A Winter Walk: A Coastal Circular Route from Arnside. . .

With all the constant rain the UK has experienced over the last two months, it's been ages since we've out on a good, long walk.  And I love winter walking in the UK - the light is just amazing.  The Liverpud had to recce an upcoming walk near Arnside on Saturday and I was happy to come along.

Arnside is located just south of the Lake District on an estuary leading out to Morecombe Bay. We parked on the northern bit of the town looking north towards the Lake District.  While it was a little nippy out, the air was perfectly still with no wind, as you can see by the unrippled water.

A quick look to the right and you can see the Howgills and Tebay Fells all covered in snow.

But we headed in the other direction, around the headland.  There was a lovely frost on the grassy dunes that bordered the beach.

And frost on the pebbles too.  Across the estuary you can see Grange-on-Sands.  I've previously done some walks from there, so it's nice to be on the other side of the water.

Morecombe Bay is notorious for its dangerous quicksand so you definitely can't venture out too far without a guide.  And the sand was distinctly wobbly under the feet, even near the shore.  We didn't sink down much further than an inch or so, but I preferred to stick to the icy bits - I love the crunchy sound of breaking ice under the feet.

Turning the corner of the headland, we emerged into the pale daylight and a lovely landscape of sand, ice and tufty, frosty grasses.

Then we started climbing up the hillside.  You can see how far the tide goes out on the bay, but again, the peacefulness of it all can be quite deceptive. The tide can come in very, very  quickly.

Our walk was half coastal and half in the surrounding woods which had their own peaceful beauty.

With great views of the bay through the trees.

We then headed inland where we came across this gorgeous herd of cattle.  I don't know what breed they are but they looked very woolly.

I love the hardiness and resilience of the wind-swept trees that line the bay.  We were very near Silverdale at this point and thoughout the walk, we kept venturing back and forth between two counties - Cumbria and Lancashire.

En route to our highpoint of the day - Arnside Knott - we passed the ruins of Arnside Tower, built in the 15th century. There were lots of signs forbidding entry but it was still fascinating to walk around it.

We couldn't linger however as it was starting to snow and we still had a hill to climb.  Unfortunately when we got to the viewing point at the top, the flakes were quite large and coming down fast.  It's a pity because the viewpoint has a couple of maps pointing out all the different peaks in the Lake District that you can normally see from here.  Fingers crossed the weather is clearer when we do this walk again with our rambling group.

The winter woods do look lovely though.

And so back to the car.

The UK being what it is -  i..e not very prepared when there's snow - we decided not to linger and treat ourselves to a pub dinner, but to head home in case the roads got a little slippery.  The snow fortunately was not sticking and we made it home safely.  But oh, it did feel SO good to get out into the countryside again.

On Balance. . .

My week of chanting the mantra of "balance"seems to be working so far.  I am not imposing any stress on myself for trying to get things done by a specific deadline, just setting aside chunks of time for different projects, working my way through them in the time allotted, and then STOPPING so that they don't take over my life.  And looking back on what I've done in the last ten days, I feel pretty good about it all. 

Above are my various cast-on and cast-off swatches for my course.  I've had a lot of fun trying several new techniques, including the long-tail cast-on for the first time (I always thought it would be very fiddly, but it was incredibly easy), and the Channel Island cast-on. There are some good online tutorials here and here.  Many of the bind-off methods I was already familiar with, but a new one to me was Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind-off which I will definitely use again as I like the firm edge it creates.  I still have to write up my notes for this section, but I feel I've plunged right into the coursework and am getting very disciplined about it.

I also made time to knit another swatch for the Knit British Breeds swatch-along (and my eventual blanket).   This is Llanwenog wool and the pattern is called Rosemary Sprigs (a nod to delicious Welsh lamb) from Nicky Epstein's book Knitting Block by Block.  I've still to soak, wash and do the wear test on this, but it was a lovely yarn to knit with - very substantial and firm and as you can see, there is a lovely stitch definition.  An aran jumper would look fantastic in this wool.  This was also enormously fun to knit; you cast on 192 stitches and work in the round from the outside inwards.

