The Mog's blog, the meanderings of a cat through yarn and life

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ambermog — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:20:38 +0000

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ambermog — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:14:15 +0000

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Autumn Equinox

ambermog — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:04:00 +0000

As you probably guessed from my previous post we celebrated Mabon or Autumn Equinox in Glastonbury. There was a ritual at Chalice Well but unfortunately, or as it happened fortunately, we missed it by half an hour. I was convinced it started at noon but in the event it was 11am.
I am not a crowd person so wasn’t too upset at missing the event especially as it was fairly busy so not easy to get around. We had a little meander that day but decided that our Chalice Well day would be the next one. With that in mind we arrived as the well opened. We had it almost to ourselves. A delight. The Well is a special place to visit at any time of the year but there is something about the festivals that adds a little more sparkle to it.

Just look how they decorated the well head aren’t the colours wonderful?
This lady was sitting atop the cover.

Everywhere you look there are paths leading somewhere magical. Doors open to tempt you in.
Magnificent shaped trees that make your fingers tingle when you touch them. So much energy abounds in this garden.
So much love from all the people who have visited through the years and from the people who work here.
The water is rich with iron as you can see.
This reminded me of a winter goddess watching over her domain until the wheel turns once more to her time.
I had the strangest sensation that someone or something was sat in this tree watching us.
A perfect spider web for a perfect day.
The colours were dazzling despite the misty day.
Autumn’s glory and a seat to watch the world go by.
This was called the angels seat, we sat here a while waiting for Ark the gardener at the well who was away searching for a piece of wood for us to take home. He gave us a piece of chestnut, pictures later on that. It was quite dry as it had been cut some time ago as part of their care for the trees.

We are going to use it as part of an altar, a little Glastonbury magic in our home.

The trees were just starting to change but this vine on the back wall at the well was in its full glory.
Next post I have dyeing, another Elsewhere jacket and some hand spun for you:) Watch this space.

Equinox greetings from?via?

ambermog — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:46:00 +0000

As it is Autumn Equinox tomorrow we decided to celebrate in a very special place. Somewhere that calls to my heart and soul.
Our route took us past another place close to my heart.
Sadly you can no longer get close to the stones as I used to do

It still fills me with awe and moves me to tears, I was very emotional taking these pictures. Part of me wishes it was easy to just walk among these old sages but I know there are arguments for and against it. I will content myself with my inward journeying among them
The skies down here are so high you could get lost among the clouds. Any ideas where I am yet?
Does this help?
Yes we are celebrating the equinox at Glastonbury, joining the celebrations at Chalice Well tomorrow.
I’ll have all my family and friends in my thoughts while we are there. I hope your harvest is all you wish and that this years seeds have become something you desire or need.

We are the sum of our parts

ambermog — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:15:00 +0000

We are the sum of our parts
Our physical self, our spiritual self and our experiences.
Who we are at any one time is the product of that sum. We colour our existence by what we do and our interaction with the world and the people around us.
Sometimes these experiences can overwhelm us and we can feel as if we have lost our inner self.
Being in an abusive relationship can be all of that and more.
When I was married to my first husband I found it hard to stay true to who I was. All my creativity was derided and even worse forbidden.
As a young mum with 2 very small children I saw no way out, at least not until they were ready to leave school. I couldn’t leave for my own life. How would the children fare with no father?
With the hindsight of today I realise that it would have been better for us all to be apart. But then I couldn’t do it. I took all that life and he could throw at me. I snuck time to write silly rhymes and stories, escapism. One poem on why a biscuit company had withdrawn my favourite biscuit. Fables of fantastic places inhabited by magical creatures.
I hid them but they were always found and burnt. A case of going full circle as this had always happened throughout my childhood. I wasn’t allowed to write, draw or paint. It was a waste of time. “Get back to doing proper stuff”, chores and looking after my 5 siblings.
For so long creating art was a guilty pleasure, one to be done in secret moments snatched from the day. I volunteered a lot for various charities. That was wrong.
I raised money for them and had creative ideas for fund raising. A waste of time, get back to looking after your children, cooking meals.
Is it any wonder that all those years on I found it hard to allow my inner artistic self out to play?
Mr Mog encouraged the fragile spirit to emerge. He praised my efforts and gave me courage to make mistakes. Slowly I made art, many forms and with small steps.Today although I have emerged from the dark tunnel of despair I still have times when I wonder if it is all a dream and that someone will come along and bin it.
They don’t I am glad to say.
Faith helped me. I knew that inside it wasn’t wrong. I was allowed to play. My beliefs had also been belittled back then. I was beaten for them. THEY didn’t believe anything so I wasn’t allowed to.
The Goddess kept me within her protection and my belief in her was not taken from me.
I always knew my path would be mixed. From a child I knew it wouldn’t be easy. It still isn’t but it is my path to walk and to stumble on if necessary.
I have that right and that need.
Being me means being all of me.The good, the bad and the ugly. All parts of the essential whole.
The balance that brings me to this place and also takes me to the stars and beyond in my imaginings.
I am me and I am glad I am:)
My wish sometimes is that I had been allowed to be me all along instead of having to wait.
But I got here.

