FOLKOLOGY SAMPLER.

Folkology is a Hungarian folk art company, who sell traditional cross stitch designs, which we stock at PYF. This is my attempt at 'Starflower 3'.  

For generations the women in my family have produced beautiful cross stitch samplers, but the talent has not passed on to me. I find it difficult to stick to the pattern, and tend to go a bit off road.  I did wonder, had I lived two hundred years ago, would the mess on the reverse side of Starflower 3, have meant I could never marry?

 Louise suggested that many religions use pattern as a form of meditation, which I tried to do but my head was a bit over cluttered this week, it being fashion week and all.  To my delight I realised I am not trying to imitate God by being perfect. I enjoyed the red and white and learned that I need to practice symmetry, and through that, I could learn about music, astronomy, cosmology and natural forms, and untangling my thread.

Folkology patterns start at £5.

DAVID BOWIE- FASHION

It's Fashion Week Tuesday and we've seen a lot of good looks already. Last night I had the pleasure of being kissed by a man wearing Monet's Water lillys in the form of a foam rubber mutton sleeved bolero with skinny black jeans.

Here is David Bowie's fashion.

LOOK AFTER YOURSELVES THIS FASHION WEEK.

FILTER FLAMES.

I've written about tumble dryer filters before, but I need to bring it up again. We've always found them beautiful, but short of a use, until now.

Louise read on the internet that the fluff collected in our tumble dry filters can be very flamable. We must remember to empty them. 

So they make good fire lighters!  Hooray! 

Store them in a metal tin, ready for your camping trips next summer. 

SIT ON TREVOR'S BENCH AT TREVOR'S SALON.

Trevor Pitt is possibly the only man on the planet that understands the connection between 17th century philosophical gatherings, knitting circles and a trip to the suburban hairdressers. To experience Trevor's refreshing outlook on the world of craft, you might like to take a trip to Birmingham, where his knitting salon is working on a knitted harvest festival as part of ArtsFest in Victoria Square, Birmigham, 13-14th September. 

Trevor knows his community, and together they have knitted the 'Soft Bench' in reponse to the changing landscape of the estates he grew up in.  Local estates were designed in 1920's and 1930's around Art's and Craft's utopian notions of what suburban housing for working people might be. As Trevor grew up, problems crept into the estates, and he developed a passion for bringing craft back into the community. There's a whole essay to be written on Soft Bench, which I don't have time to write today, but one day we hope to show it at PYF. 

In the mean time, have an adventure, book a knitting appointment, and meet the locals and develop some brummy knitting jargon! 

WOOL AND DANCE.

If you are like me, love a disco but feel the need to continue some sort of textile production on the dance floor, then Wool and Dance could be the party for you. 

Sue Russel has felted and travelled for years and is interested in the way nomadic people gather together to make felt for their yurts. Wool and Dance creates large felt carpets by laying wool fibre on the ground in a design, and then with bare feet and a lot of soap flakes, create friction by dancing, which makes the wool fibres lock together to form a solid fabric. 

Wool and Dance is presented by Sue Russel and Barley Massey of Fabrications and can be found on the Southbank outside the Royal Festival Hall today Saturday and Sunday. Rain or Shine, you are invited to lend your hands and feet.

LITTLE BROWN RABBIT IN THE WINDOW.

The little brown rabbit in the window invited me for tea this morning. She told me of her concern that people in London Town walk past shop windows so fast that they fail to notice small being's like her. The Glass Pingle dressed her in a lace ruff with a thimble for a crown, which she wears under the paper foliage.