New from old

In recent weeks clothes makeovers have been popping up on my Instagram and Pinterest  feeds.  I must admit I’d never really considered it. But then I thought well you put some sweaters in the charity bag why not give it a go.

Having a heavy head cold and not feeling like going out I set too with three sweaters, a box of ribbons, threads and my sewing equipment. I took my time and figured as I cut the first what’s the worst that can happen? To be honest because these were machine knit sweaters there was no fear of them all falling apart. Still can’t bring myself to try steeking yet!!  Once cut I sorted a suitable ribbon and pinned right sides together, basted, then machine stitched it on. So far so good. Next a quick press and then pinned and hand stitched the ribbon to the wrong side. This reinforces the front edge. I decided to just go with edge to edge cardigans rather than faff with button holes, plus I rarely do up a cardi anyway.

I’m actually pretty pleased with the end result, what do you think?

These two v necked jumpers had been in my cupboard for years and were looking a bit tired and unloved.  The blue one is now perfect for a dress I’m yet to wear. The grey one I’m sure will come in handy over lots of things.

This was a long line tunic which had seen better days and was a bit in the snug side! Now a perfectly comfortable cardigan coat

This was a fun project to do. I have my eye on several more sweaters that could become cardigans. 

Charity bag 0 Wardrobe 3

I’ve not done an awful lot of knitting recently. I seem to have gone off the boil. Currently on my needles is the Linus shawl that I started in France and a Mdina cardigan which is I’m making for my friend Manda.  She supplied the yarn and I’m supplying the labour. She is a knitter but has hand problems at the moment and asked if I could knit up this alpaca yarn that’s been languishing in her stash since 2017 when we attended a workshop! There’s no hurry so a perfect summer project to pick up when I feel like it.

That’s me caught up on the making front. What are you making?

Short Break

Last month we were able to get hold of a couple of cut price train tickets in the Rail Network Spring sale. Our choice of destination was York.  We’d not been before and it was a simple journey, just one change. 

So we headed off on Tuesday morning, getting a lift to the station. A quick 15 minute journey to Peterborough then an onward connection to York just an hour and a quarter away.  Arriving in York at 12:30, just right to get our bearings and find some lunch.

York is not too huge so everything is in an easy walking distance. Lots to see and places to visit. Some with entrance fees whilst others are free. The choice is yours.  The weather was perfect for walking about, with just a bit of rain late on Tuesday evening.

I took lots of photos, of course, so I’ll caption them so you can see what we did.

Tuesday - mainly wandered around and worked out where everything was in relation to our hotel. Walked part of the City Wall walk which is actually great for walking above the traffic and people.  It was very quiet on Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday we were up and out early as we didn’t sleep too well. We had a very nice breakfast at Rise Brunch which I didn’t take and pics of.  I had poached eggs with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce and Peter had Turkish eggs. Both meals were very good.

Photos below show York Minster and surrounding area

The following photos show the City Wall walk which is approximately 2 miles long and circles the town with a few breaks where you rejoin the footpaths.  It great for being nosy in some of the push house gardens and also some

of the not so posh!  Great views of the Minster too.

We walked through the gardens of the York Museum which were lovely.  Plenty of seating, old ruins and also an edible plant garden which was very interesting.

After the walk and gardens we had a bit of liquid refreshment. Beer is much cheaper in Yorkshire than it is in Cambridgeshire…..

After a further wander we decided to go for a Yorkshire cream tea at Betty’s Tearooms. I think we queued for about 20 minutes which wasn’t too bad and with some really good street entertainment and people watching the time passed quickly.

Thursday - the day started grey but as we planned to visit the National Railway Museum it wasn’t a problem. We went back to Rise Brunch for breakfast again, it was that good!

The Rail Museum was really interesting.  I didn’t expect to enjoy it, but do love all the begone era memorabilia.  

Old railway posters. We actually have a few old train posters at home.

There were old Royal carriages, done out like luxury hotel rooms complete with beds and sofas. They certainly travelled in style

This was a mail train, complete with post bag catcher.  Mail sorting and telegram systems.

Duchess of Hamilton - I loved the Art Deco paint work on this train 

Mallard

Stephensons Rocket

This was a really good museum. Well set out, with coffee shops, gift shop, picnic area.  Model trains, educational areas.  This museum was very popular with school parties!  It is a free museum which depends on donations. I think that most people dipped their hands into their pockets on the way out, it was certainly worth a donation.

So what did we think to York?  We enjoyed it, though wasn’t tempted to venture in the Minster at £25 for the two of us to look around a church.  Similarly, we weren’t particularly interested in the Jorvik Centre which from the queues was full of school children. We didn’t have enough time to visit the museum or the art gallery and do them justice, maybe on another visit.  We did enjoy poking around all the little streets and looking at all the quaint shops. We had a quick lunch at the Shambles Food Market on Thursday, lots of stalls/vendors to choose from. 

We had planned on visiting a couple of National Trust properties but one wasn’t open whilst we were there and the other was a gardens just out of town, which we decided to miss due to having our luggage and the grey weather. Though in actual fact not long after deciding against a visit the sun came out but we spent the time sat by the river watching the boats before catching our train home.

We would definitely travel by train again, it made a change and was cheaper than driving/fuel/parking and gave Peter a break too. Just need to keep an ear out for any special offers 

Weekend

A busy weekend was had. Saturday we spent with Rachel and the children. Stu was working so we helped out.  A birthday cake was made and decorated.  A shoe box covered with deco patch neither of which I have photos of.  A dragons egg was painted, tree house painting was started. Jubilee bunting was sewn. Lego jeep completed. A fun day spent. A beautiful day.

We got home and had chilli, cornbread muffins and frozen margaritas in the garden. Lovely. So pleasant to eat outside until the neighbour at the bottom decided to cut his grass at 7pm, very inconsiderate.  Our new neighbours move in on Friday. Must admit we have got used to there being no one there since September, so 4 adults (plus cars) and two dogs is going to take some getting used to. Not sure how they will all fit in but from what we understand they are planning building works ………

We took a walk our today. 5.5 miles. Hubby’s leg is slowly improving.

We took a bit of liquid pain killer a mile from home 

Second pint was needed just to make sure!

There was plenty of flowers on the walk too, the meadows just full of buttercups and clover. Love this time of year

May is blooming

 On our return from France we found that the garden had decided to put on a bit of a show for us.  Plants that were still in bud when we left have burst forth, much appreciating the recent rains and warm temperatures.

Also things are taking shape in the allotment. Yesterday we bought home a good haul from our autumn planted brassicas 

We have here sprouting broccoli, pak choy, chard and two cabbages which were a bit slug damaged but I picked through carefully and we had one with dinner last night. Can’t really get much fresher.  We picked some onions which are suffering from the dry winter and spring, as they are starting to put out seed. So whilst we won’t get to store them we can at least enjoy them. The broad beans are podding up, peas heading up their sticks, strawberries putting forth berries and all the seedlings and potatoes seem to be doing fine.  We have beans, corn and squash plants to go in over the next week then we can hopefully just keep on top of the weeds and watch things grow.  And of course enjoy the fruits of our labours.