Summer's End

The new school term is upon me and I am not quite sure where the holidays went. We have glorious weather today but despite the blue sky, there is a cool breeze and the sunshine is that odd sort that indicates that Summer in waning and Autumn is around the corner.
For me, this is no bad thing because Autumn is my favourite season, but this year the end of Summer signifies a milestone in family life as my Boy started half-day school yesterday. I know he is going to love it and will thrive there, just as my eldest daughter has, but the days this week have been tinged with a little bit of sadness none the less!

Many knitting projects have been worked on over the school holidays, some even completed. Wherever I went my knitting went too - although even I thought taking it to a spa day was a step too far but I'd be lying if I didn't say I considered it!

An exciting development here at home has been the opening of Swansea Bay Yarns quite literally in my stomping ground. It is a fantastic shop, owned by the lovely Morgan and it has a beautiful selection of yarns. It it there I purchased a ball of CashmeRed - a glorious 3-ply 100% cashmere yarn which is just divine and as a bonus you get to chose a free pattern when you buy a ball! This is what I made with mine ...

... a very cute bag hat :-). It is knitted in one piece on 3mm needles and not only knits up beautifully but it luxuriously soft. Perfect for baby gifts - as long as the baby has trustworthy parents who will hand wash cashmere! This hat was made for baby Arianna who is three months old. I couldn't resist trying it on my little munchkin before gifting it though ;-)

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Preparation

We're going away next week - a few days with grandparents, a few with the cousins in Leeds and a few exploring Yorkshire as a family.  The latter will hopefully involve a visit to Baa Ram Ewe - my favourite yarn shop.  I've ordered online many times and made some purchases at their 'Wonderwool' stall back in April but I have never been to the shop in the 'flesh'.  Well, shopS actually - one in Leeds and one in Harrogate - but my husband doesn't  understand my need to visit both branches of the same shop .....

Time away necessitates some knitting projects so I've been sorting through patterns and yarn in preparation as well as finishing up some bits and bobs.  Above is the last piece of knitting for a friend's not so new baby which is now very nearly sewn up and ready to give.

I've been trialling a pattern for Christmas gifts as well - something quick and useful that I can make a start on over the school holidays.  It sounds a bit crazy organised but if I don't make a start now Christmas will be on top of me.  The trial has proved challenging though as a certain small person likes my knitting a lot!

Who needs a cat when you have a baby girl!

Weekend Baking

I've been in a cooking rut of late.  Ordinarily I love cooking and menu planning but recently I've really struggled with finding the inspiration to do either.  I still get healthy and wholesome food on the table but it's not very interesting.  Over the weekend the husband was on call which means we are largely installed at home as he is back and forth to the hospital throughout the day and given the rainy weather I thought I would potter in the kitchen.

I managed to make pancakes/pikelets for breakfast - some with added sprinkles as an experiment (next time I need to add waaaaay more sprinkles!!) - also rhubarb and blackberry custard pie (in a homemade sweet pastry!) and finally some homemade granola :-).    I also made a delicious lasagna  for Sunday and yesterday made Bara Brith.  I may yet photograph the latter as there is some left in existence!!

I may have the groove back.

A Yorkshire Hat

I'm knitting a hat.  I know it's July but I like to be prepared :-).  Also, despite being the British Summer, nights at the beach can be chilly and come the start of the rugby season in September, a late evening kick off also can necessitate a hat.  I think it will have much use before Winter is upon us.

The hat pattern is called 'Northallerton' by Rachel Coopey from her book 'Toasty'.  I've been a big fan  since I bought her sock book at last year's 'Wonderwool' so acquired "Toasty' as soon as I could.  I bought the wool at this year's Wonderwool - 'Titus' by Baa Ram Ewe which is my current favourite yarn from my current favourite yarn shop.  Here is my progress:

A knitting surge over the last two days has resulted in me finishing the large yellow colour work section as well as the second duck egg blue repeat so I am nearly done.  Incidentally the colours I've used are called 'Coal' (black/charcoal), Bramley Baths (duck egg) and Filey (yellow).  The Titus  colour palate and their names are evocative of Yorkshire where the yarn is spun and dyed.  The fabulous Baa Ram Ewe where it is sold, has shops in Leeds and Harrogate.  We will be visiting my sister-in-law and family up in Leeds in a couple of weeks so i am hoping to visit at least one of the shops!

