Oh I do like to be ....

.....beside the seaside.

Hastings looking towards Bexhill with remains of the Pier
The weather was lovely at the weekend, and we didn't have anything planned (for a change) so DH and I decided to go to the seaside on the spur of the moment. We aren't ones for the sandy beaches (I'm still trying to get the sand out of the car from when DD took the nieces over a month ago!) so we headed off to Hastings, our nearest sea and where we used to go a lot when we were courting (lovely old fashioned word that).
We had a really nice wander all along the front towards Bexhill then turned and walked back to the fishing huts at Rock-a-nore and through the old town, ending up with a picnic on the beach.
It's strange how sad I felt to see the remains of the burnt out pier (a result, it is believed, of arson in October '10) considering in all the many, many times I've been to Hastings, I never once went on it, and never will now.

On the way back through the town I popped into Clarks (the shoe shop) just on the off chance that they had the bag that I had missed buying when I ran out of lunch hour and someone had beaten me to it by the time I got back, and I couldn't believe my luck when I found it

Never mind the outside - will you just look at the lining

and what's more it has two sections, one for my purse etc, and the other for my knitting all at the bargainous 70% off price of £13.49 !!! now it doesn't get much better than that.

Mmmmm Muffins

When I worked part time there were always freshly baked cakes or cookies in the tin, but increasing my hours made it hard to find time for that anymore. Then DD started baking after school - how lovely to come home to the scent of freshly baked goodies, but now she has started working full time too. However yesterday I suddenly had the overwhelming desire to cook so I looked in the fridge, whipped out my cookery book and made

Raspberry and Chocolate muffins
and rather yummy they are too.

And talking of being domesticated, looks like I might have to rewash my skeins of cotton

Dudley looked so comfy, and by the time I found him they were hairy anyway so I left him to it - that'll teach me to put things away in future ;0)

What's a girl to do?

Much to her delight, DD has recently acquired a car. Now it might be an older car, but it is hers, all hers.
It happened all of a sudden when FILs old next door neighbours, now in their late 80s decided to give up driving - well that is Mrs P decided that Mr P was going to give up driving - and she wanted someone to buy the car who would look after it. They have had it from new (1995) with only 30K on the clock and she didn't want some 'boy racer' to have it, so she was rather pleased when FIL suggested DD might be interested. It doesn't have power steering but DD's arm muscles are coming along nicely and it has given her more independence and saved the difficulties of her and I working different hours.

And having got her car she decided she would like a blanket to go in the boot, stop everything sliding about and that she could whip out for improptu picnics with friends or when looking after the nieces. Have you any idea how difficult it is to find a blanket these days without paying a fortune? So the obvious place was a charity shop (and we were lucky on the 4th attempt, and an absolute bargain at .... £1.25!) Anyway, in the course of our search I came across
500g of Jaeger Contemporary Cotton, now what is a girl to do? It would have been rude not to have bought it, now wouldn't it? So I got busy and frogged, skeined and washed the knitted parts

and now have to decide what to do with it - but even if it ends up as a pile of dishcloths (which I don't think it will) at the equivalent of 25p a 50g ball it doesn't really matter.

On the knitting front I have just finished a Baby Blanket for Bonnie Babies (a quick word of warning in case you click on the link in public - the site has music straight away, annoying music at that)

This is the second time I have used this pattern, and it won't be the last. I love the mindless garter stitch centre and then the lace border, which I knitted on, adds some interest just as I have had enough garter stitch, but is simple enough to memorise (and easy enough to 'read' the knitting) after only a couple of repeats.
I can't think of many other patterns I have enjoyed enough to knit more than once.

It's behind you

Or Cat and Mouse

DH and I had a few days off and being at a loose end decided to pop up to London for the day on the spur of the moment (living in a town with a Railway station only 50 minutes from London definitely has it's advantages). With no particular plan in mind we put on comfy shoes and bought sandwiches en route to the station and set off, we thought we would just follow our noses and stop, start or turn off where ever it took our fancy, and what a great day we had.

