Monday 30 November 2009

Blogging in the hills

Saturday saw us return for the fourth time to Lathkill Cottage situated just outside Bakewell high up in the hills.  Hopefully we are here for the whole week this time as usually we normally only can manage a few days.  Yesterday was Nigel’s birthday and Sam our son and his girlfriend Sarah came over from nearby Sheffield where they are both at Uni and we went out for lunch with was unfortunately disappointing.  The service was really slow and unfriendly and the portions were somewhat disappointing.  I had mushroom risotto and for £10 I had a spoonful of mushroomy rice – rice being one of the cheapest ingredients around, this was served with nothing else.  Very disappointed, never mind we will try elsewhere in the week.

It is a lot colder here than in Norfolk and on Saturday night before we went to bed,I looked out of the window to see the first flurries of snow falling.  This didn’t settle and Sunday started off very wet and when we took Tillie for her morning walk the fields were extremely muddy – thank goodness I bought my wellies with me!

I have a whole box of wool, needles and patterns with me and I am enjoying knitting what I want for a change after tackling all that finishing off lately.  I have started my Autumn Log Cabin Throw, started and finished a pair of fingerless mittens for myself for dog walking, have started a secret project and also doing some Fuzzy Mitten toys.

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We are hoping that the weather stays dry today so we can go for a nice walk to Hartington after a cooked breakfast in Bakewell!

Sunday 15 November 2009

Catching up on sewing – Part 2

I am still battling away with sewing up all the projects in my FO box.  I know I said I wasn’t going to start anything else off until I had finished all the making up but I just had to try Debi Birkin's Diggerdy Dog Greyhound Pup.  I didn’t knit the trousers and knitted him in a brindle colour. 

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He has gone to his new home already!

Here are some more of the projects completed recently in my Marathon Making Up Session

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I am halfway through making up Sidney Slapstick, have 4 mini Jean Greenhowe elephants to make up, Peter Rabbit and Jean Greenhowe’s Emily Doll.  Maybe this time next week I will start that throw I am longing to make Autumn Log Cabin Throw

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Sunday 8 November 2009

Geese Galore

by Nigel - Sunday 8th November 2009

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After a morning working in the vegetable garden and Sara cooking her first roast since Christmas last, we decide to take the dogs for a walk, it being such a super autumn afternoon. We park my Morris at Somerton staithe around 3pm and follow the path skirting around Thain’s farm and alongside the canal straight dungeon river, toward but on the opposite side to Somerton drainage mill, from far off a cow lows repeatedly across the marshes. This is Wentworth Day country, the prolific author on the countryside, wildfowl and his especial delight, punt gunning. He held the tenancy for the whole area, reaching across the golden flat reed beds toward the distant Horsey Mill and beyond the Holmes to the sand dunes at Winterton and then across arable fields up Blood Hill to Martham church.

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At the little boathouse the narrow path cuts away toward Martham Broad past the dissected, managed, reed beds and as we near open water we hear the honking grey lags idly drifting in quite a raft, seeing them close up, unbothered even when Tillie splashes around on a sandy beach.

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To our left though on a flat recently ploughed sugar beet field we hear more geese, but kind of yappier and see glimpses of them through the trees as they drop down to feed, and through a gap in the hedge see surprisingly thousands, possibly even three thousand, standing shoulder to shoulder, yapping, feeding, slowly moving in one direction feeding and overall a loud humming.

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Out of the large sky, skein upon large skein appear at great height and each time the greys on Martham Broad get excited and honk even louder though it is impossible for them to see the newcomers set their paddles and glide downward, one or two even tumble and amidst all this tremendous clamour they land and begin to feed. From the odd grey standing amongst them we can see that these geese are smaller, with stumpy beaks and dark heads and slender necks, their shoulders are blue grey, I think that they are Pink Footed Geese.

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Honking loudly, the greys begin to lift off from the Broad, cross the path and also drop onto the crowded field. After some time we move on through a scrubby little wood and out onto the marshes, in a small meadow two barn owls quarter the lush grass and a herd of sheep graze contentedly until a 4 x 4 parks at the gate and two sheep dogs scamper around and amazingly up flies a peculiar small heron like bird, but smaller, with no neck, one leg is tucked up behind and one long leg trails down, it is a ‘Bottle Bump’ or Bittern, he crosses the path and on into the reed beds, a view of a lifetime.

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Our dogs are alert, out of a small grassy depression, a deer emerges, but after he takes a look at us and the sheep dogs, it slowly slinks back into cover and they don’t even know its there.

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Dusk begins to fall, odd skeins of geese cross the sky above Holmes drainage mill and suddenly in a crescendo of noise the whole of the Pinks emerge above the trees and swirl away, filling the whole sky towards Hickling. We walk back, the sugar beet field is strangely empty and quiet though the greys have returned to bob about on Martham Broad. Up at the Dungeon river we look back at the sun setting behind Holme Mill, two Marsh harriers glide on the evening air with a couple of business like cormorants crossing a flock of Lapwings fluttering and flickering over Horsey.

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Wednesday 4 November 2009

Catching up on sewing up

I am desperate to start a lovely crochet throw Autumn Log Cabin Throw but before I do I have set my self the task of assembling, filling and sewing up all the FO’s I have that have either been knitted by myself, my Mother or my friend Barbara (mostly Barbara’s work as she is a prolific knitter and it is a job to keep up with her!), that has been piling up.

In the last week or so I have put together:

Floppy Dog, Jessie's Puppy (minus the clothes!), Freddy Ferret ,3 x Tabby cats , a donkey, Monkey Jemima Puddleduck, Teddy with smock & Small Clanger

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Still loads to do including another Jemima Puddleduck, a Jean Greenhowe clown, farmer rabbit, more cats, a teddy and a Jean Greenhowe traditional doll.