~off again~

 

well i have enjoyed a fairly peaceful week and today we are off to the huge show that is busfest at the foot of the Malvern hills. we have been going to this event for about 13 years now...not as regular festival goers but as crew and it just seems to get bigger and bigger every year.

i no longer have any 'doings' as crew anymore because of my m.e and fibro but swampy organises all the site signage and since last year organises the charity auction, which involves him working for a short time alongside the famous auctioneer james lewis.

 

so yesterday we spent getting pretty pagan tidy and packing up all the essential and today we shall be driving up to the three counties showground at the foot of the malvern hills for ten days and i decanted a small bottle of my own raspberry vodka for the odd tipple...

 

...see the music case in the background? its my new instrument...a concert ukulele :)

 

 

hopefully i will be camped up at a little area that is a little grove of trees and standing stones and if so i shall be camped up so when sitting with my book or crochet to hand...i have my pink wool against weapons section to complete, i will be facing the hills.

 

i have packed up my bag with books, journal and crochet, put some more music on my ipod and i plan on a nice relaxing week. i am even taking Evangeline so that during the week, before the festival is open to the public on Friday, i can spend some time having a nice cycle around the huge showground.

when the show is open i shall be taking my pennies and see what i can find~last year there was a lady selling lovely clothes in the style of magnolia pearl style clothes so i really hope she will be there again!

 

i wont be able to blog but if you go to instagram you will hopefully be able to find picture 'posts' from me over the week

 

***

 

the turn of the great wheel has once again made a very distinct move towards the darker days.

this morning when i woke i felt decidedly chilly under my duvet and when out in the garden at 6.30 it was the most chill the morning has been for a long time.

 

i am so embracing this change, as i always do, but this year i seem to be embracing it more...i have spent a lot of hot days sheltering from the heat and it seems to me i have not been out in my sacred garden as much as i would like...my nook is presently home to small branches i foraged from the forest, my log pile and a huge drift of falling rambling rose and climbing jasmine leaves and petals.

so that will be my first job when we are back home and pretty pagan is unpacked.

 

since may and the moongazy camp we have had 'something' on each month that took either time, energy or money and especially with the run up to the fairy festival i have been busy and as is the norm my spiritual path took a step back away from it all.

 

so now its time to get back onto my path and see where it leads me over the dark months...

 

 

 

 



~*smiling*~

 

*another blogging gap*

 

 

its been one of those weeks, trying to get everything sorted for our trip away (Avebury & Glastonbury!)

i have sorted through all my pendants, wrist bands, leaf pouches etc (robyn, i will have some on etsy when i return home!) ready for our little craft fair, plus an increasing pile of 'stuff' in the kitchen ready for me to pack away into Pretty Pagan.

 

my little mismi has been poorly, sleeping way too much, not dooking or war dancing~after the way we lost our dear cody, always puts me into a high state of fear & anxiety. after 36 hours of this we had a trip to the vets, a good examination & the miracle of getting a sample to be tested. at 7pmwe  had the pronouncement of a urinary tract infection. so he is on antibiotics & feeling so much better~his dook has returned & he war dances around happily.

so i am happy, i guess there are some folk out there who think how could someone possibly love a ferret so much, they have had so much bad press that a lot of people can only think of them in terms of biting and going up trouser legs!
mismi & inca are like having little cats in the house~when they are in for play time (twice daily, sometimes all day as they have the little bottom drawer of the wardrobe as their own little snoozy place) they have free range of one half of our house that is 'ferret proof' with a pine 'gate' keeping them from exploring flynts area of the house. this also means that we can come and go from the back door without the worry of them escaping. they come when called & will follow you around trying to 'help' & begging to be cuddled.

