Garden – Page 3 – Emma Varnam’s blog

Love Crochet – Love Fruitilicious potholders

This summer I have really been inspired by outdoor living. It is easy to make the odd cheeky accessory to brighten up the kitchen or the patio table and bring a little bit of zing into your life. The lovely people at Love Crochet asked me if I would design a summer project which was very much ‘on trend’. I try where-ever possible to I like to design things that I am keen to use myself.

I knew immediately what I would make – Fruity Potholders…obviously. In the shops and the magazines watermelon and tropical fruits are a key theme. Let’s follow suit with our oven-to-table accessories.

This design is so easy. A basic crochet in the round with slip-stitch embellishment and the odd bit of embroidery. There is a photo-tutorial of the process on the Love Crochet blog.

If you also fancy reading the interview I did with the Love Crochet team you can read it here.

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Big Vistas ~ Small Details

We have chatted before about my ambition to develop our garden. We had the joy of making massive changes to the hard-landscaping last summer. In the autumn we begged, borrowed and stole plants from various gardens we knew, in the most part from my generous parents. This year has been an utter joy. Even though our plot is relatively small I can lose a few hours in the evening or at the weekend, just pottering around. Happy pootling moments. However I still lack confidence in my plant decisions, finding the right spot, knowing what works and what doesn’t. I need inspiration.

A couple of weekends ago, we spent a glorious weekend visiting my folks in the West Country. If I needed inspiration, I didn’t need to pay any entry fee. I just popped outside after breakfast. If I had any request it would be to inherit their eye. In their garden they spend hours, thinking, planning, editing and doing basic hard graft. Beauty is not automatic, it is hard won.

I think perhaps the real joy and indeed genius is that they have thought about the views. How arches, gates, trees can frame the scene. They have created curved paths and pretty journeys. An enchanted space.

However they also think about the small details, the placing of an interesting pot, a pretty sculpture, the opportunity to sit and enjoy. All these things, the views, the plants and the details make a delightful garden. This year more than ever I have studied plant combinations. Our climate and soil are very different, but there are some shared varieties that look elegant and pleasing throughout England.

Perhaps the clearest take-home message is that if you garden you never finish gardening. I was telling my Dad what a pleasure and a triumph their garden is. He shocked me with his surprise; ‘Do you think so? It isn’t exactly how we would want it. There is always something that you would change.’

Well I think it is magical and I am always fortunate enough to be able to enjoy it. That is if they don’t charge me entry next time we visit for the weekend.

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Breton Fairy Peg Dolls ~ a summer trail

I have some significant childhood memories which persist in my mind as being great ideas for the garden. The first is searching for Gnomes in my Grandma’s garden. Every time we came to visit she had move them into new spaces. I must have been quite a small toddler but I was always delighted to find them. Years later when we go to visit our local garden centre (Bud Garden Centre), the wonderful owner Brenda, has hidden little gnomes and animals amongst the plants. Even as quite a big kid, Little B loves to seek these old friends out. We all love a treasure hunt.

Little B has begun collecting small sculptures and creatures to hide in the garden so that our younger visitor might enjoy finding them. This thrills my heart. This weekend I thought I would take it a step further and make a few little peg doll fairies that we could hide in the foliage. There is plenty of inspiration to be found on the internet. I sat down at ‘far-too-late’ o’clock on Friday night with the paints and wooden pegs. But then after a stressful week at work this is my crazy way of processing the working week.

I used valuable washi tape as masking tape to create colourful trousers. Whilst this is an silly waste of beautiful tape, it did give me an idea…..

So my little fairies all donned Breton stripe jumpers. Styling the hair was great fun, and amongst the collection there is definitely a Little B boy.

None of them are perfect – they are just meant to be fun and if one gets lost or buried then never mind. I hope some little people find them dancing amongst the branches of our garden and it forms a delightful childhood memory for them to treasure in their adulthood.

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Getting ready for Summer Crochet

I can be a bit naughty. Sometimes when I am introduced to new people by friends they will say with varying degrees of enthusiasm, ‘Oh Emma knits, you should see what she makes…’ Often the poor unsuspecting new person will look shifty and floundering for a follow-up comment say, ‘Oh do you do much of that?’, I will then reply, ‘Quite a bit….’

