Playing with yarn...

The weather has been so cold and wet that attempting a walk on crutches outdoors seems unwise, so in between wearing a track in my carpet doing laps of the living room, I have been trying to fill the time with crafty stuff. I am trying not to buy more yarn just yet, as I have a fair bit left from other projects or random  purchases, so I have made a couple of pairs of socks and am playing with a two-tone crochet pattern...

I don't usually go for just two colours but am quite enjoying the rhythm of this double/half treble pattern, which carries the colour not in use across as you crochet which seems to have two effects - it is making a nice squishy fabric and no ends to sew in - yay! I think this is heading to be a cushion but haven't quite decided yet.

Never one for just one thing on the go at a time (I get bored very quickly!), I have almost finished another pair of socks...

I love knitted socks - they last better and are warmer than any I have ever bought - but I have ended up with lots of left over bits...

...so I have been trying to decide what to do with them all. I could do more socks and mix and match but I'm a bit done with knitting for a bit I think, so have been playing with crochet ideas. Its much finer than I usually crochet with so it may try my patience but for now I'm going to make a few little squares and see how I feel.

I'm quite liking this little off centre square - can't quite decide how they will look together but will see how it looks when I've made a few!

Work in progress!

S x

seaside walking...& socks!

I've got to confess it took some internal discussion to brave the cold today and make the effort to drive up to the coast for the next bit of my beach exploration. This week has presented its own challenges and I think the 'keep things in order' bit of me needs some consistency so keeping to my self-imposed target seemed important somehow.

The next beach round the East Norfolk coast is Waxham. This is not a new one to me - I hadn't been for years but it was the haunt of my late teens. Once some of us were able to drive this was our 'go to' for evening barbecues in the dunes or on the beach. Bit of a no no now I think, the authorities are much more protective of what's left of the Norfolk dunes which have seen so much erosion over recent years. But it is the stuff of my memories and there were some happy times here, pre-children, when it was easy to get up and wander along the dunes looking for that perfect secluded spot. Somewhere, there is a rather faded photo of a few of us with big 80's hair and batwing jumpers (anyone remember those?!!) on Waxham beach.

This isn't one of the more commercialised beaches - there is no car park, so you just find a spot by the side of the pot-holed road and walk up to the ramp over the sea defences...

I think this is a lovely approach to a beach but it is what makes it something of a challenge with small children. I can remember trying to bring two toddlers and a baby here, having had to park the car at the end of the road and walk all the way back with the paraphernalia required for small people - blankets, picnic, windbreak, toys, buggy (hopeless in the sand but think we thought the baby might sleep in it!) etc etc... After a few trips like that we found alternatives for favourite family days out, so its a good few years since I'd been here.

And it is a beautiful beach. Once you go over the top of that dune ramp, this is what greets you...

Granted, the concrete sea defences are a necessary, but not especially atttractive backdrop, but the sand stretches away from you, even when the tide is quite a long way in like today. Off towards Horsey to the south east and curving round towards Sea Palling looking west...

This stretch of coastline is peppered with rocks that have been dropped to try to arrest the apporach of the sea, each marked with tall stakes in the sea.

I have been really lucky with the weather on these weekend walks and today was no different - the temperature gauge on the car said 3C but there was a bit of warmth in the bright sunshine and next to no breeze.

The breakers seemed full of light...

and we cast long shadows across the sand...

The old sea defences were wooden groynes, which have been supplemented now by these huge rocks...

I know there is good reason for them, but I can't help thinking they look a bit out of place on these beaches - there are no rocks like that in Norfolk, that I know of.

We walked along the beach to Sea Palling - as you get further along here the beach becomes a bit more shingly...

before getting more sandy again, with clear footprints from the people who come here with their furry friends...

There was a considerable range of sizes of dog, if the prints were anything to go by!

The seashore shelves away quite steeply here and we hadn't really noticed how far in the waves were coming...

...until we found ourselves hopping through wet sand to the rocks...

I'm always amazed at just how fast the sea approaches. You think you have loads of time, then suddenly its there!

Sea Palling, although not far up the coast, is a much busier resort. Not so much this time of year, but in the summer it is full of families. There is a car park, amusements, a couple of cafes and a chippie and has a much more 'English seaside' kind of feel (complete with some slightly bawdy menu signs in the style of old seaside postcards!)

It also has a lifeboat station and they were out exercising today...

I have every admiration for these crews, who often have long family histories of involvement with the lifeboats, and provide an essential service in this area where we have so much coastline. The RNLI is a charity I readily support, though today I could only empty the rather paltry contents of my purse into their bucket.

The path up to the dunes at Sea Palling takes you to a point on the Norfolk Coast Path...

This path extends the original Norfolk Coast Path long distance trail from 45 to 63 miles, with an extra couple of sections from Sea Palling to Weybourne and then on to Cromer. The original path takes you from Cromer to Hunstanton and there are plans to open a further stretch from Sea Palling in the other direction. Maybe one day, I should repeat this walk and properly do the coastal walk, as a linear walk rather than several little walks at each beach stretch. Would need to find a bit of time off work though...!

Tom couldn't resist the smell of the doughnuts from the cafe...

There is something particularly delicious about these hot, fluffy, sweet treats on a cold day at the seaside. Never quite understood why they are always sold in fours... although the fact that he managed to polish them off in record time perhaps accounts for it!

On the way back we spotted this submerged stairway...

