Hooray for Sparkler Writing

Bonfire night time of year again! This year it was a bit of a damp squib from a bonfire perspective as the rain was to heavy to prepare the bonfire. But we still had bonfire food, sparkler writing and the magnificent Midland Railway firework display to watch from our garden :)

Littondale - Yorkshire Dales

It probably seems that all we do is go on holiday, but this is really not the case. Sadly. Our most recent jolly jape was to Littondale in the Yorkshire Dales. We arrived after a week of relentless rain, driving through floods and marvelling at the impromptu rivers running down the hills. We, however, had a pretty dry week and managed some walking and sightseeing. Plus a healthy amount of sampling at the local hostelries. The photo’s below are of Littondale and the local pub ‘The Queens Arms’ (we recommend for beer and food!). We stayed at Stonelands Farm Cottages and had a great week.

Our first foray out of the village was to Grassington where we rather confused by the shop fronts until we found out that it had been set up for filming a new adaptation of James Herriot’s book ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. So Darrowby/Grassington will be on the tv at Christmas we believe.

Our warm up walk was from Kettlewell to Starbotton along the river one side and back along the other side. It was a bit of a grey day but a lovely leg stretcher with a beer at each end!

A follow up walk took us from our doorstep along the river to Arncliffe and then up the hill where there should have been a magnificent view of Wharfedale on one side and Littondale on the other. Sadly, we just had a view of the inside of a cloud but it didn’t rain and we didn’t get lost on the moor so it was not all bad. The especially good bit was the pub at the end and then a swim and sauna before a lovely meal at the holiday cottage. There were a few moments of hilarity when we had to negotiate a farm track that thought it was a river, but we didn’t get wet feet so it all ended well.

Another memorable day out was to Malham Cove. The limestone pavement is where Harry Potter was filmed. It is such a busy spot normally, but we were on holiday outside of the school holidays and walked mid week so it was relatively quiet. We did a lovely circular walk, walking up to the limestone pavement and then around to Malham Tarn, followed by the Janets Foss waterfall. The waterfall had a good flow of water as had the Wharfe when we went to Grassington.

We had a day off from the walking boots and had a trip to Skipton. We could have spent loads of time there and gone to the castle and looked at the shops, but quite frankly we were a bit tired. Instead took a walk (!) along the canal and found the Castle Wood walk which was absolutely beautiful in all the autumnal colours. We ended up back at the wharfe where the canal joined onto the Liverpool-Leeds canal. I did find a quirky little fabric shop where I couldn’t resist some fabric for a bedroom blind, and also some that I just want to fix onto a frame and put on the wall - it might work, it might not, but I’m going to give it a go…..one day.

For our final day in Yorkshire we stopped off at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It’s not too far from where we live but we have not yet found time to go so took the opportunity as we had plenty of time on the way home. It’s lovely in autumn, but I guess it would be fantastic any time of year as long as it’s not raining! The sculptures didn’t disappoint and since we only allowed a couple of hours we didn’t really do it justice. Of course that means we will have to go again!

End of a holiday era - Farewell to Sutton on Sea

After some 45 years of caravan holidays my parents have finally called it a day. Our last seaside holiday at their Sutton on Sea caravan was in August. A bitter sweet holiday.

Caravan

Sutton Springs Holiday Estate

Sutton on Sea

Saltfleet Haven

Gibraltar Point - looking out to sea

Gibraltar Point Bird Reserve

Crochet Bride and Groom

Dan the digger married earlier this year. Dan and his trusty (and a bit rusty ) digger have been involved in all the groundwork and landscaping on our barn conversion for the last 4 years so we wanted to give him a memorable present. Hopefully memorable for the right reasons! So, wielding my crochet needles I hooked a happy couple. I had a single photo to work from so had to guess the brides hairstyle but came up with something that looks ‘bridal’ so even if not accurate it will be in keeping with the occasion. Our real bridal couple didn’t actually get married on the beach but the little people were finished off during a very restful seaside holiday.

The basic pattern is from Toft Uk.

This rather colourful crochet giraffe also was not at the wedding but again was a ‘finisher’ job on holiday. Wow what wild holidays I have (lol). This chappy is destined for Santa so has been well hidden.

The pattern is from Cr.ochet Club magazine 44

Crochet Pumpkin for Halloween

I’ve had a busy and varied crochet summer - Hah, some things never change! I still have to organise most of the photo’s but my latest triumph is this super cute pumpkin. I was just getting to the point where I could start to think about making something for myself when my daughter requested a crochet pumpkin. Pinterest really has a lot to answer for! She found a pattern at https://www.mjsoffthehookdesigns.com/how-to-crochet-rustic-farmhouse-pumpkins/ , bought some wool from Aldi of all places and left me to it! I really need to set up some more crochet lessons, but at least she had done all the legwork. It turned out beautifully and is a great pattern

I think I might keep it for myself.

Fluffy jumpers for babies

Now there are two babies to knit for. I’m not sure I can keep up with demand as well as my expectations of what I should be able to achieve…..so many things to do, so little time……

However, after the Christmas presents were (finally) finished, I turned my hand to a bit of knitting for our little boys.

Such has been the pressure to meet the Christmas and baby deadlines I don’t have photo’s for the finished crochet baby blanket, the knitted pram blanket (in the same fluffy turquoise/lilac yarns as above), the elephant comfort blanket, the tiny baby cardigan and hat, the big baby jumper…....oh and the giant version of the crochet christmas tree. The little version was a quick secret santa present for work (below). I liked it so much that I made one for myself :) It did add to the pressure though, but hey, it amused me and that’s the main thing. Mine is 13 rows of bobbles whereas the little one below is just 7 rows. It was made with 3 strands of yarn and a 9mm hook - I basically kept going until I ran out of wool!.

The Christmas homemade extravaganza

This Christmas I surpassed myself. I may even have reached the pinnacle of homemade excellence never to be repeated again. The festive family treat was……..

………drum roll……….

…………a crochet mini-me doll.

Doesn’t sound that great, but the detail provoked the expected response of hilarity all round.

Now for the big reveal…….our family!

We do seem to be a bit of a wild haired bunch! I’m the one next to the lad with trainers. Sadly, I ran out of time for everyone to get footwear. The smallest members of the family were a bit tricky, especially the one not born at the time of the unwrapping - see below…..our youngest member of the family safely came into the world on 27th December. Obviously, he was tucked away under the dress for Christmas.

Apologies for the slightly blurry photo’s, it was all a bit of a rush to finish and wrap before the family xmas get together which was 3 days before Christmas!

Another little family group with the ‘big’ baby……he’s not actually that big, it was just a bit tricky to make to the correct proportion as I had to make it up as I went along.

Now for the brother and sister duo, which is already out of date as the lad now has blue hair instead of grey - it doesn’t show up so well on these photo’s but he is actually a dark blond in real life

This is AC….(everyone’s Aunty ), looking a bit ‘Adams family’ in my interpretation

Th

Last but not least……me and Richard

Thanks to the inspiration and pattern from Kerry Lord ‘Edwards Doll Emporium’. For information these dolls were made using the smaller doll size from the Simply Crochet magazine calendar.

It doesn’t quite end here as I’m making a Shamus (the dog) and Tigger (the cat) to add to the daughter’s little crew…….photos will follow.