Our first priority on arriving in London was to find a coffee stop and there just so happens to be a nice Costa upstairs in Waterstones near Charing Cross station which fitted the bill perfectly and once fortified with caffeine a quick use of the facilities was in order before embarking on our adventure and having a strange sense of humour the notice on the door rather amused me

Obviously some of the clientele of the book shop need a little help!

Anyway using the principle of 'that road looks interesting' and 'let's turn down this one' we wandered round and came across the Covent Garden Bead shop (though DH had his doubts that this was by luck) and later on found ourselves in Soho Square
Where we decided to eat our sandwiches which was fine until DH brushed a crumb off his lap and four million pigeons descended from no where.
Saville Row followed, and I was fascinated that you can look over the railings down into the basements and watch the tailors at work. Burlington Arcade was so interesting, especially the antique silver and then further along we spotted Liberty London
which I have always wanted to visit, so in we went - well, if you are ever in that area it is well worth a pause, the building is amazing inside as well as out, and apparently uses the wood from two ships. The materials and haberdashery sections were wonderful, but at £35 + per metre I could only dream, however DH did buy me
a cute little cat money box.

So where does the mouse in the title come from? Well, like all knitters with the prospect of sitting on a train for best part of two hours I took my knitting needles and yarn with me and made

Captain Cat-Battler
having seen the appeal (via Ravelry) for Mice for Cats at Battersea Dogs home.

Mice for cats at a dogs home, now I really have lost it ;0)

Finish-itis

Not that I am complaining, but I seem to be suffering from finish-itis ! Not only did I finish my lace angel (in the last post) but I have just finished off two other things, firstly there is the One Row Lace Scarf


Made from one ball of Colinette Lasso which I p/hopped and I think the colourway was Jay, it was a strange yarn to use, and certainly not easy if you had even the slightest roughness on your hands as anything caught, but the end result feels very nice and makes the perfect spring/autumn weight scarf.

Then I got around to darning in the ends of Damson which I am sure by now everyone knows is by Ysolda Teague.



The yarn was Woolcraft Superwash Sock Yarn which I received in my birthday swap on the Crafty threads'n'yarns forum. The colours are so lovely, all my favourites put together (though the photo, as is so often the case, doesn't really do it justice). The thing that was disappointing though, was that despite having more meterage than the pattern called for, I ran out of yarn before I could do the edging and consequently it curls a little despite a severe blocking. Oh well, it's still lovely and will be used quite a bit what with the air conditioning at work having two settings - off and fridge!

I think I may have just realised what has caused this bout of finishing - could I be putting off knitting the little jacket I have started for a co-workers bump? Once again I am asking myself why on earth did I choose a pattern almost entirely in moss stitch when I hate the stuff - hey ho, maybe one day I will learn - but then on the other hand ..........

Early or late?

This poor little angel has been sitting on my lace pillow for months, just waiting to be stiffened and put together, so finally, on the 23rd of June, I got round to doing it

Now I wonder, does that make her late for last Christmas or early for next?

She was designed by the very talented Lou Woo from The Craft Corner who I am lucky enough to count amongst my friends.

It feels good

I had one of those WIPs that has been bothering me. Back last summer/autumn time I started a Mystery Blanket CAL, in retrospect I should have known better, or at least twigged when one week we had 2 squares to crochet and the next it was 16! but I plodded on for a bit, got to 7 of the 16 mitred squares which I hated doing and stalled - that was months ago and the pile of squares has been silently mocking me ever since.

Well the other day I was listening to old Knit Picks podcasts and came across "To Knit or not to Knit - That is the question" and suddenly it was clear - basically Kelley was giving me permission to quit - the gist of what she was saying was, if you aren't happy with your project and you know you are unlikely to finish it then frog it, give it away or throw it away. Handily the squares were 8", just what Knit-a-square need, so I could abandon my project with a clear conscience and boy does it feel good. Daft really, I should have been big enough to think of that myself, but up until recently I've been one of those people who perseveres with a book all the way to the end even if I wasn't enjoying it - though I stopped that a while ago, it obviously hadn't filtered into my craft life but now I am on a roll so

out to the bin go the quilted bits for the bag I started last August and decided I didn't like, I'm never going to finish it, so what's the point of cluttering my workroom. It's great, I have space in my room and more importantly in my mind.
Damn, it feels good. Now what shall I start next?????

