Flutterby Patch

Wordsworth's Daffodils

Imagine the scene.... It's early spring in the year 1802 and you are walking with your brother in the English Lake District beside the lake known as Ullswater. A truly beautiful place in pleasant weather but today the water reflects the moody grey of the sky, the mountains look menacing and the wind whips icy rain against your face. You trudge along beside the lake sheltering as best you can beneath the narrow belt of trees that grows between the lake and turnpike road just a few yards away.

Keeping your head down you travel ever onwards. Then suddenly you come across a scene that stops you in your tracks. Daffodils! Growing beside the lake, dancing in the breeze. Might this cheerful view not inspire you to write a few lines of verse. I think by now you'll have guessed where I am headed!

The brother and sister in my little story were William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy. In 1802 Dorothy wrote about this day in her journal and later William recalled the experience in his now famous poem.

I've been waiting for the just the right weather to photograph the exact spot where the poet had his spark of inspiration and yesterday was perfect. I travelled to Ullswater (just a few miles form where I live) and found just the scene I'd been hoping for. 207 years after Wordsworth passed by, in the same place, beside the lake, beneath the trees, daffodils were still fluttering and dancing in the breeze. That is the beauty of this lovely area, so much of it has remained unchanged from the days when the poet lived here.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden Daffodils;
Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:-
A Poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed---and gazed---but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

The little daffodils growing beside the lake are native British wild daffodils -Narcissus pseudonarcissus

I have a copy of Dorothy Wordsworth's journal which she kept from 1800 to 1803 (see below). Dorothy's original hand written journal is in the Wordsworth Museum in Grasmere. 

The journal was written whilst the Wordsworths lived at Dove Cottage. From this link you can look inside the cottage and also view the other homes the family had in the Lake District.

Dorothy writes in her journal:
'When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow Park we saw a few daffodils close to the water-side. We fancied that the lake had floated the seeds ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up. But as we went along there were more and yet more; and at last under the boughs of the trees we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of the turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful'.

'They grew among the mossy stones about and about them; some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake'.

I'm finishing this post with a photo I took of St Patrick's Church in Patterdale, not far from the scenes above. Built in 1853 it makes a pretty picture with its churchyard full of daffodils.

Until next time,
Eli 

Knitted daffodil

It's a little bit early to be doing a post for Easter but not too early to be thinking about knitting a little something for the Easter table. So how about a bright yellow daffodil to decorate an egg cosy? I created this pattern several years ago and have used it endlessly ever since (with a few variations along the way).

The pattern is very easy to follow (I don't do difficult). Please note I have written the instructions in a way that 'beginners' should be able to follow. If you are an experienced knitter please don't be put off by the rather lengthy instructions.
 
You will need a small amount of yellow DK yarn, pairs of 3.25 mm and 4 mm needles (US 3 and 6) and a couple of hours to spare.

Start with the centre trumpet. Using 3.25 mm needles (US size 3) cast on 14 stitches. 
Row 1: purl
Row 2: knit
Row 3: purl 
Row 4: knit 
Change to 4 mm needles (US size 6). Changing to larger needles gives the trumpet a better shape.
Row 5: purl.

To create a little wavy edge to the trumpet you now need to do a picot edge as follows.
Row 6: Knit 1, (slip 1, knit 1, pass slip stitch over the stitch just knitted). Repeat the instructions in the brackets to the last remaining stitch. Knit 1.
Row 7: Purl 2 stitches then pick up the yarn between stitch 2 and 3, put it on the left hand needle and purl it as a stitch. Purl the next stitch then pick up the yarn before the next sitch and purl. Continue doing this to the end of the row (by picking up these short lengths of yarn between stitches you are replacing the stiches that were lost on the row before). You should now have 14 stitches on your needle.
Row 8: knit
Change to 3.25 mm needles
Row 9: purl
Row 10 knit
Row 11 purl. Break off the yarn leaving a length of about 20 cm (8 in). Remove all the stitches onto this length of yarn ready for drawing up later.

Using a separate length of yarn (not the one threaded through the stitches) stitch together the two short edges of the daffodil trumpet and secure. Now pull the thread that passes through the stitches, draw up and secure tightly. This will form the inside of the trumpet. Fold the trumpet along the picot edge and secure the cast on edge to the back of the daffodil. Don't draw up this edge. (shown above). The trumpet is complete.

You will need 6 petals. I have used a paler yellow for these. They are knitted in garter stitch which will ensure they don't curl.
Using 3.25 mm needles cast on 7 stitches. Work 5 rows. Knit 2 stitches together at the start of the next and every following row until you have 3 stitches remaining. Break yarn 20 cm (8 in) from the work and remove stitches onto a sewing needle. Draw up and fasten off (petal above left). Now draw up the cast on edge and secure to give the petal a nice curled shape (petal above right).

Stitch 3 petals to the back of the trumpet as shown above.

