Handmade Renegade comes to London

Hello everybody,

Hope you're having a fab weekend.  I have had the most lovely couple of days.  Lots to tell you, but for now, just a quick post because I am about to get in a car and hurtle up the motorway to Yorkshire for a few days.  Trip to Harrogate planned.  V excited.

But before I get to that,  let me tell you about a fantabulous craft fair that's on in London this weekend.

Went yesterday with my sister and niece.  I was a big fan from my time in the States, written about here so was very excited to see what London had to offer. 

Look!

Those ice lollies are now on their way to my niece's bedroom wall.

Folksy had thoughtfully provided the materials for those overcome with the need to craft.  Check out the sausage dog!

And there was a paper flower making class in progress.  Just the thing to brighten up a winter window ledge.

And tucked away on a shelf were these rather shy looking sheep.

But the highlight of the day was meeting the lovely Emma from Silverpebble whose jewellery is just delightful.  My first real life blog encounter - my niece was very excited.  (Sorry there is no photo of her fab stall.  I was a bit shy to ask.)  Were we not living in the age of austerity in the House of NKK, I would have bought the spinny windmill.  And I have plans when normal salaried service resumes to attend a workshop with Emma.  For now, it was a delight just to look.

Yorkshire bound.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  More soon.

C.x

Enchanted garden

Hello everybody,

I owe you a post on the treasures I found at the vintage fair I went to on Saturday but haven't taken the photos yet.  Thought you might like to see my new favourite place instead.  

The Walled Garden is minutes from my house and it took me until last week to go.  I've been three times since.  It sells plants.  But to call it a garden centre doesn't do it justice.  It is beautiful and enchanted.  Inspiring and soothing.  Tranquil and vibrant.  It is everything you might need to begin to create your own garden.  

In short, it has given me the jolt of enthusiasm I needed to engage with my own wilderness.  The old lady house by the sea came with its own garden.  My first.  And I have been terrified of it.  The old lady was quite the gardener in her day and passersby stop and tell me that the garden used to be beautiful.  Yes indeed.  For a year I have looked out the windows at the devastation wreaked by the builders, the rain and the mad growth spurt that followed, so that the plants and weeds are now bickering with each other for space.

Builders - gotta love 'em

And if I'm honest, I don't like much of what's here.  It's nothing against the old lady.  But, well, it's an old lady's garden.  Not mine.

So this morning, I got up really early and attacked this small bed.  It's just outside the living room, and you can just see the double doors we had put in which open onto the garden.  And this bed depressed the hell out of me.  Not sure why.  It just wasn't very joyful.

An hour or so later, I had this.

Better, but not great.

I'd ordered lots of bulbs, so I buried them in the hope that next Spring will be a colourful one - pink narcissi - who knew!  And don't you just love rununculus?

And once I'd got the bulbs sorted, I planted up some flowers.  (That spiky thing is a red hot poker - love.)  I can't wait for next Spring to see what happens.

Not Walled Garden standard.  But a start.

How does your garden grow?

C.x

The Yardarm (and cake)

Oh, it's good to be back.  Having a lovely time catching up with everybody.  And isn't this week just fab?  I feel like we've concentrated a whole summer's worth of sunshine and joy into the last 7 days.  The sun has shone and the coast is glorious.

How good of you to remember that we have embarked on a little venture in the House of NKK.

 The Yardarm has been open for business for a few months now.  We welcomed our first guests for Easter.

And then it rained.  And rained.  And rained some more.  Nobody came and it was awful.

Thankfully, it picked up after that and we have been busy all Summer.

In September, Aldeburgh is at its loveliest.  With the kids gone back to school, the Summer rush is dying down, but there's still plenty to do.

Thought you might be tempted to come and see for yourself. The Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival is a two day feast at the end of September (29th and 30th), with fringe events running in nearby locations over the following two weeks.  And to get you in the mood, when you arrive at The Yardarm, you'll find a decent bottle of wine.  And cake.  Specifically, this cake.

Come and stay.  For the food festival.  Or anytime.  It would be lovely to have you here.

C.x

P.S. Normal blogging will resume shortly.  Hope you don't mind the shameless plug in the meantime....

Crochetdermy (and sneaking in the back door hoping no-one noticed...)

Hello everybody,

I had thought that my blogging days were over, what with one thing and another (mostly to do with feeling suddenly like I had nothing to say anymore now that I can no longer distract you from my woeful crafting attempts with tales of Manhattan).  But in the last week, at least three ideas for posts have sort of fallen across my path, and so I thought I'd give it a go again.  I can make no promises, or at least none that that you'd believe given recent performance, but here goes.

We are living in an age of austerity in the House of NKK.  Gone are the days of extravagance and whimsy.  We are experiencing cut backs and general frugality, the price paid for a career sabbatical.  I introduced a ban on magazine buying a while back, so haven't been browsing through my usual glossies of late.  But last week I cracked and bought Homes & Antiques (this girl knows how to have a good time.  Oh, yes).

And immediately I thought of the women of blogland.  For inside is the story of Shauna Richardson, whose crochet animals are on an epic scale.  The photos in the article show some beautiful creatures, all crocheted straight onto scale forms rather than fitted like a sock afterwards.  Amazing.

