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Knit and Natter 6th November

Posted on by Jackie B

Friday’s ZoomKnit and Natter at Alnwick Medical Group was as lively as usual and we were joined by a new member as well as a new member of staff.

Our existing members showed off what they’ve been working on over the last week – I carried on spinning alpaca fleece. I’ll not post any more pictured of that here but I will share some cropped screenshots from the session.

Last week one of the Alnwick members showed us the start of her knitted “Santa’s Washing Line”. She’s completed more of Santa’s laundry.

She also showed us this Christmas tree decoration knitted from a selection in this book illustration- she explained that the candy canes are held rigid with a bendy drinking straw.

Aren’t the colours in this crocheted blanket great? It looks really cosy. The maker of this explained that it is worked diagonally.

The co-ordinator of The Berwick Group (the two knit and natter groups have combined online) has been knitting head bands in various colours using a Fair Isle design. She intends to line these with fleece fabric to make them warmer to wear and stop the wind whistling between the stitches! I want one! – it would stop my hair blowing about too.

Our

Our new member introduced herself – we are going to send her some patterns as she’d like to try some charity knits – something the group does a lot of. Unfortunately it’s harder to access the donated wool and needles from the surgery at the moment as we are in lockdown, but we gave her some ideas where to get some.

Jane, who co-ordinates the Alnwick group and is a new knitter has added to her first knitting project. She says the garter stitch is getting neater as she does more. Scarf length soon!

We also met Andrew, Jane’s colleague in the Social Prescribing Team. He can knit and was taught by his mother who made this lovely bobble hat.

All too soon our hour was up – another great catch up and some great projects. The group meets on Zoom every Friday at 12 noon for about an hour and is open to all patients of the Alnwick Medical Group – no social prescribing referral is necessary.

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Ready For Lockdown: Stocking Up On Supplies at The Amble Pin Cushion

Posted on by Jackie B

It’s been a strange week. Here in England the second lockdown began on Thursday and I felt strangely calm and ready for it. I had spent the earlier part of the week preparing for it – a final lunch out before the restaurants shut and on Tuesday, a visit to the Amble Pin Cushion to stock up on some odds and ends I know I’ll need to keep on crafting over the next month. I haven’t been to shops much at all this year so it was lovely to get back to one of my favourites.

I’ve been a regular member of the shop’s knit and natter group and attended craft courses, there, held in the training room upstairs before the pandemic. There is also a workroom where staff can carry out alterations – we knit and natterers have enjoyed a sneaky look inside in the run up to the local high school prom to see the students’ dresses being worked on! More recently the staff have turned their skills to making face masks, using some of the wide variety fabrics in stock.

As well as fabric, yarn and haberdashery there are all sorts of other craft supplies in the shop – it’s a bit of an Aladdin’s Cave really. Fortunately the team have excellent knowledge of what’s in stock (as well as a lot of skill in how to use it)

I bought some buttons to use on a project I’ll be finishing soon, some metallic thread for something I’ll need to embroider soon and some spare needle felting needles. If you’ve ever needle-felted you’ll know how they snap quite easily – I don’t want to run out in the middle of a forthcoming project.

I was also after a very specific shade of yarn. When it comes to colours I have to admit I’m really picky. Seeing something in a photo online just doesn’t work anywhere near as well as actually seeing it “in the flesh” After checking through my stash and drawing a blank there I had looked online at some well known yarn suppliers I found that the same yarn looked a completely different colour on different website. Of course as soon as I arrived at the shop I could see the exact colour I needed right in front of me! Even in this photo it looks much yellower than in life!

Too red, too dark, not yellow enough….just right!

Another downside to online shopping is that temptation to spend more (on things you don’t really need) to qualify for free postage! Not an issue here!

It was also lovely to see my knitting friend Anne, who works at APC and featured in my very first blog post almost a year ago. She was involved in a project to yarn bomb her village with Christmas angels and had hosted a knitting event at her home as part of this.

To keep customers safe a temporary counter was set up in the doorway and though there was a steady stream of customers they were all able to complete their purchases before a queue formed (and Anne and I still managed to catch up).

The current window display at APC features poppies for Remembrance Day, including some beautiful poppy print fabrics and some handmade poppy brooches being sold to support the British Legion charity in a year when the usual collections have been able to take place.

Small independent shops like this are more than part of the economy – they are part of the community. Before you go online shopping this Christmas, especially to the big multinational companies, check out small independent businesses, especially those in your locality. Many offer an online service for delivery or click and collect which may be available through lockdown. They need our support.

