73 mile per hour gusts!

It took 50 minutes to do a normal 30 minute trip home from work tonight due to this!We took a some lanes & by-ways to avoid the A1 near to Wetherby! On Monday it was floods, infact we went down to the River Nidd at Hampsthwaite on Monday evening & despite the dark it was clear that the valley floor had turned into a lake. I took this picture in the summer floods but I suspect this was worse!The water on the far side of the bridge, right across the road, was up to the sills of our Land Rover Discovery! I must see what the weather is doing in the French Alps. Family J will be back on the piste in just over two weeks. Can't wait!!!! This is the first of two trips back to the Les Arcs ski area.

What else! I have manged some knitting. I have finished the first of the Estonian mitts. I only abandoned the pattern on the thumb. As the kids at school say 'it was doin my head in'! Does the brown thumb look OK? I have really enjoyed knitting this & managed (most of the time) to have one colour working 'English' & one 'continental'- although the colours swapped quiet often. I also found a 'Victorian Lace Today' group on Ravelry & that has inspired a scarf sized 'Melon'! The yarn is an Opal Sock yarn 'cos I loved the ice cream colours & the stripe! Its an easy pattern to knit compared to the contact lens popping item pictured above on its size 2mm cocktail sticks. Melons grows on 5mm bamboo circular needles! It was a bit of a b****** to photo tonight but I guess that you will get the idea!

I was also received an award this week, which really did make me smile. It was this:

Awarded to me by Yarn Spinner

Thank you M'am! The instruction was to then award this button to ten other bloggers who 'make my day'. I am not sure that I regularly read ten blogs (I have to keep a tight hold on my web habits!) but I can easily come up with five so far. My awards go to:

Teriknits

Clarabelle

Artis Anne

Carpe-Diem

Blackberry Rambles

I would definitely award one to Yarn Spinner but she already has one!

Sunshine on Saturday

Hurrah! After a wet, windy, wild week at work the sun shine reappeared on a Saturday! Dog & I went for our usual weekend wander. Mr J ran off into the distance...... Clearly any fears of drought are on hold this week! It about 3 1/2 miles around Fewston, plenty of time to listen to a few chapers of 'Northern Lights' by Philip Pullman, on my MP3 player. Another quick pic.... Moss on a north facing wall, rather than Moss the dog!

Despite a really busy couple of weeks back at school, some knitting has been done. I have finished the Twinkle Toes DK socks by Cookie A. This is a neat & quick pattern as I have already mentioned. The 'Frog pond' shawl grows when there is some TV to watch. Peddler Shawl is also growing, infact, as I have the yarn I think it will have a few more patterned lace repeats than the original pattern suggests. I have also cast on a small (size) 'learning curve' (big) project. It is 'Helgi's Mitts' from Nancy Bush 'Folk Knitting in Estonia'. The sum total of coloured knitting I have done was one repeat (about 2cm) around the bottom of a 'tank top' for Mr J (the name 'tank top' gives you some idea of the vintage!) & knitting son & heirs name around the bottom of a jumper when he was 3! (but I did chart it out for myself & I still have the little sweater along with his christening outfit, so proud of it was devoted mama!) This is the progress so far

The yarn is vintage Falcon pure new wool 4 ply that I have had since the tank top era. The dark colour is infact brown not black, as it appears on my monitor anyway. I am trying to have one colour strand in each hand (as I believe the Shetland knitters do). This is proving a little hard to learn but I watched a You Tube video on Continental Knitting which has helped. It certainly avoids a b*****s muddle of yarn developing. The toothpicks I am knitting on are infact 2mm DKP's! They should certainly keep the wind out. Apart from the odd blunder which is due to nothing other than a lack of concentration on my part, they are not too difficult. I have even taken them to bed to do 'a couple more rows' before lights out. I probably should be marking exam papers now. 4 sets of year 11 trial exams to be precise. However the two Geography sets haven't even been attempted yet -they are right at the end of the exam period & the two sets of Citizenship papers are sat on my desk at school. All with section A marked. I worked like a demon on Friday afternoon to do this so I could justify leaving the darn things at school. The nice man from Tesco's is bringing the shopping in an hour or so, meat was bought in Pateley Bridge (Mr Weatherhead's at the bottom of the High Street, if you are passing this way, is excellent) and hopefully the washing is drying on the line so I think its time to knit a few more rows!

One Year On!

69 posts & over 4000 visits later 'On the Hill' has a birthday! Its 'team mates' Geography Room & Geographylost have had nearly 9,000 and over 16,000 visitors each. Has blogging made a difference to me? An emphatic YES & its all good! On the Hill is my personal bit of cyberspace & it has put me in touch with people on at least two continents who I would consider friends if I had met them 'in the flesh'. There are members of my family with whom I am in less frequent contact! Through their blogs I have learnt alot & enjoyed their tales & thoughts. I think I suit the informal type of communication that is blogging -drop in when it suits, post if you have some incoherent thoughts that you fancy sharing, read another blog if you have the time & comment if you inclined to do so! I have never kept a diary but I have found it both interesting & surprising to read some of the older posts. My students are better placed to tell you about the value of Geography Room & Geographylost but I know that a frequent question is "Is it on the blog Miss?" They love to see the visitor counter tick along & are intrigued to see where people are in the world who have read 'their' blogs. One of my objectives in establishing these blogs, especially the A level blog 'Geography Room' was to encourage our students to see themselves as part of a wider community of geographers & that has certainly worked. Before blogging I would have never considered myself to be part of a community of knitters but blogging & Ravelry has changed that! I also think that I have gained alot from the reflective nature of blogging, both personally & in my teaching life.

To those who have inspired & encouraged me .......... Thank You!

So what is new in 2008? The new term is as busy as ever, with exams & stuff. I am knitting a pair of 'Twinkle Toes' as part of the Cookie A January sock knit in Ravelry. Its ideal for now as its a quick & enjoyable DK pattern. The Brigantia DK yarn is lovely to knit with & I am already on sock two. The Peddlers shawl has grown a little too & I have cast on a simple Garter Stitch Prarie Shawl, also from Folk Shawls, as TV knitting. I am using some frogged yarn (Wendy Roxy) from one of my early attempts as a 'returning knitter'! Its OK so far, it is making a colourful, textured shawl.

Orange Wednesday

... and a very Happy New Year to all who pause 'on the hill'.

Two finished items to report!

One pair of socks - Embossed leaf by Mona Schmidt from 'Favorite Socks', knitted in Cherry Hill Supersock in colour 'Fall Colours'. You know I love to knit this pattern & I shall definitely use this yarn again.

One moebius in Adriafil's Felis trends, 100% wool. colourway 19, knitted on 9mm needles. I used a 2 stitch i-cord to bind off but its so thick that it has still rolled alot at the edges. Its Ok as it is, however a little gentle steam might improve things. I think that it is also the prompt that I needed to buy a nice shawl pin. Something in wood maybe?

Apart from the unfinished, need to find more yarn, BiL's socks I only have one lot of knitting on the needles -Peddler Shawl, which may get a little attention, although, never fear there is plenty in the stash! As it is currently fine here, I think that the dog & I will take a walk, listen to the latest 'Cast-on' podcast & consider the options. Hopefully Mr J will return with more coal so we can enjoy more of this ....
should the snow arrive, as forecast!