~a week~

 

so the rain still falls, but now we have sleet and hail showers.

this morning we had a heavy hail shower and i looked up from my seat on the sofa to see leveret and magpie come rushing over calv's  fence and come crashing through their little door.

they are now curled up on the armchair asleep.

 

 

i have had a lazy couple of days, catching up on the documentary's and films i have recorded.

calv and i had a good chat the other day~one of those rare days where the sun was shining and we sat out in my nook chatting over a mug of coffee. we talked about the lack of structure to our days and this came back to me on Saturday while watching a documentary.

i decided that i need some structure to my life, to give my days more meaning...well not so much meaning as to make my days more productive.

sitting here with my laptop it is so easy to be drawn into other places...like pinterest...

 

there are so many things i want to do with my days but it is so easy to become distracted.

 

the time has come to make some changes.

 

this links somewhat with my earth magic card i drew a few days ago...(displayed with the help of magpie)

the cycle of re-birth, brushing away the cobwebs that opens the way for the seed-ideas that have been germinating over the dark months... 

 

 

 

also this past week...

 

an early morning hello from a crow...

 

 

kittens cuddled up...

 

 

finishing a felted pouch. i was going to put this one up for sale but fell in love with it! so today i will be doing some wet felting...

 

 

 

this is the same pouch~the lighting really does change the colour!

 

 

 

 

we popped to our local country store where they sell all kinds of things~chicken coops, chicken feeders, assorted 'stuff' for livestock, wellies, tools, fencing etc etc...we needed dog food, which we buy in cases of 24. the store is near buckland rings and while i waited for swampy i had this view down a steep sided valley where someone had lit a small fire...

 

if you enlarge this photo you can see the wood smoke rising...

 

 

 

 

and now its time to get some wet felting done...have a lovely day whatever and wherever you are

xoxox

yule is knocking on the door

 

its been a cold week here in this ancient forest and due to get colder although we are lucky not to have the rain and gales rushing through Scotland and northern England at the moment.

 

yule is upon us once again and as is now our own personal tradition we are going to stonehenge for a sunset ritual with the gorsedd cor gawr.

 

i am feeling quite festive early  this year, which is unusual for me~our tree went up last week, firmly anchored to the cabinet it sits next to it to protect it from climbing kittens...i got up in the night one night as flynt was crying and anxious to find a small bell and a little felted tree in the hallway. so for the time the tree is up the kittens are banned from the living room while we sleep to ensure the safety of the tree and to allow flynt a peaceful nights sleep!

 

***

i have been busy with my crafting for the wylde apothecary

i have ventured into the realms of creative copper and been busy making copper amulets and yule incense.

today i am venturing into something quite new...wet felting.

i have been needle felting for sometime now and in the past have felted small crochet items but i have had had new ideas spinning in my mind. i recently needle felted a small elemental 'mat' to be used as a small 'travelling altar' but then talking with a friend the idea of a felted pouch came into being, followed soon after with ideas for runes and ogham...so i really need to start making these items in order to get them out of my mind and into reality!

 

***

 

i now need to show you how beautiful the forest is right now...

the pigs out for pannage on the edge of the village...

heading out of the village...

heading into lymington by buckland rings...

back into the village and heading home...

 

 

 



~crafting~

well we have had none of the heavy snow that most of the country has been having~we are at the southern most point of the country and so tend to have rain instead of snow.

however it is bitterly cold and damp...oh and grey.

i don't think i would mind the cold if we had some sunshine with it.

i have spent the day in my room having fun with some new ceramic beads i ordered a few days ago for the wylde apothecary.

i love ceramics of all kinds and one of my greatest wishes is to have a small kiln...one day maybe!

anyway this is what i have been making...

i love the big round ceramic bead...

this picture shows the lovely shades of green...

i also experimented with a much thicker wire...

yesterday i ordered some more ceramic beads which i hope arrive soon as i have so many ideas and keen to get the all up for sale.

~nook too~

 

okay how daft am i?

 

i have been sitting here for ages trying to figure out why i had a gostly image behind everything on my blog...good job swampy was here to say 'isnt it something to do with a background?'

it was only then i noticed that my background was missing.

