The break is over.

Looking back on my blog my last entry was October, so a long break of 6 months!

A dear friend suggested I get back into blogging. I was unsure as I am a private person and wondered whether too.

So over the past week I have been going through the reading list of people I follow and really enjoy the ability to read and view image's.

I started this blog as a type of diary to be able to look back. I am definately not they tyle of person to do a "visual" blog and admire people who can sit in front of a camera and do that and I do so love to watch. So from the safety net of words and picture's I will share my love of photography, which is all done on my phone. My passion for knitting, my garden and what ever else I want to record for "safe keeping ".

So if you have a spare bit of time please do enjoy with me and let me know what you think.

I'm kicking off the blog with some of the trips I have had.

My first trip out was in Decmeber to my special place Slimbridge that I have been a member of for over 15 year's.

I am blessed to have a dear friend called Karen who has not like so many people visited Slimbridge since she was young. Her enthusiasm was infectious.  She knows me so well to know I would have sock knitting with me!

At the end of December we saw the beginning of a few spouts of snow that the UK experienced.

Here in Cheltenham we were lucky not to be hit too badly, but the snow did lend itself to some beautiful photographs highlighting the sheer delicate detail of nature.

Next in my journey at the end of February myself and Karen took the train to Weston-Super-Mare.

Living in Cheltenham we are surrounded by stunning countryside, but I do so love water.

To me Weston holds many great memories of growing up, I went to college here and in the past few year's my family had rented a lovely bungalow in the next town along and stayed for a week at a time, being able to take the dogs for long walks on the beach.

Sadly this bungalow was sold and we now have a different dog, who is not very tolerate of much so it has not been possible to stay away with him.

So now the trips have been caught up with my next post will be about my knitting and designing journey.

I do hope you have enjoyed reading this, please do let me know I love to hear from you.

Yarn at Medicine, yarn show Birmingham

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking a trip on the train with two yarny friends to have a look at a new yarn event that was taking place.

Any excuse for a trip on the train and if it involves yarn even better!
 

 

So having changed my shoes three times I opted for these very cute Mary Jane shoes with little leaf detail on, in order that I could model my "coming soon" new sock design called Liner Line, which is a lovely long sock which is perfect for boots or cute shoes and features a plain foot and textured leg pattern.

 

This were the beautiful yarns I came away with.

 

 

I have a passion for two types of yarns.  One is laceweight for making beautiful shawl designs.  So when I saw this delicate yarn by Third Vault Yarns which was a blend of Bluefaced Leicester and Silk it had to come home with me.

I am very lucky to be friends with Vicki who is the owner of  Vicki Brown Design.  She has an incredible eye for colour and I had been wanting to buy the "Wisteria" colourway yarn (on the left) for a while.  On the train journey up though Vicki very kindly gifted me the yarn.

Whilst walking around the show I then spotted the perfect partner for this yarn by Hey Jay Yarn another stunning yarn which is a blend of Alpaca, Merino and nylon.

Both these yarns are "sock or 4ply weight" which is currently what I am using the most.  This yarn is very versatile as it can be not only used for socks, which I love to design and knit, but also used for shawls, or jumpers (if you have a big enough quantity).

I spotted West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply their range is very diverse, from limited edition yarns, to festive and fun yarns.  I purchased the blue yarn with a great yarn name of Blueberry Bonbon and a limited edition yarn call Marie Curie, where a percentage of the sales goes to the charity.

With this yarn I am thinking a design inspired by daffodils.

The show had some very talented indie dyers with very knowledgeable stall holders.

 

After we had spent an hour walking around the show we headed off around Birmingham. 

 

I do love visiting cities and seeing things through fresh eyes, as even though I have been to this city on several occasions it always has something new to share.

 



 

The architecture in this city is just beautiful and against the at times blue, then grey sky it was just so inspiring.

 

The colours of the bricks and the liner lines and that of the Barclaycard Arena with it's copper features against the glass had to be taken photographed for future design inspiration.



 

Birmingham is also steeped in Victorian history, an era that I so so love.  Building that not only reminded me of one of my favourite detective series Poirot, with the 1930 style buildings and amazing design featured windows and curves, but the incredible detail of the Town Hall.

 



When I have the chance I always love to take a walk along the canal, I am always drawn to water where ever I go and canals are such interesting places.

 



 

 

Last but by no means least on the tour of the city was the breath taking library, which be it up close or from a distance is the a piece of modern architecture that I for one just adore.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my short tour of Birmingham and the insight in to what will hopefully will be another new yarn event in the calendar for all folk yarn lovers.

Just socks!!

I have been knitting socks for nearly ten years.  Initially I started with just plain stocking stitch pattern.  But last year I decided to start designing my own.

This year I released my first design called Twisted Journeys.  The sock was inspired by my travel on a train from Cheltenham to Skipton to visit the annual yarn show where I have shared my recent trip this year 2017 and 2015 in my blog.

I love train travel the anticipation of visiting places and the ability to see places wizz by whilst you are able to sit and knit is always fun.

So during this four hour journey the ideas began to develop in my mind and over a period of time the design progress evolved.

I started to knitting the design whilst staying in a gorgeous cottage in Skipton.

I took them everywhere with me, I sat and knitted in the sunshine after at day at the show with the icon Skipton landmark and high street to look at. I do love people watching and knitting.

 

It came to Copper's cafe with me a great stop off for so many who not only want a delicious bite to eat but want to visit Lucy of Attic 24 studio that is open for the weekend of the show.

The second sock was then cast on when I took a trip to The Wool Sanctuary in Weston Super Mare.  An incredible venue full of amazingly lively and lovely ladies who meet once a fortnight.

By now I had two lovely cheerful colourful socks.

The yellow knitted with Eden Cottage Tempo 4 ply.

The pink and Grey where knitted using West Green Loft Yarn Merino blend sock yarn in colour ways called "Blush" and "Granite". 

For the final test knit and photo shot for the pattern we were away on holiday in Bulgaria and I enjoyed the warmth of the sun and had the assistance of my partner who modelled the sock for me.

This sock pattern is available to buy from Ravelry if you would like to enjoy your own journey.

Coming soon will be a great new boot sock just ready for the onset of winter.



The beauty of flowers.

I adhore my garden it brings me so much pleasure.  It is not a hugh plot of land and is surrounded from every window looking out at other people's houses, but this does not stop me loving my space.

Today even though we have now reached October I found myself gardening in my t-shirt!

So whilst I was doing some tidying I took some cuttings of a few gorgeous, colourful plants. In our house we just love to propogate and adhore self seeded plants that come back year on year and are always a surprise what will appear.  We also love to provide areas for nature collecting and storring driftwood for so many insects and bugs. 

We cut down a tree a while ago that was just growing in the wrong place and today I discovered this beautiful mushroom growing on it.

Do you have a lovely "green space", what do you enjoy about your garden?  I would love to hear your thoughts.