Cornflower

Bringing you back to earth

 

    If you're within viewing range, you may be interested to watch the BBC Four documentary series Ceramics: A Fragile History which began last night and is available on iPlayer. Made in association with the V&A, this is part of Handmade in Britain, "a year-long season exploring the history of British decorative arts", and in the first episode, The Story of Clay, domestic pottery in Britain is examined, from early plain pieces to the likes of the fancy yet functional one pictured here*.

    Among the programme's contributors is Edmund de Waal - himself about to embark on writing a history of porcelain - who says of clay, "this most fundamental substance", "it brings you back to earth, all the time; it's a life."

 

*The basin is in the ladies' room at The Balmoral Hotel here in Edinburgh, and I took the picture last September when I was at the Scottish launch of Justine Picardie's Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life - I knew I'd be able to use it in some context or other!

Twinkle toes

    Finished! The Red Wine and Port Socks from Jane's lovely book The Gentle Art of Knitting. The yarn is Moondance from The Yarn Yard (currently on Etsy, but follow Natalie's blog to be sure you don't miss anything), dyed to resemble the colours of Edinburgh's slate roofs in the rain. Perfect for the pattern, the grays and blues are a lovely subtle but interesting mixture - though the picture doesn't do them justice - with a touch of stellina for sparkle.

    These were commissioned by Harriet who asked for "really cosy, comfy, cabled socks", and I think I've given her just that - my feet like them, anyway.

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See also: Ripping yarns

              If at first you don't succeed ...

              To scale - with reference to that post, I worked two extra pattern repeats in the leg and still have yarn left over.

Friday flowers - summer scents from a winter twig

    Looking at these flowers - rose 'Blush Noisette', lady's mantle, nigella, lavender, periwinkle and honeysuckle - cut from the garden this morning, you might well think it was June, not October, for they have that sugared almond, summer wedding feel about them.

    To go with the posy, here's a passage from The Rain Tree by Mirabel Osler, one which follows on rather neatly from the subject of  last Friday's flowers:

    "Temperamentally I'm an optimist. There's a right time for things to happen, and I've found that too often going against the grain, pushing at frontiers, hasn't been successful. Remaining receptive means that some of the best things have happened when I've been facing in another direction [...]

    There is no Plimsoll line that cautions us from risking a plunge into the deep end. There is no cut-off age for starting a new venture. There are those ossified at forty yet others in their seventies who respond to the song of the Lorelei. I was in my sixties when A Gentle Plea for Chaos: Reflections from an English Garden was published. I wasn't looking for authorship. It arose from the chance meeting of someone I hadn't yet met with an English publisher at a party in New York. [...]

    A Gentle Plea for Chaos had germinated with the same alchemy that produces summer scents from a winter twig."

Feeling sorry for herself

    Pippin, just back from the vet after a routine operation this morning, settling down in her usual spot under my desk. The collar has to stay on for ten days.

A physical meditation

   

 

    An email from Ehrman Tapestry alerting me to their October sale (and no, I won't be indulging as I have several of their beautiful needlepoint pieces already on the go) made me pop over to their site for a browse and prompted me to get out one of my works-in-progress to do a little more. The canvas of which I've photographed a corner or two here is Mini Pansies by the late Elian McCready, but it shows the unmistakeable influence of the great Kaffe Fassett.

 

    If you have four minutes to spare, stop and watch this video in which he features, and then if you have the wherewithal to do so, spend some time on that 'physical meditation' he talks about.

In Court

The British Museum's Great Court, seen in late afternoon light; this visitor was suitably in awe. 

Any faster? (2)

    As on Cornflower Books today, I'm checking to see whether the changes I've made to this site have had any effect on its loading speed. Many thanks for all your comments so far, and if you wouldn't mind letting me know if there's any noticeable improvement in performance - or not - I'd be grateful.

Pleated

    

    In the 'luxury shop' at The British Museum on Friday I saw the most beautiful finely pleated, deep blue silk scarf by Anne Selby. I'm wishing now that I'd bought it, but I walked away empty-handed. Ah well, click here and you can see a short clip of the techniques involved in this Arashi Shibori work.   

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See also: Pleated - Fortuny

               Sculptural, Structural, Textural

               Pleats, Ruffles and Jewels