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…
Today we welcomed a new family member, Wren. She’s a fox red Labrador puppy and belongs to Daughter, though I’m almost as excited as she is!
This has been on the cards for a while and when Daughter’s friends bred a litter from their Lab, Missy, the opportunity presented itself. Visiting them to see the puppies and meeting Wren sealed the deal!
She came home today. I drove while Daughter cradled Wren in her arms, then the two of them went into the garden. Wren had a good sniff around, then began responding to Daughter’s voice and following her.
Before long she was even retrieving her new toys, in between cuddles from her new owner. I think they have matching hair!
Are you my new Mum?
Wren seems to be a very happy, calm but confident pup. She was really interested in exploring her new surroundings and her little tail never stopped wagging.
She was very alert to loud noises but not at all frightened.
What was that?
So much to take in! Exhausting!
We brought her into the house where there were even more new smells to explore.
I think I’m going to like it here.
Then all of a sudden it was nap time.
Wren was already used to a crate before she came and to make her feel even more at home we rubbed her blanket over her mother and sister to absorb their scent. Here’s hoping that she continues to settle in well. If things carry on as they did today Wren is going to be just fine!
I love live music. It’s one of the things I’ve missed during the Pandemic. Last week I went to a gig for the first time in nearly two years.
Since I bought the tickets to see Elbow, the concert had been rescheduled twice, but it finally arrived. We were going to the O2 Academy in Newcastle, a small (2000 capacity) venue that makes me feel quite nostalgic for the gigs I went to in my student days, before there were huge arenas in every city.
We’d decided to make a night of it and had a meal at a nearby pub beforehand. Sitting there, that wonderful sense of anticipation began to build when I overheard the people at the next table discussing the band and other gigs they’d been to – they were heading for Elbow too. We finished our meal and went round the corner to join the queue.
I had booked accessible seating and arrived on my scooter The security staff were excellent, and guided us efficiently, via a ramp and lifts, to our seats, on a platform just behind the mixing desk.
K was highly delighted about this. We met at college where we were both members of the Entertainments Committee that put on gigs for the student body. He got really involved in the technical side and to this day, whenever we go to a concert together, we see two different gigs. I see the staging and the performance; he identifies all the equipment, listens to and assesses the sound mix and notes any issues: a hum on one of the speakers, a channel dropping out: things I rarely notice!
This is the most crowded place I’d been to since Lockdown. We’d been asked to take evidence of vaccination or a negative COVID test but this was not checked. I was reassured that there were ventilation ducts above where I was seating and I could actually feel the cold air. I had taken my mask off after I took my seat, but began to feel a little uneasy when the room filled up and there were people standing quite close behind me. I put the mask back on and relaxed.
Two reasonable support acts later , the main band were due on stage. If you haven’t come across Elbow before, you might know their biggest hit, “One Day Like This”, which was everywhere when it came out and became something of an anthem that summer. The band are from the Manchester area and have been going for years. We’ve seen them several times. Apart from the great music, Elbow’s frontman, Guy Garvey, always has a great rapport with the audience that makes even a large arena feel like an intimate little gig. As the band came on stage, Garvey said, “Sorry we’re late.” In that moment, the last 18 months melted away.
As Elbow performed a 90 minute set of old favourites and new album tracks, with stories and banter with the crowd in between, I remembered all the things I love about live music: that throb in your chest from the sub-bass; the joy of recognising a favourite song from the first few notes of the intro; being mesmerised by a good light show; singing yourself hoarse and noticing that those around you are all singing their hearts out too.
There was an acknowledgment that we’d all had been through difficult times over the last 18 months and that this was the first time back at a gig for many of us. It made the shared experience of being there all the more poignant.
All too soon the encore was upon us and it was time for one final song, which had to be One Day Like This, with Garvey conducting layers of voices in a final chorus. Marvellous.
Then it was over and I was just one of 2000 smiling people leaving the auditorium.
Have you been to any concerts since COVID restrictions were lifted? What did you see? How did it make you feel?
I had a mishap when I was Ironing this lovely peach satin slip – the iron was too hot and I burnt a hole in it. I thought of a way to repair it -this is what I did.
I trimmed the melted edge of the hole off so the fabric wasn’t puckered.
I cut out a piece of lace a little larger than the hole, cutting around some of the flowers in the design.
I put the damaged part of the slip in an embroidery hoop….
…then pinned the lace motif in place and, using tiny stitches I sewed the lace into place, both round the hole and the edge of the lace. This is what it looks like on the wrong side.
A while back I had an email from a friend – someone she knew had some Jacob fleeces available. She knows I spin and wondered if I was interested. It turned out that the lady in question’s daughter was house sitting and looking after a small flock of Jacob’s sheep. They had been sheared and the fleeces would be thrown away or burnt if nobody wanted them.
