Cornflower

Knitting with Monty and Neil

     Yards of moss stitch, fine yarn, tiny needles - come back in a year and I might be done! But although this is a long job (it's the middle part of the Bohus scarf), it's a straightforward one, and with no counting rows, reading charts or following a pattern, it's automatic work.

     All things permitting, I'm doing a row or three each morning as I listen to Neil MacGregor, and with Monty Don on television twice a week now (with farmers and craftsmen) I can knit as I watch.

     If the powers that be would just fill the schedules with Monty, Neil and their ilk, think how soon that scarf would be finished!

Sign post

     A brief signpost of a post today, pointing you in the direction of two sites which, if you don't already know them, are vaut le voyage, never mind le détour.

     We here have a particular fondness for The Elegantologist who writes at Easy and Elegant Life. We love his sense of style, his appreciation of the finer things - and he has a nice dog! His wardrobe is a wonder to behold, and I should imagine he is never, ever seen "in scruffs".

     Then to something which is 'simply' pretty, lovely to look at, a place of creative calm: Petits Détails.

     Enjoy!

Cornflower Book Group 2010: Volume 3

 

    "'I like the letters to be slanted a little,' the lawyer said.

     Here is the fellow, with nothing settled but talks of style, thought Raman. 'Impossible,' he cried, having his own notions of calligraphy suitable for a lawyer. 'Slanting letters are suitable only for oil-merchants and soap-sellers.'

The lawyer became insistent. Raman tried to explain his philosophy of calligraphy. 'Sir, listen to me. The letters on a lawyer's board must always stand up proudly, and not lie supine. Head erect.' The man repeated his specification. Raman felt that he needed enlightenment and launched on fierce dialectics; persons seated at other tables suspended their own arguments to watch the fun here."

Would you like to watch the fun too? Come and join us!

Cut flowers

    The work of Mrs. Delany, this is Pancratium maritimum or sea daffodil, and the medium is paper collage or 'mosaik'. It's one of almost a thousand botanical collages which Mary Delany made in later life - she was 72 when she began - some of which go on show next week in London at Sir John Soane's Museum. The exhibition (previously on show in the US at Yale) sounds very interesting, bringing together "art, fashion and science", and including embroidered textiles.

   There's a related book which I've had my eye on for a while: Mrs. Delany and Her Circle, and how about a companion volume, Mrs Delany's Menus, Medicines and Manners?

Flourish

     I'd hoped for some snowdrops by now but they are still tightly in bud. The hyacinths which spent weeks in the cold, dark cellar are unfurling with a graceful flourish, though, the florets not so closely bunched that their shapes are lost in the crush. They remind me of expressive hands.

Who do you think you are?

 Warning: slightly serious, introspective post ahead -   

    I am always amused (incredulous, even) when I discover that someone has reached this site by searching for "Cornflower knitblog", because I don't consider myself to be a knitter as such. Yes, I knit, and I have the temerity to put what I knit on here for anyone who cares to look to see it, but I claim no skill and feel I do little more than plod along, fnding my way; as far as 'real knitters' are concerned, I'm at the back of the queue.

   My facility - or lack of it - with the needles is of no account, of course, but I think that that way of seeing myself surely is. I recognise that I am overly deferential and assume that 'everyone' has more experience and greater competence about most things than I have, and that piece of self-perception shows me that how we define ourselves is quite a serious subject as it can affect to a great degree what we do and don't do.

   Away from domestic accomplishments now, I wonder if the wider issue is an almost exclusively female one, given that many women give up careers to bring up their families, and lose the identity that their work gave them. Many's the time when my children were small someone I'd just met asked me what I did and on hearing I was a full-time mum, their blank or dismissive glance told all. My 'job' as it was commanded no respect from them, and I could hardly counter with a "but I used to do X and I'm pretty good at Y, and ..."

    Nowadays, the old career is far in the past, and with my children nearly all grown, I have a different answer to that "and what do you do?" question. I'm still not sure of myself, though, still going to the back of every queue while I look for external validation, still trying to work out who I think I am.

    I wonder how many of you feel the same.

Knitting and hot chocolate

     Oh, you lucky New Yorkers! Click here.

