And the beat goes on ...

Well, OK, not the beat. Just the poppy making. We're struggling to keep up with demand. We never thought it would be like this. Just a few poppies, we thought, to help out Anne with her money-raising.

We reckoned without Amanda, who is selling them at the university, where she works.

We reckoned without the effect of people wearing them out and about and telling where they got them.

So on Saturday I took in another half dozen frothy ones. A drop in the ocean. But the wonderful Avril came in with SIXTY FIVE.



Now the actual poppies and leaves are quick; it's the assembling and pinning that takes the time. Doreen has been a champion, and now we've had to press Maureen into service, too. By the end of Saturday she was ready to have nightmares about poppies.

Avril is sitting in the Craft Studio at the shop. I call it that because, when it's empty, Phil uses it as a studio and can be found painting in there, and when he allows, I use it for crochet lessons.

Of course, it's rarely empty, because there are deliveries! This week we had some Italian buttons; there were some pretty flowery ones, and Hallowe'en ones; perhaps I'll manage a photo so you can want them too.

And we had some Louisa Harding Amitola arrive. Unfortunately, it's so popular that Designer Yarns sent only two colours, but here we are:

This ball is a sample which the lovely Julie gave me to play with. Here's what I'm making:

It's an edging from Margaret Hubert's Complete Photo Guide to Crochet, and when I've used half the ball (thank goodness for digital scales), I'll turn round and make another side, linking to the 3-chain loops you can just about see.

Amitola is 80% wool, 20% silk. The colours are jewel-bright, with nice long repeats of each colour. Was I tempted? Well, of course.

This is destined to be a long shrug for Rhiannon.

It's been a stressful week, having a new kitchen installed. Tomorrow we expect the tiler, so next week expect photos. I popped down to the shop on Tuesday (to deliver some poppies!) and came back to find dog Fig in the street, so after that I stayed home to guard her. 

When I went down on Friday, Caroline had done a new window with an Autumnal theme. More news of her work next time.

Busy busy busy busy

The shop has been humming this week! On Friday, Caroline didn't manage to have a drink until four o'clock, let alone any lunch. Phil was wonderful, making tea and coffee for us, even though it didn't get drunk. We had a delivery of knitting needles and notions, but apart from my set of double-pointed cubix, and Caroline's puff maker, it hasn't been unpacked.

Customers continue to make our life happy. This beautiful baby blanket was made by one; she pops in most weeks when she is down in the village. The amazing thing is that as far as we know, she is over 90.

This has been Wool Week. On Friday Caroline celebrated the end of the week by making cakes:



The ones with the icing were especially delicious, but I admit to trying both!

Also for Wool Week the shop was marked out with a lurid, eye-popping yarn bomb on the tree outside; the Foundation design students from the college liked it. Avril thought it should have been bigger. She's right, of course, but time was short, and the tree is actually  three feet around so took some covering. The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK - not the most appropriate for Wool Week, but really good to crochet with, and a massive range of colours.







As you can see from the photo of the cakes, we are still working on poppies. We are struggling to keep up with demand and have pressganged Doreen. Here she is making up poppies from Avril, Julie's and Caroline's work.

At the same time, Amanda is selling them at her office, and Sandy is making and selling them. It looks as though Caroline's target will easily be exceeded.









At home I am working on a cowl in Araucania Botany Lace, which is one of my favourite yarns. It's probably about a 3-ply weight, and beautifully smooth. The colours are really vibrant.

There's a bit of a purple theme going; also on the hook is a blanket for a friend who specified purples.

This square is fun to make because you have to concentrate and count all the time (yes, I'm strange that way). It's designed by Julie Yeager. I love her squares; they are textured and innovative. This is another one that I found when I was tidying up ready to move the kitchen into my work room.

In case anyone is concerned about the hole in the ceiling, it is now fixed and the plaster is drying. Tomorrow the kitchen is being started. There are units in the garage, tiles in the hall and boxes of equipment wherever there is an empty space.

The bright side of chaos? No house work possible.

Congratulations ...

... To Jules and Caroline!

How about that? Runner up in the Midlands for the best local yarn shop! Jules and Caroline went down to the Knitting and Stitching Show at the Ally Pally to mix with the movers and shakers, and to collect the certificate. They had a great day, and when Julie downloads the photos, I'll sneak some of them to show you.

A remarkable thing about this award is that most people didn't even know the shop had been nominated. The LYS which won has talked openly about their campaign to secure votes. Christine's didn't have a campaign. I don't think it was even mentioned on Facebook. So that makes the award even more pleasing: customers really do like the shop.

