Wednesday, March 12, 2014

City Views, Country Dreams

Good afternoon from New York.

Last weekend, our country did its annual switch over to Daylight Savings Time.  It's grand coming home from work most days before the streetlights go on.  It will also be grand when the weather warms up to a consistent spring-like temperature.  Yes, we've enjoyed 60 degrees F today, but clouds are now arriving to bring rain that might turn to snow overnight and result in chilling our air back down below the freezing point tomorrow.

Enough is apparently not enough.


I decided to bring home some pink and coral tulips home along with my groceries.  Just seeing these blooms does help convince me that winter is in its final days.

One effect of the imminent spring arrival is the notion that we might soon not be wishing to wear so many woolen layers.

I've now celebrated this notion by offering international delivery to customers over at my Foakley Arts etsy shop.  Those of you who visit the shop will notice that I am keeping the same modest shipping fee for domestic or international deliveries.  I am hoping that this might entice some of you folks who live abroad to sample some of my knits.

Since I do love to knit, I plan to continue adding items to the shop as the months go by.  I may also be adding some non-wool knits and even some other examples of my creativity.  

Thank you all for your visits and comments.  I know that I have hinted about a possible spring holiday across the Atlantic.  However, some recent expensive visits to my dentist have encouraged me to postpone that holiday dream for a later season.

21 comments:

  1. I love those warm colours in your photograph... the promise of spring is most welcome although we don't have daylight saving here for another couple of weeks. What a shame about your trip... our date will have to wait!

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  2. Oh Frances...how sad that the dentist has knocked your holiday plans awry. Maybe next year....and come to the West country!

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  3. I am wondering in my generally silly and facetious way whether you could actually knit flowers - I mean seeing as the frost will soon put an end to the very few that have so far surfaced. Everything bravely makes a start and then the weather goes into reverse gear - 'Ha! Fooled you' - it is saying. 'Don't think the world is warming.' Actually if the world were warming - and I rather think it is - wouldn't you expect more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? The warmer the sea the less CO2 it holds - but back to knitting. We have silk flowers, but I haven't seen woollen flowers - I don't mean silk flowers made out of wool I mean flowers that look as though they've come from a different planet - glorious explosions of colour and soft texture that you could put in a vase or even (you can get waterproof wool can't you? just ask the sheep) in gardens as well. Would the colours fade in the sun, however? Well, chance would be a fine thing! Your chance to be the first, Frances!

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  4. Beautiful tulips! We had snow last night and very cold temps today -- but are promised warming tomorrow.

    Those dentist trips will knock a huge hole in the budget. So sorry...

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  5. Hi Frances,
    I'm so glad to see that you bought some colourful tulips to cheer up up the late winter days in NYC.
    Sorry to hear that you had to have dental work - never a nice thing and hard on the wallet!
    Take care!
    xo Ingrid

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  6. Lovely blog as always my friend, and the tulips are beautiful. Loving Foakley Arts etsy shop. WOW!

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  7. Nice colors, we are waiting for spring, had one nice day this week…. but, then it turned grey again… have a nice weekend!

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  8. Oh dear, holidays are so much nicer than visits to the dentist! Here's hoping that's all behind you now and you can plan your trip for later in the year, when I do hope we can meet :)

    Good luck with the Etsy shop expansion x

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  9. What a shame about your holiday plans. We have a reverse situation here. When we left England Alec had started orthodental treatment. Now we have to make refular trips back to the U.K whilst it continues.
    Xx

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  10. Sad about the postponed visit, but I’m sure you have a bright and lovely smile.

    Wishing you that spring will not have to be postponed and that your walks will be resumed in due course.

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  11. The colors in your photo of tulips, yarn and cloth goes so well together – it’s vibrant and in perfect harmony. I thought about you looking at the old building that collapsed in NYC – they said some of the pipes in those old buildings are from the late 1800s! I hope your building has been updated. Spring is around the corner – here it is warm already and blossoms have suddenly appeared on many trees.

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  12. You and Helene Hanff both! She wrote about the dental bills and the effect it had on her travel plans.

    Your colours are very cheering, I hope the spring stays kind. x

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  13. those tulips are cheerful! warmer weather is surely on the way. oh dear about the dentist, i hope you can start planning your trip again soon frances. and good idea about the shipping in your shop!

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  14. Hello Frances - Thanks for stopping by. Spring hasn't quite sprung here in Scotland yet but we're working on it!

    Your knitting is beautiful (good to see your Etsy purchasers are aware of this!). When I look at the complexity of your patterns a Scottish word comes to mind - "fankle" - is that a word familiar to you? It means that if I ever attempted to knit with so many balls of wool I just know I would get into a "fankle" (entangled in all the different yarns!).

    I am delighted to know that you still participate in the old (more pleasurable) way of communicating. In my opinion it is just so satisfying. As regards our postage stamps - by coincidence - I recently photographed a selection I have gathered over time, that I use on my correspondence, depending upon who I am sending to, or the mood I am in before I post! Next time I blog I will put them there for you to see.

    Philosophically speaking, better to be in NY with a smile than somewhere in Europe with a grimace eh?

    I hope you now have a spring in your step and show off your winning smile at every opportunity! xx

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  15. Hi Frances!
    Thank´s for your sweet comment on my blog! I see you have some lovely tulips on the table, I hope the spring soon will come to NY...
    Oh it´s so boring (expensive and painfull!)to go to the dentist...I hate it and I must go next month!
    Well, take care and have a great week.
    Love Titti

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  16. We've a vase full of tulips sitting on our table too - and for the same reason, to entice the spring in. As you saw we had the most wonderful weekend weather, but back in Wales it's cold, grey and rain is lashing against the window! Lovely to 'see' you! Cx

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  17. Que entrada tan bonita, cuanto color, besos desde España

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  18. Hello Frances, hope spring is now come a bit closer for you as well. We have colder weather again, up and down but the frosty nights, so far, were never too bad. I adore your knitting, wonderful colours and patterns. Soon you will be showing us photos of Central Park in spring, I am sure. Hope that you can soon pick up on your traveling plans.

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  19. Gorgeous colours,Frances! I seem to have missed this post so sorry for my late visit! Such a shame your dental bills will postpone your trip....I have just been re-reading '84 Charing Cross Road' where a similar thing happened! Good luck with your shop full of treasures, and I hope you are having some sunshine and springtime this week.
    Helen xxx

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  20. Warm tulip colours and warm knitting go together very well just now, and how prettily you have put them together! (will it EVER be Spring this year?)
    Sympathies as to dental work. I know my own dentist's office far too well and admire the landscapes in the framed photos of his own nice holidays.
    Snowdrops in your previous post - a welcome sign of Spring!

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  21. The colours in your photo are out of this world.

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