By Helen

illuminating York…

Each year at the end of October York holds an illuminating festival.  This festival is a city wide event, where artists project light shows on to various historic buildings: making them look even better than usual.  Si and I went around for a look, and I took my camera so that you can come along to.

We wondered over to Clifford's Tower (the one that looks amazing all year round), where projections were inspired by more Viking kings ; Sweyn Forkbeard and his son Cnut the Great, who both influenced York’s history…

We went to the York Museum Gardens, where the projection was onto the Yorkshire Museum.  The project told the story of Viking king Eric Bloodaxe…

Next we went to the Memorial Gardens, where there were the most fantastic fire sculptures…

Perhaps my favourite element of the event was at York Minster (yes I am biased as I both work and volunteer at the Minster).   The Minster had invited street artists; Inkie, Squirl, CBloxx and Neil Ennui to paint four large canvases, and on light boxes, over the four nights.  The artists took inspiration from the Minster…

Local schools had been invited to decorate lanterns, which were hung from the advent wreath…

People were invited to light a candle, in the Chapter House, in remembrance.  The candles were placed grow into a large, beautiful spiral, creating a very special atmosphere for All saints and All Souls days…

I hope you enjoyed the festival?  York is beautiful all year round: just sometimes it is more beautiful than ever!

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Thanks to Si who took the picis at York Minster (I was busy working)!

 

lovely, lovely Lake District….

Si and I decided to go away for a few days and visit the Lake District.  It was lovely: just lovely.  To be outdoors in amazing country-side: at a time when the trees were beginning to turn crisp and Autumnal.  I know the Lake District very well, having lived there for four years, while I studied at university in Ambleside.  We decided not to stay in Ambleside, but the small village of Coniston, where I spent childhood holidays…

Coniston was the perfect base for exploring.  We visited Tarn Hows…

John Ruskin’s home Brantwood…

Beatrix Potter’s home Hill Top…

Saw the watering-can, that Peter Rabbit fell into…

We walked, and walked and walked though beautiful woodlands…

Seeing amazing waterfalls…

Not to mention the visits to tea-rooms and pubs: if you find yourself in Coniston, make sure you try the beer from the local brewery -  it's fantastic!  The perfect Autumnal break…        

Yarndale…

Last Saturday I went to Yarndale…

Yarndale was the very first festival of, er yarn, all things yarn related to be held in Skipton.  Skipton is a lovely little market town in the Yorkshire Dales, it is where Si indulged in some re-enactment, a few years ago.  Yarndale was very, very, ve-ry, ve-RY, VERY, popular to say the least.  There were people everywhere; all looking at the wonderful things on sale.  There was also amazing craft from some very talented artists, who had things on sale and had well-and-truly yarnbombed the whole entire place…   

You could tell that everyone had a wonderful time…

Here’s hoping for a second Yarndale: it would be a shame not to..

on our holidays…

 

It seems like a long time since I last posted to you.  We’ve been away on our summer jollies.  We’ve been somewhere with beautiful blue sky and seas…

We’ve been somewhere with beautiful long deserted sandy beaches…

Any ideas where we’ve been?  No, ok I keep on with the clues.  We’ve been somewhere where castles dominate the skyline, making amazing silhouettes…

With the long sandy beaches and the blue sea and sky we could have been anywhere, some far flung island.  The castles are the give-away, that we stayed much much closer to home.  We’ve been to Northumberland.  Just a couple of hours up the A1, from York and you arrive at one of the most wonderful, relaxing places I know. 

I feel like I have had a proper holiday, a long relaxing, chilled out break. Our days were filled with late breakfasts, slow walks around castles and gardens, long leisurely evening meals followed by long walks along the beach: with the occasional pause for afternoon tea…

I have come home truly refreshed.  I can’t wait to share with you some of the picis that I took at the Alnwick Garden (I took soooooo many: but don’t worry I wont bore you with them all) I think that I will remain inspired for a good few months to come. 

 Ps – back to crochet for the next post…

Pps - Happy, hapPY, HAPPY, Yorkshire Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

walking in the countryside…

Are you enjoying the lovely sunshine?  I certainly I am.  The only down-side to all this sunshine is that crochet takes a back-seat, as I want to be out and about.  Si and I decided to really enjoy the sunshine and go on a long walk.  Well six miles: quite long for us – I don’t know about you?  It is a walk that we have been meaning to do for a long time, but somehow have never got round to it.  Like out visit to Birmham Rocks we’ve been meaning to go for eleven years now: but somehow never got round to it.  Tut-tut to us.   The sun was shining, we were up and about so we decided to do the walk from Helmsley,  a beautiful market town nestled in North Yorkshire, to Rievaulx Abbey and back again.   Naturally I took my camera, so you can come along with us…

The walk started in Helmsley, I can’t stress just how lovely Helmsley is, if you can visit it: do.  It has everything; tea-shops, antique shops, pubs, bookshops, charity shops, a wool shop, a brilliant Friday market, even a castle…

After walking away from the castle, we found ourselves in dappled shade of woodlands full of wild flowers…

Passing by a gentle meandering steam…

With beautiful a bridge spanning the stream…

Baby geese enjoying the steam and sunshine as much as us…

After an hour or so of pottering along, we were treated with a view of our destination…

Arriving at Rievaulx Abbey we treated ourselves to a light lunch in the tea-room then spent a happy couple of hours wondering around the Abbey..

