Five On Friday - Yarndale

Not sure how it has got around to being Friday again already which means it is time for Five On Friday and I am once again linking with Amy at Love Made My Home to bring you this post.


This time last week I was up in North Yorkshire eagerly anticipating Yarndale which took place at Skipton Auction Mart on the Saturday and Sunday. Yarndale is described as being a festival of creativity, celebrating all things woolly and wonderful! It certainly lived up to that description with over 180 stands to look around and peruse over.


So no surprise here - I am going to show you five photos from Yarndale, I wish I had taken photos of some of the stands which were a feast of gorgeous colours and not sure why I didn't do this - I guess I was too busy spending money.


First of all I have made this collage of some of the yarn bombing that greeted us on arrival at the Auction Mart.

A lot of time and effort went into creating these but they were much appreciated by the queues of people waiting for the doors to open. Which one is your favourite? For me it has to be the bee hive, I was blown away by that.

This crochet bunting is always such a cheerful sight as you walk through the Yarndale Hub - for the first Yarndale event four years ago people were asked to make a bunting triangle to be displayed and this is the result of all the hundreds of triangles that were sent in. These are now displayed every year.

The project for the following year was making mandalas, some of these were on display in the cafe area this year.

So what did I buy, well here is my stash - plenty to keep me busy. I really should be crocheting my blankets but couldn't resist making a start on the bag pack that you see in the photo above - this is a new product that was launched at Yarndale and is by Lucy from Attic24, it was great to meet up with Lucy again this year and have a chat in the Knit and Natter Lounge - I also managed to pop into view her studio in Skipton briefly on the Friday which was lovely.

And here is the completed bag, I had only intended doing a small piece to see how the colours looked together but just couldn't put it down and completed it the same day as I started.

As you can see from my stash photo I also purchased some sock wool. I have knitted socks before but was inspired to have another go by meeting Christine (Winwick Mum) in the Knit and Natter Lounge who is the author of Super Socks. This book explains the process in easy steps with lots of photos to guide you. Naughty me - I have made a start on these, I will get back to my blankets soon but find it hard to resist trying out some of my new stash.


As you can probably tell I really enjoyed my day although by 2.00 pm I had to leave, it was very crowded and it was a battle fighting the crowds and had become very claustrophobic - I know when I have had enough and I think I had probably spent enough by then anyway!


Have a great weekend and please go and visit Amy's blog to find more Five On Friday posts.

Five On Friday - Bolton Abbey

Welcome to my Five On Friday from Bolton Abbey in North Yorkshire. As usual I am linking with Amy from Love Made My Home to bring you this post.   I am hoping it all works out ok because I am blogging on my ipad which I am not used to using for blogging.    We decided to revisit Bolton Abbey today (hence the late post) as it is somewhere we visited last year and enjoyed and there was so much more to explore. It really is a stunning place to visit and we have walked miles today amidst spectacular scenery finishing by visiting Tea Cottage for a Yorkshire afternoon tea (fruit cake with Wensleydale cheese) - well when in Yorkshire.......   I will leave you with five photos of our day (although it is difficult choosing just five out of all the ones I took today). I hope you all have a lovely weekend - I am off to Yarndale tomorrow - excited muchly! Please go and pay Amy a visit where you will find links to more 'five' posts.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oops, this could be number six, sorry couldn't leave this one out!

 

Quick post

This is just a quick post as I am experimenting with a new blogging app on my ipad and just seeing if I can get it to do what I want it to. I will be in Yorkshire from tomorrow until Sunday which will include a visit to Yarndale on Saturday and I would like to be able to blog from there - hence this quick post. I will show you a photo of my latest blanket - this is another sunshine (SIBOL) blanket.  

I will be working on a ripple blanket while I am in Yorkshire - this will become a cot blanket for a work colleague who is expecting a baby boy in December - photos soon.   Fingers crossed this will load correctly and then I will be able to post over the weekend.    

Five On Friday - colour combo's

Wow - where has this week gone to? Cannot believe it is a week since the last Five On Friday. Once again I am linking with Amy at Love Made My Home - please do go and visit Amy where you will find links to many more 'Five' posts.


This week I am going to show you my colour selections for my next five charity blankets. I like to think ahead!!!


I have made these yarn pegs to help me plan my colour schemes for the blankets that I make so thought I would show you the schemes I have come up with, it is always possible that I might change my mind when it comes to the actual project but I like to have everything planned to ensure I have enough of the correct colours in stock (what better excuse do I need to purchase yet more wool)!

I use Stylecraft Special DK for my charity blankets, this yarn is inexpensive but lovely and soft to crochet with, it is also machine washable and can be tumble dried which I think is a big consideration when they are going to be used for the elderly in care homes. As you can see from the above photo it also comes in a wide range of colours.


Number 1

I have a completely new design in mind to use these colours with so watch this space to see what I create, I have a cot blanket to make for a work colleague first but then this one will be coming off my hook.

Number 2

This colour scheme is going to be used to create the cozy stripe blanket designed by Lucy at Attic24. As Autumn is rapidly approaching I have chosen autumnal colours that remind me of fields of sunflowers. 

Number 3

The square for my next blanket is designed by Sandra from Cherry Heart. I have put together my own colours to crochet this blanket and I hope they work well together.