Stitch the remaining 3 petals behind the first 3 petals as shown above.

To make the stamens/stigma for the centre of the flower. Cut a piece of yarn (orange or yellow) 20 cm (8 in) long and wrap round a needle as shown.

Tie 6 knots as shown above.

Thread each tail of yarn through to the back of the daffodil and secure tightly. The bloom is now complete and ready to add to your egg cosy.

As you'll see I've made the trumpet in the centre quite short as I didn't want the bloom to flop forward. A couple of extra rows before and after the picot row will give you a longer trumpet. For the stem I used a green plastic knitting needle which I simply pushed into the back of the flower.

The daffodil together and a white narcissus with an orange centre (knitted same as above) make a pretty corsage. The stems are easily done with green yarn. Cast on 14 stitches. Work in stocking stitch for 2 rows and cast off. The stem will automatically curl showing the back of the stocking stitch. Use this as the right side and stitch together the two long edges to form a stem.

To make a very simple knitted egg cosy use 3.25 mm needles. Cast on 32 stitches. Work 4 rows in garter stitch and 15 rows in stocking stitch. Break yarn and thread stitches onto it. Draw up and secure. Stitch the two short edges together and you have a simple egg cosy.

I found a bulb catalogue a very useful source of daffodil pictures as there are dozens of different shapes and shades to choose from.

Happy daffodil knitting

Until next time
Eli

 

At home with wood

Wood is in my blood so to speak; let me explain...

I come from a long line of Buckinghamshire farming folk and the leafy lanes and beech woods in that county have for centuries molded each and every one of us. If they weren't working the land then several of my ancestors would have been working with wood. Some of them would have set up home amongst the trees in little wooden shacks like this one.

Everything was done by hand in those far off days and work continued from dawn until dusk.

Branches were cut from trees and stripped of their bark and as a result mountains of wood chips lay everywhere.

The men who worked in this way were known as bodgers and their pole lathes would have been spinning and whirring all day long. After many hours of turning, shaping and piecing together the results of their labours would have been Windsor chairs not unlike like this one. What amazing craftsmanship.

I treasure several old Windsor chairs that were made by my great uncle as a wedding gift for my grandparents but for this post I have used this miniature version which is an exact replica of rather splendid chairs that were made with arms. (Teddy is 7 inches tall ).

I now live in the Lake District which is many miles from my home amid the beech woods of Buckinghamshire but for centuries bodgers would have been busy working in the Lakeland woods also. They didn't make chairs but turned wooden bobbins and their livelihoods relied entirely on the success of the neighbouring Lancashire cotton mills. Bobbins were required in their millions and the process was soon mechanised. Stott Park Bobbin Mill is the last remaining Victorian mill with its machinery still in working order. It is open to visitors and demonstrations take place each day.

Vintage bobbins that were once used in cotton mills are now being made into decorative items for the tourist industry. Visitors to this area love to take home little 'bobbin built' keepsakes like this little model of a steam traction engine (my Mum couldn't resist this when she saw it!)

The wooden objects on display around my home come in all shapes, sizes and colours. For this post I have chosen a few turned pieces to show you.  My granny used the items above in her farm kitchen. The butter mold in the centre has a very elaborate crest.

I'd love to know its origin.

This Victorian inkwell and drinking vessel are turned from one of the heaviest wood of all known as lignum vitae

How fortunate I am to have met and married a sweet man who loves wood as much as I do. He occasionally buys me little wooden pieces like these. The plate is oak, the cup and saucer ash and the tea canister and scoop are made from sycamore. I love them all.

So you see, wood is in my blood... My dad taught woodwork in his school and was a master cabinet maker. From an early age I was taught not only how to recognise different trees but how to recognise different woods also. And so I'll end this post with a little poem by H E Palmer. The message, I think, is a very poignant one.

Woodworker's Ballad 

All that is molded of iron
Has lent to destruction and blood;
But the things that are honour’d of Zion
Are most of them made from wood.

Stone can be chisell’d to Beauty,
And iron shines bright for Defence;
But when Mother Earth ponder’d her duty
She brought forth the forest, from whence

Come tables, and chairs, and crosses,
Little things that a hot fire warps,
Old ships that the blue wave tosses,
And fiddles for music, and harps;

Oak boards where the carved ferns mingle,
Monks’ shrines in the wilderness,
Snug little huts in the dingle,
All things that the sad poets bless.

King Arthur had a wood table;
And Our Lord blessed wood; for, you see,
He was born in a wooden stable,
And He died on a wooden tree;

And He sailed in a wooden vessel
On the waters of Galilee,
And He work’d at a wooden trestle
At His wonderful carpentry.

Oh, all that is molded of iron
Has lent to destruction and blood;
But the things that are honour’d of Zion
Are most of them made from wood.

Herbert Edward Palmer (1880 - 1961)