c u s h i o n e d

I've woken up very early today, even though it's Saturday - and feel sort of discombobulated and not quite sure how to feel better.

The red and yellow cushions here I made recently in a bid to make the lounge look tidy and organised. I made the red one out of an old jumper I was given to do with as I liked -- and you can just about see these old wooden buttons I used down the side, which are actually awkward little sods to get through the buttonholes but look nice now. The yellow one is from an old run of fabric that has lived through various lives -- I think it's a Nina Campbell design, but I did buy it nearly 10 years ago now, so can't quite remember. Finally, the needlepoint is the cushion I promised myself at Christmas 2010 I would get on with -- and I did. I finished it about a year ago, but forgot to photograph it. I like its retro appeal.

So maybe I will now lie on said cushions and try to have a bit more sleep.

w h i g p o l i t i c i a n

Reading through some materials from the 1830s for teaching today, I was pleased to have doglet by my side -- because we think she looks like a little, portly Whig politician in black dress coat, with white shirt and cravat. There she is, sitting in the benches calling 'Reform! (but not too radical, please)'. As such, my Christmas gift to her co-carer was a silhouette of her very fine profile, including jowls, early 19th century-style. This is now up in our bedroom, and her presiding spirit of progress looks over us as we sleep. Strange? Us?

m a c h i n e i n t h e g a r d e n

There was a peeving little message on my facebook feed this morning from some smart-arse who agreed with W. G. Sebald that when on a journey through the Midlands one passes towns 'each more ugly than the last'. Snobby comments about factory chimneys and slag heaps made me feel quite annoyed -- the person who wrote it is one of those people who think they are edgy and open-minded, but comments like these reveal how they're just precious little reactionary nimbys. So here is a celebration of the beauty of nature hand in hand with lived life, labour, and production. Scotland was battered by storms -- look at the size of these fallen tree trunks (all our walks of late have been accompanied by the sound of sawing as the park rangers tidy up for us). This part of town is built where there used to be working mills, alongside the river. I don't know who carved the 'smoothed rock' sign in the wall of one of the bridges, but it reminds me of how rock, even though it's obviously really hard, is always being smoothed, by man or water.

j a n u a r y m o r n i n g

Taking the doglet for walks can be the only thing keeping us going in the dark days of January when every day feels tough. That is, when she behaves and walks nicely (yesterday she was a disaster). I think the river walk works best because there is so much for her to see and sniff, which reduces how often she starts exhausting us with tugging on the lead. Today was lit by hazy sunshine, making us notice some lovely colours. I took my old Canon IXUS 10015, which fits in my pocket. The result is more grainy and subdued than with the Panasonic, but I think I quite like that. The rose beginning to bud is called 'Chaenomeles speciosa Nakai "Nivalis"', according to the little sign in the Botanics.

l o o k a f t e r i n g

January seems already to be so busy and hard work -- and not much prospect of a break until the Summer. The elements don't help either -- central heating plus frost then damp then back to frost, which Sir Walter Elliott reminds us, 'hardly one woman in a thousand could stand the test of'; I'm not that woman, as my poor skin reminds me. I am trying though -- and this cream that my sister gave me for Christmas is lovely. As is a nutritional book by Jane Clarke that I've been reading -- Nourish. It has some recipes (not many, and not off the scale of innovation), but mainly it talks very soothingly and sensibly about food and its place in keeping you feeling okay. It's divided into different life stages and I recommend it -- also beautiful photos and nice thick, recycled pages. All this reminds me then of Vashti Bunyan's Lookaftering album -- also pleasant at this time of year and well suited to the harebells blog.

t h e s k y i n s c o t l a n d

A lovely, sunny day today, and the sky even seems to be promising another one tomorrow. A treat after such a rainy December, and a relief when most of the day we're trapped indoors, appropriately enough today with Henry James' In the Cage -- a very odd book. But good, in the way that What Maisie Knew is good.

p a t t e r n s t i t c h

These are a couple of gifts I made recently. The tank-top was for my very handsome godson, and the hat for a dear friend. The latter came from a pattern in Sarah Dallas' Vintage Knits, but I made up the pattern for the tank top. Using chocolate brown, cream and cornflower blue yarn I just chopped and changed the working yarns as I felt like it -- some were just stripes of different widths, others I used a Fairisle technique to carry patterns along the row. A tip for the beret is to use very fine elastic thread at the end to run through the hem edge -- this makes it sit more securely on the head.

s l o w c o a c h

I started this vintage-style vest, from Erika Knight's lovely Classic Knits book, about 3 years ago (....), but only returned to it over Christmas just now -- there are always so many other things on. But I'm very pleased that I did. I knitted it in Debbie Bliss' 100% silk yarn in a pearly-grey colour, which is very scrumptious, and left out the cabling detail (the yarn is so beautiful that I think it works better when very simple). It's really snug, soft and comfortable to wear, and the fit is surprisingly perfect. Although it's not a knit that everyone will see, it feels very nicely indulgent to wear this as underwear, more particularly at this time of year when indulgence is frowned upon.

w i n t e r w a l k s

The sun came out today, for the first time in about a month... Very nice walk indeed, along the river. Lots of fallen trees though -- some were huge. These are some pictures from other winter walks in early December. There are memorials to the war dead, and to Captain Scott. Which is to be expected, although where are the memorials to the usual park users? -- Women with children, whether their own, or charges. Hmm. The doglet liked it.

i n t h e w a r m

We have been very lucky to have an extended holiday over Christmas and New Year. The big drive is tomorrow (sobs). Although the weather has been incredibly soaking wet almost permanently, it is has been very nice to be kept indoors. Mum has cooked so much lovely food and Dad has poured lots of restorative drinks. Everything has happened in a very pleasant, blurry cocoon -- making everything seem very much better. Thank you very much, parents. Now we should look to the future peacefully and happily, and actually I don't think that will be so hard after all.

w r a p p i n g u p

Before the whole Christmas gift giving fades completely from the memory, here are some of our festive arrangements. This year doglet posed for a portrait, which she then used on her present tags.

I made a big felt stocking for the little baby in the family, and embroidered it with her name. It was filled mainly with things to aid her bath-time (Sophie, le giraffe), since this is in her top 3 things to do.

I will post again with a couple of the things I made for the grown ups.

g r e e t i n g s 2 0 1 2

I'm sorry that I've been so neglectful of harebells -- in 2012 I will be better! As a start to the year, here are 2 very special paintings / prints that will, by various magical means, be in our lives from here on.. They are a beautiful way to begin.

'The Acrobat': Kevin Low, print artist

'The Bear and the Lamb II': Sarah Ball, artist