Welcoming Autumn’s beauty

ambermog — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:27:00 +0000

The fading of the leaves and a change in the light of a morning and evening.
The brilliance of the sunsets, such vivid colours seem as if a child had painted the sky with their impressions of a sunset.
The balance that appears more noticeable at this turn of the wheel. Fading glory but ripe luscious fruit on all the boughs.

It is sometimes hard to accept the move towards winter, the short , short days but balanced by longer nights. The colder spells.
Look at it another way. cold helps to kill off all the germs my nanny always said. Nature’s way of spring cleaning.
I never understood it for a long while but it is true. Her spring cleaning starts early. By cleansing she makes room for new growth.

The longer nights are a nurturing healing time after all the energy we use during the long days of summer.
In these modern times we aren’t able to live as the old ones did. After all we have electric lighting when it goes dark.

But we can spiritually and mentally. We can turn inward, have quiet times to recharge our spiritual bodies and our batteries.

It is also a good time to reflect on the things we have achieved. What is our harvest?
What dreams have we made real?

Dreams = seeds into fruit.

I woke this morning with the knowledge that my harvest doesn’t have to be a huge crop.
Look at nature, one fruit is to be celebrated.
It can be something as simple as a realisation of my place on the wheel of life.
It can be a real “thing” such as learning to spin or knitting a large item that actually fits me perfectly. Made to measure in fact.

All our triumphs are to be honoured and given thanks for.
Not just major achievements.

Autumn always affects me strongly. The beauty of the colours strikes deep within my soul. A chord of recognition that we are all part of that same marvellous journey around this wheel of life.

The symbol of which, the tree, is prevalent in many faiths.

And what grows on trees? Fruit of course:)

Autumn shares her beauty while butterflies frolic in the sun.

ambermog — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:54:00 +0000

I woke up this morning with the thought of woods and being amongst trees. As I wasn’t able to go walking in woods we did the next best thing and visited our local arboretum and agricultural college. It was wet, there had been a very heavy dew and it made for soggy feet but it was well worth it.
The colours in the morning sunshine were so vivid and we had what can only be described as a magical moment.
These following few pictures are just a few of the dozens of butterflies that we saw on the sedum. It was the most incredible sight, every time we moved clouds of butterflies rose from the flowers.
I think this part of the garden was most aptly named don’t you?
It was extremely hard to get pictures of the butterflies as they were enjoying the nectar in the sunshine.

We managed a few pictures though:)

We saw at least 5 different varieties of butterfly in just a small section of the gardens.

The college also has many varieties of apple and pear. Sadly the same as last year they don’t appear to be picking the ripe apples. We saw many left to rot on the ground.
The evening primrose were in full flower.

These apples were just such a vivid red, I wonder if this was the variety used in Snow White?
I love the clematis seed heads.
The only good side of the rotting fruit is that it feeds the creatures in the grounds.
I’m wondering if they also grow other dyeing plants apart from Madder? Must ask next time we visit. It would be nice to suggest a dyeing corner perhaps?
Aren’t these flowers perfect for Autumn colours?

This is one of the entrances to the kitchen garden.
So many varieties of tree to be seen. Your eye is drawn down this path to see what lies at the other end.
The fungi have started to appear.

They have several Sequoia around.
They pull you in to explore further.

Lots of paths leading to other places.
A living seat and table that were extremely wet.There were still water lilies coming into flower on the pond.

More fungi that had been nibbled, possibly rabbits as there were droppings everywhere.

This one reminds me of a Cobra, waiting to strike.

Leaves are just starting to turn here.

Such a stunning silvery grey

Can you see the moon?
Fallen leaves everywhere.
and the other sign of autumn, spider webs by the dozen.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to the arboretum with us.

Of sunsets and first spinnings.

ambermog — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:49:00 +0000

Last night had the first of the stunning autumnal sunsets. Just look at these untouched pictures.
Don’t they just inspire you to create? Well they do me:)
You only really get a glimpse in these photos, to actually be outside watching the transformation of the sky was an experience not to be missed.

The best sunset I’ve seen for quite a while.
Part of me wishes we had gone up to the prom to watch the sunset, but by the time we got there it would have been waning.
Best to seize the moment and the pictures at home.
Don’t you agree?
Who would want to miss the glory of this?

