A Grand Day Out

Hello There!

Now that I have a bit more time time on my hands, me and my lovely knitting pal Romain decided to have a day out at the American Museum in Bath.  It's only an hour or so down the road from home and the last time I went I think I must have been about 10, so time for another visit.

There were room guides aplenty and we took the recommended route, which starts in the basement.  Here we found some beautiful beaded moccasins 

a stunning waistcoat which is also beaded, not embroidered as I thought on my first look.

and an Indian Headdress.

We carried on upstairs to the quilt room, which was why we had come, obviously!  There were some beautiful examples.

Some more modern and some really old.

This Flower Garden Quilt dates back to 1840.

There was a huge variety of techniques, luckily I had Romain with me who was able to explain most of them!

This one had embroidered animals on too.

The museum was also 'decorated for Christmas,' I was a little disappointed in the decorations but this tree, also in the quilt room, was made of fabric scraps over a metal frame and was quite something.

The main Christmas Tree in the hallway was however, very lovely ~ oh to live in a house with an impressive hall and stairs!

It was covered in santa log cabin quilt blocks made by a supporter of the museum.

This little tree had only quilled decorations.

The rooms of the house have a period theme, each one being different.

A sampler made by 10 year old Hannah Taylor in 1774.

The walls in this bedroom are painted boards, not wallpaper.

We had lunch and then ventured out ~ through the rain ~ into the grounds which have undergone a refurbishment this summer.  There were big herbaceous beds planted in drifts which will, I'm sure, look great next summer.

I came away feeling quite inspired.  Maybe quilting is something to try in the future.  

Right that's me for now, I've been making Christmas decorations which I'll show you soon.

As always, have a great week.....Clicky Needles.

Finishing School

Well hello.

Carrying on the theme of things changing, I worked my last day at school last week.  I decided with Mr Clicky that I needed a bit of time to get things in order before I upsticks for Chicagoland.  There's lots to be done and I have even started making lists ~ which is most unlike me ~ of 'stuff' that need to be attended to.  

My last day was emotional, I have been at school for 16 years.  The children had made me a book of memories, drawn pictures of me, made, along with the help of some wonderful mums, a quilt with a block from each child

and even written a poem.  I won't bore you with it all but the first verse goes,

Mrs W has curly hair

She can give you a scary stare

But we know you really care

We're going to miss you not being there.

School has given me some wonderful opportunities and no matter how rubbish your day may be, there is always a child who says something bonkers mad and makes me laugh.  I will miss them all.

Talking of opportunities Tuesday last week saw me driving around the country lanes near school looking for Matt Baker and Maisie as the Children in Need Rickshaw Challenge went right past the school.  I found them and the support vehicles some in very challenging lanes near school, and then raced back to school via a shorter route so we could get all the children ready.  Matt and Maisie looked exhausted so I told the children that they needed a lot of encouragement.

We lined the village and made a huge amount of noise as they came round the corner and we were rewarded with wide smiles.  Over £50 million has been raised this year.  Wow.

When I woke up this morning it seemed a bit naughty not going to school in term time and I contemplated my day.  I didn't imagine that I would receive a text from Master Clicky asking me to retrieve a part of his bike.  He had fallen off (yes, again) with no injury but realised that the cover for his battery (electric bike) must be on his route.  It was down here, a hill called Blackness.  This is actually tarmac, not that you would know as it's covered in leaves.  These are what caused Master Clicky to come off.

I put my walking boots on and me and the dog set of to find the cover.  It is incredibly steep and not used that much.

There are some bollards about half way down, presumably to stop you if your legs are going too fast for the rest of you, and we found the cover by a tree.

We stopped and looked over to the hill on the other side and then walked back up.  

My hamstrings had a jolly good stretch and we stopped for a rest on the bench at the top and looked over to Minchinhampton Common.

So that's me for today, on my second day of 'retirement' tomorrow, I've been persuaded to go on a school trip so not quite finished yet!

Have a great week..........Clicky Needles.

This Week I Have Mostly Been Making...............

Head gear.

A colleague of mine has been hassling me for quite some time to make him a hat.  His son has started playing rugby at the same club Master Clicky went to, and I know from bitter experience how cold it can be there, so I relented.

It is a 4x4 rib in Drops Nepal that I had left over from my Afmaeli jumper.  It had to be stripy because I was using up lots of small bits.