Do you have a favourite shop in your area?

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An Unexpected Scone of the Week : Rocking Horse Cafe

Posted on by Jackie B

We had an impromptu lunch out today. We’d been out for a drive up the coast. As our second lockdown is nearly here and opportunities to eat out dry up after Wednesday, lunch out seemed like a pretty good idea, so on the way home we swung by the Rocking Horse Cafe at Rock Moor, just off the A1 north of Alnwick. It was lovely to be back and were warmly welcomed at one of our favourite cafes.

I ordered the red pepper and tomato soup with a cheese scone – a perfect combination. The soup was full of rich sweetness and flavour, a generous serving at the perfect temperature (I like my soup hot, but not too hot to eat) The scone was also well-flavoured, nicely crusted on the outside and soft inside, served warm with a big slice of butter.

K had the all day breakfast stotty: bacon, sausage, 2 fried eggs and black pudding served in a stotty cake (that’s our regional speciality bread – a large flat bread roll). He really enjoyed it…

…and Buddy was pretty impressed too!

As we had Buddy with us, The Rocky was an obvious choice as it’s one of the most dog-friendly lunch spots we know. Canine customers while we were there included a couple of shih tzus and a very pretty chocolate Labrador. We were all too full of lovely food to take Buddy round the agility course in the cafe’s garden.

The cafe is able to expand into adjacent farm buildings or the garden at busy times to allow for plenty of social distancing between tables as well as all the other COVID safety measures.

Of course it’s not just the humans that are friendly – the resident border collies always give a warm welcome too, especially Sam!

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Halloween Happened

Posted on by Jackie B

It was a strange one this year. There was no Trick or Treat -people were sensibly discouraged from knocking on doors this year. Many of us decorated our houses though. For some reason, K loves doing the Halloween decorations. He adds to them every year and they get more elaborate. He’s less enthusiastic about Christmas.

We put the pumpkins out a week ago and all the rest of the stuff went out yesterday late afternoon to avoid the worst of the rain and gales.

My contribution was the witch figure. She was sat in a deckchair attending a steaming cauldron.

I also painted some cardboard gravestones.

K loves his gadgets and new this year was the projector (this has interchangeable images, including some Christmas ones).

We also have an animatronic raven. This has glowing red eyes and is movement activated so when someone comes to the door it turns its head and squawks. Then there is the remote control tarantula. We make the legs move when the doorbell rings. That makes the trick-or-treaters (and their parents) jump!

There are sound effects too – we have a whole CD full of spooky noise: ghostly wails and moans ,evil laughter, clanking chains, creaking doors, howling wolves….. all played through a speaker in an open window.

I’ve missed the interactive bit this year. In the past I’ve used puppets to answer the door then jumped out in full costume and facepaint.

Hopefully I’ll be back to that next year. As we prepare to go back into lockdown and wonder what Christmas will look like, I’m not sorry that this year is on its way out.

This sums it up really.

On a more positive note, I got to keep all the sweets and didn’t have to give them to the local children!

How was your Halloween?

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Knit and Natter 30th October

Posted on by Jackie B

We had our weekly knit and natter session on Zoom yesterday. There may only have been five of us but what a variety of projects were being worked on…..and great conversation as usual.

People are already starting to think of Christmas decorations and are raiding all their knitting and crochet books for ideas. Pictured below one of several snowflakes, crocheted from a fine white yarn. They will be starched and pressed, then attached to a string or ribbon to make a garland to decorate the Christmas tree or elsewhere in the home.

One of our Alnwick-based members is making “Santa’s washing line” , complete with tiny pegs holding Santa Claus’ clothes out to dry. She’s just finished knitting his trousers. I’m really looking forward to seeing this when it’s finished.

I’ve been working on my spinning. I really need to work out what I’m going to knit with all this!

This beautiful crochet baby blanket is nearing completion. It’s going be so cosy.. One of the downsides of Zoom knit and natter is that you can’t touch the projects – and sometimes you just want to feel how soft they are.

The fifth member of today’s session has begun a hat, knitted in the round. This lovely moss green yarn forms a deep ribbed edge to the hat – the main part of it will be worked in a Fair Isle design. I’m looking forward to seeing which other colours will be used in the pattern.

In no time at all the hour was up and the session came to an end. We’ll be back online next Friday.

Have you done any social knitting this week?

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Amazing Alpaca!

