October sock knitting and more stitching

 October went out and November arrived, and both days were lovely and sunny and bright - a welcome change from all the wind and rain we've had recently.

I didn't decorate for Halloween and we didn't get any trick or treaters, I saw some of the kids going out but it seems to be an unwritten rule that they only call on houses with visible decorations.  There are only a couple of families with school age children in our street and think they all get together and do their trick or treating further into the estate.

I suppose that makes me sound like a miserable so-and-so, lol, but celebrating Halloween is a relatively recent thing here in the UK.  We never did it when I was growing up; we tended to celebrate Bonfire Night instead.  

I remember how much fun I had making a Guy Fawkes with my friends.  We'd use old clothes and stuff them with newspaper, then make a head using a balloon with a pair of tights pulled over. lol.  Once our creation was finished, we'd take it down to the local paper shop and sit outside with our Guy Fawkes and asked everyone who passed by, "Penny for the Guy?"

The money we collected, and we always did quite well because we timed it for when people would be coming home from work, would go towards buying fireworks.  We'd also spend weeks gathering bits of wood, ready to build a bonfire on the spare ground at the end of the road to light on, or as close as possible to Bonfire Night on 5th November.

A Health & Safety nightmare now of course, both building and having a bonfire and children sitting outside a shop asking "Penny for the Guy"  Oh how did we survive, lol.

On Bonfire Night for some reason we always had jacket potatoes and groaty pudding, (or groaty dick as it was more comonally called), to eat around the bonfire.  

I think I much prefer how we used celebrated Bonfire Night in the UK rather than the adopted Halloween which is just too commercialised now.

Anyway, I went off on a bit of a tanget there. I came here to share my October socks and a stitching update.

I managed to complete two pairs of socks last month.  

This pair for Mark in the Starling colourway from West Yorkshire Spinners

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And this pair for me using, Opal yarn, but unfortunatly I've lost the ball band for this on so I can't tell you the colourway.

Although I prefer knitting with Opal sock yarn over WYS I really do like the Starling colourway I knitted for Mark, I sort of wish I'd done those for myself, lol.  But, there may be enough left over to make myself a shorty pair perhaps, watch this space.

I've been keeping my stitching bag by the sofa thinking that It might encourage me to stitch a bit more, and It has and I've been enjoying working on North Pole again.

I'm glad to have found my stitching mojo again as I want to make Freddie his first Christmas ornament in the next few weeks.

Hope are all well and are all set to enjoy November

-X-

Summer knitting and Christmas stitching

 It's been a few weeks, things have been busy and to be honest, I just lost my blogging interest for a while so as well as not posting I also haven't been reading any of my usual blogs, I'll catch up with all your happenings as soon as I can.  

As we are fast aproaching the end of October, (how did that happen!)  I thought I'd pop in and share a knitting finish from early September.  It's a tee, so I won't be wearing it anytime soon as the weather has really turned this last week, but It'll keep.

This is the Prospect Tee by Tori Yu

I used Drops Safran, a 4ply yarn that I'd never used before and It was so nice to knit with.  I was worried it might over stretch being a cotton yarn, and it did grow a bit, an inch or so, but not overly much so thats good to know for another time.

It was an interesting construction and one I hadn't done before but It came out so neat and I loved working it.  

The back is worked first, you knit so far down and then you pick up stitches and work down the front.  As with anything new I thought it looked complicated, but the instuctions were clear and I didn't have any problems.

I don't enjoy picking up stitches but I think i've made a pretty neat job on all the picked up stitches this time....even if i do say so myself, ha ha

I have plans, and the yarn, to make at least another two of these Prospect tees over the Winter so that they will be ready and waiting to wear in the Spring and Summer.

I've mentioned a few times that I haven't felt the urge to stitch latley but last Sunday I was booked onto a stitchy retreat day.  I took along my Kathy Barrick North Pole Santa but also some sock knitting incase I wasn't feeling the stitching.  I didn't touch my knitting all day, I was enjoying stitching again 😁

This had been sat in my bag since May, which was the last time I worked on him at the last stitchy day.

And after last Sunday's stitching..

Not a huge amount of progress as the day also included chatting and eating too, lol.  But progress none the less, and he has been worked on this last week too, so perhaps my stitching mojo is returning at long last!

