Beer, Cider and Hocus Pocus!

Last Saturday was the Beer and Cider Festival in Tenterden - woohoo! Particularly "woohoo" because it's in easy walking distance (though that might be better termed staggering distance on the way home!)



A highlight for me was the fact that there were two teams of Morris Dancers there to entertain us, and not just with their drinking prowess.

As my regular followers will know I love Morris Dancing and have already knitted quite a few mini-dancers - but this Saturday was the first time I'd met Hocus Pocus.



People who don't know Morris Dancers sometimes think they're all old blokes who wave hankies around - Hocus Pocus couldn't be further from that totally unjust stereotype if they tried! They're loud, sexy and above all FUN.



So obviously I grabbed my knitting needles as soon as I got home...





You can barely tell them apart, can you? ;-)





If you're in Kent their next date is tomorrow 1st July, at the Bell and Jorrocks, Frittenden at 8.30 pm and then on 15th July at the Joiners Arms in West Malling at 8pm.

Butterflies, boars and birds.

I do love a spot of alliteration ;-)

We went to the Rare Breed Centre today, to a craft fair. They'd told me it was full so I couldn't have a stall. It wasn't full, but neither did it seem to have many people with bulging wallets. Maybe next year.

We wandered through their butterfly tunnel:





These are the famous "Tamworth Two" and are supposedly similar to ancient wild boars. I'm puzzled why they escaped from an abattoir if, as the signs on their enclosure suggest, they are rare and endangered.



The centre also has several birds of prey. They are very beautiful, but it wasn't good to see them chained in small cages.

Walking in Winchelsea

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside... (come on, sing along)

These photos were all taken on a walk along Winchelsea seafront. I'm a sucker for information boards - I love to find out about the area and the wildflowers.



These are yellow horned poppies - you can see why!



Teasels - love the sculptural shape. I remember making hedgehogs out of them as a child.



A lagoon just off the beach was filled not with the seabirds we were expecting but by goats.



Another surprise. We decided this must be a testing area for roofing paint or something like that. Odd!



sea peas



You can just see the wind farm in the distance. I'm a fan (no pun intended!) I think they're quite beautiful.



Our gravel garden is starting to fill with wild flowers now, this beach look is what we're aiming for.



and finally... ;-)

Caption Winner!

Lots of fabulous captions, thank you everyone who entered. Some of you forgot to say which of the cards was your favourite - I know, it's so hard to choose!


Particles of Stone chose "To boldly kiss" as her favourite card and gave us the caption "Let's tie up the loose ends" ... not my favourite part of any knitting project I must confess!

I shall tweet you in your StoneDragonfly persona and wait to hear what you'd like to spend your free £5 on!

Caption Contest

To celebrate my new range of greetings cards (which all feature my knitted meerkats and have been professionally printed by MOO.com) I'd like to invite you to create a caption. It needs to be witty (naturally!) and above all SHORT.

Mr Nifty and I had no end of ideas - some of them just didn't it on the cards, and some were funny in themselves (well, we thought so!) but didn't really work on greeting cards.

I mean - would you send a card saying "We come in peace, shoot to kill"???



To enter: leave a comment with your suggested caption for the card above with Picard, Geordi and Worf AND tell me which card is your favourite. Some are below in the collage picture, others are being gradually added to my shops.

You can enter again with another caption if you also follow my blog.

A third caption can be suggested if you follow me on Twitter.

Two more entries if you blog about the contest and leave me a link with your caption.

The prize will be £5 to spend in www.niftyknits.folksy.com or the dollar equivalent (today it's $8.30) in www.niftyknits.Etsy.com

Good luck - live long and prosper! All entries must be in blog comments as I might miss them on twitter.


Contest closed!

Mint Julep

As my regular readers will know I do love entering giveaways - and I like winning even more! Talking Beads was quite a challenge, as I had to name a piece of jewellery and I don't usually go in for "arty" names. The beads were so pretty, such a lovely minty shade mixed with lilacy pink so I had to have a go - and Jean picked "mint julep" as the winning entry!



