Boats, bikes and steam

 August bank holiday saw us back at Papplewick Pumping Station for their classic bike weekend. We jumped in the car on the Sunday and popped down for a breakfast cob and a look round the bikes on show. Many of the bikes were also on show last year but there one or two that I quite fancied.

The boats were out and about on the cooling pond.

as were the geese.

Since most of the people were outside, we took the opportunity to head in and again admire the Victorian workmanship.

We have been supporters of this museum for many years, as you may have noticed that we visit 2 or 3 times a year.

speak soon xx

East coast break, windy with a touch of knitting .

 Last week we spent a couple of days over on the east coast (uk) Sutton on Sea to be exact. Whenever we have the van fully serviced we have to take out some of the stuff that usually stays in all year round. Tables, chairs, tool kits etc litter up our front room so that the engineers can get to all the electrics, water , gas and heating pipes to make sure all is safe. 

Every year I go through the mountain of stuff and remove anything that is surplus to requirements, originally I would take out a couple of carrier bags of bits and bobs that seemed like a good idea when we bought them but never get used but this year it was just a couple of cans of furniture polish from the back of a cupboard and a water hosepipe, I've no idea why we carry two when we rarely use one .

Once we get the van back and repack it, we usually grab two or three nights away to make sure everything is back in place, nothing worse than going on a road trip without the oven shelves or pillows ( yep, we have had to return for both of those items in the past)

Anyway, we found ourselves on a very pleasant site about a mile from Sutton for a blustery few days.

Once set up, watered and fed, we went down to the beach which is about a mile from the site. nice and quiet away from the small town and the usual holiday makers. We noted where the nearest cafe was and decided to return the next morning for coffee and breakfast (sausage baguette) the next morning.

I'm not sure whether the cafe used to be the post office but there was a post box outside and when post boxes and knitters/crocheters are found in the same vicinity, this happens..

Once we had sufficient food and drink, we walked along the prom, past the beach huts and into the town.

The sea defence flood gates were open but by the time Ian returned sat the end of the day they had been closed in preparation for an expected high tide.

More knitting greeted us in town

 

This all turned out to be part of a scarecrow trail around the town, We have visited this area ( Mablethorpe, Skegness etc) many times since childhood and regularly passed by a large antique shop on the main street, always vowing to call in sometime. Well after 30 plus years of driving past in cars, on the bike etc we called in. It was one of those places where you would need to visit several times, So much stuff in so little space !!

Ian volunteered to tackle the stairs up to the top floor and took my phone camera just in case.

Possibly a flax wheel, broken flyer.

This one looked more complete but he couldn't see the treadle under the surrounding junk.

Lunch was eaten at the beach cafe, not quite the summer view that the name conjurers up.

We went our separate ways and I walked back by the main road. I wanted to grab a picture of the church with the leaning tower but it doesn't really show the angle in the pictures.

I also wanted to grab a photo of a local street name ( again passed by many times)

Some knitting was achieved back at the van, I managed to finish the blue and white hat ( the white is Ryeland but the blue was out of my oddments bag so no idea on the breed)

The random pot of jam sneaking into the picture is cherry and kirsch which may or may not sneak back into the van for our road trip. 60mph gusts of wind the next morning delayed our departure by a few hours but we made it home safely.

Not what I was expecting

 Every so often someone will offer free fleece to me, I'm usually cautious about accepting but sometimes its worth a chance. I asked what breed the sheep were and was told border Leicester cross, This made me a bit apprehensive as I'm not the biggest fan of long wools but hey, if I can't spin it, I have a friend who will use it on her allotment.

So the fleece travelled up to Nottinghamshire and we made a trip out to collect them. First glance was interesting, very clean, not a lot of vegetable matter and for the most part not a lot of crimp

My first instinct is that this is a down breed cross, locks short and stubby, reminds me of Oxford Down only shorter (maybe Shropshire) and I suspect that they will make warm hats.

random crimpy locks

Half the fleece is now washed and I'm still thinking down breed fleece.

