Watermill magics(For BW)

Today we visited the watermill at Little Salkeld near Penrith. A rainy day but we still enjoyed ourselves. We started out in Penrith itself meeting up with Cecelia for coffee and cherry scones at the Bluebell bookshop and then having a look around the market and farmers market. It was lovely to see Cecelia again and to visit the bluebell. It is quite a few years since Mr Mog and I went there. The farmers market yielded some goodies to take home. 2 ham shanks for soup, 1 of which is bubbling away as we speak in the midst of pea and ham soup. We also picked up a blackberry sage as we lost ours some time ago.
From there we meandered up to the watermill. We wanted to stock up on some of their flour and maybe to sample more soup for a late lunch. The cafe was empty so we had lunch first. There was a choice of tomato or vegetable soup served with several different breads. We both plumped for tomato and it was really rich and tasty.
Then from the shop 6kg of unbleached flour and 3 kg of 85% flour for our bread making. We added to this some leaf tea and a jar of borage honey. Last time we didn't have the camera so no photos . This time we came prepared. In no particular order we have:-
orchard fruits in abundance




lots of free range hens and ducks around. This one was obviously camera struck.
Elderberries are ripening nicely.
I love hidden corners and arches leading to woodland so this fit perfectly.
The mill race.
More trees, just because.

Part of the mill stream and the red bridge leads you along to see the 2 wheels.
This is the smaller of the two. This one is used for winnowing.Used to be used for oats but not for past 150 years.
Notice all the ferns growing around.
This gate leads to the bigger wheel
You can just see it peaking through. Not easy to photograph as the gate was locked.
Front of the mill, notice the hen?
Isn't the colour lovely with the trees?
Hens were in here last time we came, but all out and about today.
Here is our friend again.

Upstairs in the mill, Mr Mog went up to take these.
And again,still upstairs.
Just look at these lovely stones outside.

Entry to the mill itself

Downstairs,



Hope you enjoyed the brief views of the watermill, a great place to visit if you are up in Cumbria.

The dyed yarns and Noro sock yuck:(

I thought you might like to see the yarns I dyed now they are dry. I am so pleased with them and I'm looking forward to knitting with them.



Firstly a group picture, just because
This is a mix of tan brown and chestnut brown and is for the October solid sock KAL. The yarn was a gift from Laal Bear:)
This is for the November solid sock KAL and is a mix of buttercup yellow and acid yellow. Yarn is BFL/tencel from Andy. So silky and I haven't knit with tencel before.

This yarn was gifted by Cae and is for the December solid socks. The colour is a mix of scarlet red and intense red.

This is from Andy also and is BFL. This isn't for any theme but just because:) I love variegated and these colours were just waiting for me to chose them. A mix of turquoise, vivid violet and cerulean blue. Isn't it lovely and strong? I'm calling this deep waters.
I really loved creating my own colour choices and I'll be interested to see how these knit up over the next 3 months.

Then we have a complaint.



This is Noro sock yarn, gifted for my hospice socks. I knit up to the heel start and all the way I could see brighter colours . As you can see I haven't yet started on them, not that that is a problem. It is part of the excitement of using Noro yarns. My complaint is that in that short distance to the start of the heel, the yarn has snapped or been broken 3 times. Yes 3 times I've had to spit join. It also goes from one thickness to another which normally wouldn't be a problem, but when the 2nd thickness is actually like sewing cotton that isn't good for knitting.
I'm glad I tried it as I do love Noros colours, but I won't be knitting with it again.
Oh and another thing is that it doesn't run smooth across the needles, you almost have to push and pull it which makes it hard on the hands for knitting. And it is incredibly coarse and rough to the touch. Now I know many folks have said that improves when you wash it. That's fine but I for one don't want to have to skein the yarn, wash it, reskein it all before I knit. Would you?
I do appreciate being given the opportunity to try it, I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I'm just giving my honest opinion.
Full moon today and Autumn Equinox is almost upon us. A time of harvest but also a time to let go and make space in your life for something else to come in. That can be on all levels, not just by spiritually letting go. It can also be clearing things in the home, an autumn cleaning to allow space for creativity and new happenings.
I've been sending some stuff out as Raks and I'm clearing old books I know I won't want to read again.
All helps:)

Fireworks,the moon and coloured yarns.

