Sunday 10 November

It's been ages since parttime dog and I went for a walk. Truth be told, I like life to be busy, but it's a little too busy right now. Time to stop, take stock, consider and rearrange a few things.

Today though promised good weather and as B. has gone on his annual skiing trip to Austria, I had this whole Sunday to myself. It's funny, a few years ago I hated being alone, but over the years I have really come to cherish those days when I can do exactly as I please. I almost emailed a friend to ask if she fancied coming along for a walk, but then thought 'no, I really want to go on my own'. It's done me the world of good.

It was a very pretty walk, called Chocolate Box Cavendish, and can be found on the AA website (http://www.theaa.com/walks/chocolate-box-cavendish-421040) I have done some of their walks in the past and they never disappoint - the right length and lots to see, plus lots of interesting background information. Would love for them to expand into bike rides too (or maybe they already do - I've never really looked into it)!
We started off in Cavendish and walked through open fields to Clare and then alongside the river Stour (and in Essex!) back to Cavendish. Fancy coming along? Better put on some sturdy walking shoes then, because we've had a lot of rain lately and it's bound to be muddy. O and don't forget a rucksack with a camera and a little snack, it promises to be quite a long walk.

 We're starting off on a public footpath alongside the cemetery. Lots of leaves.

 Looking up at the very blue sky through bare poplar trees. It is a beautiful day but there is a very cold wind. I hope you brought a hat and gloves? I'm glad I brought mine.

Where's parttime dog? Oh, lots of new smells to discover...

Lots and lots of rosehips. It's been an amazing fruit year.

This first part of the walk has lots of fields and lots of views. It's actually quite hilly too. Never mind, that will warm us up.

Another field

Round the corner and we see this lonely farmhouse across the fields.

Another field with a house in the distance. You can walk for miles without seeing anyone, yet still see signs of habitation everywhere.

 Sugarbeets! Mountains of them. You see lots of them at this time of year in Suffolk.

 

Out of the fields, up the little hill. Still some Autumn colour to be found, although the best is over now.

 

And back into the fields, across a little bridge. 

 

We're going through a really big field now, seeming to stretch all the way to the horizon.

 

 Look, pink berries! Unusual colour for this time of the year.

 

Now we're heading down the hill towards Clare, which is about halfway on our walk. Not tired yet I hope?

And here we are in Clare itself. You can just make out the church in the distance. Looks like we're not the only ones getting some exercise. 

Going into the country park - only for a short stretch, just along the river.

And look what we find when we turn left - two old railway bridges! I can just imagine steam trains chugging along here.

Part of the railway track is still here - maybe this is another one of Dr Beeching's victims? The only good thing you can say about that is that we have lots of nice railway walks now.

 

 We cross the bridge and walk up a steep hill, then turn right to cross the old railway bridge we could see in the distance earlier.

 

Just a bit further down and look, an old mill house. 

And here's the old mill bridge and the mill in the background. Parttime dog is looking longingly at the water. I'm sure we'll find some to splash about in before we get back to the car!

Parttime dog is not keen to get on this bridge. Far too complicated for his elderly brain.

Looking back at the mill in the foreground and the mill house in the background.

O look, he's finally made it. 

We just crossed the river Stour, which leads us into Essex.

There must have been a wedding here yesterday. I wonder if we'll find a little church if we go down this path?

Not a church, but a nice river to splash about in for a minute or so. Doesn't matter that it's a really cold day! Good, all that mud from earlier is coming off too.

O look, a swan in the distance, doesn't that look pretty, that snowy white in all the green.

'Enough with all the photos, let's go'

A really large toadstool. Wish I knew if you can eat it. 

If you look carefully, you can see the fallen trees. We had some pretty strong winds a few weeks ago, but it looks like they had it worse here than back at home where there is not much damage.

Another tree fallen down - at a very weird angle!

And another huge field with a huge sky. It really is very pretty down here.

 

See, we really did venture into Essex!

 

They have some lovely houses down here.

 

Another fallen down tree. Quite a big one that one. I wouldn't mind the firewood!

 And we're back in Suffolk.

Very typical Suffolk cottage. Allegedly the paint is made with pig's blood, although I've heard that it could be cow's blood too. Either way, it's a pretty colour isn't it.

We're back in Cavendish now and just walking along the river back to our starting point. Lovely little Victorian cottage.

Look, sheep! Come on parttime dog, you're a cross Golden Retriever/border collie, you like sheep. But he doesn't bat an eyelid. Too old for all that. The sheep are fascinated by us though and keep running around us.

Two photos from the same spot, but because the wind is blowing the leaves on the tree, the camera keeps focusing on different parts.

 

 Pretty chimneys!

 And this is one the cottages that the chimneys belong to. If you look carefully, you can see the crochet blanket on the back of the sofa. We'd better be quick though, there's someone watching telly and it's a bit odd to take a photo of someone's house when they're home!

Cavendish is full of pretty houses. I wonder what the roof will look like when it's finished?

Another mill house.

 These cottages are so pretty, don't you think? The glass in the left hand one seems to be original, it's not smooth as modern glass.

 The old Grammar School - you can't imagine a village this small having a grammar school. 

 We're back at the car now, but let's just wander to the green and the church to have a quick look.

 It could go straight into a picture book, it's that pretty. No wonder the walk is called Chocolate Box Cavendish! The village has a strong link with Sue Ryder but where has the museum gone? I was hoping we could stop there for a cup of tea or hot chocolate.

 Walking up the green towards the church

 The ceiling of the church, it seems to mimic the floor tiles. Some people don't like Victorian decorations in churches, but I don't mind - I think it tells part of the history of the church. I would enjoy spending a bit more time here, but we've had a bit of a disapproving look (or so it feels) as we came in, so let's leave it for another day.

