Compare and Contrast

 I realised the other day that I tend to use the same half dozen or so hat patterns whilst we are travelling and restrict the amount of yarn packed in the van. Consequently many of the recent hats are simply dark brown and white as the yarn has been Wensleydale/Zwartble and white Shetland.

On our last trip I had some slightly thicker yarn spun during Tour de Fleece, Light grey Jacob,  darker grey and white Ryeland with me and the same pattern.

I'm now trying to decide which version I like best .I still have to wash and block the grey version but having tried both of them on I do like it.

                                                                      Which do you prefer ? 

Different yarn, different needle size, same pattern, I may have to try this again on our next trip.

Cobles and Ganseys

 Bridlington Sailing Coble Festival is an annual event to celebrate the history of these small boats.

This year was slightly different for me as whilst Ian was out sailing in the bay, I was spinning and talking about British Sheep Breeds alongside Deb from Propergansey who had a selection of old and new ganseys as well as a wealth of knowledge about them.

We spent five nights on the campsite so we could have some time together before things got busy.

I enjoy the walk from the campsite to the town, depending on the time I sometime break it at the model village cafe.

Competitive bunting hanging for the best dressed coble.

all watched over by some of the commercial fishing fleet

The main fishing here is lobster

The cobles are somewhat smaller.

The festval was based around the boat shed which contained displays about the historic boats along

 with examples of lobster pot making, lobster and crabs, seaglass crafts and coastal paintings. 

This lovely small coble is called Covid as it was built during the lockdown in contrast to some of the boats that are more than one hundred years old.

As Ian was out sailing on Gratitude most of the weekend, I was a coble widow haha, however Deb from Propagansey based in Whitby suggested that I join her on her stall with my spinning and knitting.

a small display as it had to fit into my backpack whilst travelling.

I may have spent some money! I now have a fishermans smock to slip on over my jumper when it cools down and a wool gansey (machine knit)

Deb is a walking encyclopaedia about ganseys and several people bought in old ones to show her, amazingly she can often tell who had knitted them from individual patterns and construction.

I must admit that knitting a full size gansey would be a challenge, I've got as far as the shoulder straps on the sample gansey.

It was a good, busy weekend and after five nights we made a move south to our next destination, unaware of quite how hot it was going to get.

An amble around Bridgnorth

 Three nights at Bridgnorth last week at what is rapidly becoming one of our favourite sites. Not many sites have a duck pond, peacocks randomly wandering around and apparently the occasional deer.

A short bus journey drops you off at the town centre, the Severn Valley Railway or the Cliff Railway.

I do think that the carriages could do with some TLC though, I then made my way over to the castle. Not a lot remains of the castle and the angle it is leaning at may be a bit concerning. The leaning tower of Pisa has nothing on this.

The gardens were very well kept and a decent iced latte was obtained from the coffee van.

 Last time we visited Bridgnorth was May 2025 and it felt very different now all the flowers were in bloom around the town.

For me the hidden gem was the 1937 Majestic Cinema, I was allowed to step inside between films and take some photos.

Meanwhile, in the lower town, we have more black and white buildings including a yellow one.

Some interesting lanterns adorned some of the houses.

All in all a good day out, we will be returning and will post some more interesting building when we do,

Soed Idee Jubileum week thirty one

 Its been a really busy week of sorting out and packing, travelling and speaking to people so I finally finished this weeks band on Saturday morning and added the locations last night. The next couple of bands will probably be delayed due to Festivals so I will play catch up if necessary.

Messing about on the railway

 We decided to have a couple of days away last week and took advantage of a free nights camping with one of our favourite campsites in Shropshire. We stayed there last year but the railway wasn't running due to a landslip on the line,

This year, however, we made it to the Severn Valley Railway on what was the wettest day for some time.

We spent the day riding on the trains, visiting the museum, drinking coffee and hiding from the constant drizzle.

mail train carriage