Yesterday was a great day for colours and the moon We haven't had such a gorgeous sunset and sky for what seems like weeks now. First off all the moon came out on view and she was closely followed by the sunset. Bear in mind these were just taken from the garden in the middle of an estate. It had crossed my mind to go down to the beach with Mr Mog but as I'd had a bad day I decided not to.
I love the mix of electric lights and sunset here.
Then as part of the towns seaside festival there were fireworks and once again pictures are from the front of the house over roofs. I think Mr Mog did well to get them as clear as he did.
They certainly brightened the night sky.
As I'm writing this there is the sound of old planes going over. All part of the seaside weekend. Mr Mog said he thinks we've had spitfires and a wellington. I saw planes:) Not well up on types but the sound was glorious yet frightening. Glorious for the sound old engines make,frightening because from a very young age I've dreamt of planes and air raids. All that even though I wasn't born until the early 50s. Race memories or previous life? All I know is that old planes trigger something.
I sometimes walk a fine line between sanity and despair when memories come back. Guess we all do to some extent.
Answering comments and emails, yes I have a copy of the White Goddess, it is very battered and the cover is off it but I've read it and consulted it many times since my nan gave it me in 1962, this edition was published(according to its roman numerals) in 1961. Just looking at it now it opened at the battle of the trees and I'm reminded of the song of the same name by Rush which I love:) I'm still thinking over the film Zeitgeist and what my feelings are, what I believe. It has made me reassess and that is good. I think sometimes it is easy to sink into complacency and live life by auto pilot. For me getting out of auto pilot and enjoying each day for what it is, is important. I don't always succeed but I try. I realised I had lost some of my mindfulness and awareness with the stuff that has been going on, both for me and for Mr Mog. I woke this morning with joy and a silly head on me so I've been making the most of it. We had a look at the car boot, first time in months. I found a jam pan for £1, perfect for dyeing in.

I finished the orange Irn Bru socks last night and here you see them sunning themselves amongst the daisies.

Don't they look cheery?
Then they hung around in the tree with the pumpkin but it is too early for Samhain.
Close up of the eye of peacock heels:) I really enjoyed using a solid colour for a change. In fact it inspired me so I decided to dye the next 3 months suggested colours.
Browns for October
Gold/yellow for November
Red for December.
Oh and as I am still much taken with variegated I did a skein with vivid violet, cerulean blue and turquoise. Just because I could:)) That is my favourite up to now, however once skeined or wound into a ball and knit I may just change my mind:)

Yellow is hidden a little, but notice the jazzy gloves? Didn't want to dye my hands. We also made another batch of fizz bombs for the bath . The house smells delightful because I decided to use patchouli oi to perfume them.
Oh and Mr Mog re hennaed my hair yesterday so I'm amber once more:)
Phew think we are up to date:)
Oops no, I've started a sock in the Noro sock yarn and so far, so good. I love the colours, murky mud going into purples on the cuff. But there are promises of brighter showing further into the skein so watch this space.

Zeitgeist, otherwise known as I've been thinking

Has anyone seen the movie Zeitgeist? A friend rang me last night and sent me the link. I've watched it today and found it very disturbing and also very affirming in some ways.
Not easy to watch as flashing images ,never mind content, can make my head spin.
I'll backtrack first:-
From a very young age , I'd say early teens, I've wanted to do some kind of comparison or correspondence tree to map out the links and similarities between various gods, goddesses and religious figures. I've never got round to it. I've done some research and I've done some linking but you know how it is, life intrudes.
I've always known that various figures have the same attributes, different pantheons corresponding with each other. This movie goes into my early beginnings and goes further. It disturbs me and I don't like that. I think I've become too mired in day to day stuff and lost sight of the bigger picture. This has made me think and that is good, it has also taken me back to my early beginnings into pagan research and for that I'm excited. I have the itch back.
But the rest of the movie disturbs me,I need to watch it again as a lot went over my head, too many facts.
Have you seen it? Any thoughts?
The second part is out on the Internet 3rd October and I'll be watching.
Bad day today, took ill in town spacey, light headed, hot sewats. A little better after eating but my head isn't where it ought to be. Think a lie down and a restful evening is in order.