It is quite appropriate that while I have been knitting 'Northallerton' with Yorkshire yarn while the Tour de France has been on - Leeds being the location of the 'Grand Depart'.  Shame we are going to Yorkshire two weeks too late!

My brother-in-law sent us this photo though:

They were in Otley - three hours of waiting and then over in a flash!

Socks

Life is busy, busy, busy hence my relative silence in the blogosphere.  I have been exerting creativity on an almost daily basis but I find my efforts slow growing because of Everything Else that needs to be done!

Do you remember this label that I teased you with in my last post?

Well I made some socks with it!  This is absolutely lovely glorious yarn!  I cannot express in words quite how wonderful it is.  Posh Yarns is a little Welsh yarn company based in Pembrokeshire.  They hand dye, on a weekly basis, a finite amount of yarn which is available from their website.  The shop update goes live every Sunday evening and once it's gone, it's gone!  I was lucky enough to buy two skeins about a month or so ago.  One is lying dormant at the moment but the other has been utilised in sock form:

The yarn 'Martha Sport' and the colour way is (wait for it....) Please Whisper It In My Ear.  I kid you not - all the colour ways have fantastic names!  These socks are an end of term gift for my Big Girl's teacher, Miss Williams.  She has been an amazing teacher, going above and beyond in my opinion, especially given all the work she put in for all the Eisteddfod competitions recently.

The original pattern for the socks is in Debbie Bliss' book 'Simple Living' which I adapted to what I wanted.  The original pattern had two cables per sock and the instep was constructed in a way I wasn't familiar with so resorted to the instep method I know best.  I also used slightly smaller needles at 3.25mm. I love the end result.  As the wool is a sport weight yarn it is thicker than conventional sock yarn which makes them cosy and cwtchy.  I hope Miss Williams likes them!

Eisteddfota

Eisteddfota is to partake in the activity of attending Eisteddfodau (singular=Eisteddfod) - a common pass time in Welsh-speaking Wales.  Last week we were at Eisteddfod yr Urdd near Bala in North Wales where my Big Girl was performing with her school in a variety of competitions.  For those who are unaware Eisteddfod yr Urdd is the biggest youth cultural festival in Europe.  Children (both Welsh speaking and Welsh learners) attend from all over Wales representing various schools and areas in a celebration of music, song, poetry and culture.  I was raised in the 'traddodiad' (tradition) but it was all a bit overwhelming for my English husband.

Contrary to popular belief he is not using Google translate as some friends have suggested!

It was very, very muddy ....

We stayed outside Dolgellau in a fabulous cottage which was quiet and secluded with the most fabulous scenery around us....

It was blissful - no phones, no TV, no interruptions and lots and lots of knitting :-)

Classic Cardigan

 I made ANOTHER baby cardigan.  This has been finished for quite a few weeks - I managed to upload the details to Ravelry but had not found the time to blog!

I was trying to destash a few weeks ago and found a couple of balls of Rowan Pure Wool Aran  in the collection.  Usually when a new baby is born I try and find a pattern I like and then buy more wool to knit it - this time I tried reversing this trend by finding a pattern for the wool I already have.  The pattern is 'Classic Cardigan' found in 'The Baby Knits Book" by Debbie Bliss.  Fabulous, simple pattern which looks lovely when done.  It's a quick knit with the aran wool on 4.5mm needles.  I found the buttons at Wonderwool :-)

We're heading to North Wales tomorrow for a few days so I'm spending this afternoon not only packing but choosing specific holiday knitting!  Our cottage is literally in the middle of nowhere so I'm considering making an item from start to finish while we're there.