Cornflower

Drawn to beautiful things

 

     I do like my Emma Bridgewater pencil case, both on its own account and because it expresses at least part of the raison d'être of this website. Look further into the range and you'll find several complementary items for boosting creativity or efficiency, for instance, you might wish to be really well organised, to record for posterity any brilliant thoughts or sketches, keep track of the 'to do' list or file your papers while yet recognising that you are only human!

    As to pens and pencils, I am very obsessive particular about them, but as they tend to vanish rather frequently from where they belong - to the point where I wish I could attach a homing device to them as "someone" [you know who you are] borrows them and forgets to bring them back, the pencil case provides an element of security, at least for all my spares...

Icing sugar

Knitting challenge

     I can't pretend I have much of a clue as to what this actually is, but Dark Puss says he'll be happy to provide a prize for the best knitted or crocheted (or other textile) version, should anyone be brave enough to take up the challenge! Here are more pictures to inspire you.

The jewel garden

     Transitory but beautiful, the first hard frost of the season melts into diamond-droplets on an ornamental grass.

 

     For horticultural jewels of the bold and brilliant kind - and an account of a traumatic and difficult but ultimately redemptive period in their lives - read The Jewel Garden by Monty and Sarah Don.

Plain and simple

 

     For all that we love colour and pattern and decorative detail in knitting, sometimes simplicity is very soothing. Plain white wool (it is wool!) and garter stitch have their own subtle but satisfying charm. (It's a secret project so I can say no more for now...).

The poppy and the cornflower

      My thanks to Ruth for the link to this radio programme on the British and French flowers of remembrance.

Lace and cables

     Were I a knitting designer I'd be trying to translate these beautiful, textural shapes and muted colours into a garment. Norah Gaughan does this at a much more fundamental level with her remarkable fusion of science and art in Knitting Nature, but even to the untrained eye images such as these all add to the inspiration store.

Ladybird, ladybird

     The rest of the world may know this, but I discovered only yesterday that a lot of the artwork of Ladybird Books, so familiar from my childhood, is available to buy in print form or just to browse for nostalgia's sake (website here).

 

    As you see, I still have some of my old Ladybirds and what struck me on looking through them just now was the strong, serious emphasis on imparting knowledge, explaining something of the wider subject, and all without talking down - the books assume that children want to know these facts and they deliver them in a clear and straightforward fashion.

    But back to the pictures; here are the ones from my Trees book, a few from The Seashore, a range of Things to Make (remember potato printing?), and for a certain 'period cuteness', how about these? Go on, have a browse!

Postcards from Penguin

     Postcards from Penguin: 100 Book Jackets in One Box is a small treasure store of images, some familiar, some nostalgic, some strikingly modern for their age. I've chosen a few of the most attractive non-fiction covers here (you can see a sample of the poetry and fiction ones here), 

 

for instance, this 1957 knitting book (design by Heather Standring) - sixty patterns for 5/-!
 

This is A Book of Scripts from 1960, cover by Jan Tschichold.

 
I like this fresh and jolly 1946 cover.

 

The privations of the war years must have seen a run on practical manuals such as these!

Now, which to send to friends and which to keep?

Woolly thinking

    What a grand lot of comments we had on this post, didn't we? I've enjoyed reading them because they reveal so much about the way we think, and it's worth bringing out several of the points made - just because it is, and then we can comment some more!

First of all, the wool/yarn question. What do you call it? I grew up calling it wool, but then most of it was 'just' wool. When I took up the needles again after a long lapse - and that was the influence of the blogs - I saw it was being called yarn everywhere, and assuming that was the sensible generic term which would cover the multitude of other fibres now so readily available, I've used that word since - though it doesn't come naturally to me. But maybe I should stop being pedantic and just go back to 'wool'. Mary mentioned the wool in the first picture in the 'Knitting habits' post, it is Colinette Point Five Velvet Bilberry, and it is wool. (What's shown here is Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift - also wool!).

The comments revealed lots of internal tussles of the "I want it but I can't justify buying it" variety, but we can be creative with our reasoning if it helps move us closer to gratification. Avice made the point that we can always buy for others if not for ourselves, and Blackbird stressed the recyclability of yarn so that the ill-fitting, unflattering sweater might be unravelled and turned into something better. Then there's the inspirational quality, as Jane remarked, of having a large collection at hand, as Becky says, "it adds colour and impulse to knit to life", and the prettiness of so much wool/yarn means it earns its place in the home in terms of William Morris' dictum: "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful".

Even the most self-disciplined of us are still drawn to the 'dream room' full of books and knitting (or other craft) supplies - the studio is a powerful mental image for many of us and a happy reality for some.

