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krakenmeup.bsky.social
Valonia
@krakenmeup.bsky.social
63 followers 79 following 99 posts
Rumours of feline piracy. Living on the Thames. Constantly proving that gravity favours the uncoordinated. Marina hand, duck herder, gardener, spinner, and knitter. Married to a morris dancer. 🦆🌱🧶🏴‍☠️🐈🐈
@the_pirate_cat on Twitter.
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krakenmeup.bsky.social
I looked up Nelson's nose, @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social !
October 30, 2025 at 4:07 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
Visited HMS Warrior and @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social

May have cried a little... 🥰
Prow and figurehead of HMS Warrior where we were married 20 years ago. The Spinnaker Tower is in the background. Some big wheel turny things... Rigging. Looking up from the deck of HMS Warrior.
October 30, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Valonia
sjpat3.bsky.social
Saw an exhibit last Sunday of Penny Sisto's quilts. The docents said people give her their scrap fabric so she can create away. She makes ~200 quilts a year. Here's one, titled "Kat." Penny hails from the Orkney Islands. Web site: Penny Sisto | Offical Website share.google/PnPbmc8ksRvK...
Photo of a quilt by Penny Sisto titled "Kat." Quilt shows a woman holding a cat while standing in front of a mountain backdrop.
October 8, 2025 at 4:10 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
A neighbour asked if I had any scraps weaving I didn't want. She turned those scraps into these:

#weaving #handwoven #sewing #fiberarts #handmade #bags #homemade
October 8, 2025 at 3:21 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
From dye pot to desk. Ryeland yarn (one of the oldest English sheep breeds), dyed with black walnut leaves, and Ryeland yarn dyed with white onion skins. Both have an alum mordant. I'm really pleased with how these shades turned out.

Fleece from Ryelands Farm, Oxford. 🐑

#FiberArt
October 3, 2025 at 2:19 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
The water is clear today. #Thames
October 3, 2025 at 11:16 AM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
Firing up the little dye pot for experiments with Ryeland home-spun yarn. 🧶 #NaturalDyes #NaturalDyeing
September 29, 2025 at 12:52 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
Visiting Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard next month for our 20th wedding anniversary (married on HMS Warrior) but I'm most excited about visiting The Mary Rose for the 1st time (more excited than on my wedding day, don't tell the hubby). I may even cry, soz in advance, @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social
maryrosemuseum.bsky.social The Mary Rose Museum @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social · Sep 29
It's hard to believe that this oak leaf, found on the wreck of the Mary Rose, fell from a tree during the reign of Henry VIII.

Wonder if the tree it fell from ended up on a ship too?
An 480+ year old oak leaf, found on the Mary Rose.
September 29, 2025 at 9:49 AM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
It definitely feels like a sock knitting kind of day. 🧶🧦🍂🍁
A cake of multicolour yarn in autumnal colours of reds, yellows, pink, and greens beside the cuff and body of a sock on double pointed needles. The background is a pair of legs in black jeans, a wooden floor, and the corner of a blueish rug. I really should think about better backgrounds in photos.
September 29, 2025 at 9:35 AM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
It's so quiet this afternoon that Peter is running the marina office.
Peter, a mallard duck, stands on a wooden pontoon with boats in the background. His posture says he's the boss. He is, in fact, not the boss, but we dont have the heart to tell him.
September 25, 2025 at 2:40 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
Hello!

Sorry, forgot about the butterfly place. Is it still a safe and jovial space to be?

How are you?
Black cat, Malkin, rolling in autumn leaves whilst out on an autumn walk. A pair of human legs and feet in black jeans and brown boots are in the bottom of the photo, thus proving the photographer hasn't got any fashion sense.
September 21, 2025 at 9:28 AM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
Happy Christmas to everyone except the person who hurt Joy...