 

 

i am having a few investigations with the possibility i too have an infection, but i am still waiting to hear back from my gp~although speaking with a friend who had the same, i have all the symptoms of kidney stones *eeep*


*the next day*

i ended up going out with swampy at that point to buy cable ties. swampy is busy ferret proofing the new 'holiday home' for mismi & inca when he realised it would be easier to cable tie the wire mesh over the cage rather than keep adding little bits of wire and twisting them secure.

why? i hear some people ask, why add more wire to a cage?
well, i put inca in the old holiday home, a 'L' just to make sure she could not escape & she managed to ooze her way through a small gap of less than 3x3cm so we have to ensure she cannot escape from this one!
i think they will love the cage though, a 'J' for jumbo! we busy not only fixing the wire mesh, but making new platforms from fleece, a big fleecy hammock & planning where to fix their play tubes...they are going to have such fun!

***

so
the game of thrones

*whoot*

oh my i love it so much!

i actually started to read 'a song of ice & fire' (that title is so glorious it gives me the shivers) before i started to watch it on tv & me being me wish that they had the budget to film so much more of the story...but it is wonderful...more than wonderful...i have no words to describe how much i love it!
i continually swoon over the costumes & maybe a miniscule swoon over jon snow & as for brienne of tarth...what a warrior goddess she is! i admit i have the hugest grrl~crush on her!

well now the clock is ticking & i have a lot to do today, start to pack things into 'pretty pagan', i have some vintage Persian wool in the most gorgeous muted colours (photos to come) that i am splitting into single ply for a crochet project with my smallest hook.
the trouble is i am having trouble sourcing more as i cannot find anything in this country from 'the craft collection' or 'paragon' online...goddess knows just how vintage this wool is...i also need to make up label's for my wares going on sale at our Stonewylde craft fair next weekend...plus i am hoping to squeeze in making a skirt from my sew what! skits book over the next couple of days!

will i do it?!

i will keep you posted!

 

 



~wool against weapons & mug~

 

you will know from my post yesterday that i was feeling a tad stir-crazy with the utter need to get out and buy yarn to start my small part of wool against weapons so i had swampy take me out for a bit of yarn buying and this is what i came home with...

 

 

i aim to do a sort of striped 'patchwork' type piece with swatches of the pink and single rows of the oatmeal.

but i also came home with this...

 



 

to make a 'cosy' for this...

 

 

i have to say my photo does not show just how beautiful this mug is, it doesn't show what a gorgeous green glaze it has nor how wonderful the shape and feel.

 

this was actually a commissioned piece based around a mug i saw on the crafter, dave green, site.

 

i wanted something very specific...a good sturdy mug but without a handle that would be good for either hot or cold drinks...the image i had in my head, and one that i sent him in an e-mail (the poor man must have thought he had a loon contacting him!)was sitting around a campfire outside of a thatched roundhouse with a mug of something in my hands...now my older readers will not be too phased by this idea, they know me too well now.

 

it is oh so perfect and the yarn is to make a little 'cosy' for those drinks that are too hot to hold or to keep them warm when i am sitting around a camp fire.

 

i actually have it sitting here beside me as i type and i keep taking little surreptitious glances at it instead of typing because i love it so much.

my plan now is to keep adding pieces of his work to my stoneware collection...but not so much to have it as part of my collection to be looked at but a living, working collection of plates and bowls.

 

i like love...no adore anything that is rustic, organic, sturdy, mis-matched, things that make me think of the ancient ancestors and how they might have crafted drinking vessels and how they might have sat around a fire listening to stories of their ancestors.

 

so i am a happy happy soul right now...lots of new yarn, a gorgeous mug and now i am waiting for the delivery of my cloak...

 

 



~freeeezing~

 

the snow vanished over the night hours but it is, i think, colder than ever.

 

we popped out today because i had to have the wool to start my part of

 

wool against weapons

 

i also bought (encouraged by swampy!) to buy a couple of balls of something to make myself something...you see i am awaiting the delivery of a custom beaker made by a very talented potter (check out the link page over at my website) and wanted to crochet a 'cosy' for it...well now i have enough for a 'cosy' and a hat...i am on the lookout for a nice crochet hat pattern now...ravelry here i come!