I will share last weeks Santa progress at the end of the month along with another couple of knitting finishes.

Hope you are all well

-X-

What I'm watching

I don't really watch much TV. Our TV goes off on Sunday night when Mark goes to bed and doesen't get switched back on until Friday evening when he comes home.  If I do watch anything, I usually just catch-up on my laptop. 

But then one of my daughters mentioned that James Blunt was going to be on the new series of  Celebrity Triators.  He's my all-time favourite singer/songwriter, so I thought I'd give it a watch.  I'd never watched any of the previous series so didn't really know what to expect, but I loved it!  

Poor Richard E Grant though!  He obviously thought he'd try a double bluff and get an "I'm Sparticus" response from the rest of them when he come out and said he was a traitor.  I do hope he survives as I think he's a lovely genuine person. 

I'm looking forward to watching the third episode tomorrow night.  

in the meantime I've been catching up on the previous Celebrity Traitors series.

-X-

More socks for the box

 Looks like Blogger has sorted the problem with posts not updating, for the time being at least.  I don't think It's the first time It's happened though.   Lets hope It's not some recurring problem that will see more people giving up on Blogger.

Anyway... I finished another pair of socks for Mark to add to my box of socks.  These are giving a real Autumn feel with the green, brown and oranges.

As you can see they are not matching.  I did try, but after winding off a load of yarn I still couldn't find the match.  I don't think Mark will even notice to be honest so I'm not going to let It bother me 😃

I haven't cast on another pair of socks just yet because I've been trying to get my Prospect Tee finished.  Happy to say that I did that yesterday and It's now on the blocking mats.  I will post a photo when It's dry, which, seeing as the weather has turned might be a few days.

I've given myself permission to sit and cast on something new this afternoon while watching the second series of The Crow Girl.  

Has anyone watched The Crow Girl?  I watched the first series on channel 5 a few weeks ago, but series two is on Paramount, so I've had to sign up afor a fee month's trial to watch it.

It's so good!  I can highly recommend giving it a watch if you haven't already.

-X-

Two trips

 I recently had a lovely day in London with my eldest daughter, Jenny, along with Arty and Bonnie.  The kids had wanted to go for a while and neither Jenny or myself need much pursueding to visit London, we both love it. 

We had an early start, catching the 7.30am train into Marylebone, which gave us plenty of time to make the most of the day.  As it was the first time either Bonnie or Arty had been to Londone, we didn't pre-book any attractions, Instead, we thought it would be nice to take things as they came, walk around and see some of the more famous sights.

Bonnie had mentioned seeing Buckingham Palace, so we took the tube straight out of Marylebone station and arrived in time to see the Changing of the Guard.  It was so busy though, and I think the crowds were a bit overwhelming for her.  fortunately we managed to get both of them to the front of the railings at one point, and the guards came right up in front of them.  They absolutely loved and made up for having to battle our way to the front.

We also spent some time in the Lego shop, where they each chose a set ot take home.  After that, the rest of the day was spent walking around Londone and taking in some of the main sights.  In hind sight, I think it might have been better to have booked at least one attraction to visit, just to give the day a bit more structure and break up all the walking.

These are some of the photos from our day

They are still both a bit too young to fully appriciate the history and significance of many of London's landmarks, but they certainly enjoyed the experience of exploring the city.  Riding on the underground was an adventure for them, (and me, I always enjoy it) and of course seeing Big Ben, and London Bridge.  It was lovely to see Big Ben all clean and shiny now, the last time I visited it was covered in scaffolding.

By the time we finally headed home we were all exhausted.  We didn't get back until just after midnight, but luckily we had a direct rain, both children completely crashed out almost as soon as we set off and slept all the way back.

It was a long and tiring day, but enjoyable, and hopefully the first of many London trips for both of them.

Last weekend Mark was working so I went away for a few days.  Things have been so busy latley that I needed some time just for me, and I haven't seen the sea all Summer.  Living in the middle of England means that we do live a fair way from any coastal town so it's a lovely treat to be by a beach and the sea.

Can you guess where I went?

I've visited many times now but I never get tired of going, It was of course Llandudno in North Wales.

I stayed in a lovely little B&B very near the pier, and the weather was dry and bright, not rainy like predicted.

