A Knitting Weekend in Northumberland. . .

Knitters are great company.  And they make things happen.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Lucy decided to set up a Knitter's Brunch on a Sunday; just an informal opportunity to meet up with some other knitters, have some nice food, and then a quick pop over to a local yarn shop.  Sounded great - only it was taking place on the other side of the country.

I wasn't the only one lamenting the distance.  No problem. Lucy knew of a hostel nearby with beds that only cost £25 a night and she could pick us up at the train station.  Would we like to make a weekend of it and spend an evening in our jammies knitting?  Oh, yes, we would!

And so on Saturday, I was up early and on a train bound for Morpeth in Northumberland while Kelly was heading in the same direction from Birmingham, Deb from Bolton and Sarah from near Leeds.  Lucy picked us all up at the station and we first headed for a legendary secondhand bookstore in nearby Alnwick.  Barter Books is housed in an old railway station and was the place where the Keep Calm and Carry On poster first got its second wave of popularity.  It is a delightful treasure trove of a place to explore.

With a lovely cafe too and tables to hang out and knit.

 

I found a lovely volume of short stories by Elizabeth Gaskell.  I love the title - it just seemed to set the tone for the whole weekend.

Then it was off to our accommodation. I was expecting a bare bones hostel but couldn't have been more delighted to find our digs were previously a quilting shop.

How beautiful is this self-catering kitchen?  On the other side were comfy couches and a log burning fire.  Bliss.

And it was only five minutes from the beach!  This is Druridge Bay which was definitely worth getting up early for.  I caught the most beautiful sunrise on Sunday morning.

Later on we went back for a short walk. The beach stretches for miles and is relatively deserted,  Just sand, sky and water.

Following the tide line, I was mesmerized by all the gorgeous colours of the pebbles and sea glass that washes up.

I saw colour palettes for future knitting projects everywhere.

I could have stayed on that beach all morning, but brunch was calling.  Lucy drove us to the village of Felton where we met up with other local knitters at the Running Fox Bakery.

If you want to sit outside, they will even provide hot water bottles for you.

Brunch was delicious - I had organic sausages from the local butcher on French Toast.

It was then off to Fine Fettle Fibres, a tiny, but well-stocked shop located in a building with lots of other craft studios.  I bought some of my desert island yarn (West Yorkshire Spinners' Blue-faced Leicester DK),  a skein of Dovestone DK in their new colourway "Heathcliff" and a skein of beautiful marled Jacob yarn from Jessie's Field, located right in Felton. 

 

It was a wonderful weekend mini-break with lots of knitting time on the train too.  Northumberland is definitely an area of the country that I'd like to return to.  I didn't even have time to explore a castle!  Thanks so much Lucy for making this weekend a reality.  And do keep an eye out on her website - she has plans afoot to offer budget knitting retreats using the same venue that we stayed in.

2017: It's Going to Be All About Colour. . .

Hello again.  Happy belated New Year.  I can't believe that January is almost over, but I had a bit of a ten day hiccup in my usual routine. I had to travel back to Toronto to help my Mum move up to Sault Ste. Marie, where my brother lives.  It all was a bit sudden but definitely the right move; her new apartment is gorgeous and while it will take a little while to settle in, my brother is only ten minutes away and everyone I met was so incredibly friendly.  There is a lot of snow and winter can last into May, but the summers will be lovely without all the humidity and smog that has become the staple of a Toronto July.

This is what the St. Mary's River looked like when I was there, although I thought the grounded tugboats looked rather jolly in the bleak landscape.

There's quite a nice cultural scene in the Soo (Mum has already been to a concert), and there is a lovely yarn shop - Shabby Motley - located on the main downtown street, which also includes a cafe. I took Mum there when we were exploring downtown and we had lattes and homemade raspberry scones.

Shabby Motley carry a Canadian brand of yarn that was new to me - Sugar Bush Yarns.  I couldn't help buying two balls of their soft, chunky Chill.  Okay, I fell for the name as much as the colours.

It was then slightly surreal to get back to Liverpool and see my back garden; the camellia bush is already starting to bloom.

These may not be far behind. . .

The Liverpud and I -  amateur gardeners that we are - bought about two hundred bulbs of varying kinds last autumn and just scattered them around the backyard and in a few containers.  There are definitely daffodils, bluebells, snowdrops, tulips and some irises.  No real pattern, we just planted them and we'll see what comes up.  I am hoping for constant colour all spring.

