We returned from England on Wednesday evening at 10 p.m. —about 5 a.m. Thursday in England— and I have been busy ever since. The laundry has all been done, and I have had an emergency dental appointment to fix the tooth that broke about 10 days into the trip. (It’s not a very exciting story: the back corner of a rear molar came off while I was eating a piece of bread, and if there was emergency dental care available in the area, I was unable to find it so I booked an appointment with my own dentist by email.) David has replaced the pump on our high efficiency furnace so that we can run it without having to bail out a basin of water every hour. Groceries have been bought and some meals have been prepared. (Apparently we still remember how to cook.) I have caught up on some email things that couldn’t be taken care of while I was travelling and downloaded all my pictures. (This was nothing like the same undertaking it was for David who has about 2000 images to deal with.)
I finally got back to doing a little actual work yesterday afternoon. I started testing layouts for some of the components of the large piece I began working on before our holiday.
I did a layout of the connector piece which I will test out tomorrow.
The part is not exactly square, providing a little extra room at the middle so that the completed work can be folded after assembly.
I also started playing with bits of the textile images and the Chagall painting which will appear in some of the centre squares.
I hope to have a lot more to show by next Sunday!
In travel news:
I wasn’t able to post travel pictures for the past two Sundays due to weak/slow/intermittent/non-existant wifi signals, so what follows is a little taste of the final part of our walking holiday.
For those interested in lettering:
A street sign in Penrith where we had a wait between buses while moving from Buttermere to Ullswater.
A township border marker built into a wall near Sharrow Bay, Ullswater.
Now for some scenery.
Buttermere. The day had been lovely as we crossed Sty Head Pass —sty is Cumbrian for ladder— from Wasdale to Buttermere, but there seems to be a rule that walkers must arrive wet at new accommodations, so the rain started about ten minutes before we got to our hotel.
Ferry service resumed (briefly) on Ullswater after Storm Callum. (We walked to the shore of the lake and back in the storm, and what would normally be a pleasant little stroll was a major effort in the wind even though we were sheltered behind a wall for much of it.) This picture was taken near Howtown Pier.
The view from our bedroom window at dusk at Crookabeck Farm B&B in Patterdale on our last evening in the Lake District.
If I have whetted your appetite for images of the Lake District, you can satisfy any lingering hunger for more of the same by visiting Lakeland Cam.
Tony Richards posts a daily set of pictures, usually of the Lake District, with occasional forays into Scotland or across the Yorkshire Dales to Whitby.
In textile news:
The textile arts have a long and ongoing tradition in the Lake District.
An embroidered map of a route from Ullswater up the hill to St. Peter’s Church, Martindale. The piece is hanging in the church itself. (The light was terrible.)
These kneelers were two of many in the Church of St. James, Buttermere.
This embroidered picture hangs on the wall of the upstairs landing in Howtown House, part of the Howtown Hotel.
There was, of course, knitting during the trip. It was a pleasant way to spend the evening after a long day of walking, and a good way to pass the time inside while Storm Callum passes through. I took four balls of hand-plied silk with me. I miscalculated slightly on the amount needed, so I have plied and washed more since coming home. When it is dry, I will complete the shawl.
We spent a day (one of the few really rainy ones) in Keswick. The outing included a trip to Derwent Pencil Museum —a tradition for us when we are in the area— and I bought some German-manufactured Patagonian merino wool at Needles and Pins to get me through the trip. I decided to try some Domino knitting/mitred squares with it. Here’s what it looks like so far.
Because David likes our trips to have a theme or destination, this bundle of first clip Herdwick wool was waiting for me at Crookabeck Farm.
Here are a couple of David’s photos of the actual sheep the wool came from. The pictures were taken the morning we left and, yes, that is frost on the grass.
The hoggs (first year sheep) have recently been to a show, so their backs still look a bit reddish as it is traditional to add red pigment to the fleece when the sheep are exhibited. The Herdwick breed has bookish connections, as it was saved largely due to the efforts of Beatrix Potter. You can read more about Herdies here.
I have already selected several possible knitting patterns for the yarn, but since there’s no rush, I am still looking on Pinterest. ; ]
In book arts news:
Marcia Reed has written an article about a collaborative artists’ book, The Philosopher’s Stone. The book was created by Daniel Kelm and Barbara Fahrner.
The post includes a video of the book as well as still pictures. The full article is here.
I had a pleasant surprise addition to my English travels. We spent one full day in Oxford before returning home. When Robert Bolick realised that I was in England, he contacted me and we were able to arrange to meet at The Bodleian Café in the Weston Library. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and found Bob to be just as thoughtful and entertaining as he is on Books on Books. If you haven’t read Bob’s posts before, you might start with his recent review of The Art of the Fold by Hedi Kyle and Ulla Warchol.
Byopia Press 