I didn't do a lot, these few days were all about having a rest, I walked, read my book, bought some more books, (oops) and knit while watching tv in the evening.  It was just what I needed.

I did venture out one evening, there was a charity Harley Davidson bike ride along the pier and around town.  The bikes were all lit up and some of the riders where dressed up too.  It was lovely too see, although much fewer than the 150 riders the advert said there would be.  Still it was fun.  No photos i'm afraid, for some reason they all turned out blurry, (user error).

I had a little walk along the pier afterwards, I wouldn't normally venture out alone when It was dark but It was mostly families around after the bike ride, I felt safe enough for an hour, and I was back in my room by 9pm.

We should have been going away again this week, but someone left it too late to book time off work - lets just say there were a few words!

 

-X-

**I have no idea what going on with blogger, the blogs i visit most are in my sidebar but that's not updating and neither is the reading list.  Is anyone else having problems, and have you managed to fix it?

Knitting my sock stash

 In January I set myself a goal to knit a pair of socks each month throughout the year.  The idea was to fill a box with hand knitted socks for both myself and Mark for Christmas.

We are now in the middle of August and I've just recently finished my eighth pair.  I could choose to miss knitting a pair this month but I decided to cast another pair on this weekend and if life gets too busy towards Christmas I'll still be on track.

These are the latest two pairs finished

A pair for me....

And a pair for Mark.

And all the ones I've knitted so far this year.

It's going to be a tight fit, but I think I should manage to get them all in.

I wanted to try and knit all the socks from stash this year, and I'm happy to say that I have acheived that, so far at least.  I've only purchased one ball of sock yarn this year so I haven't been adding anymore to stash either.

I didn't think to take a photo of my commercial sock yarn stash back in January...But this is how it's looking at the moment.

It makes me happy to be using what I have and seeing less on this shelf.  The shelf is only one ball deep but there is still a fair bit to choose from; and certainly enough to keep me going until the end of the year.  There are also some part balls of solids in there too that I can use for cuffs, heels and toes if I choose to.

I find that the older I'm getting the less I want, of anything, not just yarn, and having a large stash of yarn, or any crafting supplies, is not something that bothers me anymore.  I love to look at yarn and enjoy a browse at yarn festivals and yarn shops, but I think I would much rather be in a position of finding a pattern I would like to knit and then shopping for the yarn, you know, like it used to be before there was so much yarny temptation on social media, lol.

Of course I will still sometimes get tempted along the way, but I would still like to keep to a sensible amount.  

I do have a reasonable amount of hand-dyed yarn - not a huge stash by any means, but enough to have some options.  Most of it is single skeins that I bought because I loved the colourway at the time, while some were gifts.

I could use some of them for socks, and there are definitely a few that I will.  But others are far too pretty to be hidden inside shoes!  So, I've been thinking about pairing some of the skeins together and using them to knit a few Tee's for next Summer - I think that would be a lovely way to make use of those special yarns and getting to enjoy the colours - Watch this space 😉

-x-

Too close for comfort

You may have seen on BBC and Sky news tonight about the wild fires in Stourbridge -

This fire spread so quickly across the fields local to us - and is still going.

My daughter, Joanne was going into town and spotted a small fire in the bushes on the edge of the field.  She stopped and called it in but said by the time she had got off the phone it was already spreading across the field.

While it looks like they stopped it spreading across the the fields in one direction, it carried on in the other direction and now the local golf club is gone and the fields are still on fire, this is the road currently just short walk from where we live.  There are so many trees and hedges along that road, making it easy for the fire to spread.

These are the roads I drive down to my Roots allotment, the farmer and locals were seen taking the horses to safety early on, so hopefully all livestock is safe.  At the moment the allotments are ok, although we have been asked to stay away, not only to allow the emergency services to do their job, but also It's just not worth the risk at the moment the way it's spreading.

The council have opened up the Town Hall to accomodate those evaquated and also one of the churches in town is open for people too.  I think a few people have been treated for heat and smoke inhalation but thankfully no more than that, lets hope it stays that way, but sadly there have been at least six houses lost at the moment.

The photos i've shared are not mine, they were posted by people from the Roots allotments on our whatsapp group who were there at the time.