I asked for four – two for me and two for my friend Y. The fleeces were at the other end of the country but another family member was visiting and brought them back so I could pick them up locally.
I didn’t know what to expect really. I have read about premium spinning fleeces where the sheep are coated to keep the fibre clean and free of vegetable matter (VM). I certainly wasn’t expecting that but when I unpacked the fleece I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge.
It had been packed away wet and absolutely stank. It was pretty dirty, with discolored tips, lots of VM and a fair amount of second cuts (very short bits of fibre where the shearer had gone over the sheep twice).
I took it outside and put it on the skirting rack to remove the dung tags and as many second cuts and bits of VM as I could before washing it in the sink with washing up liquid and boiling water. Urgh! The water turned the colour of builders’ tea!
After repeating the process three times the water was running clear – hopefully I’d done enough to remove the lanolin from the fibre too. I hung it up to dry and thankfully the dreadful smell had disappeared.
I’ve recently acquired some fibre combs and these have come in handy to prepare the fleece for spinning. There is some wastage (those pesky second cuts). I’ve separated out some of the black and white fibre and combed it separately. Where the colours can’t be separated they blend to a rather lovely grey. The fibre feels quite soft with a lovely crimp……I’m looking forward to spinning it.
Newcastle City Council’s staff choir has been going for several years and I’m a founder member. I was able to stay part of the choir when I retired and we now have a combination of retired and working members. We would meet for an hour every Tuesday at noon to allow staff to get there in their lunch break.
Choir had to stop in early 2020 when the Pandemic hit, along with all other social activities. There had been some early concerns that singing at volume might increase transmission of the virus, even if social distancing was observed, though this was later found to be less of a risk than had been thought.
After a while we began meeting on Zoom (and we’ve been doing that ever since, though it is limited to singing along to backing tracks while we muted our own voices. This avoids the cacophony that the slight time lags on Zoom would create otherwise.
Yesterday we met in person for the first time in about 18 months and it was wonderful! We did exercise caution as case numbers are still quite high here. I think we are all double jabbed with the vaccine – we were reminded to stay away if experiencing any COVID symptoms and wore our masks until we were ready to start, making sure we spread out for the session, which was held outside Newcastle’s Civic Centre. The building’s Council Chamber is a distinctive dome on stilts and it provided some shade from the midday sun during the mini heatwave that is taking place this week. It also has great acoustics.
About 7 of us, along with Emily our lovely Musical Director, were able to attend and two more members joined on Zoom. It was so good to see my choir friends again in person .We were all quite emotional about singing together after all this time and burst into spontaneous applause after our first song. It was particularly lovely to sing songs that we’d learnt online but never actually performed together in person.
There is something very special about singing in three or four part harmony. While you are singing the notes of your own part you can hear it blend with the voices singing all the parts creating beautiful harmonies together. It’s wonderful to be a part of that.
All to soon our session was over. I’m pleased to report that we hadn’t picked up too many bad habits during our prolonged period of Zooming – it still sounds great. We put our masks on for a group selfie – thanks to Teresa for taking this. We’ll be back for more weekly outdoor sessions as long as the weather is in our favour.
Today’s trip out took us first to the village of Etal. It’s a pretty estate village with a castle, which dates from around the 14th Century. Northumberland has many castles, a reminder of Anglo-Scottish conflict during the region’s violent past
Etal also has a thatched pub – thatched roofs are pretty unusual here in Northumberland.
We wandered down the road which ends in a ford over the River Till I’m not sure how safe it is to cross here as the water runs quite swiftly. We certainly didn’t try it!
On the riverbank we found Himalayan Balsam. This is an attractive plant with hooded pink flowers, but not a native species. It has become established in many areas (probably initially as a garden escape) and is now an extremely invasive weed. Its success is probably due in part to its method of seed dispersal. The ripe pods burst quite violently, spreading the seeds some distance.
Back in the village we had lunch at the Lavender Tea Rooms. I love the teapot sign! Behind the hedge is a pretty paved garden edged with rose bushes and lavender of course, with tables, so it was a perfect place to eat as we had the dog with us. We’ll not be able to lunch outside for much longer this year as autumn approaches.
We drove towards the coast in search of a beach walk for Buddy the Labrador. On the way we passed the imposing ruins of 12th Century Norham Castle.
We stopped for a dog walk at Cocklawburn beach.
Limestone was once quarried here and there used to be alLimeworks with a railway to transport the lime and workers cottages. The lime kilns can still be seen.
The sea was quite rough with some big breakers but they didn’t deter Buddy.
If you read my round up of recent Knit and natter group projects you’ll have noticed that I finally completed my striped alpaca sweater.