 One last look at the church before we return to the car with muddy boots and tired paws. It was seven and a half miles in the end. A lovely walk though, don't you think? Home now for a well earned shower and cup of coffee!

Tuesday 15 October

Almost a whole month has gone by without posting anything. It's not that I didn't want to - blog writing just seems to get pushed to the bottom of the 'to do list'. And it's not even something that's on the not-so-fun to do list, because I really enjoy writing. It's just that there are so many other fun things to do, that blogging is one of those things that gets left behind. Maybe I need another month of subjects to get me going again...

Anyway! Enough of that, I'm here and I'm writing, that's all that matters.

As I said in my last blog post (or the one before that - it's been so long I've forgotten and frankly I can't be bothered to go back and look it up), I craft a whole lot more than I ever show here. So, a few photos of FO's or finished objects.

This is my Alice cardi. Last year as a thank you for helping out at Latitude, Amy Twigger Holroyd sent the team of volunteers this pattern. She'd had a knitted one hanging in the knitting tent and I had enjoyed wearing it on the chilly Sunday afternoon, and really wanted to have one of my own. So I ordered chunky wool and needles 9mm! and cast on. But try as I might, I couldn't get the gauge right. It was far too wide and by the time I got gauge, the fabric was so stiff it felt like a straight-jacket. So I emailed Amy and asked her if she could bring her own yarn to this year's Latitude. By this time I already knew the pattern knitted up quickly (the lace is very easy to memorise) and before I knew it, I had been set the challenge of knitting it by the end of the weekend at Latitude. Despite knitting A LOT and getting sore wrists, I didn't complete my challenge, but I did finish it a few weeks later. I absolutely loved knitting it. It is so cleverly designed - everything is related to each other - the number of stitches you cast on for the front, is related to the number of rows you knit on the sleeve and many other aspects such as those. I've no idea how she figured it all out, but it made me discover a love of garments with an unusual construction.
Amy has just finished her PhD thesis on knitting, sustainability and consumerism (you can read more here). Her designs do not follow fashion, but are just, well, unique items I suppose, that will stand the test of time. I have to admit to taking a while to get used to this cardigan. I didn't think it was very 'me'. I liked it on everybody else but me (I think 14yo looks fabulous in it, but in my terribly biased view as a mother she looks fabulous in anything). I don't follow fashion at all but my style is very unobtrusive and definitely doesn't stand out. I feel happy in what I wear, but I do really like Amy's philosophy (and since meeting her, have bought very few new items of clothing). But then I started getting compliments on my cardi, and it is so comfortable to wear, that it's slowly becoming my favourite top. In fact, 14yo recently said that I wear it all the time. Bit like 11yo who will wear the same pair of trousers and same t-shirt day in, day out, refusing even to put them in the laundry. I do wash my outfits, promise...
And Amy, if you're reading this, thank you for the pattern. I'm sure it's not the last of your patterns I'll be knitting. You're very talented!

This is Harriet's Jacket. I have been reading Elizabeth's blog for a while and admire her designs very much. I followed her blog while she was designing Harriet's Jacket and as my Alice was such a success, I decided to buy the pattern when Elizabeth set up a KAL for it. It took me much longer to knit than most of the other people taking part and I wasn't an active participant anyway, but again this ingenuous and unusual construction kept me gripped for about 2 months. Mine is longer than Elizabeth's and with hindsight (despite my gauge being spot on) I could have gone down a size, it's a little big on me. I need to make the buttonholes slightly smaller as the little red hearts I found, are a little too small for the buttonholes, but they pick up the red flecks in the yarn so well. The best bit about the construction was that it was all done in the round with no seaming at the end, all that was needed, were a few ends sewn in. It's extremely comfortable and warm and I'm sure I'll be wearing this a lot this coming winter (specially if we're going to have the coldest winter for a long time, as is being predicted. Even though I don't really believe in long-term weather forecasts, I'm still a little apprehensive if they're true!)

I'm not sure if I've posted photos of this crochet bag before. It was a project in an issue of Simply Crochet last summer and didn't take long to whip up. Very useful as it's so incredibly stretchy, that it's a bit like Mary Poppin's bag...

A much needed crochet hook roll from Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench, a book that I often recommend for beginners as the drawings are very clear and the projects are perfect for practising yet you end up with something useful.
I love the roll but it needs a flap over the top to stop the needles flying out - ask me how I know... ;-)

My resolution to only craft for myself this year has gone very well. I have only made two or three little items for others and then only for those who are close friends. This cloth was for a friend from WeightWatchers, after our weekly weigh-in we go for a celebratory or commiserating cup of coffee and talk about the books we've read and family and children and everything else in life.

At the moment I'm working on a pair of socks for Socktober, a KAL organised on Twitter. The only 'rules' were to knit up a pair of socks in October and show photos of it. I've knitted up the first pair and am halfway down the cuff on the second one but progress has been quite slow in the last few days.

Excuse the rubbish picture, it was taken on my mobile at work. Was installing 111 updates and it took such a long time and my desk was clean already, so I knitted... ;-)

This weekend I helped out at the stand for the UK Handknitting Association at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in London, teaching knitting and crochet. I had a great time, although I did regret slightly not signing up for the whole weekend. I only had an hour to look around which isn't enough really, and when I went around, it was so busy that it spoilt it for me somewhat. I don't like the greed that comes over people when there is so much on offer. There was only one stand which I really wanted to visit and that was Shilasdair Yarns. I did manage to get there and for 23 pounds I got this:

I just love their colours and that they use all natural dyes. I found out about them last year and got 4 hanks too, which have now been knitted up. This is destined to become one of Brooklyn Tweed's designs (Coal Cardigan). But first to finish that second sock - it's the semi-final of the Great British Bake-Off tonight so I should be making some progress...