November Ramblings

 November seems to rattling on and I don’t seem to have achieved much and what I do get done can’t be shared on the blog as they’re secret makings (getting ready for Christmas, etc) but after Christmas there will be a show and tell blog of what I have made.

Meanwhile I received a package from the lovely Helen of Mousiemakes podcast (on You Tube) after a giveaway to celebrate her 100th episode. It contained 2 little mice. Aren’t they gorgeous? Only a few inches tall and complete with little outfits (even the little girl mouse has knickers!). They quickly made themselves at home on the corner shelves with other creatures and are quite happy.

November is birthday month and the first is my Mum’s.  On they way to Christchurch we stopped at Homebase there to get some guttering for the water butts, and greeted with a Christmas dinosaur!

I don’t know what Christmas has to do with dinosaurs, do you? We decided he wasn’t going to come home with us!

David’s birthday was on Monday and after fetching my granddaughter off the school bus, we had Dorset Apple cake for tea to celebrate, which she helped make with my daughter. Earlier that day I went to West Country Embroiderers and as it was just after Remembrance Sunday, the altar in the church still had its covering of poppies.

In December I’ll be taking part in another gnome knit a long, this will be my third. There’s usually new things to learn when making these little fellas which makes then quite addictive. 

(Image by Imagined Landscapes). This gnome is called Gnova , who helps the other gnomes with Christmas presents.  I’ve chosen my colours (with some help)

But the mustard was to close to the yellow so another colour needed to replace, so I opted for the blue and the colour scheme looks much better. These take 20 gram mini yarns and there’s usually some left overs.  Really looking forward to the KAL.

I’ll sign off with today’s picture of Poole Park.  The water was like a mill pond, it was that calm and on our walk we saw the radio model boats on there section of the lake and the reflection was beautiful.

Furtling in October - Way Behind

 It’s November- quite a way into November.

I took this photo about 3 weeks ago as the leaves changed colour and the sky was a vivid blue.  Recently the weather has been grey and wet, so wet you wonder if there’s any more in the sky!

So last month I have been concentrating on getting Christmas handmades done so I can’t share much here.  I have finished a cardigan for Cecily.

I’ve bought buttons now, so it’ll be properly finished.  I also finished off a pair of gloves for Flo which I make from leftover sock yarn (Stylecraft Head Over Heels, with I-cord ‘string’ to thread through her coat.

I was passed on some cotton yarn, Drops Paris, which has gone on to make 4 dishcloths, 3 of which are shown below

They are knitted corner to corner, starting with 1 stitch and increasing at the beginning of each row until I reach about 43 - 45 stitches (the yarn is Aran weight using 4.5mm needles) then I decrease knitting the second and third stitches of each row together until 2 stitches remain, then knit them together. 

The local TG group had a charity sale at the meeting with craft stalls, Tombola, cake sales to raise money for the selected charity this year which is Dementia UK.  I made some Christmas coasters which sold well last year.

And I had oddments of pelmet Vilene and with some scraps made bookmarks, they went well too.

Doesn’t make any dent in the fabrics though.  I have gained a little bit more fabric as my Mum is no longer making quilts.  Most of her fabric will be going to local Project Linus group with a donation from my friend so the group which can go towards the cost of fleece fabric for the backs. 

There has been a bit of card making, though I wouldn’t get involved much with this, but that stash is growing a bit. I’m still endeavouring to keep it contained within the 3 boxes.  But I ran out of Get Well cards, that are sent to the ladies in the TG group and I have some ‘toppers’, which are cut outs that decorate the fronts of cards.

And of course my ATC swap card for this month

Would you believe this is made from serviettes, when separated they make a fine tissue that can be glued and layered onto card.  The bird was on a separate piece of card and mounted on top with the flower on top of that. I got very stuck up with that one, but it turned out well.

And at Hotchpotch craft group we made pencil pots.

That also involved some gluing, so got stuck up again.But they turned out well.

So onto November and more Christmas crafting, so there may not be as much to show, but see how things go.

So linking up with Mini Archie’s Furtle Around the Blogosphere for October.

October Meanderings

Last week I got out my paper crafting stuff and made a couple of ATCs (one to keep, one to send) with the theme of decoupage.  I have some fancy serviettes, which when the plies are separated has a fine printed top layer that can be overlapped, which I did with the Agapanthus background. The bird was from another serviette layered onto card, the flowers layered on top of that. The layers were painted over with Mod Podge glue to seal the surfaces,

The one above is the card I kept.  The card below has been sent.

I received my swap card from Marie and below it’s pictured with my card.

The local Townswomen’s Guild had a charity meeting this Thursday which gives me cause to make a few bits and pieces.  I have some Christmas fabric to use up and some Christmas coasters were easy to make so that took up some Friday afternoon cutting out and sewing. These sold well last year, so hope will be sell ok, which they did.