I've also finished the front and back of a new jumper, Driscoll, knit in New Lanark DK, in these rich autumnal colours.  The company will have a booth at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival and I wanted to test out the yarn as it's very reasonably priced with a good palette of colours, and I'd love to find a good workhorse yarn in the UK, similar to the Cascade 220 I used back in Canada.  As the pattern is fairly straight-forward, I've limited my knitting time on this purely to when I'm watching TV or on my breaks at work.  Onto the sleeves now!

And with any luck, I'll be finished most of it before the next KAL over at the Knit British and Brityarn groups.  This is a challenge to knit a garment in time for a meet-up at the  Edinburgh Yarn Festival in mid-March.  It has to be knitted out of 100% British fibre and use at least three natural shades.  I spent most of the weekend dithering over what pattern to knit but have decided on Buchanan by Kate Davies from her wonderful Yokes book.

I did a quick swatch and think the design will really lend itself to the different shades in my stash. The main body colour will be in Blue-faced Leicester and the yoke will have some Swaledale, Manx Loaghtan and  Falklands Island wool in it.  The KAL starts on Thursday the 14th and I can't wait to cast-on.

I've also finished two books this week and even went to my first Zumba class at the gym. It also stayed dry enough at just the right times of the day to allow me to walk to work four times, something that I really enjoy as it helps clear my mind along with exercising the body.  I may even sneak a film in tonight as well.

Knitting Resolutions for 2016. . .

Looking back over last year,  I was quite surprised and initially pleased at how much I was able to knit. It came at a cost though - when I tallied up the number of books I'd read and films I'd watched, they were among the lowest in probably the last twenty years.   Perhaps, just perhaps, I've been letting knitting take over my life (the Liverpud would certainly agree!).   So my word of 2016 is going to be "Balance".

I've pretty much cracked the work/life balance.  I love my new life in Liverpool and feel enormously lucky to be able to work part-time which allows me plenty of hours for other creative pursuits.  I just need to try and balance the many, many things that interest me and think more thoughtfully about the projects I choose to knit and when I should be knitting them (as ahem, I cast on yet another project up above - this will be my easy mindless tv knitting for the next few weeks - lots of stockinette).  I still want to keep improving my skills, exploring new techniques, experimenting with different fibres and continue connecting with the really vibrant and inspiring knitting community that is out there.  But I also really need to get my reading mojo back and make my way through an ever-growing pile of DVDs.

But still, it's always fun to have a few resolutions and goals and so here are my knitting/crafting ones for 2016:

1.  One of the most exciting projects I've embarked upon is a distance learning course offered by City & Guilds.  It's the Level 3 Certificate in Hand Knit Textiles and while the workload is slightly intimidating, I know it's going to make me a much better knitter and give me a really creative challenge as there will be some design work involved (eek!).  One module at a time though. There are twelve in all and I'd really like to get through 4-5 of them this year as we only have three years to finish the course and I can see the modules getting more complex and time-intensive as we go on.   I just need to be very disciplined and knuckle down.  This has to be my priority before other knitting projects.

2.  Still, there are at least 3 WIPS in progress that I also would really like to finish.  My Deco by Kate Davies has been languishing in a project bag for years now and I just have to finish the sleeves.  My Bowland by Susan Crawford was a project I really wanted to finish in time for Christmas (also one of last year's resolutions was to steek for the first time).  I'm almost at steeking stage - just have a million ends to weave in, but would really love to have this done by the Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March.  And then there's my Anemone by Marie Wallin.  All the knitted bits are done - it's just those crocheted sleeves which are the stumbling blocks.   Still, these are three garments that I'd really love to have in my wardrobe, so if I can finish these up in 2016, I'll be chuffed.

