the frustration no longer renders me hateful........

Very, very tired this week - of the 31 days in March I will be working 29 - although in a martyrish sense I am quite enjoying the stress envy this inspires in people, and in a sense my job isn't too demanding so I guess it's not so bad.

Plus I am happy for several reasons:

The first is this life - I don't know whether this is a well-known jem, and has been a secret from me alone, but since the axing of home truths there's been a bit of a hole in my life, that has now been filled by this programme (which is kind of an american version of the old john peel favourite). I think pretty much other than the current show you can listen to all the old shows free online - the best one I've listened to so far is the babysitting episode, but I'm currently listening to a Halloween special which is pretty good. This discovery comes courtesy of the very special black apple, which in itself is a reason to be cheerful.

The second is my new laptop, a birthday present from my wonderful boyfriend. This makes it a heck of a lot easier to update my blog and my shop etc, so there should be an awful lot more fun coming - this time I REALLY mean it.

Finally - I'm getting a lot of work in doing Art Clubs etc - which is really where my heart is at currently. This half-term just gone I spent three days with the wonderful birgitte lund - which was really inspiration. I've never seen children so self actualised as they were during this workshop - in particular on the last day when we staged a mini-exhibition to go alongside the preview of the cornford and cross exhibition. They totally took on curatorial responsibilities - and the adrenalin involved in framing and 'hanging' the final prints we created was infectious. We even made a diddy invite for their parents to come and see, tastefully displayed (and badly photographed)here next to my birthday flowers:



So that's the goss at the moment, and I even have a new pattern for a knitted mouse that is coming together - so there's plenty to look forward to!!

Happy birthday to you, knit a tomato or two...

Well, hey it was my birthday yesterday, which I celebrated in style with a cake....



...some friends and some curry. And also of course some knitting. What else to knit on your birthday but fruit? These pictures haven't come out so well, but I will do some more and add them to my etsy shop for purchase. I was pretty chuffed that I managed all of these pretty much in a day. Hope you like them and I will add some more photos soon.....










(Apologies for the lazy post, but I take any chance to blog I can at the mo, and a short sweetness is better than none, no?)

Good grief I've been gone a good long while.....

Good lord that was frustrating. A number of small but significant reasons have kept me away from my computer just recently. How sick I was of looking at that dreadful 'hobo' post. Anyhow to get us in a swinning mood, here are some skirts from one of my favourite new people, Alison Willoughby:





I saw some of these at the City Museum months and months ago, and have been meaning to post some pictures ever since. I'm very jealous, as they're very beautiful. The red one is covered in tiny week fabric butterflies.

Can you spare some cutter me brother?

A few years ago I coined the term 'hobo-chic' and thought it was my very own. Now here I find it used to describe duke special - who as of last night, are my new favourite band. I'm a little upset, but also excited about the fact that I invented a phrase the may be on the crest of a new cultural phenomenon - even if I don't appear to be properly referenced, and I doubt anyone even believes that I invented the term.

Perhaps I should elaborate?

Here are various instances of hobo excitement that have occurred throughout my short eventful existence.
(And let us be clear here, by hobos we mean fingerless gloved, one man band, crowding round a brazier, bearded men with newspapers under their clothes to keep them warm)

Being a guardian reader I should add that homelessness stinks and I wouldn't want anyone to be sad, lonely or cold, so really we're talking about men who choose this as a way of life, not poor luckless souls who have no alternative.

ONE:

Peter Sellers in 'The Optimists':



(sorry folks - best image I could find)

This is a seventies tale about a hobo with a dog and some kids who want a dog. It pretty much consists of them roaming around London and the kids saying things like "'Ere Mister - Give us a go with yer dog - go on gis a go..." for around an hour and a half - magic.

TWO

The Jesus Blood Never Failed Me story and resultant music.

THREE

(And I will try and get a photo of this). A man named Mr Macknamara who plays an accordion next to the pier where I live. He has four teletubbies attached to a pedal, and when he presses it they dance. There used to be Elvis playing a drum at the side, but for some reason his face got pasted over with Cilla Black - so now she plays the drums.