While the bosses were away, the dream team (Doreen, Phil, Maureen and I) kept the shop open and delighted in telling people why we were on our own.


One of our customers bought 10 pairs of small knitting needles on Saturday. She's a teacher, and running a community activity teaching parents to knit. They are making the little hats for Smoothies. She tried to get us to make some, but we just pointed towards the poppies. The shop has now raised £350. We're going almost flat out to keep up with demand, and have pressganged Doreen to sew the pins on the backs for us.

These are the two models I'm making; the one at the bottom is from the British Legion, but I don't enjoy making them so have an alternative. The flat one at the top will have stamens (made from Fun Fur Yarn) in the middle, and both will have a leaf. After lots of trials, and Caroline making rude comments about one of my efforts, I've settled on this one:

It's from Suzann Thompson's book, Crochet Bouquet. 

And here you see the pile of pieces waiting to be assembled.

Apart from the happiness at the shop, it's not been an enjoyable week. I seem to have spent a large part of it waiting for plumbers, and this is the current  state of play:

This is the tasteful hole in the ceiling. So this week I'll be waiting in for people to replace soaking wet floorboards and ceiling, and then next week they will be installing our new kitchen.


On the craft front, Iam FED UP of losing my scissors. It used to be tape measures, but I got round that by using the heavy, metal retractable ones: you can tell where they are from the weight of the bag!

But scissors is (are?) another matter. Now Gillian's mum made her a lovely knitted holder for hers.

In the old days, ladies had chatelaines - keys and so on attached to their belts for security and easy access.

So, scissors on a chain? But I don't wear belts very often. Market traders pouch, only smaller? An apron? Current favourite is a sort of segmented pocket; I just have to think of a way to attach it to my person, and then I'm set.

Anyone with any ideas out there?

The Felix Fund

At Christine's we meet all sorts of people. Currently the new intake of students for the Art Foundation course are visiting us weekly for materials for textile projects. This morning a young lady asked for knitting needles with holes in! And last week one of the young men was (temporarily) yarnbombing the lamp post outside the college. He'd finger-knitted the fabric and was happy to discuss his project and how he hoped to improve it.

One of our regular customers is Anne Linley. Her son Brett was a mine disposal expert. Yes, was. He was killed making a mine safe in Afghanistan. At first Ann raised money for Help for Heroes, but now she has decided to concentrate on the Felix Fund.

The Felix Fund provides the money for proper aftercare for mine disposal specialists. It's not really possible to imagine what it must be like to be searching for and disposing of mines for hours and weeks on end. The strain must be intolerable. When they finish a tour of duty they need time to decompress; the government funds minimal time, so the Felix Fund steps in to try and save these young men from Post-traumatic stress.

Last year Ann crocheted and sold poppies to raise money for the fund and was amazed at the interest. So this year at Christine's we have a box which we are keeping filled with poppies. Another customer, Avril, has made a lot. Julie also makes the basic poppy, and Caroline does the really important work of putting them together and making their leaves and centres.

So far we have raised £250; Caroline's target is £500.

We are planning a poppy yarn bomb for the tree outside the shop to advertise  for those who don't visit us for wool. This green thing is the bandage to go round the tree:

To it we plan on sewing poppies - our last yarn bomb was stolen, so we're taking no chances. And if time allows, I have a frame for a small wreath.

I've watched Ann pull her life back together after the death of her son. She is a hero too.

In the moment

That's the result of my holiday: a resolution to live in the moment, to be alive to where I am and what's around me.

It was a wonderful holiday. I ate Port Isaac crab in Port Isaac; had fresh-caught fish at Tintagel, and various other Cornish treats.

Cornwall in the sunshine is spectacularly beautiful. From the cottage we had views of Bodmin moor, but the weather was so good we just wanted the coast.

We went to Padstow twice. Now I'm far from being a Rick Stein fan, but Padstow has developed, since we went there thirty or so years ago, into a friendly, lazy sort of place. You can hear gentle, live music wherever you are. There's delicious local ice cream to sample, places to sit in the sun and drink coffee. I was happy to people watch, or to watch the tide coming in.

Most people seem to have dogs; Fig had sensory overload when we left, after all that sniffing.

At Boscastle I had the great pleasure of listening to the hollow booming from the blow hole.

And we went to Tintagel.

The photos are by Gareth, when he and I went to Cornwall two years ago. As you will see, his photos are brilliant.

When you go to Tintagel, you leave the village and go down a very steep path to the bay. It's so steep that they offer Land Rover rides up and down. This is the view from half-way down; there's a place where the stream is accessible so little brown dogs can have a drink and cool their tummies.