If you're tempted, you can find more of Jean's jewellery on her website http://www.talkingbeads.co.uk/ or on Etsy talkingbeads.etsy.com or Misi or www.talkingbeads.folksy.com

and of course - don't forget to check out her blog in case she does more giveaways!

If I had a million dollars...

My friend Littleworm introduced me to the fabulous BareNakedLadies' song (click to listen) just a year or so ago - I love it!


littleworm.etsy.com

If I had a million dollars
I'd buy you a house


Fishstikks.etsy.com

If I had a million dollars
I'd buy you furniture for your house
(Maybe a nice chesterfield or an ottoman)


blandysnorhal.etsy.com

And if I had a million dollars
Well, I'd buy you a K-Car
(A nice Reliant automobile)


bythewayside.etsy.com

If I had a million dollars I'd buy your love


HautTotes.etsy.com

If I had a million dollars
I'd build a tree fort in our yard


lauramccabe.etsy.com

If I had million dollars
You could help, it wouldn't be that hard
If I had million dollars
Maybe we could put like a little tiny fridge in there somewhere



jessicavintage.etsy.com

You know, we could just go up there and hang out
Like open the fridge and stuff
There would already be laid out foods for us


STARSGEMINI3.etsy.com

Like little pre-wrapped sausages and things


gingerblossoms.etsy.com

They have pre-wrapped sausages but they don't have pre-wrapped bacon
Well, can you blame 'em
Uh, yeah
If I had a million dollars
Well, I'd buy you a fur coat


amasattic.etsy.com

(But not a real fur coat that's cruel)
And if I had a million dollars
Well, I'd buy you an exotic pet
(Yep, like a llama or an emu)


jaicards.etsy.com

And if I had a million dollars
Well, I'd buy you John Merrick's remains
(Ooh, all them crazy elephant bones)


Abysmal.etsy.com

And If I had a million dollars I'd buy your love
If I had a million dollars
We wouldn't have to walk to the store
If I had a million dollars
Now, we'd take a limousine 'cause it costs more


carlosrios.etsy.com

If I had a million dollars
We wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner
But we would eat Kraft Dinner
Of course we would, we’d just eat more
And buy really expensive ketchups with it
That’s right, all the fanciest ke... dijon ketchups!
Mmmmmm, Mmmm-Hmmm

If I had a million dollars
Well, I'd buy you a green dress
(But not a real green dress, that's cruel)


bytheway.etsy.com

And if I had a million dollars
Well, I'd buy you some art
(A Picasso or a Garfunkel)


indigoflameworks.etsy.com

If I had a million dollars
Well, I'd buy you a monkey
(Haven't you always wanted a monkey)


cutedesigns.etsy.com

If I had a million dollars
I’d buy your love
If I had a million dollars
I'd be rich



My treasury will only be around for a couple of days, and I wanted this collection to last longer. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Wildlife SOS

I don't need to feel guilty about watching too much tv because I'm invariably knitting as well. Mr Nifty has no such excuse! We both enjoy Wildlife SOS so when we discovered they were having an open day we knew we had to go.


This is Simon Cowell, the only-slightly-eccentric chap who runs the charity. Follow him on twitter.

We weren't expecting morris dancers - but I'm always keen to see a new side so I can figure out how to knit them!



There were various stalls and entertainments, but the highlight was a quick wander around the hospital. We queued for half an hour, but it was worth it to make the acquaintance of this little patient.



Isn't he gorgeous? I can now say I have stroked a baby hedgehog - not at all prickly, more like a medium stiff hairbrush.



There were lots of birds in various stages of growth, some almost ready to go back to the wild.





Wildlife Aid are keen to educate the public to watch and wait, as so many seemingly abandoned babies are actually perfectly safe and have been left to sit tight while the parents are off foraging for food.




And finally: Happy Father's Day to the father of my children, my first (and current!) husband. The tree he's sitting on is amazing, isn't it? A huge yew, split down its middle many years back but still living on defiantly. That's how we intend to be (well, maybe not the split down the middle bit!)