Granny Knit Knit

Had a lovely bargain hunting weekend - two table top sales and two car boots and the best ones don't start till Easter - can't wait. My girls call me 'granny knit knit' so I couldn't resist this one - her little card reads 'God couldn't be everywhere so he invented Grandmas' - so sweet and the little one peeking over her shoulder is just like my Ellie ... she has a little bag of scraps that she gets out whenever she is here while I am sewing or knitting .. I am looking out for a little toy sewing machine this year because she takes such an interest which is more than my girls ever did. I learnt to knit and crochet at my Nana's side - she was a tiny wee Geordie gal who had such a hard start in life. Whenever I see press reports of poverty in this country my blood boils - Nana's parents died from the influenza outbreak at the start of WW1 in Newcastle - her and her younger siblings were put into a convent and this is when she started to cut her ties with the Catholic Church as the nuns were horrid - she had to walk to school in bare feet and was put into service at the age of 14. She worked six days a week from dawn till dusk - cleaning, making the coal fires and had a couple of hours to herself on a Sunday when she took a walk to her cousin's house ... this privilege was quite often withdrawn for the slightest reason. Somehow she came south to London and met Grandad - I remember staying for weekend with her and my first completed project was a little knitted pixie and I can still picture him now.

Picked up some useful crafting bits and pieces - one tablecover with monogram and crochet border which was falling apart (£1) so I have finished the job and will use the border to make some vintage style pillowcases for my bed; bags of daisies, embroidery thread, ric rac (one in particular is enormous), rose buds, an old bridesmaid dress in a gorgeous floral broderie anglais which I will take apart and use for patchwork; sewing & craft books. All in all a most satisfying weekend .................