And speaking of colour, that is my mantra for 2017.  Which is not to say that neutrals and greys won't still feature in my knitting.  I was thrilled with my final knit of last year, which I've forgotten to post here.  I have worn my Snowflake sweater by Tin Can Knits constantly this winter and just love the pattern and how the speckled Hedgehog Fibres and the Rowan Tweed work together so well.

But I'm equally in love with my first knit of 2017 which I finished just before heading to Canada.  This is the Lausavisa Jumper by Karie Westermann, knit in Ístex Léttlopi.

It was a really quick knit on 6mm needles, knit from the bottom up and I had such fun knitting the yoke. The yarn is airy and so, so, warm and light.  It was the PERFECT travel jumper, keeping me cozy on the plane and keeping the windchill out when I was in Canada.  Ironically, I felt colder in Toronto than further up north in Sault Ste. Marie, because the wind tunnels created by all the skyscrapers is just bone chilling.  This Icelandic yarn also blocks beautifully and all the stitches smooth out to really show the pattern.

I have caught the colour bug AND the colourwork bug.  My travel project was the First Fair Isle sweater from Amirisu magazine.  There are some beautiful colourways on ravelry but I really wanted to use some stash so am knitting it with Rowan Felted Tweed (the stone and dark green colours) and some Scottish Rowan Tweed (the more vibrant green).  This is a great design - it's knit top-down so there is no steeking involved.  At the moment, I haven't yet decided whether to make it a short-sleeved top, or to do the full fair isle long sleeves.  I will finish the body with its' colourful ribbing and then make a decision.

But before I could finish it,  Kate Davies' next pattern in her Inspired by Islay project came out - the Carraigh Fhada vest.  Oh MY!  I had to cast on right away.  Originally, I wanted to knit it with Buchaille in the exact colourway that Kate presented, because quite frankly, it's perfect.  But the BlackerPodKAL was also starting up and I hadn't yet picked a project. So I did a little stash digging and (hopefully) have found enough Blacker DK to knit this beautiful pattern.  For my main colour, I'm using 4 balls of Westcountry Tweed which I've had in my stash for at least five years.  The newer version of this yarn has far more flecks of different colours in it; my earlier version is quite smooth and uniform in colour.  For the contrast colours, I'm using Tamar in Camel and Gwindra, and the dark black is a ball of Pure Breed Zwartbles.  Here's how it looks knitted up so far:

I know I need to get back to my First Fair Isle, but I'm just having so much fun with this vest.  I'll be going to the Shetland Islands for the first time in August and all I want to do these days is fair isle.  I'm hoping that after these are finished, I can also tackle the Crofthoose Yoke sweater, designed by Ella Gordon and then  Next Year in Lerwick, designed by Tori Seierstad, which just seems so appropriate for this trip.  I know a few of the women I'll be travelling with are planning to knit this too, so it would be fun to see all our different projects together.

I am going to be busy!

Kicking Back. . .

As the last days of 2016 are upon us, I am kicking back and looking back, and planning projects for the new year.  All the xmas social gatherings have come and gone with lots of eating and catching up. I finished the Liverpud's socks and even though one is slightly bigger than the other, he doesn't want me to re-knit, saying he's happy with the fit. Fine by me; the do look cozy.

I received an old wooden swift, originally made in Norway, from my lovely friend Elaine (THANKS SO MUCH) and a ball winder from the Liverpud's mum, and they both worked wonderfully.  There's something so lovely about every aspect of this craft involving just beautiful tools and the labour of your own hands.  I love it that I never have to charge or plug anything in to get going.

Twenty minutes later and I had five lovely cakes of Blacker Yarn's St. Kilda lace all ready for the BlackerPodKAL starting on January 19th.  My first attempt (the white) came out looking a bit like an egg, but the rest are fine.  I really like the fact that the winder makes a center-pull ball so I can use either end or both together if I want.  That's extremely useful.  For the KAL, I'm going to attempt Foxpaws by Xandy Peters.  This will be a challenge as we only have under two months and it's quite a complicated pattern.  I may not get done in time, but think these gorgeous colours, hand-dyed by the Knitting Goddess along with the natural white and brown, will go together wonderfully in this pattern.

