Hello everyone, it is now almost 3 months since my last post – almost sounds like a confession doesn’t it? I hope that you are keeping well and settling down to a more normal routine. Here in the UK the covid cases are creeping back up but there seems to be a confidence in the fact that people who are doubly vaccinated appear to be protected. Reports indicate that patients who are hospitalised with covid tend on the whole to have declined the vaccination. I know that some suffer with long covid afterwards, but the research is indicating that recovery is taking place, just taking a lot longer.
On a personal note, life has been hectic with fewer traumas but lots of activity.
It was our ruby anniversary on 25th July, and so we booked our touring caravan in a lovely site near to York. We were away for two and a half weeks. I had been organising my caring responsibilities as far as Julie and Mum were concerned and so had a total break. I telephoned Mum every 3 days and Julie once a week. I had promised to send Julie a postcard and bring her something nice back. It was absolutely bliss just to “be” and to have space for each other. Mike was very indulgent and actually encouraged me to go to every knitting or sewing shop in our area. This was great as we spent time in York, Barnard Castle, Northumberland and the Lake District.
I found some amazing shops and decided to visit again when we are in the area. I loved Fine Fettle Fibres most of all and stocked up on some Jamieson and Smith sweater weight 2 ply for my current project. I will talk more about it later in this post. I would encourage anyone who is passionate about knitting or crochet to visit Judith in Felton as I was overwhelmed with the choice and quality of her stock. Luckily she has a website too so visit www.finefettlefibres.uk to explore what is available. It was like an Aladdin’s cave! I treated myself to some wool, a lovely Emma Ball tin for my sewing room and some gorgeous buttons. Just visiting kept a smile on my face all day! My friend Liz told me that she exhibits at the wool shows too so please look out for her if you have the chance to visit one!
I also had some fabulous fabric experiences too! Sewcialising inYork was a treat and I stocked up on essentials.
When visiting Ulverston in the Lake District I happened to find a totally beautiful fabric shop, The Little Kraft Shed was a complete delight!
I bought some lovely festive fabric with gnomes on and some gorgeous William Morris honeysuckle cotton. When I returned home, made some goodies with it. The choice in this shop was excellent as it was only a small space but the layout was very cleverly done and I took some photo’s which I share with you now!
I am finding that my sewing skills are improving. I am having lots of ideas for future products and am looking forward to being able to get back to using my sewing room (oops dining room). We have just had heating engineers in for the last week, upgrading our system, new boiler, new radiators, heated towel rail in the cloakroom, some new piping here and there and the main issue is that they had to open up the walls and part of the ceiling in the dining room. They found an old slow leak and so Mike is now putting it all right. It is turning out to be a bigger job than we initially thought as he has decided to put in new lights as the old one wasn’t up to much.
As I have had to make a few video’s for virtual shows over the past couple of years, I wondered about having two sections of my gridwall actually in situ on the wall in my sewing room, so that I could use it for storage and at the same time have an easily accessible area for exhibiting stock if I need to do other videos. He is multi-skilled and works in engineering which is very handy! He made the brackets to fit my grid walls into so they sit at 90 degrees to each other. He will sort it out as soon as we have a decent wall.
He had to reconfigure the desk area in the craft room upstairs so that they could get to the old radiator so instead of looking out at the garden and at the trees, I now must look to the right – perhaps better as I am not distracted.
We have a real show to look forward to! Hurray! I can’t wait! It is Bakewell Wool Gathering and is one of my favourites. It is close to where we live and so we arrange our stock and have the joy of sleeping at home before the show. I have been sent the details regarding safety regarding covid concerns and it well planned. Carole and her team have done everything possible to ensure both our and our customer’s safety. The timing is perfect for us being the 9th and 10th of October. The dark nights are beginning to draw in, the temperature is dropping and people are wearing more layers. Knitting time!
My diaries are now ready for 2022 and they always start selling like mad in October, although I have already posted a few already in August! It’s great to be able to plan ahead and I always have the following year’s diary on the go at the same time. I like to be organised or at least try to be! There are some brilliant vendors at Bakewell Wool Gathering and I can’t wait to see what is available. There is plenty of parking and there will be refreshments in a separate room too. The farmer’s café at the side was serving enormous breakfasts last time we went which must have been 2 years ago which set us up for the day!
If you haven’t been to Bakewell before you need to walk to the river close by, cross the bridge and look at the trout and walk around town. It is quaint and there are some lovely cake shops, pubs, and other shops too. You will have plenty to see and do.
In the mean time I am stocking up on the popular items which sell very well at the shows. I have been very busy making greeting cards with a knitting or crochet theme, incorporating a stitchmarker for the recipient. The photograph shows a small selection to give you an idea of the various styles. I am currently working on a range of crochet themed cards. These will all be available in our Etsy shop “The Knitting Companion”, click on the link on the home page. The shop will be closed while we do the show and I will update the stock when we return. This seems fair as not everyone can attend. I will make some extras just for the show and any left over will be listed in the shop afterwards.
These cards are fun to receive as well as being useful, and I also have done specialised personal ones in the past. For example a Scottish theme with tartan background and a silver thistle stitchmarker. I always imagine what would I like to receive and that helps to guide my activity.
We celebrated my husband Mike’s 60th last night – a few days before the actual event be to update the shop afterwards.y going out for a meal with his brother Tim, wife Brenda, and their sons, Dale and Neale. What Mike didn’t know that our own sons would be joining us -Paul with his partner Zoe travelled from Lincoln and Craig and his wife Danika too. He was absolutely delighted and our meal at Reform in Thorncliffe was lovely. The staff were very attentive and despite being so busy, made sure we were topped up with drinks. The only drawback was that Tim’s meal was delayed, they had misheard his request for beef stroganoff and so had to change it meaning that he had to wait a while. Having said that, he did say that it was worth waiting for! We had a cake made specially with his “Lonely Goat” running club theme and the sparkling fountain (instead of a bonfire of candles) added the surprise element.
We were seated around a round table and it was fantastic for communication, we loved seeing everyone together and hearing some hilarious stories from the past!
Happy times. Happy Birthday Mike!