FOUR

An old public information film from the eighties in which people are clearing up after local vandalism. Apart from being appallingly choreographed, this film also has, as a background detail, the word HOBO graffitied on a garage. (Really thought I would find this on You Tube, but apparently it's just toooo obscure).

FIVE

Don Patridge.

Here is a recent photo of him on a street in Stockholm:



I truly love the song 'I've Got Something for You'. It may be my favorite song.

What makes him really special is the story Molly told me when I was little and we were listening to this record. According to her my Dad had lived with Don when he was younger, and whenever Molly played that record my Dad would say "Oh Don would be so pleased you're listening to his record." She spun a whole tale about how he was a one man band playing the streets who was discovered and put on top of the pops and it changed his life. Years later I asked my Dad whether he really knew Don and whether he was really a tramp. "Don Patridge? That idiot?" he replied.

So much as I love this story, I'm pretty dubious about it.

SIX

Dancing Fred.

You may well have a Dancing Fred in your town - most towns do. Dancing Fred lived in my home town and generally got drunk and danced around. Once he was lying in the street and my Granny went up to offer him a hand. Dancing Fred replied in a way Dancing Fred's around the country will always reply: "Fuck Off - I don't like you and you don't like me."

I don't think Dancing Fred after found himself singing along to the lines "In my life, why do I smile, at people who I'd much rather kick in the eye?" I think he just kicked people in the eye instead.

SEVEN

duke special

I know he's not a hobo, but check out the curius percussion his drummer made:



and (what appears to be his signature) gramophone



Pretty special huh? And their music rocks too..... Pretty damned hobo-chic.

They're playing at the Royal Festival Hall in December, can I stay at your house Molly?

Haven't I been busy!

Here's 4 pages of photosthat I took of the umpkins today. To wet your appetite, here's some of my favourites:

Ok so I promised you stories and none are forthcoming. No more promises this time as I seem cursed to not blog at the moment. Just trust me that I am trying my best folks.

In any case here are some pictorial excuses. I have been making a few more pumpy umpy umpkins - the idea was to try and get a local shop to stock them so I really need to be able to go to them with quite a few for them to choose from so it's really all hands to the sewing machine at the moment.

Unfortunately the downside of this is that your sitting room tends to spend a lot of time looking like this:



Ooops....

Ah well, the rest of the house isn't too bad as I've been pretty much living at my sewing machine for the past couple of days. In any case, I've kind of lost heart a little as I think the original umpkin (the one with big orange eyes) is better than the supposed improved versions I've made, but here they are for you to judge for yourself.



I will be taking some better pictures today so I can put them in my etsy shop for the time-being, so even if I get a better place to sell them they're still attracting attention in the meantime. I reckon that I've just got to keep plugging away and once you get over that peak the whole thing should chug along acceptably.

My favourite at the moment is probably Mrs Umpkin with her flowering cheeky smile.....



(apart from the very first one of course - who is sitting to her right)



In other news I did manage to get out of the house early yesterday morning to go to an Autumn Fayre at a local church - where I bought a few fantastic vintage craft books - pictures later maybe - as well as a couple of fantastic bags for fifty new pence each. On the way I passed an antique shop that I never normally go in (even though it looks fantastic - I just don't trust myself). Well anyhow there was a big box of dolls outside, so what's a girl to do? They were truly fantastic - all hand-made interpretations of women in history. Unfortunately they weren't in a particularly good state and it was necessary to marry some heads up to some bodies before I ended up choosing these three beauties:



These really made me think of pod - but they're especially special because although the one on the right has a plaque on the bottom identifying her as Lady Jane Grey (the others had lost their plaques in the bottom of the box unfortunately) - that Tudor magnificence that she was - she manages to have a fifties nylon hairdo and eye-liner even Siouxsie Sioux would be proud of.

Hoorah for all those ladies who have always loved their needles and threads and all the joy they bring.

worth the wait?