After that we made our way back along the same path to Helmsley.  We both really enjoyed the day and are now planning lots more walks.  It really is good for the soul to be out and about!  I can’t wait…

crochet and cream tea…

We’ve been away; we’ve been to Cornwall to stay with Si’s parents.  Last time we visited, we had just started remodelling our home.  This time it was lovely to visit without the phone going every half hour with the builders telling us of the new problems he had found.  We were soooooo lucky with the weather, it was cold but dry – which suited me just fine.  I thought you might like to see a few of picis?  Ready?

Woodlands full of Bluebells…

Woodlands full of Wild Garlic…

Wondering around one of the woodlands, I came across this yarn bombed tree…

Beaches full of pebbles…

Lots of time for cream teas…

My father-in-law tells me that I made my cream tea, wrong.  Sorry P!  Apparently putting the cream on first is the Devon way of doing things.  Who knew that the placement of jam and cream could be so controversial?  I hope I haven’t offended anyone?  It's just the way I like it!

Lots of time in the evening for crochet…

A lovely, lovely short break in Cornwall! 

wonderful, wintery, Winchester…

Sorry that there hasn’t been a post this week: Si and I have been away.  We’ve had a wonderful week in Winchester.  Winchester is the most loveliest of cities: and could even give York a running for my top city award.  Everything about our holiday was fab-u-lous : the hotel, the food, even the weather.  The weather was perfect mooching weather: cold, crisp and clear.  This meant lots of wondering around looking at the beautiful city; punctuated with visits to coffee-shops for winter warm-ups!  I took lots and lots and lots of picis, so I thought I’d share with you just a few of the highlights…

Wonderful Winchester by night…

Healthy holiday breakfasts, thanks to the amazing Café Monde…

Like everywhere, Winchester had soooo much rain that the Cathedral Crypt was flooded, making the sculpture by Antony Gormley looked even more impressive…

Beautiful stained glass by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones…

A quick visit to the amazing artist studios and craft shop, at the Colour Factory…

A day trip to Salisbury Cathedral…

Everything about Winchester was perfect, even their street bollards…

If you are ever near Winchester I would recommend that you visit, after you have visited York, of course!

York’s very own Cat Walk…

York is a fabulous place to live, and visit, full of wonderful places to explore. York is an amazing place to spent time just wondering around, looking at the architecture and shops.  When we were looking for a grand day out, earlier this month, Si and I decided to stay in the city and do some exploring.  I should point out that we were also looking for a cheap day out.  There are lots of walks that you can do around the city, and through the years of living here, I think, we have covered most of them.  So, you can imagine our delight when we found a new way of exploring the city that was free.  That’s right FREE!  We decided to go on a Cat Walk.  All around York there are sculptures of cats…

Did you spot him: walking along the roof?  What can be better than walking around a beautiful city, looking for cats (my very favourite animal), pausing for coffee and doing it all (expect the coffee part) for free.  Here are a few of what we found…

If you want to go a cat hunt, you can pick up a map (for free) at the Cat Gallery, on Low Petergate….

Or, you can download a map HERE.  While looking for cats, Si also spotted this…

…okay, isn’t a cat, but we thought it was rather lovely!

So, if you are looking for a free activity, to while away a few happy hours, I would recommend York’s Cat Walk!  Did I mention that is was FREE!

fabric fat quarters, yarn and lots more goodies…

When I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show, at Harrogate, not only was there lots to be inspired by, there were also lots and lots and lots of lovely things to buy.  And buy is what I did.  I thought that I would share some of my purchases with you; you never know they might inspire you for Christmas presents, or for treating yourself…

Of course I bought yarn, but I also bought lots of fat-quarters, to make into fabric flower…

I love these Japanese prints, from Japan Crafts…

I loved how you use yarn and hooks to make amazing fabric pictures by Hooked by Design…

…I just hope I can remember the technique, when I start this project!  My guilty purchase was an embroidery kit from Rowandean…

 …guilty because I haven’t finished (or even started) the kit that I bought from them last year!  Ssshhhhhh!  Don’t tell Si!

A little something to make for Christmas (this Christmas)...

I finally found some flower yarn, which I had been looking for, for ages.  I can’t wait to crochet it, I think it will be turned into a scarf…

The rest of the yarn I bought will be crocheted into jumpers…

…I think that I will have enough yarn!  I think that I will have enough projects to keep me going until next year...

inspiration from the knitting and stitching show, Harrogate…

 

Yesterday me and two friends took ourselves to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate: we had the most fabulous day, I just had to share some of it with you.  Not only were there lots and lots of stalls full of goodies to buy (and we did buy) there were also amazing displays, of all types of textiles, to inspire. 

The first thing that I was drawn to was, of course, crochet art works by the very very talented Samantha Claire…

I loved her mug warmers, something I must try and crochet for myself…

I loved the purple and the flowers on this fabulous quilt…

The colours were fantastic, not to mention the work which must have gone into the quilt.  It was all, yes all, hand stitched…

Downstairs, we came across these wonderful displays.  All knitted.  All inspired by children’s stories…

These projects were commissioned by Customs House, and the North East Maritime Trust, a group of knitters and stitchers from the North East of England. 

One of the stars of the show, had to be the village…

…this had been knitted and stitched by very creative people all over the country, as part of a completion, I thought that they were all brilliants and was very glad I didn’t have to choose a winner!  Although I did love the allotments...

Of course, we didn’t just look at the displays, we shopped.  Shopped and shopped and shopped.  I’ll show you a few of my purchases in a few posts time…