And my last cast-on for 2016 is the Lausavisa Jumper by Karie Westermann.  I'm using Icelandic wool for this, but in a lighter weight than the pattern calls for, so am hoping that my sizing tweaks will work.  This should be a relatively quick knit as the body is done in 6mm needles. 

Happy New Year to all - I'll also be thinking up some new knitting resolutions (not that I did so well with last year's).  Oh well, nothing ventured. . . .

Smiling on the Solstice. . .

I love this day - it's the turning point towards the spring, even though it feels as if there's a lot of winter to get through. Still, even if incrementally, we will have more light!  It makes me feel more optimistic and more creative.  However, it also means there's only three more days to get stuff done before Christmas.  After feeling quite on top of things, I'm now going down to the wire but then isn't that always to be expected?

Top of the list is to get two of my gifts for the Liverpudlian done.  He's often quite hard to buy for and not very articulate about what he wants. One thing he did ask for was a box.  Just that - a box to store his walking instruments - compass, GPS thingy etc - so that he can always find them.  There aren't really a lot of boxes for men available unless it's to put shaving equipment in, so I had to do some thinking about this one.  I went to several outdoor shops but didn't think a waterproof plastic box was very attractive.  So I bought a plain wooden box online from a hobby store and some wood stain and paint.  I blew up a photo of Causey Pike in the Lake District (a favourite walk that he has led) and used it to make a stencil. And I'm actually quite pleased with how it's turned out so far.

I've now stained the top as well and just need to add about three coats of clear gloss varnish.  I can only work on this when he's out of the house, so I may well need to ban him from certain rooms on Christmas Eve. I plan to line the box with some wool felt.

The other gift for him is a pair of socks. I'm using the Lumberjack pattern by Tin Can Knits and was happily knitting away on the second sock when I put it against the first and realised that I'd forgotten to change needle size after the cuff.  AAAAAAGH.

I don't have time to restart, so will finish the smaller sock, hope he sees the funny side of it, have him try on both for comfort, and knit him that second sock after Christmas.  This might be a blessing in disguise as I suspect the smaller one will be the better fit. 

I will have a few free days over the holidays to indulge in some of my own projects.  I've recently cast on Uncia by Lucy Hague - an intricate cable and lace shawl/hap that needs a lot of quiet focus and attention.  I'm using some beautiful, crisp Texel wool from Orkney that will hopefully show off the pattern beautifully. 

And as a great stashbuster, I've just started hooking a rug.  This will no doubt be a multi-year project as I'm aiming for a full-sized rug for the living room.  No real pattern in mind other than to use pops of colour from odd scraps of left-overs and gather my white/cream/grey/beige stash for the background. It's a very relaxing activity once you get a rhythm going and I'm rather pleased with how it's turning out so far.  Basically it's now about the size of a foot.  But it feels great underneath.  Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading the blog and I hope you all have a wonderful, restful, inspiring holiday season.  Let's put all the darkness of 2016 behind us and hope for the best for 2017.

Feeling Quite Smug For the Holidays. . .

Tree's up!

Mind you, it's very small and can be set up in a few minutes. White lights make everything cheery.  It was good to dig out last year's sheepy decorations from the Knitting Goddess.

I've also added a few new ornaments.  These are made out of - yes, you guessed it - WOOL!  Even better, Herdwick wool (my favourite sheep).  Solidwool is a small and really interesting British company experimenting with alternatives to plastic.  They take Herdy wool and mix it with a bio-resin to create a hard substance that is then turned mostly into furniture.  This year they produced these decorations and they fit perfectly with my themed tree. It's hard to see in the photo, but there are wisps of wool visible in the compressed material.

Mum's package has been mailed off and in addition to knitting a pair of socks and a pair of Baffies . . .

. . . I also managed to find time to knit her a lovely shawl.  The pattern is Haematoxylum by Ysolda Teague, the last pattern from her 2016 yarn club. It was quite quick to knit and is a lovely pattern for a variegated yarn.  I used a skein of Life in the Long Grass merino/silk 4ply in the colourway Meadow which has a wonderful drape with a bit of a sheen to it. Very cozy around the neck without being too hot. I can definitely see myself making one of these for me in the future.  A great one-skein project; I even had enough to add an extra short row wedge to give it a bit more width.

