Walmington on Sea

Posted on March 12, 2015 by The Little Room of Rachell

Today we parked at Bridlington’s North Beach and walked along looking for sea glass. We had a little bag of mostly green pieces by the end, but unusually I’d found zero! My sea glass spotting skills seem to have deserted me, mind you I’ve never thought my beanie would blow off before!

We decided to walk up to Bridlington Old Town after asking directions. When someone says it will take 15-20 minutes to walk, you often find it’s more like 10 as they’re drivers and it’s a guesstimate. This time she was definitely right, it might have even been 30, and it was uphill all the way.

What a nice old High Street, imagine it without cars and it’s perfect.

We knew that Dad’s Army has been filmed here recently, isn’t it perfect for the fictional Walmington on Sea High street? Look what’s been left…

For a fan of the oldie but goodie tv programmes this week is turning out to be a delight! But wait there’s more…

Initially I was horrified that they would remake such a classic but now after today’s sights, and hearing who is in the film I am looking forward to seeing it. The helpful lady also said there is a Facebook page with photos of the actors and the filming, if you’re interested.

After another day of lots of walking I’m going to carry on with some hooky now. I had a slow start this morning sitting in the sunshine…

Just look at those scrummy colours. It’s beautiful yarn isn’t it?

Yorkshire wins

Posted on March 11, 2015 by The Little Room of Rachell

On our way up to Yorkshire we met my cousin and family for Sunday lunch and she gave me this box of freshly laid eggs from her hens. Aren’t they pretty colours? The labelling on the box made me laugh. I think there might be a lucky rooster in the mansion!

On the way up I’d checked my emails and had that heart stopping email titled ‘We have news about your lottery ticket.’ It wasn’t a life changing amount, but £25 is good pocket money. I treated myself to a ball of Marble Chunky I’ve admired for ages because I love the colours, and the new Simply Crochet.

As a fan of Last of the Summer Wine I was delighted on Monday to see some of the haunts of Foggy, Compo and Clegg in Holmfirth, with Trish of Made by Patch. We’ve emailed and sent little packages to each other for over three years, since we began our blogs, so it was fab to finally meet.

The weather was very wet and gusty, to say the least, so it was good to have lunch and drip dry after our mini tour. This is my ‘Dirty Burger’ from The Old Bridge pub, it was delicious. Obviously you’ll see I went for the healthy option!

We mooched around a few yarn shops and both bought marble chunky. Then we browsed in a secondhand bookshop which is tucked away in one of the narrow lanes. Holmforth is built up the sides of the Holme valley so has many steps and winding alleys, it’s a great place to explore.

Meanwhile, the Mister was fishing at Scout Dike reservoir where a class of 8/9 year olds and 4 adults came upon him and watched him bring in a second rainbow trout with lots of wows. One little lad said “My Dad fishes up here but he never catches owt!”

Yesterday the weather couldn’t have been more different; it was around 15 degrees and so warm that we ended up taking off our coats for part of the circular costal walk we did from Flamborough to North Landing, to Flamborough Head and back around to the village.

After the 8.5 mile walk I really felt I deserved my pint mug of tea and chocolate. Today we’ve walked 5.5 miles. I’m keeping a record so I can see how far we’ve walked by the end of the week.

I had a brainwave about the trout on Monday night, and so today met up with someone else. That story is for next time…

Knitted slouchy beanie

Posted on December 12, 2013 by The Little Room of Rachell

During the last couple of evenings i’ve been knitting a beanie

I used this basic beanie knitting guide from Kirsten but have adapted it by making a slouchy beanie and you can see that I’ve ribbed my hat brim. Next time I’d do a double rib of k2, p2 for an even stretchier brim.

I’ve used up the rest of the marble chunky, that you’ll recognise from other makes, with 40cm long 6mm circular needles. It’s a fast way to knit a hat. Of course you can also use straight needles and sew a seam.

Basic slouchy beanie pattern

::Cast on 80 stitches
::Rib (k1,p1) until the band is as thick as you like
::Stocking stitch around (actually on circular needles you just knit every round and the SS stitch magically appears. I love that!)
::Keep knitting until the hole appears well above you head. If you want a regular beanie then stop when it’s just past the top of your head
::Knit 8, knit 2 tog around. Repeat for the round.
::Knit the next round
::Knit 7, knit 2 tog around. Repeat for the round
::Knit the next round
::Knit 6, knit 2 tog around. Repeat for the round
::Knit the next round
::And so on until you have 16 stitches left. You could change to DPNs or use the magic loop method with circulars like I did when the going gets tough because of too few stitches
::Knit 2 tog, repeat for the round (8 stitches left)
:: Knit 2 tog, repeat for the round (4 stitches left)
::Cut the yarn, run the tail through the remaining four loops using a darning needle, darn in the ends. Make hot chocolate with marshmallows and drink while wearing your beanie.

First circular hat!

Posted on December 5, 2013 by The Little Room of Rachell

I’m pretty pleased with this hat. It’s very stretchy and warm. As the title says it’s my first on circular needles. Just getting the correct 40cm cable with the right 6mm short tips was a little time consuming. 40 cm cable is so short it needs 10cm Symfonie KnitPro needle tips to be useable, rather than the standard interchangeable circular set. Mine look pretty short to me, but are 12.5cm. I got there in the end despite being rather fuzzy about it all. But this was, I freely admit, a #firstworldproblem !

I used yarn left over from my crochet Seashell Scarf and Cabled Owl Jar Cosy mainly because it’s the only chunky I have. It’s Marble Chunky by James C. Brett by the way. Cheap and very cheerful. I do like the variegated colours and the stripy effect near the ribbing.

How differently the colours look in this photo! It’s the shifting light. Scotland has 100 mph winds today and the north of England is also suffering. Traffic news is full of lorries blown over on roads. Down south we just have a blustery day with very grey skies.

This Slouchie Beanie pattern designed by Tanis Gray is available free on Ravelry. I first saw the hat on Hannah’s Not Your Average Crochet blog. Mine has a mistake or so well, technically it’s got many more than one or two I think, but you can only really tell if you look inside and who would be rude enough to check and scrutinise? The first of anything using a completely new technique is unlikely to be perfect. If I knit another I would try to make it slouchier as it’s not really very, but I’m more likely to surf for different patterns as I like to try new projects all the time. If you have a good recommendation please let me know.