At this point I realised that my camera did not like taking photos yesterday !! anyway, here is a spun knitted sample 9wpi, 4mm needles at the bottom as a curiosity knit, 4.5mm at the top to check if suitable for plain hats.

Its really warm and woolly, not super soft but will be great for the usual mitts/hats etc. Next step will be to see how it takes dyes.

I've just had a quick look at the other fleece, quite different on first glance so I'll try and get it out fully later in the week.

In other news, this beauty is in the wash today.

Have a great week everyone, its going to be a hot one today so once again I have a line full of washing from the van as I try to get ready for another road trip.

I didn't know that there was such a thing as a paint festival !

 We recently spent a weekend in Cheltenham for a music festival which will be covered in a later post. Each day travelling to and from the campsite, we would see people busy with spray cans in the underpass. As this was in the day time, we assumed that it was all above board as opposed to random graffiti so on the last trip we got off the bus a stop early to see what was happening.

Cheltenham Paint Festival is an annual event producing some amazing artwork around the town, examples of previous years work can be found here

TDF Day 21 and 22, over and out !

 I've spent the last two days washing yarn, dying yarn, labelling yarn as well as finishing my knitting. 

Result is that I declare 2024 TDF well and truly over for me. All bobbins empty and fibre bags waiting to be refilled .

Its been fun but I need to pick up my lace making and embroidery for a few days.

Thanks to everyone who has commented either here or on Facebook, blog posts will return to the usual weekly round up.

TDF day 20 little by little

Thursday saw me heading down to the local inner city farm with my camera seeking breakfast. Toast and jam and a mug of tea :-)

A wander round then another cup of tea whilst spinning for half an hour or so.

Todays (Friday day 21) jobs will be to ply the lleyn, ply the bowmont, sew in ends and block shawlette and hat ( yep, I knitted a hat ) and dye the Ryeland that I spun a few days ago.

Days 18 & 19 busy, busy, busy

 Hi, I've been busy over the last couple of days, some spinning has occurred on both days.

The bowmont on the Nano yesterday and some more LLeyn on the Ashford today.

Have you ever been asked for handspun yarn that looks handspun? Yep, apparently mine can be too consistant for people looking for 'proper' hand spun . So I'm spinning a couple of hundred grams at lightning speed as a result.

I find I can spin thick , thin, whatever but being asked to leave in the lumps, bumps and vegetation really stumps me.

I have also been washing fleece and even picking up random fleece from doorsteps. long story, but one of the two looks really nice.

                                                  larger bag is ryeland, the other is north country mule

TDF Day 17 Is this shetland worth saving and wash day.

 As the sun briefly made an appearance I decided to get all the TDF spinning washed and on the line, three of the skeins had a detour via the dyepot.

Once dry I bought them in and here they are showing just how much difference washing yarn can make to the original yardage. They are all hanging from a pole across a bookcase and all the skeins were made on my Amish style swift on the same settings.

The blue skeins are LLeyn, the green is NCM, the four cream ones are Ryeland, the white one is bowmont and the black at the end is the wensleydale cross. You can see a very dramatic difference in length between the green and the cream ones.

This is the Shetland that I'm not sure whether to rescue, It was purchased by a friend in 2019 and passed on to me around 2021 as he felt that he wasn't going to bother with it. I've washed some of it, it looks like it has a natural break/rise in places and may need another wash depending on how sticky it is.

After washing, look at those curls, I think that this may take some time to process :-)

I'm going to comb some then spin a sample to see what I think.

Verdict, spins up soft but a lot of effort for a little fibre, one for the 'life's too short' pile I'm afraid.

Days 15 & 16 and a dragon

 Busy weekend so not a lot of spinning, watched a festival parade in one of our inner city areas.

We also attended a steam punk weekend at Papplewick Pumping station, we didn't dress up but most other people did.

The fleet was in on the fish pond !

the fire was out in the boiler

and plenty of chances to shop.

Back to the spinning, over the weekend I managed to spin another bobbin of the wensleydale x zwartble and ply them ready for washing.

Today (day 17 Monday) should be a rest day so with the sun shinning I'm going to head downstairs and wash the yarn and maybe some fleece.