#WhoIsJoy? #Christmas #ChristmasWishes #ChristmasGift
The inscription in a second-hand knitting pattern book reads, 'To Mum, with love, from, [scribbled out name] & Joy' Intriguing...
December 25, 2024 at 10:10 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
Hello, my name is Malkin, and I'm your lamp checker today...

All seems in order here.
#Caturday #CatsWithJobs
Black cat, Malkin, is checking to make sure the lamp works fine. Apparently, her brother told her there were spiders, so she came to check for herself. Still no spiders.
November 30, 2024 at 5:52 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
Last week, it was sweaters for a ferret. This week, it's winter garb for my colleague's Zippy! #ShowMeYourKnits #Knitting
November 30, 2024 at 5:23 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
Questioning your life choices. #caturday
A black boat cat sits on a wooden pontoon. There is floodwater and an open gate before him, but he is turning his head to look back at his human to ask whether it's time to give up this pirating malarkey.
November 30, 2024 at 3:07 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
Ably assisted by Pye during boat checks this morning. We removed a large branch caught under the stern of a boat, but other than that, 100+ boats are doing well in these flooded conditions. 🐈‍⬛️ #Thames #abingdon #flooding #Caturday #ukflooding #cats #catsofbluesky #catswithjobs
November 30, 2024 at 11:36 AM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
The Mayor of Ock Street's journey to the Abingdon Extravaganza is a little soggy this morning. @abingdonmorrisatmd.bsky.social #morrisdancing #abingdon
November 30, 2024 at 11:33 AM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
Here, on the upper #Thames, it takes two days for the river level to react to rainfall. We flooded this morning. #stormbert #Abingdon #UKFlooding ##UKWeather
November 26, 2024 at 10:56 AM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
The park is now flooded, and our swan family is quite chipper about it. #Thames #StormBert #Swans #flooding
November 26, 2024 at 9:06 AM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
knitted a jumper for a ferret...
#knitting #ferret #sweater #jumper
Stylish in the ferret world, this season's must have is a striped jumper. Not sure Tito agrees. Tito is overwhelmed by how handsome he looks in his new jumper.
November 23, 2024 at 2:32 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
The daily lamp inspection, Saturday 23rd November. Light works fine. No spiders. Will check again tomorrow.
#caturday #CatsWithJobs
It's a tough gig, this lamp checking business. Also, have you seen how lovely my coat looks in this light?
November 23, 2024 at 2:20 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
The electrician is here.
An energy saving bulb in a silver desk lamp. It needs checking daily by Pye, a black-cat-come-electrician. He's totes qualified for this. You should see his CV. The bulb is fine, apparently.
November 22, 2024 at 2:45 PM
krakenmeup.bsky.social
We're part of a wildlife project to save watervoles. It involves humanely trapping and "dispatching" [not my term] mink.

We had our first trapped mink today.

The dispatcher has been.

As an animist, I'm struggling with this.

Are we doing the right thing?

#help #advice #guilt
November 22, 2024 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Valonia
thelabandfield.bsky.social
This is the first bird extinction in mainland Europe in 500 years.

1400 birds are globally threatened with extinction.

230 are Critically Endangered.

The Slender-billed Curlew is just the latest in over 200 bird extinctions since 1500. 😢🪶🧪
joshlukedavis.com Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · Nov 18
well, here it is lads

after combing through some 1,400 records, it looks like the slender-billed curlew is indeed extinct and the last known photo taken in 1995 was probably at the point it slipped beneath the waves 🦉🧪
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
The slender-billed curlew is declared extinct
This is the first mainland European bird declared extinct in 500 years.
www.nhm.ac.uk
November 18, 2024 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Valonia
joshlukedavis.com
well, here it is lads

after combing through some 1,400 records, it looks like the slender-billed curlew is indeed extinct and the last known photo taken in 1995 was probably at the point it slipped beneath the waves 🦉🧪
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
The slender-billed curlew is declared extinct
This is the first mainland European bird declared extinct in 500 years.
www.nhm.ac.uk
November 18, 2024 at 10:13 AM