3. I'd love to crochet a full garment.  But if I can finish Anemone, I'll consider this resolution crossed off.

4. Buy only British wool/fibre.  I've given up on a cold sheep yarn diet; I go to too many shows where the temptations are rampant.  But I can certainly restrict myself to British yarns and support local businesses.  No shortage of lovely options there.  And that will stop me from buying bags of discontinued Rowan yarns because they are massively on sale.  They just sit in my stash and glare at me.

5.  Speaking of British wool, I want to continue participating in the Knit British Breeds swatch-a-long because I've really enjoyed the process so far.  It's been fascinating to discover the properties of different breeds.  I've done eight swatches already, six of which are the proper sized squares for an intended blanket.  I hopefully can continue the process until I have 24 or 30 and can put together a decent sized blanket.  It would be super if I could finish this in time for Wovember.

6.  I want to learn to spin with a drop spindle.  I'm booked for a class at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival so hopefully will crack this skill and spin up some roving by the end of the year.  A friend gave me some gorgeous silk batting for Christmas which would be terrific to knit up.

7.  At last year's Woolfest, I bought a double heddle for my loom which allows me to double the width of the fabric.  It's still sitting in its packaging.  I'd really like to assemble it and weave something using it this year.

8.  I'd also actually like to sit down and read more of my knitting books.  I'm great at acquiring them and looking at all the pretty pictures but I rarely sit down and read them in detail.  I know there's a wealth of fascinating information and inspiration in my knitting library - time to start absorbing it all!

Whew - that should keep me busy for the next few months.  I am not going to stress about it all though (well, maybe a little about the course) but try to calmly work through projects and enjoy the process.  We'll see how that goes. . .

2015: A Look Back at the Year of Knitting. . .

Wow!  It's been a great and fun year of knitting and looking back, I'm pretty amazed and proud at all I've accomplished.

One of my knitting resolutions for the year was to try and complete 12 garments in 12 months.  I didn't really think this would be possible (and it wasn't, though I came really, really close) but I'm still chuffed at what I did manage to finish. Ten full garments and a few others that just need some sleeves!  One of my favourites of the year is the first one - my colourful chunky Wendy Sweater knit in Rowan Big Wool colour.  I wear it all the time.  The Sous Sous was lovely to knit but alas, just was too big for me but I gave it to a friend and it looks terrific on her.  I was pleased to finish my Wytham which had been a longtime WIP and is a nice dress-up cardigan.  My Hap Cardigan was part of a really enjoyable Hap-a-long but if truth be told, I'll probably unravel it and use the wool for something else.  It's not the most practical of garments - I made mine a bit too long and if it's cool enough for a wool cardigan, then it really does need some longer sleeves.

Having completely broken my yarn diet at the Black Sheep annual sale, I came home with four large bags of discounted and discontinued Rowan Summer Tweed.  My challenge was to get at least six garments out of the lot.  I finished four this year and will look for new inspiration for my remaining balls when the spring/summer patterns start coming out.

I'm quite pleased with how these turned out, but I'm not so enamoured of the ragged holes in my Humbug anymore, although I love the fit and feel of this top. I may try and sew them up so that they still provide an interesting textured feature.  My Scout (top right) was challenging to knit in this yarn.  I still wear it but am not completely happy with it. I find the weight of the back pulls up the front so that the v-neck doesn't stay put where it should be.  Not sure how to fix this.  The bottom two tops, Chard (bottom left) and Kiku (bottom right) are great for summer and I love them both.

Finally, there was my Scollay cardigan and my Viajante, both projects that I took on my trip to Norway so happy memories knitted into them, and also they are both garments that I absolutely love to wear - the first because the fit is so good and the yarn is so cozy and warm, and the second because the colours of the yarn are so gorgeous and it's such a unique piece in my wardrobe.  Viajante also wins the prize for the most stitches in anything I knit this year.  I don't want to think about it and it may be some time before I knit another garment in laceweight.

There were also many shawls knitted in 2015.  The year started and ended with two Stephen West mystery knit-a-longs: Exploration Station and The Doodler.

