on the hill

I have moved!

2009-09-25T19:53:00.003+01:00

I have gone to here! . There's 'nowt there at the moment but hopefully I will break a month's silence over this weekend!

The Faroes

2009-08-26T10:15:00.007+01:00

Nop, I have not been on another holiday but for one reason or another the Faroes islands have been crossing our radar recently. Firstly there is the knitting. I have manged to acquire, after a

two month wait, a copy of http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/stahmans-shawls--scarves. This book I love! There are 40 patterns for both shawls & scarves in t The shawls are all an interpretation of Faroes shawls -ie 'fitted' with a back panel but knitted top down & the scarfs

have a ribbed neck section for cosy neck cuddling! I have, so far, finished one scarf. This is 'Irlings half diamond seamens scarf', knitted in extra fine Jaegar merino dk.

It is my first 'christmas knit'!!!! I am 3/4 of the way through 'Ginger',in some gifted Skein Queen sock yarn that I thought would be wasted if hidden in shoes & she makes a super 'travel' knit. Ginger Nut is for me!!!! Also on the needles is another scarf (more for the christmas cache!) & a shawl! The shawl is 'Gracie' & she is in Kauni Effektgarn 8/2.in shades of mid blue, dark blue & purple. I had started to knit 'Susan' but realised that the lace pattern is the same as 'Forest Canopy' & there is too much knitting in a Faeroe's shawl to repeat a pattern I only finished two months ago! It is a lovely pattern to knit & works with the yarn, although on grey days like today I keep thinking I must get a 'daylight bulb'! The darkest blue sections are like knitted braille! Fortunately I am into a purple patch.

The Faroes were also featured on last weeks 'Coast' programme & ..... wow! They have zoomed up our 'must visit' list! Awesome.... stunning..... Middle Earth! On the subject of TV, perhaps we are a little 'late to the party' but we have been following the re-run of 'Monty Halls Great Escape' as he establishes a smallholding near Applecross in the Western Highlands. The envy halted for a while when the midges moved in but other than that it is an intriguing project in a wonderful place. I have just ordered the book from Amazon!

Shopping is a common event in our household affairs at the moment. Son & heir goes off to University in just over two weeks time & so there has been a fair amount of 'Uni Shopping' - if they can't nail it down he needs to take his own seems to be the rule of thumb!

The knitting went too!

2009-08-11T11:03:00.002+01:00

So, what knitting went on during our trip north? For 'travel' knitting there was Mr J's 'Highland Socks'.

A little bit of a tradition has developed in that I knit himself a pair of socks whilst we are on our Scottish jaunts. Last year he had his 'Colours of the Hebrides' socks. This year we agreed that the colours in the Trekking Hand Art Yarn were very much the colours of the mountains of the Western Highlands of Scotland, hence 'Highland Socks'. The pattern was a modification of 'Monkey Socks' using invisible 'make stitches' instead of yarn overs, for a more masculine sock. I used the prescribed 80 stitch cast yarn, but I this made for quite a baggy sock (he HAS got fairly skinny & very long pins!) & a close call on the yarn quantity. However himself is happy with the finished socks so all is good. It is lovely 'woolly' soft yarn to knit with & blooms when washed, yet has a bit of nylon for longer life!

For my 'major' project, may I introduce 'Heartland' shawl.......

The pattern is by Evelyn Clarke & is beautiful! The yarn is Kuani 'rainbow' & overall I love it (see next comment for why 'overall'!) We had early 'issues' - I frogged one evenings work to go down to 3.5mm needles for a 'closer', thicker shawl & then I found a knot! ..... and a non-matching join.... infact further knitting revealed that the add on yarn had been reversed so the colours were going in the opposite direction!!!! Grrr! After much debate & discussion (like himself is that bothered!!!!) I left well alone because a) it was the 'shoulder' section & would be fairly solid in whatever colour b) if I had to dive for a colour match I would loose ALOT of the skein, which wasn't too promising & c)???? is there a c)? Oh yes..... but perhaps its not too polite so we will leave it at a) & b)!

Not too bad huh? Well if you like triangular, brightly coloured shawls anyway! I used about 200 gms of the yarn but had to go over a third of the way into the second skein (I think I bought 2 x 170 skeins) to match the colour. I did one extra pattern repeat to that indicated on the pattern. I next want to knit one of the Stahman's Faroese Shawls (Susan or Gracie) in Kuani but I plan to be very cautious & buy plenty of yarn & re-wind it & check it for knots before I start! Just need to choose the colour! Black & Grey or Shades of blue & purple???? The book arrived on Friday & I adore it! I have already completed a 'Seaman's scarf' (first 'christmas' knit!) & am on a second (no photos yet!).

Northern Travels

2009-08-07T18:22:00.006+01:00

Just over two weeks ago Mr J, Moss

& I headed north in Brian

This is Brian on North Uist!

I suspect that you will need to remember Brian the Snail in the Magic Roundabout to understand how a truck camper, a 'demountable', got to be called Brian!

We spent two weeks away..... we ambled to the Western Highlands, Skye (this is near Stein in North Skye)

The picture above is the Cullin mountains from Elgol on Skye. The long ride down to Elgol from Broadford was worth the stunning views, both into the Cullins & across to Rhum & Eigg.

We then sailed to the Uists. I can't really image a trip to Scotland without a ferry & islands involved. They have a magic that I cannot really describe, only mutter words like 'light'... 'space' 'colours'.....& offer up some of our photographs!

We then came back via the long way round, stopping in the Cairngorms, Aberdeenshire, Fife & Northumberland! I had to don waterproofs just once 'in anger' & whilst our tan owes more to the wind than the sun we had a fantastic, fairly lazy time.

We camped in some amazing places & enjoyed the fantastic, ever changing light & scenery.

This was taken on North Uist. As you can see Brian was tucked away & on his own at the end of a 'beach access' track. When we got back to Skye we were told that there had been an article in the local paper complaining about camper vans in the Outer Hebrides. We saw nothing of the

invasion of camper vans reported in the Western Highland Free Press & depicted thus:

& suggesting that they were 'ruining' the machair & making no contribution to the economy of the islands. Infact the most campers we saw in one place on either North or South Uist was two & so we moved on! This was in a week when the ferries were pretty full! There is just one -official campsite' on the the Uists. Its by the road side & school in Benbecula. Its a decent

campsite but its location isn't great & its always over full. The camper vans we saw were tucked away, were not damaging farm land & more often were in the carpark of one of the Co-op shops! The newspaper article quotes how this camper van owners spend nothing when they are there, but the people quoted it turns out were a 'businessman' and a 'hotelier'! We went ( 7th year running) we paid out for ferry fares, spent money in the shops & took nothing but memories & photos! Fairly typical I guess! OK, soapbox bit over. Just fairly typical of the media I guess, but it irritated me!

So, some more pictures: The wind blew fairly hard - Force 6-7 for the five days we were out on the Uists, giving some fairly messed up water!

There will be ALOT of photos like this appearing in a classroom near here in September! Call this post part one! I need to organise some more of the....600+ photos.... & blogger is driving me nuts trying to get them into the right place!

....don't worry, there was quite alot of knitting done!

2009-07-13T18:32:00.002+01:00

For once there will be no pictures as I have some 'issues' with my laptop, however I decided to go ahead and post anyway. We are into the last week of school. I have just waved off the fourth of eight reward trips that I have organized/ coordinated & have a few minutes not to spare exactly, but without something screamingly urgent to do as I have just realized that my next class are involved in Sports Day!
We are putting a little more shape to our holiday plans. We are going to set off on Tuesday, aiming for Killin, near to Loch Tay, for our first night. We may hang around there for a day or so, but most likely Wednesday will see us heading for Uig on Skye & the ferry to North Uist. We will probably camp at Uig, make sure that we are fully ‘charged’ & topped up & then catch the early morning ferry to Lochmaddy –after that? Who knows? We may head south towards Eriskay & then spend the next few days working our way back northwards, returning to Skye in the middle of the next week. What we do will depend on a) our mood b) the weather c) the availability of nice places to tuck ‘Brian’ up for the night. There is only one ‘official’ campsite on Benbecula if we need to top up the battery etc so we plan to buy a spare so that we can be truly footloose & fancy free!
One thing that will not cut short the holiday is a shortage of knitting projects. I am favoring Evelyn Clarke’s ‘Heartland’ knitted in Kauni’s rainbow yarn (My rebel without a cause ‘ hippy’ shawl) for a ‘big’ project, then there are my ‘Sunshine Socks’ to finish, some ‘Manly Monkey socks for Mr. J, and the orange lily of the valley scarf, from Estonian Lace. The later project is ‘on the needles’ or should I say ‘on the second lot of needles’ because I snapped my harmony knit pros on the purl 5 tog bit of the nupps! I have had to opt for metal tips & although I am devoted to wooden needles in general I have to say these are quite nice. Infact where a sharp point is needed (i.e. nupps!) I will use them again. I cannot praise Lyn at P2Tog enough for the prompt replacement at no charge of the damaged needles (I didn’t ask, I just said why the order was urgent). Again, thank you! I know I will not complete all the projects, but different occasions/ locations call for different knits imho. The socks will be fine for slipping in a backpack for on the ferry, on a beach or picnic time. The shawl pattern doesn’t look too demanding (famous last words) so should be OK for straighter roads & at camp. The lily of the valley scarf needs a bit of concentration but is a fairly small project. This could be a good one for when Mr. J is off on a run (he is building up his mileage ready for ‘The Great North Run’ in September). I will also slip in my new Tunisian crochet hook so that I can practice my new …well skill might be stretching it a bit… but you know what I mean. If this booklet arrives in time, I would like to practice Tunisian entralac for some future throw or blanket. I will pack a few extra patterns/ lots of yarn incase the mood doesn’t send me in the direction of these projects! When I look back at last year’s holiday & the knitting I completed then perhaps this isn’t too ambitious. Last year the score was two pairs of socks, one scarf & two pairs of fingerless mitts I think.
This week I plan to finish my ‘Chewbacca’ Forest canopy shawl (Thanks Kath for the idea for the name!). It’s my hairy merino & bunny angora shawl. It’s scheduled for a good swill and a blow as part of the blocking process. I am sure it will be fine as long as I wear it with black!
Actually its evening time as I actually post this -Blogger wouldn't play earlier!

In the summertime?

2009-06-28T17:29:00.003+01:00

So June is a busy month here on the hill. At school it has been all about exams & leavers celebrations & as I had to step in (again) as Head of Year 11 from Easter onwards, I have been in the thick of things! Still, all seems to have gone well. You just had to see it coming.... Sue.... we would appoint someone.... BUT.... only you knows how it works.... such an important time.....!!!!!!! Anyway, there is just three weeks left to go & I can begin to ponder important questions, such as what knitting (crochet even!) am I going to take with me when we set off in 'Brian' our truck camper in a north westerly direction!

I have done a little sewing. This is my 'Balamory' laptop cosy. At first glance some folk thought it was a pillow as it is well padded with quilt wadding. The fabric is super! Love it!
Knitting? I am knitting another 'Forest Canopy' shawl in black 'Sublime Merino & Angora'. Its super soft. The pattern's great -not to complicated for black in any light. The only issue is that it moults more than the dog after a wet walk! I am knitting it with a tea towel on my lap! Hopefully after a wash & block it will improve otherwise said dog might get it as a luxury blanket!
I also have a Rosebud Neckwarmer on the needles (I did finish Mr Greenjeans! -just needs 2 buttons.) It a cute knit. Grace Mcewen has some super patterns for sale on Ravelry!

The garden is looking pretty good we think. The polytunnel is probably at its best yet. The first courgettes were harvested today. The roses are real eye candy (unless you look too close & spot the black spot!)

I am sure I meant to include more but ,,,,,,,,

Two Men, Two Bikes, One Good Cause

2009-06-01T18:11:00.008+01:00

On Saturday Wayne rode his bike from Wolverhampton to Aberdovey, looking like some bloke from the Tour de France. Mr J joined him on his mountain bike & rode with him from Welshpool to Aberdovey. An unlikely looking couple you may say & perhaps you could be right! Wayne was riding to raise money and to raise awareness for the Miscarriage Association. Mr J was riding to make sure that his mate didn't fall into a ditch or hit a tractor & to make sure that Mrs Wayne didn't fret too much! Mr J & I have not had to deal personally with the misery & heartache of miscarriage but we lived with the threat of it for a while. Mr & Mrs Wayne have sadly had to come to terms (if that is possible) with not one but two miscarriages & for them organising and completing this ride will help to reduce the number of babies who do not make it launch point. If you have been affected by a miscarriage or know someone who has perhaps you would like to make a donation? If so please click onto the link and follow the instructions!

The support party was awesome by the way & after the boys arrived in Aberdovey (6 hours riding time, with 17.5 mph average on one of the hottest days of the year & over the backbone of Wales....clicked the button yet?) we enjoyed a superb overnight stay at the Penhelig Arms. Go if you can, whether for just a meal or to stay over. Magic!

So, what happened to May?

2009-05-25T16:06:00.005+01:00

It might be a long blog post or at least one that is photo heavy, so make a cup of tea & let the last month unfold if the fancy takes you!

Working backwards from this wonderful, sunny, bank holiday weekend! We have had house guests for the weekend, including a delightful and very energetic two year old! Our Bank Holiday Sunday outing was to Newby Hall near Ripon. The gardens were fantastic & everyone enjoyed the train ride! Sunday morning had involved some serious duck & geese feeding at Swinsty reservoir.

I have done some knitting too! This week I have finished my Pacific Rim Shawl. I used almost every inch of the 'Dream in Color' Baby & I am very pleased with the finished shawl.

It deserves a better photo! Also finished are 'Geographical Socks' & 'Spring Leaves Lace Socks'.

Last weekend we went up to Alnmouth in Northumberland to spend the weekend with sister, BiL, Bil's sister & her DH + sister's friend & her lovely son! (infact all of our house guests from this weekend) Alot of fun was had & we seemed to catch the best of the UK weather. An 'at home in the seventies disco birthday' party for my sister, for example, stands out!

With local cops were invited along..... plus a local rock star ..... and...... !!!!!!!!

What else? We walked from Alnmouth to Bulmer & back. Played on the beach, Some kayaked on the river, ran & rode bikes. A treat of a weekend. Part of my sister's birthday present consisted of a knitted & felted basket to hold the rest of the treats.

The pattern is called 'Nantucket basket. I like the whole felting business & is something I want to do more of! Other knitting? A wine bottle cosy for my 'Defence against the dark arts' homework! This is part of a Ravelry Harry Potter House Cup thing! The task was to knit something that would protect... something & so I have knitted a cosy to stop wine or whisky bottles clanking in our truck camper as we bounce down some track to a beautiful beach side camping spot this summer! The pattern was from Knitty.com but I knitted it in 'the round'.

So that was May! Ofsted came & went. Nuff said. School is a whirl of exams & study sessions, preparing for Leaver's celebrations & Reward events, Field Trips &...... teaching! Still this week is Half Term & I intend to finish knitting my cardi, Mr Greenjeans tonight or tomorrow & I am knitting my first socks from Cookie A's book! The polytunnel is producing its first harvest of the season & I have some planting to do. I have ordered some fabric & hope to make a laptop cosy at least. So many craft projects, not enough time......

Normal Service will be resumed shortly...

2009-04-29T21:03:00.001+01:00

Ofsted are here! (School Inspection)...stressful....!!!!

Do what you love.......

2009-04-11T09:08:00.003+01:00

I was given these earrings for Christmas. Perhaps it should be our family motto? It seems to work for us anyway. Today is our 28th wedding anniversary!

We have had a good week pottering around the family castle! I have got some knitting done. On the left 'geographical socks' 7 on the right 'Twining Leaf'. What? Surely they were blue a few days ago? Correct. I frogged them yesterday. The Dream in Color Smooshy just looked lumpy. Too good a yarn to waste so I started again with Araucania 'Ranco' in a lovely leafy shade.

The yarn was part of my lovely Spring Swap gift from Tina. Yarn....

two lovely felted baskets, chocolate & home made applesauce!

I gifted Jess a pair of mittens (pattern 'Mushy peas' & yarn 'Organic DK Merino' from Krafty Koala) & 'The little book of socks'. The yarn was fantastic to knit with & I loved the pattern (there is a hat pattern too). The swap produced some fab. knitted items as usual & we had another great evening.

....in where I cast on my 'geographical' socks

2009-04-06T08:56:00.003+01:00

I have found a pattern for some socks that can only be described (by me at least!) as 'Geographical'. The pattern is called 'topographical' & the yarn is 'trekking xxl handpainted' in colourway 'Vulcan'! It actually seems to be an excellent (& fairly easy) pattern for self striped yarn & an alternative to personal favorite 'Queen Carolina's'. After I cast on I realised that they were also eligible for the Ravelry SKA April challenge -under appreciated patterns, written before Feb 1 2009. This is my second cast on in this category (what am I thinking?). The first ones (Twinning Lace) are at the first ankle. I love the colour. I love the yarn (Dream in Color Smooshy). I love the pattern. Do I love the socks? Not sure. I am sure they will feel fab. The smooshy is...... well smooshy, but seems a bit chunky for regular fingering yarn. What d'y think?

I would love to knit a 'smooshy' wrap or shawl though!

I have made some progress on 'Woodland Shawl', although the 'sock fest' has slowed it down a little. Cleite is here ,but I don't think the photograph does it justice- it isn't so 'busy' in real life. Maybe I will do a 'model' shot when not wearing sweatshirt & freshly out of the shower!

Today is Monday. Mr J & I have realised that this is the first Monday that we will have spent at home (rather than work or elsewhere) since August. We don't have alot planned. Hopefully my seeds will arrive from Dobies this morning so I can make the first sewing's of vegetables & salad crops in the polytunnel. If they don't I think I have some carrots & stir fry leaf salad left from last year. Mr J did a splendid job of digging it all over & building a little store outside to house all the pots & things when not in use. We need to re-install the drip feed watering system & its all good to go. Hopefully we can deter slugs & mice this year!

I am also learning about 'Twitter'. Didn't understand it when my friends mentioned it, so the only way to learn, imho, is to have a go (I am a visual/kinesthetic learner if you hadn't guessed!). I now occasionally 'tweet' as 'fromonthehill'!!!!

lunchtime update: My seed order arrived & (for my records) I have just made 1st sewing's of carrot ideal, carrot purple haze (yes! purple carrots),leaf salad french mix, leaf salad lettuce special mixed (I am so fed up with paying £1.50+ for a bag of salad!), beetroot cylindra, sweet basil, lila(red spring onion), Dwarf bean 'Stanley' & 'Purple Burpee', Courgettes, sunflowers, French & English marigolds (Apricot Tart!), rubekia & lobilia. Mr J requested a yellow/orange theme for the flower bed this year!

Sing a powerful song!

2009-04-04T11:29:00.003+01:00

Mr J & I went to see The Saw Doctors in concert at The Royal Hall in Harrogate last night! What a great way to start the Easter Holidays! They were FANTASTIC! One long party of fun & irishness! Everyone clapped, bopped & sang along. My hands hurt from clapping & my face ached from smiling! If you have a liking for this brand of excellence, then go see them if you can!

Did I mention it was holiday time in teacher land? It is & not a day too soon! Not skiing this Easter but spending time doing up the old castle a bit & (shh, don't tell Mr J) knitting! Cleite shawl is blocking on my bed & I have plans for a sock cast on fest. this afternoon! Pictures will follow.

I do have a couple of pictures of our 'venture to Kent to pick up son & heir (home safely & quickly back in employment to earn some dosh before rejoining academia(!) in September.

This is Bodiam Castle, which is a treat in the spring sunshine:The two geographers had to, of course, go have a look at Dungeness. Its a huge shingle spit, backed by Romney Marsh. Its odd! Its described by some as fragile & eclectic! The garden & shack used to belong to the filmmaker Derek Jarman.

Its fab. to have our skier back. The house (broke the sofa within 10 minutes of been back) & food bill are noticing the difference!

Pacific Rim & other knits

2009-03-18T17:32:00.002Z

I have cast on for the Woodland Shawl in 'Dream in Color' Baby. I love it! The colour, the slightly nubbly, homespun (not by me, but by someone good!) texture of the yarn, the simple but satisfying pattern.... get the picture? In good Ravelry fashon I felt the project deserved a name & whilst I had my one ideas I mentioned it to Mr J. said I wanted to reflect the colour & pattern. He came up with Tofino & Wakaninish, both on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Trees rolling down to foggy, stormy beaches. Clearly we had the same memories bang before our eyes, those of an awesome trip to British Colombia some 12 years ago. Skiing in Whistler, followed by a trip across to the Pacific Coast of Vancouver Island & down to Victoria, so the project is christened 'Pacific Rim Shawl'. Here she is:I have put it to one side though, once cast on & approved of by my KAL chums because I want to finish Cliete. Here she is, pictured in the early evening sunshine! I am onto a second skein of the malbrigio lace & I will continue for a while yet, so I can wrap my self in a cloud of butter soft, whisper warmth.