It's so scary how quickly this spread, everything is so dry that it wouldn't have taken much to get going...lets hope that they get it under control soon.

-X-

Last Week

The start of another new month already.  These months seem to fly by and before we know it, Christmas will be here!

This week has been spent mostly around home and playing catch-up.  Some weeks go smoothly and everything seems to fall into place and I manage to get loads done, while other weeks I appear to acheive very little, last week was definitly a week when I acheived very little.

Even so, I managed to get three days in at the allotment last week, not full day's but I've made some good progress - I'll be sharing before and after photos soon.

I put some mystery flowers in one of the raised beds and they are doing really well. I think these are zinias.  I've never been successful with zinnias before, they are so pretty.  I did nothing but clear the weeds in this raised bed, the soil wasn't particulaly good, but perhaps that's what they like.

My sunflowers finally produced a lovely flower head too...they were very slow to get going but now I get to enjoy them a bit longer.

 I took myself for coffee and cake one afternoon and finished the book I was readin.   I'm on the look out for Liz Nugents other books now, this one was really good, well written and with an ending I didn't see coming.

Book & Pudding club was on Wednesday night - Yet again my choice didn't winn the vote.  This is the one that received the most votes.  I do wonder If the fact that our host went on about how much she enjoyed it had an effect on the voting?  I have noticed she does that quite a bit, and that's ok, but I wish she would wait until the voting is over so that there is no influence.

I'm not sure how I feel about reading it, I've listened to a preview on Audible and I didn't like the narration and our local library doesen't have - I don't feel inclined to spend £9 on a book I'm not sure about.

Stevie Is starting to have nail clients again one day a week, and I get to look after Freddie while she is working.

Stevie always say's he never falls asleep on his own at home, but come to nanna's and he will fall asleep on the floor, ha ha.

I spent yesterday tidying the garden. The earth is so parched, the grass hasn't been green for months, everything is desperate for water, even shrubs in the ground are suffering this year - I've never seen my hydrangea this bad.  

I gave everything a really good soaking yesterday, but what we really need is some rain....There is a rumour that we might see some rain tomorrow, I'll beleive that when I see it, we've only had one morning with some light rain in five weeks!

On Wednesday I have a procedure at the hospital.  Mark is coming home tomorrow evening so he can come with me.  I may need to be sedated, which means I won't be able to drive afterwards.  Even if that isn't necessary, I wouldn't have fancied going on my own.

-X-

On my nightstand

 When we visited Bath last weekend there was a really great second hand book stall in the market.  Now, I really don't need any more books to add to my TBR shelf...but that didn't stop me coming home with another three, ha ha.

I know the Ruth Galloway series is very popular, and I read the first book a while ago.  To be honest, it didn't really wow me - it was just an okay read.

When I spotted The Janus Stone, the second book in the series I decided to pick it up because I thought it deserved another chance.  Unfortunately, I ended up putting it down when the story started mentioning the killing of children, puppies and cats, It just made me feel uncomfortable and wasn't something I wanted to read before going to sleep, which is when I do most of my reading.

I do have a couple more books in the series that I've picked up from charity shops, but for now I think I've decided this series isn't for me.

 I haven't read Nella Lasts War but I have seen Housewife 49 based on the book and really enjoyed it, I'm looking forward to reading Nella Last's Peace, I think It's something I will enjoy.

I've read several of Matt Haig's books and enjoyed them all.  Dead Fathers Club Is one of his early books, here's the blurb from the back of the book - 

I also got this for Freddie.

Gerry The Giraffe was one of Stevie's favourite bedtime stories when she was little, I think one of the other grandchilden must have ended up with our origonal copy so I was pleased to find this copy.

I don't very often buy new books these day's and I'd been looking for Broken Country for a few weeks without any luck, I also looked at reserving it the library but the waiting list was in double figures, so I decided to treat myself. 

As you can see It didn't travel home on it's own.  

I loved Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent, I've not read anything else by her but I am enjoying this one at the moment and think I will look out for her other titles.

This is our Library Reading Group book for the coming month.

The cover isn't giving anything away - here's the blurb from the back cover.

Someone mentioned that It's recently been a series on BBC.  As I don't watch TV I hadn't come across it.  Not sure what I think of this one, has anyone read it or seen in on TV?  I think it's going to be a very thoughtful read, perhaps nothing to exciting.

