The FrumplingtonsWe love old knitting patterns and we’re particularly keen on this one. Notice the contrasting textures: the tough wooden barn door, the rustic stone wall, the soft fibres of poster boy’s woolly jumper. I say ’soft’, but you never know: it might have been quite itchy at the time; depends if he was wearing a vest, I suppose.
I can’t quite make up my mind about the model so I’ll just take the mickey out of his haircut: makes a mullet look positively trendy, doesn’t it?
The fight is over. The struggle has ended. And we are both mighty relieved. Because this afternoon we managed to finish one big nightmare of a jigsaw puzzle. It was only a thousand-piece puzzle, but for some reason it just seemed that bit more difficult than usual. Shana kept picking up one particular piece with a woman’s face on it. No matter how vigorously Shana stirred the pieces, up came the woman again. She didn’t quite seem to fit in properly with the rest of the picture; we thought she looked a bit too mediaeval for a picture that was supposed to be set in the 19th century.
“She’s creepy. I don’t like her,” Shana said.
I wasn’t paying much attention, though: “Have I got this horse’s head on the right way round?” I asked.
The picture shows John Cadbury’s shop in Birmingham in the 1830s. The original painting was a mural that was commissioned to hang in the restaurant at Cadbury’s Bournville site. Apparently the mural took 14 years to complete. There were times when we thought we might take even longer to finish this dratted puzzle. We did have contingency plans though: by careful use of a craft knife, glue and a big mallet, it’s amazing how well you can get jigsaw pieces to fit if you really try.
Shana spotted this luvverly pair of rainbows earlier this evening, just after 7pm. See how the colours are reversed on the fainter rainbow. It just occurred to me that I’ve never seen a rainbow after dark. That would be quite something, wouldn’t it? Imagine how well the colours would show against a black background.
Shana likes knitting: I like vintage advertising material. Neither of us was quite sure what to make of this old pattern for a chunky pullover. It’s like something out of a time capsule, isn’t it? (Quick, let’s rebury it, pronto!)
One thing that’s changed since this photo was taken, is that you don’t often see people smoking; certainly not in adverts for woolly pullies, anyway. One stray spark and the model would’ve set himself on fire, wouldn’t he? But then, he isn’t actually smoking, is he? Just posing. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s wearing sock suspenders too, but the pic only shows the top half of him, so we shall never know.
Believe it or not, there are actually old knitwear ads that show people smoking pipes. I know, it’s terrible for their health, isn’t it? Must have a word with Shana and get her to put a few more of these vintage knitting patterns over on that Shana’s Crafty Corner blog. Honestly, they’re a scream.
Here’s our latest project: a postcards site. Or mini site, to be exact. Although you never know: it might expand to, oh, two, maybe even three pages in a year or two.
Postcards is the end result of our browsing through the bargain boxes at several junk shops and then forking out whole pence for our favourite cards.
The exotic locations on the cards contrast nicely with the sentiments on the reverse. Some of the writers actually manage to be quite witty. And then there’s the one who writes home from South Africa’s Cape Province to send get well wishes: “hope your sinus trouble’s clearing up”. Go see…
The human tongue, it is said, can tell the difference between only four kinds of flavour: sweet, bitter, sour and savoury. But today, we made scientific history by discovering a fifth flavour. Violet.
No, we haven’t been munching on the neighbours’ hanging baskets again. We’ve been sampling the delights of one of Beech’s Fine Chocolates ‘traditional’ range, namely their Violet Creams. They were just a chance find this morning while we were in Boyes looking for a cheap birthday card for a distant relative (60 miles distant, to be exact).
Beech’s are quite clever when it comes to packaging their choccies though. You see, our little box of Violent (sic) Creams contained 13 chocolates. And as there are two of us, that means we would usually have to buy two boxes if we wanted equal shares. What an ingenious marketing ploy. However, we managed to scupper Beech’s fiendish intentions quite easily: we simply broke the thirteenth chocolate in half! And we shall do exactly the same with the next box we buy. And the one after that. And the one after that. So there!
We finished “I love the country”, a Mike Jupp picture, yesterday afternoon. We seem to be settling into a steady rhythm now, alternating humorous puzzles with relatively ’straight’ or painterly subjects. This latest one is about as anarchic as they come: look closely at the action and you’ll see loads of mid-air collisions just waiting to happen. There’s lots more going on besides:
It’s not really like that in the English countryside. Is it?
Even the local hunt is having a hard time. The fox has hijacked their horse and is chasing the huntsmen out of town.
Meanwhile, above the chaos, are Dracula and his bats. Looks like it’s gonna be one of those days, doesn’t it?
It wasn’t till we had actually finished the puzzle that I noticed what looks very much like the Loch Ness monster swimming along the lake. On second thoughts, if the countryside really is like this, I’m staying in town.
From the “What’s on TV” listings weekly, 12-18 April issue, page 39, comes this ad for “Thomas Kinkade’s Wonderland Express Christmas Tree”. It’s a whisker under a hundred quid, payable in four instalments, and is quite something, judging by the number of exclamation marks used in the ad copy, e.g. “All aboard for the merriest Christmas ever!” and, “Santa & his reindeer really ‘fly’ round and round!”
You want features? It’s got features: “…four levels of rotating movement, 12 illuminated buildings and over 30 handcrafted figurines including Santa and his reindeer…”
And if exclamation marks ain’t enough, there are block capitals too. Check this out:
PLUS, IT LIGHTS UP, AND PLAYS MUSIC!
Gee, any minute now I think I’m gonna go dizzy…
(It’s already on my wish list though.)
For most of the past week, we were sorting through hundreds of identical jigsaw puzzle pieces. Apart from minor variations in shape, each one was exactly the same as all the others; all precisely the same shade of green. It seemed as if our search for meaning would never end.
And then Shana had a brainwave. “How about if we turn the pieces the other way up?” she said.
And sure enough, there was a picture on the other side of the pieces. A picture that slowly revealed itself to be “Passage to San Marco”, by Bob Pejman. Unfortunately, you can’t buy the original oil painting of this picture any more. According to Pejman’s website, he sold it for a measly $65,000. What on earth was he thinking of? How’s he gonna support himself if he just gives his stuff away like that, huh? Anyhow, I think we got a much better deal with the jigsaw puzzle version: a snip at £3.
[The latest in our ongoing series of posts about Britain’s never-ending Christmas. For the story so far, go here and here. And may Santa have mercy on your soul…]
I don’t want to make too big an issue of this, but today’s date is 7th April.
The 7th of bleedin’ April, for folk’s sake!
And what was dear old UKTV Gold showing earlier this evening?
Yes, you guessed it (or maybe you didn’t): the 2004 Christmas episode of “My Family”. And here’s the listings screenshot to prove it:
Dang! Why didn’t somebody tell me it was Christmas already? We haven’t even got a single pack of Eat Me dates in the house!
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