No wonder I'm tired

DH and I decided our garden could do with a bit of a prune and a tidy, so this morning we set to - isn't it amazing when you actually get stuck in, just how much you see that needs doing? Anyway, 3 hours later we ended up with......


and these are the large wheelie bin black bags, and there is still more to trim. I think our shrubs and bushes must be related to Triffids!
Trouble is, now that we have found the fence, we have discovered that one of the posts is rotten and two panels are now waving freely in the breeze - which means taking out another LARGE shrub to get to mend it :( Hey ho, guess that's gardening for you.
Ever have those moments when you wish you hadn't started?

We have had one of those spells of tidying/clearing and recently helped FIL to empty his loft ready to be insulated. This was quite an interesting game, tinged with sadness as we found lots of things that dear MIL (recently departed) had saved including lots of the treasures from when the boys were small. Amongst the favourites were brushed nylon romper suits! (yes we were babies of the 60's) and some of DH's school books including one with the memorable line....

"I am 8 years old and have 2 newts and one brother"

nice to know his priorities!

But the item that I liked best was a rug

It is double sided fur fabric and I love the teddy. I think some of the reason I like it is the thought that DH (6'2", 48 tomorrow, widely known and respected in his field) used to lie on it to kick and 'feel the air' as a bubby, ah how sweet!

Someone will love her...

...I hope!



This little, er, "lady" was made from the cover kit of Let's Knit, though I changed her skin tone as she will be off to South Africa via Knit-a-square . I really do have trouble with faces, as you may have noticed! but it's amazing what children like (she says hopefully).

I am not proud of it, not in the slightest, I think it's horrible, badly made and downright scary, but the most worrying thing of all is that an elderly friend always used to say that we put some of ourselves into toys we make, especially the faces.
If there is even a grain of truth in that, all I can say is ......"Oh dear!".

Walking the Cumbria Way

We had such a lovely week, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the simplicity of it all. The weather was unbelievably kind, we only had an hours light rain the whole time, and this is the Lake District we are talking about!

Our days fell into a pattern of getting up, eating breakfast, then donning rucksacks and walking out of the door, stopping to eat/drink/admire the view when we felt like it until we reached our destination where we located the village shop to stock up on supplies for the next day, found our B&B, ate our evening meal and fell into bed tired but happy, ready to get up the next morning and start all over again - no distractions, just wonderful scenery and peacefulness, no internet and no mobile signal (I even used one of the old fashioned red phone boxes to call DD one evening).It was just so lovely to get away from it all I haven't wanted to go on the computer since I came back, trying to preserve the feeling.

We have a heap of photo's but blogger would throw a fit if I put in as many as I would like to so here are a couple of my favourites

Langdale Valley

Looking across Elterwater to the Langdales

Eagle Crag

We stayed in a diverse range of accomodation from the old to the new, in proper hotels and peoples spare rooms, but my favourite was Robinson's Place Farm

It is a traditional Lakeland working sheep farm built in the 17th century and is owned by the National Trust. Vicky could not have made us more welcome, the room was large, comfortable and spotless, and I immediately felt very much at home.
It was lovely to chat with her and I would have liked to stay longer, but with a LONG days walking ahead we had to leave. Interestingly though, we talked about shearing and I was suprised to hear that a fleece only fetches 2p per kilo for dark colours and 4p per kilo for light, and they only get a kilo from each sheep (if they are lucky), then the carrier charges 7p per fleece to 'load them on the wagon'. Vicky's husband does his own shearing but if a contract shearer is used, they charge £1 per sheep (plus food)- so whichever way you look at it, the farmers are working at a loss. As a knitter, looking at the price of British yarn, this seems incredibly unfair.
It wasn't suprising then to see this in the corner of the lounge
all manner of wooly jumpers handknit from Herdwick fleece ready for sale.

To be honest I was suprised at just how much I enjoyed the week and we both came home physically tired but emotionally rested and when I start to feel a little stressed at work I shall just look at my screen saver and imagine I am here again, sitting on the side of Derwent with just DH, the map and my flask......

Scarf, gloves and sun tan lotion

Guess where I will be holidaying?



