Trip to Cockermouth

Last Saturday we went for a trip through to Cockermouth. I've been here at night since we moved up here, for a Knitting Club, not for the brightlights or nightlife. I thought it was about time I see this place by daylight. I never realised the place that we met in, the Trout Hotel, was right next door to Wordsworth House. Stop reciting 'I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high.....' in your head and I'll try to as well. I didn't go into the house. I may do another time.

Here is my little Mary-Jane. She got rather tired during the outing. There was a lot of getting in and out of the car unfortunately. She did enjoy part of the day.

Down one of the small side alleys, that leads to some shops, there is The Cockermouth History Wall. I would have liked more time to read it all and learn. But here is a quick snapshot. In 2009, there was the worst floods for many many years. Up to 8' in parts. The floods went through the town itself and caused devastation. Talking to some of the people in the town, in the shops, there seemed a spirit of unity and community, of people helping each other during the 'mop up' operation.

The History Wall is quite long and informative. Another gem I learned was that Fletcher Christian was from just outside Cockermouth, Brigham I think. Fletcher Christian led the Mutiny On The Bounty. I can't remember many facts and figures at the moment, other than in a film he was played by a youngish Mel Gibson.

We had lunch in a place called The Squirrels Pantry, who serves The Most Delicious Home Made Apple Chutney. Highly recommendable chutney I must say! I also found the Wool Shop. I will go there again when I've got some pennies to spend. It carries stock beyond Sirdar and Patons, which is much favoured in these parts. There is a 'posh' yarn shop in Maryport, I've still to get to it, preferably when I've got some money to part with!

Items for Knit Club

My needles have been whirring. It's good to get up to speed and be able to knit. I've made a Grrlfriend Market Bag in some Ice yarn that I bought a few years ago. The yarn is half bamboo and half cotton. It's beautiful colours and has a slight sparkle to it. I started it on Monday and had it done by Friday night. I enjoyed doing it. It's a pattern I've done a few times before.

This is the base of it. You start on dpn's, two stitches on four needles. Fiddly. As it gets bigger you go onto trusty circulars and off you go. It's simple, effective and a practical bag.

Mum likes it so much that she has bought some Patons Sorbet to make some in, to sell on one of her stalls. So far I've cast on with a nectarine colour. It's looking good. The yarn is ideal. We are off into Whitehaven shortly to get some more yarn.......

Ive also made a Neck Deccy. I used Sirdar reflection. One ball did a large deccy. I bought a couple of balls as they were reduced to 99p. Bargain. I like bargains.

Here's a close up.

I'ver also made another Boho Scarf, not sure if I mentioned it or not? I used, I think it's called Capri, maybe a sirdar one, I can't remember off the top of my head. It's a good pattern, you can use different yarns and make it longer etc. I like patterns like that!

Itsy Bitsy Summer Swap

For the first time since last June, I signed up to do Itsy Bitsy Summer Swap. My swap partner, as you already know was my friend Lessie - Sue in Italy. The theme of the swap was summery things beginning with the letter of your swap partners name. After much deliberating, I took the soft option to do a Shawl. I choose Pimpelliese, which was in Sue's ravelry queue. I enjoyed knitting it; the colours were lovely, I would have quite liked it myself!

So here is yours truly, modelling the shawl. The yarn is Supersocke 100 Candy Colour. I'm not sure exactly where I got it from , although I think it was given to me. The colours and the yarn fitted exactly what I wanted for this project.

The edging is integral and very pretty. The pattern can be found on ravelry. I'm not sure if it's the done thing to put a direct link here or not.

The shawl and other little goodies were well recieved. I loved the things that Sue sent to me - the shawl she did me was marvellous! I love these swaps.

I've signed up to do the small July Swap. The swap partners should be listed in just under a week or so, I'm looking forward to it. The small swaps will suit my budget, although if I can do them every month or not I don't know.

A Walk Down The River Path

Mary-Jane and I went for another walk down the River Path at Calder Bridge. This time we were followed! HK was more than alarmed when I told him this, till I told him who it actually was - two sheep! We first caught sight of them when they were stood a little way off the path. They eyeballed us as we walked past.

As we continued I could hear footfalls behind us. I turned round and the two sheep pretended that they weren't following us and went to run off as if they'd not been seen. As we continued, so did they, getting closer and closer but still staying at a distance of about 10 yards.

