You may remember that I bought a little Christmas Robin knitting kit when I went to Bakewell Wool Gathering back in October.
It's a lovely little kit, it includes everything you need to make a Christmas Robin to hang on the Christmas tree.
The kit includes a wooden bird template, wool, a little Christmas tree charm, hanging cord and full instructions.
It's such a simple project which I completed within a couple of hours and it looks lovely hanging on my Christmas tree. Isn't he cute!
After reading, and loving, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens earlier this year, I've been looking forward to the book I was saving for December, A Christmas Carol, also by Dickens.
"A Christmas Carol is the most famous, heart-warming and chilling festive story of them all. In these pages we meet Ebenezer Scrooge, whose name is synonymous with greed and parsimony: 'Every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart'. This attitude is soon challenged when the ghost of his old partner, Jacob Marley, returns from the grave to haunt him on Christmas Eve. Scrooge is then visited in turn by three spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future, each one revealing the error of his ways and gradually melting the frozen heart of this old miser, leading him towards his redemption. On the journey we take with Scrooge we encounter a rich array of Dickensian characters including the poor Cratchit family with the ailing Tiny Tim and the generous and jolly Fezziwig.
When Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843 he fashioned an enduring gift to the world, capturing the essence of the love, kindness and generosity of the Christmas season. It is a timeless classic and the story's uplifting magic remains as potent today as when it was first published".
Of course, I already knew the story of A Christmas Carol, but I'm kicking myself now for not reading the book sooner. This is only the second book by Dickens that I've read but I'm really enjoying his writing style and the way he weaves a story peppering it with some fantastic characters. I loved this book, I know many people feel the same as they bring it out to reread each December and I may do the same myself in the years to come. I definitely want to read more by Dickens.
As you know, we're regular visitors at Lotherton and so Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas if we didn't visit their Christmas Experience event. It's grown and grown over the years and now in addition to the Festive Woodland Walk with the interactive Twelve Days of Christmas displays, and a visit to see the main man himself, there's also the opportunity to decorate gingerbread people with Mrs Claus or do some crafts with the elves.
If you look back through my blog archives during December of each year, you'll come across the posts I've previously written about our walks at Lotherton at this time of year.
Last year, I also wrote a post about The Fairy Dell, and we visited it again this year.
I decided that instead of taking you on a walk around the grounds this year, I'd take you inside Lotherton Hall itself so that you can see how it's decorated for the festive season. We passed the Lotherton Advent Calendar on the way.
The entrance looked inviting, decked out in red bows and twinkly lights. This is where Mick and I parted company as we had Archie with us. I went inside and Mick took Archie for his much anticipated walk.
The hallway looked pretty adorned with attractive swags, and garlands up the bannister. The upper floor is usually open to visitors but unfortunately, it's closed over the festive period so there's nowhere near as many rooms to view at present.
A beautifully decorated tree stands in the hallway too.
In fact, I think there's a tree in every room open to the public. This is the one in the drawing room, a different colour scheme in here.
The decorations in the drawing room represent Laura Gwendolen Gascoigne 1859-1949. She married Frederick Richard Trench Gascoigne, they inherited Lotherton Hall from his aunt and they made it their family home. They were responsible for the modern extension which incorporates the drawing room.
I'm always drawn to the portraits whenever I visit any stately home or country house. This is Laura Gwendolen Gascoigne and her eldest child, Alvary. Sir Alvary went on to inherit Lotherton Hall when his father died in 1937. He lived in retirement at Lotherton Hall and in 1968, presented it, along with the grounds, to Leeds City Council.
Another room, another Christmas tree.
The dining room is all set for dinner.
I hope you've enjoyed seeing Lotherton Hall decorated for the festive season. We visit mainly because the grounds are so lovely to walk Archie but we love following the events throughout the year too. The Christmas Experience is especially lovely if you've got children, though tickets have to be bought in advance as it does get booked up.
