A picture of a sheep for Woolly Wormhead. It’s actually a rucksack. This won the local Guild competition a couple of years ago, made from double stranded aran weight handspun Jacobs.













The walking holiday in Malhamdale was fab. The Holiday Fellowship place was grand but cosy. They aim for a Country House atmosphere which works fine for me though the place was packed with a load of bridge players who also walked, and us who just walked. This meant that mealtimes were a little loud and you could really only talk to your immediate neighbour at the table. I sat with a mixture of people. I did the harder walks on the first couple of days and then the medium on the last day. My muscles are just about starting to forgive me. The Yorkshire dales are beautiful with stone walls and barns in every other field for the cattle to overwinter. The second day was all the famous sights of Malhamdale – Garsdale Scar (which we didn’t scramble up as it was too wet and our leader didn’t want to risk it), Malham Tarn and Malham Cove. The limestone pavement at the top of the Coves is plain weird. I have been before but it was years ago.

As I was the youngest person staying, I entertained them by knitting. The WIP was my dad’s jumper (mark 2). This is the blue I dyed but each of the three batches was slightly different so I am knitting with three balls of wool on the go. Quite a few other women said they knitted but none had brought theirs along.


And this is the Brea Bag I knitted with Peruvian wool which my lovely Secret Pal Mo sent me. It's a really nice design to knit as you cast on for the circumference and then decrease. I am someone who hates knitting sleeves in the usual way of increasing every few rows.

THANK YOU

A very big thank you to my Secret Pal Mo who has been spoiling me for the last 3 ½ months. The final package arrived today (huzzah it fitted through the letterbox). (and in your honour I have finally found out how to put a link in!)

This is what it looked like all smart in its ribbon

And this really does not do the colours justice; it’s all shades of green and pinks and purple and yellow.

It’s Noro which I have only ever seen on blogs, never in the flesh before. Mo had meant to send me some for a booga bag, but got the silk/mohair/lambswool mix instead. It is beautifully soft which means I have to keep stroking it! I am already enjoying reading Mo’s blog.

Other textiles, I am dyeing yarn for my dad's jumper. He will not be getting the Gotland as it will be too thick for him, so I looked through the stash while him and mum were visiting last weekend, found enough white DK (100% wool but not particularly soft), and am making it blue. I am having to dye it in three lots as none of my pans are large enough, and the first batch is not too even. Still it makes it more interesting and less solid...

Gardening

Yesterday was the Gardener’s Weekend in Birmingham, a veritable orgy of gardening stuff for sale and displays of silly looking dahlias and such. This is my annual chance to buy lots of plants, as quite frankly I am not a gardener. I made a beeline for the Hardy Plant Society and impressed them by bringing out my own carriers to fill with a variety of plants for a mere £1 each. And after them I went to the Cottage Plant Society stall, which was a little more expensive but still had a wide range, and another two bags were filled. The weather was miserable, so unlike previous years when I have sat on the grass listening to a live trad jazz band, this time I stood under a tree to eat lunch and listen and moved on much quicker. I only briefly went round the rest of the show, as it was only more plants for sale and I physically couldn’t carry anything else (some were in my rucksack as it was), so I caught the bus home.

I started a conversation with the women who sat next to me while I was knitting a hiking sock. She said her knitting was too complicated for travelling, and when I asked her what it was, she pulled out a photo from her purse of a patchwork knitted blanket in progress. Beats photos of the grandkids. I have not yet reached that stage but I shall have to think about aspiring to it.

The 16 plants got dug in today and the plan of the garden updated. Yes I have a plan (to scale) with all the plants I’ve ever planted. A large number seem to have died. I continue to blame the rats.