That’s right, England, and due to the vagaries of the good old English weather I am having to act like a boy scout and ‘be prepared’.

I expect it has been the same for many of you, but round here last week the temperature was in the high 20s - flip flops, shorts and strappy tops were the order of the day, and many a lobster pink body could be seen. This week we’ve been lucky if it reaches double figures on the thermometer and the winter woollies are back out.

I’m off to walk the Cumbrian way, and who knows what the skies will throw at us, but never fear, I have it all, well as much as I can fit in the holdall – it’s OK, I won’t be carrying it myself, one of the conditions of saying yes to this adventure was that we used a baggage transfer service. The down side though is that I have no option but to walk if I want to be with my luggage at the end of the day as it will be moving on to the next B&B regardless of what I do. Just to be certain that I have the essentials though I will have one lot of knitting in my holdall, and a little project in my rucksack – well you never know do you?

Little things

I'm in that awkward place at the moment. I have my next project all lined up and ready to go, but I don't want to start it 'til I go away shortly.
With my existing yarny stuff, I'm suffering from SMS (well if you can have Second Sock Syndrome why not Second Mitten Syndrome) and as for the Mystery Crochet Blanket - if I do another crochet mitred square I think I might scream! If I had known what I was taking on I never would have started it, much less bought yarn - yes, I know, me buying yarn from LYS, and at full price even !!! I can't not finish it now, but I hate these squares and there are 16 of them - I'm sure the designer was deranged, or masochistic or just plain misguided if she though 16 of the same, awful, square was a good idea. It should have been finished in time for Christmas, but it's not even going to be done for Easter - oh well.

Anyway, the point of this ramble was to explain why I have been avoiding what I already have on the needles filling my time usefully with small items.

First I made some Flower coasters to catch the drips at work - I still can't find a mug exactly the right size to use with the drinks machine, so when I have to whip it out just before the end I invariably get drips. I made two (in reverse colours) so I can throw one in the wash and still have one to use. After all it's no good using my own mug to save plastic cups and the environment only to work my way through a tree wiping my desk.

And then there is Little Bear, he's been quite unhappy ever since I had him, you see he is definitely a he - you can see it in his face, but he had a very feminine pink and lilac sweatshirt on, and he really didn't like it, so I finally gave in to him and knitted a custom made jumper in blue sock yarn, just to make him happy.

The non-technical approach

I decided to take the non-technical approach to select the winner for my blogiversary draw, and as DD is looking after the nieces during the school holidays I thought I would enlist their help.

Littlest niece wrote the names on some paper and then of course I had to find a hat - because when you are 7, if you are told we are going to pull the winning name out of a hat, then a hat, and only a hat will do!


Now I don't do hats except for the knitted variety, so we settled on this one, (Coronet from Knitty in case you are interested) - I think it looks quite good upside down as a bowl!

And biggest niece had the very important task of picking a name from the hat.... and so the winner is.........



Congratulations Auntie Noo, if you could let me have your address I will send the project bag to you.

Follow the yellow brick road

Well the footpath across the field anyway.


DH and I are getting some miles behind us in readiness for our walking holiday (holiday being used in the loosest sense of the word!). In a few weeks time he and I will be walking the Cumbrian Way - 72 miles from Ulverston to Carlisle over 6 walking days. I'm sure I will enjoy it, but there are times when I am not sure how the word 'yes' came out when he suggested it - usually about 10 miles into the practice walks! Joking aside, I've always been a walker, walking at least 2 miles a day, plus 4 miles with friends every friday evening and DH and I often do a longer walk at the weekend, just to get away from it all and have uninterupted time together, but this will be my first long distance walk whilst DH has done several.

At the weekend we did 12 miles locally, and for some reason I was really taken with the view along the road under the bridge that used to carry the long disused Hawkhurst branch line



And further on I saw what has to be the absolute typical Kentish scene



It was a lovely walk, with perfect weather, sunny with a nice gentle breeze and we covered the 12 miles in a very respectable 4 hours including a few stops for snacks and a cuppa (there is no way I am walking long distances without my flask!).

