Mary, Mary

Grandma was partway through knitting a square for a blanket she'd been working on the evening she died. She'd set it aside to read the paper but the project bag was right by her side. She's joined together three rows of seven squares and added the first and last squares of the fourth row.

She left a pattern for a small child's jumper in the bag but no indication of who it was for or which yarn she meant for it. Until anyone comes forward, I'm going to carry on where she left off with the blanket until I've used up the yarn she had. I don't often knit, so it is a novelty and an honour to be knitting this up for her.

I've also inherited her various needles and some other lovely notions including a latch hook and  some beautiful chunky wooden knitting needles. There is a row counter and a needle case too, as well as her knitting bag.

Underneath Grandma's work is the More Sunshine blanket I've been working on and had finished joining on the train home from Darlington. I'm forcing myself to sew in the ends before starting in on the border section though, so had taken a break to do a test row on the train home yesterday when I took this. It seems we shared the same tension in our knitting as well as our enduring love of tea, Scrabble and fruit pastilles.

Greeneva

Greeneva is a shawl I'm working in lace weight cotton of jade green. The pattern (Eva's Shawl, by milobo) is lovely to learn and work so I'm really enjoying it. Hopefully I'll get a chance to do some more work on it during the next day or so, though the pattern is probably a little fiddly after the eyelet row to work while on a train. It is already a few rows larger than pictured and would be considerably larger still were the light a little better in the afternoons.

I've a second Sunshine blanket on another hook which will travel with me also as I need to get it finished and sent. I have the pattern on my phone and the work now is joining and a granny square to border the whole which is easy to hold. I also have books and am daring to hope I may get to read Frankenstein on those parts of the journey where crochet isn't an option.

The end of the week will be spent enduring the consequences of the trip, most likely in bed with a notebook, sketching up the my next few projects. I'm almost settled on my Christmas projects now.

Bend One's Steps: New art in the old school.

When I was small Chequer Mead was still one of several primary schools serving the Sackville side of town and many of my peers were students there. I have vivid memories of walking with my class past East Court Mansion for joint arts events held there, always being struck by the sheer prettiness of the school and the odd situation of the buildings sat either side of a busy road meaning that at lunch time each and every student trotted across the road to eat and back again for their afternoon lessons. A Youth club was held in part of the premises long after the school closed and I think I recall the town marching band using the buildings for rehearsals during the nineties. 

Some fifteen years ago, just as I moved away from the town a small theatre was built onto the back of the old building obscuring the once familiar view of the school and yard from the top of Blackwell Hollow. I now approach from the other direction  passing the church, college and water tower. Eventually I park in the old playground before crossing over to the still recognisable main school buildings, now home to an intimate and thriving arts centre which to my eternal delight holds regular textile art exhibitions by local individual and Guild artisans in the light and spacious Greenstede Gallery. 

I very nearly missed this most recent exhibition, Bend One's Steps as it didn't appear on my calendar but was alerted by Mum who'd called by at the weekend and been impressed by the work. Jude Kingshott and Penny Watts are mixed media textile artists exhibiting together for the first time. Kingshott was warm and friendly, taking time to patiently explain the processes she uses in her work. Watts unfortunately was unavailable due to an upcoming exhibition elsewhere and so I have concentrated here on Jude Kingshott's work.  

Prayers One and Prayers Two by Jude Kingshott

Kingshott's influences are immediately apparent. The first of her works to meet my eye on arrival were inspired by a trip to Tibet and introduce the rich colours and exquisite detail present everywhere from the tiny Prayers One and Prayers Two displayed almost casually on a window sill by the entrance. These central themes of rich symbolism, the repetition of chants as patterns and the wild partnerships of colour continuing into her larger works Mandala and Tibet One hanging in the main gallery.

Isaac and Eban by Jude Kingshott 

Some deeply personal works were on display too - a carefully layered piece focussed on Kingshott's late Mother and the more playful paired photographic pieces Isaac and Eban, her much adored grandsons, each layered with printed vehicles and animals to suit their characters. Other relatives are represented around the edges making the whole a beautiful family record.

Isaac detail showing Car, Moped and Boat

The boys are not for sale of course, but their like can be commissioned using your choice of photographs and themes. They take time to produce as layers must be left to settle for days at a time, but there is still time to discuss your requirements if you know someone for whom such a piece would be an ideal Christmas gift.

Other works are evocative of woodland, or the ocean and many contain tiny hidden details caught not at first glance but only later on deeper reflection, appropriate given she credits her Buddhist practise. 

Daimoku One and Two - by Jude Kingshott.

Many are for sale (though the number available dwindled appreciably during my visit) and there really is something for every pocket, smaller works being as accessible as just twenty pounds or so and her larger more complex works proportionately more. 

I'll be back at Chequer Mead in the next few days to catch up with the recent works of the Tunbridge Wells Embroiderers' Guild in their now regularly anticipated show Losing The Thread which runs till Wednesday 2nd November 2011. Tuesday's little trip has only whetted my appetite for more and I shall be bursting with enthusiasm for new projects soon. 

I'm very pleased to have caught this 'bonus' show beforehand though. I'll certainly be scouring the listings a little more thoroughly in future - to think, I almost missed it! Somehow I think I'll be seeing a lot more from Jude Kingshott in the future. 

Detail of Tibet One, by Jude Kingshott.

More Sunshine

I've been crocheting another Sunny Snuggle (Pierrot Angel Blanket) of late and the intended recipient arrived safely yesterday. She looks to have a shock of curly dark hair and is of course utterly beautiful. I look forward to meeting her, though not until my voice has returned to normal and I'm in a fit state to properly welcome her!

Meanwhile I am no longer quite so plague ridden that I can't crack on with her blanket. Of the sixty-four squares that make up the central panel fifty-six are joined in seven rows. I shall join row eight, sew in the ends and begin the foundation of the edging tomorrow.

Between sessions I'll be working out when I can return to The Greenstede Gallery. Yesterday's last minute visit was wonderful, but has only increased my resolve to get back there next week to see what the local Embroiderers' Guild have been up to over the last year or so. I have missed my trips over there and intend to resume them now I'm a little more mobile again.

My thoughts on Bend One's Steps will have to wait for another time, my eyes are drooping and I doubt I'm long for this level of consciousness. I've been taking a notebook to bed with me of late - I'm doodling in my dreams, which while odd is most enjoyable.