 

sometimes i really wonder what planet i am living on!

 

 

the weather continues to be grey and cold but everyday in the garden new shoots are forming from the cold soil and new buds appear on the tree's and we have two sparrow families nesting in two of our bird boxes.

 

swampy is busy making alterations to my deck...actually i hate the word deck so i need to think of something else...'nook too' might be a good one as when it is properly finished it will be a sister nook to my original one...

 

a second smaller rowan is growing in a pot there, plus my blueberry bush and we are growing the banksia rose over the top of the ferrets home. across the front where the step will be swampy is covering it in weather board, and he is doing the same along the side edge where it faces the house and overlooks 'cody's bed'. plus my ferns and hellebores will be along the new edge.

 

two nooks...how lucky am i?!

 

i am trying to think what to do with my day today~swampy is wrapped up about to go in the garden but it is so cold...and my symptoms always become worse when i get cold...

i have been sitting here in my room drinking tea and thinking...

 

 

i was 'talking' to friends on fb earlier~i think i need to have a more 'constructed' week and have a normal weekend like 'normal' folk while the week is dedicated to crafting, maintaining and updating my website while my weekend is dedicated to 'me' and my reading and crochet and catching up with films.

 

how do you structure your weeks if your life is not the 'norm'?



~ouch~

 

so i am still living under a grey cold cloud.

despite the fact that we have so many green shoots coming up through the cold soil it feels that the sun will never return.

 

it leads me to think of my ancestors and how important the rising of the sun on the winter solstice assured them that the light was indeed returning.

 

 

it has been a long cold season, a season that to me seemed to start back in the summer when the rain started and never stopped, which merged into an autumn of rain, which merged into a winter of rain and snow...

 

what a time.

 

 

i think later today, after i have listed some of my wares over at the wylde apothecary i will clear the patio and sit wrapped up in a blanket...

i need to get outside

 

really need to get outside

 

i am feeling miserable to day and i apologise that i am bringing it here to you

i need to see the sun, to be outside and i really really don't need the pain that is causing me to limp a lot today.

this limp is a new thing, i woke up with bad pain from my coccydynia and in my left hip and since i have been up the pain is going down my leg like sciatica.

i believe it is because of the muscle and ligaments that attach to the coccyx.

 

well i am going to move myself into my craft room, finish one necklace and then update my shop...



~crochet & yoga~

 

its been a week of mostly crochet and yoga here.

 

i have not been feeling 'right' so been listening to that and doing little.

 

today that feeling was gone and as a result spent a good time in my room crafting-i had some ideas for necklaces i really wanted to try and i am very happy with the end result so i shall be putting them up on my website tomorrow.

 

a day like this, where the things in my head work out, always gives me an essential boost.

 

yoga does the same-gives me a feel-good head rush, which is why i try to do even a little yoga when i am not feeling great. it just gives me that little extra when i am feeling rotten.

also gentle yoga is one of the things as being suggested as good for fibromyalgia as it is important to keep the joints mobile.

 

my crochet is slow because of the pains i get in my hands, arms and shoulders and for a year now i have had soft tissue swelling in the joints of my hands so things like crafting, writing and typing is not easy...but i do it.

can you imagine not doing it?

i would go stark raving bonkers...

so i think a bit of pain comes out tops over going bonkers!

 

however i had made myself a nice cowl with patons colour works aran in 'orion'which is the darker yarn i showed you in my last post.

 

and i started my part of

 

wool against weapons...picture to come!

 

 

 



~things~

i would like to welcome

 

falling ladies

 

 to my blog...its always nice to meet a new blogger and of course visit their own blog and this one is beautiful

 

becky asked me about my 'cauldron'...we bought it from vanfest (now known as busfest) last year and it is a gas bottle cut in half with three pieces of scaffold pole as legs...so simple but it make a fantastic 'cauldron' for fires and cooking on and will take an awful lot of heat.

to cook on it we put my big cast iron griddle on the top and it works really well.

we had hoped to buy one for a friend this year but the people who made them were not there-however we are considering making them to the same plans so i shall let you all know when we do!

