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Well, we had a lovely holiday in the Lake District. The weather was good, although compared to Devon, cold. The holiday cottage was lovely, the scenery beautiful and yes, it was as nice as everyone says. Our daughter and her boyfriend came down from Glasgow for a few days, which was great. Ian found some information on Hardknott Fort and immediately everyone wanted to go. I'm not overally bothered about Roman forts in the middle of nowhere, but thought it prudent to agree. I then found out that Hardknott Pass is supposed to be a 'rollercoaster' of a road. This is it:

If you click on the image to see a close up it gets more scary. Now, if I tell you that two things I dislike are:
Fairground rides, and
Heights
you may see that I didn't enjoy the journey across the Hardknott Pass. It doesn't look as bad on this photo as it does in real life, and, it is BUSY! This means there is a lot of slow manoeuvring as cars are trying to pass each other. I won't mention my holding my head in my hands and whimpering behaviour, very reminiscent of my gran (something I thought I would never do). Anyway, as ever, all things pass and eventually we arrived at the fort. The scenery was amazing, the fort was interesting and it was full of sheep. Here are two for you to admire:

Pretty aren't they?

Off again?

We are off on holiday for a week tomorrow, this time the Lake District. Never been there before, so hope it's as good as everyone says it is. I am hoping to do the following:
Long walks around lakes - flat if possible
Visit all wool shops in Cumbria
Spend a fortune in Lakeland HQ shop
Take a trip on the steamer boat
Eat every evening at a posh restaurant (ok, getting carried away, eat out at least once)

Husband wishes to
Walk up mountains with a packed lunch (made by wife)
Spend evenings relaxing in holiday cottage after eating lovely meal (prepared by wife)

We asked our son - now home from uni for the summer break (4 months long - studying music is exceedingly tiring) if he would like to come with us. Unfortunately 'the Lake District holds nothing for me' was the answer. That's it, Joe, write off an entire county and area of outstanding natural beauty without visiting it yourself. So, orders in the shop will be processed and posted on Tuesday 27 May.

Knit like the wind .....

Well, you won't believe the amount of knitting I have managed over the last couple of weeks. So, let the photos begin....

This is the bag to match my niece's hat. Not exactly rocket science, but I am sure a 6 year old will like it.

Finished at last, the alpaca socks for friend. The yarn is lovely, very soft but a little oiled, I am sure they will fluff up once they have been washed.

Now the socks knitted in Jacky by Easyknits. The yarn really is super, 100% Bluefaced Leicester, it proved to be really very strong to withstand the rubbish knitting and frogging it was subjected to. Pleased with these.

I have been knitting up some of the Old Piggery Kits. The yarn is lovely to knit with and the kits are interesting and quick to make. So, small knitted bag agove, Fingerless mitts and hat below. I have another couple of kits to make up and photos of these will follow.


What have you finished in the last couple of weeks?

Beautiful Bootees

Last week, Maggie from Daisy Dumpling ordered some Coldharbour Mill organic yarn from us. She rang on Friday to say she had received the yarn and hoped to start making gorgeous things for her shop over the weekend. Imagine my surprise when I found this photo in my inbox on Saturday morning.

Aren't they lovely? Maggie sells fabulous hand made baby clothes and accessories at Daisy Dumpling - do have a look.

Back to Work

We have returned from Wonderwool Wales and the Brecon Beacons where we spent a few very relaxing days. Wonderwool was great fun, we met lots of our suppliers and enjoyed meeting a few new ones! The scenery around Builth Wells was fabulous and we thoroughly enjoyed the drive from there to our holiday cottage just outside of Abergavenny.

We did some walking, a little shopping in Hay on Wye and had a fabulous drive through the Black Mountains. Just to prove that we did some walking, here is a picture of Ian with a mountain backdrop. We were actually there, but I must admit it does look as though the scenery has been painted on.


I haven't mentioned the additions made to my personal stash at Wonderwool. There were only a few, but did include some fabulous handdyed alpaca/silk and Beaumont Braf from Jenny Cook and a skein of Knitwitches new cashmere silk. Restrained, wasn't I? Perhaps a photo of these later.

Wonderwool Wales

Tomorrow we are off to Wonderwool Wales - just looking, not buying! If only..... said husband.

Anyway, for those of you that can't make it, remember you can buy lots of British yarn from the shop (sneaky self-promotion here). I have put a photo of a sheep for you to look at whilst I am away. This is Shelia and she lives at Washbrook Farm in Kingsbridge. Sandy, her owner, is the producer of Proud Yarns which we sell in the shop. They are really lovely yarns and I think that the standard at Wonderwool will have to be very high indeed if it is to match her yarn.

Have a good weekend.

A Lovely Hat (not Horrid Socks)

You may remember that I knitted a lovely scarf for Mother's day. Well, my soon to be 6 year old niece apparently loved the scarf. Everytime she sees it she says 'look at the beautiful colours, Nanny, just look' and holds and strokes it. Obviously taste and colour sense should be encouraged in the young and so I thought that it would be a good idea to make something with the yarn for Emily's birthday. The yarn, which is Handmaiden Silk in Vintage is quite fine and despite intensive trawling through books, internet and Ravelry, I couldn't find anything suitable.
Eventually, it does take time for ideas to come through these days, I hit upon the idea of knitting two strands together. As only half of the yarn was wound into a ball, I had to enlist the help of son, home from Uni (again), for the second time in one day! Goodness! Still, he was very patient and agreed at the end that the yarn is indeed, lovely. He did mention though, that he personally didn't want anything knitted in it. I feel I have heard this sentiment before
Anyway, I found a pattern for a beanie hat with flowers. The gauge was correct, well, I assumed it was, after spending a whole afternoon looking for a pattern, frankly I didn't much care. It didn't take very long and look:

I particularly liked the flowers as these were easy to make and I haven't done these before, being a very plain sort of person. It was such fun, I have immediately embarked on a matching bag.
Sorry, what's that? What about the two pairs of socks? What socks? Don't know what you're talking about.