It was about three years ago when we booked to go and see Les Miserables at Leeds Grand Theatre. It was some time since the show had last toured and I was looking forward to seeing it. We booked three tickets so that Eleanor could come with us and thought it would make a nice treat for Mick as our tickets were for the 13th of August 2020, the night before his birthday.
.jpg)
We all know what happened in 2020, just about everything got cancelled owing to the pandemic. Our tickets were transferred to a date in 2021 and we just hoped that everything would go ahead without any further delays, but that was not to be. The show was cancelled again and a further date pencilled in.
.jpg)
It's been quite a wait since we booked our tickets back in 2019 but it was worth it. We finally got to see it last night and it was a fantastic show. We had really good seats at the very front of the upper circle so we could see everything that was happening on the stage. It was a wonderful production with fantastic stage sets and scenery, and amazing performances from the cast.
We all had a brilliant night out and in the end, it turned out to be a lovely pre Christmas treat.
I always used to feed the birds in our old garden. We had quite a selection which visited, sparrows, starlings, blue tits, coal tits, chaffinches, goldfinches and many more besides. There didn't seem to be many different birds other than sparrows which visited our garden here when we moved earlier this year but, as we did at our old house, we've offered a selection of different seed and we've seen a wider variety visiting over the months. There's now greenfinches, great tits and a little robin, amongst others.
Our new house is on the very edge of open countryside so I had a sneaky feeling that we might be able to lure some different birds to our garden from those we saw at our old house. The birds there weren't all that keen on peanuts but we've offered them here, along with mixed seed and sunflower hearts and it's definitely done the trick, we now have woodpeckers which visit regularly.
This is a great spotted woodpecker, I know it's female as it doesn't have a red patch on the nape of its neck, but we've seen a male on the feeder too. Just look at that beak.
Of course, the other birds aren't keen on the woodpeckers visiting, they have to queue up and wait for their turn at the feeder.
I could watch the birds all day long, I love seeing them come and go. Do you feed the birds in your garden?
I'm on a roll. I've managed to double the number of pairs of socks I knit last year. Okay, I know I only managed one pair last year and these latest socks make the grand sum of two pairs knitted this year, but I do believe that my knitting mojo is returning.
Petunia Dursley's Doublet Eyelet Socks pattern by Erica Lueder is a favourite pattern of mine, I've used it a couple of times before and I like the effect the double eyelet pattern gives, it's so pretty. I deviated a little from the pattern, I made shortie socks, more akin to trainer socks, rather than socks with a longer leg, and I also substituted the heel the pattern called for and knit a Fish Lips Kiss Heel by Sox Therapist instead.
The yarn I used was some West Yorkshire Spinners I had left over in stash from another project in the Mojito colourway. I used Chocolate Lime for the heels.
I've been knitting up a few dishcloths, I much prefer knitted ones than any you can buy, and there's quite a few projects I'm ready to start in the new year. Yes, my knitting mojo has definitely made a comeback.
It was the annual switch on of our small town's Christmas lights on Friday. We used to take Daniel and Eleanor when they were young, and Mick and I went on our own back in 2016. We've missed a few years so I thought it was time we went along again. Daniel and Jasmine came with us this year, I think Eleanor and Jacob might have come too if it wasn't for the fact that Eleanor was rehearsing with her amateur dramatics group, it's almost time for the show to start and she's playing the lead part in Sleeping Beauty this year.
The whole Main Street is closed off to traffic and the festivities start at 5pm. We didn't go that early so I don't know what other entertainment was on the stage, but we were in time to see Santa Claus and the Leeds Rhinos mascot, Ronnie the Rhino, having a dance off.
At other times, Santa was dishing out gifts to children.
It's such a lovely community event for people of all ages. The local businesses get involved too and I love to see how all the independent shops decorate their windows. This is the local florist's window.