I’ve started another Elsewhere jacket. The colours were supposed to reflect the leaves and trees at this time of year before autumn turned them to her reds and oranges.
Methinks the Goddess had other ideas as these are more towards spring into summer colours.
No matter, I love them anyway.
They don’t look too bad knit up do they?
Then Tilly our new Ashford Traveller wheel decided to have a trip up to Cumbria to see a friend of ours. While there Cae showed me how she spins and drafts fibre. I’m very pleased so far with progress. It is getting finer:)
I took up the blue purple mix I’d first spun on the Ashford Traditional and Cae taught me how to Andean ply. Mr Mog took a tracing of the plyer in order to make me one. Andean plying works if you only have one bobbin of yarn or small bits on bobbins left apparently.You can use your hand but if you are less than dexterous or have hand problems like I do then a piece of equipment made to measure is ideal.
So I started with this bobbin of hand dyed BFL

and ended up with this gorgeous skein:) I am so proud of it:)

Next post has lots of pictures to celebrate the return of autumn, you have been warned;)

Berries indeed:) and Tilly joins the family.

ambermog — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:59:00 +0000

I started with this, dyed to reflect the colours of the fruits that are in abundance at this time.

I finished with this which I am so thrilled with. I love the way the colours blended as I knit it and I love the richness of the finished jacket.

It blends perfectly with the fruits, don’t you agree? A memory of Nature’s abundance whilst wearing it throughout the winter.

I do love this pattern as you can probably tell:)
Back view, just as full of berry stains as the front is.

So what will be next on the needles?

I’m imagining the colours of the trees as they fade slowly in preparation for their Autumn splendour. The bright greens and acid limes fading to a more muted palette. This will be my next project.
In an Elsewhere jacket of course:)

Currently on the needles is a silky shawl in purples and jewel shades, named by a dear friend as Checkers as it reminded her of her Chinese checkers set as a child. I always find it strange what things and smells can evoke memories for us all.
A lovely day with good friends yesterday. We were going to go to our local knit group but became waylaid and didn’t actually get there. It may have had something to do with Mr Mog and Megs Man putting a new wheel together for me. It may also have had something to do with Laal Bear having to help them make the finishing touches. You would be proud of me I am sure that I selflessly allowed her to have first turn on the wheel.
She is an Ashford traveller and her name is Tilly. I’ll post pictures once I take some.
She has a double treadle and a double drive band , she will be a little easier for me to treadle as well which will help with this rotten health stuff I am having at the moment. Plus side also is that she will travel:)
We had our first day of sunshine yesterday in many days. Laal Bear and I took the opportunity to sit outside for a while and enjoy the warmth of the sun. You can smell and feel Autumn’s touch now though. Not just in the morning and at dusk but throughout the day. She moves ever nearer as each day passes.I see where she has travelled when I look at hedgerows and trees. Lots are showing their colours now. I feel a trip to woods will soon be in order to take part in the colourfest.
There is nothing quite like sitting among mature trees and looking up into their canopy. To see the colour progression. You can tell which way the wind blows by how coloured each tree is. The more sheltered areas still have rich verdant leaves. The more windy spots are turning fast.
What will you do to celebrate Autumn?

Some fibre and some berries

ambermog — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:05:00 +0000

Some colour to brighten up this dull day here in Moggieland.
I decided to have a go at dyeing some fibre for spinning. I read up on the hows and whys of doing so and asked some very knowledgeable friends because I’d read that if you aren’t careful it is very easy to felt unspun fibre. I didn’t want that to happen, not unless I wanted felt for my femmes.
I soaked the fibre in a mix of citric acid and washing up liquid for a couple of hours. At this time the sun was shining and it was fairly breezy which are ideal conditions for drying fibre.
Did it stay like that? Did it heck as like.
Undeterred I assembled all the ingredients, plastic cover for table? Check
Cling film for wrapping fibre? Check
Dyes? check
Rubber gloves? Check
Steamer? Check
Laid out the fibre on the cling film, a rough S shape, splodged the colours I wanted along the fibre, wrapped up in the cling film and steamed for 25 minutes. Left too cool a little, couldn’t wait til it was fully cool I was way too excited to see if it had worked.
Rinsed, fluffed out slightly and Mr Mog put out on line.
Weather changed, grey sky and dull, very cold and moisture in the air. Oh rats, would I end up trying to dry it inside?
As you can see I didn’t:)

This was a mixture of red, earthy yellow and dark green. I love the finished fibre and can’t wait to try spinning it up.
But this, ah this , it is the bees knees:) My most favourite colours and they blended perfectly. What do you think? It is a mix of electric blue and vivid violet.
The fibre is BFL, my favourite of all to knit with.
Then I did promise you a picture of current progress on my very berry elsewhere jacket so here you go.
Doesn’t it remind you of berry feasts, crumbles and fruit fools? Purple stained lips and hands from picking nature’s bounty that she gives us at this time of year.
Dark dark purples and plums demanding we try a taste, just one that all too soon becomes dozens. Do you remember stumbling home under large baskets of brambles and elderberries? Do you remember the satisfaction of tasting the crumble your mum, or in my case Nan, made and saying “I picked these”?
I can remember days lying in woodland watching the fruit ripen or so it seemed. Waiting for the first dark berry, eager to taste. Then what seemed the very next day a positive abundance weighing down the branches.
I love the perfumed taste that blackberries give when you simmer them to extract the juice. Well you have to taste it don’t you to ensure there is enough sugar?