My legs were naturally tired, so when we got back I put my feet up and was listening to the Simon and Garfunkel CD I recently treated myself to (to relive the past I think) and DD came in just as it was playing Scarborough Fair
(Are you going to Scarborough fair?/parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme/remember me to one who lives there/ she once was a true love of mine)
DD stood considering for a few moments, then said "It's odd isn't it? I mean, who on earth would suddenly say ' you know, I think I'll sing about some herbs today'?"
Actually, perhaps she has a point!


PS: There are still a few days left to enter my blogiversary draw - it closes on Saturday 16th April

Blogiversary giveaway

It's my 5th blogiversary! I find it hard to believe but it is. So as is traditional I thought I would have a giveway. But what to give? - well since none of us can have too many project bags (well I certainly can't and I'm sure I'm not alone), I searched my books and patterns until I found just the thing, then dusted off my sewing machine, raided my stash and here it is.



Just right for a small project, or socks of course, the base measures approx 8" across and 2" deep, it is self lined and lightly padded.

So if you fancy winning yourself a new project bag comment on my blog, between now and Saturday 16th April, and I will randomly select a winner to send it to.

Good luck.

Why the weather is better

Here in the South East we have had a spell of lovely weather - warm enough to go out and about without a coat - and I even sat in the park with my crochet one lunch time. It has been wonderful spirit lifting weather after the horrible winter. So why has it brightened up - well because I have finished my Frame your face cowl of course.



and modelled....



Made from some Schoppel Wolle sock yarn that I bought from Knit'n'caboodle, as they were closing down, on 3.75mm circs, I knit the main part plain stocking stitch rather than the knit/purl pattern suggested just because I preferred it, and having had to frog the body once (because I cleverly managed to pick up the stitches on the pointy side of the lace strip, not the straight side - and no I still don't know how I managed it either) it gave me chance to simplify the design.

It may be lovely weather now, but I'm sure I will get chance to wear it soon enough.

Signs of spring

To me there are a few things which definitely signal the coming of spring....


Cheerful crocus

(Not quite) a host of golden daffodils

and Dudley enjoying the spring sunshine from his vantage point on top of the car.

And today I mowed the lawn - oh joy, spring is definitely on the way.

Can I finish....

Here in the Model household someone always wants something when I am drinking a cup of tea. Now I don't think I have a demanding family, so maybe I drink a lot of tea, or take a long time drinking it, but there is one phrase that I seem to be forever saying. It has got to such an extent that DD has had a mug made especially for me.

So now, rather than asking that same old question yet again I will just raise my mug to them instead.....

Blankets,blankets,blankets

Over in the P/hop group on Ravelry we are making blankets....blankets of all sorts so that everyone can join in. The idea being that we can contribute squares (or strips) to whichever blanket-along we like (or more than one if we wish) and four generous souls have volunteered to co-ordinate a style of blanket, receive the pieces and assemble them.
I decided to contribute to two, the DK log cabin blanket
and the aran weight strip blanket
(and there is also a crocheted square blanket and a barnraising blanket both in sock yarn)

But there is someone far more generous, Christi1 has knitted and donated the most gorgeous blanket all by herself to be auctioned on eBay (do take a look, it's here ) A Missoni inspired merino and cashmere blanket in the loveliest of colours of hand dyed mini skeins from the Art of Zen from a pattern donated by Debbie Orr - and ALL the profit will go to Medecin sans Frontieres. It's just wonderful and I do hope she raises a large amount, she certainly deserves to - if anyone reading this could raise the awareness of the auction in any way I know Christi1 and P/hop would really appreciated it. The bigger audience it reaches the better.

Lucky number seven

I'm not usually a lucky person - well not in the sense of winning things - I'm very lucky in that I have my health, my family, my friends, a nice house and car, and whilst I'm not rich I do ok but I don't, as a rule, win anything. If I buy a raffle ticket then I think of it as a donation, not a chance of winning something, so when I put a comment on Silvia's blog it was because I often do as I have enjoyed reading Blogging in the slow Lane for a long time not because of her giveaway. Imagine my suprise when the random generator picked out my comment (comment number seven) as the winner! And this lovely parcel arrived in the post.



With a flower tucky, lavender bombs and some cute little stamped tags. I've often admired Silvia's work, and now I am the proud owner - and the bombs smell divine too.
Thank you Silvia.