Beside the sea in Llandudno

I'm away this week on a much deserved break.  I intend to do lots of walking and have bought knitting and stitching with me, definitely far more projects than I will have time for in the coming week, but you know, us crafters have to be prepared don't we.

I had a lovely drive here, with yet more beautiful Welsh scenery to admire so again I didn't rush, I arrived about 3.30 and was able to get into my apartment even though a time of 5pm was specified.

It took a while to unload, mainly because, as I said, I've bought far too much with me but also because I am three floors up!  Man, lugging my things up those stairs was a bugger, I did really start to question my reason for bringing so much then!  

Anyway, after I'd got my breath back, wiped the sweat from my brow and had a glass of water, I headed out for a walk, just to the supermarket first to stock up on some essentials, I dropped those back, (climbing all those stairs again!) and went for a walk along the front, the tide was out and there were still some people on the beach enjoying the last of the days sunshine, it's been a warm one today.

I spotted an information board on the sea front with a photo of how the pier looked in the 1890's

The large building just before the pier was the Pavillion Theatre, It has seen it's fair share of celebrities preform there including Cliff Richard, Petula Clarke and George Formby, it has also regularly hosted political conferences and rallies with various Prime Ministers over the years.   Apparently when Winston Churchill made his speech there in 1948 a young woman named Margaret Thatcher decided to change her career and go into politics.

The pavillion fell into decline over the years as variety entertainment went out of fashion.  Various plans were put forward for redevelopment but none came about, eventually the exterior began to crumble and a fire put paid to the interior.  The ironwork of the pavillion is still there, now there are stall holders selling various wares.  What a shame it couldn't be saved.

 

I wasn't in exactly the same position but this is the view today, only the pavillion missing.

So after that good long walk I was ready for something to eat, well there is one thing you have to have when you're at the seaside, fish, chips and mushy peas, with a lovely cuppa tea :-)

It was lovely 😘

-X-

Wonderwool weekend

 It's been a good few years since I went to the Wonderwool fibre festival, It usually coincides with our meet up at Nimble Thimble, but this year it didn't so I was able to go.

Initially I was only going on the Saturday but I really didn't fancy the drive there, all day walking around and the drive back, it's about 2 hours, not that far but that does depend on traffic and weather.  Anyway, I decided to make a weekend of it and stayed in a lovely little pub just on the edge of Hay on Wye.  I had a few hours in Hay, a lovely little place which has around twenty book shops.  I did browse but didn't buy but If you are looking for that hard to find book Hay on Wye is certainly the place to go.

After a lovely cooked breakfast I set off around 10am for the Royal Welsh Showground, which is where Wonderwool is held, it was supposed to be a 30-40 minute drive from where i was staying but just outside Builth I hit a traffic jam, all heading to Wonderwool, that 40 minute drive took me an hour and a half in the end!

The festival is held in three sheds with plenty of food and drink vans inside and out.  Saturday wasn't a nice day weather-wise, it rained most of the day but that didn't put visitors off, it was heaving! 

It was difficult to get to look at some of the stands and it was all a bit overwhelming with so much choice.  The last time I'd gone the show wasn't as big, I think it was only in 2 sheds and there were definitely fewer vendors then. 

I managed to buy one of the things on my list that first day, some stitch holder cords to use when knitting jumpers, I can't remember who I bought these from as the stand was really busy.

I bought a set for DK and thicker yarn and a set for 4ply.

By 2pm I'd had enough, the crowds and the fact that it was hard to get to some stands was making me irritable, plus the queues for coffee was stupidly long everywhere so I decided to call it a day and head back to my B&B room.

The next day was so much better, the sun was shinning and there were no traffic jams to get to the venue :-)

I didn't want to get single skeins of yarn, I've got plenty of those so bought a sweater quantity of Falkland merino.  I think I'll make another Trescao with this.

From Lay Family Yarns I bought a hot water bottle kit, I've never tried colour work so I thought this would be a good small project to have a go at and it won't matter if it's not perfect.

This is the pattern, you do have to buy that separately from Ravelry, but it's only £4.  l'll attempt this later in the year.

This Beatrix Potter set of minis caught my eye, I did think of a pair of scrappy socks, but will have to do some working out.

And my last purchase was this lovely basket.  I've seen these on sale at lots of the yarn shows, they are a bit pricey for a basket, but they are all handmade and as I hadn't bought much in the way of yarn I decided to treat myself.