At the bottom is a good cafe, serving fresh food, and the English Heritage centre and entrance to the castle. I don't go up to the castle. It's far too exposed, and I have absolutely no head for heights. I go down to the little beach. There's a pretty waterfall:

When you've climbed down the many steps there are boulders to negotiate before you reach the small amount of sand. Fig had the most amazing time down there, playing with the waves and surfing. She disappeared among the rocks at one point, and I was just getting anxious when she reappeared from the opposite direction, grinning all over her face.

Down there are caves, and especially one which actually goes right through the cliff.

I'm a real wet blanket and don't like caves any more than heights, but this one has such amazing light effects that it takes my breath away.

Climbing back up to the village is a  penance. No, I didn't ride. My pride wouldn't let me.

The village has a lot of fake Arthuriana, but the legends are so compelling I can understand it. And in spite of the tourists, the touristy shops and places, the place has a real magic about it. I'm looking forward to my next visit already.

What, no crochet? Well yes, of course. My next effusion will introduce visits to Bude and to wool shops. See you then!

Last minute!

Finished the baby blanket.
Finished Obi Wan Kenobi.
Finished 2 hippos.

No top for me, however. I just can't make up my mind about what yarn, what stitch etc.

But at least I got the other stuff done. Here are the carcases of the hippos:

And one with innards:

I haven't reported on Teasel the cat for a while. She's not a popular cat at the moment because she's proving to be a great hunter, and Rhiannon takes exception to having to rescue a teeny mouse in the early hours of the morning, or to waking to the sound of bones crunching beside the bed. So she is being stuffed with multiple courses of food in the hope that she'll be so full she won't want to hunt!

Last night was  Stitch Bournville. We had bread pudding fudge, made by Rhiannon. Very rich and lovely, though I still love the rose and pistachio fudge she made last weekend.
 Catherine brought her latest creation, Nellie the elephant, another of Heidi Bears designs. I hope Catherine won't mind, but I'm going to 'borrow' her photo, because I fell in love!



You can't see it, but there is the cutest little tail.

Tomorrow I'm off on holiday. Rhiannon and Fig and I are going to a cottage near Tintagel. I wouldn't go to Tintagel for years, being sniffy about fake Arthuriana. But once I had been dragged there I loved it. You walk down the steep path to the cove, and there are looming rocks and splooshes. If the tide is right you can walk into the cave that led to the legends about Merlin receiving the infant Arthur. It's very wild and very beautiful.

While we're there we'll go to a herbery that we've visited before and buy lotions and potions. There's a crab and lobster festival at Clovelly. And maybe we'll go to Rock and take the ferry across to Padstow. Fig will enjoy a swim or two in the sea and no doubt be spoiled rotten.

Wooooooooohoooooooooooo!

Fingers to the bone

I've been crocheting hard. First of all I had to finish the shawl for Kath:

Not one of my better photos. But I'm pleased with it.

Then I had a baby blanket to finish for Gareth's friend's little boy. It's not blocked yet, but I'm quite pleased with the colours. The centre is Tunisian entrelac, with plain crochet round the edge. I used Rico baby because they had the right sort of colours. It doesn't look like a traditional baby blanket, but he'll grow into it!

I'm also working on organising my workshops better. Yesterday Linda started her drop-stitch checked blanket, and two new ladies made granny squares and then squares with a 2-layer flower at the centre. They learned all the major stitches, and several useful techniques. The leaves are from a lesson prepared for Linda.

Fig went to the vet for her jabs today. I was quite nervous because the last time I went to the vets was to have Hesta put to sleep. Fortunately Fig has a clean bill of health. The vet's waiting room fascinates her, what with the smells and the noises and other patients. At least she doesn't try to leap up and get the toys, unlike one of the little dogs there. Good thing too - Fig would be able to reach them when she jumps.

At the shop, the winter yarn is starting to come in. Or do I mean autumn? There are two kinds of fluffy yarn, and some great colours. The Reflections yarn, which was new last year, has some new colours, which are really tempting. Reflections is a glittery yarn that knits as DK. Then there's a new Bergere de France 4-ply, with 75% wool. There are some printed shades, and the solid ones co-ordinate perfectly with them. But I'm not sure about the name - Goomy!

One of our customers is making photo props for her photographer husband. We gave her lots of ideas. She wasn't excited by some of our more creative suggestions, but she did go off with pompom yarn to make baby blankets.

So am I having a rest from crochet? You're joking. I'm making another 2 hippos, and there's a cone of Frangipani 5-ply waiting to be used. We're going to Cornwall for a week at the end of the month, so a wrap of some sort would be useful. And then there's Jules's shawlette, in orange Arauncania Botany Lace.

So if I don't blog much, you know why!