Number 4

I have been looking forward to creating a blanket using this square for a long time but as it is a snowflake design I decided to leave this one until the end of the year. I do like to reflect the current season as I am crocheting so hence this one will probably be the one I work on during December. I am still a bit unsure about the colour scheme for this one but for the moment I am liking these colours together. Initially I had thought to do it in just two colours but then thought it might be a bit boring but you will have to watch this space as to which colours I end up using on this blanket. I might even change this square into a hexagon shape with six points to the snowflake to make it a true snowflake shape instead of the eight sided one in the photo below.

Number 5

This blanket will definitely be a next year project and I have tried to choose bright colours as I think that after all the Christmas festivities are out of the way it will be good to work on something vibrant and cheerful during January. I came across this square on Facebook and it is designed by Nana's Crochet Creations.

My plan at the start of this year was to produce twelve blankets to donate to a local residential care home at Christmas. I am just about to finish the edging on blanket number ten so if all goes to plan I might be able to deliver more than twelve blankets to the residents. I have so many more ideas and blankets I want to make so will be continuing to make more next year for this worthwhile cause.


Have a great weekend and see you next week for another 'five'.

Crafty Get-together

Saturday was a day I had been looking forward to for some time. As regular readers will know a group of us (like-minded crafters) meet once a month for a craft day. These days are always great fun but the one on Saturday was extra special. This time we had some additions to the usual gang - Maria all the way from Canada, Essie from The Netherlands, Hayley from Sheffield and Sarah from Derby joined us for a truly fun-packed day of crafting, laughter and the usual eating and coffee drinking! We all used to belong to an online stitching forum which is where we originally got to know one another and although I have met all of these ladies in person before it has been awhile. I last met Maria over ten years ago before she emigrated to Canada so it was great to meet up again.


As you can see from the photos below a fun time was had by all!

Photo shoot in Colly's garden (front row l-r Sarah G, Tammy, Me, Colly, Hayley and Maria, back Essie, Sarah S)

Playing with the panoramic setting on the iPad!

Jazz hands - acting silly! Quite normal when we are all together.

Our lovely bracelets made for us by Maria's seven year old granddaughter in Canada

Showing off our gorgeous cushions made for each of us by the very talented Colly

My cushion - Colly knows us all so well, each cushion was made in our favourite colours

Hayley, Maria and Essie 

A lovely goody bag for each of us from Maria - there was also some Hershey's kisses chocolate but that has already been eaten! 

Colly and Sarah S

And just to prove we did do some crafting here is Hayley with some Hardanger she is working on

This is what I was working on but I forgot to take a photo on Saturday - another charity blanket

I cannot believe how quickly the day flew by, I hope we can all meet up again soon. Fun and laughter with friends is the very best tonic! 

Five On Friday - Wedding Anniversary

I am joining with Amy from Love Made My Home to bring you this week's Five On Friday.


The highlight of my week was celebrating our 36th Wedding Anniversary on Tuesday so my five this week all relate to that day.


1.  First of all a comparison from our wedding day and then 36 years on (a lot more grey hairs and a lot less hair in DH's case)!!!

2.  I craftily arranged to work on Monday instead of my usual Tuesday this week so that we could enjoy a day out on our anniversary. We had intended to visit the coast but the weather at the start of the day was quite dreary so we decided on the spur of the moment that we would visit Marlborough as it is somewhere we have driven through on many occasions and never really stopped to explore. Marlborough is famous for having the widest street in England and has some gorgeous shops not to mention Miss Polly's tearooms where we enjoyed coffee and cake (well cake for one of us and it wasn't me)! It is quite difficult to get decent photos of the main street because of the amount of cars parked down the middle and on the sides of the street but the following photos should give you an idea of what it is like. I ended up spending far too much treating myself to a winter coat and top from Joules, a new handbag for work which is large enough to take my iPad as well as all the other junk I carry around with me and a Susie Watson jug to replace the one I have that has mysteriously developed a crack.

3.  When we had had enough retail therapy we decided to motor onto Avebury which is only a few miles from Marlborough. Famous for its stone circle it is now owned by the National Trust and is somewhere we haven't visited for quite a few years. Firstly we explored Avebury Manor Gardens which are magnificent. The gardens consist of nine separate 'rooms' which are all connected. Here are just a few of the photos.

4.  You can probably see on some of the above photos several pieces of sculpture. There is currently an exhibition being hosted at Avebury and there are several interesting sculptures dotted around the gardens, some of which I really liked and some I found a bit weird and didn't really understand. Here are a few of the ones that I found pleasing to look at.

§

5. By the time we had toured the gardens we were in need of some refreshments so enjoyed a light lunch before venturing out to explore the stone circle and the henge. I will start by showing you an aerial view which I have found online to give you an idea of the layout and scale of Avebury. There are several websites which detail the history of this magical place if you are interested.

We walked around the stones and around the top of the henge. I don't think anyone really knows the reason the stone circle and henge were created but it is the centre of a much larger ancient landscape with other monuments such as Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow and The Sanctuary all just a few miles away. Avebury forms part of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage site.

Although we experienced very humid and uncomfortable weather conditions we thoroughly enjoyed our special day and we will be visiting both Marlborough and Avebury again before too long.


I hope you have enjoyed my Five this week. Please do pay a visit to Amy's blog to find links to more 'Five' posts.