-06-22T15:47:00.000+01:00

This is a cute cropped cardigan, using some fabulous Noro wool yarn. So far I have knitted the back, and cast on the left front side. 'Not bad progress, since the yarn was only given to me about ten days ago! Oh yes, and I am knitting this project on a circular needle - less possibility of dropping stitches making it this way.

gardening project 2009 day 8

2009-06-16T18:56:00.000+01:00

I bought these lush-looking petunia plants at the farmers market : ) It will be a surpise when they flower, because I do not know their colour! They are destined to be added to the window box alongside the pink and red perlagoniums.

Organising knitting day 2

2009-06-16T18:51:00.001+01:00

This pretty bag was knitted from cotton ribbon last year. Then I lined it with some vibrant cotton fabric printed with dolphins, etc. The project got stalled when I decided that the natural colour wooden plaited handles I had purchased with the yarn simply did not go with the bag! Last week I bought some clear acrylic ones, which will look great : )

Elderflower tea

2009-06-02T08:11:00.000+01:00

Inspired by the hermitage's wonderful description of elderflower fritters, here is my recipe for elderflower tea: Take a couple of huge heads of elderflowers from a Gloucestershire garden. Remove insects. Put into a paper bag, preferably brown, and hang in an airing cupboard until the flowers have completely dried out, and begun to fall from their stalks. Store in a pretty tin or glass jar. Boil some fresh water. Put a few of the dried flowers into a much loved china cup. Pour the boiling water over the flowers. Watch the flowers gradually unfold, and the brew turn bright yellow. Sip slowly and enjoy! I love the memories of early summer this evokes in the depth of winter.

June - Organising my knitting day 1

2009-06-01T18:51:00.001+01:00

Joining the wonderful on-line resource that is ravelry has encouraged me to finally sort out and organise all my half-knitted projects! I thought it would be fun to do this by identifying one a day, and painting a tiny illustration of it for my blog, so here is the first.

In fact, this is a new project: I realised at the Stitch and Bitch London meeting last week, that I need to have a simple project on the go for when I am chatting and knitting! I am making a gorgeous raspberry pink bolero cardigan from a Marion Foale pattern that I had saved from years ago: )