I love it!  and it's already proved to be very useful.

I did meet up with a few ladies on the Sunday.  If you watch Anita from the Gaga Knits podcast you will know that she and her friend were also going to Wonderwool and when I mentioned I was going too she said to come and meet them at lunchtime, which I did.  Anne from No Excuses podcast was also there with her friend Penny and two other ladies, Pip and Sal, I think Pip has a podcast too but I haven't got round to watching yet.

Here's something you don't see very often, a photo of me, lol

 I'm on the left, Anita (Gaga knits) on the right.  

So that was my weekend, I had a lovely time, the drive back was wonderfully scenic so I took my time and enjoyed the views, I'll leave you with some photos I stopped to take.

See you soon

-X-

Redwork

 The end of April already so it's time to share my stitching for the Stick6in2024 SAL. 

For the months of March and April the number 1 was generated and my pattern was one that had been in my stash for around four years, a lovely stitchery piece from The Birdhouse, called Gingerbread House.

The design comes already pre-printed on the fabric which is good because I always struggle to trace things.  The majority of the stitching is back stitching, with some french knots and satin stitch. 

The perfectionist in me isn't happy with the satin stitch sections, I tried them so many times and kept ripping them out, unhappy with how uneven the stitches looked.   I realised that I would have to embrace imperfection otherwise this stitchery would never get finished, and as I heard someone say recently, finished is better than perfect.   The perfection part of my brain would disagree with that saying, but I kept stitching and tried to ignore that little voice telling me my stitches looked bad.

To be fair you could probably pick faults with a lot of things in this piece, but on the whole I'm happy with it, no one is going to inspect it that closely anyway 😉

I used the recommended DMC thread, 221 Antique red, three strands for everything apart from the french knots and the satin stitch for which I use two strands.

Enjoy the rest of your week

-X-

A few things this month

My youngest daughter Stevie-Leigh turned 30

We all had a lovely meal out on Saturday night, It was a tad on the expensive side but lovely to all get together

I made this card for her on Moonpig, ordered the giant size, and it certainly was, lol

Jacob took part in his first march as part of the Squirrels

His Mum has joined as one of the leaders as they were under threat of closing down the group because of a lack of helpers.  They both look lovely in their uniforms.

 

There was a fantastic turn out from all the the various Scout and Guide groups, it was lovely to see them all walking together, and the weather behaved too.

Oliver is a Scout in a different division and they haven't done a march in a long time because of the lack of helpers, which is a real shame.

I bought a ticket to the Makings of a Murderer tour which went on sale in January, I missed it before Christmas so when I saw it was local again I made sure I got one right away.

I was really looking forward to seeing this last week, a talk from ex Detective David Swindale covering various high profile murderers.  I couldn't have been more disappointed!  

He didn't talk about anything that you couldn't have watched on tv for free!  

There was only one case that I didn't know about and there wasn't much information on that either.

I honestly don't know how this tour has lasted so long and has got so many good reviews because unless you have been living under a rock and not had any access to internet or tv you will know all about these cases, and he didn't say anything new about them.

By the time it came to the interval I'd had enough and made my escape.  The woman next to me said exactly the same when I spoke to her, so I don't think it was just me. 

So if you see this tour coming near you my advice would be to give it a miss.

I'm looking forward to another mini adventure on Friday, I'm going to Wonderwool Wales for the weekend.  I'm sure that will be a much better experience  😉

-X-

What else did I finish in March?

I had all the intentions of popping back sooner and sharing the rest of my March makes but time got the better of me, I've been busy with nanny duties and sometimes by the time I have five minutes to myself I don't want to do much.

Anyway, I'm here now.

This hat was a quick knit, the pattern is call the Rough Road Hat a design by Shannon Larson which is free on Ravelry.

I don't often knit hats but I really enjoyed working on this and can see me making more.  

This one is for Jacob and will go into my gift box for either his birthday in December or his Christmas stocking.  I knit the small adult size and I'm glad I did because the next size down would definitely have been too small

I have made the In Threes cardigan many times, It is a very satisfying quick knit.  Made for no one in particular but it will also go into the gift box

The last one is the Anker's Sweater by Petite Knit.

I'm really happy with how this came out, the fit is perfect and I might get a few days wear out of it as the weather is still very changeable.

It's knit out of Stylecraft Highland Heathers in the colourway Marmalade.  I bought the yarn last April on a trip to Blacksheep Wools. 

