Surprise!

I had a parcel this morning from America - from my lovely meerkat collectors Jen and Grace!

I'd been asked who my favourite Disney character was and replied "Beauty and the Beast", due to an unfortunate incident many years ago when my daughter was tiny and flushed her "Beauty and the Beast" watch down the loo. Anyway - I'd thought no more about it till this morning, when the parcel arrived...



Look at my hat! Isn't it amazing? I can hardly believe they make Micky Mouse "ears" with a nice cup of British tea, UK flag and a beef-eaters hat...but the back even has NiftyKnits embroidered on so nobody is in any doubt who it belongs to!

I had my first cup of tea of the day in my new mug, but think the popcorn/nut/chock/crisp/caramel delights need to wait until after lunch. Don't want to sugar-rush this early in the day!

Clearly this is a day when I just *had* to wear a disney shirt :-)

Big big thanks to Jen and Grace, that was so sweet of you!

What a wonderful world

(turn your sound on)

Cats with thumbs

Just saw this advert for the first time and came straight to youtube to find it again - puuuurfect!

Farm Open Day

Silcocks Organic Farm, just up the lane from our house:

Jackdaws!

Every morning I can be spotted filling the birdfeeders - usually before my own breakfast. If I don't go out straight away the sparrows in the hedge get louder and louder, as if they're telling me off!

The sparrows are usually the first visitors, closely followed by the starlings who then squabble over the first baths of the day.


We also have a robin, a pair of ringed doves and a family of wood pigeons: they are ground feeders and rely on picking up the bits that the others knock down. A flock of 7 or 8 jackdaws turn up when they see the commotion. Until recently, they also fed from the ground. They're quite striking birds, with pale eyes and a grey neck.



This one seemed to be wondering about the source of the "manna from heaven"...



Then one morning, one of them decided they're not too big to go straight to the source, and we've now bought a stronger birdfeeder. The previous one has vanished altogether, whether they actually flew off with it I don't know - but it's not in the garden!



The bird feeders were originally intended for the resident families of blue tits and great tits, but they wait until the noisy early crowd have moved on and refuse to be photographed. This week we've seen our first pair of goldfinches, exquisite little birds that I really hope I can photograph. Do you feed the birds? Who is your favourite?

King Lear MeerKat

Many many moons ago I studied English Literature A level, and King Lear was one of our set texts. Little did I realise way back then that one day I would be commissioned to knit the noble king - meerkatted!

My commission went one step further, however: not *just* King Lear, but Sir Derek Jacobi's King Lear!


He's now on his way across the pond to his new home, but I begged leave to share him with you, along with a few of the quotes I learned so many years ago to sprinkle into my essays!


"Every inch a king."
- William Shakespeare, King Lear, 4.6.109


"O! let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven;
Keep me in temper; I would not be mad!"
- William Shakespeare, King Lear, 1.5.51


"Striving to better, oft we mar what's well."
- William Shakespeare, King Lear, 1.4.346

I liked this quote as I'm often guilty of not stopping soon enough, but keeping on and on trying to improve something that is fine already!

For Lear's coronet I used strands of embroidery floss and knitting yarn, some plaited, some woven, with a few autumnal leaf and bloom beads threaded through. I deliberately added in some "loose ends" to add to the rustic appearance and illustrate the unravelling of poor Lear's mind.

Deep, aren't I? ;-)



Many thanks for such a fun commission!

Murmuration of starlings

We were thrilled to see the starlings "doing their thing" in Brighton recently, and I was snapping frantically as we hurried towards their roosting place on the (remains of) the Western Pier.



Naturally, when we got near enough for a decent photo, they settled down to sleep - but it was great to see them swooping and swirling in the sky, moving as one, even though I was not able to get the fabulous shots I wanted!

You can see the starlings performing on video here , courtesy of the RSPB.

And finally - MrNifty snapped a photo of me with a halo (it's the new Brighton Wheel)