Depending on how much I can tell they want to be rescued from this situation I will either be kind and change the subject with, ‘What do you like to do at the weekend?’ or allow a long silence. Sometimes I meet people who have a genuine interest in craft. Lot of people want to rekindle the skills they acquired in childhood. Actually lots of people would love to teach their children these skills. As summer approaches the most consistent ‘follow-up’ comment of these fledgling knitting/crochet conversations is; ‘I can imagine knitting in the winter, but now as the evenings are warmer, doesn’t it get too hot?’ Well no my new acquaintance, that is the beauty of crochet, cotton is such a great staple of the lacy crochet style and there are so many patterns that you can make that won’t irritate your warm hands in summer.

In the past few weeks, in between commissions, I have been adding to my summer household collection. Using my cotton stash to edge an decorate items to make outdoor lunches and garden parties pretty. I found a pretty embroidered tablecloth in a thrift store and decided to give it a new life by adding a zig-zag edge. I used Sara Singuilia’s book, Crochet. Such a perennial favourite with me. There are a couple of projects in this book which are ideal for summer accessorizing.

For years I have meant to make tablecloth weights. Seriously for as long as I can remember this has been on my crochet ‘to-do’ list. Finally I have got my act together. I bought a bag of stones from the garden centre and then just started a basic amigurumi shape working in the round. I don’t think I could ever write up this pattern. You sort of need to work with the size of stone you have. However what I would say is that you can find the clips from Ikea in the curtain section.

I will also be getting out my napkin weight this year. A large flint encased by cotton crochet. Simple and effective and throughout summer almost in daily use for outdoor suppers.

I do know that I am rather ‘dedicated’ to my craft, (there would be less kind phrases that could/have been used) but I can always find a little project to keep me occupied no matter the weather.

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Love of the Garden

If you have followed this blog for a while, you will know how much I love flowers and for a long time I have enjoyed visiting beautiful gardens. Last year we were fortunate enough to do some much needed landscaping outside our house. Suddenly the garden felt more like our own. A flood of enthusiasm and a real desire to get our hands dirty came over us. Last Autumn, my folks who area EXCELLENT gardeners, came to visit with a boot full of perennials from their little piece of Eden. Now in the Spring we can see the earth gradually being covered with new lush additions, along with some well established trees and shrubs. Watching my family garden I have come to the realisation that a garden is never ‘finished’. The joy must be found in the development, the alterations, the adding and the taking away.

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Holiday Inspiration – South Africa #1

A couple of weeks ago we went on an exciting family adventure to South Africa. A big, much anticipated trip to visit a lovely friend and to see lots of animals, beautiful landscape and an incredible culture. There are lots of aspects of this trip I would love to share with you. Obviously any time away will involved some great crochet opportunities – I will share that yarn adventure with you soon. Time away is also an opportunity to visit beautiful gardens and being inspired by local flowers and plants.

The planting and growing conditions are so very different from our own here in Britain. However I was inspired by the beautiful succulents which grow so freely in gardens and on the coastline. Here in the north of England, we are really too damp for succulents to enjoy life. But I thought that in the summer I would try to recreate the dry soil conditions in pots to make a mini-hommage to our South African trip.

For a while I have wanted to create a little ‘plant-theatre’ to display a number of small pots. I have planted up a few new pelargonium and a couple of new succulent plants as well as some that have survived our frosty winters.

Then I thought I would try to make a South African inspired display for the garden table. I took a shallow basket which was in the garage and then lined it with a hanging basket liner. I mixed quite a lot of sharp sand with compost and then crammed the plants in so that they are snug. We will watch and wait to see if the basket survives our rather lush and rainy weather. I hope during the summer this basket will be a little reminder of our African trip.

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A year in making – 2014

When I think back to a year ago, I remember quite distinctly wanting to take things a bit slower. In all honesty I believe that I have taken my foot slightly off the crafting peddle. This wonderful little haven of yarn and nonsense is really only just a slice of my/our lives. There are other slightly more serious things in the background and they deserve and need concentration. However, I do so love to drop in to this space, to make, share and discuss.

Let’s talk about highlights. The publishing of my book ‘How to Crochet’ was pretty fabulous. I am very happy with how it turned out and I am so glad that the publishers let me have my voice within the text, so it feels very much my book. I was also really glad that I had some projects published in the Dorling Kindersley book Crochet.