The market stalls were set up all day and there was a good mix of things on offer, mulled wine and hot chocolate being sold on one stall, children's toys on another. There were candles and wax melts, cakes and sweet treats, Christmas baubles, all sorts of things.
There was something for the daredevils too, this High Roller ride was set up in the car park and there were plenty of takers, though you wouldn't catch me on anything like that.
Ah, hook-a-duck, that's more my thing. I remember Daniel and Eleanor each winning a goldfish from the hook-a-duck at the Christmas lights event a very long time ago and they both lived for years. They grew and grew and we kept having to buy bigger and bigger tanks for them, they must have outgrown about four or five. I'm glad to see that the only creatures which could be won on this stall were of the fur and stuffing variety.
The thing we came to see, the light switch-on, happened at 7pm. They're not the best if I'm being honest, but they add a little cheer to the town and we could all do with a bit of that at the moment.
The night was rounded off with a brilliant firework display which went on for quite a while and thrilled the children. It was a lovely community event and I'm glad I went along.
Are there events in your community in the lead up to Christmas and will you be attending them?
Monday was the coldest day of autumn so far this year, it was quite bracing down by the canal where we chose to walk.
We parked by the bridge. Looking in the direction we were going to walk, there were quite a few boats moored by the waters edge.
It looked very bleak in the opposite direction, not a boat in sight.
This is the Aire and Calder Navigation, the canalised section of the Rivers Aire and Calder, which was built to connect Leeds to the Humber and the North Sea. There was a boat selling refreshments the last time we were here and we could have definitely done with a warm drink but alas, we had to make do without as it had packed up and gone.
I love to read all the names of the boats as we pass them. This one is called Marcel. Behind the trees is the River Aire, the canal and river join together further along.
Lemonroyd Lock. Locks allow a canal to go up and down hills by altering the level of the water. If you look carefully, you can see the different water levels in the canal and the lock chamber.
We turned off here into the woods. We were glad we'd worn our walking boots as it was quite muddy.
The tunnel goes underneath the railway lines. We decided to head back from here as it looked as though it was getting even muddier.
We'd passed the marina on our way out, now we were passing it on our way back. Some of the boats look really cosy with smoke rising from their chimneys.
A boat had just come in and this family of swans were eagerly looking for any goodies which were on offer. They didn't find any. One of the cygnets is missing from my photo, there were four in total. I didn't realise that cygnets would stay with their parents so long, they were around the same size as the adult swans, but apparently, they leave between the age of four to ten months, in late autumn. How sad to think this little family will part company soon.
I'll leave you with a photo of a cormorant which came swooping down and landed just ahead of us. I think it must be a juvenile by its colouring, though I'm not entirely sure.
Although it was nice to get outdoors for a walk, I was glad to get home again, it was just so cold. It poured down not long after we arrived home so it was a good thing that we set off when we did and didn't leave our walk for later in the day. It's supposed to warm up again now getting to double figures by the end of the week. That's fine by me, I hate the cold weather.
I've kept journals in one way or another for many years now, though I'm always trying out new ways to record my ramblings. This year I've been using a Hobonichi Cousin.
It's worked well. At first I wondered if I'd manage to journal every single day, and also if I'd manage to fill up an A5 size page, but I have on both counts.
The Hobonichi is actually a planner rather than a journal and I did wonder how I'd fill up each section to make use of the whole book. There is a full page for each day of the year and this is where I do my journalling, but there are other sections too. I used the yearly section, which has just a line for each day of the year, to record my step count and I decided to use the weekly layouts to record reading, crafting and walks throughout the year.
The monthly sections never got used at all though.
I have to admit that writing in an A5 journal every single day of the year and filling up the whole page is quite time consuming, and as much as I've enjoyed using this Hobonichi, I've decided to go back to using my old journal, which is just an A4 undated book which I write in as and when. This book has been used since 2006 with years off here and there as I've tried out different journals, but in the end, I always return to it.