It’s been a long process – I washed and carded the fibre, then spun it until I thought I had enough (with plenty to spare) I chain plied the singles to get a more consistent thickness. It stands to reason that the more strands you ply together, the more even the final yarn will be as any variations will average out – I find plying with more than two bobbins a bit fiddly so chain plying seemed like the way forward and my technique certainly improved plying enough for a sweater.
The next stage was to dye the fibre , also something of a learning curve (you can read more about that here)
I was trying to reproduce the colours of a bought sweater I had years ago but always loved. I almost got it right though the coral pink should have been much paler.
I chose a simple V-neck pattern with set in sleeves as I didn’t wasn’t to worry about matching up the stripes where the sleeves meet the front and back. Unfortunately I hadn’t noticed that there was some shaping there and when I completed the first sleeve it looked totally wrong (and was too long). I fell out with the project for several weeks, then bit the bullet and did some calculations to get the sleeves to the right length and match up the stripes.
This time it worked just fine and it was soon finished.
I’m really pleased with the result. It fits well and the V-neck is just right – not too deep.
This is my biggest handspun project so far, and the first where I’ve dyed the yarn. it’s even more satisfying that I made it from scratch from the raw fibre.
The group have continued to meet online every Friday throughout August. This month we’ve mostly been making blankets.
A crocheted this one.
L completed this one in shades of Lilac and purple.
She’s now moved on to this black and grey one with a touch of sparkle.
R completed her Aztec Blanket. This was knitted to twice the final size, then folded in half and stitched together,. She finished off by adding a fringe. As it is double thickness, this is going to be really warm and cosy.
The rest of us have been working on sweaters. Y has been knitting this raspberry pink cable design – it’s a commission using handspun yarn (not her own). Unusually for Y, this one is knitted in the round – she’s usually a two-needle knitter!.
I finally completed my striped sweater in alpaca yarn from fibre that I prepped, spun and dyed myself…..from the animal’s back to my own! I just need to block it now.
It’s been lovely watching everyone’s projects take shape over the last few weeks.
Today we ended up in Burnmouth, a coastal village just North of the Scottish Border, that nestles at the foot of sea cliffs.
The sea was rough but there were a few birds sheltering among the rocks: greater black backed and herring gulls, oystercatchers and a lone heron.
While K took Buddy for a walk I got on with my knitting – I cast on this scarf earlier in the week. It’s the Ox scarf by Angela Mühlpfordt and I’m using 100% alpaca yarn that I’ve spun and dyed myself.
K is interested in geology and informs me that the rocks here are about 345 million years old, from the Carboniferous Period. He and Buddy made their way south towards where a rockfall had come down from the cliff.
They came across this bed of fossils.
These are the remains of burrows made by an ancient worm-like creature.
There’s always something interesting to find on this coast!
Our Knit and Natter Group were one of several groups that were asked to take part in a yarn bombing event at The Alnwick Garden. If you’ve not come across yarn bombing before, it involves decorating somewhere, (such as a public space) with items made of yarn. I’ve seen several of these before, with knitted and crocheted items decorating trees, fences and iron railings, post boxes, statues, even a bicycle and a boat!. This is the first time I’ve taken part in anything like this before – I’ve really been looking forward to the project, especially in such lovely surroundings.
A few weeks back four of us visited the garden and chose this wooded area beyond the Rose Garden as the focus for our decorations. Members of our group have been making items for the project for a while but we were inspired with even more ideas once we knew the space we’d be using. Other parts of the garden are ablaze with colourful flowers at this time of year but the shady trees and the bright green foliage or our adopted patch provided a perfect backdrop for the colourful items we made. Last week we were back to install our work, with the support of one of the staff who has organised the event. Some other parts of the garden had already been decorated as we saw on on our way to our chosen site. The items had been made by other groups and also ndividuals, who have been leaving items for the staff to use for the decorations. We got to work….here are are the fruits of our labours!
The smaller trees were hung with brightly coloured twists and the trunks wrapped with striped crochet “scarves”.
Other items were hung up too.
We draped a garland of hearts on another tree and wrapped more around a large trunk.
Crocheted banners and strings of bunting were wrapped around other trees.
A butterfly was fixed to the bark of one of the trees, along with a flower garland.
More floral chains were added.
Finally, this “Knit and Natter” banner (made by A) was fixed to a large tree near the path.
With our work complete, those of us able to stay found a table in a quiet spot near the cafe and had a well-earned cuppa. Free of the constraints of our usual Zoom meetings, we nattered until the Garden was ready to close. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon!
The yarn bombing installation will remain at The Alnwick Garden for the next few weeks.
Have you ever taken part in a yarn bombing event? I’d love to hear more about it.
Stitches by the Sea 