I have one more sock to finish for the Liverpud which should be doable, although I have to dig it out in secret when he's not around.  So having the xmas knitting well under control, and my snowflake sweater progressing nicely (just have half a sleeve and the placket/buttons to finish) last night,  I decided to cast on my  holiday project for when I have a few days of peace and quiet.  This will be Uncia by Lucy Hague from The Book of Haps.  I have seen many gorgeous projects on ravelry - some in rich, silky colourways, and others in more rustic, undyed natural yarns - and they all look really beautiful.  I've gone for something a bit in the middle. I went stash diving and found several balls of this 100% Texel wool from Orkney.  The woman on the farm who dyed the yarn is no longer dyeing so I really wanted to knit something special with this yarn.  It's quite crisp but not itchy and has very little halo, so I think it will show off the pattern quite well.  There are 400 rows - the first 150 are fairly straightforward and then there are several charts with cables and lace.  I am going to tackle this very slow and steady.

Knitting Smithereens. . .

My Shallmillens Snood (the Shetland word for smithereens) designed by Donna Smith is finally done and this may well be my favourite knit of 2016.

I have taken this project on numerous trains and planes, and into hotel rooms, over the last few months. It's been the best travel companion; each row is easy to memorize and when you get a wee bit bored of a pattern, it's not long before a new one comes your way.  The size is perfect too - I can easily loop it twice around my neck where it is snug and warm but doesn't strangle me.

The yarn used is Brooklyn Tweed's Loft.  The lighter beige is Woodsmoke and the darker brown is a delicious colour called Truffle Hunt that incorporates greys, browns and a hint of bluey-grey too. It was a lovely yarn to knit with but really difficult to graft with as it breaks easily.  When washed and blocked though, it blooms into an absolutely soft and smooth fabric. Here is a close-up.

This took a long time to knit, but I'm really pleased with the result.  I've also seen some stunning projects done in gradient yarns or using different contrast colours for each section.

As I'm writing this, exciting plans are underfoot to visit the Shetland Islands next year. This cowl will definitely be coming with me, but I think I need to cast on some colourful fair isle projects in the new year.  i need to get my xmas knitting done first and finish what I hope will be my go-to winter jumper.  I've started Snowflake by Tin Can Knits which I've wanted to knit for a long time; I was just waiting to find the perfect colour combination.  I've been obsessed by the colourway Typewriter in Hedgehog Fibres' sock yarn and when I bought a couple of skeins, it occurred to me that it would perfectly match some discontinued black Rowan Tweed in my stash.  So I've made a start on the very pretty lace yoke:

Once the yoke is done, it'll be a matter of separating for the arms and then a lot of stockinette in the round which should go fairly quickly.  I'll be chuffed if I can finish in time to wear for Christmas.

Sunday Walking: From Hebden Bridge to Haworth. . .

When out with my walking group - and especially when doing the harder walk - it's all about the walking, not the stopping.  This is a shame when you go through a pretty town like Hebden Bridge. Nestled in a valley, it was hard hit in the floods last year but hopefully seems to have recovered. From what I could see - as our leader frogmarched us through the streets -  there were lots of lovely shops and cafes.  I think a future day trip needs to be planned to explore in more detail.

Our twelve and half mile walk was a linear from Hebden Bridge to Haworth, home of the Brontes and one of my favourite places to visit. I had never approached it on foot from the south though, and it was a very pretty walk. The first part took us through Hardcastle Crags - mostly woodland owned by the National Trust. We followed this river for a mile or so.

There's still so much vibrant colour in the landscape this time of year.  I don't even mind a bit of mist and grey skies - the other colours seem to pop against it.

About half way through the walk, we reached the moors (my favourite bit), joining the Pennine Way as it snaked around the three Walshaw Dean reservoirs.

And then the sun came out.  Isn't this gorgeous?

This is the approach to Top Withins, the "inspiration", more in location than actual building, for Wuthering Heights. You can just see it nestled near the back of this photo.

Here's a closer shot.

We stopped for some lemon drizzle cake, but it was getting cold, so we marched on.  I had to take one more look back.

I was wearing my toasty Latvian mittens.

And here, in the ever-changing light, are some photos of the famous moors between Top Withins and Haworth itself.

We arrived just as it was getting dark. Haworth is all decked out in its Christmas finery with a big tree at the bottom of its famous, steep hill, and xmas music playing.  We even saw some Morris dancers who were calling it a day after entertaining tourists.

And you can easily catch a bus back to Hebden Bridge if you want to make the trip a circular.  I think it would be a wonderful walk in either direction.