***

i have been busy crafting as you will see...well you wont see but you will find out what i have been up to!

***

i have also been busy out in the forest-since the equinox my mind has been so full of new ideas that i have had to act on them as a way of release.
but it may mean opening a second etsy shop or finally setting up a small website as the things that have been coming to me take me beyond what i have been crafting and selling onto a whole new level

***

~questions answered~

jill asked about the incense and soaps i mentioned in my last post.

i am pleased to say that eibhlin has a website and you will see a link on the left of my posts to her site

namaste holistic therapy

she will soon have an online shop for which i am glad as she was telling me about new products in the pipeline using hops which i am very keen to try.

***

the incense i bought from star child this time was

cernunnos

'Cernunnos is the steward and guardian God of the animal realm and the consort of the Great Goddess. He embodies the male capacity to nurture, protect and support. Far from being dominant, he watches over the animals and is at one with them. Burn this incense to attune to Cernunnos and the animal realm. It may be especially inspirational to men who want to get in touch with their own inner masculine power to care and nurture'

and

brigit

'Brigit, Queen of the heavens, is but one of the guises of the Celtic Triple Moon Goddess. As a patron Goddess of poetry, smith craft and the healing arts she is celebrated as a harbinger of culture who blessed humanity with the civilizing arts. Her most sacred feast day is Imbolc (1 February), when she is celebrated in her Maiden aspect. She presides over the life giving waters and the regenerative powers of the womb. Burn this incense in honour of the Great Goddess and to invoke her gift of inspiration'

*words taken from starchilds site*

the one we were burning the night of the photo was brigit and it was just gorgeous.

***

well i have just about settled down to life without wheels although still having problems with my cough and the virus has finally hit my m.e and i am feeling so weary.

yesterday i went for a walk with swampy and flynt and struggled so badly to keep up~just lifting my feet to walk took all my effort and so i spent most of the day on the sofa reading book one of 

a song of ice and fire...

game of thrones

oh my, who has been reading this?

it took me a few attempts to really start it because of all the names/connections but used the useful list of families in the back to help me.

i am now well and truly addicted and will be on the hunt for book two 'a clash of kings' this week.

i have not seen the first tv series yet but have them ready and waiting to start watching~i have had a lot of history/archaeology programmes recorded which i have had to catch up on.

now i have caught up i shall start watching and my friend chappie (who is on book 4) tells me that the series is keeping very true to the books.

***

i shall be starting up production for *alittleeclectic* this week~i shut up shop due to going to the gathering but now it is time to start up again...especially with my fly agaric brooches, i sold them all!

i also have moonstone, green moss agate, smokey quartz, tourmilated quartz, among others to make necklaces.

***

finally, as requested...

mismi is settling in really well and now has a routine at home too~he has his harness on twice daily and leads me around the house and garden for about 30-40 minutes and it gives me the chance to get him what i am calling 'hand friendly'.

while he is wandering around i wear a leather gardening glove to stroke him. yesterday he only nipped a little so i am hoping that very soon i can discard the glove.

the trouble is ferrets have very thick skin so their play nips to us are quite hard and they of course do not distinguish between other ferrets, humans or dogs...poor flynt has had a couple of nips to his leg in passing but i think he is learning to pass quickly!

poor swampy is still a little nervous of the nips but i am having to work on him because i will be going to wimbledon this month leaving him to look after mismi.

he was castrated last week so now all those raging hormones that make him want to get out and find a mate and cause a wee bit of aggression are now fading and this means we can now sort out a friend for him. i hope its soon because he keeps doing the playful war dancing at us and flynt and we of course are too big for him to really play with.

look here and you will see some 'war dancing'

~of things~

i have a lot of 'stuff' going through my head...its a daytime 'washing machine head' experience.
actually i think 'washing machine' is too modern, too mechanical for me.

i think 'springs and waterfalls' is better...i like the idea of the rushing water and the sound it makes...

people...

sometimes i try hard not to hate some people, the unknown people who think it is acceptable to throw their rubbish from their cars, those who harm living beings~whatever species they belong to.

i know hate is an especially harsh word/feeling.

not all of my feelings are so harsh

 there is also suspicion

suspicion borne of my ragingly accurate intuition
i have had it the whole of my life and have long accepted it as part of my soul journey

i remember picking up on things when i was 7-8 years old and my feelings have never failed me.

its hard sometimes to have this feeling, especially when it is screaming at you~to have to sit by silent.


anyway enough of that...

i had one of my night time bursts of inspiration last night with regard *alittleeclectic* so today will be devoted to creating and i shall be giving my swampy a little poke with one of the many sticks i have around the house to get on with some lino print designs.