Makes you realise how far up the sand has drifted, I wonder how much higher it will come?

We walked back along the dune ridge - it seemed much narrower than I recall and from here you can see just how close the farmland is to the sea under those open Norfolk skies...

The sun was behind the clouds by this point and had taken the temperature down with it so we were quite glad to be heading back towards Waxham's little church and the car...

I was also very glad of my latest sock knitting spell - maybe its in my mind but I'm sure these homemade woolly socks are warmer than their shop-bought counterparts...

I tried a different pattern this time and although I like them, think I will probably stick to my old trusted pattern in future, all that ribbing made these much slower. They look a bit uneven in this picture but I promise they are the same length! In fact for the first time ever I bothered to try to match the starting point so that I have (almost!) two matching socks!

On to the next pair now, with some lovely Regia wool - has become something of a therapy at the moment!

Next week, Eccles on Sea, somewhere I've driven by on numerous occasions but have never gone down to the beach, so don't really know what to expect there. If the weather is kind I might make it a longer walk and head on to Happisburgh, where there is a lighthouse that featured on Challenge Anneka many years ago...

Til then...

S x

warming moments...

Snippets of time taken to finish little projects, curled up on the sofa in the warm on these dark evenings...

A couple of little blankets for the local special care baby unit...

The appeal went out months ago and I have been very slow to get these finished but I hope they will find some use to keep teeny ones warm this winter.

A little drop of something warming in my favourite old glass, loving winter candles...

This years first pair of wooly socks, which feel a complete treat because they are a combination of a couple of leftover half balls from my yarn stash, and so warm...

I am missing bright days and time to get out and appreciate a bit of the outside world but these few simple things are a little pick me up :-)

S x

a week of two halves...

I am a bit of a cold body and the recent drop in temperature had me grumbling and reaching for woolly socks. Rapidly followed by an urge to knit more woolly socks! I'm trying to have something of a self imposed restriction of buying more wool but a rummage in the box under my bed (one of the places I have wool stashed!) turned up half a ball of sock yarn and some 4ply that I think I've had for years and years. These are only for me so I thought they'd be a reasonable enough pairing.

Had forgotten quite how satisfying knitting socks is - and if I don't get distracted (ha ha ha!) I can knock them up quite quickly.

Then, just as I had resigned myself to the idea that summer might really be over, I went up to Yorkshire to visit a friend last weekend and realised I had completely misjudged what clothes to take!

She moved to Knaresborough recently and this was the first chance I'd had to go up there. It is a really pretty place which is still decorated with yellow bikes and bunting from the Tour de France. From the Castle parks the view was lovely over the river...

...and it is close enough to the Dales to be in easy reach of beautiful countryside, even more lovely bathed in warm late summer sunshine...

We walked up to a stunning spot above a reservoir (I think it was called Ambers Crag?? Might have misremembered that!) and it was so nice to have a bit of 'up'. This is something that I do really miss walking in Norfolk - there are some lovely views, particularly at the coast, but there is truly nothing to beat that sensation of working up a bit of a sweat and getting a bit puffed to be rewarded with this...

There was very little breeze, even at the top, and we sat and ate a picnic in gorgeous warm sunshine. The heather is perhaps a little past its most vivid best but still lends a purple-pink haze to the hillside...

There is an amazing feeling of space up on top of a hill, even a relatively small one like this - I felt I could see for miles...

I took the train up rather than the drive and was very glad I had - with the exception of the tedious wait and Peterborough (sorry Peterborough, but it really is the most boring station to spend 45mins at!) the journey was easy and way more relaxing than a 4 hour drive would have been.

So Monday saw me at Knaresborough's pretty station, heading to Leeds for the trip home.

Now, I have to confess I wasn't completely sure I wanted to kill a few hours in Leeds - it's not somehwere that has even been on my 'must go to' list and I didn't have any expectation of what to find there.

But I thought it was a really beautiful city - full of lovely architecture and friendly people. And now it definitely is on my 'must go back to with a bit more time' list! I picked up a heritage trail walk at the station and sort of followed it to look at the lovely Potts clocks on various buildings around the city centre - but actually got very sidetracked by the stunning Victorian arcades...

Norwich has one, very lovely, but dwarfed by these both in size and intricacy of decoration. Quite breathtaking. I'm guessing the glass roof of this one may be more recent but the colours were so impressive, particularly with the sun streaming through...

And as for the markets...I could have spent hours wandering around in here. Hall after hall full of colourful displays - I honestly think you wouldn't need to shop anywhere else if you lived here! I saw pretty much everything form household electrical goods, to beautiful displays of fresh fish, from yards and yards of cloth to bakery goods and fresh fruit and veg...

I had the nicest Eccles cake ever for 55p and couldn't resist just one ball of wool... Well I had to, it was half the price of even the market yarn stall in Norwich! 

A bit more wandering took me up to Leeds Minster...

...and then I stumbled across a tiny coffee shop on the way back, for a caffeine top up and briefly rest my legs and scan the map (though I have to say it was a bit dark in there - my poor old eyes are not fab in dim lighting! Makes me feel a bit ancient when I have to peer at the small print!). Good coffee though!

Just time for a walk via the beautiful civic centre buildings...

...and a spot of lunch 'al fresco' outside the art gallery...

...before heading back to the station for the train home. Fair to say, was completely taken with Leeds. 

And...it was still summer in Yorkshire!

Bliss.

S x