The Here and Now

Popping by to share some little snippets from the past week as I've been attempting to slow myself down and appreciate the here and now amidst the changing seasons. The gentle light, the glowing colours, the drift of leaves as they descend from the trees, the very feel of Autumn in the air. It's soft and mellow for the most part, and as I walk from school to town to home I find I'm beginning to enjoy the onset of Autumn. I'm even wearing woolly socks today which feels rather blissful actually after many months of bare feet, and they are bright scarlet (my socks not my bare feet).

Things in the back yard are slowly winding down, although I've just discovered that the clematis I had long thought was a gonna has suddenly sprung into belated action and is covered in several promising looking buds! I'm guessing it must be an Autumn flowering variety then, no wonder it was looking so dead during the summer. I cannot wait for the buds to open as I haven't a clue what the flowers will look like (I had even forgotten I had planted it), happy days. I'm absolutely delighted that my pots have done so well this year and that each week I've been able to pick a small posy to bring inside for the table. It makes me incredibly happy to do this simple thing, and has inspired me to try and plant even more lovely things in my back yard next year. We have a small squash sitting on the table at the moment, just because I saw it in the supermarket and loved it's shape and colours. Little B's pumpkin is currently the size of a smallish tomato so I don't think we need worry about the word "mammoth" just yet. He remains pleased as punch with it's progress though, which is just ace.

Right, I need to dash out soon and collect the aforementioned pumpkin-child from school. Thanks as ever for popping by and sharing my humble comings and goings. I'm working on some Yarndale write-ups this week and it's proving to be an emotional experience....wow, those mandalas! Just Wow.

More soon...................xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Heidi]

True story: 3.5 years ago I was pregnant of my first child, some people eat pickles I wanted desperately to learn how to crochet... I woke my husband up in the middle of the night, I was 26 weeks pregnant, please I want to by a hook tomorow! But you don't even know how!go to sleep! No no you don't understand, I found this blog it's amazing I think can learn! 3.5 years later we have 3 boys and I still visit your blog few times a week, I just love it. You have given so much to all of us, your pictures your words just the occasional picture out of your window you cheer up so many lives. I hope you can shake off some of these comments and if not if it keeps you up at night (which it really shouldn't but "knowing" you after all these years I assume it might) take a piece of paper, make 2 columns, on the right side count all positive comments (make sure you have enough room here) on the left count all the others...) seee....We told you so!biggest hug to you Lucy WE LOVE YOU, YOUR WORK YOUR ATTIC YOUR STUDIO AND I HOPE TO VISIT YARNDALE IN THE NEAR FUTURE!

[Eileen Collingwood]

Wow.....how very sad. Really, asking for your donated items back as well as postage. What a sad sad life you lead.
Hang in there Lucy.

[Naomi]

Hi from Texas, Lucy! I've read all of the comments here...some were in dizzyingly poor taste, but so many more are to cheer you on. You can add mine to the "cheering you on" group. :0)

Sometime (because they lack manners, empathy, class, or all three) people sense when others are feeling low and only endeavor to bring you lower. They're like the hyenas of the internet. They're not even predators--just scavengers snarling and snapping for the last scraps of meat. Sad, really.

Lyn, feel free to share your PayPal address. I'd be happy to pay you in wool and postage just to make you be quiet (and go away, but that'd just be a bonus).

[Julia]

I don't usually comment (or even read comments!) but am piping up as not sure what problem some commenters are having here...

Yarndale is one of several textiley events I attend (eg Fibre East, The K&S Show, Bakewell Wool Gathering) - they are all commercial ventures in the sense that they are not run as charities and you pay to attend; the organisers have a lot of expenses to cover and I don't begrudge the ticket price as I appreciate their efforts in organising these events. Most are run by limited companies (you can see Yarndale is one on their contact page if you didn't know).

Visitors to events like The Knitting & Stitching Show are often invited to participate by making and sending in items for a grand display. I don't see the difference here with the bunting or mandalas. It's a fun thing to join in with, not compulsory, and who's making a profit from it?

Re: yarn packs, I have no problem with Lucy mentioning them - saves time trying to find out what colours were used in Lucy's free patterns, and nobody's forced to buy a pack. Plus the price of 15 individual balls of the DK yarn in the blanket packs actually comes to a bit more than the pack price, so what's the problem?!