Master Clicky is still cycling to work and as it has started to get frosty of late he is finding that his head and neck are getting cold under his cycle helmet, which of course, has lots of holes in it.

He requested a balaclava, so I found a free pattern on Ravelry.   I also made it from the left-over Drops Nepal.  I made it on the proviso that he doesn't go around scaring anybody or robbing banks.   It has been worn and he is liking it very much, although he did have to stop to take it off the other afternoon because it was too warm!  I'll take that as a success.

Incidentally, Master Clicky was looking down in these photos, not because he wanted to remain anonymous, but because he was watching something on his phone!  

So after those two quick projects I'm back to my Dark Pearl Cardigan, going from Aran weight to 4ply and little needles that take forever.

I managed to get some digging in the garden done on Saturday but the weather has been damp and miserable today, so I've put some summer clothes away and got out the winter ones.  I love summer, but I also like a good jumper, a fire and a winter quilt to snuggle under as well.

That's me for now, as always, have a great week.

Clicky Needles.

Times They Are A Changin'

Hello Folks.

Things are changing in Clicky Needles towers.  

The first, very wonderful news is that Miss Clicky and her man got engaged a month or so ago and have set a wedding date for July next year!  They are well under way with organisations, a marquee in a field near a beautiful little country church, and we are making all sorts of things to decorate it.

Master Clicky has passed his driving theory test at last ~ it was the fourth time ~ and has his driving test booked for the end of November.  We're keeping everything crossed.

Mr Clicky has just had ten days back home from Chicago, the first time since Christmas, it was lovely to see him and the dog went bananas.

Master C has made a fantastic log shed with left over bits of pallets and wood from our extension project.  It's a bit Heath Robinson but it's keeping the wood dry, so no complaints from me.

Without doubt his favourite bit was cutting the wriggly tin for the roof, any chance to use the angle grinder!

With Master Clicky nearly having passed his driving test and therefore nearly being fully independent, Mr C and me have decided that I will go to Chicago to join him in January.   I'll then come back in early May to help with wedding organisations (squee) and return afterwards.  The next few months will be a bit of a whirlwind I think.  

I'm on half term so I'm working in the garden and trying to start sorting the house out, a general declutter and tidy. 

I have been making and knitting so I'll show you some things on my next post. 

Bye for now...........Clicky Needles.

Baby Blanket Ta-Dah!

Hello folks.

I got the baby blanket for our school's head finished and handed it over a few days after the birth.  The baby turned out to be a girl.   

I really enjoyed making this one, and it was a very simple pattern.  Make a foundation chain in multiples of 3 and the next (and every) row 1 dc 1 chain.  I like the woven effect it gives and is a more dense than granny squares would be.  The yarn is my go-to for blankets, Marriner Double Knit.  

It was well received but I think the boss might be using it more himself because sleepless nights are hitting with a vengeance.

As that project is out of the way I can concentrate on my Dark Pearl cardigan.  I bought this pattern and yarn (ahem) several years ago.  I'm making it in Drops Alpaca in a lovely dark purple.  It has a lace draped front and it is very me.

Thanks for the thoughts about Master Clicky's teeth. They are still under reconstruction, he has had the implants done and now is awaiting the crowns to be made.  The cost is eye watering, but luckily he is paying for it himself.  

That's me for now, Mr Clicky is back home next weekend for 10 days, so I'm really looking forward to that.  

Have a great week...............Clicky Needles.

Some finished socks and a WIP.

Hello All.

It seems like an age since I actually finished anything that wasn't a blanket but I have some socks to show.  The socks are looking all the better for some fabby sock blockers I got with a crochet magazine a few months back.  The magazine was ok but not great, but the sock blockers well worth buying it for.  I've been looking for blockers for some time, coveted some wooden ones but not got round to buying anything.  These are metal coat hanger style and do the job admirably.

Mr first pair to show are made in Drops Fabel in the guacamole colourway.  These, as it turns out, are a mismatched pair because each ball was wound in the opposite direction.  

Next, we have a perfectly matched pair ~ sometimes they just need to be, you know? ~ made in Rico Superba Pop, more yarn out of the stash.

And lastly on the sock front, the pair that I cast on last summer.  Every third row is stranded and I used them as my experimental Continental Knitting Project.  I've got that sussed now.  Again the yarn is Drops Fabel, a lime green ball and a coloured version too, more from the stash.  I'm really pleased with these and am thinking of another Fair Isle type pattern so I can practise my new skills.