Mr J's simple thick socks are also nearer to completion with their simple plain foot & baby cable ankle top:

The yarn is regia dk, kaffe fasset 'landscape fire'. Its a bit scratchy but first wash should resolve that. What else? I bought myself these:

K2 'Burnin Lov' lady skis! They are so pretty & should ski like a dream. Shame I wont get to use them anytime soon but they were a huge bargain & exactly what I wanted.

...and my 'baby' comes home on Sunday! Home from the snows! Gee three months have flow by, chaos will return to the hill!

March Days

2009-03-08T09:16:00.003Z

Did March come 'in like a lion' or 'in like a lamb'? Currently its hailing here, 10 minutes ago the sun was shining & it looked like a cool but grand spring day. This seems to have been the story of the week since March 1st. On Friday I went to York with the sixth form Geographers to look at the flood defences and as we walked into the city along the River Ouse it was a beautiful day.

Mr J has just walked into the kitchen & told me that there is heavy snow in central Scotland! I have just checked the Courcheval 360 degree webcam & it appears they have moved beyond a three day long period of snow, although a look at the sky suggests that it is not settled. A look at the weather forecast definitely backs that up!

All this weather talk provides a kind of link into a possible knitting project. The yarn is 'Dream in Color baby' in colour 'Beach Fog'! The proposed pattern is 'Woodland Shawl'. I have knitted this before in slightly thicker yarn (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock) which I love & several of the Harrogate 'Nutty Nitters' have this in their queue. I wore my Woodland Shawl to Knit Night on Wednesday & by Thursday morning there were posts about a proposed Woodland Shawl KAL. Inspection of the stash identified a number of possibilities but they would have meant buying 'a bit more'. The pattern calls for just over 400 yards but I used 600 in my shawl & I certainly would want it longer, even before blocking than the 40" suggested in the pattern. I used all of 3 skeins of the Shepherd Sock. In my stash I do have some Dream in Color Baby & it comes in skeins a million miles long (or did it just feel like that when I was winding it -I had to split it in two for my ball winder!) & it is a 'thicker lace weight', so what do you think?

I think Cleite would have to go on a back burner, although woodland is fairly easy 'TV' & 'Travel' knitting once the pattern is established & Cleite, although not difficult, does demand more concentration as the malibrigio lace weight can be a little slippy & dive off the needles if not closely supervised. Cleite is from the Autumn Twist Collective & is a beautiful pattern to knit. It is the first pattern I have knitted by Miriam L. Felton but I am sure that it will not be the last. This yarn & colourway suits the closer stitches of Cleite. It was going nowhere with 'Spring Things' as the lace stitches were getting lost in the colour, so frogged it was. The colour is called 'loro barranquero'. I can't help but love this yarn. The colours are fab, its as soft as butter & even with the grotty exchange rate you get a whole lot of knitting for your £££££'s. I have a skein of 'Azelea' & another pink one in my stash!

Skiing and thick socks.....

2009-02-28T12:44:00.002Z

Is it only a week since our last day of skiing in Courcheval? Seems longer! We had an awesome week. Obviously it was great to spend time with son & heir. He is having the time of his life & seems to be doing really well on his GAP ski instructors course. Why wouldn't he be? He is skiing every day, in the best ski season in Europe for 25 years, with a group of like minded & likable young people and his own skiing abilities are being even further developed by the fantastic team from 'New Generation' Ski School. We also had huge fun introducing my sister & brother in law to skiing. At least one of them is officially hooked & both report dreaming of snow every night since we got back!!!!

Teaching uncle!

The bobble hats were needed. The sun shone most days, but temperatures stayed low!

On the knitting front, my current 'obsession' (me...obsessed with knitting? Surely not!!!) is thick socks. I currently have two pairs on the needles & yarn lined up for more. I have used DK yarn (Regia Crazy Colors for me, Kaffe Fasset Regia Landscape for himself) & usual 2.5 mm needles to make a 'springy' dense sock for walking boots & shoes. Just stocking stitch for travel knitting but perhaps something more interesting next. I will upload the photos soon. I am also trying to 'perfect' toe up sock knits & use up all of the yarn!

I long to go back to the snow......................................

Modern Art?

2009-02-09T18:57:00.002Z

I found dumpr.net & turned this photo of Mr J & Moss into a exhibit in a Museum of Modern Art!

Daft but quite entertaining!

I usually use Bighugelabs.com for such silliness/ effects. This gentleman (I think it was a tup) was photographed on our Sunday walk near to the interestingly named Kettlesing Bottom. The effect is 'Motivational Poster'!

No effects, but pretty much summarises the conditions that remain up here 'under paw'!

Winter days

2009-02-05T17:20:00.003Z

Snow came to Nidderdale just as it did to many parts of the UK. I didn't get a 'snow day' though! Actually the local council did a fantastic job of keeping our roads open. The snow plough ran through the night on Sunday night & the gritters just keep going. I think the worst roads I encountered were last night in Harrogate but it didn't stop me getting to 'Knit Night'. Having a 4x4 truck really comes into its own at times like these!

I have been a 'little knitting demon' for the last couple of weekends. I have knitted 3 bobble hats. One 'Utopia' in Drops Alaska (purple one). One big cream tea cosy in Drops Eskimo & One blue (with blue & orange pom pom -very important) in Drops Karisma. The last two are my own pattern based on a simple twisted stitch. I may get round to writing up the pattern because it seems to make a 'lofty' warm hat, even in the DK weight. The yarn for the three cost £14! All are 100% wool. Son & heir bought a cute (but acrylic) cabled bobble hat in France,just before we left, for a little over £25!!!!!
My Nutkin socks & DH's hut socks are finished. The Nutkin pattern is a simple treat of a sock! They may become another favorite alongside 'No purl monkeys' & 'Queen Carolina's (also without her purls!).

I have also 'designed' and knit another cowl in Malabrigo chunky. For 'designed' read 'cast on 64 stitches, knit one row of K2 P2 & then decide to go off piste with a few cables after some very simple Maths! It was knit on 8mm circular to give quite a firm cowl -a polo neck without the jumper kind of thing, which will hopefully keep my neck, ears & face warm skiing.

What else have we been up to? Work? Let's not go there! We have managed some good weekend walks with Moss, getting some fresh air for an hour or so. We went to Linton, near Grassington, for a stroll en route to tea at the 'outlaws' the other Saturday. This was lovely. We have walked the lanes nearer home & last Sunday went to Fountains Abbey. Funny that I have never noticed this before.....

Son & heir continues to have an awesome time in France. It keeps snowing there too, but with sunshine in between!

Happy February!

Hemlock Ring

2009-01-19T19:50:00.003Z

I am pretty pleased with my lightweight Hemlock Ring throw. It is knitted in 21st century yarns 4ply & I used about 2 1/2 skeins. Finished it measures around 5ft across. I knitted an extra 6 pattern repeats to the original & a plain p1 row, k1 row, p1 row border. Its a bit wavy towards the edges but that's OK. I would like to knit this in a heavier yarn at some point & I will ceratinly knit some kind of throw for use in our truck camper this year. Something dog-hair coloured & washable I think!!!!! Son & heir rang today! Totally excited by an awesome day playing in 2ft of fresh powder snow! We had ten minutes of sleet!!!!! Its damp & raw cold NOT fun cold up here 'On the Hill'!

Proud Mamma moment....

2009-01-17T12:56:00.002Z

....so indulge me!
We now have a qualified ski instructor in the family. Son & heir rang last night to say he had passed his BASI Alpine level one, qualifying him to teach skiing most places in the world except France! The next 6 weeks is preparation for the much more demanding Alpine 2 qualification that he will take at the end of the course.
There is two weeks of snow forcast for the French Alps so he should have plenty of the white stuff to work with.

I have nearly finished the 'cowpat' i.e. Hemlock ring blanket. I have taken some pictures but they are still in the camera! I may do a plainer cast-off than the frill on the original. We shall see!

Christmas and some more

2009-01-10T10:26:00.003Z

A very belated Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! Its been a busy one! We had a 'pre-christmas' Christmas with my family the weekend before, which was lovely. Home then meant gentle Christmas food shopping at Weatherheads & Elliots in Pateley Bridge & a Christmas meal with DH's parents on Christmas Eve. We liked this idea. The only foodie input to Christmas Day was a cold buffet in the evening. Something we always like but never have tummy room to do justice to! This time was different!

On Boxing Day it was pack up finally & head to Hull for an evening ferry. We had booked a 'Club Class Cabin' & so we were able to enjoy another evening Christmas picnic, a film & a good nights sleep before disembarking next morning & driving down through France to Courcheval. The drive was long, there were a couple 'bouchons' (queues!), firstly at Riems north at the toll & then again south of Lyon. Took 11 hours which is OK & we arrived to find a great apartment & a decent amount of snow. As regular readers know, this was to be the start of son & heirs winter season in Courcheval! I think it is the coldest weeks skiing I have ever known, but it was mainly accompanied by wall to wall sunshine, with a light snowfall on New Years Eve. We don't have many pictures -too cold, but here is Mr J with something to celebrate...... his birthday! Lucky boy! All in all it was a great week. The knowledge that I would be leaving my son behind caused a few 'mummy moments' but a least we were able to deliver him to his very well located chalet before we started our dash back to the coast last Saturday. He is having a fantastic time with 'New genereation Ski School, on their GAP ski instructors course. He reports 'awesome time' & 'ace people'!

Knitting.... yes I have done some, beyond last minute ipod cosies & 'phone cosies ('cos ipods & 'phones get cold in the snow). I have embraked upon the iconic hemlock ring blanket, but I am knitting it in 4ply, not the usual more chunky yarn. Its some from 21st century yarns & whilst I love the stormy blue colourway I decided that it might not work for me as a shawl but would be great as a throw for our lounge or bedroom. As its a 'heavier' 4 ply & the pattern has 4 rows knit to one row pattern it is growing reasonably quickly although I have now over 400 stitches on the needles. I have lots of yarn so I intend to keep going to make it a decent size. I did take a photo on my phone but it looks like a cow pat so I might spare you that & take some pictures in decent light & with the camera.

I can't believe we have done a full week back at school -not sure if its because I have done enough work to fill at least two! never mind, 5 weeks until we go back to Courcheval! Hope the exchange rate bucks up a bit before then! £1 = 1 euro was a bit tight!

The generosity of knitters

2008-12-08T19:58:00.005Z

Last Wednesday was our At Home in Harrogate 'Swap Night'. This was for our one skein holiday swap. A little excitement (understatement!) built up as we waited for Nicola to arrive from her pottery class. It was a freezing night, with snow forecast so that added to the tension if you drove a sports car (Libby!). As expected the swap turned up a beautiful array of winter warmers. Fingerless mitts in a range of gorgeous colours, a malabrigo hat, malabrigo loafers, another hat, a cowl and a shawl........ wind back! ...... shawl? ...... Oh yes. I received a scrumptious shawl from Anne. I was/ am totally overwhelmed.. I am assured that it was one skein but it was clearly on BIG skein of fingering weight yarn to produce a Cliet shawl. The pattern is wonderful & the colour is to die for. Thank you again Anne, she will be worn, petted & loved. I feel very touched by your gift of so many stitches.

Next morning, as forecast, the snow arrived. I even got a 'snow day' as there were no school buses in Leeds. I stayed home by the fire and knitted a cowl. Its just a simple garter rib tube in malabrigo chunky & is very thick & very cosy. I nearly had it snatched from me by an admiring colleague on Friday. She thought it looked very complicated. Bless. Non-knitters! They make you smile! I also practiced toe up socks by knitting some cosies for MP3 players & phones!

Sue wrote.....

2008-12-01T21:06:00.005Z

Very scant mention has been made of knitting recently on this blog but little bit of knitting has been going on, here on the hill. This is another 'Birthday Cowl' in squidgy Malabrigio Worsted. Its very cosy, I love the colour and it was a very quick & easy knit. I am trying to knit a hat to match -top down. Hopefully I will have enough yarn from one skein!

This is 'Spiralucious' from Knitspot, knitted in Knitting Goddess Semi Solid. Its blocking on the Rayburn top at the moment. This is a gift for my aunt. She may get the mitt pattern & yarn in kit form if Anne releases the pattern in the next day or so!

Mr J was in the market for some 'hut slippers' or 'house socks' so some Big Fabel that was sat in my stash is knitting up just fine. Its as tough as old boots but soft once washed & is in such fab colours!

I have also started some 'Nutkin' socks, at least 'almost Nutkin', 'cos they don't have the cute turned top & probably will not have short row heels! Nice pattern though! The yarn is also from Knitting Goddess & came from some nifty moves (on my part) in a sock yarn swap amongst the 'At Home in Harrogate' yarn fiends! Thanks Anne!

Talking about AHinH...... its nearly Christmas swap time ..... the tension is rising....... I hope my swap partner likes her gift. It was a quick knit but it is unique & (?) beautifully packaged!

19 today!

2008-11-25T20:45:00.002Z

...... and in another month he will be back on the snow!

...any given Saturday

2008-11-16T14:41:00.002Z

Went with son & heir to get ski boots fitted & did a Costco shop as we were in Leeds. Some good bargains to be had -in amongst the 'Skippy' peanut butter & other American goodies came 2 North Cape base layer fleeces for less than £25 each. Came home, watched rugby, more rugby & Strictly Come Dancing. S&H complained that the sore throat (Tonsillitis is an annual event here),that the penicillin administered early in the week to combat, was getting worse. Rang the out of hours doctor's number & advised to pack a bag & come to 'out of hours doctor' at Harrogate hospital. Without going into too much graphic detail, the swelling in his throat managed to burst (ugh) as we left the hospital to transfer to York hospital for possible treatment. Turned heel & returned to see doc. Emerged with an armful of medication & a much happier son! Today, although he feels 'like I have been in a war' he is singing, happy & back off to work! The sharp prod with the little stick worked Doctor!

He may be just 10 days short of his ninetenth birthday but he is still 'my boy'........!

Managed to finish Spiraliscious & one mitt (for S&H)! What a day!

Great shopping trip.....no yarn in sight!

2008-11-09T08:59:00.003Z

Its only 7 weeks before son & heir sets off on his big adventure, spending 10 weeks in Courcheval, training to be a Ski Instructor with New Generation Ski School on their GAP programme. It was time for some serious shopping. Lots of boot & ski reviews had been read, boots had been tried on a snow sport catalogues studied. The ££££ signs were bouncing! Earlier in the week he made a trip to a major snow sports outlet adjacent to an indoor snow slope in Yorkshire. There were no regular boot fitters available (rung in sick?) & he knew that the guy serving him was not up to the mark. Fitting ski boots is a very specialised trade & he will be wearing these boots 7-8 hours day, every day, for 10 weeks! He said that they were not even polite or interested. We were beginning to think that we would have to travel to Manchester or Newcastle but a quick Internet search revealed that Severn Sports in Leeds had just got in stock the skis that he had identified as the ones to have. We made the trip to this little Aladdin's cave of a shop in Armley. From the outside it seemed fairly uninspiring but once inside we realised that we had hit a gold mine. The stock was impressive. They had a great range for all skiers & boarders & the three staff could not have been more helpful & knowledgeable. By the time S&H had his feet in the first pair of ski boots we had all got a mug of tea in our hands. There was no hard sell but we walked out with boots, skis & a very desirable ski jacket. When I said that I would 'blog' about our trip both Mr J & S&H agreed that I should -they normally just smile indulgently! Severn Sports have a bigger 'superstore' in East Leeds & an Internet operation. They advertise themselves as the best in Yorkshire & we can only agree! The piggy bank might be somewhat lighter but we will defiantly return there for other ski related purchases! If someone reads this & buys some gear from them rather than some faceless conglomerate then that's my 'thank you' for the great service we received! If you don't ski or do but don't live in the North of England then just go shop locally & see if there is a difference! My local foodie favorites are Elliot's and Weatherheads butchers in Pateley Bridge. The Tesco van will call 'On the Hill' this afternoon because I don't relish spending my time off in a supermarket but I actually ENJOY shopping in these shops & appreciate their quality produce & service.

Autumn Watch on the hill!

2008-11-02T17:34:00.002Z

Happy Halloween!

Its been a great Half Term with the Ski Show at the beginning of the week & Bryan Adams live in concert in Newcastle at the end of the week. Bryan was FANTASTIC! This was a birthday gift to me & what a present! The 'cosier' indoor venue & a lively crowd topped off an awesome performance from the man himself. All the great tracks were present & it was an evening of pure fun & entertainment. Its 30(!) years since we first saw him in concert at the NEC but he has only got better! Partners in this expedition were Mr J, my sister & BiL and the son & heir. It was his first 'big' concert & as he was bought up on this music he soaked it all in & had the ubiquitous (for the metro arena last night anyway) big grin!

Our 'At Home in Harrogate' knitting group has gone for a 'finish WIP' KAL from now until Dec. 31st. I have committed 5 items & they are photographed here:

There are more to be knitted before Christmas but they are not eligible 'cos they aint started yet!

Komet socks & Queen Carolina's are finished though.

The WIP by the birdhouse is Spiraliscious from Knitspot. Nice knitting! Great pattern as ever!

Back to work tomorrow! Ugh! Too much knitting but not enough time..........

One week later...

2008-10-19T17:24:00.003+01:00

I have managed to upload some of the pictures from the Great North. Here are uncle & nephew after the race.

The Red Arrows arrived just as they reached the last 800 metres. The display over the sea was awesome.

I have managed quite a bit of knitting due to the loss of my voice on Friday dictating a day away from school. A teacher without the ability to talk comes under the 'as much use as a cholcolate fireguard' catagory. It hurt too! The Komet socks are nearly done. The colour is alot different to this -a really vibrant leaf green but despite attempting to photo it inside & out, plus a bit of fiddling about in Adobe photoshop elements it just does not show up.

I have also done a bit of 'holiday' knitting & knitting for the 'At Home in Harrogate' holiday swap. Nuff said.

One week to go until half term! Keep counting!

Three pairs of socks and three days in the Lake District

2008-10-11T10:53:00.002+01:00

I have three pairs of socks on the needles, all cast on in the last seven days. The first one is 'Queen Carolina' (without her purls). Its a great pattern for Trekking XXL's fantastic colours & an easy knit. They were cast on as a 'travel knit' for the trip to Newcastle for the 'Great North Run'. Son & heir and BiL were runners (Mr J was injured out & not impressed). They managed a respectable 2hrs 10 minutes running for Martin House Children's Hospice. All three are vowed to run again next year. It was a great day out & the weather was excellent for runners & spectators.

The first sock was finished in a couple of days so I cast on the second to take on the A level geography fieldcourse to the English lake District. As a mini bus driver I didn't get much knitting time but the Sixth Formers were pretty impressed with my skills & efforts! "Your not even looking......!". We actually had a fab three days. We went via High Force in Teesdale which was impressive after Tuesday's rain but the Lordre Falls in Borrowdale put it to shame with heavy rain on Thursday night & Friday morning..... oh boy were we wet after a walk from keswick along Derwentwater to look at the Eskers, Kames & Kettleholes before going to the Falls. The weather had been kinder on Thursday & the planned river study & walk up to Easedale tarn above Grasmere to study the Glacial features was great. The students were a very positive & amenable bunch - a pleasure to teach & to be with.

On my return I have cast on a pair of DK socks, but knit to a fingering weight recipe to make a dense pair of hiking socks -wonder what gave me that idea?????? The yarn is some I bought at Woolfest.

I have also cast on for the October SKA challenge- Komet by Stephanie van der Linden. The yarn is Genziana by Adriafil. It was a bargain from Sheepish in Knaresborough. Its 100% machine washable merino so whilst it might not be the toughest yarn out, it is supersoft. The photo doesn't show how vivid the green is though! I may also cast on Grün ist die Hoffnung because I am intrigued by the construction which starts on top of the foot & knits out like a top down hat!

Not really fallen from blogging....

2008-09-27T08:58:00.003+01:00

...but the term has been really busy so far, although the biggest barrier to writing a post was finding the time to photograph and upload some knitting projects! Lame but true! Now I have done that so here goes!