~*~*~*~

now as i sit here the rain is pouring down~its like looking out at a waterfall rushing down outside the window, so another day of not being able to get out in the garden.

however on an exciting note i may well be having a 'girl cave' in the garden!
this came about because valuable floor space in swampys 'man cave' (the shed build into the footprint of the house) is taken up with Evangeline so i suggested that if i had a girl cave then she could be placed on a rack on a wall and i could instal a table, chair and shelving and it could be a nice place for crafting, reading, meditating.
i think swamping is seriously considering this and just to keep the idea 'live' i am searching out smallish, second hand sheds.

of course my mind is going into overdrive at the thought of a 'girlcave' and how it would be decorated...lovely colour paint...little curtains at the little windows...i must not get over excited until it is actually sitting in the garden!

well now my creative juices are flowing so time to get out crochet hooks and felting needles!

~at my desk~

we have had a jig around here in the little house in the forest

when we first moved in we were excited at having what we saw as a second bedroom...it was small but it was a room we didn't have in our tiny cottage in dorset.

and yes we did have people stay.

then it turned into 'my' room, where i would study.

while waiting for my studies to start again (i have taken an extra few months break until i start up again in october) swampy took over the room and it has now become his 'model' room~where he sits building his huge truck models while listening to his rock music (ac/dc arrghhhh i cannot bare that mans voice).

so now, with my increased crafting and thinking ahead to october 'my' room is now the bedroom.

we have the luxury of a large bedroom which looks out over the back garden.

so, if you can imagine, behind me at the far end of the room is a large black iron bed, my large desk sits against the other end wall under the window that takes up the width of the room, facing, as i mentioned, the garden.

i have been sitting here today working on some ideas i had for little teeny bags to hang on neck cords~wouldn't you know it, i made three before becoming frustrated, cutting out a basic shape, sewing and threading and that was the best one i had made all day!

it is actually very sweet (and swampy my biggest critic loves it so i know its more than okay) and so i will finish it properly tomorrow for myself and it's future followers are destined for *a little eclectic*

i am hoping to pin swampy down (oh er missus) for a bit of a photo shoot tomorrow and fingers crossed my first items will be on etsy later in the day.

tonight i plan to work on some crochet.

i started a shawl for my sister ages ago with some yarn she gave me to make one (unfortunately its acrylic and really puts my teeth on edge) when  i first started to crochet and before i knew any better.

as a result i was creating a shawl in totally the wrong stitch and as a result it was taking forever...and ever...plus my increasing looked rather dodgy and i was very unhappy with it.

well i started all over again...with the acrylic~eeep!~ and working on the idea of an ever increasing triangular granny square and its working perfectly. more importantly its growing quickly.

do you know i haven't started work with that gorgeous alpaca cotton?

i keep looking at it and thinking, and thinking some more but finding it really hard to take the plunge and start work with it.at this rate i will still be pondering over it come yule.

well time to whip up a nice salsa to go with my veggie roast!

*have a good evening*

~sniff*sniff~

i am unwell today

last night out of nowhere i came down with a summer cold.

earlier in the day my nose felt a bit sniffy but i paid it no mind~by bed time it was a full blown cold

today i am being supplied with home made honey and lemon drinks and although i stayed in bed for a while my legs started to get restless and needed to move.
i have been on the sofa with another honey and lemon watching the Tour, as its a monumental mountain stage and not to be missed.

i am now fading fast and i expect once swampy is back from walking my sisters dog (they are all at her second graduation today~criminal studies and they are publishing her dissertation!)~ i shall be taking myself back to bed, thank goodness i am recoding the Tour~i dont even have the heart to pick up my crochet.

i had a hiccup with it last night~i decided to try my hand at a granny square and used the pattern form my 'simple crochet' book but instead of the start of it looking like four petals mine looked like a wheel!

i have no idea whats going on there!

