Weekend away

February so far has seen one postcard made and sent for Pascale in the birthday swap

I wanted to do a collage style postcard and thought the bird fabric that I bought back in November would fit the bill.  I think I could get a lot of potential from a fat quarter of this bird fabric as just small amounts would be needed with other fabrics to good effect.

Last weekend David and I decided to go away in spite of the cold, wind, sleet, snow and rain that came our way on our travels.  David mostly works from home so sometimes feels the need to get out from the four walls.  We decided to spend the Saturday in Oxford and have a look around but a lot of time was spent escaping from the cold!  We visited the Ashmolean Museum, which has artefacts from various ancient civilisations and art collections.  It is a museum that does require a lot of time and felt that we could have spent all day there, but as we had just the day we found some of the colleges to walk through and another museum to visit, the Science Museum.  Here are some views.

The front of the Ashmolean Museum

The Science Museum

Lovely old stained glass windows

Rather elaborate gates

John Radcliffe Observatory

Tower to the Bodleian Library

Such wonderful buildings to see but too cold and wet to enjoy, so perhaps a return visit.

From there we stayed the night at a hotel in Aylesbury then Sunday went to Great Missenden and the Roald Dahl Museum. Another good escape from the rain!  Although you think it would be aimed at children there is a lot for grown ups to enjoy too.  From his boyhood (when he was sent to boarding school) to being in the RAF during the war to his writing career.  There was a replica of the shed where he did his writing and learning about the painstaking detail to ensure that his items were placed exactly as he left them before his death. 

After that it was on to Burnham, near Slough to visit my sister, brother-in-law and nephew and  enjoy Sunday dinner with them before our return home.  The weather may have been awful, but it was a great weekend and we both enjoy a bit of travel.

Meanwhile the knitting bug has not left me and last Wednesday I started knitting with some wool I bought a few years back.  I had a pattern to go with the wool that I had a go at twice and could not get to grips with.  So having unpicked I've abandoned the pattern and just doing a simple v-neck cardigan with dropped shoulders so no armhole shaping.  The wool is Twilley's Freedom Spirit, which is no longer available and hoping that I have enough to make the cardi, but I'm pretty sure I can just about do it (if not I'll have to be a bit creative!).  Here's the back so far...

I quite like the textural look of the yarn and it looks just fine with plain old stocking stitch.