I have joined the 'Cowl bandwagon' & I so get them. Actually I have had 'neck gaiters' for skiing & camping for ever & have knit a few mobieus scarves that I tend to wear with a double twist 'a la cowl' so I knew that they are a great idea anyway. The first one was knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport & the pattern is Birthday Cowl. Really nice knit & a lovely soft lightweight neck cosy! The second one is Crofters Cowl. The lace is 'Horseshoe Lace' (same as Cranford Mitts) & is knit in two pieces then kitchened together! Yup, an hours Kitchening (is it a verb?) but it was worth it. The yarn is the ever awesome Malibrigio Worsted. This REALLY is a neck cosy!

What else? The orange 'no purl' monkeys are done & lighten my world.... literally. They really are this orange!

Woodland shawl is finished & blocked. Love it, although I may re- block it with more emphasis on the width. On Tuesday it was the much awaited 'At Home in Harrogate' end of summer swap... swap. The excitement was not wasted. This is my swap waiting to go to Sieue. It contained a Ravilo scarf (a Knit Spot's 'Little nothing') in Dream in Color Baby, two skeins of the Knitting Goddesses differences sock yarn & packet of 'Yorkshire Mixture' all wrapped up in a dinky little box for bits from Paperchase. My gift had been prepared with a huge amount of thought & care (and stalking!)by Dalesgirl. It is a gorgeous Ribbons scarf, knitted in pale blue vintage pinigoun pure alpaca! I also received two more skeins of the yarn & a really clever bead row marker.Thank you so much Samantha. I know that this project plagued you as you were unable to knit for much of the summer with the problems you had with your wrist.

Swap Night was quite riotous. We swapped packages but then took turns to carefully unwrap, pet & try on our new knits & yarn. I had my camera phone with me so........

Since then, on the knitting front, I have picked up Spring Things, a shawl pattern by Susan Lawrence, that I am knitting in very autumnal colours! Malibrigio Lace Weight Loro Barranquero. I am also knitting another pair of fingerless mitts. This time for son & heir. In black, vintage wool worsted. Not a knit for poor light!

I have also completed my first christmas gift knit! Enough of that though!

This was Nellie's completed hat & jacket. She is nearly big enough for it I am told!

.... Did I mention that I had bought another Namaste bag? No! Well I did. Its a Laguna in Olive & its fantastic. Its just my 'bag bag' & large enough to hold safely all of the c*&@^ teachers end up carting around (in addition to laptop, text books, exercise books of course!). I was in danger of using 'Malibu' for the purpose & having no knitting bag!

Almost September?

2008-08-31T10:02:00.002+01:00

Its back to school tomorrow & for the first time since forever (well 1994) its just Mr J & me to go back to school as son & heir is established in his gap year job. Tomorrow will no doubt be a mixture of 'well done' ,as our GCSE results were 6% better than the previous best & 1% above target, and 'do better' 'cos.............. that's the way education is in England & Wales at the moment. It will be a busy term, even if the men from the ministry don't come to call (we do expect Ofsted at sometime this year!). My job as been 're-defined' ... read made bigger/same pay, but at least it is a permanent post again after the uncertainty of the last two years following re-organisation.

Enough of that. It really feels like the beginning of Autumn with a heavy mist this morning & real changes in some of the trees as Moss & I enjoyed a walk around Swinsty Reservoir yesterday morning. Mr J & S&H ran 9 & some miles around two reservoirs plus some more. But they are in training for the 'Great North Run' in October!

So with a look forward to September on the knitting front, the Ravelry Sock Knitters Anonymous starts again with a challenge that is Orange socks or Cookie A design or a Mystery sock. I will knit a mystery sock but September will be a time for soothing knitting not challenging projects with tighter timelines. I think I will go for another pair of no-purl Monkeys in Orange! Two out of three aint bad? The yarn is very orange! The 'rule' is 75% orange & either of these little citrus delights from Knitting Goddess easily meet this! Not sure which one I will use though. Whadythink?

Currently on the hot needles is this little cardi (not so little, but she will grow into it!) for Nellie. The pattern is Tater's Cotton cardi. Its not knitted in cotton, but wool, Patons Fairytale colour 4 Me DK to be exact & its lovely yarn. I am planning some adaptions to the pattern, maybe to the edging & I don't think it will have ties but a popper & a crochet flower fastening. There should be enough yarn to knit a Tam, also with a little flower decoration. I am not a huge fan of the 'knot & string' art for whole things but for decoration it could do the job. I found this You Tube tutorial (via Ravelry of course).

I have still to finish Mr J's 'Colours of the Hebrides' socks, but as this is the second sock they are nearly done. A couple of car rides will finish them!

Other 'hot' wip (as opposed to almost hibernating) is a Woodland Shawl. Its lovely. I ordered extra yarn. It wasn't in stock. I found some in the UK (last skein in UK) on ebay. It came. It was WAY OUT as a match. I knitted some Cranford Mitts from it, whilst waiting for an order to come in from Eat, Sleep, Knit in yarn heaven (USA!). This was where the first two skeins came from. It arrived on Friday. It matches! Btw, Cranford Mitts is a lovely pattern to knit.

We had a wonderful long weekend last week (Bank Holiday) as my Mum, Dad, Sister & Brother in Law came to stay for 4 days. My sister is a knitter. She was knitting these. They are Nereid gloves. She gave them to me! Sisters are great!

End of the Rainbow?

2008-08-15T17:55:00.008+01:00

August 14th. A level results day in England & Wales.

S&H gets his results.

The grades are very good, the place at Northumbria University for 2009 to study Sports Science & Coaching confirmed.

All very happy, relieved & PROUD!

Heart of hearts told us that he had worked hard & the grades were not in doubt but it was great to have them confirmed. There was gold at the end of this particular rainbow

A levels are NOT easier, they are just acquired in stages & therefore results are less of a surprise. If you are not up to a subject you know & can do something about it -like drop it, hence the high pass rate! Some of the 'knockers' should know better. Most of the students work very hard & under alot of pressure. So do their teachers. I have seen it now from both sides & it annoys me that we have created a society & a system where we are suspicious of success, then again I work in a profession where 'satisfactory' is 'unsatisfactory' (Ofsted) so what would I know?

I shall descend from my soapbox!

Thank you for the lovely comments about our photos of our trip so here is a little more of our travels in Scotland

Hebridian sunsets are renown & we were treated to a cracker after a day of rain on North Uist.

For those with an historical/ archaeological bent we visited a couple of fascinating places. the first is St Clement's church , Rodal (on South Harris). It dates back to medieval times but was restored in the nineteenth century.

Religion is important in the Hebridies. The Northern Isles are the domain of the Free Church but South Uist & Barra are Catholic & this is visually evident by the numerous shines found in the south, such as this one found in South Uist.

Whilst on Lewis we had to go back to the Standing Stones at Callinish. We took loads of photos but I need to do some editing as most of the best are 'portrait' & need rotating before I can upload them into blogger!

The stories of the Highland Clearances are bought home when you find abandoned crofts such as this one on South Uist. I spent sometime trying to envisage the people who would have lived there. Would this one have looked good in a plaid?

Moss had a fantastic holiday too! He loved the camper -very comfy but wasn't too sure about the ducks that stalk around the caravan club site at Braemar!

Since getting home I have made some progress on Mr Greenjeans, although I have made quite a few modifications so she doesn't look so much like the pattern -added length to the ss body, reduced the ribbing & changed it. Oh yes, changed the position of the button holes.... and added another! Still I like it but I am waiting for some 4.5mm dkp's to arrive -the one size I don't have- so I can finish it! In the meantime I have cast on a Woodland Shawl in Lorna's Laces Multi Sock. The colours are lovely -too good to hide.

I love to see the little counter tick along, telling me how many people have visited this blog. I write for me but I am fascinated by the idea that what I write & photograph might be of some interest to people thousands (or even 5) miles away. I hardly ever label my posts on this blog (I do on my Geography blogs of course, so how did you find 'the hill'? If you have the time or inclination I would love to know who you are & why you arrive 'OntheHill'! If you don't want to, then you are still most welcome!

Tales from the isles and other places

2008-08-12T17:43:00.009+01:00

We are back to a very wet Yorkshire. We have had an awesome time away in our new truck camper. It was everything we hoped it would be and some more. Overall we had pretty good weather, we found some wonderful places to camp & we really had chance to just kick back & re-charge our batteries.... oh yes, and knit awhile! Our travels took us to North Uist , Benbecula, South Uist, Harris, Lewis, Skye, Moray Firth, Braemar & Northumberland for a final night before returning home.

I will just include a few pictures here to give a flavour of the holiday.

Camping by the beach on South Uist, Our 'Northstar' camper really was a cosy home!

A liitle knitting by the camper on North Uist (Yes it is a Namaste 'Malibu' bag!):

I could disclose these locations, but I don't think I will cos' we will be back!

Climbing the Quirang on the Isle of Skye, Moss thought it was great!

We left Skye via the old Glenelg ferry. Check out http://www.skyeferry.com/ to support this great transport link & important piece of history.

I managed to finish my Fetching mitts and socks in a slipped stitch rib as well as making good progress on my suprise for our 'At Home in Harrogate' Summer swap.

We came home via the Cairngorms National Park, which is not a part of Scotland that I really have visited before. It was beautiful with the heather in flower.

We managed to take nearly 500 photos so I may share some more as I start to edit & organise them!

The mid life crisis is here!

2008-07-28T17:36:00.004+01:00

Collected today, off tommorow! Cool huh? Yarn space is a little limited, but there is plenty of room in the truck!

Day Two

2008-07-24T11:50:00.006+01:00

Its the second day of the summer holidays, its warmish but overcast here & we are promised the collection day for our demountable camper is nearly here! Monday morning at the latest! This is good, 'cos if we get away on Monday evening or Tuesday morning we can still squeeze in two weeks in Scotland before A level exam results day! Mr J is Head of Sixth Form its a 'big day' for him & S&H gets his results too! He is "excited", I am nervous! Our holiday plan (two plus dog) is to head for Skye, wait to here that S&H has landed back in the country after meeting up with his 'inter-railling' pals in Prauge for four days and then cross The Minch to Harris. About five days on Harris (probably going no further north than Callanish) then across the Sound of Harris to our beloved Uists & Berneray. All is ideal camper van territory!

I am busy preparing, plotting & planning various knitting projects to take. I have finished another pair of fingerless mitts for Mr J. They were going to be socks but I didn't have enough yarn. Basically they are twisted rib sock legs with a peasant thumb! I have cast on for my Ravelry 'At Home in Harrogate' Knutty Knitters Summer Swap -nuff said on that! I have also cast on Fetching as an easy 'travelling' knit. The yarn is Brigantia Luxury DK in colourway 'Autumn'.I am so into fingerless mitts at the moment and have purchased the lovely 'Snow on Cedars' pattern from Knitspot after eyeing my friend Anne's sensational mitts. These may require a little more concentration I suspect. I have laminated all 7 pages of the pattern!

It is a while (possibly) since I bought any knitting books but Folk Mittens arrived yesterday (How DID that happen? I was only looking at Amazon .....maybe...!!!!) Anyway it looks great so I have stocked up with some great superwash DK from Scandinavian Yarns, which as always arrived a fast as is actually possible by Royal Mail. Which, by the way, is a hell of alot faster than the combined efforts of UPS & Apple! Two weeks to take delivery of an empty box to send back my son's dead, 6 month old, IPOD classic. Collection is due anytime now & then heaven knows how long to repair it & get it back to me. In a place where I will be! ...... UPS man has just been - he says he delivers around here all the time & has never been here! Where were they trying to deliver the empty box to????

Last Sunday Mr J competed in his second 10k race. The Burton Leonard Village Feast 10k. Its part of the 'Black Sheep Brewery' series of 10K races. In contrast to the Leeds 10k it was almost all 'off road' & his time was a fairly respectable 47 minutes. The runners made quite a picture setting off from the village green. Next definite race is the Middlesborough 10k for both him & S&H.

The recent sunshine has done something for the garden. The courgettes are as pretty as a picture with their bright & big yellow flowers & they will not get any bad press from this gardener. The carrots are great eating & I have just picked our first french beans.

Garden

2008-07-15T19:08:00.008+01:00

"We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden." (and in my case knit!).

Thank you for all of the lovely comments about our garden. As we sat outside by the front window this evening, trying to enjoy the sun & stay out of the wind I remembered this quote that my sister & I included as we wrote a eulogy for our Auntie Chic, who had recently died. This was nearly three years ago now & I doubt that she would have approved of the chaos that the wind has brought but she would have loved the flowers and the bird life that abounds in the garden. I went inside for the camera (& a glass of red wine!). The sparrows fill the garden. The seed feeder has to be filled daily, There are also three nut feeders and a fat ball feeder. The delphiniums have lasted well but I feel that even with a scaffolding of canes they will not last much longer. They have been wonderful though, despite the windy weather.

Poppies grow at will amongst the Lady's Mantle & the roses. My lovely David Austin rose 'The Pilgrim' (I think) struggles to hang on. The flowers are lovely but its plagued by blackspot.

Moss enjoys the garden, but is more impressed with 'his' field where he can chase footballs and things. The back garden faces north. It can be wild, doesn't always get too much sun but the view is grand! On Sunday I managed to sit on my big cushion, sheltered by the while & knit awhile.

An update from 'On the Hill'

2008-07-13T17:04:00.004+01:00

The front garden in shock! Its not raining, although its still fairly windy. Its still fairly colourful & I spent an hour or so yesterday weeding & planting some lupins that I have grown from seed earlier this year. Stuff in the polytunnel is doing well (once I gave up on things that slugs and snails love that is!). There is a courgette glut on the way (both indoor & outdoor plants) and hopefully there will be plenty of tomatoes. The runner beans took a rare bashing outside but hopefully they will recover & the french beans will fill the gap. The cute bag & needle holder is from zigzagstitches on Etsy. Too cute & very useful. I probably need another 'cos I am not a 'one project' kind of girl!

There is a bit of knitting activity to report on (even managed a bit of knitting outside today!). I have almost finished my 'Stulpen' fingerless mitts in King Cole 4 ply with a bit of Trekking XXL.
Mr Greenjeans got this far but I decided to push ahead with the mitts as they may be more useful camping in Scotland!

I have finished the first of my 'design your own' 'clog socks'. Not sure how well they will wear though. Hopefully I will manage a better photo though!

With just 7 manic school days to go until the end of term I am beginning to think about holidays in general & holiday knitting. We don't yet know if our camper back for the truck is in the UK yet, so its all a bit vague. Scotland...... of course...... islands...... almost sure to...... camping.....of one kind or another....... Just me, Mr J & Moss. Son & heir is know working for cash to go skiing this winter!

Bagged!

2008-07-08T19:53:00.002+01:00

Photo from 'At Home in Harrogate' Knutty Knitter meet last night. Four Namaste bags from four proud knitters (one was missing). Mine is the 'Malibu' on the right! All came from the excellence that is Purlesence . I guess that these bags symbolise more than something to put knitting in -any tote would do the job I guess, but they represent the sharing & the bond of friendship that has developed through Ravelry & 'At Home in Harrogate'. Ravelry has truly knitted friendship & must be treasured for that alone (& a GREAT stash of yarn...... & a clutch of finished items......& a a LONG queue....!!!!!!!). I am a bit out of my comfort zone here but it needs to be said!

Before I start blubbing on the keyboard........ I have actually started to knit something with SLEEVES (no seams though!) The wonderful & long Wimbers final gave me a headstart on Mr Greenjeans. I dived into the stash I produced some New Lanark Mills Aran. So far so good, although some of the sizing stories would have given me nightmares if I hadn't already been having them because of 'stuff' at school!!!!!

Excuse the fairly brief & emotional post. I will get my act together in the next few days. Must go knit some sweater!

Modest gains at Woolfest!

2008-06-28T19:27:00.006+01:00

Just back from Woolfest & thought I should report in! I think I was fairly restrained. I went with some specific 'wants' & that helped to rein me in! I bought pattern & yarn for Cranford Mitts from the Yarn Yard. Here I also found some merino lace weight in a great cerise pink (shopping for my sister). Next door to the Yarn Yard was KraftyKoala. Here were some super sock yarns, which I didn't need but couldn't resist one (the stripy pink in the picture) & some lovely DK Bluefaced Leicester (Blue as it happens). This was a great find & I shall be stalking her website until she recovers from Woolfest! Sister also requested black yarn, so lovely merino black 4 ply from Coldharbour Mills was found! I also found some DK sock yarn from Regia in fairly mad colours for £2 a ball so that came home too. That's it! I think if I had been a spinner or dyer I would have come home heavily laden. The alpaca, sheep & goats were lovely too! It was an interesting morning & whilst I was stalking around Woolfest, Mr J & Moss stalked the hills - 20k in about 4hours, including Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head & Crag Hill. Moss was pleased to see the truck in Braithwaite! The back of the truck gives many comfy options for a slightly paw sore Border Collie!It was more about exercise than views as the clag was fairly low! We drove home down through the Lakes & called at Low Sizergh Barn for 'afternoon tea' & stocked up in the lovely farm shop for tonight's tea! Luna Moth is finished & blocked! Hope Mum likes it! On the needles at the moment are my Stulpen fingerless mitts & a 'design your own' sock (SKA challenge). It was a 'last minute' decision to 'design' some 'clog socks'. I am a dedicated clog wearer (mainly Birkenstock Boston's) & so decided to use some Opal silk sock yarn to knit a plain fronted, pretty back & heeled 'clog socks'. Beyond that I cannot say because I am still on ankle one! So far so good I think! The yarn is pretty nice anyway.

What a week!

2008-06-27T18:57:00.005+01:00

Last Sunday Mr J & Mr J the Younger, sister & BiL did 'Jane's Run' -The Leeds 10K, started by & in memory of the wonderful Jane Tomlinson. 12,000 runners took to the streets of Leeds. Mr J was running for Jane's Appeal & Mr J the Younger for Martin House Children's Hospice in Boston Spa. Not that they are competitive or anything but they came in 207 & 209! Mr J was 17th in his 'age group' (over 50's!). Their time was around 47 minutes. They are the two in bright blue shirts. The winner (an Ethiopian Olympic hopeful) did it in 30 minutes!!!!! It was a fantastic morning, quite emotional & I have committed to taking part next year!!!!!!! Yes, you read it here. No backing out allowed!

Last week our village church had its 125th birthday celebration. As part of it there was a 'scarecrow' competition. The theme was 'Gates' or 'Yates'. The village is called Burnt Yates & is believed to have got its name from the burning of the toll gate. There were some great entries!

Tomorrow is Woolfest!!!!! Mr J & Moss are going for a hill walk & I am going to be let loose at Woolfest. My first real fibre festival! I am quite excited!!!!!! I am particularly looking for gorgeous dk/ worsted weight yarn, something from 'The Yarn Yard', possibly some lace weight & a pretty spindle! I have run-off the catalogue, highlighted 'musts', & printed a couple of 'find me on Ravelry...' badges! Mr J & Moss have packed maps, compass, waterproofs! I will report on Sunday!

Mittens in June

2008-06-16T19:05:00.002+01:00

Just a quick post to show some recent knitting activity. I knit a lot of socks so have quite an accumulation of small balls of sock yarn. Mr J requested some fingerless mitts. This is the result:Four different Opal fingering weight sock yarns used & 2.25mm needles to give a fine, dense fabric. The pattern is a kind of hybrid, heavily based on mitts in Folk Knitting in Estonia. I wanted some fingerless Mitts too, so I have cast on 'Stulpen' in King Cole Merino mix & again using 2.25mm needles. I have used a little Trekking XXL for a stripe in the cuff. This is progress so far:
Mama's Luna Moth is growing nicely, but no pictures at the moment.

A lovely day 'On the Hill'

2008-06-08T17:35:00.003+01:00

We have spent the day in the garden, enjoying the June sunshine & catching up with gardening chores. The heavy rain of the last week, combined with spells of warm June sunshine have really helped the garden to look pretty easy on the eye. Just what the doctor ordered after a hectic week of exams (son & heir + the two teachers that make up this family) & for me, primary school transition visits. Mr J is making headway on his school's timetable.

The week started with huge excitement. I won a wonderful shawl, knitted by Clarebelle, as an initiative on her blog to raise money for the MS Society. It arrived on Wednesday, along with a box of chocs that helped with last minute revision & some treats for Moss. Did I mention that the shawl is wonderful, gorgeous, scrumptious perhaps? Thank you again Clare. Here she is, Laminaria, knitted in Laughing Rat Studio Laceweight Merino:

I have to take her along to Knit Night on Tuesday to be fondled & patted! I am not going to submitted any pictures of MY knitting alongside such wonderful work, however if you have noted my struggles with Luna Moth then the update is that she was frogged & I started again, armed with a mountain of lockable stitch markers. I don't know what I was making such a fuss about. I am back to row 61 & all is going smoothly as long as I mark the start of each pattern set with markers every 10 stitches! For simple knitting I am knitting Mr J a pair of fingerless mitts on 2.25 needles using up leftovers of fingering weight sock yarn. These were requested to fit under a heavier pair of ski gloves or on their own, 'cos he gets cold hands. Picture to follow. The first one is done & they look pretty good. Infact I will use up more sock yarn to knit a pair for me. There is no shortage of sock yarn around here!