I have just hooked on this little baby blanket for the school's head whose baby is due in the next two weeks.  It's only 60cm wide so I'm whipping through it quite quickly.  I don't know the sex of the baby so I'm just going for colourful.

The colours in fact, are quite close to a teapot I found on a Vintage stall in Stroud on Friday.  I also picked up these two very pretty blue patterned plates and was very pleased with myself.

I will be taking the blanket with me to Bristol tomorrow.  Master Clicky came off his push bike last week and hit a dry stone wall with two front teeth, taking one incissor ~ at the front ~ off to gum level, the next one slightly longer.  He phoned me but carried on to work and they then got me to pick him up.  ( I could show you a picture here but I won't!) He was in a fair bit of shock and we dashed off an emergency dental appointment where the nerves were removed and the teeth were filled to stop any more pain.  We have to go to a specialist in Bristol to have some implants put in before our dentist can add some crowns.  The appointment will take one and a half hours so I will be occupied with crochet.  I hope it will be ok for him.

The weather has gone very autumnal lately, the first day of term this week welcomed our children back with solid rain, we could have done without that.  We swapped our classrooms around at the end of last term so the children keep walking to the wrong rooms, we're all trying to get used to the new layout.  

That's me for now, have a great week...Clicky Needles.

Boston

Me and Mr Clicky had a lovely weekend in Boston.  As predicted it rained, an awful lot.  After a two hour plane journey we took a short bus trip and the subway into Boston.   The subway came up under this building, the old Massachusetts State House.  

We got caught in a rainstorm on the way to the hotel,  when we arrived we were soaked through to the skin, so much so that the receptionist took one look at us, disappeared and fetched us towels to dry ourselves, and ungraded our room.  I warmed my toes up in the slippers and then we found a Primark and bought anoraks although I had to resign myself to wet toes as I only had flip-flops.

As you can see from the pictures it was a very dull and wet weekend.  Boston is a fairly small city which I really enjoyed after the size and noise of Chicago.  The office blocks were not very tall, but this one still disappeared in cloud.

Never seen this before, so I had to snap a pic.

We wandered around the city and down to the Atlantic, which smelt really salty

there were tall ships.

Some of the harbour front has been re-developed, these apartments looked directly out to sea.  

The building on the left is the Institute of Contemporary Art but we didn't visit.

We stayed here for a while watching planes landing at the airport on the other side of the bay, can you see it in the distance?  Always a bit hairy landing over the sea I think.

We also came across the Northern Avenue Bridge.

A swing bridge that looked quite forlorn facing out to sea.

When we got the other side it had flashing lights and a sign that said NO PEDESTRIAN ACCESS WHEN LIGHTS ARE FLASHING.  Clearly there was a story here, so we checked it out when we got back to the hotel.  It was built in 1908, used by cars until 1999 and pedestrians until December 2014 when it was closed altogether because it was unsafe.  At the moment there are plans for development, the current mayor has pledged $46 million for this.  

The next we day we went to Boston Common which is the oldest park in the U.S. dating back to 1634, it is 50 acres in total.  

We wandered on and through and found a graveyard with no other than Samuel Adams residing.

And we carried on back down to the harbour to take a Duck Boat tour.  These are modelled on the WW2 amphibious landing craft used by the troops.  They are newly made I hasten to add.

After we admitted to our fellow passengers that we were British, a few boos there, the tour took us around some of the city sights we hadn't seen.  This is Boston State House.

Our guide told us lots more about Boston that we didn't know and then we came to the best bit of the tour, driving straight into the Charles River.  It was a strange sensation but we were soon chugging up the river.

Another Duck Boat in the water.

The tour gave us another view of Boston and was definitely worth it.

We left the hotel and got to the airport to find that our plane had been delayed for 3 hours.  We found the Admiral's Club ~ which I could use as Mr Clicky is a member ~ and settled down with snacks and a nice gin.  Mr Clicky got a bit bored, and you all know what I did, yes, knitted socks.

I had another week in Chicago with Mr Clicky and then travelled back to the U.K. to find the weather had broken and cooled down a bit.  

I'm back to school tomorrow and the kids are in Tuesday, those lovely relaxing days by the pool, a dim and distant memory.  Wish me luck!

Have a great week............Clicky Needles.