The promised crafty bits.

 Hi, 

Its been a wet week and today the temperature has dropped drastically from the 16c that we had in Kings Lynn a week to around 6c and wet.

You may remember that whilst in the van last weekend I cast on a hat, on Tuesday I finished the hat and cast on a headband. Which soon decided that it also wanted to be a hat.

lOn Saturday I cast on some mitts using some of the huge bags of oddments.

This morning I cast off the mitts and added them together with the hats to the finishing bag ready for an end weaving and coffee session in the next few weeks.

I will soon be in the position of having no yarn unless I get my skates on and spin some.

I've caught up with the cross stitch sal, just about to start this weeks square. The blackwork Sal is still way behind but hopefully I will get there soon.

On my recent trip to town to pick up some new glasses, I found that the remains of the old shopping centre have now been covered with a new sign welcoming people to Nottingham and hopefully there will soon be some shops or restaurants in the new bus station/car park development.

These photos are taken from the same point looking in opposite directions ( the sign is the route into the city, the other is the route to the train station.), in spite of the sign it doesn't look terribly welcoming if you don't know that the city centre is the other side of it !

didn't we have a lovely time the day we went to .........?

 Kings Lynn.

Yep, dragged the van out again, packed extra bedding as summer has passed and headed down to Norfolk. We have travelled around the country for the last 30 odd  years by car, bike and now camper but there are still many areas that we are not too familiar with. One of these is Norfolk so we settled on Kings Lynn (why not)

As we only had a weekend, we booked the campsite that looked closest to the town and at just £22 a night it was a bargain. Clean utility block and a well-stocked site shop, about a mile from the bus route which is fine.

Arrived Friday afternoon and chilled for the evening. 

 odd

In case you are wondering, that's hand spun Aberfield yarn on the pins and Dr Who on the screen.

Saturday started misty but the sun broke through, we made the trek to the bus stop and arrived at the bus station shortly after 10. Our usual course of action is to search out the charity shops so Ian can hunt for CDs to add to the collection, and I just enjoy looking, rarely buying these days. Only having one day this time, we had decided that shops and a bit of sightseeing would be a good mix and if we spotted anything suggesting another visit then we would be back some other time.

We ended up at Purfleet Quay with its statue of George Vancouver and huge ships anchors. 

We found a ship that moved buoys around., I hadn't realised quite how big they are.

In the morning, I took some lovely photos of boats on the water, harbour area etc but whilst outside one of the old buildings I realised that my camera was on the wrong setting! so I retook some of the photos but the sun had moved so no pretty boat pics 😢

Beautiful buildings and small shops dotted the streets, a number of museums and churches have been earmarked for further exploration.

We stopped to grab a sausage roll at the bakers bearing this symbol. Sandringham Estate is nearby.

You may have noticed that I like to look at cinemas (my dad used to work in cinemas and theatres and as I child I would sometimes travel with him) and this time we spotted the Majestic Cinema.

Wonderful stained glass and so nice to see that it is still a cinema.

Another interest of ours is fairgrounds and Kings Lyn was the home of Frank Savage who invented the carousel mechanism

                                      

                                          

                                          Photo taken at Dingles fairground museum earlier this year.

The flower planters and seats outside the cinema reflected this connection.

A good day out, total charity haul just 3 cds and we will be back to explore the old town at a later date.

My usual woolly, knitting posts will resume next week xx

They've painted the town red............and blue and green

 Hi

I had to go into town at the beginning of the week for as eye test, yep new glasses are needed. On the way down I noticed that the paint pots have been out down Bridlesmith gate.

I'm guessing that they are trying to rejuvenate the area now that the shopping centre has been demolished, I hope that it comes back to life and the opportunity will be there to sit and have a coffee.

Other than that, I've been knitting a hat, mits and spun some ShetlandxDorset.

and I am still up to date with the cross stitch weekly patterns

Thats about it for this week, hopefully some coastal photos next week xx

some woolly goodness but a lot of coughing.