Goodies from a blog friend:) 1st Solid sock finished

Yesterday Mr Mog and I went to visit a blog friend The Laal Bear. Ursula and Phil live in the village where I was born and lived until the age of 16. Not only that but they live in the next street to my first school. I'm a firm believer in listening to and seeing signs, things that appertain to what you are doing. For me signs like this are good, they reaffirm my thoughts on a first meeting. We met them at Woolfest and got on well so I was looking forward to going to visit. Like our trip to see Cecilia last week and Artis Anne several weeks ago, it was as if we had always known each other. No uncomfortable silences, no strangeness. We ended up staying for several hours and only left then I think because we had to pick up our grandson from school. Mr Mog and I hadn't realised the time. We had a gorgeous bowl of soup for lunch(well 2 bowls each actually)
We didn't come home empty handed either:)

3 skeins of yarn for me to dye

A basket to keep my yarn in as I knit, avoids it travelling round the room like it normally does. Made by Ursula.
A skein of Laal Bear hand dyed yarn, just look at those colours.
A wee selection of other yarns for me to play with:) Just look at all this treasure. I'm going to add the eyelash yarns in with mohair for shawls. The pumpkin colour and the moss green will also be shawls I think.
Thank you so much Ursula and Phil for a great day and some lovely yarns.


Then we come to this. This is my first sock for the Solid sock KAL on Ravelry. Each month there is a different colour suggestion and it has to be solid or shaded yarn no variegation. I'm going to try and dye each subsequent month's yarn but this first one I purchased as I wasn't sure how much time I'd have and how well I'd be to dye some. Oh and then there is the small matter of the current weather we are having, think rain, rain and more rain and you wouldn't be far off.
This yarn is from Ripples Crafts and the colour is Irn Bru after the Scottish drink from Barrs. It is a great yarn to knit with, very soft and a good twist on it.
Oh and notice the proper eye of peacock heel I've done. My very first.
Mr Mog is creating a shed/lean to where the greenhouse stood. That hasn't been a great success this year and as he needs space to create we have decided to turn it into a lean to. This way he cans tore stuff in there leaving the shed a little emptier to allow him to get in and work. He is totally enjoying himself and although he is shattered it is a good feeling when he knows he has done something to make him that way and it isn't just the treatment.

Finished socks

I finished Mr Mogs socks and one of the other rainbow socks. All yarn hand dyed by me:) Wow that feels good to be able to say that, my own hand dyed. Artis Anne you don't know what you have unleashed on the world showing me how to dye. you can see the different colours in the middle picture. This pair will be for the hospice I think.
I've wound the orange yarn and cast on. What a strange thing knitting in one colour, not at all what I'm used to:) They yarn is lovely and I recommend the dyer Helen at Ripples Crafts
Very speedy delivery, yummy colours and a good price.
Although of course my spending on dyed yarn will now (hopefully)decrease as I dye my own.

Oh what a wonderful time we had

What a wonderful day we had in Cumbria. Very tiring but fun none the less. We were up at the crack of dawn to enable us to visit Mr Mog's mum before she went out. Yes she enjoys going out just as much as us even though she is in her 90th year. We almost have to make an appointment to visit to ensure she will be home. As it is a 2 hour journey to her home and we wanted to be there by 9am an early start was required. The journey up was a little misty but great. Mr Mog will have those pictures on his blog when he posts them. I just clicked as we drove, like you do.
After seeing Mum we drove along the coast through Siloth,Abbeytown and to Anthorn where our friends have just moved after several years in France. The coast was a delight and the views over to Scotland misty and mysterious. We viewed the new home which overlooks the sea and then headed inland and upwards to visit Cae at Johnby. We had first met at Woolfest which Cae organised and got on very well. She had mentioned visiting her when next we went Cumbria Way and Mr Mog and I do not need asking twice:) We eventually found her after getting lost and travelling tiny country lanes in search of the house. What a lovely place it is and the room Cae works in is light and inspiring and has goats walking by the windows as you sit there. After a slice of Grahams apple cake(recipe is on the blog) and cups of coffee we exchanged gifts. Just look what I came home with:)


some undyed BFL to try and some curls from Cae's goat. Just look how curly and shiny these locks are. I'm going to add them to some other dyed locks to make a seaweed scarf.



