Walking and Spinning { not at the same time :-) }

After yesterday's deluge of rain this morning was glorious so me and Papa Bear had a lovely walk along our favourite railway walk .According to folklore if there's a lot of berries on the bushes and trees in Autumn it's going to be a hard Winter. Judging by the amount of hips , haws etc on the bushes along this walk the saying could be true. They are all heavy with fruit like these haws on the Hawthorn bush
Papa Bear and Meg going into the tree lined walk . It looks like a cave .

patches of sunshine breaking through the canopy

This Rowan was green a couple of weeks ago .

Coming out into the sunshine.

This was taken coming back and is the other side of the first pic of the walk .

The postie brought this ,this morning. It's a Jumbo Flyer for my spinning wheel . as the name suggests it's big . The bobbins can hold up to 200grms of yarn . Now i can ply 100 grms instead of just 50.

See the difference . The bobbin on the left is a standard one . Papa Bear fitted it to my wheel.

These are the singles on the Lazy Kate ready for plying .

Coming along nicely.

Two hours later. 100grms /318 yds of Hand Dyed ,Hand Spun , Blue Faced Leicester.

I am well chuffed . Being able to ply 100grms all at once saves a bit of time . All I have to do is spin 50grms of each of the colours I want to ply and away I go .

I truly love spinning . It's so relaxing and I just drift off into a world of my own .

Wonderwool Part2. The people.

This is part two of my Wales Blog and these are some of the people I met .This Andy the Alpaca buyer. He supplies me with all my gorgeous yarns that I dye. He's very helpful to micro businesses like mine and I don't have to give him bank breaking orders.

This Prudence Mapstone . She comes from Australia and makes the most stunning clothes using freestyle crochet . This photo does not do the purple coat justice.


These girls where my favourites. Raggedy and Wench . They made all these fabulous clothes , most where recycled . Made me yen for my Hippy days.

Last of all Papa Bear. Loads of people took his photo over the weekend . I think it was a bit of a novelty seeing a man knit but most people said they thought it was cool he wasn't afraid of knitting in public . He belongs to a group on Ravelry called S.M.A.C.K. ( Straight Men Also Crochet and Knit ) At the moment he is knitting baby clothes for the Neo natal Unit at our local hospital. Last instalment tomorrow ..............

A Grand Day Out .

Our Grand Day out to York on a steam train started at 7-15am on our local station . We had to go to Preston to pick up the main train. It was supposed to leave Preston at 8-00 a m but there where several unknown delays . It didn't turn up till 8-35 a m.Papa Bear on the Station.
We found our seats and settled down ( please note DH is smiling )and waited for the train to pull out . It didn't leave till 9-05 am . The time when it should have been leaving Carnforth. We finally got to Carnforth at 9-30 am where the diesel engine was replaced by the steam locomotive. We finally got on our way at 10-20am . Rather late .

1960's carriage
The journey was great . The smells and sounds brought loads of memories back of train journeys when I was a child . We used to listen to the sounds of the wheels going "Eyenimanoosh" as we rolled along .

On the way up to Hellifield to pick up water.

Which took longer than expected so bit more delay. It was a good job I took my knitting. We were enjoying it though. The weather was fine and the fields where full of sheep with their new lambs . We followed the Leeds Liverpool Canal for quite a way and there were a few narrow boats out.

This is the engine that got us to York . We ended up arriving 2 hours late so our planned four hour look round York was condensed to just over an hour. So we had a quick look round and got some bits and something for tea and went back to the station. It was no good bothering and after all we had mainly gone for the train journey.

York Minster

Street Musician In Petergate

The Shambles

Carnforth Station By night. Scene of my favourite film Brief Encounter.

We were supposed to set off back at 4-15pm but it was 4-45 pm

but it was 4-45 pm. Don't know why. made quite good time to Hellifield to pick up water but again a delay . Some of the carriages were having trouble with the lights keep going out so they fixed that.

We finally got back to Preston at 9-45 pm and as you can see Papa Bear was knackered . Our connection to home had gone so we had to get a taxi. Luckily a guy I knew was on the same trip and we shared the taxi home to cut expences.

It was a very tiring day and not being able to spend much time in York was a dissapointment and took the edge off our birthday trip but the journey on the old train was great .

So it was more of a Grandish Day Out.

Today is Mothers Day and three of my four have been to see me with cards and gifts . The fourth rang me up to say flowers were on the way. He's the one in Somerset and i saw him last week when he came up for the birthday meal .

Last day of February

Last day of February . Leap Year Day when tradition has it that ladies can propose to men. Do people still propose marriage? I mean do they still go down on one knee and say " Will you marry me " all nice and romantic ? Papa Bear proposed to me in the back of a taxi so he couldn't kneel down but he did propose properly. One of my nephews took his girlfriend to New York and proposed to her at the top of The Empire State Building . Now that's romantic . But having said that ,they have lived together for the past five years so I suppose it was a forgone conclusion they would get married.

What ever happened to courting ? When you would walk out with someone for several months before you brought them home for tea to meet the family . Then after a while the proposal , engagement and subsequent saving to get married . Nowadays they move in with each other after a few weeks never mind a few years . I think our way was best. Ah well!!

As you can see i've been busy. This is the end result of two weeks work . Lots of knitting bags and big patchwork pocket bags, which I will be selling at the Fairs. I've still got ten more big bags to do but they are all cut out ready.
I've also been knitting . These are " Graaaandmaaaa can you knit me some jazzy socks for netball " request from my eldest Grandaughter. Well I think they fulfill the jazzy . They didn't take long either , just three nights.

These are for me . L to R Alpaca / Merino . Merino /Tencel . Blue Faced Leicester .
I've just treated myself to some Birkenstock sandals and a Pair of Crocs so I think they will look great for the Summer . Not the usual things for a nearly Pensioner but who cares.
Tomorrow me and DH are going on our "Grand Day Out " to York . It's our special birthday treat to us . I'm really looking forward to it . We are going on a Puffer Train with refurbished 1960' s carriages . It's a four hour journey so I will be taking taking my knitting ,socks i think , as they will fit in my bag . There's a thought "Railway Socks ".