Been away and come back again

The reason that I didn't post last Sunday was because I was away on a little trip round Yorkshire.  I generally take a week off when my birthday comes round and this year it just so happened that there was a yarn fest in Skipton a couple of days beforehand - Yarndale 2014.  So I decided to combine Yarndale and my week off and go for a little trip across Yorkshire, ending up in Whitby on the east coast.

So off I went early last Saturday - Yarndale was amazing, loads of lovely yarn and other nice things, rammed solid with people - and I spent a fair bit of money.  Generally I stayed in Youth Hostels - some more basic than others.  The first night I stayed at Earby (basic) before moving on to York (recently refurbished) for the next two nights, stopping off briefly in Skipton and Harrogate on the way.  I visited several yarn shops in York, but it seems that the overdose I had received at Yarndale had spoilt me for yarn buying for a day or so.  After two nights in York, having visited York Minster and the Quilt Museum amongst other places, I traveled into the north-east.  

I went round Castle Howard, which is a stunning place (photo taken from the rear of the main building).  I bought yarn in a couple of places, including Helmsley, which is a nice little market town.  That night I stayed in the charming youth hostel at Lockton (the YHA call it Dalby Forest, which is very confusing).  

The following day I drove back on myself to Pickering in order to get a phone signal and ended up buying more yarn.  Pickering's parish church has some fantastic medieval wall paintings, which are well worth a visit.  From there I drove to Whitby with a couple of sidesteps to Goathland ("Heartbeat" country) and Guisborough.  

This was my first trip to Whitby.  Everyone I had spoken to who had been there said that it was lovely and everyone who hadn't been said that they had heard that it was lovely.  Whitby is indeed lovely - lots of winding cobbled streets leading downhill to the harbour and then over the bridge and up the other side to the foot of the 199 steps to the church and the ruins of Whitby Abbey on the headland.  The church has the original box pews and a triple decker pulpit, and the Abbey ruins are stunning (not so keen on the English Heritage presentation though).  I stayed two nights in a B&B - nice room, comfy bed, well cooked breakfast and crap shower.  There was a yarn shop but I was yarned out by then.

And then I came home on Friday to sleep in my own bed, do several loads of laundry and sort out my yarn purchases before going back to work tomorrow.

However, before I went away, I got a couple more blocks done on Carnation.  The Chinese lantern is now coming through clearly.  I do need to get some serious time in on this if I am going to get the page finished by the end of the year.

The Patchwork Group had a sewing day on the Friday before I went away.  I took my sock and managed to get the heel turned.  While I was away, I picked up the stitches for the gusset, did all the necessary decreases and am now knitting the foot.  I would like to finish it this week, but we'll see.

Well, I hope that all is well with you and yours.  I now need to brace myself for what I'm going to find when I go back into the office tomorrow.  Good night and may the frog steer well clear of your needles.