Hand dyed for me in my colours for sure.

dyed curls for the seaweed shawl/scarf
These are for my sock blanket, bet you can't guess what colours Cae likes and coincidentally was the colour of the elemental I made her???
Then we come on to my other reason for visiting , Cae had offered to try winding the mohair i dyed using her tall swift. It took a long while, after all there are 200 grams and we did talk more or less none stop throughout.

I am so thrilled with the finished result, the colours blended so beautifully. 200 grams of kid mohair is a lot of yardage and it will make a fabulous shawl I think, watch this space..

We arrived home thoroughly tired but we had such a grand day out it didn't matter. I think its the tired days when you have done nothing and been nowhere that are worse don't you?
Then I came home to this in the mail.



I wanted to join the solid sock challenge on Ravelry. I never seem to knit in solid or semi solid colours so I decided to take the challenge. As I wasn't sure if I would get yarn dyed for this month I purchased this skein. The colour is Irn Bru after the Scottish drink.
I am going to try and dye the rest of the colours of the month myself, that for me will be part of the challenge. Not just to knit in solid or semi solid colours but to do so with my own hand dyed yarn.

Today it hasn't stopped raining all day. I've been knitting on my rainbow socks and hope to have pictures of Mr Mogs finished pair tomorrow and hopefully a finished sock for me. Both my own dyed yarn of course:))

A great hospital appointment:) Solid sock KAL

Bet that made you all look didn't it? We had to go to the hospital today for Mr Mogs 3 monthly appointment and it was great. Seen exactly on time to the minute and all good stuff. His PSA is .4 when anything up to 4 is good. They are very pleased with his progress and booked to see him in 3 months. Seems the tiredness/mood swings and breast soreness are to be endured at the moment. The breast things certainly until he stops taking the hormones but the rest hopefully will lessen as Mr Mog gets used to them.
Didn't get much done on the sock knitting with us not being there too long but for some reason I don't mind that:)
I've joined the solid sock KAL on Ravelry, I thought having to knit with one colour would be a suitable challenge for me and after all this months colour is orange so I almost had to:)
I've decided that the following months I will attempt to dye my own yarn, this month I've got some dyed by someone else as I'm not sure when I'd be able to get some dyed up in time.
Tomorrow we are off to Cumbria to see friends and to meet up with Cecilia from Woolfest. She has offered to help wind the mohair so watch this space.

Update on market post

I had a comment on my blog about my market post and my writing of it. I wasn't being a bigot to my knowledge and if I was I'm sorry it came across that way.
All the markets I go to have veg etc open and unwrapped but things such as cakes and cheese are under a cover of some sort. This market I wrote about didn't have that and had people smoking over the food which I don't call good hygiene by any means and had people sneezing and coughing into their hands then serving cakes with no gloves.The only reason I mentioned nationality was because the market was advertised as a continental market with stallholders from across Europe, no other reason.
This blog is written for me as a record of knitting I've done, day to day stuff and my hospice projects, not as a political or ranting blog although sometimes I do write what I feel. It isn't done to inflame.

Mr mog is ok

Well all the tests came back and apart from having to go for another fasting blood test next week for diabetes as he is borderline and for bone density as calcium is borderline, they can't find anything else. Doctor said there definitely isn't an alternative to these hormone pills except the injections which are far worse. Looks like Mr Mog will have to just wait for the symptoms to die down. I guess it is good in a way though as it means nothing else is wrong.
So we have decided to just enjoy ourselves and to h%%l with it:)
BTW blanket growing and this is my 600th post can you believe?