[Terri]

Lucy, I love reading your blog. This is the first and last time that I will bother with the comment box. It was only your most recent post that led me to explore further and now I wish I hadn't!
I enjoy reading your blog immensely. Thank you. I have missed it greatly this week. All the very best to you and your family.

[Daisy C.]

Well I think some comments are a bit weird!

[Christine]

What the heck is going on here!! We are talking about crochet and wool not world famine or politics. Lighten up folks it's supposed to be a fun topic.
lyn if you are that hard up for a bit of wool and a £1 to post it I will send you the money never mind Lucy. No one forced you to make it.
lets just calm down and send get well messages to lucys mum whuch after all is the most important thing here xxxx

[Wiz]

I, like many of the above , am not normally a commenter but ... Lyn..."the word cult comes to mind"... really??? I sincerely hope that, when she read it, Lucy literally lol'd like I did. The poor women could do with a laugh after all this nonsense. There was a lot of assuming going on and as my teacher used to say, assuming makes an ass of u and me.

[Tess]

Gosh, some of the comments I have been reading here have made me feel sick to my tummy, so I can only imagine how Beautiful Lucy is feeling right now. To the women who feel it is necessary to try and dispute Lucy's honesty and attack her intentions regarding Yarndale/Wool Warehouse etc, I pity you. Clearly you haven't been following too closely to Lucy's blog! I shall say this slowly for you incase it flies over your heads......Lucy's....mother...is....very.....ill....and...she....needed....to...be....there....for...her....!!!!!! Is she not allowed to close her window for a while? Is her family less important than you? Do you not have a heart? How terrible her mother fell ill and took Lucy away from blogging about Yarndale and the Mandela's that you so generously 'donated'....I think what your cranky about is the fact that your self importance hasn't been stroked by the awesome blog about Yarndale and the fact that OMG Lucy may just have a photo of all the Mandela's and OMG maybe you can get a glimpse of your mandela! So, because your little egos haven't been stroked yet, you need to cut this awesome woman down.....pathetic! Why don't you spend some of that energy on sending love to Lucy at such a difficult time. God knows we all go through difficulties where we need to be uplifted and loved. Stop being so nasty and horrible......why don't you go crochet something, apparently it makes you feel better.....
What really blows my mind are the people saying they have made Lucy's blog what it is today.....ummm forgive me if I'm wrong but I think it is Lucy's blog and she is the one that has put in the hard yards, she takes the photos, writes the patterns, test the patterns, shares HER life. Lucy doesn't have to bow down to you or be thankful to you. You are here of your own free will and can leave accordingly if your not getting the recognition you think you deserve. Unbelievable! Would it make you happy if I made you a Mandela and posted to you (I'm a really good Crocheter, I had a great teacher...thank you Lucy) but you better not show it to anyone or sell it on and make any money from it, okay?!?!?! I would hate to see you become successful! 'Tall Poppy Syndrome' go and look it up....educate yourself!
As for you Lovely Lucy, I'm going to say a prayer to the Crochet Gods tonight to give you strength for you and your family at this very worrying time. May the Crochet Gods give you endless sunshine and inspiring days. May they lift your heart till you think it will burst with love. May your ever faithful troops rally around you and support you in every endeavour you lead us on. Finally.....May the Crochet Gods shower you with successes beyond your wildest dreams and if that means your bank is about to burst with allllll the riches You earn from your craft, then that would be flippin AWESOME......YOU GO FOR IT LUCY! You reach as high as you can reach. There will always be some with poison arrows! Just trust the Crochet Gods and what is within.....we all admire and love you Lucy and are blessed with what you give, Thank You x

p.s to the moron who bagged Lucy for her question regarding pumpkin recipes...... Maybe, just maybe that bloody pumpkin was the highlight of Lucy's day. Did you stop it think for one bloody minute that having that little correspondence with us strangers and the out pouring of recipes would have given her a bit of love, a bit of normal in her world at the moment.!!! Did you even stop to think......disgusting!!

[Penny P]

Good grief!! I am so sorry Lucy that you are on the receiving end of all this negativity.

I thank you so much for teaching me to crochet and for sharing the ups and downs of your life with me and totally agree with what Helen posted at 7.43pm.