The swallows are back making a home in the entrance to the bothy woodstore.

Must be onto soft furnishings! Other neighbours include.....

These young heifers were showing a keen interest when we took Moss for his evening walk earlier in the week & managed to capture a picture of a lovely summer sunset.

Bruce is still the Boss!

2008-05-29T11:02:00.002+01:00

Did I mention that me & Mr J had tickets for the Bruce Springsteen concert in Manchester? Maybe! He was awesome, the E-Street Band were awesome & I felt 25 again (age at first Springsteen concert we went to!) Nuff said! I even managed a little knitting before it got too busy (not alot of elbow room in Old Trafford!)
Old Trafford certainly was the 'Theatre of Dreams' on Wednesday night!

The knitting is 'Carolina, the Last Queen of Naples' -a another Monkey Toes pattern. In this case the queen has no purls(!) I love this pattern with self stripping Trekking XXL. According to sources on Ravelry they are stretchier than Jaywalkers!

Fawkes are finished. Photos to follow.

Time to blog.......!!!!

2008-05-19T18:05:00.012+01:00

The last few weeks have flown by! Last weekend we had a fantastic weekend in Northumberland. When son & heir was small & before then we spent alot of time up there. The gorgeous Northumberland coast became a kind of family 'bolt hole' but then as things changed we stopped going. The last time we had done more than pass through the county was nine years ago. No reason really. My sister kept going, often twice a year, but not us. This year, though, dear sister, BiL (of the socks) & his sister & husband had booked a large house in Alnmouth with room for visitors! We set off at 9.00 & were parked on Alnmouth carpark by 11.00! It was grey & windy & wonderful to be back. Moss had never been. An hour or so wandering around Alnmouth and a lazy evening in the 'Boat House' and we wondered why we had been away for so long. By evening the sun had found its way to Northumberland and our supper time walk was rewarded with some interesting photo opportunities. Spot Moss on the right! Sunday morning dawned super bright & I took a solo stroll with the camera. The light on the estuary was fantastic. The sun was bright & the wind cool! After a fairly substantial breakfast(!) the plot was to head for the northern end of Embleton Bay & 'Football Hole' and to walk southwards along the beach. Moss thought it was great, so did the rest of us! A halfway turn around time found time for coffee, cake & kite flying.

'Football Hole' Sadly we had to head back to Yorkshire on Sunday evening, leaving Ju, Chris, Kerry & Wayne to have a fantastic week. I received this photo message in the week. It was my sister's birthday on Wednesday & clearly fun was been had by all! Happy Birthday Ju!

This week was S&H's last week at school! It was hectic, completing all the A level Graphics coursework. I think we all feel that we have lost part of our identity. Strange. My son doesn't go to Harrogate Grammar School (although he will be popping in for three fairly heavy sessions of exams in the next week or so!!!), he just 'used to' go to HGS. Anyway I think they had the kind of fun day on Friday that they will all remember for along time to come. 'Rites of passage' & all that!

I have managed some knitting time. BiL's thick socks were finished, delivered to Alnmouth & met with approval. They were photographed on the balcony of the 'Boat House'. It is a upside down house with the lounge & kitchen upstairs with the views. Smart move!I have also finished another pair of 'No Purl Monkeys'....

..and have knitted one and a half 'Fawkes'. This is a nice pattern to knit but a funny one to remember. That, I am pleased to say, seems to be a fairly typical comment on Ravelry. Not sure why. I would certainly knit them again but in a plainer yarn, another repeat longer & with a less 'square' heel. They may get finished today. I might even managed a bit of knitting in the sunshine as long as I can find a bolt hole away from the cold north easterly wind that seems to have been blowing for weeks!

We managed to escape out of the wind yesterday & catch the bluebells still in bloom in Braisty Woods near Summerbridge. Pretty as a picture!

Oh....one last thing, knitting in public! Do it! Some of the 'public' need to be educated. A few of the 'Nutty Kniiters' aka 'At Home in Harrogate' Ravelry group decided to grab an couple of hours knitting in 'The Smiths Arms' in Beckwithshaw on Wednesday evening. Nice pub, big tables, five ladies of varying ages sitting around and knitting, chatting & having a drink. Barman happy to carry across drinks, chef came out for a chat (another knitter it turned out), a cycling group wandered in, dressed in Lycra & flat shiny shoes & then a youngish couple sat at the table next to us, shuffled uncomfortably for ten minutes & left, muttering very 'un-pc' and incorrect comments about us! It may have been the five women aspect that they couldn't deal with, I don't know. I don't have any issues with knitting in public- planes, boats, cricket matches, pubs, cafes.... bring it on, but some are less comfortable with stares and inane comments 'What ARE you doing?''Are you learning to knit?' (not said to me, but to someone with a complex piece of lace on the needles!) and so for them & their knitting, knitting in public just has to be done!

Fabel

2008-05-10T09:06:00.002+01:00

As promised, two latest socks in progress, one in Big Fabel & one in......just Fabel.

This is for BiL, in Big Fabel.

These are Fawkes in Fabel

Its a really enjoyable pattern to knit. Can't believe its Saturday & sunshine is in order. Off to put some order into the veg bed as its still in 'winter dug over' mode, plus all the stones that have risen to the surface over the winter. I should, as a geographer, know what that process is called! As a gardener its a B***** pest!

Evening sunshine

2008-05-08T19:33:00.007+01:00

I have just spent a happy hour in the evening sunshine, tackling a few chores in the garden. I have planted up some hanging baskets, sown another row of carrots & one of Italian Mixed salad leaf. I have sown a tray of Sprouting Broccoli and sixteen pots of 'Maradonna' French Beans. The polytunnel is pretty full, as my Dad also contributed quite a few plants at the weekend. It has been a hot day today -too hot for SATS exams! Hopefully this fine weather will last to the weekend! The first sowing of the Italian Salad Leaves should be ready to pick soon!
The auriculas by the front door.

When the son & heir was small he loved to 'play farms'. We reckon that this is what Moss likes to do as he takes up a position in the garden where he can see people approaching & run around barking at motor bikes & milk lorries that go past in true Border Collie farmdog fashion!

BiL should get his socks, partially due to the super speedy service provided by Scandinavian Knitting Designs & partially due to the fast growing Big Fabel, DK sock yarn! I have also cast on for Fawkes, a Harry Potter inspired design by the very talented but ,sadly, no longer with us, Gigi Silva. Photos of those to follow!

Am I a process knitter?

2008-05-05T14:30:00.007+01:00

The socks I started for my BinL are going into the frog pond AGAIN. There isn't enough yarn (it was a 'bargain'!) & I messed up the pattern repeat on the second foot. The Candle Flame shawl is on about 200 stitches & I suspect the lack of a border is something of an issue. So?????? you ask, expecting tails of tears & tantrums. So????? nothing. I have enjoyed the knitting, the yarn will live again. The socks will be frogged to the ankles & re-emerge as fingerless mitts, The yarn from the Candle Flame shawl, will ,if frogged, will be re-knitted. I may knit another Prairie Shawl. "No knitting is wasted knitting" says the wise women Sieue. I get what she means. Sieue is a 'founder' member of the Ravelry 'At Home in Harrogate' group. There was some exciting news for the group this week as baby Noah made an appearance -Congratulations to Lou & Antony. The group has also decided to have a 'Summer Swap' -a knitted item, another knitting 'thing' & a non-knitting item to be gifted to your secret partner at the end of Summer (you know the sort of thing). Great! Then questions like....
Favorite Color?
Favorite Food?
Favorite Designer?
Favorite Blog?
Favorite Yarn?
Favorite Esty Shop/Online Store?
Favorite Thing to Knit?
Favorite Pattern?
Favorite Non-Knitting Related Shop?
Favorite Restaurant?
ETA: 11. Favorite Book?

...come your way! I am a Gemini for goodness sake! So far

Fav. colour is icy pale blue (and red). Fav thing to knit has to be socks (with shawls coming up fast on the rails), Favorite pattern(s!) is Embossed leaf socks & Forest Canopy shawl, Favorite blogs are Clarabelle & Yarn Spinner I guess as I always have to stop & read them straightaway if they pop up on Bloglines. As to the other questions...... Books...yes I have loads of favorite books. Its a mood/genre thing. I am working on it. OK!

Good job it didn't stretch to favorite music -did I mention I have tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in Manchester later this month?

I have one finished 'No purl Monkey'. Loving this pattern! I have just cast on Fawkes (a Socktopia pattern). Its not available for download at the moment but fortunately I had a copy saved. I went searching in my sock stash for something else to knit for BiL when I found some firey Fabel superwash & remembered Fawkes. Fawkes will be for me! Hopefully I will complete this months ASK challenge. Best buy some DK sockwool for BiL as I will see him in less than two weeks. BiL was the recipient of some Harry Potter socks using some lovely yarn from Bright Dyes. Unfortunately this seller doesn't appear to be selling yarn at the moment. Does anyone have any recommendations for other Harry Potter coloured sock yarn (preferably UK based -I don't want to be stung on postage/tax!)? Said BiL wants the set (Fortunately Sister is now knitting socks too- go girl!... and is on Ravelry!)

What is the world coming to, two fine days out of three in a Holiday weekend? Actually Saturday was fine, it p***** it down yesterday & today is warm and dry. The forecast for the rest of the week as SATS, GCSE's and A levels start is for warm sunshine! Typical!

On Saturday, in celebration of some decent weather AT THE WEEKEND & Ma & Pa's visit we took off up Wensleydale. First stop was an ice cream at Brymor Ice Cream. Raspberry was my flavour of choice & a good choice it was, although NOT in the quantities shown on the photo!

We then paid a visit to Jervaulx Abbey. I learnt recently that Jervaulx is a privately owned site, maintained by it owners out of love for the place & decided that we should go when we had the chance. I wasn't disappointed. The sun came out, there were only a few other people about & there was a real peace surrounding the place. The six of us (Moss came too) just wandered around taking photos. Son & heir was busy accumulating more shots for his A level Graphics portfolio (Echos of the past, part 2?). This is a selection of mine:

Moss can pose for photos when he wants to!

Me with my Dad.
Cowslips in May sunshine.

After a day of torrential rain yesterday in which the main event was a good traditional Sunday Roast (Beef & Yorkshire puds) today is warm & sunny so we took the truck for a ride (Moss had to stay at home as we are awaiting the back cover for it to turn it into a mobile kennel!). Our travels took us up to the head of Nidderdale & over into Masham & then home. S&H was the photographer for the day. I may borrow a few of his shots for my next post. The reflections on Gouthwaite Reservoir were stunning.

Every picture tells a story!

2008-04-26T10:36:00.006+01:00

Is this the picture of our 'mid-life crisis'? We are now the proud owners of a Toyota Hilux Double Cab Truck! The Land Rover has gone, so has the caravan. Both with a touch of sadness because they represent many very happy memories of family trips. We have had the caravan since C. was 2 but it had languished unused in the workshop for a few years now as we have preferred the flexibility & freedom of a tent + cottage for our trips to the Western Isles & weekends away got lost in a sea of rugby & cricket matches. Why a double cab truck? 'Cos next month its getting a partner to allow Mr J & I (& dog) (& S&H if he ever wants to) the freedom of 'the open road'! One of these is on its way from the States as I type:

Its a Northstar demountable camper. It will give us the comfort of a caravan, with the off road & on road capability of a tough 4X4 truck. The camper can be 'demounted' & left on its legs for longer stays or left as a camper van for 'overnights'. Its on order from Niche Marketing in Lincolnshire where we paid a visit to last month. We were impressed by the American build quality & level of finish (our upholstery will not be pink as in the web site advert!). Needless to say, we are rather excited by the form that our 'crisis' is taking. We are seriously considering Orkney as our destination for this summers trip & hope to find some wild & exciting places to camp.

Enough of that. I haven't posted in a while. School is really busy & I didn't think I would have any FO's to post, however as you can see carefully draped on the truck back is my finished & blocked Melon scarf. It has been knitted with a £1 ball of sock wool, bought at the Harrogate Knitting & Stitching Show! Here is Moss modelling the scarf before blocking & a closer picture of the finished scarf. The yarn is nothing special but the colours are great & it will make a good addition to my winter work wardrobe.

I have cast on a Luna Moth shawl in Malabrigo lace weight. This will probably be a gift for my Mum. It is beginning to grow. The yarn is lovely but without lifelines it wouldn't exist. For some reason (not concentrating maybe) I haven't found this pattern too easy(!) & have had to frog it several times but its beginning to click and it is enjoyable to knit! I haven't cursed the temptation that Clarabelle put in my way too much!

Hope that the spring 'view' of 'On the Hill' meets with approval. It still continues to snow in the alps ('snow alerts' land in my email & yet most of the resorts are no longer running the lifts or preparing the pistes!).

Something to look forward to this week is another meeting of the Ravelry 'At Home in Harrogate' group. This group in particular (& Ravelry in general) have really made a difference to my life I guess. I now have friends NOT connected with work/child/husband that share a deep passion. They are all supportive, funny, intelligent, caring women & I really thank my lucky stars I plucked up courage to respond to the first invite to join a Harrogate Knitting Group (Thanks Anne & Sue! -& thanks to Kelly for creating 'At Home in Harrogate').

Grinton Mill, Swaledale

Earlier this week we had a great afternoon out in Swaledale creating scenes & taking photos for son & heirs A level Graphics Control test. The word he has selected to work with is 'Echos'. This has developed (possibly) into 'Echos of the Past' & his work will be based around promoting a film of that (or something similar) title. One of the possible locations (there will be more needed) was Swaledale (northern Yorkshire Dales) with its history of Lead Mining. We all (dog included) had fun up at Grinton Mill & the Old Gang Mines, equipped with lamps, ropes, helmets, candles & cameras!Waiting for C. to emerge from the tunnel!

These are just a couple of my snaps taken as a record of the day. Maybe S&H will let me print the finished product after the exams!

This is the tunnel that led to the chimney on the moor top.

What's the story?

April in Yorkshire

2008-04-04T10:53:00.003+01:00

....and I even managed a little time sat outside knitting! Snow is possible on Sunday!

Forest Canopy is blocked & I am delighted with the result. Whadyathink?
Another shawl is on the needles, but this time it was a case of frog first. The Wool Peddler is no more. I love other peoples wool peddler shawls as stalked on Ravelry but the plain navy Jaegar merino wasn't working. So inspired by a thread started(in my absence) on the wonderful & time consuming Ravelry 'At Home in Harrogate' group, about 'slow' living, organics, yarn diets (what's that?) and the like, 'Wool Peddler' became 'Candle Flame'.
Yarn & pattern seem happier together- more squishy. I have also opted, should you be interested, to opt for the 3 purl spacing between 'flames' to make a wider shawl. New on the needles are 'no purl monkeys'. This is another 'At Home in H'gate' KAL. The yarn is super soft merino & alpaca from the Natural Dye Studio & the pattern is a super easy, soothing knit.

The 'At Home in Harrogate group' met again on Wednesday. What a riot! I've seen less yarn & projects in some wool shops (or at least it felt like that!). What a bunch of enablers! Thanks guys!

Some garden time has involved sorting out the polytunnel (Thanks to MrJ's labours) & sewing seeds. So far: carrots, spring onions, Chinese Stir Fry Salad leaf & Italian Salad leaf, Coriander, Thyme, Basil, Chilis & onions. I have also undertaken extensive pot & tray scrubbing ready for the first instalments of plug plants to arrive.

About a month ago a neighbour & me got together to pour over the piece of porn known as the Dobies catalogue (not as good as yarn porn but quite good!) & encouraged each other to spend! Actually its worked out really well as we were able to share in some good offers, that would have otherwise delivered more plants than either of us could use individually.

As the weather is forecast to return to winter tommorow I think that a little extra insulation may be called for!

A reluctant spring?

2008-03-31T17:21:00.009+01:00

There was an enormous amount of fresh snow in the French Alps last week -tons more than in February! The first roadside snow we encountered was in Chambery & there was loads in Bourg St Maurice, which is a tad over 700m above sea level. About a foot had fallen 30 hours before we arrived. We were armed with snow chains but were glad that we didn't have to use them on the hairpin bends up to Vallandry. The apartment was not quite slopeside but had great views across towards La Plagne & down the valley. A two minute uphill walk took us to the first chairlift & so we hit the slopes much earlier, even managing 'first tracks' at times. We were glad of the tree lined runs (well I was anyway!) above the resort and with the snow in great condition right back down to the village we were able to clock up the ski miles without venturing out into more whit-out conditions. When the skies cleared & the sun crept out the temperatures still remained low but the views were awesome. Most days we swept back down to the apartment for a lunchtime warm & bowls of thick soup! We did, however, have one lunchtime feast at a favorite spot above Arc 1800 -L'Arpette. My Tartiflette was a while coming but was worth the wait. It took all hands to scrape the last delicious scraps from the dish!

As we drove down from Yorkshire to Vallandry this gave me plenty of knitting time! I drove a little but Mr J prefers to drive & doesn't knit too well!On Thursday evening we drove south. I finished the Amanda hat before Milton Keynes & added a few inches on the Melon Scarf before our first motel stop just north of Dover. The English Channel was pretty rough on Good Friday morning & the ferries were running late. Fortunately we were squeezed onto an 'early' ferry that left at the same time as the one that we were booked onto! The ferry was packed with Easter travellers, but I found a spot to sit & continue with the melon Scarf. Mr J & son were happy to eat & wander around! Once we landed I started work proper on the Forest Canopy Shawl that had been planned as my main holiday knit. It was a great project for the trip, with lifelines in place (but thankfully never needed) I was happy to knit away the miles. The pattern is fairly easy to remember & as I was knitting in DK/worsted on 5mm needles it grew reasonably quickly. The slight colour variations in the yarn (dyed by 21st Century Yarns) made for added interest & with a couple of evenings knitting & one too foggy afternoon I finished the shawl on Wednesday evening. I might have squeezed another pattern repeat out of the yarn but with over 300 stitches on the needles that was a risk I preferred not to take. The photo was meant to be an 'artistic' effort with the shawl slung over the balcony with the snow & trees in the background but the contrast in the morning light was too much really & by afternoon the weather had closed back in! Further knitting enabled me to finish one sock (Diagonal Cross Rib socks by Ann Budd) and more of the Melon Scarf. When I was not skiing & too tired to knit or watch a film I managed to finish listening to my Audible download of 'Dragonfly in Amber' by Diana Gabaldon. I have read the books before but have really enjoyed the unabridged versions of the first two & will download 'Voyager' with one of my next months credits. It was great to be physically rather than mentally tired although I often woke to find the earpieces to my mp3 player still in but the sleep setting having kicked in and switched the player off just after I dropped off!

The drive home was long as a) the traffic was a bitch & b) there is no b.... the traffic from Albertville to Chambrey was predictably busy. The cut off via the 'Tunnel du Chat' from Chambrey to Bourg en Bresse was really pleasant driving & then the autoroute north to Dijon was very unpredictable. Slowing to a standstill & then opening up for no obvious reason. Once we cut to the north east towards Nancy & Metz it was much better & we reached our motel only a couple of hours later than hoped. The motel has free wi-fi which was great (Campanille) & all were able to catch up on stuff via the laptop. The drive through Luxembourg, Belgium & Holland to Europort was OK & the option of taking the Rotterdam-Hull crossing was a good one. We have crossed via Hull-Zeebrugger before but this was much better. The 'Pride of Rotterdam' is some boat! The food was excellent & the whole experience was very relaxed. We were back in Hull by 8 & home just after 9.30. Better than driving through southern England.

The starting gun!

2008-03-16T17:38:00.007Z

I've had a touch of startitus! This morning I cast on another 'Melon' scarf from Victorian Knitting Today. I am using some sock yarn I bought at the Harrogate Knitting Show. Again I am doing a 5 pattern repeat & a simple garter stitch border. My last Melon scarf has become a favorite wear & its a fairly quick & easy but interesting knit. I can slip it into my bag as a change from The Forest Canopy Shawl. Its growing slowly as I am still rationing it.As a KAL -well some of the group have finished, declaring it a scarf scale project, me I want a 'uge shawl to wrap around me. I have finished Grandpa J's socks & cast on another Ann Budd sock pattern -Cross Diagonal Rib. This is also using anonymous yarn bought in Harrogate. The pattern is great but Ann Budd's suggested needle sizes are way out (general Ravelry agreement). She must be one tight knitter. I have just ordered her book of basic patterns to go with the sweater book. I love the notion of starting with a basic design & customing it to my own ideas. My first sweater knit is taking shape in my mind at least!