 

 



~the finding of heaven~

i had the most sublime serendipitous moment today

last night i got to work with the wool i had bought earlier in the day, but after much changing of hook and pattern i was not happy with it.

~there would be a couple of nice photos here for you yarn addicts, but for some reason today blogger will upload my photos but not let me post them!~

while i was working i had the thought of the little fae person i am making the mediation shawl for and the wool was just not right~it didn't feel right in my hands and i just know it didn't feel right for her.

this morning we headed out for our weekly shop and as we drove along i was still talking about the wool and how it just wasn't right. i was also saying how proper old fashioned wool shops were becoming obsolete in the face on online shopping and what a shame that was.

 i am a great one for loving to touch the thing i am buying and that joy is lost via the internet.

...i have a little fantsy in my head about opening my own yarn shop/coffee shop and i often just talk about it~as if i had the money and just had to find an empty shop~we can all dream!...

anyway, we were driving along and i suddenly said 'there is a wool shop in christchurch!'...well i remembered that there was once a wool shop in christchurch, whether it was still there was another matter altogether.

as it was only a ten minute drive further down the road we took a diversion and drove up the old narrow streets, crossing the river and passing the ruins of the castle and norman house and there in front of me was a tiny shop front...it was still there.

well we parked up and i resisted the urge to stop by the red house museum and gardens and a few minutes later opened the door to honora wool specialists

oh me, oh my

what a shop~i do not exaggerate when i say all four walls were floor to ceiling yarn of every shade and texture imaginable.

it was so exciting to find a good, old fashioned wool shop and i really had to restrain myself from going totally wild and leaving with my arms piled high with goodies.

as it was i found the most perfect yarn for our little fae friend~patons 'trentino dk' in 'mexico' so i will start anew with that later and the shawl i started last night i will complete and put up at *a little eclectic*

~pretend there is a nice photo here~

well given the blogger glitch i cannot show you the 'prettification' of Pretty Pagan or my borage, so i shall love you and leave you and get to work on the fae shawl...

~for the love of yarn~

its been a quiet few days since my last blog, mostly concerned with finishing off a wool hand muff i made...

finished the main body some weeks ago using some wool i bought years ago but didnt know what to do with!

 then i became distracted with other crochet projects and finally decided to get it finished this week. i added a ruffled edge at each end and included the flowers.

this is destined for etsy when i finally get my etsy store set up!

i have nearly finished the wrap for my friend in wales~she is still poorly so i am keen to get it finished and posted.

 if you enlarge you can see i am working the edges in a lacy/fish net stitch.

i went a bit mad this week~well stir crazy to be honest.

it feels as if i have been stuck in for days because of the cold and rain and the constant grey sky makes it feel like i am stuck in some gloomy box.

i really needed to get out even for an hour or so.

so swampy took me off to look at yarn!

now to me racks of natural yarn is like a drug~i adore it all.

 i love to pick it up and feel it, even, if nobody is watching, give it a little sniff.

my mind becomes a whirl of what i would create with each one...

well needless to say i ended up deciding i need to make myself something~my own wrap actually and so three balls of Rowan alpaca cotton 'fell' into my basket...

these drew my eye and i fell in love and images of a striped wrap formed in my mind...i had to start with three because it is quite expensive and i am not sure yet how much a single ball will make up.

still with names like raindrop, salmon and rice how could i not fall in love?

~*~*~*~

this arrived through the post last week...

i wanted to buy something special with the money given to me for my birthday from my ma and pa and there was only one of theses at fairysteps store and as with the alpaca cotton i fell in instant love with 'pod'.

the little moccasin is a tiny but perfect minnetonka brought back from from lake tahoe.

parts of it have been worn smooth where i constantly  touch it when out and about.

*~*~*~*

~today is another grey day with the odd patch of blue breaking through.

i hope you day is a bright and happy one~