Knitting - Shoal of Ganseys

Our morning started sitting in bed listening to the thunder, no rain at that point but plenty of noise.  We hit to road to Sheringham and about 30 mins from home we ran in to this

then this

then this

fortunately as we got closer to the coast it stopped and we arrived in Sheringham to heavy grey skies but dry.

The exhibition at The Mo was very good and its a lovely museum with lots of interesting things besides the Gansey exhibition.  Peter was fully occupied.  It was a pleasant walk round, not crowded and apart from a couple of "know it all" a fun hour.  It was so funny Peter and I were round one side of this display

when I commented that some of the jumpers were machine knitted.  "Oh no they aren't" announces Mrs Know-it-all, they are hand-knitted! "Really" says I, "then these display cards must be wrong as they say machine knitted here".  Mr Know-it-all then comes over and rather than believe me he takes a look before agreeing they were wrong!!!!  You wouldn't believe the rubbish they had be spouting previously to this. It was really satisfying to bring these people down a peg or two.

Here are a few collage photos of the displays

As I said there were lots of other things to look at here's just a few

When we came out we popped into the yarn market which was neither here nor there, and hardly worth the bother, very crowded and not much to see.  Also it was raining again!! We managed to pick up some fresh dressed crabs before heading back to the car

Did I warn you this was a photo heavy post?

We jumped into the car and headed out along the north norfolk coast road, stopping at the Dun Cow in Salthouse for lunch

pint of Woodfordes shandy for me

warm Summer Salad

Whitebait

Sweetbreads for Peter, bit blurry I'm afraid

We stopped at the Smokehouse in Cley for smoked fish and an ice cream from Picnic Fayre, and by the time we hit Old Hunstanton it was...........

but it soon cleared over and we managed a walk through the Sensory Gardens to enjoy the roses

and finally some sunshine

 washed down with a pot of tea and a cake.

All in all a lovely and enjoyable day, whats a bit of rain when all is said and done

Knitting - Smockie

Another addition to Miss J's autumn wardrobe is complete.  I love this pattern and have done it many times.

Pattern - Smockie by Sublime

Yarn - Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo - 80% bamboo 20% wool - Black Sheep yarn dive at the Knitting & Stitching show last year

Buttons - charity shop

Flowers - from the Knitting & Stitching show a few years ago

I can see this teamed with a long sleeved T-shirt and wooly tights not that I'm wishing the summer away before its really got started.

We are off to the Gansey Exhibition on Saturday in Sheringham, there is also a yarn market and the promise of a seafood lunch, sounds like the perfect day to me.

Knitting - an experiment

Friends of my daughter have just taken over a soft play business in Stamford, its called The Yard.  They have a really nifty logo which I thought would lend itself nicely on a hat.

First I copied their logo

I then ran it through a pattern generator - I used Stitchboard.com wizard.  It is very simple to use and is ideal for knitting or cross stitch.  I limited my request to 10 colours, otherwise it gets a bit crazy.

Once I printed it out, I enlarged it on the photocopier and then just tweaked it a bit to get a final chart I was happy with. This also made it easier to follow as it was larger, eyes aren't what they were!

I took a basic beanie pattern, using oddments of DK from my stash and 4mm needles, casting on 102 stitches. The THE, eyes and legs I sewed on afterwards.

I stranded this, but think I should maybe have done it with intarsia as its a bit bunchy.  The features aren't too great either, though will maybe look better once I've blocked it - (it did but didn't take any photos)

Not sure I'd want to make anymore of these but it proved that anything is possible to knit.  So if you have a favourite picture that isn't too detailed then give it a go.

Weekend - it was a foody one

Goodness our whole weekend has been very food related.

Yesterday it was Burwash Manor, and yes Joan its on the list for your visit. We went into St Ives last evening for a curry at Sultan. For a change I resisted my usual dhansak and tried something different.  I went with the chicken green massala it was yummy and a dish I'd have again.

Today we popped into Cambridge to meet Rachel, Stu and Jess at the Mill Road Food Feast.  It was a beautiful morning and we sat and enjoy a superb coffee from Caffe Mobile, followed by a bacon roll from Duke of Pork, bought brownies from Gourmet Brownies, bread from The Earth's Crust and goats cheese Cam Cattle.

When we got home I started a batch of elderflower cordial

Prepared a gammon joint for dinner, with which we had the asparagus bought yesterday

and then I spent the afternoon on the patio in the shade.............................. clearing my ironing basket.  Why oh why do I wear cotton and linen, its makes so much ironing.

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Family - Taking tea

Saturday, we took Peter's mum out for the afternoon.  We popped over to Burwash Manor.  Right on our doorstep, but would be believe, we had never been before!

There are a good mix of unique shops (see link above for details), a tea room, alpacas, pigs and a lovely deli/butchers.  Of course my camera came along and I managed to take a few pictures to document the afternoon. We will definitely be going back

super toy shop here

The Larder - we got asparagus, pancetta, boudin noir , bacon, lots of yummy things to choose from

The Florist

Stockist of Providence and Farrow & Ball paints, such lovely colours

Mother and son - she looks good for nearly 87 wouldn't you agree

Afternoon tea, we didn't manage 2 a piece so the rest went home