I have also cast on & finished a headband for the forthcoming ski trip (Loads of snow)

Les Arcs Snow Forecast Snow Report by E-mail

I used the pattern for the Amanda hat. I would like to knit the hat, its a lovely simple lace stitch. Brigit is growing slowly. I spent an hour learning to cable without needles but have customised a mini cable needle with a broken Brittany Birch needle & am making much better progress. This is no critisism of the many great tutorials out 'there'but single stitch cables, 2.25mm needles & plum coloured yarn are probably not the best thing to learn a technique with and actually, I like cabling!

Mostly about knitting.....honestly!

2008-03-09T09:59:00.002Z

In another couple of weeks and we are driving down to the Alps (at least I can knit without worrying about security checks!). The destination is Vallandry, which is part of the Les Arcs ski area but will hopefully allow for some 'doorstep' skiing, rather than riding the Funicular each morning. When we left last month there was a real need for fresh snow & it has been arriving in abundance for the last week and looks like continuing for at least another week or so!

Now, about knitting! The ladies in the Ravelry 'At Home in Harrogate' are proving to be an evil influence!!!!! They encourage MORE yarn purchases and MORE time spent knitting, sometimes in THEIR company & alone and EVEN MORE time spent on RAVELRY engaging in reading & writing messages and STALKING other peoples projects!!!!!!!!! Its great! More of it I say! We met again on Wednesday, at my house. We had a really good laugh, started on a Forest Canopy KAL, inspected new stash & knitting book acquisitions and generally spent a great evening in the company of fibre fanatics! I am knitting the Forest Canopy shawl in Merino/ Lambswool DK from 21st Century Yarns, purchased with nothing in particular in mind at the Harrogate Knitting & Stitching Show. Others are using 4ply or fingering and there are over 500 projects on Ravelry to help(?) you decide what yarn/ colourway you might want to use for your Forest Canopy shawl. Its a fairly easy, intuitive pattern to use (I am using the chart rather than the written pattern). I have placed lifelines (a first for me) but I have not needed to use them yet. Its intended as a 'driving' project but I keep been tempted to 'just do another repeat'! The yarn is more 'claret' than 'pink' though!

Father in Law has requested socks, so socks he is getting. Ann Budd's Mock Wave Cable Socks in Drops Fabel colour 520. The yarn came from Scandinavian Knitting Design (very quick postal service), is 25% polymade & 75% superwash wool. The colours are great and its £2 for a 50gm ball!!!!! I am on sock two & its really knitting up well. I have left the foot in plain stocking stitich as the pattern produces quite a raised rib. I used 2.75 & 2.5mm needles (as most folk on Ravelry have done) rather than the 3.25 & 2.75 suggested in the pattern.

I have also made a little progress on Brigit socks but need to learn to cable without a cable needle. Mr J's garter rib socks are finished (I didn't need the extra yarn). The Trekking XXL colour 100 is fantastic -at least one 'At Home in Harrogate' member has some on the needles but isn't planning to match her socks with this yarn! What is that matching stripes stuff about Sue?

I have also bought a couple of books! Yup..... this means I plan to knit something with sleeves. I am drawn to a raglan jacket, with cables & things. I have bought some Aran in Heather colour denim from New Lanark Mills. This is a fantastic find! £1.80 for 100grams 100% wool aran yarn in a good range of colours (or 90% wool 10% silk) and £1 for 50gm DK wool.

My inspiration might come from this book, Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys and Arans by Gladys Thompson, I suspect it will come more under the heading 'general knitting interest' in my library, rather than an actual 'things to knit' book. It discusses & includes patterns associated with the different Fishing Villages around the coast of Britain & Ireland. The resulting Guernseys are increadible but I doubt I will be knitting on size 14 steel needles!

Oh and yes, I have knitted both mitts from 'Folk Knitting from Estonia'. Trouble is, they are both for the left hand!!!!!! I am just about laughing as I have plenty of yarn left for two right mitts!!!! I even remember thinking about needing to do the 'other hand'!!!! What an idiot! I need another holiday! Don't even ASK what school is like at the moment!

Will there be photographs?

2008-02-23T12:15:00.011Z

...wrote Blackberry Rambles in response to my last post. Oh yes! We had a perfect weeks skiing in Les Arcs & Courcheval last week. The sun shone, the air was very cold and the snow was there in plenty & generally was in great condition for skiing & ski it we did. For miles & miles & miles! On several evenings we caught the last chair lift to the top of the mountain & skied down as the mountains emptied & the light began to go down. This is Mr J as we paused to don extra hats & scarves before plunging down into the shadows that had enclosed the home run. Mt Blanc is behind basking in the rays of the sun. The scenery is stunning and I had plenty of time to admire it whilst son & heir was filmed doing the various drills demanded for his A level PE assessment.

....... S&H, skiing on the Aiguille Rouge above Arc 2000.

This wasn't the only assessment he had to face though. On Saturday we drove to Courcheval so that he could be assessed by 'New Generation' Ski School with a view to joining their trainee ski instructor 'Gap Year' programme. next winter. He passed! They take twenty students each year & over a three month period train them to BASI 2 level (British Association Snow Sports Instructors) & then the successful students have a chance to teach skiing in Italy for a month! (& earn money). This is pretty exciting stuff! Hopefully it will provide a little extra motivation to ensure success in the forthcoming A levels!

Reflections on the mountains!
Lunch stop, on the piste down from the Aiguille Rouge.
Looking towards Mt Blanc.

It was a wonderful family holiday. We are back in the Tarentaise in just a few weeks & hopefully the snow will fall again before then. This time we are driving so their will be plenty of time for knitting!

Now.... knitting. This was originally a knitting blog! I didn't knit on the plane out as Leeds Bradford had a very 'NO KNITTING NEEDLES AT ALL' stance when I queried it in advance of flying. In retrospect I doubt there would have been a problem, but on a very busy Saturday hassle was best avoided. On the way back, Geneva identify long metal pointy things, so I knitted away on my 5" Brittany Birch sock needles without too much concern. I have nearly finished a pair of socks for Mr J. The pattern is a simple garter rib. The yarn is Trekking XXL 100 & the colours are fantastic. The pictures don't do it justice -I will finish them & photo them in the sunlight. I had intended to try a 'new heel' for SKA February challenge, but decided that Mr J would be better with the usual flap & gusset, knit one, slip one routine to give a tougher heel. I am in the process of casting on 'Brigit' in memory of Gigi Silva & her wonderful designs. Her designs have been added to the February Challenge as a memorial to this talented designer. I am going to use yarn from my stash, bought at the Harrogate Show. I think it is Schoppel yarn, but I'm not sure of the colourway.

Much has been written about the wonder that is Ravelry. One unexpected bonus is the wonderful group of knitters in Harrogate that I have got to know 'in the flesh' (or yarn!) We met again on Wednesday. Our original idea of meeting monthly has already become every two weeks. Outings to events such as the Texare Mill open weekend are in discussion, the ongoing 'chat' in our own Ravelry Group 'At Home in Harrogate' punctuates the day with a few chuckles & at least two new sock knitters have been born! Me.... I may knit something with sleeves with their encouragement! I have managed a picture (at last!) of my first hat of the winter. Its an 'Odessa' in Cashsoft DK.

It has had plenty of wear early this week as we have enjoyed stunning frosts. I was running round the front garden as 7.00 am as Mr J was waiting to leave for work! I have been stalking Ravelry for more hat patterns & have found some great possibles, although whilst skiing I found that headbands were best as they stopped the ears getting cold but were less likely to take flight! Utopia could be the next hat. What do you think? Headband? The band from the Amanda hat I think? The pattern is a free Ravelry download. So much knitting, so little time........

2008-02-03T09:49:00.000Z

Guess what these are?I finally admitted the inevitable & went ahead an ordered a pair of sock blockers from Chappy Woman on ebay. They were made to order in the US & arrived on Friday.Postage was as much as the cost of the sock blockers & you know what? I don't care! They are beautiful & I can't wait to photograph a pair of finished socks on them. It may be a while as the wip on the sock front are a pair for Mr J, who requires a pair that are a little larger! They will be the 'knitting on trip' pair as we head of to the French Alps on Saturday! Its another return to Bourg St Maurice to ski Les Arcs & we are pretty excited. There is plenty of snow & more forcast. Although this is our fourth trip to Bourg it will be our first in mid winter (usually an Easter trip). The socks are knitted in Trekking XXL in colourway 100. This is the first time I have used this yarn & I really like it. They will form the 'February socks' in Ravelry ASK challenge -a different type of heel! I will be knitting a top down short row heel using reverse short row shaping (from Charlene Schruch). The socks will be in a simple garter stitch rib which seems to work with this yarn. The Melon scarf has nearly finished & I am looking forward to giving it a gentle blocking. Knitting it confirms that I much prefer knitting crisp lace projects in wool yarn rather than fluffy string type yarns!

This week included a 'first' for me! I went along to a knitting group in person (rather than a 'virtual' group)! This was the newly formed Harrogate group that has evolved out of the Ravelry Yorkshire knitters group & we had a really enjoyable evening. It was great to meet new people that were not connected with education or my husband or my son & share my enthusiasm for all things yarn. Well done Ravelry & thank you Harrogate Knitters -hope the socks are behaving Kelly!

73 mile per hour gusts!

2008-01-25T18:59:00.000Z

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:

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

Sunshine on Saturday

2008-01-19T14:45:00.000Z

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!

2008-01-10T12:36:00.001Z

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

2008-01-02T13:55:00.000Z

... 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!

Nearly 2008!

2007-12-29T14:54:00.000Z

We have had a great Christmas with my family down in Staffordshire. DH's 'man-flu' was on the mend by Christmas Day thank goodness! Santa clearly thought we had all been good boys and girls & was most generous! Some of my favorite gifts were clearly sourced at 'Lands-End' & from some of the lovely shops in Edinburgh that my sister spotted on a pre-Christmas break so no disappointments there! It was lovely just to spend time with the family & chill back. Mother clearly thinks we starve at home & meals were not only very tasty but very generous in quantity! This is a photo of her 'christmas table' before it was laden with food!

On the 27th we decided to take a trip into Wales. Son & heir has an A level Geography exam in January based on pre-released material, The material is, this year, based upon the Ynyslas spit at Borth in mid Wales. As this is just over 2 hours from Mom & Dad's we decided that a visit might help him to make sense of the material that he has to study. My sister & her DH came to, which made it more 'fun' for S&H! It is many years (try at least 15) since I have visited mid Wales & it is lovely, especially, away from the coast. On Thursday much of the loveliness of the mountains was hidden behind sheets of water coming out of the sky! Fortunately the rain stopped as we reached the coast, although it was very dark and grey in Borth. We warmed up watching some hardy surfers before driving up onto the shingle ridge that has grown along the coast from the cliffs south of the town & out across the mouth of the river Dyfi. Despite being very windy & wild, as well as not been the most attractive stretch of coast, it was great to have a walk, blow the cobwebs away and just be by the sea. The dog is always game for spending time on the beach!

From a geographers point of view, there was lots of features of interest & I am sure that it fired S&H's imagination. Geography isn't his chosen field for Uni, that's Spot & Exercise Science, but he does find a good bit of Physical Geography pretty interesting! When he spotted the former cliff line on Google Earth & then worked out how the combined work of the sea (longshore drift) & the river had formed the spit & the land behind it he got quite excited! He was soon directing photographic operations & asking plenty of 'good' questions. I think that this is the biggest groyne I have ever seen. The volume of material trapped behind it is massive. Makes the ones on the east coast look fairly pathetic!

Back at the family estate Mum & Dad were charged with laying the scene for Mr J's birthday tea! Mr J is actually Rob the Teacher, but the theme was..... Bob the Builder!!!! Couldn't resist!!!!! He has done quite a bit of building in his time! It created quite a laugh & a fairly silly family party followed!!

Christmas knitting can now be revealed.

One pair of 'Socks for Veronik' from Interweave Holiday Knits. A great pattern -easy yet enough interest!

One pair of sock is Regia DK, knitted in garter rib. Really quick & super soft yarn!

One pair of 'Waving Lace socks' from Favorite Knits. Two lace scarves, knitted in far less of a hurry & photographed in earlier posts.

One pair UNFINISHED still (see previous post!), issue still to be resolved!

I have returned to finish my 'Embossed leaf' socks & play around with 'new pathways'. I think that I will knit something other than socks after that!

We are home again & despite the foul wet weather & lovely time at Mom & Dad's it is nice to be back by our own fire with still holiday time to come. We are 'on duty' at the 'out-laws' tomorrow & I have declared New Years Day evening as our 'family festive meal'. Three plus dog. Mr J will visit our local butcher in Patley Bridge on Monday for something suitable & we will each choose our favorite vegetables & trimmings.

A very happy new year to all!

Merry Christmas from 'on the hill'

2007-12-23T13:50:00.000Z

Its nearly here! I enjoyed my 'extra' day off on Friday, although I didn't do as much as I had planned! I wrapped presents, did a little knitting, cleaned (although you wouldn't tell) & fed the washing machine. The weather was cold & damp so Moss & I only had a short wander at Brimham Rocks. The Christmas knitting is almost complete, infact as complete as it will be before the 25th as I ...ran out of wool!!!!! Brother in laws socks, knitted with a novel khaki camouflage wool bought at the Harrogate Show. I checked tension but it never occured to me that it was DK until I turned the second heel & noticed how much wool there wasn't left! Some plain khaki toes should do the job but not before Christmas!!! ********! So that part of his Christmas box becomes a box of Malteasers & an 'on the hill' label with a promise! The label was made using this great website (link from Clarabelle -ta!)

Off to Ma & Pa's tommorow for a few days of being spoilt! I may be fifty (did I really type that?) but its still nice to be looked after by Mum & Dad once in a while! On Wednesday son & heir was summoned to the school 'Celebration of Achieement' held in the grand surrondings of the Harrogate Conferance Centre. It used to be speech day but HGS has entered the 21st century! He recieved the 'Blue House Service Award' for his year as House Captain. The guest speaker (which is the reason I mention it) was Gervais Phinn. The former school inspector & now writer and presenter. He finished off his speech which really was a celebration of teaching, by reading a poem he wrote for his son's wedding called 'when I am old'. It had us rolling in the aisles as he vowed to come & live with his son & lovely new daughter in law & do all the stuff that teenagers so! I promise not to leave my undies on the stairs! He is well worth listening to/ reading if you get the chance.

I shall be able to knit what I fancy knitting. I shall take my emossed leaf socks to finish I think, maybe something else???? Need to do the ironing first. Mr J has a cold (or is it 'man-flu'?) so has to be treated gently! Merry Christmas!

Interesting buys!

2007-12-09T15:57:00.000Z

Yes you have arrived 'On the Hill'! I have had a little play and I am trying to load a 'winter' template'. Not quite there yet!

Despite been underwhelmed by the Winter Interweave Knits I found a copy of 'Holiday Knits' on ebay & decided that I would bid for it. Won the bid for a little under the cover price, inc. postage & I am pleased to say that it was £4 well spent. The 'Socks for Veronik' by Mona Schmidt (designer of the much loved Embossed Leaf sock pattern) are great & just fit the ticket for an interesting but quick Christmas knit. I would never wear shoes like this, let alone with lacy handknit socks but the pattern is great. I will include pictures after Christmas! Other interesting patterns include the Koolhaas Hat by Jared Flood (Brooklyn Tweed), a lacy scarf, more nice socks and the Huckleberry Ascot which might get some needle time for my Mum IF I get these socks finished and best of all..... the mug cosy!

This should solve the works 'secret santa' annual dilemma. Buy a mug, knit a cosy & stitch an appropriate selection of letters on, depending on how well I know the recipient! I have 100 letter beads bought on ebay to make stitch markers for when I get cracking with my 'new pathways for sock knitters'. I calls for individually identified markers & I don't trust myself to remember a colour sequence!!!!! The beads cost &3.49 inc. postage & when threaded onto a couple of little rings should do the job. I hope I draw a mate in the secret santa otherwise I will just have to spell out their name or staff initials!!!!!!! Hmmm!

Sorry if the last post was a bit of a moan about teaching! I survivied the parents evening, done all the reports, am planning the remard event, can laugh about the fact that Christmas has been cancelled until the children leave the building. Just take no notice, its been a long term!!!!!!

From the hill

2007-12-01T19:42:00.000Z

Loads of knitting going on here but its christmas knitting so shhhhhhhhh! My copy of

has arrived an is fascinating, however for the sake of speed and sanity it will have to wait until the Christmas socks are done! I am going for interesting yarn & simple or well tried & tested patterns at the moment. I could be on for a record of a pair of socks in a weekend! Double knit & garter rib make for an amazingly quick knit! The Regia yarn that I bought last weekend is an absolute delight to knit with.

Its hard to believe that it is December already & with just three weeks to go to the end of term the pace at work is pretty ridiculous. Yet more reports to write, senior leadership monitoring the department (i.e. dropping in unannounced & checking up that all appropriate policy boxes are ticked), Sixth form parents evening (I have 3 A level groups), exams in January to prepare for, reward events to plan &..... oh yes keep teaching till the bitter end! On the positive side, I have some great groups, the geography that the students need to learn is good stuff & suited to raise flagging spirits. Topics such as 'Antarctica', 'Glacial Landforms' & 'Volcanoes and Earthquakes' lend themselves to great learning activities & I don't find it difficult to be enthusiastic about them! Where is my copy of 'Dante's Peak'? My photos from our trip to Mt St Helens in 2001? 101 pictures of glaciated landscapes?.....

My stash has got bigger!

2007-11-25T10:01:00.000Z

The Harrogate Knitting & Stitching Show is to blame! Some lovely sock yarn, mainly from Knit n' Caboddle & Web of Wool Stalls. Favorite yarn is probably this, just Schoppel Wolle sock yarn but I love the colourway. Best of all from K n C was the 'gadget' -a work in progress 'keeper'. Keeps knitting & needles safely together. Two tubes for £7! Perhaps I should have got two packs! On the needles are (another) pair of 'Embossed Leaves' in Cherry Hill supersock. Love the yarn, love the colours, love the pattern. Nuff said!I got some hand dyed worsted from 21st Century Yarns. I bought two hanks each in two colourways. One browns, one reds. I think at least one is destined for a Mobius, as are these little orange ball of delight.

I also had my first 'go' on a spinning wheel, courtesy of the lovely ladies from the Craven Spinning Guild. The result was a little organic. They meet every third Saturday in Skipton so I may well join them, although it may be some time before I can afford a wheel. I am told I was using an 'Ashford Traveller'. One of the (many) reasons for a certain lack of financial fluidity in this household is this:Son & heir is 18 today! This photo was taken last Saturday when his Aunt & Uncle were here. We followed a growing family tradition & had a 'table' party. Yes it was a 'Pirate' Party! The Pirates ate curry! I think his celebrations last night were slightly more sophisticated, although as he is still in bed, I am not sure!

The River Rapid Socks (well it was intended to be a knitting blog, not just a buying yarn blog!) are finally finished & I am very pleased with them. Less pleased with the photo but it will have to do for now. I have alot of school based work to do before S&H arrives downstairs!

Final picture, cos I like it! Moss & Mr J discussing current sporting news!

What happens when you start knitting socks....

2007-11-11T15:02:00.000Z

You just don't like anything else on your feet! This was the Saturday sock handwash -even if they do machine wash, they feel so much nicer for that extra bit of TLC! I feel real empathy when I read Celtic Memory's post! I have some socks on the needles at the moment. They are my ASK's for October, Nancy Bush's 'Whitby' socks. They are a lovely knit, here is a picture of early progress. I have other projects on the go that I can't mention here in case certain parties remeber I have a blog & spot them! There will be details on Ravelry! I have stumbled into more temptation -Socktopus is shipping copies of Cat Bohdi's 'New pathways for sock knitters' book into the UK & one of the next batch to arrive has MY name on it, so whilst placing the order it seemed silly not to order some yarn. She has a tempting array, but I went for

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock 'Fall Foilage' and Bearfoot Mountain Colors 'Winter Skies'. I think Alice is the first stockist in the Uk of Bearfoot Mountain Colours! The service is excellent & speedy with excellent communications.The Cherry Tree Hill yarn is destined to become Brigit I think, Mountain Colors may be a pair of Whitby's more me. Gigi Silva is a member of Ravelry's ASK's group & so as long as they get started this month they will be my November socks!