 Hi

We are slowly recovering, Ian has returned to work but is exhausted when he gets home, and I've found that my cold has just left me feeling blaaah during the daytime.

However, I did left the house and visited my favourite cafe on Tuesday to meet up with some other knitters to put the world to rights.

Knitting this week has been headbands, three of them in assorted hand spun yarn. The dark brown is wensleydale / zwarbles and I love the feel of it.

I finished the Shetland / Dorset and a small skein of unknown white.

A pressing problem is the mounting number of small balls of yarn left over from projects. The larger ones will make mitts but the smaller ones need a project.

If you ignore the embroidery cotton, there sre almost 2 kilos of yarn here, I'm thinking maybe small squares for a lap blanket? maybe 8 inch and 4 inch depending on how much yarn is in the ball. I've had a play and may sort the yarn out later today into mitt knitting amounts or smaller.

I'm now on week six of the stitch along and I've even started square number 6 which is unusual as I normally don't touch it until Friday.

We cancelled our trip to Yorkshire for new motorcycle boots and instead had a couple of hours wandering round a local town.

If anyone has any other ideas for the very small amount of yarn, please let me know xx

Speak soon.

I'm back but not firing on all cylinders

 Hi,

I'm back, survived the heavy cold, survived living with a covid suffer (just) and currently still feeling a little under the weather and moody.

I eventually picked up the knitting needles and added a hat and mitts to the pile of knitting. Does anyone else save up their sewing in of ends until they have a bag full? I do this and then take them to the coffee shop and spend a morning chatting, exchanging gossip and finishing items off.

My plan is to do this tomorrow as we have a couple of nice days forecast so I can get things washed and blocked.

I've been washing my spinning as I go, and I am slowly building up stock to knit with over winter. I have plenty of washed fleece to process still so it looks like I will be busy. White skeins may be dyed at a late date, I'm leaving my options open at the moment.

(these skeins are colour coded with waste yarn, so I know what they are)

Confession about the two stitch alongs, the cross stich one is up to date, I'm just about to start week five which is the current week.

The blackwork one needs some love or putting on the back burner, I've yet to decide which.

Having cancelled my last two trips (fibre festival and return to the framework knitters) we are taking a day trip to Yorkshire soon to sort out some new bike boots and hopefully a weekend away sometime next month.

Thats about it for now as life is just a bit quiet but we are starting to plan a couple of road trips for next year so it will get more interesting x

Speak soon xx

Quick update

 Hi, normal service will resume shortly but I've been ill with a bad cold for the last week and missed the Bakewell Wool Gathering ( not covid, tested negative) and Ian went away to a bike rally rally the same weekend and has today tested positive. 

Totally a plague house at the moment, little knitting has taken place along with some stitching but to be honest I just haven't had the energy to do much.

I leave you with week 3 of the tiles SAL almost complete, week 4 dropped earlier today so that may be todays project.

Speak soon xx

Autumn is here

 The leaves are changing colour and its definitely getting cooler. The heating is not yet on but we have switched from salads for most meals to cooked meals and the kettle is definitely getting more use.

I finally finished the holiday washing, all bedding and towels etc repacked ready for the next trip out.

Evenings have been spent knitting and spinning so most of the holiday fibres have now been plyed and washed ready for labelling and a further 200gm or so prepped and spun.

 The wensleydale x zwartbles is interesting, quite a few short cuts unfortunately and the sun bleach tips break off easily, so care is taken whilst combing. A lot of waste but this is mainly down to me being quite particular about what I like as a spinning fibre. These two are ready for a wash and soak once I've finished my coffee.

The grey hat is finished, washed and will be on its way to a new home soon. Another hat is on the needles and sat by the armchair ready for a few more stitches later tonight.

sorry, not a brilliant photo

On the cross-stitch front, I have completed the first week on both SAL and will start the second squares later today.

Thats really been about it for this week, take care, speak soonx