It's Pudding & Bookclub this Wednesday, so together with whatever book is chosen then I should have enough to keep me entertained for a few weeks.

What books are you enjoying at the moment?

-X-

Bath- a weeknd trip

It had been quite a while since our last visit to Bath.  I think the previous time I was there was for the Christmas Market with the girls.

This time we took the caravvan for a weekend away and stayed just outside Bath at Yellowtail Campsite in Trowbridge.  It's a lovely, peaceful site, a perfect place to unwind.

Set on a working farm, Yellowtail Campsite offers a large field with grass pitches for campers who don't require electric hook-up, as well as a separate area with hard-standing and grass pitches with electric hook-up, which is what we booked.

The site has a clean and well maintained shower block and seperate toilet facilities.  Despite being on a working farm there was no disruption form heavy machinery, no unpleasant farm smells, and no road noise.  It really is the perfect place for a quiet, relaxing getaway but also convenient for exploring the surounding area.

The hardstanding and grass pitches at Yellowtail

We arrived late on Friday afternoon and had already decided that this was going to be a no-cooking weekend.  After setting up the caravan we drove to a local pub for something to eat.

If there was one downside to the campsite, it was that there didn't seem to be any pubs or restaurants withing easy walking distance.  That said, it certainly wouldn't put us off staying there again.

The following morning, rather than driving into Bath and seaching for a parking space, we decide to use the Park & Ride, which was only abut a 15-minute drive from the campsite.  We found a parking space with no trouble at all, and with the shuttle buses running every 12-15 minutes, we didn' have to wait long before we were on our way into the city.

Before we set off I downloaded a Viator self guided audio walking tour app.  There were various ones to choose from, we chose the Romans, Royals and Regency one.

Our walk began at Pultney Bridge, there were 13 stops in all each with information and a brief history.

As you would expect, Bath was very busy.  However, it was even busier than usual on the Saturday because the Summer Graduation ceromonys were taking place at the Abbey.

 I had hoped to climb the spiral staircase to enjoy the views from the top of the Abbey, but unfortunately it was closed to the general public for the week-long graduation programme.  

As we wandered through the city we listened to the information about the Roman Baths and the Jane Austen Centre, as we had visited both on previous trips we decided not to go inside this time but we did enjoy learning a little more about their history.

The rest of our walk took us past many of Bath's famous landmarks, including Queen Square, the Assembly Rooms and St Michael's Church.  No wonder Bath is such a popular destination with its stunning architecture and fascinating history around every corner.

The Circle and it's wonderful curved houses.

We also passed the famous Sally Lunn's.  

Our 'guide' told us that it was, (aparantly) a French baker named Solange Luyon who opened the orgional bakery in the 1680's.  The locals, who were unable to pronounce her name, shortened it to Sally Lunn. 

Sally Lunn was famous for her baked goods, especially her unique bath bun, the recipie for which is a closely guarded secret.

As with many famous historic attractions there was quite a queue and we didn't feel the need to wait.

Although Abbey Green wasn't part of our guided walk it was somewhere we couldn't walk past without stopping to admire.  

This historic square with it's beautiful Grade II listed buildings is so pretty.

The dappled sunlight was just perfect and gave the square a lovely atmosphere with an almost continental feel.  It was one of those unexpected finds that made walking around Bath so enjoyable.

Our walk concluded at the Royal Crescent and Royal Victoria Park. 

The Royal Crescent is probably the landmark that Bath is most famous for, and I can see why.  This row of 30 Grade I listed townhouses is both beautiful and unique, originally bult for the wealthy Georgian society it is today a mixture of uses, including private residences, apartments and even a hotel.       

  If you happen to have £4,250,00 to spare you could perhaps own a seven bedroomed house on the Crescent!

Or if that is a little out of your reach perhaps a more modest priced studio at £495,000 would be better suited.

We finished our day with a stroll round Parade Gardens before heading back to catch our Park & Ride bus.  

It had been a lot of walking in the heat, although we did manage to find some shade along the way and made sure to take regular stops, so it wasn't as bad as It could have been.  

We both really enjoyed our little City trip and are thinking about where we would like to visit next.

-X-