Exciting bit of news..............

...for me, anyway LOL I've been offered a shared space next year for showing my knitting :). It's all going to be handspun and dyed, and one off individual pieces, rather than stock selling items. I'm really looking forward to getting some work together and getting a toe on the exhibition ladder. Watch this space...........

Flying pigs and inspiration..............

I bought this little fellow yesterday:

I remember seeing a bigger antique version of this in a friend's house many eyars ago, and always hankered after one. Mine is new, but I have my own now, and he wasn't too much money - I think he's rather lovely :)
After we'd done our Saturday bits in town, we went out to Newton Forge to ask about smoke doors for the chimney - MrL wants to put one in to make it easier to sweep out the chimney now we have the woodburner in. It's nice to make the extra effort to visit a good business where they handcraft a lot of their own things; this is a particularly interesting and inspiring place. Sadly, the showroom was shut, so I sat in the car and knitted whilst MrL had a word with one of the chaps there. They don't make the doors themselves, but we have ordered one for delivery soon. Hope MrL knows what he's doing with my chimney lol
Next stop was a friend's house to visit a small exhibition she was having. She is a weaver - I always find that a particularly pleasing thing to say, conjuring up all sorts of lovely and inspiring images in my mind. Her work is beautiful, and her husband contributed his sculptures and paintings too. The point I want to make here, though, is that more often than not, smaller exhibitions, especially in the artist's home like this one was, I often find more inspiring than those big professional staged events/shows/exhibitions put on in huge venues - crowds, no touching, no meeting the artist, no knowledge of the artist or how s/he lives and works......... We parked outside the house and walked through the garden to the house, where a couple of rooms were filed with colour, texture, textiles, painting, sculptures, cards - all sorts. We could pick up the scarves and throws, turn the smaller pieces of enmtal sculptures around in our hands, stand back to really take time to look at the paintings and *see* them properly - rarely possible in a proper gallery or exhibition space. The artists were there, ofcourse, this being their home, and it was lovely to be welcomed by them.
I would urge you all to try and make time to visit artist's smaller exhibitions, in their homes and studios etc; to see the work in situ, in progress and meet the artists themselves in unhurried and relaxed settings only adds to the whole experience.
I came away hugely inspired, and determined that by this time next year I too will be able to call myself a weaver, to a lesser or greater degree.:)

Things are looking rosy.................

Big excitement here, as my long-awaited David Austen roses have arrived. I ordered them some months back from a special offer in Country Living magazine, where they were half price.

I ordered four, and half the fun this morning was making a note of what I'd ordered - I'd long forgotten the names of them! So - we have William Lobb, madame Hardy, Tuscany Superb and Charles de Milles.

William Lobb:

Madame Hardy:

Tuscany Superb:

Charles de Milles:

I shall get out at the weekend and get them in, when I've finally decided where they will go - still thinking about that, but at least two will go out the front I think.
In the meantime, here's a rarity for you - the Green Rose, rosa chinensis.

Definitely a curiosity, but a rose none the less. I had to order it specially from Cranborne Manor Garden Centre (they are well knwon for their old roses). I nearly lost it last year when MrL inadvertently hoiked it out when clearing a bed in the front; it was squashed and battered, but I potted it up and nurtured it, and it seems to be doing well now, and I can get it back in the ground soon. He was just as gald as I was that it survived when I told him it cost *him* over twenty pounds!!! LOL I know, a bit of a luxury, but this econo-wife doesn't ask for much, and sometimes you see something that you've just got to have - this was one of those :)

Friday in the Vale

This is how it looked this morning, pretty stunning..................


Another Friday...............The tail lights in the photo are actually those of my OH wending his way across the county to work! I like Friday, it has an ambience all of its own, as does each day here, the way I live my life.
Monday is get up and go day - do most of the housework, the washing, the bits that need to be done promptly and definitely before the end of the week. Tuesday a bit less hectic, but floors and windows are done, and the ironing, baking too. Wednesday is for mending and any other bits; Thursday is winding down a bit towards the weekend, where I do tidying, extra jobs, anything else that needs doing. Thence to Friday - clean the fridge and write a shopping list, sfood shopping in the evening is usually all that's left to do at the end of the week. Weekday afternoons are spent knitting, sewing, reading, gardening, etc. Saturday is out and about - into town if we need to, animal food, hay, visit palces and events, etc. Sunday is a "day off" - I tend to knti and read or similar, sometimes gardening or cooking, whatever takes my fancy. Most evenings are spent reading, knitting, spinning, doing jigsaws, sewing, on the computer etc.
It's a quiet life, but prouductive and satisfying.
My latest spinning efforts, done last night:

October Giveaway winner

The winner of the October giveaway for choice of hat is:

**********************Karen****************************

Well done to Karen, can you contact me and let me know what you would like please? Thankyou!

Look out for the November giveaway soon. Thanks to all for reading and taking part.

MrsL

xx

Damh the Bard - new album

Latest album is called Tales from the Crowman. It's got one of my all-time favourites on it - Wild Mountain Thyme. I've known this song for many, many years, and I'm thrilled to bits to find it on here! Will be ordering it soon, I think. Have a listen:

-go the website http://www.paganmusic.bandcamp.com/ and select the track.

Two good books to recommend

I always like being recommended a book or two - it's nice to get someone else's opinion on a book, and to know they've thought of you when reading one as well.
The Garden Cottage Diaries was one that was recommended on CL forum back in June, and I ordered it from Amazon. I sat down and read straight the way through it that afternoon! It really is a terrific book, about a woman who spends a year living as much as possible and as close to possible as was done in the 1790s - clothing, food, shelter, light, walking everywhere. What made it more special for me is that she is Scottish, and carried out he year's living in Scoltand, near the area whaere I was brought up. As it says on the back cover - "Her quirky, lively and down top earth account is packed with hsitory, folklore, facts, practical tips and curiosities" - and so it is. There's a lot in there I want to try out for myself - recipes, the rush lights, some of the clothing, all sorts of things. A great book for anyone interested in domestic history, I found it hugely inspiring, and with a good range of skills that we may need in the not too distant future waiting to be tried and re-discovered.
The other book is very different: Home - chronicle of a North Country Life, by Beth Powning. This one was recommended to me on an American forum; a book about a woman and her relationship with the land. The writing is top notch - spare, evocative, one to be read again and again, each time gaining more from the additional reading. The last chapter on the storm is wonderful, for me, a perfect piece of writing. The book is illustrated by beautiful photographs, marrying superbly with the prose. I couldn't recommend this one highly enough, and have read it twice now.