~wool joy~

i have spent the last few days alternating between reading Eclipse sorting out my new bank account and practicing my crochet...




its a bit fuzzy as the photo was taken with my 'fuzzyberry'~camera still misplaced here! and it certainly doesn't do the color justice~i have several balls of merino wool bought a good 4-5 years ago (during one of my earlier, but useless, crochet periods)so this is in a most beautiful pale purple~i shall look out the camera!

i have to say that i am being a bit over excited over it it~but with good reason as you know.

i have no idea why i just couldn't 'get it'

now i totally get it and i feel like leaping for joy.

i sat in the garden today while swampy was doing a little tidying in the garden and flynt was chasing a young blackbird out of my blueberries (yes the birds have found all my lovely berries and i have no net) and decided to start on a small basic scarf project~just as a way of helping me remember and retain the basics.

i found it so much easier and relaxing than knitting~i found myself getting into a lovely gentle winding, twisting rhythm that i never had with knitting.

isn't it funny how something simple can bring so much joy?
to have something so long looked for suddenly click and feel so good.

later i shall be searching out a simple, but pretty afghan pattern online and i have decided that i may well treat myself to some nice wool for it~plus my sister has already placed an order for her own afghan!

i hope you are all having a good day too~and i hope you all popped over to Rens place :)

~oh what a night...~

i went to bed at 10.30 last night, which is very late for me~i had stayed up to watch jo brand

this woman rocks!

*~*~*~*~

i have to say i am feeling a tad jumpy today, expecting the government nannies to come a' knocking at my door for i have been an irresponsible drinker~oh yes i have.

last night i went a bit wild and drank two...yes two...bottles of cider.

now this is a very rare occurrence for me indeed, but for some reason i really fancied cider last night, and more than one.

however on close inspection of the label of bottle number two i realised to my horror and shame that i had exceeded the recommended daily unit limit for a 'responsible' female drinker.

oh the utter shame.

i am sorry i am being particularly evil today and of course, as i did my teenage/ early adult growing up in the eighties and early nineties, i have the whole 'little miss angry', anti-government, anacrchic comedy, cnd, peace camps, protest thing forever embedded under my skin.

i utterly loath all the nannying 'aware' small print on drink and food stuff and voice overs that precede some tv programmes we are bombarded with the whole time~even on the news channels for goodness sake.

now to me news should provide us with newsworthy information~famines, war, social injustice etc etc etc~to me a warning about the use of flash photography and accompanying film of some emaciated female...only famous because of a) football player husband/boyfriend b)plastic enhanced body c)fame found via one of those truly awful 'lets find another star for five minutes' talent shows or d) all of the above...is not news.

i digress~i enjoyed my two irresponsible bottles of cider and may well do it again one day.

~*~*~*~*

on a lighter, less little miss angry note i had my knitting bag out yesterday...and not for knitting either.

i have had 'crochet block' for just about ever~my mum has tried to show me, my neighbour has tried to show me, but they both did their own kind of 'freestyle' crochet and it confounded me, frustrated me to the point of tears.

now as some of you know i am a basic knitter, but am so slow~so very slow a knitter and the lack of progress i find frustrating.
i like the idea of just one hook and a single ball of wool to deal with and i was inspired by Ren's recent post over at fairysteps and the photo she posted of a beautiful piece of crochet she is working on~

how beautiful is it?
i adore it!

~i have to put a warning here~there are many beautiful things that Ren makes and sells and our friend roses (who makes my beuatiful silver jewellery~remember?) has a pair of her shoes~i have decided that my 'me treat' next year will be a pair of my own!

of course it will be a while before i am this good so am starting out making a simple granny square afgahn.
i spent ages yesterday working on the basics and i am confident that today i will start out on a small, experimental afgahn~i shall try to remember to take photos to post of my progress.