Welcome to my blog. I live, knit, crochet, spin and craft near the Northumbrian Coast (but not too near – the waves won't be splashing my yarn!).There's a story in every stitch, every grain of sand, every blade of grass. I thought I'd blog about it…
This week found us snacking at Nelsons at the Park in Swarland, Northumberland. in the heart of the village, overlooking the children’s playground and sports field.
We opted for our favourite cheese scones, though the cakes on display are very tempting, Here the scones are generously proportioned and exceptionally cheesy, with a deliciously crusty outside and crumbly centre. To drink, I had a very indulgent hot chocolate (chocolate orange flavour), topped with lashings of whipped cream, a little bucket full of marshmallows and a couple of chocolate orange segments. Mum had a filter coffee. As always, one of the friendly team at Nelsons came over to offer her a top up.
It was a perfect way to cheer up a dull, wet November afternoon,
Those attending today’s Knit and Natter group at Alnwick Medical Surgery, once again brought along an impressive haul of beautiful handknitted items. The little angel tops for premature babies are proving popular with some of the knitters, along with hats, baby cardigans and bootees. The item in the foreground is one of the “fish and chip baby” tops that we’ve made for a maternity clinic in Zambia, Knitted items were needed because newborns were being wrapped in newspaper (like fish and chips) to keep warm. We are grateful for all the donations of yarn and knitting needles that have been donated to help us make these items.
Over the weeks we’ve also swapped knitting and crochet patterns, taught each other new techniques and made some good friends. Sometimes there’s more nattering and laughter than knitting!
We were all pleased to see that the refurbishment of the room where we meet is going well – we now have new lighting and windows!
The practice staff are very supportive and have totally embraced knitting too – here is Jon, who managed to find a spare moment to knit in a break from officiating at a swimming gala.
Welcome back. The mystery object is a knitting bowl or yarn bowl.
I’d previously seen mass-produced ceramic ones in Flying Tiger and drooled over very nice, but expensive, hand turned wooden bowls at a wool festival before I became the proud owner of this beauty.
I was very lucky to get it. I’m not sure what kind of wood it’s made from, but it’s beautifully hand-made and very smooth, so my yarn will never snag on the inside. One of my lovely knitting friends very kindly asked her husband to make it – he has a woodworking shed in the garden. She jokes that she likes to give him things to do to keep him busy and stop him getting under her feet! I’m very grateful that he was able to do this. He’s very talented.
The idea is that the yarn you are working with sits in the bowl and feeds through the slot. The spiral stops it jumping out. This keeps the yarn clean, and stops the ball of yarn rolling on the floor, picking up dust and fluff. If you have a pet, it’s great for keeping their hair off your work (our dog moults a ridiculous amount of thick black hair that is impossible to avoid!) He has also been known to do this…..
Fortunately Buddy the labrador doesn’t steal yarn very often!
If your dog or cat steals balls of yarn for their own recreational use, the bowl really helps!
I find that it works best with round balls of yarn that have enough room to move freely and unwind within the bowl.
When I’m not knitting and the bowl is empty (It’s the only knitting accessory that stays out on display), it’s a useful place to put those random little items you find when tidying up, like pins and stitch markers.
If you know and own one, I’d love to hear about it. If you haven’t a clue what it is, have a guess just for fun. I’ll be back to tell you about it tomorrow.
I do love a big slouchy sweater at this time of year, with plenty of room for layers underneath when it gets cold. This was my most recent big project: the Valdres sweater from DROPS. – I took a break from it a few times to knit other things but kept going back to it. I like to start something like this early in the year, take regular breaks to do other things and work through the summer so it’s ready to wear in the winter, without having to hurry.
I found it in a magazine but the pattern is available free online on the DROPS website. I used the recommended DROPS Karisma yarn (100% wool DK) which was lovely to work with and feels quite soft against the skin compared with some pure wool yarns I’ve used. This was worked in the same main shade as the pattern illustration (Light Oak -77) but I used different contrasting colours (Dark Purple – 76, Cerise – 13, Blue turquoise – 60)
The sweater is knitted bottom up, in the round – Nordic style, and alternates colour work and texture patterns – perfect for people like me who hate sewing up. If you haven’t tried this construction before, there are three sections, knitted on circular needles: the body (large tube) and two sleeves (narrower tubes). The components are eventually combined on one large circular needle to work the yoke, decreasing to form a raglan, up to the neck (leaving out the underarm sections, which are sewn closed at the end) – love it.
I knitted it a size larger to accommodate t-shirts underneath. The only downsides were that the sleeves were quite long even though I’d shortened them to accommodate my short arms! – The pattern charts vary for the different sizes. Maybe I misread the pattern! Also the neck opening is quite large, so I usually wear a scarf with it – I have a cerise one that is perfect! You also need to make sure that the colour work sections are not worked too tight – the pattern recommends using a larger needle size to overcome this.
It was fun to make, once I got the hang of reading the the colour and texture pattern charts. It really kept me engaged as it changed from colour to texture. That also provided plenty of milestones along the way to look forward to (my heart sinks when a pattern tells you to continue straight for 40cm!). As I like to take my knitting out and about, I found the body got quite bulky to carry round as it grew, so I started a sleeve for knitting on the go – much more portable!
I’ve worn it loads, getting a lot of compliments which always feels good!
It finally stopped raining so I joined K and the dog at Alnmouth today. I’m not good at walking on sand so decided to take a few pics for the blog. I love to sit and watch the sea (sometimes knitting at the same time). The view changes so rapidly. The carpark at Alnmouth overlooks the beach so it’s a perfect vantage point. We love it in the winter as there are fewer picnickers (Buddy the labrador is very greedy).
