A Tale of Snowdrops and Dragons

This afternoon I had the choice of snowdrops or dragons - to walk in a wood and see the snowdrops or to track down a dragon in the next village (bare with me I haven't lost the plot honestly!).  I chose snowdrops as I thought they wouldn't be around for very long and off we went.  We went to Chalkney Wood near Earls Colne in Essex.

It turned out a bit like the book 'Bear Hunt' as we found mud - lots and lots of mud.  We couldn't go over it, we couldn't go under it, we had to go through it!  And it squelched and it squelched and it squelched!

We didn't find snowdrops in the wood though and we did get ever so slightly lost.  But when we eventually found our way back to the car we spied some snowdrops on the opposite verge to where we had parked!

But on the way home something rather exciting happened - we took a detour to try and find the dragon.    The legend is that in 1405 a dragon appeared out of the river Stour in Sudbury.  The townsfolk tried to kill it but all they did was agitate it and it went back into the river towards Bures where it disappeared into a marsh.  You can read more here if you want to.  I'd heard on the radio that there was now a dragon on a hillside in Bures but until last night I didn't know where it was. We followed the directions I'd been given on twitter and went down a tiny track by a reclamation yard to St Stephen's Chapel.

The chapel was built in about 1200 on the site where Edmund was crowned King of the Angles in 855.  And there on the hillside overlooking the chapel we found the dragon.

He's quite impressive and I'm so pleased we found him!

Tiny Signs of Spring

Walking down the garden today I spotted signs of spring.  Only little signs at the moment and I did have to look hard to see some of them, but they're there alright!

One (yes I did say one!) snowdrop next to the hellebores. (I'm not sure where the other snowdrops have gone...)

Tiny chaenomeles buds breaking

and lilac buds beginning to fatten.

Aqualegia leaves unfurling

And the delicious scent of Lonicera Fragrantisima filling the air.

But the thing I am most excited about is the amount of buds on this - Abeliophyllum distichum (or White Forsythia).

I planted it about 4 years ago and have hardly had any flowers in the past - so this is looking very hopeful!

A Tale of Three Ones

Yesterday I finished one sock.

It's the first sock I've ever knitted and I'm quite pleased.  I did a short row heel and managed to not have any gaps or holes (although I did unravel it a few times to achieve that!). It's self patterning sock yarn just incase you thought I'd used loads of different colours - it's clever stuff.  I think the 2nd one will be quicker and easier.

A few weeks ago I went to the local silk mill sale and bought silk in the sale for £15.00 a metre and made one curtain for my dining room door/window.

It only needs one curtain as it's really window dressing as the window/door is internal.  Apparently the silk would have retailed at over £100 a metre when it was sold commercially a couple of years ago so I got a good deal.  It hangs beautifully and drapes onto the floor looking very opulent.

And today I spied one hellebore peeping up through the snow.

A sign of things to come.

Winter Reflections

No, I'm not going all poetic or philosophical on you, I mean these reflections:

Our snow only really arrived yesterday and the stillness of the river made the reflections really clear today.

Everything looked really crisp and clean and as you can see I was the only idiot  person having a walk down there today.

I'll leave you with the tiny snow covered cones of the Alder tree (I think).

Keep warm!

Nearly Narnia

Remember my favourite tree tunnel through Elveden Forest?  Today they were like something out of Narnia

beautiful, but not especially nice weather to drive in so I was quite relieved when the school I was heading to phoned to postpone our meeting.

Looking up it was possible to imagine Mr Tumnus arriving to greet me - but he didn't, and I'm now safely tucked up at home.  Hope you're all safe and warm

Knitting and Unravelling

A few months ago I bought some wool to make this cardigan pattern (it's a Drops Garnstudio pattern and wool).  As most of it is plain it was quite boring to knit but the wool was nice and it didn't take much concentration so over Christmas I did a lot of it.

I enjoyed knitting the yoke, all those different colours and about 10 days ago I finished it.  Then I tried it on - it was ENORMOUS!  The yoke was so deep that the arms started 1/2 way down my body, making the sleeves about 6" too long!  So I unpicked half the yoke (quite therapeutic really), redesigned the pattern with a 1/3rd less rows and re-knitted it.

Last night I finished it for the second time. It's still a little bigger than I'd have ideally liked but at least it's wearable now.

It's nice and warm, which might be useful as we're due snow this week.

As you can see I had some additional help when measuring :-)

I was going to show you the self patterning sock yarn I've got, but I can't find it (ho hum, must tidy up properly)!  But I am also thinking about another cardy - I have these wonderful colour samples from Holst Garn 

and am trying to decide between these two patterns.

Breckon by Amy Christoffers
Found here on Ravelry

Lorelei by Tonia Barry
Found here on Ravelry

Any preferences?

Oozing With Inspiration!

Today I took a trip to London.  To the V and A.  I love the V and A, I spent many, many hours (probably days) there as a student but haven't been for years now.  How can you not love somewhere with staircases like this?

But I hadn't come for a general look round, I'd come to this exhibition

Image from V and A website

It was inspirational.  So many, many beautiful costumes.  There was no photography allowed in the exhibition but I bought some postcards (and am now regretting not buying the book!).

Costume for Elizabeth 1 - Elizabeth the Golden Age 2007

Green Curtain Dress - Gone With The Wind 1939

The information in each room was fascinating and the use of ICT to enhance the exhibits I thought was brilliant (once I'd got used to the photographic heads moving!).  This picture from the exhibition website shows some of the costumes in the final room (and you spot the two sides of Cruella Deville?) with the films projected through the gauze 'wings' hanging from the ceiling.

Image from V and A website

It's on until the end of January, booking in advance is essential, but if you get the chance to go I'd really recommend it.  I'm buzzing with ideas from it and if I had the time I'd go again.  All the details are here. 

And after I'd had a quick look around some of the rest of the museum (I'll save those pictures for another post) I headed off here as they had 30% off some fabric.

Well it would have been rude not to have done so, wouldn't it?!