last Saturday of the month? It must be Guild day !!

 I don't get to that many guild days so when it beeped on my phone calendar I decided to head over and show my face.

It was a miserable day with the sun trying to get through but not really succeeding, I jumped on the bus to town to grab a coffee and char with the early birds before heading out to Guild.

town was really quiet,

just a pigeon or two enjoying the beach in the old market square

Then it was on to Guild, I'm always amazed at the wealth of knowledge and talent gathered under one roof.

Needless to say, I didn't come home empty handed .

A Zwartble fleece and a good chunk of Saxon Merion to play with.

 

road trip knitting

 I'm thinking ahead to our next road trip and what to pack. I've discounted the lace as I don't think that I will be sitting outside much and pins in the van carpet does not sound pleasant. I do have a small cross stitch project that I'm doing for my sister in law so I'll slip that in along with the big band sampler.

As usual it's a charity shop find but I'd forgotten a certain baby called Fox so it's now being claimed by his grandmother.

Spinning wise I've opted for convenience  and a selection of Petes Fibre Studio fluff along with some polworth that need finishing.

For knitting I'll chuck in my knitting bag with some natural yarns and patterns along with a road knitting project using again Petes fluff, This was one of my TDF spins.

It will be interesting to see how much I get done !

Spinning wheels and horses

 Saturday saw two of us spinning in one of my favourite coffee houses, they even told us to stay as long as we wanted :-) you may recognise my fellow spinner if you have been following this blog for sometime.

Pete now dyes fibres and I took the opportunity to stock up with some for my next trip as I don't have time to prep much fibre and I spun most of my prepped stash for TDF

On Sunday we popped down to Clumber park where the East Midlands Ukulele Project have been putting on a season of concerts by local (ish) ukulele groups so I took my chair and my wheel and finished off the current bobbin.

On our way back to the car we spotted some familiar looking vehicles and had to investigate. Carters steam fair stopped touring in 2022 and many of their rides have new homes although Joby Carter continues to paint the traditional sign writing.

Alongside stood a wonderful showman's wagon, I do have a soft spot for these works of art.

                           Two rides and one stall were in use, the Dodgems with original signage.

and this carousel.

Not tiny guitars !!

 It's that time of year again, we are back in Cheltenham for the Ukulele festival of Great Britain which we have attended several times in the past. Rather than bore you with the details, I will just post a couple of photos.

 

I did find some new street art in Cheltenham as well (I spent my time spinning and drinking coffee)

All the string stuff ( embroidery etc in Warwick )

 As regular readers will know, I like to look for the textile and fibre related objects wherever we go and Warwick did not let me down. Firstly in the church, where I spent a few minutes knitting whilst waiting for Ian to come back down the tower, then I discovered the crypt.

This was the last place that I expected to find any knitting but they had stored the poppy decorations from 2018 in one of the alcoves.

                                                              Beautiful church as well.

                The next sighting of textiles was in a more predictable place, Warwick Castle.

We had revisited Warwick specifically to visit the castle and it is impressive. It was also one of the hottest days of the year so we have promised ourselves a return visit especially as some of the attractions,  jousting etc were not available as it was too hot for the animals. In the end we upgraded our tickets to annual passes which was cheaper than paying a second entry on a cooler day.

Inside the castle I found threads, this looks a little different to the body armour currently in my motorcycle jacket ! 

Underneath, this would be worn.

Embroidery was to be found as well as some tapestry, I suspect that on my next visit I may uncover more or at least be able to take photos without so many people hiding from the sun.

no fancy corner here, just continue with the pattern on the next side.

presumably the embroidery was executed in one long strip then added to the centre panel ?

Slightly different era but an applique bedspread/quilt

and a chair that might have seen too many backsides over the years

The building is very impressive and I will share more of that next time we visit. possibly later this year

I leave you with the archer, very good at the stories but hitting the target is always a challenge.