Posted on by Jackie B

We have a saying here in the North East: “Shy bairns get nowt”, which basically means that sometimes you have to be a bit cheeky and ask for something. When I realised that some dear friends of my brother and his wife have alpacas, I asked if they could perhaps bring me some alpaca fleece next time they visited. Since spinning became my new obsession I’ve been itching to get my hands on some alpaca fibre. It’s so gloriously soft and warm and I love knitting with it so really wanted to have a go at spinning some.

I also thought it would be really interesting to get hold of raw fleece from a known source, prepare it, spin it and knit into a garment, embracing the entire process.

When my brother dropped this large plastic sack full last week I was absolutely over the moon. He said he’d bring some, but I hasn’t imagined it would be so much

When I started to tip the contents out the fibres immediately fluffed up – there must be at least 2 complete blankets or fleeces compressed into that bag – over 6kg of fibre!. He also sent me some photos of the animals that provided the fleece: a pair of alpacas called Wispa and Aero. Aren’t they adorable?

I’ve been reading up how to process the fibre and I’ve partially skirted the first fleece. This involves separating out the soiled fibres and the shorter and coarser parts from the edges and removing second cuts (the shorter tufts where the shearer has gone over the animal a second time). Some of this is perfectly usable – but what is left is the best quality long fine fleece from the back of the animal.

The fleece holds a lot of dust, some of which falls out during the skirting process. The next stage is to wash the fibre. To do this I put the fibre into mesh bags (the sort you use for laundering underwear) . I added some wool wash liquid to hand-hot water and gently immersed the bags. The wet fleece must be handled very carefully or it felts together, so I just left it to soak for 20 minutes, then drained the water and lightly pressed on the bags to remove some of the water. I then added clean water of the same temperature (sudden temperature changes damage the fibres) to rinse the soap away. In some respects alpaca fibre is easier to wash than sheep’s wool ,which is rich in lanolin and takes repeated washing to remove). The water was now clear so I drained it, pressing gently on the bags remove water, then placing the bags between towels and pressing gently again. I then allowed the fleece to dry. It has cleaned up to a beautiful pure white, which offers so many possibilities for experimenting with dyes…..that’s a whole new craft in itself.

I’ve been using pet brushes to comb the fibres (have asked for proper carding combs for Christmas) and have gradually picked through it to remove all the fragments of vegetable matter. The prepared alpaca is the softest fluffiest stuff ever. It’s like a cloud!

Next job – to spin it! I spun a couple of singles and plyed them together to make this 2 ply yarn – 99 yards/49g

There was some left which I plyed with some blue merino to make this little skein (41 yards /15g.

It has been lovely to spin with and I’ve only used part of the fibre I processed there’s still a load more to skirt, wash and card). The project possibilities are endless!

I’m so lucky to have such generous people in my life…..and some of them have alpacas!

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Autumn in Bothal

Posted on by Jackie B

Last week we visited the village of Bothal, which is not far from Ashington, Northumberland, A friend had heard about the war memorial there at her history group, which looks particularly special at this time of year.

Built in remembrance of those who died in the First World War, the monument is flanked by a pair of trees. To the left stands a weeping ash, with long trailing branches.

To the right of the monument is a Japanese maple. Autumn has turned its leaves to a glowing blood red colour.

The trees represent the tears shed for those who died and the blood that was spilt in the conflict.

The memorial is topped by a Celtic cross and stands in front of St Andrews Church. The church bell tower can be seen in the picture below. Known as a bell cote, this open tower houses three bells, one of which is dated 1615.

The church is ancient, dating back to around 900AD though it is thought that a smaller church existed on the site some 200 years earlier. The Anglo-Saxon building was replaced by a larger one when Richard Bartram, a Norman lord, came to live at nearby Bothal Castle in 1161. Other addictions have been made over the centuries.

The drive to the castle gatehouse is next to the church.

The castle itself is privately owned and not open to the public.

Bothal is quite an unexpected little oasis, hidden in a wooded part of the Wanbeck valley, quite close to busy Ashington. It was really interesting to visit and especially to see the war memorial trees.

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Knit And Natter Is Back!

Posted on by Jackie B

Over the last few weeks the group have started to meet again online, using Zoom. Of course it is very different this way, but it’s been lovely to reconnect with some of my knitting friends. The group was set up as part of our local GP practice’s Social Prescribing initiative and is one of several activities set up to support patients that may be isolated or could benefit from some social activity, though it is open to all.

It is months since I wrote a Knit and Natter post. The group at Alnwick Medical Group last met in early March and the following week I had to post that it was cancelled until further notice as the COVID pandemic started to take hold.