This is as far as we got. I had to keep an eye on the time to get back for Mary-Jane's tea time. Plus it seems that MJ doesn't like the path, I think the vibrations are too much for her, plus there is little suspension on the buggy so she feels it all. The path is good for walking on, but not for her buggy.

The river water is beautifully clear, and so inviting. I know I shall be paddling my toes in there one day

A view down stream

Back to the sheep. They followed us there and back.

I'd still like to follow the path to Caler Abbey. It must only be around the corner. I shall have to see if there is an alternative route to take MJ, it's distressing to hear her crying as she does. Lots of walks to go on!

Summer Swap Parcel from Lessie

I signed up for the Itsy Bitsy Summer Swap. My Swap Partner was Lessie, in Italy. Lessie - Sue and I ahve swapped before. The theme of the swap was the letter of your partners name, along with a summer theme. Sue pulled out all the stops for me. I was thrilled with her parcel. She had made me a Citron Shawl, it is really beautiful and I can't wait to wear it out. It is so pretty and fine.

Sue also made me a pair of cherries and a cilli to go with the chilli and cherry chocolate. There were some Country Critter buttons and three balls of Cherry red italian baby cotton. I thinking of what to make Mary-Jane with this. I'm thinking in between either a summer dress or a cardi, no specific pattern in mind yet.

This is a close up of the cherries and chocolate. Sue has excelled herself, I love the shawl, the whole package, Thank you!!

Hail

One morning a week or so ago, I was pottering about, sorting breakfast, looked out the window and couldn't beleive my eyes! It's the start of June and it's HAILING!! I grabbed my camera and scampered outside, with HK's voice ringing in my ears to not go outside. Here is the front door step. Yes the white stuff is hail....

The drive, with may car. The white stuff is still hail. Yes this was taken in June!

Chairs and table, with the aforementioned Hail. I can't beleive it. Bizarre weather in these parts. You have to be ready for all weathers here.

Early Morning Woolly Thoughts

It's a little after 6AM. I've been awake since just after 4. I can't sleep. It's not like me at all. I have nights like these once in a blue moon and I had one a few weeks ago. I almost feel as though I might be getting a cold. My eyes were closing, then opening. My mind was wandering in woolly (read yarn/knitting) circles. At half past five, I decided to get up, have a brew and do a few rows and see if that would settle me down. Probably will in time to get up, so I'll be grumpy all day cos I'm tired.

One of the woolly circles I was one was wool dyeing. This has been passing randomly through my head for a short while. For all the dyeing that I used to do, I couldn't remember fully the process, the quantities of dye and fix etc. This made me feel a little dejected. I thought eventually it would come back to me. The thought of trawling the t'internet for info, or for looking for that elusive two back copies of whichever magazine it was that I first used to teach myself to dye with, which I may well have re-homed in the run up to The Move, was not at all appealing.

So lying in bed I slowly remembered that I kept a diary of when I was dyeing - Ker-ching! I remembered that it was a purple book, and kept my fingers crossed that it was in the bureau. It was. I've had half an hour of nostalgic reading. The Diary ran for 6 months. It covered all the things that I dyed using Kool Aid and food colouring, then tailed off. Luckily I wrote down the soak and dye solution quantities. The process came back to me, and I quickly wrote it down at the back of the book for eady reference.

I knew one day my dyeing Mojo would come back. Thankfully! What has kindled the Mojo Return was a good find in the Charity Shop in Cleator Moor. I found a cone of peachy aran yarn for £3. It weighs just over 1.8kg, including the caardboard cone itself. It is not labelled as to what it is. For the life of me I can't remember the tests that you do to tell what yarn is madfe out of, whether it is a natural or man-made substance. I know you can agitate it in your fingers or set light to a bit of it to see how it burns. Mum and I set light to an end of it. It didn't burn or catch fire as such, Mum declared it to be wool.

So my next test of 'Guess What It Is', is to try dyeing it. If this is successful, then the next stage is to test suitability of felting, using the traditional method of knitting a bag then chucking it in the wash machine. I must choose a pattern that will be suitable for felting and non felting.

Am now going to knit a bit. Yesterday at Knit Club, I cast on a Grrlfriend Market Bag using the Ice Bamboo yarn. I've finished the base last night. I know I used to do the sides a certain length, but that is another thing I can't remember. I shall see how I go. Simples.