So anyway, my parents (the Twisted Seniors) have a long-established tradition of pulling up their tent-pegs and moving to a completely different part of the country every 10-15 years or so. They’re at it again as we speak, and have just sold their home in beautiful rural Herefordshire, ready to come and share a county with us here in Oxfordshire. With the move imminent, the Toddler Twinnage and I decided to make a may-or-may-not-be-the-last visit to Herefordshire, whilst the Stoic Spouse stayed behind and kept the home fires burning. I hope you don’t mind photos? This post has lots of photos.
I was reading your comments on the Skirt Post whilst we were there, and yes I did notice how many of you said I should have posted a picture of me wearing the skirt. Yeeks! OK here’s a hasty shot, but I’m deliberately excluding most of the waistband because I want to add more rows to it now that I’m back home, and really make it a lovely purple feature. And I’m still pondering stranded braces… But yes, this is me, in the skirt… The skirt that you will know from my previous post is held together entirely with hairspray… I might wear it to work tomorrow.
Whilst we were in Herefordshire, I did a little work on a sock. A Noro Kureyon Sock yarn sock, no less, that most definitely deserves a future post of its own, given the beautiful-but-highly-strung nature of this yarn. Yes those are toddler twin fingers a-grabbing at my toes.
But you can’t visit Herefordshire in springtime and not go outdoors, so we admired the blossom in the garden:-
…before wandering up the track behind my parents’ house to take a look at the landscape. It’s so quiet there, apart from the birdsong.
As the weather has been warming, the sheep have been shedding handfuls of fluff that I’d just love to take home and use as an excuse to learn to spin at last. I’ve been watching lots of YouTube videos about how to spin, but obviously I’m not about to give it a go. Of course not. No way. Definitely not.
I quite like the bit of the walk in the photo below. It’s excellent for toddler galloping, and there’s a little pond where you can watch teeny-weeny freshwater shrimps and whirligig beetles doin’ their funky wriggly thing. When I was a child, we had a tiny stream running across the bottom of the garden, but despite the fact that the water was so polluted it made my skin turn weird, you could always find little freshwater shrimps and water lice hiding under stones. I spent many happy, absorbed hours delighting in this fact and also damming the stream and nearly flooding next door’s garden. Anyway, back to Herefordshire:-
Being spring, there are ducklings. Here was a family of 14 fluffy little darlings!
Do you see that funny-looking hill-top on the horizon towards the left of the photo below? That’s Credenhill, an Iron Age hill fort, one of the biggest in the country and probably built well over 2000 years ago in approximately 350BC. If I visit my parents again before they move, I can go there and bring you some photos if you’d like? As long as you don’t mind the photos featuring a spot of knitting in their foreground…
And look!!! Most exciting of all, we found a nest of moorhen eggs:-
And cheating slightly, because this is in the garden of a Herefordshire castle rather than anywhere wild, look at these tulips!
When I first met the Stoic Spouse, he said that May was his favourite month of the year. I think I might just be coming round to his way of thinking. I just hope we get to visit Herefordshire again before my parents leave.
…And whilst we’re pottering about photographing things, I confess to a tiny shy smile every time I go into a newsagent or supermarket and see this:-
…because I can’t help but be a teeny bit excited that my interview is inside the back cover and my first column is coming soon.
The Twisted Seniors are moving away from all that beauty!? Where am I going to get my beautiful, English countryside fix now? Well, at least they’ll be surrounded by all of your yarny goodness…yarn is beautiful scenery…and grandchildren, I suppose.
Beautiful photos! I love your skirt.
Beautiful!!! What gorgeous country side. Your skirt is fabulous.
I must admit I thought your column was in Lets Knit. Will plan to buy Simply Knitting instead ?
What gorgeous country Herefordshire is! It will be nice to have your parents close. Let’s hope they don’t pick up and leave again when the toddler twinge are in their teens!
Stunning! The skirt and the landscape 🙂
Too cool about the column. I must admit I was smirking at the notion of crochet hooks being called magic tools. I mean, they are, but more than usual?
As for spinning, that’s what I said about weaving. Now it’s all I think about. And fyi, it started with spinning….
It is so very beautiful there. Gorgeous and stunning. I could sit there all day and just stare at the countryside. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Your skirt is stunning. Love it.
I agree with Johanna
Your skirt is really lovely. All your photos are great so thanks for sharing them. Congratulations on the magazine!
The skirt is amazing!!! Congratulation on the article in the magazine. Very exciting.
Beautiful photos, I love England! And the shirt is amazing, very pretty.
Corine24
x
The skirt looks great on! What beautiful scenery and photos. x
I’m going to admire the tulips – buggar the countryside or knitting!!
Great post, very interesting and lovely photos. Your skirt is fabulous. Those tuiips are devine. I think May is my favourite month too. Congrats on your new columnist job.
I think you are going to miss Herefordshire more than your parents are Ms Twisted. I would love to get up close and personal with that old fort and You can never have enough hats, gloves and photos. Not sure if we get that knitting mag all the way over here in the antipodes but I am going to look for it. Love the skirt, ADORE the socks (and covet them like crazy) and have no idea how your parents could move away from anything so picture perfect whatsoever. They must love you a whole lot Ms Twisted to give up Herefordshire for you 🙂
Goodness, how do you find time to work, be a mum, write a column, and do such amazing knitting??? Slightly bewildered but mostly impressed.
Beautiful views! Congratulations on the magazine. Love the colours of the sock and the length.
Spinning? I was pushed down that slope several years ago, I’m on my fourth wheel, and my husband makes wonderful drop spindles. Now I’m being not-so-gradually lowered down the slope into quilting. Be careful, all these slopes are very slippery.
Your skirt looks lovely on you, beautiful work, amazing job! Would love to visit your beautiful country one day, the photos are gorgeous! Congrat’s on the magazine!