On the theme of Autumn foliage & winter skies, Moss & I have just got back from a lovely, chilly walk at Brimham Rocks.

We are so lucky that we are only a five minute drive away from Brimham. It is a well known National Trust owned site of amazing Gritstone outctops & moorland. The paths around the rocks can get fairly busy but step onto the edge of the moor & you can have them to yourselves. In our family this is known as the 'second best view in Yorkshire':

This was taken today, an earlier picture (June 2005) can be viewed here & is more 'composed' -today's picture was a quick snap taken with my phone camera & it was too chilly to hang around! The best? The one from our back door!

Sea air & others things

2007-10-27T12:51:00.000+01:00

The Family J decided to have a trip to the coast to mark the end of Half Term & to generally get some sea air. Mr J has a cold & son & heir has got rid of his tonsillitis. Me? A quick look in my school planner says I havn't got time for as much as a sniffle until two weeks on Tuesday! Our chosen destination was Staithes, for those not familier with this part of the world it is an old fishing village some 10 miles to the north west of Whitby, noted for its fossil coast & general quaintness. A Fish n'chip opportunity in Whitby was also planned! Here are some pictures from our roving's.

Warning: This will be a photo heavy post!

The first picture shows Staithes from the beach. On a geographical/ geological note the area was once a shallow delta in a tropical paeleoenvironment where the slow moving current laid down layer after layer of the Lias sediments. These sediments contain many fossils & the coast is sometimes called the 'Dinosaur Coast'. We didn't find any Dinosaur remains but other fossils were easy to spot & not too difficult to photograph. The rocks along this coast are easily eroded & whilst we were able to walk along on

the extensive wave cut platform, the fragility of the cliffs was all too easy to see. Erosion also produces some strange shapes on the wave cut platform!

Whitby took us a little by surprise! It was 'Goth weekend' & the town was full of ....Goths! This is one of the many pictures I found when I 'googled' Goths & Whitby. It is a bi-annual affair!

The fish & chips were good & less surprising!
On the yarn front! I have completed the toe up River Rapid socks & thus my second Ravelry Sock Knitters antonymous challenge. I just get in under the wire for the September challenge & am in time to cast on for October. I am going to knit Nancy Bush's sock pattern 'Whitby' for son & heir. He seems to favour red socks for casual wear (actually that means his school rugby socks) & so I have bought some DK King Cole pure new wool in Red. I will have to have another lot of socks on the go for when he is around but will make that the November challenge. They will be another gift. Nuff said! I mentioned that I would try the Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn cast off for the toe ups & I did. I am pretty pleased with the results. Neat, stretchy & not too wavy despite the K6, P2 rib that I finished with. The photo is pre-blocking. I will also take this opportunity to include something REALLY unusual! Something I made with the 'single stick with the hooked end' last winter. I got a bit carried away on my first chain 'row', so it winds round & round my neck but its really warm & has attracted many compliments. It was one row of single 'triples' then a second row of two 'triples' into each single triple on the previous row. The yarn was an aran weight something with lost of lovely colours in (sorry -it was pre blogging & Ravelry!).

'Proper' Autumn Days

2007-10-23T17:49:00.001+01:00

Its Half Term! Yey! ....and the weather is great! Sunny & crisp. Mr J, Moss & me took to the byeways this afternoon, taking me away from the laptop (school stuff), him from the garden & Moss from playing at 'farm dog'! We had a lovely walk around Fewston Reservoir, a local 'beauty spot' that I had never walked around. It is at least 10 minutes drive from home!

On the knitting front, The Wool Peddler Shawl is at the lace stage. The photo is a bit rubbish. Its navy blue, but the light was going when I took the photo. It may be a bit bigger than the pattern states. Depends on the yarn situation but the yarn (Jaegar extra soft merino) is snuggly soft as always. I have aquired some more in dark grey for...... something nice......for me! Cumberpatch uk are selling it at half price!!!!!!! The first of the toe up River Rapid socks is nearing completion. I am going to attempt Elizabeth Zimmerman's sown bind-off!

I have just discovered 'bloglines' which is a 'widget' that sits on the toolbar of my laptop & watches for new posts on my favorite blog reads. That should save me missing some & using up knitting time checking for ones that are not there. Google 'bloglines' & follow the instructions on the tin! I have also uploaded some 'Yahoo widgets'. They are more lesson orientated (like a stopwatch to display on my laptop & via the LCD projector to the board at the front of the classroom) but the nice little clock that sits in front of all programmes, tells me its time to cook some tea!

A breath of fresh air

2007-10-18T12:53:00.000+01:00

The 'Geography Holiday' was good. I am a bit k*******! But thats fresh air & been on call 24/7 (& 'mum to 20 17 year olds!). We also have a Parent consultation evening for Year 11 tonight! The photo is of May Beck in the North York Moors National Park. I did a little sock knitting & after my efforts were closely inspected by one young man he declared "Miss, your really sick at knitting!" Apparently it means really good! I'll take the compliment & my 'River Rapids' are 3/4 done.

I caught up with a little blog reading last night & some bloggers were apologising for not blogging or commenting. Why? I love reading other people's blogs & really appreciate the comments that people make on my blog but if it becomes a chore not a pleasure then surely the message should be just don't worry, post a gone away message if you like & then return to blogland when it suits you. You can always cite Ravelry!

October already?

2007-10-13T09:39:00.000+01:00

I have just realised that it is two weeks since I last made a blog entry and I have NOT been on holiday. School has been the far side of hectic. We have had Open Evenings, Data entry points, Parents evenings, PMR, I took (& passed) my mini bus test, had all the medical & paperwork stuff to do for that and ....... oh yes, and teaching to do. On Monday I am going to Robin Hoods Bay, on the east coast of Yorkshire, for three days with the Yr 12 geographers on what they are calling 'The Geography Holiday'! We are calling it a fieldcourse in which they will collect enough quality data to produce a fantastic piece of assessed coursework! But it will be great to have a holiday away from school & I am looking forward to it! We are taking 20 Year 12 students & they are a pretty good bunch. The mini bus test was a bit of a farce. I have driven mini buses all over the north of England in the days before such things as a special test were considered necessary but now need to have a Leeds certificate, requiring a medical (fair enough -really glad I passed that!) & lesson/test. The bottom line is I can drive the thing beautifully & reverse a perfect turn along as it is on one particular street in a run-down part of Leeds & they don't repair the crack in the road which he teaches you to use as a measure!!!!!! I think my other driving experiences will be more useful, especially driving a land rover discovery every day & living & driving in the country!
I will take some sock knitting, which should generate some interesting comments no doubt. I am falling behind with my Ravelry Sock Challenge. I should have started some Nancy Bush socks & I have not even chosen the pattern, although I have the books and a suitable range of stash yarn so I should manage to get started over half term, along with finishing the toe up river rapids (September challenge!). I frogged the Wool Peddler shawl. I just couldn't love it. I have just adjusted the pattern to knit two before the yarn over & its fine!!!!!????? I am about back to the point I had reached before I ripped it back!
I will post a picture of the sweatshirt sweater soon. I have worn it & its what it was meant to be. It looks OK, despite being a bit big around the shoulders & has a wide neckline so its a bit drafty. I have found a more refined pattern so I will give that a go. I love the top down process though. I have ordered some yarn (More Jaegar Merino DK) but its somewhere in the pile of yet to be delivered post!
This evening is reserved for 'Le Crunch'. There will be no French wine with dinner (a rather nice Chilean number is warming a little by the Raybun though). I did shout for the French against New Zealand & should (heaven forbid) they sneak through tonight, then I hope they strike a blow for Northern Hemisphere rugby next weekend. But my money is on England!

at 10.06 pm Sue added....... Fantastic England! Bring it on!

Wow! You are all cheering me on!

2007-09-23T11:49:00.000+01:00

Thank you for all the kind words as I set out on the path towards becoming a spinner. I have dipped in & here is my first yard of yarn! Hmm .....its interesting -the thickness varies, some seems to have too much twist & as for joining!!! I shall persevere, cos I am like that!

The sweatshirt sweater is coming on nicely. I have nearly finished the body & then I shall take a photo. She has got cables!

I have an issue with the wool peddler that I don't like! What do you think? The first photo shows the edge that starts with the knit all the way row & is fine. The second photo shows the edge where you k1, YO, knit & is lumpy and ugh! Is this 'normal'? I have tried knitting into the back of the stitch but that seems to make no difference. I don't think I can love it as its is!

It is officially Autumn now. I think that I have picked the last of the runner beans but the sunflowers keep smiling! Harrogate Grammar School Rugby IV clocked up their fourth victory of the season with a 0-76 win at Rishworth School, high up on the Pennine Moorland & in the sunshine. The opposition wasn't awful but the boys put on such a fantastic show of skills that they blew them away.

Inspired by Yarn Spinner's cosy dog photos Moss & I took a photo call, having a 'softy' moment. He is sat on 'his' armchair in the kitchen. He always rushes to sit on 'his' chair when some one comes in so he can have his bit of fuss. We call it his 'meet & greet' chair!He wishes to point out that that's it accentuates his 'grey' side & he really is not so old looking (He is eight) so here is a photo taken a couple of weeks ago on Brimham Moor.

Its NOT my birthday but.......

2007-09-18T18:54:00.001+01:00

I have some new things!!!!!!! An awesome book that will stretch my skills & teach me new ones.

A thing, made by my father in law, I think its called a yarn swift & its a lot better than chair backs & more co-operative than the males in my family when yarn needs winding! I am knitting him some 'shed mitts' to say thank you. They are simple fingerless mitts to help keep his hand and finger joints warm (they ache at times) when he works in his woodwork shed.

Lastly, I have made the jump, I am going to get in touch with my ancestors, following up from encouragement by Yarn Spinner (Thanks Joanne!), I am going to learn to spin! I am going low on cost & big on historical timescale & have bought a spindle & some British breed rovings. I am still at the reading stage but I am quite excited to get going.

The top down sweater is below the armholes but the sizing suggested was way out (I did knit a swatch!) but been top down I tried it on, realised it was big enough even for a cosy sweatshirt sweater and called it time for arm and body to separate. The rugby was awful, she may get cables! I have also cast on for Wool Peddler shawl, I couldn't resist!

Watch this space for progress on a range of projects -damn it, I have classes to teach!!!!!

A sweater on the needles

2007-09-13T18:11:00.000+01:00

For the first time, since I returned to the wonderful band who call themselves 'knitters', I have a sweater on the needles (or should it be 'needle' as it is a beloved addi bamboo circular?). I decided on 'top down' using 'Knittingfool.com' to produce a pattern. I wanted it to be a 'proper' winter sweater, in other words a cosy potential old friend for winter walks and watching rugby. I wanted a sweater that perhaps was more like a sweatshirt so I have a loose neckline knitted in alternate rows of knit and purl. It will have similar treatment for the bottom band & cuffs although they will be knitted on finer needles. It may have 'fake garter stitch' side panels like Jarad Flood's sweater in this falls 'Interweave knits'. It may grow cables but that might depend on how well the rugby world cup is progressing. If its too exciting it had better stay plain! I am totally in agreement with Sarah about the knitting creating a 'memory palace'. This is becoming my rugby world cup jumper -I hope England win! My prairie shawl, for example, is my 'Tiree' shawl (& jolly useful it is with these cool mornings & warmer days) and I may pop on my ' Les Contamines skiing socks' when I get changed! The yarn is, as I said in my previous post, Jaegar extra soft merino in an Aran weight. I am knitting it up on 5mm needles so despite 'all bits' been on the needles as I work down the yoke its growing quite quickly. I have ordered some more DK weight in this yarn for a Wool Pedlars shawl from 'Folk Shawls', whilst it is still around at bargain prices.

Mr J survived Ofsted! His quote "the most stressful 7 days in 27 years teaching". He has just returned from a five mile run & I think we are going across to the village pub for tea!

Schools back!

2007-09-09T09:05:00.000+01:00

Who fixed it for 10 days to go into a week? Its been a long first week back, but quite positive I think. Easier than for Mr J who found out on Friday that Ofsted will be calling this week! For non-teachers that equates to a bucket more stress than usual in the average school. Its not a problem with being accountable, which is good, but about being viewed through the wrong end of a very long telescope, which is not so good. Unless you teach 'the core' you are unlikely to be watched teach, if you are seen then 15-20 minutes is the most you can expect & it could be any part of the lesson. Alot of 'data' will be studied though! Ho hum..... better the begining of the year than the end anyway.

The temperatures have rocketed this week. Harrogate Grammar School First IV started there rugby season as they finished the last ..... winning! The achieved an awesome victory over Bradford Grammar School in temperatures well over 25 degrees C. Bradford clearly did not expect to loose to the state sector & it was the first victory for the senior side in over 20 years of playing against them! The boys played well & know they can play better! Similar to England except England did not play well!

On the knitting front I have completed another lace scarf from Victorian Knitting Today. It is the same as the 'Mother in Law' Christmas scarf. The pattern is called 'Scarf with stripped border'! This time the recipient will be my aunt & the yarn is a lace weight hand painted yarn bought on ebay from 'Angels and Elephants' in Cornwall. The colours wouldn't be a choice I would make for myself but I think they will suit Auntie. The welding wires did another good job. I realised after writing my previous post about said wires that I hadn't told the full story here but on Ravelry, so here goes. I had decided I needed some blocking or dressing wires, found one seller in the UK but realised these would cost about £30 with postage. I had seen references to using 'welding wire' & 'buying on ebay' so I looked it up on ebay & sure enough there they were but in a range of widths, lengths & metals. Clearly I needed stainless steel but what width? I nearly ordered some 'proper' wires but was then passing the local agricultural engineers/ hardware shop & thought that I could only make a fool out of myself by asking about welding wires so stopped off. I prepared my 'speech', which was something like " Hi, I have been told I need some stainless steel welding wire, not for welding but for stretching knitting (smile)". I tried it out on the lady in the shop, who decided to get rid of me to the workshop. I went downstairs to the workshop & repeated my speech to the first guy I encountered. he laughed & said I needed to talk to Nick who I would find by following the sound of whistling. Nick found, I repeated my speech. "How wide?" he said. "Fine as possible" my reply. "Would these do?" Would they? Bingo! "Oh yes!" He asked how many I needed and the number ten seemed reasonable. When I asked how much he just grinned & said nothing! I was one happy bunny as I scuttled back to the car clutching my precious 10 x 1 metre 'quite fine' welding rods! and they work...... magic! Bet he is still grinning about been asked for knitting accessories amongst the tractor parts! I also bought some shetland sock yarn from 'angels' as well & I am sure I will buy there again.

I have decided that I need to knit me a sweater! A good wool, comfy sweater. I scooped a bargin of aran jaegar extra soft merino in a sort of taupe colour & I am tootling around with swatches & things at the moment. This is the aran weight version of the yarn that I knitted my Prarie shawl in & I love its soft squidy woollyness! It must be 'in the round' knitting, it could be bottom up or top down. It might have some aran detail, it may have some waist shaping. Time will tell. Hopefully Elizabeth Zimmerman would be proud!

Is it the end of Summer or the beginning of Autumn?

2007-08-30T10:04:00.000+01:00

It is sunny and windy here on the hill. We are back to school on Monday, which is sometimes the trigger for an 'Indian Summer'. I actually like Autumn & look forward to many aspects of winter so perhaps I will go with 'start of Autumn'. Is this the sign of a hard winter to come or a wet summer just gone? The thing I have disliked about our fairly appalling summer (weather wise) has been the unpredictability. We had two scorching days at the weekend when shorts & t-shirt were the order of the day, yet by Tuesday I was shivering in cotton trousers & short sleeved shirt. The land & stone in the buildings has not heated up to any degree so the thinnest veil of cloud over the sun seems to set the temperature to plunge. We actually lit a fire on Tuesday evening ....... indoors! Last Thursday was GCSE exam results and as I have had a fairly big involvement with Year 11 it was time for Mrs J. to return to school, which does mark the beginning of the end of summer for me. Not such a nervy day as the previous year when son & heir got his though! School has a fantastic set of results, best we have had by a country mile! Best subject in terms of %A-C grades you ask? Geography! .... and we outstripped our target % A-C. Overall my group did really well so I am happy with that, although I doubt it will be deemed good enough by the powers that be!

Some quality knitting time has been had over the Bank Holiday weekend as we drove down to my Mum & Dad's, which is just over two hours away. I have knitted one of my brother in laws 'Gryffindor' socks although I have grave reservations about the amount of yarn left as I did them a bit longer & wider in the foot than I normally knit. We shall see. At worst I hope I will just have to frog the foot and knit on 64 not 72 stitches! Remind me that knitting plain garter stitch is BORING!!!!!! I have knitted an' Odessa' hat as well for a bit of variety & am on sock two of the 'Rapid River' socks which is a lovely pattern to knit. I need a 'big' project on the needles as well as the usual socks, hats, mitts........ but I am still waiting for my Fall copy of Interweave Knits before deciding what to start!!!!!! Where is it? The 'blocking wires' aquired from the local agricultural hardware shop & engineers were just the job for blocking Mother in Law's scarf. I bet that bloke dined out for days on this batty woman asking for welding wires to sort out her knitting!

If you belong to a broader 'crafting church' than just (sorry, did I say 'just'? Take 100 lines Mrs J!) knitting, and you happened to be in the Skipton area, then I would recommend a trip to Samuel Taylor's at Embsay Mills, about 2 miles outside Skipton & just opposite the Steam Railway & sometime home of Thomas the Tank Engine & friends. What a treasure trove for quilters, stitchers & those into paper crafts! I bought two 'fat quarters' which I used to line my Yorkshire/ French Market bag. Knitting as a craft was represented mainly by a selection of Rowen yarn! Nice but not earth shattering.

Before the Bank Holiday Mr J, dog & I managed a walk around Grimwith reservoir. It was good to stretch our legs & reminded us what gorgeous countryside we have just beyond our back door. The edge of the Yorkshire Dales National park is only 8 or 9 miles west of her & yet we don't go often enough. We vowed to make this a 'regular' thing through Autumn & Winter. S&H arrived back from school Rugby training last night with his fixture list. It looked a fairly full programme at least until January, so that deals with many Saturday morning's and some Saturday afternoon's! ........ and then there will be Sunday fixtures with the rugby club! This will probably be his last year playing rugby locally so we will watch as much as we can. I won't dwell on that thought too much or I will need tissues, lots of tissues!

They all did very well!

2007-08-18T11:28:00.000+01:00

Firstly all of my A level Geography group achieved a grade B in their final exams! I am soooo pleased & proud of them (There were 5 in the group & I know that at least a couple of them call in here from time to time to see what Mrs J is up to!) I don't yet know the details, but hopefully it will help them all to the uni. places of choice. Remember guys, 'Geography is everywhere'! We will have to see what Thursday brings along with the GCSE groups. Actually it was my wish to find other ways of supporting my students that led me to blogging and to this blog. So a big thank you from me to them! I know some have caught the blogging bug and thank/ curse me for it! Last Thursday was also A/S results day, so son & heir was up for his results. Not too shabby fortunately. They put him on course for his favored uni. course & as he is fond of quoting what Mum actually said 'That's OK, they are a good building block for next year'!!!! Teacher speak for OK, can do better! It will be about working smarter & just a little harder! Thursday also found me with NO KNITTING ON ANY NEEDLES!!!!!! I finished my prairie shawl & love it! That was not on! I needed something to focus on whilst waiting for THE phonecall from s&h (Mr J was at school (as a Head of Sixth Form this is his BIG day!), so I started my Christmas knitting! How many days until Christmas????? I still had huge amounts of Rowenspun 4 ply left from my Cherry Leaf Shawl, so I looked through Victorian Knitting Today & decided to knit Mr J's mom (MIL) a scarf for Christmas. Its the scarf with striped border. The border was complicated enough to have to concentrate pre phone call, the body of the scarf is an easy peasy car/ tv knit. It will of course have cost something as I defiantly need to buy some blocking/ dressing wires now! I think this pattern or something similar may feature in several christmas stockings this year.

I am also awaiting the arrival of Gryffindor Sock yarn form Bright Dyes etsey store! It was hitting the dye whatever yesterday! I will post pictures when it arrives! The wonders of t'internet!

Please note the addition of a new badge to my side bar! It is a the “Talking Knitting” Badge - Required for all Knitting Scouts from Brenda Daynes brilliant podcast 'Cast on'. It states that 'The recipient must conduct himself/herself in such a manner as to talk knitting whenever an opportunity presents itself. Not easily fazed by looks of disinterest from friends or the act of “zoning out” by well-intentioned loved ones'. Easy! I must load the latest podcast to my MP3 player -I like to listen whilst taking the dog for a walk. He doesn't think its at all odd when I get excited about some new pattern, yarn or technique that Brenda mentions!

