Hallowe'en

Yvonne the Spider

This is Yvonne, especially designed and created for Hallowe'en along with the pumpkins.  I also managed to crochet Yvonne a web which is now in place at Beulah's, but quite difficult to photograph.  

Last week was one of those weeks when I had a sudden burst of creativity and saw how to make things.  Silly things admittedly, but very pleasing.  I now have loads more ideas.

Forgot to photograph them with their stalks 

Lulworth Cove

The Tortured and Folded Purbeck Stone

Once a year, if I'm lucky I am taken to 'see the sea'.  This time it was a grey gloomy day in late October and I was taken to Lulworth Cove.  The last time I came here, I must have been about eleven.  I'm still awestruck by the way the rock has been folded and turned on its side along this Jurassic coastline, then worked by the sea into tunnels and blow holes and pretty little coves.  There are fast flowing freshwater springs running down through the village to the sea, under and around the houses.  One has been dammed to make a peaceful little pond where mallard and moorhens feed and doze.

Highlight of the day was watching an excited labrador leap into the sea, heave out a big chunk of driftwood and drag it up the shore to drop expectantly at his master's feet.

The Cove

Corfe Castle

Corfe Castle

On a grey drizzling Friday we drove down to see Corfe Castle, high on its hill in Dorset.  It's a vast complex, much larger than I expected and must have been quite something in its day.  Ravens live in the castle now. Soay and Herdwick  sheep graze the steep hillsides.

Herdwicks grazing under the walls

First, long ago there was a Saxon hall and Edward the Martyr, King Edward the first of England died there in 978, murdered it is said by his stepmother Aelfthryth.  They say that on the anniversary of his death a cold north wind blows through the castle.

The typical herringbone pattern of a Saxon stone wall

William the Conqueror acquired Corfe in 1086 and built the first substantial castle there.  The very steep hill is a natural feature carved out from the landscape by two rivers and extremely defensible.

In the 12th century King Henry I  built a great stone keep.  This took nine years and as more kings took ownership over the centuries a small village grew up at the base of the hill to house the workforce.

Henry's tower

King John and King Henry III went on to add to the castle so that it became a very sophisticated royal residence.  Henry III ordered that the keep be whitewashed and it would have been seen for miles.  Over the years many royal and aristocratic unfortunates were imprisoned there as rebellion and royal struggles raged across the land.

Where the Ravens live

Queen Elizabeth I sold Corfe to Sir Christopher Hatton in 1572 and in 1635 it was bought by the Royalist supporter of King Charles I - Sir John Bankes.  During the Civil War Lady Mary Bankes defended it valiantly for six weeks.  

Watching Out for the Enemy

Finally the castle was betrayed when a force of Parliamentarians disguised as Royalist reinforcements were admitted.  The castle was attacked from inside and outside and defeated.  Lady Bankes was given safe passage to leave because of her gallant defense.  The story goes that she threw her jewelry down the well inside the castle, but it has never been found and it's now believed she smuggled it out in her underwear.

In 1643 the Parliamentarians voted that the castle be 'slighted', demolished so that it could not be made defensible again.  Huge chunks of masonry have been thrown and tilted, they were very good at 'slighting'.  Sad that there is someone in every generation who excels at tearing things down. 

Craftsmanship - the fancy stonework at the top is probably
conservation work to prevent further deterioration

Cute

The 1960s Girl About Town

This picture comes from 'Dolls' Dressmaking' by Winifred Butler - 1962

I think I got this in a second hand bookshop a few years ago.  It shows little girls all the things they need to know to make clothes for their dollies.  It ranges from the very simplest techniques to the more complex and structured.

I can't help feeling that I would have been one of the little girls who quickly gave up on it, but just looking at it makes you feel happy to be alive.

Why do we do these things?

Why, oh Why, oh Why?

In the middle of everything else and the general knitting against the clock for Christmas, etc. I have suddenly taken it into my head to knit pumpkins.  Why do we do these things?  Now I'm planning a knitted bat.

Getting the 'carved' features right on the pumpkins is giving me a lot of trouble.  It was all going swimmingly up to that point.  I battled with them at the Upstairs Stitchers at Beulah's Vintage Attic on Thursday night while Jan gloated over her finished pair of socks, (first socks she has ever made) and the lovely Tina and Sarah made their small fabric goodies - flowery tea cosies, danglies for the Christmas tree and clip on flowers.

This is not my work

Lots of Loveliness - Part of Tina and Sarah's stand at Beulah's
Colours in this picture slightly washed out as it was late and lighting was tricky.
The stand is much brighter than this.