Would everyone please have a heart and stop with the nastiness. Lucy has gracefully shared her life, ideas and talent with us for nothing. NOT A PENNY! It just so happens that her blog has led her to a position where she can make a bit, I bet it's not much, of money from her creativity. Who can honestly say that they would not want to make a living doing something they love. I don't think that Lucy has been covering anything up re Yarndale or trying to mislead anyone.

I sincerely hope that all the unpleasant posts don't lead to Lucy closing the attic window permanently, which would be completely understandable, as I would definitely miss visiting her attic for inspiration.

Good luck Lucy, stay strong, true and be kind to yourself and your family.

Love, Light and Peace
Penny

[nunyas]

Really...this is all ridiculous. No one makes me read this blog. No one makes me push the donate button. No one makes me buy yarn packs. I have the freedom to do so if I choose. I am always grateful for the lovely folks who share their patterns and tutorials at no cost and as well have spent hundreds of $$$ on patterns from etsy and ravelry. No one has ever forced me to do so. I rarely read or respond to comments on a blog but I find this whole piece of business so irritating I felt a need to respond. And now I will exercise my freedom and go back to reading the blog and ignoring the comments. Thank you for providing me with many hours of pleasurable reading and crocheting.

[SOL]

Anyone who did not/could not work out what type of an event Yarndale was, or has been surprised to learn what is inevitably involved in the organisation of such an event, may be guilty of woolly thinking.

[Helen]

My word. Sending so much love in a crappy time. I can think of little to say, except that if Lucy decided to shut this blog down tonight I wouldn't blame her. If you saw a woman with three kids walking down the street, knowing that she had elderly, ill family, would any of this seem an appropriate discussion to get into with her? Please remember, ladies, that there is a human being at the other end of this computer, and say each sentence out loud before you think it's ok to type it into the abyss.

[Jo Navin]

Cripes, I hope you and your lovely family are ok Lucy, and that your Mum feels better soon. Sending you my very best wishes and a huge virtual hug! Love Jo xxxx

[Nellie]

I (and I'm sure others too) feel almost protective of such a lovely, happy, vibrant and inspiring lady you are. Please take time for yourself and family.That must come first. All the lovely people that follow your blog with joy will understand and happily wait patiently for you. Take care x

[Julie Novak]

You take care and hang in there. From Indiana , USA. You are truly an inspiration.

[Oran]

Lyn - I don't even know if Wonderwool Wales has a blog. I know that each year there is some kind of exhibition, this year it included a rather splendid textile dragon. I honestly have no idea if Alison Murray (the maker) was paid for her exhibit or if she paid to put the exhibit up or if she makes them herself or gets help to do it. I just know that I enjoyed looking at the work, just as I enjoyed looking at all the bunting and mandalas at Yarndale and thinking, hey somewhere in that mass of colour is something I made, how cool!

A few scraps of yarn I already had and a bit of postage? Neither here nor there for me personally. I don't see it as lining someone else's pockets. I see it as a fun thing to do. And the report I read on Yarndale Ltd listed assets not profits. I hope there were profits so that the event can continue. Perhaps I'm just a bit more relaxed about the commercial side?

Cheers O. xx

[Jacky Russell]

We are all reading the same blog but it seems that people interpret it in different ways. You can't organise an event like Yarndale without putting everything on a formal basis, ie forming a company. It is simply not possible. I know, I've done it, albeit on a smaller scale. The workload is huge, the time it takes is unbelievable, and the financial reward can be minimal. Most people run craft based businesses because they enjoy it, and even that can be questionable at times!
I made a mandala willingly, knowing it was going to be used at an event. Cost of making it? Scraps of yarn, and a pound to post it. So, very little, and the enjoyment of seeing it on Pinterest amongst all the others.
I spotted it in one of the photographs in the Yarndale Calendar, which I bought. I noticed that a donation from each calendar sold is going to a local hospice I believe. Skipton must be benefitting from Yarndale, both the local businesses and the community as a whole, including local schools who helped with woolly creations!

[Jen B.]

I really believe that it's worth the effort to support small local businesses and farms because this is what keeps communities vibrant and alive. Events like Yarndale make the world a better place because they support small and local businesses. Anyone who sent a mandala to Yarndale is helping to make the world a better place.
I live in Boston and we have a farmers market once a week that I love so much because I can get wonderful sustainably-grown produce and support the people who care enough to grow it. The traffic and parking really suck during the farmers market, but it's worth it. It's keeping family-owned farms going and helping stave off the soulless corporatization that shrivels communities and towns.
It was clear to me what Yarndale was all about -- I'm sure that whatever fee the vendors spent to set up there went straight into expenses, including perhaps a wage for the organizers for time well spent. Any profit beyond that for the organizers was, I'm guessing, approximately nothing.