I love the ribbed yolk

 

I'm also very happy because all of these makes were made using yarn from stash :-)

As we are already halfway through the month I will see you all soon with what I've been making in April.

Take care and enjoy the rest of the month

-X-

A couple of March makes

Happy Easter 🐰

I hope you are all enjoying this Easter Sunday.  The children have been to collect their Easter eggs, no egg hunt this year as the garden is still too wet and soggy.  Me and Mark have enjoyed a lovely roast pork dinner followed by a quiet afternoon, me knitting and hubby watching tv.

As it's the end of another month, (they go too quickly!), I thought I'd pop in and share a couple of  the things that I've made during the month of March.  I want to keep this post short today so I will pop back soon and share the rest.

If you are on IG you will probably have seen my first make, it was all over instagram for a while, and I did resist for a few weeks before I jumped on the travelling sewing case bandwagon.  

 It seemed a shame to pull apart a perfectly good jewelry box and I wasn't really sure mine would turn out as good as some I'd seen but It turned out alright, not as fancy as some but It serves my purpose just fine.  I did wonder if it would be useful to me but I found it works great, everything is in one place, no hunting for scissors or another needle, I have everything at hand, and I'm enjoying using it, which is the main thing.

Another make this month was only done yesterday, and will probably be a work in progress for a while.  It's been in my head since last Autumn that I wanted a wildlife pond.  I cleared a space back in September /October last year when everything was dying off, I mentioned it to Mark and I don't think he was convinced at the time.  

I was going to buy a pre-formed pond from Amazon, then I saw something pop up on IG where a large container had been used to make a small pond, and I remembered that I'd seen the perfect thing in The Range the week before.

The weather was beautiful yesterday so Mark dug out the hole and set the container in the ground, he did dig in a lot of sharp sand because the ground is still so boggy and we have a heavy clay, hopefully it won't move too much.

And here it is at the moment

I used some wood from a bush we chopped down last year to soften one side but I have to buy some rocks and cobbles to finish the edges, I'm so happy with it.  When we first moved here we used to see lots of frogs in the garden, not so much now but hopefully they will return once word gets around.

 I will get some plants to put in and Mark, who is convinced now, (I don't know why he doubted because he knows I'm always right 😀😀) thinks we should get a pump to aerate the water, he even admitted that the frog I bought last week and which he laughed at looks at home there 😏

I posted these photos on a gardening group on FB and someone commented that the pond was too small for fish and they would get eaten by cats or birds???  So, before anyone gets worried, I can assure you there are NO fish in the pond, the orange/red you can see are reflections from my camilia which is in flower, I can sort of see why she would think they were fish though, ha ha.

I made a coffee and walnut cake this morning and there is a slice calling me from the kitchen so I will leave it there for now and pop back again soon and share my other makes from March.

Enjoy the rest of the Easter holidays

-X-

Sowing ALL the things

These last couple of months have been so wet and my garden is still quite muddy in places.  The grass at the top end of the garden is still too wet and soggy to walk on, it will need to be re-seeded as soon as it begins to dry out enough to walk on.  Up to yesterday we still has little pools of water in a few places, we need a week of good weather to start the drying out process.  

The top left photo is the grass, more mud than grass!

I have been able to tidy up some of the less boggy areas

And from down on the patio it all looks fine :-)

I decided to try my hand at growing some things this year, I sowed cosmos, sweetpeas, cornflowers, lupins, larkspur and a couple of other flowers, all have germinated and are growing nicely.  I also wanted to try some veg, so we have two variety of tomatoes, cucumber, courgette, aubergine, peas and potatoes.  Not sure if I will sow the carrot seeds I bought, I'll have to see if there is room.

I bought a planter for the strawberries and bought another few plants to fill it.  The ones on the left are the new ones, a different variety and growing slightly better than the ones I already had.

It will be interesting to look back on this post in the following months to see how my growing adventures are progressing

Today the sun is shinning at last, usually I take each season as it comes, I don't wish one to pass any faster than another but this year with having so much rain I'm glad of a dry sunny day.

This was the view from my kitchen window this afternoon, I just love the window-box full of daffs, such a cheery sight when I open the blind each morning, they are almost coming to an end and I'm wondering what to plant in there for the Summer months now.

Hope you are all doing well, I'll try and pop back at the end of the month for a round up of all my crafty endeavours 

-X-