Other highlights included:

My lecture at Manchester Art Gallery on Crochet

The publishing of the Gawthorpe Hall patterns

Book-signings and appearances at various yarn shops

The Mystery scarf for Inside Crochet magazine

These are all great fun things and they are probably marked by being a unique opportunity, but held in equal weight are the little projects of love made for my nearest and dearest. The ‘ugly’ blanket made for Little B, the Elsa and Anna Frozen hats and the chocolate orange cosies made for Christmas. I don’t make things to sell, mostly I like to design new patterns. Right at the very foundation of the ‘making’ is the joy of weaving love and prayers into the gift – that never goes away – I just get more discerning about who I make for.

So what for next year? Well there are a few designs and projects in the pipeline that I am excited about. I know, I know I can’t tell you about those things, but they are very pretty and very cute…

I will continue to record each project I make. I did this last year, a year which I thought would be the height of my productivity, but actually this year I made about 20 more items and the total number of things made crept into a 3 figure number…that is just silly.

I expect that I will make fewer things for magazines this year. I don’t have a book in progress, but I do have an idea for one. I want to do more gardening and more cooking. When I design I would like to take more time in the development stage, rushing is where stress is found. Most of all I would like to stay faithful to my little blog. I have ventured into more social media this year, but as most bloggers can testify, social media can dilute your time and ideas. So I think I might like to stay faithful to my blog spot and my joyful blog readers.

Whatever your goals and dreams are for 2015, I hope you have the time, inspiration and peace to fulfil them. Happy New Year.

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Found Colour – Autumn

Last weekend I felt the need to blow the cobwebs away. Big and Little B had adventure plans and were kind enough to let me step out into the countryside and have a few hours to myself. I went to a local National Trust house and decided to take a walk in the garden. Wow, if I was looking for colour inspiration it was there in abundance! I really enjoy the late summer colour combinations. I think it was the eminent gardener Christopher Lloyd and his garden Greater Dixter which made riotous colour combinations fashionable/acceptable again. It is the later blooms of summer and the changing colour of foliage that make these colour schemes sing.

This weekend I met two of my oldest friends in London…we had a fab time and one of the outstanding experiences was viewing the fabulous poppies at the Tower of London. This astonishing installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red marks one hundred years since the first full day of Britain’s involvement in the First World War. Created by ceramic artist Paul Cummins, with setting by stage designer Tom Piper, 888,246 ceramic poppies will progressively fill the Tower’s famous moat. Each poppy represents a British military fatality during the war. If you get a chance to see this wonderful mark of remembrance I would certainly recommend it.

I am constantly reminded that creativity and art has the power to communicate so succinctly ideas or feelings that are so hard to articulate. We were blown away by the sight. You can actually purchase one of these poppies and it raises money for the armed forces charities. What a wonderful creative idea. Colour – inspirational, soothing and evocative.

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Gifts of Love – people who inspire #2

I love my garden – there are some big improvements this year and I really want to spend more time outdoors pottering around in the patch. I have tried to resist making large plant purchases, I know in my head that you should plan and plot where your structural plants should go and then ‘in-fill’ with your crowd pleasing blooms. Like I say, I know in my head….but my heart….

In the past few years I have had the the pleasure of discovering a local garden centre. My beacon of all things cool, the Fashionista put me on to it. Bud is a petite gem, tucked away off a busy artery road in our fair city. But one small step inside and I am transported into a beautiful haven of greenery. Little B is also a fan. He has a whole imaginary world that he visits up and down the paths of plants. We both enjoy a small detour to Bud on our way home from the school run.

I love this small space because the plants are always healthy and inspiring. However the real attraction for me is the friendly welcome and advice we receive when we visit. I sort of feel proud that we have this shop in our community. Funny thing really!

When all our construction work was finished I wanted to fill up the patio pots to take us through to autumn. We bought these gorgeous Echinacea Pow Wow daisies. They are so cheery. The daisies just keep coming and they are in my favourite colour.

I had a funny thought that came to me the other day when watering them. I realised that they are in my favourite shade of pink and of all the balls of wool in my enormous yarn stash this is the colour that dominates. Then I remembered Brenda and Bud and it occurred to me that very soon the autumn chill would begin. So inspired by our lovely daisies I made Brenda a ‘Pow-Wow’ hat. I made it in Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend Fin, using my go-to hat pattern (Soon to be published for Babies!).

It was very easy to replicate the daisy it self with a crochet flower and just in case Brenda doesn’t want to wear the daisy everyday I have made it detachable.

While it is very easy and cheap to buy plants from large garden centres – Nothing is more pleasurable than building a relationship with a local company, who know so much about what grows well in our climate. I really hope Brenda feels warm and appreciated this autumn.

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