(Reading that has just made me want some hot chocolate, though I think I'd pass on the banana peel flavour. Wonder what the Moulin Rouge version is.)

Skyline

  The University of Edinburgh's Old College (top picture), then the Old Town's roofscape, including the Castle, of course, and a glimpse of the Forth and the hills of Fife many miles beyond. Amazing what you can see on a clear day and from a lofty vantage point.

   Dark Puss, does this make you homesick, or have you become too much of a southerner for that?

Juxtaposed

    Difficult to see there, but that's I Love Candy directly above Hanover Health Foods, and which do you think had more customers?

I haven't been inside the sweet shop yet but I see their range includes Old Scottish Sweeties (not sure about the Irn Bru Frying Pan, but look at the range in Out the Jar!). And still on all things sugary, there used to be a shop in Edinburgh which advertised "Boilings for the Connoisseur" - that seemed to demand to be said in a French accent!

Or would you prefer ...

... hyacinths?

Just to be going on with

Busy day here, but have some cheering miniature daffodils to be going on with!

A bit of explanation

     It struck me just now that 'the world of Cornflower', while making perfect sense to me of course, may not always be entirely clear to others, especially those who weren't in with the bricks, so here's a bit of explanation.

     When I began this site I thought its focus would be, broadly, things which interest me, hence the range of subjects in the list on the left. Books were a major component and posts on them appeared frequently, but as I wrote more and more I feared they would push out all the baking and knitting and things, and conversely, that when people arrived here on links such as Britlitblogs they'd be wondering where the 'lit' was among all the cakes and flowers and such and would think they'd taken a wrong turning.

   So, just over a year ago I set up Cornflower Books and I run the two sites in tandem.While books do still appear on these pages, they are (for want of a better word) 'picture books', that is ones on cookery, gardening, etc.,while all the 'reading' books, the fiction, biography and so on, are on the sister site.

  The third piece of the jigsaw is the Cornflower Book Group* which started here more than two years ago and moved its base over to the Books site as that seemed its obvious home. Of all the books which appear on Cornflower Books, only one per month is a book group book (and it will be clearly labelled as such), the others are all read by me independently of anyone else. *The group is open to anyone who wishes to read with us, and all details are to be found by clicking that CBG link.

   A few more points which crop up from time to time:

To my great surprise, I've been asked how to submit work for inclusion here. The answer is that it's a one-woman band and everything on the two sites (except for an occasional post by my husband - with byline!) is done by me.

Will I accept advertising, and what are my rates? Links to Amazon come as part of the Typepad package; likewise, I am affiliated to The Book Depository, and I use both companies frequently and can recommend them. All other links in sidebars and posts are there because I choose to put them there, and are of no financial benefit to me.

Books for review. That is a major subject, and though it's relevant to this site, too, I shall cover it on the books site later today.

   Any other questions? Please just ask.

Now have a piece of cake

     Baked goods tend not to linger long in this house, so with the biscuits disappearing fast it was time to make a cake. This may look like tiramisu, but it's actually Nan's Mahogany Sour Cream Cake, and something about that recipe called to me, so I despatched a willing assistant to the supermarket for the needful and whipped it up in no time.

     Nan gives two suggestions for frosting, but I topped mine with a tub of mascarpone, sweetened with icing sugar then dusted with cocoa powder.

This is very scrumptious indeed, dark and moist, but not heavy, the chocolatey-ness complemented by the tang of the cream and the lusciousness of the mascarpone. I'd better stop before I get carried away altogether, but do try it!

Buried treasure

    Listening, with great interest, to Neil MacGregor's A History of the World in 100 Objects, I thought of this treasure which is shared between the British Museum in London and the NMS here in Edinburgh. They are, of course, the Lewis Chessmen (and apologies for the poor photographs), dating from the late 12th. or early 13th. century, and found in 1831 in this magical place.

Did you know that they were the inspiration for Noggin the Nog? The detail and the expressions are wonderful, especially the chin in hand gestures!

The pieces are soon to be going on tour, including a stop in Lewis itself, though visitors to the island can see this 'brother piece' supervising the baggage reclaim at Stornoway Airport any day!