Ok so I promised you stories and none are forthcoming. No more promises this time as I seem cursed to not blog at the moment. Just trust me that I am trying my best folks.

In any case here are some pictorial excuses. I have been making a few more pumpy umpy umpkins - the idea was to try and get a local shop to stock them so I really need to be able to go to them with quite a few for them to choose from so it's really all hands to the sewing machine at the moment.

Unfortunately the downside of this is that your sitting room tends to spend a lot of time looking like this:



Ooops....

Ah well, the rest of the house isn't too bad as I've been pretty much living at my sewing machine for the past couple of days. In any case, I've kind of lost heart a little as I think the original umpkin (the one with big orange eyes) is better than the supposed improved versions I've made, but here they are for you to judge for yourself.



I will be taking some better pictures today so I can put them in my etsy shop for the time-being, so even if I get a better place to sell them they're still attracting attention in the meantime. I reckon that I've just got to keep plugging away and once you get over that peak the whole thing should chug along acceptably.

My favourite at the moment is probably Mrs Umpkin with her flowering cheeky smile.....



(apart from the very first one of course - who is sitting to her right)



In other news I did manage to get out of the house early yesterday morning to go to an Autumn Fayre at a local church - where I bought a few fantastic vintage craft books - pictures later maybe - as well as a couple of fantastic bags for fifty new pence each. On the way I passed an antique shop that I never normally go in (even though it looks fantastic - I just don't trust myself). Well anyhow there was a big box of dolls outside, so what's a girl to do? They were truly fantastic - all hand-made interpretations of women in history. Unfortunately they weren't in a particularly good state and it was necessary to marry some heads up to some bodies before I ended up choosing these three beauties:



These really made me think of pod - but they're especially special because although the one on the right has a plaque on the bottom identifying her as Lady Jane Grey (the others had lost their plaques in the bottom of the box unfortunately) - that Tudor magnificence that she was - she manages to have a fifties nylon hairdo and eye-liner even Siouxsie Sioux would be proud of.

Hoorah for all those ladies who have always loved their needles and threads and all the joy they bring.

urban myth?

This may be a 'I've heard that before' moment for some of you, but I believed this story so hard when I first heard it, and still do - and I loved it too so here it is for you.

It was told to me on a train by a fellow commuter, and then made its way onto the weekly newsletter at work when the chief executive overheard me telling someone and laughing rather too loudly in the office.....

I tell it here as it was told to me originally - and suspend my disbelief and will it to be true:

It starts in a 'you'll never guess what' kind of a way and you have to imagine the motion of a train and a nagging feeling of not wanting to be on your way to work.

"I've got to tell you this story - my friend phoned me last night - you're gonna love this. They've got a son, right, and he's a little bit highly strung, perhaps a bit of a handful. Anyhow, this weekend they took him to the zoo - Marwell zoo. So they're there right? and they've seen all the lions and the tigers and whatever and then he just goes missing! Well they were really worried - cos I mean you would be wouldn't you"

"Uhu"

"Well he's been gone about an hour, and they've done announcements over the tannoy and security are looking everywhere and he finally turns up, but get this - he's soaking wet, from head to foot and he wont say a word - wont let anyone touch him and flinches anytime anyone goes near - well they're pretty worried right? because anything might have happened, so they stick around for a while trying to piece together what's gone on, but they're getting nowhere so they decide to take him home, dry him off and ask him when he's a bit calmer. All the way home, he doesn't say a word, where normally he's pretty noisy and they're more and more worried. They get home and he's straight up those stairs into the bathroom - locks the door and wont open it. By this time they're pretty frantic with worry - afterall he's still soaking and he hasn't uttered a word in a couple of hours now. So they start phoning social services, asking for advice - anyone they can think of - and all the while they're banging on the door shouting and pleading until finally they just force the door down."

"and....?"








"He's only sitting in a bath full of water playing with a real live penguin"

"!"







According to Marwell zoo if you put a penguin in a duffel bag it assumes its night time and falls asleep - I mention this by word of explanation to the inevitable skeptics among you.....

story story jackanory....