On a final note. My day seems to start & finish with a trip to the poly tunnel to tend my plants & remove slugs and snails!!!!! I am trying so hard to be 'organic' but after they destroyed all of the Calabrese heads & some of the cauliflower it is verrrry difficult! However we have eaten some home grown cauliflower (& I am guarding the last few carefully), carrots & cabbage. ..... and oh yes, runner beans, lots and lots of runner beans! The cucumber plants is also doing well & the peppers are growing slowly.

Two finished projects and some eye candy!

2007-08-14T21:38:00.000+01:00

The ironing has all been done but I have managed to complete the Yorkshire (French!) Market Bag (including felting!) and the Anonymous Sock Knitters August Sockdown. There are pictures!

The bag before felting:

The bag after felting (two trips in the front loader on 30 degree quick wash produced a shrinkage of about a third & lost the stitch definition -one trip =25% and some stitch definition remained)

It was accompanied by one of the dog's towels, which has a slight browny hue now!

It was then blocked on a box wrapped in a towel (also belonging to the dog!):

The finished (but not lined) bag:This afternoon it went to market..... well at least to the butchers in Pateley Bridge & did the job very nicely thank you! (No pictures- it was chucking it down with rain.... again!).

I saw some yarn on Ravelry...... I had to have it .....I found it on ebay...... it arrived this morning!

Its Trekking XXX in colourway 100. Colourway 187 came too! Well, you save on postage if you purchase more than one skein, right?

The sock yarn that I actually NEED though is some in Gryffindor House colours! Whislt on holiday my sisters Mr requested a pair of socks, he was reading Dark Hallows at the time so I suggested Hogwarts House colours. He did an online Sorting Hat quiz & he was sorted into Gryffindor -so gold & dark red it is! Any suggestions? Me? I am in Ravenclaw!

The Embossed Leaf Socks are finished & ready for proud(?) display on Ravelry. I am very happy with my first (kind of) KAL.

Thank you all for the lovely comments about my photographs from Tiree. I will throw in another one...

Sunrise from Stevie's Bothy. Taken by Mr J. I was fast asleep! Glad he took it, means we can all share it!

Tir-iodh

2007-08-12T11:19:00.000+01:00

Tir-iodh, the gaelic name for the Isle of Tiree, means land of the corn. The island was as lovely as ever. As you can see Moss was happy to be there.We have had a great holiday, despite a couple of lows. One low (or several) was low pressure, bringing a few days of rain but that was OK. The other was son & heir having a) a bout of tonsillitis & b) an emerging & very painful wisdom tooth! Its along time since teething had an impact on our holidays! However he is recovered & managed to get some excellent windsurfing & surfing in, especially in the sunnier & windy first week. The cottage in week one was OK. It had an excellent location near the windsurfing base & west coast & had all the right equipment but cottage two 'Stevie's Bothy' was superb! Gorgeous inside and out & right on the beach edge near to the south east tip of the island. We were joined by my sister & her DH for the middle 8 days of the holiday & despite their excellent company, plus that of S&H & my DH I managed some quality knitting & reading time!

Somewhere in Ravelry I found the question 'Where will you read the new Harry Potter book?' -answer is here....... or at least some of it, whilst finishing the yarn over cable socks & waiting for the two Kayaker's to arrive after a paddle up the east coast of Tiree from Crossapol Bay to Scaranish. I knitted the socks a bit long for some reason but they are OK when worn.

The 'Yorkshire' Market Bag provided easy driving in the dusk/dark knitting & a bit of ferry boat time (We had to be on the dock at Oban for 6.15 am!). We actually arrived in the middle of the night & drove down to the Kerrara ferry & grabbed a couple of quiet hours sleep there. DH really enjoyed the empty roads & the drive across from Stirling! The Market Bag is nearly finished. I did start on the handles last night but I think I am going to frog back to the main bag after a look at some finished French Market Bags on Ravelry. Some re-positioning of the handles might be a good adjustment to make. The Brigantia yarn is a warm treat to knit with & I am a) looking forward to and b) a bit nervous of the felting bit! The advice from my LYS is 'go gently' so I guess that means start with a 30 degree quick/ mini wash programme & see what happens?

The prairie lace shawl from 'Folk Shawls' was my cottage knit & is also nearly finished. It grew fairly quickly & is soft & toasty warm. If we had been camping & would have finished it! The gale force 6 north west wind kept temperatures down for the first 10 days although there was plenty of sunshine. The 1st August was the start of the 'Sockdown' in the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry. Chosen project for August was for me to be a lace sock. Again nearly finished (Half a sock to go!)..... The yarn has knitted up really well & the colours are great. A long post if you are still with me! I will update as I finish the WIP! A large pile of ironing awaits!

day wear?

2007-07-26T18:00:00.000+01:00

Will this be my day wear for the next few weeks? We are off to the Isle of Tiree at the weekend.

Tiree is technically an 'Inner Hebrides' but as you can see it is pretty 'outer' in that it faces out into the Atlantic -next stop Canada! Weather wise its in the way of whatever is coming in from the west. It does hold the sunshine record for the UK though & they do say that if you do not like the weather, wait ten minutes & it will change! The forecast is fairly mixed! We should have some sunny days anyway. The wetsuit was bought to make a bit of body surfing possible, DH & son & heir will no doubt be wind surfing, kite surfing, kayaking..........!!!!

The knitting projects have been identified -French (Yorkshire?) Market bag for a bit of journey knitting.

The yarn is called Brigantia Fussion & is actually made in Yorkshire! It came from Sheepish, my LYS, & I am assured that it will felt beautifully. I have not knitted the base 'in the round' as I didn't have any 4.5 dkp's so I went for the other option. I also have my 'yarn over' socks to finish (thanks for all the reassurance about the bind-off). The prairie shawl is going to be the 'main knit' I think but I am all ready to 'go' on the Anonymous Socknitters Sockdown, starting on August first. For those of us hooked on Ravelry this is a twelve month 'project' with targeted socks each month, choosing a pattern from the named designer or a specified design element. First up is 'Knitbug' or 'Lace' so I will I think have to knit (again!) Embossed Leaves
by Mona Schmidt, which I loved knitting & wanted to knit again. The yarn...... this yummy gifted yarn. Thank you Anne! There are 'random' prizes & no compulson to 'do' each sock. There is a two month 'window' for each set of projects. Although I am starting with a pattern I have knitted before I do intend to use some of the projects to challenge me! Fair Isle for example! I think it means that presents will be sock shaped this year! Hopefully this is what Sunday will look like & this is where we will be, Traigh Bail on the west coast of Tiree! This was taken three years ago on our first vist -can you see why we return?

Just a last bit to add, I am now a proud member of the 'Cloud Appreciation Society'!

Late note! This arrived this morning! I want to knit them ALL! Just time to slide it into the packing!

Teachers do it in the Holidays!

2007-07-24T14:31:00.000+01:00

At last! ..... OK..... moan....mummble.....bloomin teachers.... all that holiday...... !!!!!! and yes, on the holiday front, we do OK. Yes we have no choice of dates, prices are sky high and yes, the weather WAS better in May but we teachers do relish & cherish our big hols. Mine started two days before the male part (not the dog -he is always on holiday) of the family, so yesterday the dog & I packed a picnic & set off to Fountains Abbey which is about 8 miles away. We wanted a walk that was fairly dry under paw & I thought we should make use of the National Trust membership which tends just to act as a season ticket to the car park at Brimham Rocks. We parked at the west gate. Still dry at this point, and then walked in past Fountains Hall to the Abbey itself. Its probably a couple of years since I have been to the Abbey so it was good to have a wander around again. Still dry! I then decided to walk towards the water garden & the deer park, thinking about finding a suitable picnic bench when this happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rain, lots of it, coming down in 'stair rods'. The very large brolly was fast into action so I stayed dry & we headed to the trees, following a sign to 'Anne Boleyn's seat'. Up at the top of the hill & in the trees this proved to be a huge, dry, unoccupied open fronted summer house, with seats & views out in to the rain and back to Fountains Abbey. Dinner time! The floor was flagged so Moss could lie down in the dry and we spent a very pleasant half hour here. We eventually returned to the car as the rain stopped & returned home to knit, watch the cricket (robbed by the weather at the death! Shame!) ........... and do the ironing! I could get used to this life!

I have finished the first 'cable over yarn' sock in Regia Bamboo. I like the pattern & the yarn but the bind off (I have had another go at toe up construction) is less pleasing. I used a stretchy bind off recommended somewhere, which was OK for Mr J's woollen socks but I am not so sure that a heavy handed bit to blocking will deal with this. What do you think? It looks OK when worn but I know its not quite 'nice'!

Garden moments

2007-07-22T12:11:00.000+01:00

Some garden photos! Starting with the first ripe tomato of the year! A hanging basket plant.

Another first, this time a first ever pepper. There are four plants (all from Dobbies) & they are all showing promise.

I am also experimenting with growing a cucumber for the first time this year, again indoors (thank goodness) & that is moving upwards at least.

As you can see the weeds are growing well! Outdoors things are a little damp but fortunately we have not had the monsoon that has hit further south, just too wet for cricket rain. The runner beans are showing promise. In a dry summer I spray them with cold water to help the flowers set, so no worries there!

The variety of runner beans is called 'Painted Lady'. I like the red and white flowers, which is why I grow this type. They are good to eat as well. The french beans have flowers on & hopefully will freeze well if we ever get enough heat for them to grow!

The flower garden is still pretty, despite the weather. I think this clematis is called 'Elizabeth'.

Faith restored

2007-07-19T21:41:00.000+01:00

I have had two great days. One in the rain & one in hot sun! We have taken two groups of students to Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. It was nominally a 'geography fieldtrip' and was offered as an option in the 'enrichment programme'. Yesterday we took a mini-bus full of year nine students. It tipped it with rain down once we reached Malham Cove. The students were impressed by the scenery, awed infact at Goredale Scar, paddled in the stream & a few hardy souls splashed close to the waterfall (Yes, it was in the risk assessment!). One even said 'There's alot of Geography out here Miss'! Today we took a coach full of Year 7's. The sun baked down. They picnicked, they paddled, they socialised, they watched the Peregrine Falcons & had a go at the village quiz, ate ice creams & didn't want to come home & said they wanted to come next year! The staff (the staffing was fairly generous) all felt really privileged to spend time with these kids away from school & targets & assessments. How can we measure their level of interest & engagement? The standards in our classroom? Intellectual safety? Quality of the teaching environment? (classroom climate its called!). Look at these pictures. This is why I teach Geography, damn it!

In the mini bus I was able to knit & finished Mr J's socks. Today the coach was a different proposition & knitting would have led to sickness! I have, however started knitting the Regia Bamboo into some toe-up's (I had to use a larger circular for the Turkish cast on as I have yet to replace my broken 2.5's) & with 'yarn over cable' from Sensational Knitted Socks. This is Mr J actually wearing his finished Opal Mexico sock! Colours are a bit more vibrant, but the flash seems to have washed them out.

The biggest news? I AM IN! In what? In Ravelry! Oh what a basket of delight lurks there! We break up for summer tomorrow!!!!!!!!! Forcast rain....... Guess what I will be doing? Good job I picked up on the fact that you can see where you are in the queue. My invite had come in two weeks ago & into the junk mail!

Garden Party!

2007-07-15T14:01:00.000+01:00

Mr J & I were out and about last night at a 'Garden or Gardening' themed party! Some folk had far more imagination than we had when it came to what to wear! We just did a 'Lord Chatterley and the Gardener' combo.He donned cricket sweater, cream linen trousers, boater & made a croquet mallet out of the tent peg mallet, I wore big straw hat, my gardening apron (very handy for mobile phone etc, rather than seed packets & twine) & carried a basket of produce! There must have been at least four Charlie Dimmock's there (of both sexes!)

The straw man was the host!

The weather was fine which was wonderful. Today has turned wet (again!) and we have been sorting through a load of things that we have deemed surplus to our requirements & have decided to try a 'car boot sale' when we return from our holidays. Part of this was a huge pile of photo/ picture frames that we have accumulated & no longer like/want. Some of them contained photo collages of us, dogs and son & heir when he was small. These are quite precious & yet getting tatty as glue has given way & cut photos have curled. Rather than create another storage problem I have spent an hour or so scanning them via Picasa. I will then upload them to Fickr or a Picasa web album to be safely stored in cyberspace until a fresh copy is required. I also found some things that I had forgotten I had done, like making a collage of memories from both Mr J & S&H's christenings!

On the knitting front, Mr J nearly has a new pair of socks, another baby item is nearly finished - a little jacket from the Knitty.com, in Patons DK cotton. It will not get the daisies, it may or may not get a hood -depends if I need another ball of yarn to finish the jacket. Its simple, its white & its quite cute. Its also quite big! The tension was spot on, but its more 3 months than birth or is my memory letting me down? I think my seventeen year old six footer was smaller, but then again he was a 6lb & 3 weeks early arrival! Good job he doesn't read my blog. I would be in HUGE trouble for this!

See earlier posts for what has happened since! I will photo the jacket later. I bought some really cute Beatrix Potter buttons, half price at my LYS 'Sheepish' in Knaresborough. They had a basket of really cute and unusual buttons all reduced because they could no longer get them. perhaps I do need to pop in for another look. We have an excellent haberdashers locally ('Dutton's for Buttons') but when I went to buy some for the little rainbow jacket I had a nasty shock with respect to price! The selection is excellent BUT I could have easily spent as much as I had on yarn, because it required 7 buttons. At least socks and shawls do not need buttons!

just a Gemini?

2007-07-08T13:58:00.000+01:00

A number of projects (apart from work, garden & the like) are spinning but in real time & in my head. Its not my fault, I am a Gemini! Bit of an epic post, sorry -its over a week since I last posted & things have moved on.

After considerable kindness in finding me a copy of the EZ baby surprise jacket I frogged it after about 2 hours work! With all the colour & garter bumps it was too busy. I reverted to the EZ February jacket but just let the yarn do the talking & knitted it all in stocking stitch (apart from garter borders). It just needs a rainbow of tiny buttons & a gentle block before I give it to the Mum to be.

Mr J's Mexico socks are beginning to grow again, despite a disaster with my bamboo circulars! End of the magic loop & back to the beloved Britany Birch's! hopefully it will be replaced but I actully prefer 4 needles (except when one goes walkabout!)

I have also finished the Kidsilk Haze wrap (without a border). I liked it without, knitted about 3 inches of border & still liked it without so it is sans border! I like it. There are too many mistakes. Most are not really visible but I know that they are there & as I was blocking it I found a growing hole where the yarn had split or (more likely) I had missed picking up a stitch (or both). Its darned so only I know its there! I have now bought more stitch markers for bigger needles so there should be less mistakes! I would like to buy some 'proper' lace pins & wires for blocking lace knits but where do I find them? I am not even sure what to enter inorder to 'google' for them!

The little number also modelled on Gloria is the start of a 'peasant' skirt I intend to make. It has three tiers! It might be a bit closer to finishing if the weather gave any encouragement! Its not a bad day here today but its not floaty summer skirt stuff -more 'you don't need a thick sweater or wellies!' This will be my first 'dressmaking' for many a year, but encouraged by the creative folk out there in blogland I have borrowed Gloria from my sister, added a couple of inches to my favorite basic skirt pattern (I am not as slender as the student who used to make her skirts & dresses!) We shall see!

I have started my 'big holiday knit'! The holiday is still 3 weeks away but........ I am using the Jaeger extra soft merino wool in a deep rich brown & knitting a prairie shawl from 'Folk Shawls'. The yarn is wonderful! Sooooo soft & buttery! I have changed the lace from a garter stitch to a stocking stitch lace. The border is still garter stitch & I think that is enough garter stitch. I neatened the edges with a slip first stitch routine. It is an easy knit. I know the pattern already so it is good to go!

These are the 'real' projects I am moving between. There is the not to be taken lightly matter of which sock patterns to knit next and, if that's not enough, temptation is placed in front of me from Ireland and Celtic Memory with mentions of little & big Ganseys! Do I take on the challenge of the French Market Bag? What will I knit with the left over KSH? My mind is as turbulent as the River Wharfe at Grassington! On Tuesday we took Year 10 Geographers to start their coursework. Fortunately we were NOT planning to do river studies!

Just an afterthought or two..... now that I have unpacked the shopping following the visit from the Tesco van! We are trying hard to reduce our 'carbon footprint'. We have added two dustbins beyond the back door (cardboard & plastic) as Harrogate do not collect these (they do collect glass. tins & paper), we use the energy saving light bulbs, have stopped leaving stuff on standby, share lifts when we can & now have started using the home shopping service. The nearest Tesco's is a 40 mile round trip. Asda & Sainsbury's are closer, but they are just not Tesco! Not only does it save fuel but it saves time. So far I am impressed, although I did have a few odd orders -1 courgette when I thought I had oredered a kilo, for example. We use online ordering alot anyway for books, DVD's, yarn, more yarn......... John Kirriemuir has written an excellent entry in his blog Silversprite about the value of online shopping for remote communities. John lives on Bernaray in the Outer Hebrides & there are wonderful photos and tales about this gorgeous little island on his blog.

.....oh yes.....I have finished reading Conn Iggulden's 'Wolf of the Plains'.
Its a novel based on the early life of Genghis Khan. When Bernard Cornwall says of a book 'A brilliant story -I wish I'd written it' you know that you are in for a good read! I knew little of Genghis Khan beyond the 'came from the east' stuff & found it to be as it said on the tin 'an epic story'.

Soggy Saturday

2007-06-30T16:35:00.000+01:00

The postman returned with some good looking yarn this morning. The Regia 6 ply in crazy colours is for the Baby Surprise Jacket & the Bamboo sock wool is for..... socks..... for me.....! I think the bamboo will be a road trip project when we head for Scotland next month. The next picture is to show how, surprisingly, the garden is surviving the weather. These little patio roses look really vibrant in the dark, rainy weather. Everything in the poly tunnel is thriving -no problem with bolting due to the heat & I have never had so many flowers on one tumbling tomato plant. This is ONE plant!Some are even turning into tomatoes. Ups.. forgot to rotate the photo first!The rain has now arrived in North Yorkshire. Dog & I got VERY wet on our walk when the drizzle turned to heavy rain. Better go and put some fresh washing to dry on the Airer/ round the Rayburn.......!

A long time since I knitted one of these!

2007-06-26T22:03:00.000+01:00

Mrs Z's February baby jacket! For a baby geographer yet to be born! Over 17 years since I knitted a baby item & there were few of them then! My sister was the main knitter. She crafted wonderful fine knits, largely from Phildar so I was less inclined (& too kn********) to try. To our horror, both now as 'born again' knitters, all of our Phildar books seemed to have been flung! The issue of the baby surprise jacket has been 'resolved' so I now need to do a little yarn shopping (tough work but.......!!!!!)

I have been playing with the camera on my new mobile phone. As I was due an 'upgrade' I decided to go all out for having one with a great camera so I would always be able to have a camera with me to point & press. The photos on this post are some of the results. I must say I am delighted with it. It is a Sony Ericsson 800i, with 3.2 mega pixel camera! Its OK as a phone too!

The rose is a 'Climbing Arthur Bell' taken before the deluge! Talking of deluge.... yesterday was interesting! As good geographers both, me & Mr J went back out in the rain at tea time to photo and film some of the floods in Nidderdale.

The film clip is of the River Nidd at Hampsthwaite. The pack horse bridge is over 500 years old & the river is in the field!The video clip uploaded to Youtube was also taken on the phone!I have put photos on Flickr & have some 'proper' video footage waiting to be played with. All to appear in a classroom near here in September!

Is summer over? Nothing to do with the weather but because rugby has reappeared in our lives again! Son & heir is to do his first level refereeing qualifications over the next two weeks & starts training with both school and club!

More of a cry for help!

2007-06-24T18:19:00.000+01:00

After posting yesterday a few cogs clicked into place & I realised that if I was to knit something for the 'baby geographer' due just after the end of term, then I had better get cracking! I had some reasonably suitable yarn & Elizabeth Zimmerman's 'Knitting Almanac' so have started on the February Baby Sweater which is making speedy progress. The yarn contains too much acrylic for my liking but its a good 'test drive' however..... I would LOVE to knit the 'Baby Surprise Jacket' (in self striping yarn!)designed by the wonderful Mrs Z BUT I can't justify the £35 needed to buy the Opinionated Knitter via Amazon Marketplace - where else can I get the pattern? Soon? I have found a couple of US LYS's that sell paper patterns but I'm not in the US! Does anyone sell a download? Would some kind soul lend me theirs? I will give our local library a whirl but I am not too optimistic.