Who knows, after a year off writing every day I may try out a different journal again. Time will tell. Do you journal? What do you use to journal in? Do you write every single day or just when you have something to record?
My Strictly Sockalong 2022 socks are finished and off the needles. Ali from the Little Drops of Wonderful podcast hosts a knitalong each year which runs alongside Strictly Come Dancing. Those taking part knit a pair of socks and I think this is the fifth year that I've joined in.
This year I used some yarn which was sent to me all the way from Australia by my lovely friend Susan from Granny Smith's Quilting. It's by Maximoo yarns and is in the Candy Store Ruins colourway. I think it's knit up beautifully.
Here is a close up of the pattern. It's called Solar by Gill Slater, it's a free pattern on Ravelry. I haven't used it before but it's well written and very easy to memorise, it's given a lovely result. It looks really nice when it's stretched out a little, as it will be when being worn.
You can see all the beautiful colours in the yarn
Sometimes I put a different heel in a pair of socks from the one given in the pattern but I followed the instructions here and I'm very pleased with the finished item.
This is the first knitting I've done this year and it's definitely given me the urge to knit more, in fact, I may have already cast on something new. Watch this space.
I know nothing at all about E M Forster, I haven't read any of his books, but I picked up A Room with a View from the bookshop in Whitby when we visited earlier this year.
"In a sunny tale of love and liberation, Lucy Honeychurch is transformed by the characters she meets on her first trip to Italy: flamboyant romantic novelist Eleanor Lavish, the Cockney Signora, lower-class Mr Emerson and, most of all, his passionate, unconventional son. Returning to her traditional home and family, Lucy finds herself torn between the intensity of her experiences in Italy and the repressed morals of English middle-class society - a conflict personified in the two very different young men she finds courting her attention.
Sundrenched and optimistic, and exploring many issues at the heart of Edwardian life - radical thinking, women's suffrage, the constrictions of English social rules - this is a brilliantly witty love story."
I'm afraid to say that I just didn't get on with this book at all. If I were in the habit of abandoning a book half way through, I would have done so with this one. I didn't like the writing style and I found some of the conversations very hard to follow as it wasn't made obvious who was talking. I found myself going back to the beginning of paragraphs trying to follow the dialogue, and I'm not sure I even worked it out then.
I found the story itself rather boring and I'm afraid of all the classics I've read so far this year, this is the worst. I shan't be reaching for another Forster novel in the near future.
I can't believe that I'm still hanging washing on the line in November. The weather is still rather mild and so, while ever I can, I'll continue to dry my washing outdoors.
I don't think you can beat line-dried washing for freshness, and it saves on energy costs too. At a time when many people can't afford the cost of running a tumble dryer, these mild days are a blessing.
I stripped the bed yesterday and got it pegged out first thing. Of course, we were forecast rain later in the day so I brought it in just after lunch time as were were going out and I didn't want it to get wet again. It only needed an airing indoors. Getting the washing outdoors for even a short spell saves having it hung around the house wet or having to use the tumble dryer.
I know some people use the tumble dryer even during the summer months. What about you, are you still pegging out or are you drying indoors now?
I've had a yarny advent calendar to open during the countdown to Christmas for the last few years now, it's become a bit of a tradition. In fact, I often have more than one as I've been involved in quite a few swaps too.
This year, I've gone with the Charity Advent which is organised by Helen at Giddy Yarns again. It's a bit different from the advents offered by most other yarn dyers as it's a collaboration and each mini skein is dyed by a different dyer. Thirty Five UK dyers are on board this year, each supplying one of the yarns for the 24 day advent or 12 day countdown box. It's fun to try yarn from dyers I've never bought yarn from before. I also like the fact that money raised from these advents and countdown boxes is donated to three charities, Shelter, Action for Children and Reengage.
I'm not taking part in any swaps this year so I shall have just this one advent calendar to open during December. Has anyone else bought a yarny advent calendar, or any other type of advent calendar?
