We're Peaking!

Last weekend Houston and I drove 2 hours to the Peak District in Derbyshire. This national park is located between Sheffield and Manchester, 2 of the busiest and most industrial cities in England. This area is the most visited and I can see why. It's not as rugged as the Dales, more subtle and softer, with more trees. There are miles and miles of trails and that's what the people come for. Of course, the villages are winsome and pleasant too.



Houston on our first hike. On the right notice all the *%&^!<~#* stinging nettles! They are taking over the country! Unfortunately the ruminants don't like them. And they HURT! I'm allergic to them so I'm very careful when passing them. I kinda whine like a girl.
This old castle was built high on the hill above the village of Castleton in 1175 to oversee the King's Royal Forest (most of which is gone now due to sheep grazing).


I awoke early and set off up this trail about 6:30. I found a nice rock outcropping to sit upon and brought out my knitting. Sheep were munching away nearby and these next few photos are of the view I had while knitting my sock. And all this before coffee! Pinch me, this is just too awesome of a place to be knitting!








While on our hike, it was chilly, damp and windy. I didn't have my sarong (damn!) with me and my neck was cold. My hood wouldn't fit tight around my neck and I wished I had a string or section of yarn. Viola! There in the field was a fist full of wool. I started spinning it and made a length of yarn to tie my fleece hood around my neck. Ahhhhh!



We thought that 'Wool and Thistle' would make a good name for a pub. My favorite is 'Brew and Ewe' though.


This is the village of Castleton where we spent the night.



This Celtic cross is from 800!







We visited the village of Bakewell, appropriately named because it is host to the famous 'Bakewell Puddings'. Puddings are a generic term for dessert here in the UK. Bakewell really means 'bath spring' as there are many springs around. But, there is a controversy still going on about these puddings. There are 2 bakeries in town claiming to have the original recipe and they're still bickering about it. Bicker on, but keep baking these delicious puds. The lore goes that back in 1860 an inexperienced baker's helper omitted the egg and sugar for the crust. He spread jam on the crust, then realized his mistake and put the egg and sugar mixture on the top instead. The rest is history. In the summer months over 12,000 of these are sold per week! Of course, we had to buy both of them to judge for ourselves which was better.


This one was prettier but didn't taste very good.


This one was not so pretty but was Crazy Delicious!!!






Picnicers enjoying a meal by the River Rye.





Tin man scarecrow.




Thought this bootscraper near the doorway was ingenious.

A Good Day to Dry!

Since today is the first day of summer and the longest day of the year and my favorite day of the year, I thought I'd send a green message to everyone. I'm a real advocate of hanging out laundry. Unfortunately in the US, it's frowned upon and in 300,000 home owner's associations (60 million people), it's not allowed. We have a perception that the poor hang out their clothes. A great pleasure of mine is to wriggle into bed under freshly sun-dried sheets. That smell! Ahhhh! And what a silly thing to try to duplicate that smell with a dryer sheet.
I have to hand it to these Brits, everyone seems to hang their laundry out, no matter what their economic level. Their colorful apparel and linens go splendidly with their gardens! And more often than not, there is not much room, but hang they do!


This lovely summery photo and the colorful one following it is from a woman who lives in Australia. I've been reading her blog, pea soup and loved these photos. (She gave me persmission to use them, thanks!). She's a fellow knitter, gardener and clothes hanger outer.


Thanks Suse for this bright addition.




Thanks Ann for your lovely photo of your laundry hanging out in California.


These following photos are of wash I've seen drying in the sun (or sometimes getting rinsed in the rain) the past few months.



Here are a couple of websites if you'd like more info on the "Right to Dry".
laundrylist.org or if you'd like to purchase any kind of clothesline under the sun, clotheslineshop.com


"A home looks like a home when there's a clothesline with clothes billowing out back in the breeze."


A clothes dryer is the second biggest electricity using appliance with the fridge being number one.


In 2005 there were 88 million dryers in the US. If all American line-dried for 6 months, it'd save 3.3% of the country's total residential output of carbon dioxide.


A typical family dryer uses 900 KWH of energy a year creating 840 kg of air pollution.

Beading Day

Since I'm sending all my beading supplies back next week with some friends, I'm making bracelets to use up some of the beads. These will be for sale on line and in the shop when I get back.












And here's the start of the next one.

Felting Day

Had a felting day yesterday. Thought I'd best get some work done since I brought all this roving over.



After a weekend in the Dales awhile back, I was inspired to try a landscape.



This is now my knitting bag and I love it cuz it fits my knitting pattern and quite a bit of yarn. I still have to bling it up a bit though.


My plate is full with this season's flowers.


I finished this hat last week, but have to add some beads yet.