Not too much knitting but progress is being made!

2007-06-23T13:45:00.001+01:00

Not too much happening on the anything front apart from work! The shawl is nearly complete to the border & Mr J still only has one sock -I may cast on the second before we go a watch son & heir play cricket. It seems so long since I cast on the first toe up it is possible I may have forgotten how! Planning ahead the postman bought me something nice this week though! 10 balls of so soft woolly squidgyness. They are for a shawl from 'Folk Shawls' but the exact project has yet to be decided.

There is the difficult question of what knitting project(s) will accompany me to Tiree in five weeks time to consider of course. The new shawl plus some socks I guess. Socks are good for cars and planes and boats (trains too I guess!)
Five weeks to hols means four weeks until school is out for summer -where has this year gone? I had a week to put the big 'Leavers Celebration' for year 11 together as the Head of Year went on long term sick leave. This has become quite an upmarket affair (for the state sector I guess)after the last core exam, with a marquee, band, silly awards & formal final assembly with proper prizes. When the head thanked me (again!) I think I said (through slightly gritted teeth) "I wont say its nothing, because it was about 30 hours work"! Still it was a grand day. The year group are a good bunch & thoroughly enjoyed it. 'Leave well' was what we asked & that's what they did. Now its catch up with the rest of my Year Teams, plan my bit of a new GCSE course & pick up Year 12 after their AS's & start them on A2. They are not 'my' group either but they will be next year as my colleague goes off to have another little geographer!
I managed to get a day out of school and go on a course on 'Academic Coaching'. It was excellent but now I have to work out a programme to introduce it into school, so thats another plate to get spinning!
We have also booked the first of next years holidays! Another ski trip to Bourg St Maurice & 'Paradiski'! This will be the fifth in four years but the first time in mid-winter. The rest have been Easter jaunts.

Not so much to report!

2007-06-07T15:04:00.000+01:00

The KSH shawl is coming on nicely. About 8 pattern repeats to go before tacking the border. Its a handy thing to be knitting outdoors -whilst watching cricket on Saturday it got a little chilly after tea so I was able to wrap it around me! Mr J still has only one sock!

The garden has some real colour now & the new bed that we have created by the gate has flowers - the yellow 'Arthur Bell' rose x 3 and 3 white lupins form the centre of the bed & will hopefully withstand wind, dog & balls! Hopefully I can post some pictures this weekend.

The vegetable plot is a tribute to the bean! Runner & four varieties of dwarf bean! Plus beetroot & courgettes & some more salad crops. The polytunnel is a braccia dominated zone. The downside is they might bolt in the heat, the plus is that they cannot be bird or butterfly food!

Sister & her DH arrive today -a long weekend to celebrate my 'significant' birthday on Monday. Hmm ..... not sure how it feels really! They celebrate a half century in cricket! Pity I have to go to work both tomorrow and on Monday!

Windy on the hill

2007-05-28T14:04:00.000+01:00

What Bank Holiday weather! At one point it even hailed here, driving straight down across the Vale of York from the North York Moors. Its a good day for backing up computer files. We had a minor panic yesterday when the external hard drive (with all of our photos on!) started making a strange noise & not talking to the laptop! Its OK now but it prompted me to add alot more photos to my Flickr pro account. Its a fairly slow job, but I have been able to keep bobbing back to the computer whilst doing other things, hopefully they will be safe in cyberspace. I mainly use Flickr for sharing photos, especially ones taken at work, but I may as well use it for our own photos. I use 4shared.com for other documents, again for files that may be shared (e.g. via Geographylost or Geography Room blogs) but it also has the advantage of storing files in cyberspace.

Its a good day for reading as well as knitting (with the aid of a book deckchair!). I have just finished reading 'Winterdance' by Gary Paulsen. It is the story of running the Iditarod, the sled dog race to Nome in Alaska. When son & heir was younger we read many of Gary Paulsen's books, especially 'The Hatchet' & the other stories of Brian in the wilderness, but this is a non-fiction story for adults that I forgot I had & have never read. Awesome! For anyone who loves dogs & wilderness it is a 'must'. Some of it is 'laugh out loud', but mostly its just a fantastic insight into a man & his dogs as they complete this huge insane journey. Race doesn't seem to be the right word. Alaska is high on my 'places to visit before I fall off this planet list'. British Colombia, Canada is the nearest I have got yet & Vancouver Island the most remote part of it that we visited.

I promised pictures! Firstly Mr J's sock..... Pretty! Early progress on the VLT offering -I have now done eight repeats of the pattern! There are mistakes but....... wait until its blocked!

....and some blue flowers. There seems to have been a spate of blue spring flowers on a few blogs so here are some of mine. I have only seen the highlights of the Chelsea Flower show on TV this year & I was fairly underwhelmed! Seemed a bit 'over designed' & corporate. Rather see a woodland filled with bluebells or the first lupin in my garden really. Not sure what variety of Aquiliga this is, it probably self set anyway!

another quick update

2007-05-27T09:10:00.000+01:00

One toe up sock is nearly finished but I need a better rib and stretchy cast off. The sock is knitted in a simple knit 3 purl one rib and a knit 1 purl 1 rib to finish it off looks baggy & a loose cast off in rib is too tight. Any suggestions from the top up experts?

Yesterday the postman bought 'Folk Shawls', which I ordered following a mention from Sarah. Its fantastic! I had not realised it is a 'sister publication' of 'Folk Socks'. I am already planning some knits from this book. The 'Highland Triangle' or maybe the Kilkenny Cable could be early hopefuls?

The Kidsilk Haze is now turning into 'Stripes and Tourchon Lace' from Victorian Lace Today. After a few hicups its going well -only another six foot to go!

Its HALF TERM! Its only been a six week stint since Easter but.......!!!! The run up to & start of exams is always hectic & what with son & heir taking his A/S levels as well its been rather stressful. Still, just Biology to go. The problem was Graphics -all coursework you see, teachers are prepping them for exams, just (!) finalising 3 BIG pieces of coursework, which kind of delayed the start of revision for the other three. On Wednesday evening we went to school to have a look at the A/S and A2 Graphics & Product Design Exhibition. This was a very pleasant occasion, with a lot of good (I guess -don't ask me I teach Geography) work on display. S&H finished work looked good & he was told that his 'Controlled Test' scored highly, despite his worries that there wasn't enough preparation work as he decided fairly quickly what he wanted to do. The theme was 'Surveillance' & he decided to develop the theme as graphics for a pair of skis, so his final product was a mock up of a pair of skis 'Surveillance Eagle', complete with soring Eagles & beady eyed Eagles! Could be the first of a range .....even Surveillance Sparrow Hawk for children?

Yesterday was a garden day - Most of the hanging baskets & pots are in place. I planted most of the bedding plants, although I will need to buy a few more when the forget me knots finish. This clears the poly tunnel for the vegetables to be planted out (& away from birds & butterflys). Trouble is the soil needs riddling which means aching arms & back for later today!

This post lacks photos. I have photos but to start downloading them now just puts back my appointment with a garden riddle! I may add some later! Carp diem I believe is the phrase, although my classical education is somewhat limited (try VERY!)

Leaf & Trellis

2007-05-14T20:52:00.000+01:00

...is history, knitted about 20cm & decided that I just did not like the pattern -more zig zag than leaf & trellis! Hmm......., the extra yarn arrived today. I might widen 'Melon' or I may do another even bigger Cherry Leaf shawl. I even wore mine to school today & I have to say I like the triangle. I can ruffle it up & tie it around my neck, scarf style or let it drape. It kept me warm when needed and could just slide down when I was warm enough. I even did the year 11 final assembly wearing it!

The weather is suited to such items. We spent a very relaxing three hours watching son & heir play cricket on Saturday. It was out in one of the Nidderdale villages, the scenery was lovely, the sun came out from time to time, I knitted some toe up sock & I only had to retreat into my duvet jacket from time to time! The pitch was, apparently, awful, but it didn't spoil the sun or the view! There is a cup match tommorow night & if it is similar weather to tonight it will be a real duvet job! Duvet, scarf, gloves, thick socks, knitted hat......

Red pepper plants arrived in the post a few days ago & are being cosseted in the 'inner' poly tunnel. The garden has benefitted from the rain & we had our first cut of 'stir fry' salad leaves, which we.... stir fried! They work -its spinach & some other green leaves.

I made an unusual purchase with my groceries in Sainsburys tonight. A full length wet suit! £40! Essential for holidays in the Hebrides, but not what you expect to find with the yoghurts! I had actually intended to buy one this year, ready for our two weeks on Tiree, cos if the cold water doesn't chill you through, the wind will! They had short adult ones for £27 & diddy ones for about £10! Mr J both senior & junior are off to see if they can get one, both own short leg/ arm models but find that their knees get cold when windsurfing or surfing. The shorties are OK for kayaking.

This picture was taken last year on Tiree. It is in Scaranish harbour & it what

I see every time I start up the laptop! It always makes me smile! All of the Hebrides are special but Tiree just has the extra magic!

A quick update on life on the hill

2007-05-10T21:47:00.000+01:00

I have blocked & worn my Cherry Leaf shawl! Blocking is magic but the dog thought I had finally cracked, crawling around the spare room floor pinning my knitting to a towel & the carpet! I am pleased that I did it a little larger than the pattern (3 more repeats I think). I have nearly completed one toe up sock. They are for Mr J & he appreciates been able to try them on as I go. I have got used to the pulling & pushing.

The KSH will have to be increased in quantity as I have decided not to do the 'Melon' shawl as it felt too narrow after I had worked a few rows. I am about 10cm into the leaf & trellis large rectangle. The pattern is begining to form & make sense but will require 1200yds not 750 yds of yarn. Pictures will follow at the weekend. I took the bold step last weekend to frog an unworn jacket that I knitted before Christmas. It is in a novelty Wendy yarn & is lovely but unwearable. The jacket had a wrap over front & was so heavy it fell open & off my shoulders when not fastened. I decided too much cash had parted company to scrap it so with my Mum's help I started to unravel it. That was the easy bit! It had been such as ***** to sew up, getting the pieces to part company was the all together more difficult. Still, nearly done. I plan to knit something sweater shaped, probably seamless with the rescued yarn!

The teaching business is as ever! Its Year 9 Key Stage 3 SATS this week & then its AS levels, GCSE's & A2's! I do the 'front of house' stuff with exams, telling the kids about the various routines & making sure they get to the door in order and things (300 at a time!) but apparently our glorious leaders saw fit to test the youth of the nation with Kafka plus a piece on the teenage brain in their English Reading test today! Kafka... at 13 & some of these students have Special Educational Needs & a reading age 3 years below their chronological age! But it was printed in biggish text, on really good quality coloured paper so that's OK I guess!

A busy week!

2007-04-29T09:11:00.000+01:00

The month leading up to the start of public exams is even more hectic than usual in school! However some knitting has been done. The blue leaf socks are finished. I like them BUT I wish I had done them longer, rather than following the pattern. They are very much 'ankle' socks. I will knit them again, maybe in a summer yarn & probably with another one or two pattern repeats in the leg. The postman has bought me some nice things this week as well. The kidsilk haze in liquor is for the Melon shawl from VKT. The colour is not so pink as in the picture, defiantly a good claret colour. The postman also bought me a parcel from 'Landsend' and included were a pair of these, which were bought for summer hols plus general 'round the house & garden'. Guess what -they are really comfy with a nice pair of hand knitted socks!Guess what these are?

Yup! Toe up socks, knitted on a magic loop! I decided on Friday evening that it was time I learnt to knit toe ups & whilst I was at it, magic loops. I found a range of instructions on the net, which I kind of mixed & matched..... Turkish cast on instructions from one site...... actual shaping from another...magic loop from another..... heel from somewhere else probably but I have not reached the heel yet! Any suggestions for a definitive toe up pattern? I am just putting a simple knit 3 purl 1 rib in as it is 'Opel Mexico' yarn which is self patterning & anything else would loose its effect. The toe is really neat & smooth, not sure about the magic loop. I seem to spend alot of time sliding stitches not knitting! The Turkish cast on IS magic!

The garden is good. The auriculas have gone outside. I spent most of yesterday morning in the garden (with & without camera). The first dwarf beans are through & so I made a second sowing, this time of 'Masterpiece' and 'Maradonna'. The first courgettes are also through & so I planted the rest of the packet (total 9 seeds!). They are F1 Tosca. All from Dobies. We are cutting & eating the first salad crop of 'French mix'. It grows back really quickly, with a second cut possible about a week later.

The picture below is 1/9 of the packet of courgette seeds.

It is, of course, now the cricket season. Son & heir also plays cricket! The weather is fairly untypical! We sat in lovely sunshine until the last half hour, when although the sun still shone the biting north east wind blowing down from the North York Moors began to dominate proceedings & we froze! If anyone had told me 10 years ago how much time I would spend watching & enjoying watching cricket I would have laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of the idea! Now I watch & listen to cricket quite happily. Watch it on the TV & listen on the radio. In fact I love radio cricket commentary. I am not an 'audio' learner so I really appreciate the quality of the descriptions -especially the off game comments, describing people in the crowd, birds on the pitch or the arrival of the 23 bus! I love this quote about village cricket: “It has been said of the unseen army of the dead, on their everlasting march, that when they are passing a rural cricket ground, the Englishmen fall out of the ranks for a moment to lean over a gate and smile.”~ Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937)Scottish playwright, author of Peter Pan. Hmm thats a bit 'off piste' for a blog thats largely about knitting!

2007-04-22T15:54:00.000+01:00

The Cherry Leaf shawl is nearly finished! Just needs the crochet edging. I think that I am fairly happy with my first real lace project. I hope I am still saying that once I have tacked the infamous blocking phase. The blue leaf socks are also nearing completion. I have recovered from my horror of finding out that Rowen do not do a powder blue in Kidsilk Haze. I called in at my LYS, Sheepish in Knaresborough to have this confirmed. I really had got an image of 'Melon' from VLT in powder blue as my next 'big' project. It is not to be. So I got the dark red 'liqueur' instead. So much for my 'blue phase' but iced mint or iced pink WOULD NOT DO! Colinette's Parisienne was suggested as a possibility, but no powder blue there either. If anyone has any other ideas I would still be interested - something from the land of wonderful yarn on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean perhaps?
A little eye candy from the garden! Actually this Auricula is about the colour of the KSH that I have ordered. I love these flowers. They are still sat in the polytunnel at the moment as I am loath to expose them to the cold drywinds but they also seem popular with the greenfly so they will have to go outside soon. I also need the space in the polytunnel. 140 bizzy lizzies awaited my return home on Tuesday, ready to pot on. They are now tucked away in the 'inner' polyhouse inside the tunnel. It will be at least another month before I dare put them outside. There was a ground frost in the valley on Wednesday & Thursday. Here on the hill we are spared the late ground frosts as the cold rolls down the hills into the frost pockets. Some veg. plug plants should be on their way soon. Thursday nights supper included the first home grown salad leaf of the season.

This weeks wind has taken away all of the blossom from the cherry tree but it was beautiful whilst it lasted. From the angle of the trees I guess that you will understand my comments about the wind! The photo is taken facing north, so west is left!

Fantastic!

2007-04-13T13:43:00.000+01:00

We have had a fantastic holiday! The crossings & the drive each way were fine. The first day of skiing was one of heavy snowfall & good snow conditions. Visibility was dodgy at times but a good day was had by all. Mr J the younger took to snowboarding like a boy born to it. He decided to learn to ride rather than ski as usual as he felt a) like a fresh challenge and b) because his friend who came with us is a snowboarder & could teach him. He still spent some time skiing as we had to video him performing various skiing skills for his AS PE practical assessment. It was funny seeing him snow ploughing as an adult. He has skied parallel since he was about nine! At least he didn't need to go between our knees to descend steeper slopes as he had done when he was four or five! The second day dawned with wall to wall (or mountain to mountain) sunshine and it more or less continued like that for the rest of the holiday, apart from a little late afternoon snow & cloud on Sunday and Monday. The views to Mt Blanc were stunning! The morning pistes were icy which wasn't to the snow boarders taste, the lower pistes got slushy in the afternoon which was a bit of a pain to those of us on skis but basically there was loads of great skiing/boarding for all! We have decided that after spending four Easters based in Bourg St Maurice & skiing in Les Arc we would like to see it when winter was in the valley as well as the mountains so we intend to try and fix that up for next February. After MANY years skiing I really felt that I have moved my skills onto a higher level this week, which is hugely rewarding. Why? I was given two pieces of advice by Mr J's older & younger that I could visualise & it seemed to click. Visibility was great, it wasn't too busy & the skis I hired were wonderful!

I finished the centre of the Cherry Leaf shawl on the drive down, which I loved knitting but left tackling the border until..... tonight maybe? I looked at the instructions last night but they may as well have been written in Flemish for all the sense they made. The return trip saw the start of ..... socks! Embossed Leaf Socks from Favorite Socks to be precise. I didn't do the two stranded tubular cast on as I didn't fancy attempting to learn a new technique whilst been driven up a french motorway at 80mph, but the leaf pattern is easy to knit & looks good so far. I already plan to do another pair in a more summery yarn -silk? cotton? bamboo? Any suggestions? I also can't wait to try more lace knitting. Maybe something oblong this time?

We broke the journey north with a stop off in Reimes overnight. The Holiday Inn Express provided a good location and all the basics to a good standard, including breakfast for 56 Euros per room. Its about 3 hours south of the main channel ports & the Holiday Inn is about 1 minute from the autoroute & next to the canal. We were too late to go into the Cathedral but were more than happy to wonder at the amazing restoration work that is taking place & then to wander towards the central square & take our choice of eateries. Cafe culture is something could get used to. Harrogate boasts a modest one, but temperatures in April do not lend themselves to eating out a 9 at night!

Apart from the usual washing & so on, gardening has been the order of the day since we got home yesterday. I have pricked out and planted a variety of salad crops & made the first sowings of French Dwarf Beans (Purple Teepee & Ferrari), Courgettes and Coriander. 40 Rubeki plug plants were waiting for me when I got home & they have also been potted on. They are, hopefully the answer to the need for 'late summer colour'. Many Impatians are due at the end of the month (like 120 I think), plus some other vegetable plug plants.

Spring!

2007-03-31T17:31:00.000+01:00

Hence the change in template! Hope you like it!

Out of the frog pond!

2007-03-31T10:38:00.000+01:00

I struggled, I really did. I started 'cherry leaf' shoulder shawl in Rowenspun tweed 4 ply & it got frogged so much it should be waterproof! I knew that I had knitted all of the stitches before so I was beginning to get really frustrated, then I realised that I didn't really understand what the stitches collectively were supposed to be doing. I recalled a book that I have called 'Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain'. In essence, people who say 'I can't draw' tend to be left brain dominated & the logical left brain sees the bits & jumps into action.... yup its a vase, I know what a vase looks like..... & switches off the right side of your brain & the bits that look at the 'big picture' & draws a not very good picture of what it thinks it has seen. Turn the object upside down, left brain can't recognise it, right side of brain gets to work.... this line is here, this shadow is here..... Picture when turned upside down is of a .....vase. My left brain recognised the stitches & took off. So to switch it off I first scanned the pattern, studied it.... this is actually a garter stitch border..... got out the coloured pencils & coloured in the border stitches in one colour..... then the centre is basically worked in stocking stitch, so colour that in, annotate the pattern. Label the rows that have an extra increase & see the BIG PICTURE. Didn't frog it again! I could see what should be happening & if I made a mistake I could feel that it wasn't right & stop to sort it out. The photo of the knitting includes my coloured in & annotated 'help' sheet! A big learning curve & one I related to Year 9 yesterday is a 'SATS build up' assembly -message... if it aint going in one way...try another... work to your strengths. I KNOW I am a visual, big picture type of girl, so what was I doing letting the itsy bitsy left side of my brain getting in the way anyway?????? I have had a look at the border pattern.... mmm we will see! The pattern is actually easy. I can knit it in the car, which as we have a 9 hour journey down through France on Tuesday, is not a bad thing! We are all really looking forward to the holiday. School is out, thank goodness. Its been a rough old term really. Russell (the owner of the apartment in Bourg St Maurice) rang this morning from Bourg. Masses of fresh snow & sunshine this morning!!! That will do nicely!

Here in North Yorkshire there are signs of spring despite the cold north-east wind that has been blowing for the last couple of days. The dog & I took the camera out on our walk at tea time earlier this week to capture some of the images of spring.

Actually Moss isn't bothered about buds and flowers, just chasing sticks!