Thursday 26 November 2009

All heart.

Hearts. Fabric hearts, knitted hearts, felt hearts, paper hearts. Hearts everywhere you go these days. I love the shape, and have used it in embroidery, crochet, tapestry, papier mache, and, as you can see, knitting. I don't normally bother with Christmas presents for friends, preferring to make more of their birthdays, which I see as being more personal to them, but this year I decided to send a knitted heart to a handful of my closest/oldest friends, and these are examples of them. Each one has had a few drops of scented oil added to the filling... I have used a warm-scented honey and vanilla, figuring it would make a change from the usual Christmassy scents. I'm quite pleased with them....




I shall wrap them in pretty tissue, tie with flamboyant silky ribbon and make hand-made gift tags of the luggage label shape, just to make them a bit more special.
But there's no escaping the heart shape.... it is a very popular shape in crafts as most will know, but originally, according to Wikipedia, 'The heart has long been used as a symbol to refer to the spiritual, emotional, moral .... core of a human being.' It was widely believed to be 'the seat of the human mind', the word now being used to refer to the soul, the heart symbol representing romantic love, seen most frequently around the time of St Valentine's Day.
There are literally thousands of sayings to do with the heart - a few of my favourites are ...
'Train your head and hands to do, your head and heart to dare'. JOSEPH COTTER
'Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year'. RALPH WALDO EMERSON
'Within your heart, keep one still, small spot where dreams may go'. LOUISE DRISCOLL
And where would poets be without a heart? One of my favourite is 'i carry you in my heart' by e e cummings, which I have included in a past posting so won't repeat here. And of course Mr Wordsworth's heart filled with pleasure and danced with his daffodils.
Wendy Cope wrote a short poem entitled 'Valentine', which begins and ends with the lines ..'My heart has made its mind up, and I'm afraid it's you'. And Christina Rossetti in her poem 'A Birthday' wrote in the first verse of having a heart like 'a singing bird.... an apple tree.... a rainbow shell'.
Musicians and song-writers too, have the heart to thank for success. Where would Billy Ray Cyrus be without his 'Achey, breaky heart'? Bonnie Tyler without her 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'? McFly had 'The heart that never lies', whilst Michael Nyman had 'The heart seeks pleasure first'.
Writers of television series have made good use of the word heart too... HEARTBEAT, WILD AT HEART, WHERE THE HEART IS to name but three. (Actually they are the only three I can think of off the top of my head!)
There are many sayings associated with the heart.... 'Have a heart', having 'a heart of gold', then there's 'your hearts desire'.
Oh, and on a sweet note, who could forget LOVE HEARTS?
So, dear heart(s)... this is my daft little posting about hearts. Enjoy the rest of the week, and your weekend, and thanks for calling by again and leaving your comments.


12 comments:

Felicity Grace Terry said...

Not daft at all, I enjoyed your post on hearts. You keep being arty and blogging to yout hearts desire. Sorry, I couldn't resist it.

Marigold Jam said...

Lovely post I too have been doing the same thing - check out my blog pages:
http://marigoldjam.blogspot.com/2009/11/giveaway.html
and http://marigoldjam.blogspot.com/2009/11/little-hearts.html
They are so quick and easy to make and I am hoping will make very acceptable gifts!

Jane

The bike shed said...

I remember at my grandparents house, they used to eat hearts - not sure from what animal - we would never touch it.

And they would buy ox tongue too, and pigs trotters and pigs face to make braun.

Not that any of this has much to do with your post, but it jogged my memory.

Thanks for your recent comments - you would like very much, I think, the town I've just written about.

GerryART said...

Ah, yes, Hearts. I'm crocheting hearts for banners/valances to give as gifts. And, making one for myself.
Hearts are lovely.

Dawn said...

Those knitted hearts are beautiful. What lovely gifts.

TIGGYWINKLE said...

Lovely blog as usual PFG. I too am very partial to hearts. Our grand daughter Muffin(6) has just formed a friendship club called Rose Loveheart Club. She is also making loveheart tree decorations. See my latest blog.I am teaching her to knit and sew. Would love the pattern for the hearts Enjoyed your recent book blog, as we always seem to like the same books.

Quilting Cat said...

Oh wonderful hearts PFG, your knitting is so neat. Another lovely bglog. The word verification is ningnina!

Calico Kate said...

Lovely post and delicious hearts.
I gave a large (cushion sized) one to B with a key attached to the ribbon and a note that said 'You have the key to my heart' one wedding anne. Another year he had a patchwork heart on a card that said "you hold all the pieces of my heart" How cringingly OTT! Just as well he loves me back so I get forgiven!
I love the heart shape and a lot of my crafty bits are hearts this year too.
Really like those quotes PFG.
CKxx

Jennyff said...

I too have a thing about hearts at the moment, toyed with making one to hang in the bedroom but so many Christmas things to make, one day maybe. Yours are very pretty.

GerryART said...

Dear PFG,
I didn't realize that my Comment area required 'word verification' I must check it out.
The bag you are admiring is made from yarn left over from a Lucy-style larger sized crocheted bag. You know Lucy at Attic24[at]typepad[dot]com
Thanks for your concern, I feel more rotten today than yesterday. Yuk

A Bun Can Dance said...

Ah, lovely post about hearts, PFG!
In crafting, hearts can be such a cosy comfy image and I am intrigued that the image has become almost omnipresent in recent years - is there a 'gift' shop in the land which doesn't have at least one heart image? I wonder what it is about our current culture that makes this so? Like you I love to make filled hearts and use the shape in applique very often.
Your knitted hearts are lovely - so simple and effective - I'm sure your friends will be delighted with them.
D x

A Bun Can Dance said...

Happy Birthday to you, PFG !!
Wishing you much happiness, treats and good times today!
D xxx