Catching up

A lot has happened in the 3 years (3 years!) since I was last here but when I look at my photos I see what is truly important, I see the occasions that made me reach for the camera, the things that I want to remember and cherish.

Most of it is pictures of the outdoors, my children, and knitting!

 Our home is important to us, we spend a lot of time there homeschooling, baking, making, reading, sleeping, snuggling, nesting, but the outdoors is where we are free, where our minds can reach out, where we can see to the horizon and imagine what lies there. Getting out there every day is my tonic, my recipe for health and connection. We are blessed with living on a peninsula and having the ocean on 3 sides, it brings wild wind, warm sun, rain storms, mild winters and 'keep-you-on-your-toes' weather changes. That Cornish wind can really blow the cobwebs out if you've been inside for too long!

The last 3 years have been kind and cruel in the way that time usually is and is meant to be, we have all changed and grown in ways we wanted to and ways we never thought we would, and some things have remained the same, the constants that keep us stable and grounded. Life goes on and life is good, and I am so grateful to be here, talking to you in this space.

Jo x

Yarn along

Joining in with the yarn along today. Anyone else in the uk knows how much rain and grey january can bring so I really felt in the need for some colour...

These patterns were lots of fun to make. Revelry notes here. The original patterns use very different colours and are from the book fair isle basics and beyond. The fingerless mitts in particular are in very muted colours in the book and look quite different. I made the hat on bigger needles than suggested and I also made the large size and then I felted it down so that it would be really wind proof and snug. If you do this I would definitely recommend checking that your wool felts because I have ( more than once ) made something too big in 100% wool only to find that it's superwash and won't felt. Giant slippers anyone...

Can you see how the picot edging on the mitts curls up? That's because I was too lazy to block them! 

It feels great to be knitting again after having quite a break and just not feeling like picking the needles up for a while.

Happy yarn along

Jo x

Ps. I also discovered how extremely difficult it is to take a selfie on an ipad and got many many photos of the wall, the floor, random colourful blurs, really strange expressions, etc so forgive me but the 2 I've put in are the only ones that show the hat and that I don't look like a complete loon in!

Happy New Year!

How lovely it is to see this space again, it feels comforting and familiar here and just the right time to be back. If you are still here I welcome you with open arms and hope we can carry on this journey. I have so many things to tell you and lots of new ideas ahead, but for now I am going to wish you a very happy new year full of joy and beauty while I feed my nostalgia and peruse the archives!

It is good to be back!

Jo x

Cave paintings

As part is of a study on early people faith made some of her own cave paintings, she made paint out of a coloured earth that we found and used charcoal from the fire. We looked at some examples online so that she had an idea of the styles they were usually in. This was a really fun hands on project.

jo x

Beach art

The 2nd of January gave us a beautiful sunny day and found us at the beach creating beach art.

We made sculptures from found items, balanced pebbles to make towers and also found some coloured earth at the base of the cliff which Faith mixed with water in a seashell and used to paint on a piece of wood she found. Paintbrushes included feathers, leaves and a stick with a spongy center which when sharpened worked just like a fibre tip pen. 

In a very timely way, this discovery of natural pigment coincided with the delivery of taproot magazine which had an article about creating paint with natural pigments. Amazing how these things happen isn't it. I see more of this in our days.

Jo x

the first seven days

The last week of a year and the first week of the next are some of the best days. Clubs are off, outings are minimal, there's usually lots of leftover food around, present making is finished (at least until march which is our next family birthday), family and friends are visiting, and there's really not a lot to do. It feels like a deep breath, a calming, centering and family time.

Our first seven days have been repetitive in the most lovely of ways, waking up late, leisurely eating, dog walking, board game playing, rain watching (loads of that!), sitting by the fire and staying up late. Bliss.

Oh, and we have another dog.... have i spoken here since that happened? I'm not sure...

In the picture of the 3 dogs, the one on the left is the new one, Storm, she is Sonny's sister and we got her in October as she wasn't being looked after well at the home she had. She is just as sweet and gentle as Sonny is and we are happy to welcome her into our home.

The rain seems to be holding off today, so we are going to walk around a lake, feed the ducks and go for a swim, (Not in the lake -way too cold - in a nearby pool!), and so start the days of more structure, more appointments, more work and in short, more to do.

So, as we dive into the year ahead, happy for the busyness it brings, we will hold onto the space that we had in these weeks and work to create more of that in the year. 

Happy 2014 x 

Jo x 

apple day

We had such a great day on Saturday. Apple day was on at Kehelland horticultural center. There were local traders, farm animals, traction engines to ride on, face painting (by an unbelievable artist, see here), camp fires, mazes, traditional crafts, oh yeah... and apples... loads of the things.

Roghan loved this carousel so much, the smile says it all really.

Over 100 different locally grown varieties of apples were displayed and sold. Including the teeny tiny crab apples below.

These gorgeous gentle giants William and Samson were kind enough to give us a ride.

Happy days...

Jo x