An Owl, A Pussycat and A Sheep

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

September 1st Giveaway Humpty!

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

Am enjoying painting this project : )

Goth seaside Day 1

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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!