Our group has joined forces with a similar one from the Berwick area to go online, so we’ve been meeting at 12 every Friday for the last few weeks. As well as sharing what we’ve been making and swapping patterns, it’s also been a great way to pass on information about other activities that may interest our members. For example our local Age UK branch recently produced a pack full of things to do in isolation, from puzzles and craft activities to online virtual gallery and museum tours.

Of course there’s some great knitting going on which you can see in the picture above. (clockwise from top left) . One of the group organisers has taught herself to knit and is perfecting her garter stitch – her work is growing rapidly as she gets neater and quicker. I’m busy with some brioche handwarmers. The pretty pink knitting is going to be a waterfall front cardigan. The gorgeous baby cardigan has just been completed by one of the group – she shared a photo from her phone. Finally our Berwick organiser shared a Book Club recommendation (she’s actually working on an amazing blanket at the moment).

I couldn’t resist taking a screenshot of this cuddly pup made by one of the group for her grandson. She even got a proper collar and lead for it. He is going to be one very happy little boy!

We’ve also been asked to give information about the group to a knitting magazine who are including a a feature about us!

Of course not everyone gets on with online activities like this, but at a time when more people are having to isolate themselves through a second wave of the virus it’s great that we can carry on with a safe social activity that connects us with others who have a shared interest.

Have you been able to continue any of your social knitting activities online?

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A Mystery Object From An Old Friend.

Posted on by Jackie B

A dear friend and her husband visited today and brought this. Can you guess what it is? I’ll come back to that…….

We’ve been friends since our teens (more years ago than I want to think about) and it’s lovely that we stay in touch, even though we are at different ends of the country. They were travelling to visit their children who are both at university in Edinburgh and called here for socially distanced coffee and cake in the garden. It was so lovely to catch up. I couldn’t believe it was ten years since we last met up.

We talked about our families, including my friend’s mother, a remarkable lady who had been a missionary in her youth, working in remote parts of the world, including the Solomon Islands. Mrs L was still travelling in her sixties, when she visited Egypt, trekking on horseback to visit sites of interest.

My friend was interested to hear about Daughter’s riding as she used to have a horse of her own which even attended their wedding reception and posed for photos.

Solo the horse -wedding guest.

She very kindly brought some horsy items that she no longer has any use for to pass on to Daughter. I was able to give her some of my home-made preserves (I always make far more than I’ll ever use so it’s nice to be able to give the surplus away to friends and family.

All too soon the visit was over and they continued their journey. I hope we’ll see them again soon.

….which bring us back to the mystery object. While souvenir shopping during her Egyptian trek, Mrs L must have been thinking about her daughter’s horse and bought this. It is a horse’s breast collar, a traditional adornment worn tied around the horse’s neck with the tassels hanging down over it’s chest. Whether Daughter will ever use it remains to be seen (Christmas maybe?). It’s a great story though!

Did you guess what it was?

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The Science of Autumn Colours

Posted on by Jackie B

I’ve been watching the trees change colour over recent weeks. They are probably at their best around now. I always hope they’ll stay around for a long time, but invariably we get gales and the trees go bare overnight. Some of them that are growing in exposed spots have already lost almost all their leaves.

Others are still green.

Of those that have changed, I love the range of colours, from the buttery yellow of this willow…

…to the deep orange-red of this ornamental rowan (complete with bright yellow berries).

Some of the Acer (maple) family are the stars of autumn. This one positively glows!

Have you ever considered the science of this spectacle? The leaves are key to everything the tree does. In spring and summer, they are full of the green pigment, chlorophyll. This enables the tree to use energy from sunlight to convert the carbon in carbon dioxide to sugars (by the process of photosynthesis) The sugars fuel growth, flowering and seed production: everything else the tree does. Like a factory needs down time for maintenance and replacement of worn out parts, the tree’s leaves reach the end of their life in autumn. It is the breakdown of the green chlorophyll pigment that gives rise to the yellows, oranges and reds of autumn leaves.

Shorter day length stimulates the tree to produce a layer of weak cells at her base of each leaf stalk. This is called the abscission layer and causes the leaves to detach easily and fall.

The trees will now remain dormant during winter until fresh green leaves emerge in spring, ready to go into full production. Nature is pretty amazing!.

Having been out and about looking for autumn leaf colour, I forgot this in our own garden. It’s a little Japanese maple we’ve had for years that always looks stunning at this time of year.

How are the trees looking where you are?