In between was a Byatt (knitted, frogged, knitted, ripped back, knitted, completed then not happy, ripped back and knitted again in a different colour)

I also had fun with Lucy Hague's cabled shawls: Nine Maidens (alas, knitted on too small needles so not the size I wanted) and Ishneich.

And knit two lovely lace shawls: Hap for Harriet and Mahy.

There were mittens:

And my first pair of socks!

And lots of Baffies (love this pattern, both the striped and stranded versions - these are SO comfortable to wear around the house).

I also improved my crochet skills with the Rowan CAL designed by Lisa Richardson.

And knitted a boyfriend, bought a loom, and tried weaving for the first time, making this project bag.

Whew!  That's a lot of projects in one year.  I think I may slow down a bit and think more thoughtfully about what I knit next year and try to refine and polish my skills.  I also really want to finish a number of WIPs and yes, try yet again to focus on reducing my stash.  But it's lovely to look back and reflect on new skills learned and confidence gained.  Bring on 2016!  I'll be pondering my resolutions for the new year over the remaining hours of this one.   Happy New Year to all.

A Sheepy Xmas Tree. . .

I have not had a proper Christmas tree since I moved to Liverpool.  The Liverpud had a little tinselly tabletop tree that, once plugged in, changed colours from the most garish of purples and pinks to slightly less offensive blues and greens. We both decided we couldn't stand looking at it for another year.  The problem is that, having always had real trees as a kid in Canada, I've never warmed to plastic boughs.  So what to do?  A bunch of branches in a large vase?

The solution came when I was passing an arts supply store. They were having a 50% off sale on artist easels, which of course are made of wood, fold out into the perfect triangular tripod and best of all there are no needles to clean up.  I bought a bunch of long screws and wingnuts to create hooks for the decorations and ledges for the lights. A few strands of white fairy lights later, and we had all we needed to get cozy against the early dark nights.

But what REALLY makes my tree this year are these fabulous sheep decorations from The Knitting Goddess. 

 

The sheep bodies have been screen-printed from various knitting stitch patterns onto white felt. The kit comes with two sheets; you simply draw a circle around two sheep, stitch them up (I used blanket stitch with various leftovers from my British breeds swatch-along), stuff them, crochet a little hook and you're done.  Don't they look terrific?  And they work perfectly with the light wood of my "tree".

At the time of writing, she still had some sets left on her site. All proceeds are going to charity so you'll also be supporting some wonderful causes.  I think some British Breed wool pom poms are the next thing I need to make.

London Stitch and Knit. . .

I'm afraid I do have a weakness for eye-candy books especially if either sheep or yarn is involved, so when I heard about London Stitch and Knit: A Craft Lover's Guide to London's Fabric, Knitting and Haberdashery Shops by Leigh Metcalf, I succumbed and ordered the book, and I've really enjoyed browsing through it.

I don't get down to London nearly as often as I'd like; in fact I think I visited the city more when I lived in Toronto.  Though the trip only takes about two hours from Liverpool, and there are many trains a day,  the fares are quite expensive unless you book many weeks in advance.  I have on occasion treated myself to a rare Saturday trip and those tickets come with an all-day underground pass so you can easily whip around the city.

This book is exactly what it implies in the title.  Metcalf has divided this guide by neighbourhood and included a brief description of each of the almost 50 shops and their wares.  I've only been to a handful of them and those include London stalwarts like Liberty and the big John Lewis on Oxford Street, so there are plenty of new establishments to explore on my next trip - knitting, fabric, buttons and trims, and even a weaving shop!  There's a handy map at the beginning of each section - the one below is of Islington, around Angel station where I usually make a pilgrimage to Loop and Ray Stitch.  I'm thrilled that there are a few more stores in the area because it's such a great part of the city to walk around in, with lots of intriguing indie shops and restaurants.

Guides like this are fun; I want to pick an area of London that I'm totally unfamiliar with, and see what else I discover as I walk from one store to another.



