Everything's coming up... well, pink actually!

As a little girl, I never wore pink. Maybe my mother thought it would clash a bit with my freckles and red hair, but my favourite dresses were both blue, one royal blue with with a red-spotted sash around the waist, and the other was in a mid-blue and white toile du jouy type of fabric. No, pink never featured much in my life, in fact it wasn't even a colour I particularly liked. I didn't dislike it you understand, I just never thought of me as a pink person. Well, then I became the pinkfairygran, by which time pink had begun to creep into my life. Pink accessories began to appear in my wardrobe, nothing more adventurous than scarves or gloves, though pink wellies are on the agenda!

But as an adult I have always loved pink flowers , and the pink rose and gerberas are among my favourites. I love daisy-type flowers, even ordinary little daisies, and the flowers on feverfew, right up to the big and blousy type above. I have no luck growing them however, these are from a bouquet my husband bought me at the weekend... one advantage of letting him do the shopping on his way home from work is that I get a bunch of pretty flowers!

But we have lots of pink flowers in the garden, like the little cranesbill above, and the beautiful foxglove below. These both grow like mad in the garden, in fact down at the bottom of the garden we have a bit of wild area where foxgloves and grasses are left to their own devices, along with opium poppies and honeysuckle which rampages over and amongst the lot of them. We also have tidier pink shrubs, like one of the spirea family, and peonies, as well as an unidentified plant or two.

Now I know a lot of ladies love to get flowers on Valentine's Day. I love to get flowers any old day, and don't celebrate Valentine's Day anyway. But last year, out looking round shops, not something we do often as I find it totally boring as a rule, we were in a lovely cookshop, and this fab kettle caught my eye. The shape of it is seductive, you can smooth your hands over its pink roundedness, like a piglets' bottom I would imagine, and the colour is just gorgeous, and goes with the kitchen perfectly. Not that it's pink you understand, but I do have a tiled splashback which is of a patchwork design I devised twenty years ago, with cream, beige, coffee, and the odd pink one here and there. Anyway, I was lusting over this kettle, positively drooling, and my husband asked the lady to wrap it, and said HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY as he presented me with it. Not as romantic as flowers to some maybe, but it was what I wanted more than flowers.

And so with a pink kettle you have afternoon tea, with a few pink accessories. The cosy hides a brown betty teapot, and the plate came courtesy of a friend, along with a matching teacup and saucer, neither of which my husband will wash as he is afraid of breaking them. Again, they please me enormously, visually. And the French fancy pleases me inwardly!

Some of you will know I make my own cards, for birthdays and Christmas and as notecards too. These are just a small sample of my current stock, with a pink theme.

I love my journals, collect them and can't resist having a nosey in a stationery shop when I get the chance. The one below has a lovely pink leather cover, so I can write in the journal, take it out and put it with my others, which are kept in an old suitcase. I will probably decorate the cover of it, as it is rather plain cardboardy type, fine when concealed within this gorgeous pink leather, but a bit nude and sad without. The wonderfully soft pink leather gloves were a Christmas present from my youngest son several years ago, and I love wearing them. I was a bit precious about them at first, not wanting to wear them in case they got soiled or spoiled, but then I realised beautiful things are meant to be used as well as admired, and by wearing them, well... I can use and admire at the same time!

A while ago I showed my collection of pink wool, this is just a small part of it, being gathered for a comforter/afghan or 'snuggly' as I call them. The idea is that you put all the wools in a basket, and just draw out a couple at a time to work together, knitting in garter stitch, changing colours every row or second row, but leaving a long length of the wools when you start and finish, so it is ready-fringed when you have finished. I have yet to start this, I am enjoying seeing all the wools massed together on a shelf in my craft bookcase, so much so I am loathe to start using them!! But I will, maybe in autumn, which is the season to be doing something like a snuggly, don't you think? When your thoughts turn to Sunday tea of crumpets and French Fancies or a slice of Victoria sandwich.... of warming thick homemade soups for Saturday lunch, with home made bread... of comforting hotpot with dumplings, and sponge puddings with homemade custard... of walking in the woods, kicking up crispy leaves, wrapped up in warm coats and scarves and gloves, and going home to hot chocolate or frothy coffee and a bun. Not something to knit when it's warm and sunny and salads the order of the day for lunch! Who needs a comforting snuggly then?

I love romantic comedies, and anything with Hugh Grant along those lines is fine by me. As is everything with Julia Roberts, and as these have a pink cover, I thought I would include them... you will see another favourite in there, both in film and book form, anything by Jane Austen is good for just relaxing on a quiet afternoon, any time of year.. though best in winter or autumn I find.

And it wouldn't be me without a mention of books. I was surprised to find there are quite a lot in my collection which have pink covers, these are just some of them.

Amazing, for a non-pink person, just how much pink there is around me. I was going to include a photo of my 'pink'-ing shears, but thought that might be stretching it a bit too far!!

Have a lovely week ladies.