I found a few pieces of pelmet Vilene and with some fabric scraps I made a few bookmarks and most of them sold as well.  I haven’t been sewing for a while and the bookmarks and coasters were a good ‘palate cleanser’ to back into sewing,

I’ve got a finish I can’t show here at present (as it is a Christmas present, pleased I got that done), so here’s a bit of a clue

I’m also returning to daily walks now it’s autumn.  I have been suffering from Achilles Tendonitis in recent months which has meant I haven’t walked as often and only for short walks.  Although it can cause some discomfort now, I don’t want to let it beat me.  I am enjoying the autumnal weather and the colour of the falling leaves.  These trees are near the local supermarket, but the colours against the clear blue sky this afternoon was just amazing.

I hope there will be more chances to see leaves turning before they fall.

Trip to Yorkshire - Yarndale.

 During our time away in Yorkshire, I went to Yarndale, a wool festival in Skipton.  An amazing display of  hand dyed yarns from different dyers, local community projects, some sheep and alpacas in pens all held in the livestock auction in the town.  I had a timed ticket for the late Sunday morning.

It was the 10th anniversary of the exhibition, which has a different sheep for peach year and here are the sheeps lined up in the second photo below on the far left is Tristen, the sheep (see he has a rosette with 10 on it).

Walking along the first aisle I came across this amazing display of Shrek, Fiona and co, which was in a display outdoors in Hawes during the summer. I thought these looked amazing considering they’d been exposed to the elements. This was a community project by Hawes Yarnbombers to raise money for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. 

This year’s project was to make paper chains in yarn, either by knitting or crochet.  I came across this area with the chains and I had no idea where the chain I made would be but it made a colourful sight.

This was mine, made back in June

During the afternoon some sheep appeared

Followed by a sheep dog (of course!)

I loved the bunting on one of the stalls, this was The Threshing Barn, who sold a lot of different fibres, weaving and spinning accessories.

So I did make some purchases as it would be rude not to.  This photo was taken when I returned home.

Some mini skeins and 100g skeins, some sari and wool fibre and a fair isle hat kit (in the net bag).

Stitch holders and markers, crochet hook, a couple of Christmas themed books and an embroidery kit.

And a really enjoyable day out. I can’t go every year and have found that there are yarn shows a little  closer to home now, but it has a lovely atmosphere.

A Yorkshire Break - Out and About

For the second time I've managed to make Yarndale, a yarn festival that was held in Skipton Yorkshire a couple of weeks ago.  I enjoyed this the first time around (back in 2019), which you can read here .  We enjoy visiting Yorkshire and took the opportunity to stay in a B&B in Knaresborough, not too far away from Skipton and visited with my brother-in-law and his wife.  I will do a separate post about Yarndale.

We visited Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal which was a lovely walk and had nice sunny weather to go with it on the Friday.  The Abbey is a ruin and I took a few photos

Studley Royal estate on the site has lakes fed by the nearby River Skel and looked impressive in spite of the dry summer, though the photo I took wasn't brilliant, David looks like a silhouette.  We headed up to the church, from where we could see deer in a nearby field. 

I liked the figures above the church door

On Saturday we visited Eden Camp near Malton.  This was a former Prisoner of War camp, which and an interesting visit as exhibits are in the former huts.  I only took the one photo as I David and his brother were taking lots of photos.  

Sunday saw me at Yarndale in Skipton and there’ll be more of that in the next post.  Back to Skipton on the Monday to visit Skipton Castle then on to Bolton Abbey and Embsay Steam Railway a short distance away. 

There was a self guided tour around the castle so I did take a few pics 

At the railway we had a return trip on an electric auto car from 1901 which almost looks like an old tram. Electricity is generated by a Diesel engine inside the train.  I could not resist the weather report on Bolton Abbey station.

The photos are in the wrong order (grrr) shows the back of the carriage the windows looked like eyes.

The front.  The controls in the cab even looked similar to an old tram.

A restored cab man’s hut on the platform of Embsay station.

Tuesday was our last day and we visited Ripon. David and I last went there over 11 years ago before we returned to Poole after briefly living in Yorkshire. This is small city, not as big and crowded as York, but it has a lovely cathedral and some interesting museums, The Workhouse, the Prison and Police Museum and the Courthouse, so that all took the day. 

Rules of the Workhouse.  There were 2 types of paupers, residents and vagrants.

The monument in the Market Square

Ripon Cathedral

The former town hall

The Courthouse.

It was a beautiful day to be tourists.  The day and holiday was finished off with a fish and chip dinner at Wetherby Whaler in Guiseley (which was once the original Harry Ramsden’s ) in lovely surroundings.

On our way back to Poole, one place we find convenient for lunchtime stop was at Fosse Park shopping centre in Leicester.  We found an art trail of foxes called Fosse Foxes  so we took a few pics and here’s a selection below.

We’re planning our next break in November (birthday month).