The blogs seem to be effective in breaking self-denying resolve  - pictures here and there can be very seductive - but we find it easier to give in to the impulse if it's just one or two small skeins we are acquiring (though small amounts can be impractical, as Oxslip says), and Blackbird urges us to buy what we fall in love with rather than going the 'safe' route to the ever-practical purchase.

 Ruth M. notes that some of us fall into the trap of 'saving' the best stuff for that elusive perfect project - and isn't that just like buying a beautiful notebook or journal and never ever using it because we can't think of anything 'good enough' to write in it! I know that feeling. And then there's starting but not finishing, as Anne D. admits she tends to do (anyone else have a case of startitis?), but it's not wrong just to enjoy the process and stick with the project for as long as it excites you (or so this book says).

Talking of finishing things, it's about time I finished this, and if you've read thus far you deserve a ball of wool as an endurance prize!

Monroe or Bardot

      In an entry in The Ivington Diaries from mid-September, Monty Don writes "...I love dahlias. They are undiluted fun. The deep, dark ones are velvety and voluptuous like the inside of a bordello, and the bright, garish pinks, yellows and oranges have the 1950s sumptuous joyfulness of Monroe or Bardot.

 

They come as tight, minimal pompons of flower or clumsy starbursts of petal.

 

They can be childishly simple or mathematically complex.

 

They are busy plants, giving out more energy than almost any other."

I caught some of the Botanics' dahlias yesterday in what must be their last gasp of the season. They seem to illustrate Monty's words pretty well.

Persephone books and cakes - 2

    "I had a bit of a bake this morning," explained Mrs. Briggs. "... I was determined to give you a proper tea, because I don't suppose you get overmuch to eat where you are. Mrs. Chadwick looks as if she'd skimp you a bit."

In entertaining Jane Carter, the heroine of Dorothy Whipple's High Wages, Mrs. Briggs certainly has had a bit of a bake - as part of a huge spread she's made rock buns, jumbles, parkin and "oven-bottom cake".

     Fans of Mrs. Whipple will rejoice that Persephone Books have reprinted her 1930 novel about "a shop-girl-made-good", and for more on the book pop over to Dovegreyreader Scribbles and see what Lynne has to say. But don't go without having one of these rock buns first, because Jane Brocket has written the book's preface and it is Jane's recipe I've used here, and they are without doubt the best rock buns I've ever tasted!

     In her preface Jane points out that when Jane Carter goes to work in Chadwick's draper's shop as a junior assistant in haberdashery she is "living-in" staff, given bed and board but quite inadequate amounts of food, so she is permanently hungry. That accounts for the book's very frequent references to meals, from kippers (I hope they were Manx!) to Bury Simnel cake.

    But with Mrs. Briggs settled comfortably behind the teapot and Jane C. tucking in, all that remains is for me to say that if you have not yet read any Dorothy Whipple please remedy that without delay because she's far too good to overlook, and do try Jane B.'s rock buns at the first opportunity!

Knitting habits

     Over on Cornflower Books we have occasional posts on reading habits, so why not have some on knitting habits here?

    Let's start with this question: are you an impulse buyer of yarn, or are you very disciplined, buying only when you have a particular project in mind (one that you're ready to start), never being tempted off the straight and narrow by pretty things or bargains you happen to see? Do you fall somewhere in the middle, being generally good but with an indulgent lapse now and again? And is your yarn collection (that word rather dignifies it, don't you think?) of manageable proportions, or are you contemplating building an extension to house it?

You can tell us, you're among friends here!

Don't let it get away!

    Back to pantries for a moment and do read Catherine's comment here, then if you want the book grab it while you can. You can get it directly from Catherine, or through Amazon or The Book Depository.

    Any secret 'pantry scoffers' out there? I have one here - Mr. C. is notorious for depleting the stash of chocolate in our pantry so that when I fancy a modest square or two I find there is none, and my grandfather was of similar stripe, disappearing into the pantry to polish off any cake which happened to be on the shelf leaving only a plate of crumbs.

All in a good cause - 1

     I love this painting, "Sudden snowfall - Bryanston Square", by Eileen Hogan, and if you like it too you can buy it - or rather its reproduction in card form.

     Eileen is the patron of Mindroom, the learning difficulties charity I've been involved with for some years, and she has kindly donated this image to be used as the first Mindroom Christmas card. On the reverse is a message from another Mindroom supporter, Alexander McCall Smith (click on the picture to enlarge it) -

 

The cards are now for sale through the charity's website where you'll see there are three more designs including another special commission, "Aliens don't know it's Christmas" by Annie Dow.

 

To buy them would be to help a very good cause.

(And for another, related good cause, click here).