All images are photos of the ones in H&A.  My photos are crap; H&A's are not.  I need to get back my photo eye.

But the really amazing thing that has everyone in the know (not me, obviously) buzzing is the Lion Heart Project, which is on show outside the Natural History Museum until 10 September.  She's made these incredible larger than life crochet lions, now housed in a glass case in front of the museum.  

And you can see her working on them on the youtube link below.  Really worth a look.

It struck me as just the kind of eccentric thing that you'd get.  I tried to show Mr. P. but he wasn't that enthused.  So I just had to come and show you instead.

C.x

If you haven't already had a look, H&A also have some amazing treats from Harmony & Rosie, which she wrote about here.  See page 36.  (well, a girl can look...)

Chrysalis

Today is the first day in six weeks that I have logged into NKK.  And I'm not entirely sure why.  I have wondered if I should come clean and write to say that NKK is being put into storage but I'm not sure I want to.  And yet I haven't written.  I have some theories as to why, none of which are very interesting or laudable or blog-worthy.  I guess I'm in a transition phase and I'm not sure that I should inflict the ups and downs that that implies with any of you.

But, well, today is my birthday, and I woke up this morning to a lovely present - a Versatile Blogger Award from A Girl in Winter.  Thank you!  I have to get my head around who to pass it on to and the rest of the rules, but for now, know that I am delighted to accept and a little chastened that I haven't been writing. So, maybe on this my birthday, I can reacquaint myself with something that has brought me such joy in the 16 months since I started NKK.  And tell you a bit about what I've been up to.

For ages, Mr. P and I were working hard to get our new holiday let up and running.  The house by the sea is now open for business.  Come and see us!

And I've been writing.  Thank you all SO much for your kind words and encouragement about my news of getting published.  My story, The Quickening, can be found in Causeway/Cabhsair, a journal of Irish and Scottish writing published by the University of Aberdeen.  Much excitement in the house of NKK at first seeing my name in print!  It's lit a fire under me so that I'm spending lots of my day reading and writing at the moment.  And I''m discovering that writing doesn't really lend itself to blogging.  "I sat at my desk for hours and wrote a whole page..."  You begin to get the picture.

And that's basically been it.  Well, not quite.  There's been the WI and a new book club and my first forays into gardening, but all that for another day.

For now, I leave you with a few photos, the content of which fill me with wonder.

The other day, a fox spent the afternoon sunbathing in next door's back garden.  And a great tit (or maybe it's blue?) has chosen the laurel tree by our front door in which to build her tiny, exquisite nest.  As for the last one - this is the view from the upstairs front bedroom.  Almost worth all that rain we've had.

More soon, hopefully.

Off to do some catching up with what you've all been up to.

C.x

Acorns

Okay, so the last post was a bit of a cop out, I realise.  It's all very well telling you about the latest shopping find, but that doesn't tell you anything about what I've been up to.

I could tell you about the plans to turn part of the house into self-catering holiday accommodation (Mr. P is tiling as I write).  I could tell you about the fab new WI that's being set up.  I could tell you about the green curry I've just made (only a day late for St. Patrick's day).  I could tell you about the interview that I have on Tuesday.  I could tell you about the garden which is being whipped into shape by two very nice men who are working their way through their own weight in teabags, or the bike ride I took this morning along the wetland path.

But I won't.  Instead I will tell you that I have had the best news.  I am to have a short story published.  It's just a small literary journal - not exactly the New Yorker, you understand.  But still.  Someone who knows nothing about me has read something I've written and likes it enough to want it for their magazine.  Shucks.

I almost don't want to tell anyone in case they've made a mistake.  But I have read and re-read the email and it seems that yes, they like my story very much and will be sending me along a proof to check before it goes to press.  So, there you have it.  I am a writer.  The man says so.

C.x

Hibernating

No, no, this won't do at all!  If I'm going to have a blog, the very least I can do is write in it once in a while, no?  And I can't even give you a decent excuse, beyond, well, you know, stuff and nonsense getting in the way.  Sorry.  Sniff.

Right, so what have you all been up to?  Me - I'm beginning to think we made a big mistake buying the House by the Sea. It's fast becoming apparent that what we should have bought was a house boat.  Yes indeed.  It has rained since Sunday, pretty much non-stop.  Living in the dryest county in England, I know I'm supposed to think that's A Good Thing.  But enough now.  Really.

So I thought you might like a little injection of colour.  Those who've dropped by NKK before must be wondering how I'm managing without my favourite store.  Well, fear not.  It hasn't taken me long to find Suffolk's answer to Anthropologie.

 Snape Maltings is 5 minutes' drive from where I live.  There's a rather lovely looking walk across the wetlands from my town to Snape, and if it ever stops raining, I may even drag Mr. P out for a ramble, with promises of cake at the other end.

It's one of the main attractions in the area as it hosts an impressive series of musical events throughout the calendar.  Cunningly, the developers also realised its retail potential.

So now it houses everything from garden products to furniture, with lots of pretty frou frous wherever you look.

And isn't this enamel chandelier affair just the business?

 It's the kind of place you take visitors to, have lunch overlooking the vast shop floor and then come away with the perfect little something to take home as a momento.  So you see, Anthropologie fans need not worry.  I am right at home.

Back soon, I promise.

C.x