The sea was rough today and the tide was in. Usually there is a good view of Coquet Island from here but the weather was too murky to see it.
Tank traps from WWII
The waves have washed a lot of sand away and the old tank traps are easy to see here. These concrete cubes are found at lots of places along this coast – they were defences against enemy landing craft, left over from World War Two. Today some children were having fun climbing on them. In summer they are a great place to dry wet swimming towels, but nobody was venturing into the water today!
I’m on the next stage of the stash busting blues project, having done lots of maths last night to work out the transition from the collar to the body and the shaping increases for the next part of the pattern. It’s pretty straightforward for the rest of it if all goes to plan, so it was bliss to just be mesmerised by the waves and get on with my knitting!
The knitting group at our local GP surgery was meeting this afternoon This amazing selection of hats and baby clothes have been made by members and friends of the group in the last week alone. I can’t take credit for any of this I’m afraid. I will try and make a contribution soon.
The room where we meet is being renovated, so we had no lights today. One of our group members has kindly donated some plastic crates to keep the knitted items in (we’ll send them off to the relevant charities when we have a big enough batch). Now all that beautiful knitwear will stay dust-free during the renovations.
As it began to get dark this afternoon, rather than try to knit, it was a good opportunity to wind some wool off a skein – and I had help from a lovely lady who was telling me all about how she did this as a child – she and her sisters used to wind wool for her mother, who was a very keen knitter. I love to hear her knitting stories.
I mentioned in my last post that I drive my Mum to the supermarket on a Thursday and sit in the car, knitting while she shops . We usually go out for a snack after that. Here in Northumberland we have no shortage of places to go for a cheese scone (we both love these) and a coffee.
This week we visited one of our favourites, The Rocking Horse Cafe, at Rock Moor. We had excellent coffee and scones, which were served warm with proper pats of butter (no fiddly foil packets), It felt really cosy today: the log burner was blazing and it was the perfect choice for a cold November day (though there is a garden with plenty of seating to use in warmer weather).
It’s a small very friendly place – in some ways more like going round to someone’s house for coffee than visiting a cafe. It’s also extremely dog friendly – in summer there is even a dog agility course set out in the garden.
There is a vague knitting/woolly connection here at the Rocking Horse Cafe . There are two very friendly resident Border Collies – the sheepdog breed of choice here in the UK. It would also be a rather nice place for a small knit and natter group!
Do you think I should make Scone of the Week a regular feature of the blog?
Please note that the car was safely parked, ignition off, handbrake on!
One of the things I love about knitting is that it’s so portable – no bulky equipment required – you can take it almost anywhere. It’s easiest with a reasonably straightforward project, so you don’t need to follow instructions carefully. That way it’s possible to knit the odd few stitches or rows any time you find yourself with time to kill. It works pretty well for me, especially on circular needles, as long as I’m not using stitch markers, which have a nasty habit of dropping on the floor!
That’s why you’ll find me knitting in a supermarket car park on most Thursday mornings. That’s when I take my Mum to do her shopping – I sit and knit while she buys her groceries, much to the amusement of my daughter and her work colleagues. Their office is nearby and I sometimes see them on their way to buy lunch.
I’ve knitted on trains, ferries, in doctor’s waiting rooms and often in the car (always parked), sometimes in places with spectacular views, often in supermarket carparks!
Where do you knit? What is the most unusual place you have ever knitted?
It’s been a busy couple of days with some knitting connections, though rather tenuous!
Yesterday I went to a choir rehearsal – my former workplace , Newcastle City Council, has had a staff choir for several years. I am a founder member of the choir and still involved since I retired. We have been practicing for a lovely civic event. Every year the mayor of Bergen, Norway, one of the City’s twin towns, presents the City with a beautiful big Christmas tree and this year we are one of the choirs who will be singing at the presentation ceremony. Here’s more about Newcastle’s relationship with Bergen and its other twin towns .
This year’s Lord Mayor is originally from Sheffield and has asked us to sing the Yorkshire version of While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night (sung to the tune of On Ilkley Moor Baht ‘at) , so we were working on that. There are lots of verses to get through, but the arrangement is lovely (in four parts) and I’m enjoying singing soprano on this one. It’s not too high and we get some nice harmonies and echo the ‘flocks by night line’ I haven’t got a recording of us but I found this which gives you an idea of what it sounds like
After singing about sheep (or shepherds) yesterday, Today I saw lots of sheep while I was driving to The Sill – the amazing Landscape Visitor Centre, close to Hadrian’s Wall at Once Brewed. The Centre includes a youth hostel, cafe and gift shop and an interesting exhibition about the landscape and its connections to farming, leisure, industry and conservation. It also has the most stunning views across some of Northumberland’s hill country towards the Wall, especially from the roof, which is easily accessible up a fairly gently sloping path. On my last visit I spent ages using the augmented reality technology which enables you to “fly” over the local landscape and beyond .The Centre is well worth a visit.
I was meeting up with family and our friend M, who is herself a skilled knitter and has even knitted Fair Isle with the locals while visiting Fair Isle itself! We had a delicious lunch and then I sneaked into the exhibition, while the others were chatting in the lobby area – they noticed a lovely moving projection onto the floor of animal and bird footprints and birds flying by. The sheep in the exhibition weren’t very fleecy though!
Here in Northumberland the hills are steep and covered in poor soil. It’s hard to grow crops like cabbages and corn, but super for sheep, so…..without this landscape (and the sheep and their wool) we’d be cold!
To view discussion, click on the title of this post and scroll down
Stitches by the Sea 