But the book's main appeal to the non-Londoner, is of course the photography of haberdashery goods, so it works well as a coffee table book too.  The photos give a nice insight into how each shop has curated and displayed their goods, and they certainly can inspire some colour palettes and get the creative juices going.

What can I say?  I just love looking at colourful yarn and fabric.  The Liverpud and I have a mini-break planned for London in February - I certainly won't be able to drag him around to all these shops, but should be able to sneak a few new ones in.  Prick Your Finger is definitely on the list!

Doing the Doodler. . .

I finally got around to finding a morning without rain and getting some photos of the Doodler shawl by Stephen West in action. I'm really loving this shawl. It's so unique in design and all that garter stitch makes it so very squishy and cozy.



There are lots of different ways to wear it., each one showing off one of the shawl's main design features.  Here the stripes take precedent.

Or you can showcase that huge cable around the neck.

Or stretch those lovely, big wedges right around you.

I am just so chuffed with this shawl.

In Praise of the Swaledale. . .

Here's my next finished British Breeds swatch.  It's knitted in Swaledale wool from Swaledale Woollens.

I have a lot of love and good memories tied up with this breed, as part of the Coast to Coast walk involved going through the lovely Swaledale Valley where you can visit the village of Muker where this wool was bought.

The landscape is patterned with these lovely fields surrounded by Yorkshire drystone walls and of course you see the Swaledale sheep everywhere.

I chose "Sheepfold" in Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns for my swatch as it reminded me of these fields.

The yarn is really great to knit with; it's wonderfully crisp and creates a soft but strong fabric (I wore it against my skin for a day and practically forgot it was there).  The stitch definition is also terrific as you can see, and it would make a fabulous cabled jumper.  I ordered enough to make one,  and just need to find the perfect pattern now.  I also love the silvery-grey colour.

The Doodler: Another Stephen West Mystery KAL. . .

November knitting was all about another Stephen West mystery knit-a-along.  I've participated in four of these now and never fail to be amused and enthralled at his creativity. I can't say that I wear a lot of his shawls on a regular basis out in public (somehow, I just don't have the accompanying wardrobe to wear them with the verve they deserve), but I always enjoy knitting them and seeing the crazy colours that everyone else comes up with.  They are usually quite big and so I do wrap them around me at home quite frequently.  And I always learn some new techniques over the four weeks.

So this year's mystery pattern - The Doodler - called for three contrasting colours.   Week one was fun but a lot of knitting.  It created this almost butterfly shape of increasing wedges with a lovely i-cord edging.

Sponge was very interested in seeing if I was providing  a new bed for her.

But then she decided to try and mimic its shape instead.   I used a skein of subtly hued Scrumptious Sock by Fyberspates that I've had in my stash for a long time, for the main colour.   It paired nicely with some Titus 4ply in the rich Parkin colourway. I love how it glows in the sunshine.

Week 2 was a complete surprise.  I have never knitted a huge increasing cable on the edge of a shawl before.  Just fabulous!

I made some modifications for Week 3.  You had to pick up a lot of stitches along the edge and then knit several wavy wedges.  I wanted to use some Frangipani 5ply Guernsey yarn (colourway is Falmouth Navy) that I picked up in Whitby this summer, but felt it would be too oppressively dark and weigh the whole shawl down.  So I added some new colours and did stripes that gradually get bigger.  Really happy with the balance now.

And then the last week was essentially the i-cord bind-off, with the option to do some picots on the "crest" of the waves.  I picked up the teal colour from my first stripe of Clue #3.

And here's the beast blocking. It took up all my blocking mats and given the damp weather outside, it will probably take several days to dry.  I'm really pleased with it though. It's a very original and creative design and I went a bit out of my comfort zone with the colours.  At least for this one, I didn't have to rip back and start again.  We'll see how wearable it is when it dries. 

There are over 3,000 projects on ravelry from all over the world and in some incredibly bold and exciting colour combinations.  You can take a look here.