A grand day out

The Bishops Palace

My son had an appointment with the orthodontist yesterday in Wells. I hadn't realised that it was also market day there so I took a few photos too. Wells is one of the smallest cities in the UK (it may be the smallest). It has a large cathedral. Wells is also the place that was used for the town in the film "Hot Fuzz". It is a very picturesque place. It also has the Bishop's Palace where the swans ring a bell to be fed. How clever! My children do exactly the same. The photos where taken on my phone by my son. What a budding photographer.

View towards the Cathedral from the Market Square

View of the Market

A different view of the market but brighter

The front of the Cathedral

The front of the Cathedral again

The Bishop's Palace again

As you can see, it was a fairly overcast day with some rain showers. We also had a trip to the LYS there but I will post more about our adventures there later.

Unravelled

In my bid to understand Ravelry I have been dipping in for short periods of time. I have joined a few groups, I have put on a project (although I have yet to upload a photo) and I have put a pattern in my basket. Yay.

Can anyone please tell me what the etiquette is for friends? My Ravelry account looks a bit lonely with no friends. Do I just add people or am I destined to be a 'billy no mates' forever? Any hints would be appreciated.

Cherry baby

Cherry Cake Yum Yum

I made a cherry and coconut cake yesterday. I got the recipe from the blog of A Homely Heroine. It looked so delicious that I had to try it. I had commented on the blog that you could keep the cherries evenly distributed by coating them in flour. As you can see, this didn't work. The cherries seemed to just congregate at the bottom. It also took a lot longer to cook in my oven than the suggested hour although I did turn the oven down by twenty degrees because it tends to run a bit hot. Maybe I will just follow the instructions next time! The cake was absolutely scrummy and I will definitely try to get more recipes from there.

Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do.

Daisy on the lawn

Daisy on the drive

Here is a photo of the long awaited Daisy cardigan. It is a Kim Hargreaves pattern in her Breeze book. I have never attempted a Kim Hargreaves pattern before and it took me a little while to get used to the way she writes the pattern but it was a lot easier than I had expected.

I decided on lilac with a green edge on the sleeves and inside the pockets. I really wanted some green pearlised buttons to pick out the colour but could not find them. I never realised that there were so many shades of green. I had to settle for some lilac flowers instead. If anyone has a good online supply of buttons that they know about I would love to hear about them.

I knitted it in a DK cotton by Sirdar which I bought cheaply from Kemps.

I was a little disappointed with the cardigan because the tension was all wrong. I hadn't done a tension square and I have realised I am a very loose knitter. It has actually come out about two inches bigger than it should have done. When I compared the way I knit to the other knitters I know I realised that I do not have any tension on the yarn as I knit. It just flops about in my fingers. I am trying to find a way of putting more tension on it but it is like learning to knit again. It has really slowed me done. Still, better to be done properly.

I have spent the last couple of days working on tension squares for various patterns and in different yarns. I will keep up the good work and stay calm!

A day at the beach (or an hour in the cold)

We braved it at the beach today. Despite the fact that we had a frost this morning, the sun had come out and I thought it was worth a try. I wore a big fleece and wondered whether I would be too hot. No need to worry. It was freezing. The wind was absolutely howling. I paid for three hours in the car park but we were there only one. I took my sock knitting which kept me warm but it was a chilly experience. My son actually braved the sea. He went right up to his waist. What a hero. We then went down the road and got some fish and chips. Purely to warm ourselves up you understand.

My knitting sunning itself on the beach.

As you can see, the beach was packed.

My hero.

I have actually got to the sewing up stage of my Daisy cardigan. Yippee. Tonight I am going to sew in the sleeves so will hopefully be able to post a photo tomorrow.

I am quite pleased with it but not sure about the colours. I am quite sad that blog week is over. I thoroughly enjoyed reading everyones stories about knitting. Thank you so much to Eskimimi for organising it.

What a Yarn

I haven't done lots of knitting so I don't have loads of experience of different types of yarn. Just loads of lists of ones I'd like to try. I would love to try something in kidsilk haze and in any sort of Rowan cotton.

I have made lots of socks recently, mostly plain ones and have been really lucky to find a lady who sells lovely sock yarn that she dyes herself. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the finished projects as I have passed them on as presents. She lives on the Isle of Harris and has some lovely yarn. I have taken a photo here but it doesn't really do the yarn justice.

It is excellent to knit with and the colours are really vibrant. Her website photos are much better than mine so please check it out if you have a spare minute and see what the colours are really like.

Her company is Calana Crafts and she is here. I have used her seascape range of sock yarns.

Revisit a past F/O

Firstly I must apologise because I do not have a photograph of the sweater that I am going to talk about.

When I was in the knitting wilderness I toyed with the idea of starting to knit again. I didn't know whether I would enjoy it or whether it would turn out very well. I went to my LYS and bought a pattern for a man's sweater and some cheap yarn. I thought that I would knit something for hubby so that he would be impressed and also so that it would be useful in our freezing house.

My husband was so excited about it that he put in an order for something just a couple of inches longer so that he was completely covered. Buoyed by his enthusiasm, I set to with the knitting. Making a lovely blue sweater. I followed the pattern to the letter except for the length which I changed to be longer. I was so pleased with the finished result, although it did look a trifle large. (I didn't bother with the tension square). When my hubby put it on, it was massive but manageably so, until he wore it again. And again. After about five times of wearing it it grew longer and longer. Eventually it was unwearable. It looked like a knitted dress and the neck came down to the waist. It was a complete disaster. I think it was a combination of cheap wool, no tension square and unskilled labour!

This sweater was dragged out at every opportunity by my husband and children. When we had friends over, out would come the sweater. If we had a barbecue I would dread the words "It's getting a bit chilly" because out would come the sweater. Eventually it grew so big that we could fit all four children in it.

I made it worse by knitting one of the children a scarf which I must have done in cotton. Big mistake. If someone accidentally got hit by it when you were putting it on it nearly knocked them out. I am sure I must have a photo somewhere of him modeling the two but I cannot find it at the moment. (If I find it I will post it).

We still have both of these things hidden in the loft somewhere. I wanted to get rid of them but everyone thought they were worth keeping for their comedy value. I daren't ask about them because it will remind everyone that they are there and prompt them to go and find the offending articles.

I didn't knit again for a few years. I completely lost the urge to knit and the confidence. But I am back on the horse now and enjoying every minute. Hopefully my skills have improved and I try to buy better yarn now.

My brother had seen the sweater and, when I offered to knit his stepdaughter something for her baby, was horrified. I am proud to say that when they received it they were really pleased and impressed. It is best to end on a more positive note.