Sunday last I had the privilege of travelling comfortably by train to Durham to spend some time with a dear friend from the late 1980's who I had seen very little of recently. I was also in for a treat: a walk around Durham, which I have been longing to do for a few years-
and it was SUNNY!
Suitably impressed by the cathedral and castle I was awed by the interior and loved the wood, the frescoes, the triangle carved stone decorations which looked like many layers of ric-rac along the arches.
Can you remember Harry Potter and other Hogwart's students walking along this quad?
This wood ceiling fascinated me, the new wood so plain but the OLD wood so patterned, almost like a pelt of wild fur or moire taffeta?! The older wood panels are below the newer ones in this shot. The picture should be ''clickable'' for magnification if interested.
Back outside, we had a lovely walk and I was surprised how small and compact the city-centre was. I had always thought it rather huge as the view from the train station as the train pulls into Durham is one of the towering cathedral and castle with the city below and the river curling through. A view I had seen so very many times on my way to and from Newcastle upon Tyne when at University there for 5 years. But in practice it's much smaller than York.
The rose window, with a postcard of the colours below.
The castle, student accommodation now: LUCKY
students, but suffering from subsidence...
Walking down from the cathedral to the river.
Looking back up from a bridge.
I am still very keen to find out WHAT these birds are? There were many on this weir in the river. Some all black, some black and white. Long sharp yellow beaks.
oops, window didn't load rotated to the right as planned.
This one shows the corrugated edges look or the ric rac edging as I described?
Monday morning I walked from the IBIS hotel- very bad night DO NOT stay there if you have a choice- along the walls of York to the University Biocentre. Took about an hour.
And I was extraordinarily pleased to be able to use an app which showed me the way on my phone....aaah the little joys of new toys, we don't grow up do we? I just LOVED the way the little blue dot( ME) moved along the route as I walked from red dot to green dot.
Here's the hat I made on the train journey from Haddenham to London: in just an hour!
Pattern to follow below. It's for OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD.
Am not entirely sure of the scallop edge: does it make it look like a teacosy???
This is the top of the hat without the pom pom.
And here's the scarf I made earlier- Blue Peter style- in just ONE evening. All in UK term double crochet stitches, worked in the BACK loop only.
This is the reverse side.
Pom poms are to be fixed to the ends. Here's the fab clover pom pom gadgets I use a lot. Pom Pom in Progress as it were. Lent my middle size to a student so will make the small ones this time.
HERE'S THE PATTERN:
HAT WORKED IN THE ROUND IN TREBLES AND DOUBLECROCHET
Marble comes in 200g balls and the hat used only 56 g, the scarf used 94g
6 mm crochet hook.
It's that time of year again: time to fill those shoe boxes with gifts for children not as fortunate as one's own!
Warm hats and scarves are needed as well as pencils,paper,soap,beads( for a girl), and other appropriate small toys.
I must admit I do buy the gloves/mittens to go with the above set from Thame market on a Tuesday!
The hat is finished with a simple shell border of* 5 trebles in one stitch skip 2 sts, work a dc in next st, skip 2 sts, repeat from *AND an optional pom-pom.
Made with a 6 mm crochet hook and part of a 200g ball of MARBLE CHUNKY by James Brett.
The hat used up 56 grammes and the scarf 94 g and they easily fit both a child's head and into a small child sized shoe box( from Clarks).
PATTERN: HAT
Chain3 and close with a slip stitch., work 3 chain then 15 trebles into the circle.
Chain 4 and work 1 treble 1 chain into each treble : ending with 15 trebles and a chain3 masquerading as a treble with a chain space between each.
Chain 3 and work 1 treble into the top of each treble and 2 trebles into each chain space: ending as 48 trebles( include the 1st 3 chain as a treble).Close each row with a slipst into the 3rd chain.
Continue in trebles working one into each treble and starting each row with a chain3, close each row with a slipst as before.
After 9 rows working staright without increases: change to dc as follows:
chain 1 and dc in everystitch with a sl st into the chain, repeat for 5 more rows( 6 rows of dc in total)
chain 1 and work dc in the front loop only ( to create a foldline) all the way around, sl st in ch: 48sts.
work a further 6 rows in dc as beforefinishing with a crabstitch border if desired or a shell stitch border as described at the beginning.
Make pom pom ( 35 mm) and attach to hat. Work in ends.
Fits adults as well as most children aged 5-10.
In the photographed hat I used two different colours of the yarn to add a few stripes. It can be made all from the ONE ball. Yarn available on-line from purple Linda crafts, google for information or message me. It's exceptionally soft and nice to work with as long as you have a metal hook.
SCARF PATTERN: as an oval.
Uses about 100g of James Brett Marble Chunky(mine weighs 94 g excluding pom-poms)
A 7 and 6.5 mm hook.
A pom pom maker by clover or custom- cut card rings.
Gauge not essential: my sample scarf measured 11 cm by 174 cm .
Chain 150 with the 7mm hook and change to 6.5mm hook.
Chain 1 and then work a dc into the 3rd chain from the hook, continue to the end stitch where you work 2dc in the last stitch. Do not turn, but work 2 dc in the first loop on the other side of the starting chain.
Then continue working a dc in each loop until you reach the last loop of the chain on that side. Work 2dc in the last loop and 2 dc in the dc on the other side, then continue across working in the back loop only. The back loop is the loop of the V furthest away from your body.
Continue until the last dc on that side and work 2dc in the next 2 dc, one from one side and one from the other side. You will have completed row 3 and starting row 4. Continue in this manner until the last 2 stitches in row 5 where you work 2dc in each of the last 2 dc on that side AND 2dc in each of the 2dc at the start of row 6.
From now on you increase in the 2 stitches either side of the midline at each end ( ie 4 stitches in total) making 8 dcs into these stitches. The rest is 1dc in each dc.
Complete the scarf at row 13 when about a quarter way along the side by working a slip stitch per dc in about 10 stitches , pull yarn though loop and cut yarn or if you are using pom -poms at the ends finish at an end. Sew in ends.
Make either 1 large or 3 small pompoms for the each of the ends and sew them on.
Variation 1:
Alternatively you can work the scarf as a rectangle working back and forth in either back loops only or both loops or a variation which keeps all the ‘’lines’’ on one side of the scarf.
Variation 2:
You can work the scarf as a rectangle cross-wise across by using a start chain of 24 sts and working back and forth, keeping edges straight Work as many rows as desired and finish with fringe at edge.
Well, here we are in a warm soft scarf in April?!! Actually I finished this before Easter but it IS still cold enough here in the mornings to wear it!
Details for UK residents: Use EMMA pattern as is, with a 3.5mm hook and REGIA hand-dye effect sockyarn from e.g. Hobbycraft. You'll need just over 2 balls, but only a tiny bit from the 2nd ball so you could probably make 3 scarves out of 4 balls....?!!
The stitch pattern is fun and the constantly subtly changing colours keep it interesting.
My scarf finished dimensions were: 22 cm wide and 204 cm long.
It took quite a while to do and 3.5mm is not my favourite hook size but I think it's turned out really well? Can be worn in many different ways due to the length.