IIn honour of national story week (that may be a true thing or a thing I invented - try to find out and then send me a postcard) I will this week be telling some of my favourite 'you'll like this story' moments from my little life.

Number one involves old grannies at the seaside - can a story come more highly recommended?

This is about my friend. We worked in a store together - she was so cool - the kind of cool where once, after the shop closed, she got a bagpuss mouse we found and squeezed it so it played the little tune over the tannoy. I think she must have been born cool because one day she told me a story about when she was very small and I loved the story very much.

When she was small she went to the seaside with her Nan. One morning they were sitting eating breakfast at the little white plastic tables in the bed and breakfast where they were staying when she saw a poster:

FANCY DRESS COMPETITION, THIS FRIDAY - ALL ENTRIES WELCOME

Naturally the only response to this was “Nan, Nan, make me a costume pleeeeeaaassseeeee – I want to enter the fancy dress competition, please, please, pleeeaaassseee!!!”

Her Nan looked at her with a sad sigh in her eyes - “I’m really sorry – I’m just not that kind of Nan. I’m no good at making things and sewing. Maybe we could come and watch?”

An honest but devastating answer – and there our story could end with a tear over scrambled eggs on toast and a whispered ‘Nevermind’.

Luckily for us though a lady at the next table, who didn’t have a granddaughter and who loved making and sewing and sticking and gluing, overheard every word:

“I am so sorry” she said, “I couldn’t help overhearing. I have no little girl to dress up but would dearly love to make a costume. Can I borrow your grand daughter for the competition?”

There was to be no stop-and-think, and when Friday came my friend was dressed in the following:

A large green almond of card wrapped round her back, a green face, green tights and three green balloons round her tummy.

This wonderful lady (whom I have ambitions to become) had dressed her as a pea-pod!

Needless to say she won, and as a postscript came last year to my lizard themed house-warming in full scuba-diving gear.

I hope you read this my lovely – and if not, thanks so much for the story (which I tell all the time to the people I like and who I know will understand).

story story jackanory....

IIn honour of national story week (that may be a true thing or a thing I invented - try to find out and then send me a postcard) I will this week be telling some of my favourite 'you'll like this story' moments from my little life.

Number one involves old grannies at the seaside - can a story come more highly recommended?

This is about my friend. We worked in a store together - she was so cool - the kind of cool where once, after the shop closed, she got a bagpuss mouse we found and squeezed it so it played the little tune over the tannoy. I think she must have been born cool because one day she told me a story about when she was very small and I loved the story very much.

When she was small she went to the seaside with her Nan. One morning they were sitting eating breakfast at the little white plastic tables in the bed and breakfast where they were staying when she saw a poster:

FANCY DRESS COMPETITION, THIS FRIDAY - ALL ENTRIES WELCOME

Naturally the only response to this was “Nan, Nan, make me a costume pleeeeeaaassseeeee – I want to enter the fancy dress competition, please, please, pleeeaaassseee!!!”

Her Nan looked at her with a sad sigh in her eyes - “I’m really sorry – I’m just not that kind of Nan. I’m no good at making things and sewing. Maybe we could come and watch?”

An honest but devastating answer – and there our story could end with a tear over scrambled eggs on toast and a whispered ‘Nevermind’.

Luckily for us though a lady at the next table, who didn’t have a granddaughter and who loved making and sewing and sticking and gluing, overheard every word:

“I am so sorry” she said, “I couldn’t help overhearing. I have no little girl to dress up but would dearly love to make a costume. Can I borrow your grand daughter for the competition?”

There was to be no stop-and-think, and when Friday came my friend was dressed in the following:

A large green almond of card wrapped round her back, a green face, green tights and three green balloons round her tummy.

This wonderful lady (whom I have ambitions to become) had dressed her as a pea-pod!

Needless to say she won, and as a postscript came last year to my lizard themed house-warming in full scuba-diving gear.

I hope you read this my lovely – and if not, thanks so much for the story (which I tell all the time to the people I like and who I know will understand).