May 9, 2026
Newsletter - Wool, Whittling & Wildlife
This new jumper will probably be one of the longest, most intricate jumpers I’ve done. I’ve been working on it a lot, but so far I’m still on the yoke section. The wool is so thin and delicate, it’s almost going to be just an ornamental jumper. It’s easy for it to snag and break, so I will have to be uncharacteristically careful once it’s finished. As I’m knitting, occasionally I’m having to go back if I do something wrong in the pattern. It’s so small you can barely see the individual stitches, but I don’t want there to be any mistakes.
I made a little fisherman guy in wood whittling by following a tutorial on YouTube. It’s really fun to do, and if you follow the steps you’ll be guaranteed to get something good out of it. I’ve now ordered a bunch more basswood blocks to make more little characters. The YouTuber I found has a whole 1x1 inch series of little carvings; I’m just going to follow those as part of my learning progression. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLMAepy0T3HzM8sSwb2TDMNa_O1iK1NZ8 He also paints them, and they look quite lifelike. In theory, it takes 30 minutes to 1 hour for each character, so it’s an ideal wind-down portable hobby. Let’s see how it goes.
On the field, I made some great progress on the pond system. I’ve managed to get gravity working and have three ponds fill up over a 50 metre spacing. The proof of concept is finally there, so I can now expand it and operationalise it. In the future, I might get some IBC tanks to place at the top of the field to act as the initial storage tank before I fill up the ponds. I’ll probably set up my current system now and then upgrade in the winter.
I’ve found my first toad in a little pool of pond water. Yet again proving that if you build it, they will come.
In the garden, I’ve planted out all the tomato and chilli seedlings that I can fit. The overflow will probably go to the field, and I’ll see how far they can grow without a lot of supervision. In the garden, I made some wire cages, which I haven’t done before, but it’s to stop rodents, or birds or squirrels from eating the young plants. I planted out some basil a few weeks ago, and they just get picked out so much that they just disappear. I don’t want that to happen to my precious seedlings. Only mice should still be able to get through the mesh, but hopefully it’s enough of a deterrent.
I’ve continued with my craft room makeover. The final reveal should probably come next week, but I made one more painting to fill in part of the wall.
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Charlotte Leysen
Hi there I'm Charlotte from London and I am a Millennial hobbiest. By that I mean I love making things, for both the process and the outcomes. On this blog I talk about all the things I'm working on and learning each week. On some projects I will go into a bit more detail on what I did and my experience through it.
Some facts about me:
- I am not a perfectionist, preferring to complete something than to attempt to make something flawless.
- I am in a constant cycle of building up inspiration, executing the ideas, then winding down to reflect and regenerate.
- I am interested in almost anything that can be made from scratch using nature / natural materials.