[Lyn]

My previous comment is my last one on here, the number of dissenters are far outweighed by the adoring fans and dissenting merely encourages the adoring masses to follow more blindly.

The word "cult" comes to mind.

[Lyn]

Jen B - Apparently not all Skipton town residents felt so uplifted, cars parked across driveways with disabled access needed, double parking on streets preventing access to residents properties, Skipton is limited for parking and only just manages to cope with it's normal influx of visitors.

Oran - do Wonderwool Wales or Ally Pally request blog readers to provide the bunting or mandalas, free of charge to enable financial gain for the promotors and Directors?

[Oran]

Lucy and the Yarndale team organised a yarn festival. In order to do that they needed a safe and legal way to do so. The obvious way to do it was via a limited company, because a limited company does exactly what it says on the tin, it limits liability. When they set out, they didn't know if Yarndale was going to be a roaring success or a dreadful failure. Personally I neither know nor care if they got grants initially, put up the funds themselves, or persuaded all the expensive services involved to off-set the expense until after the event. I am pretty sure though that the venue, the insurance, the buses, the car-parking attendants, security etc probably didn't all come for free and deposits probably had to be paid. I'm sure there were some volunteers, but I would be surprised if the Auction Mart volunteered itself as a free venue - its a commercial livestock and farming market.

I for one never thought for an instance this was some kind of charity or community event. It may have been dreamed up at a knitting circle but having read exactly the same blog posts as everyone else, I always assumed it was a commercial venture. So the safest way for the people involved to do it was always as a limited company, otherwise they may have had to stand substantial financial losses themselves. Now, after a couple of successful years, I simply assume that the Yarndale company assets go towards next years festival so that deposits for the venue, peoples expenses etc, can be paid from the company. It all seems logical and above board to me.

I'm not saying this is what actually happened, just that from reading Lucy's blog, this is how I thought the event had come about, when I actually bothered to think about it.

I guess it just shows how differently people read a blog post. I don't regret my bunting triangles or my mandala. I enjoyed being part of a phenomenon and was always aware that Yarndale was a commercial venture. I spent my own money going to the event both years and never dreamed it was anything but a commercial yarn festival, just like Wonderwool Wales (started to promote the wool industry in Wales :) We do have a lot sheep!) or Ally Pally or any of the other wool festivals that happen around the country.

Obviously we all read very different motives into the same set of events. I personally don't find any of what has happened offensive as I never saw it happening any other way.

Cheers, O. xx

[Jen B.]

Even though Yarndale is not a charity as such, it really seems to benefit the community in so many ways. The event brings crafters and small business owners together to show their wares, which is a huge benefit to them and the communities from which they come. Yarndale also brings so many visitors to the community in which it's held, which I'm sure really helps so many ancillary businesses there like cafes and inns (not to mention sheep shearers!). Also, just the pure inspiration of seeing all of this come together is enormously beneficial for the community -- everyone walking around the town probably was seriously uplifted by seeing all the yarn-y signs and happy people. Those of us who live no where near the town where Yarndale was held also benefitted by the thrill of hearing about it all happen. Seeing the all the many beautiful mandalas was so inspiring I'm sure to many people. Anyone who sent in a mandala this year or bunting last year helped and inspired so many people! The universe must be grateful for the generosity of spirit that led you to make a beautiful gift that benefitted and uplifted so many. I'm sure the universe will thank you in return by some random act of generosity that helps and uplifts you!

[Lyn]

Before any of the followers jump on me for my previous comment I'd just like to say that it was prompted by Lucys Facebook post of 3 hours ago cheerily asking for fab pumpkin pie recipes.

Perhaps after the baking she might be able to find time to answer all the questions raised regarding Yarndale.

[Lyn]

Can I have my bunting and mandala back please? If I'd known that the expense of buying the yarn and the work I put into it was to line someone elses pocket I certainly wouldn't have done them. You can refund me the postage too please.

Perhaps I'm stupid but I honestly believed Yarndale was a community thing with profits going back into the community. How wrong I was.