West Yorkshire is beautiful: all rolling hills, verdant forests and picturesque old cottages. Unless, of course, you visit Huddersfield which feels like one big roundabout. This is my second year of visiting West Yorkshire in late spring and despite an abundance of roundabouts, I am still intrigued and finding it all terribly exotic. How could it fail to thrill when you drive through a place marketing itself as "the home of Onward Christian Soldiers"?! Delightfully, the hymn's author is Sabine Baring-Gould who I know better as the author of the lycanthropy classic The Book of Werewolves! Sometimes fragments of my life collide in the most splendid ways..
However, West Yorkshire was about work and work was exciting. Thankfully. I also had the privilege of spending three days together with some of most creative, inspiring people I know. It has recharged me in ways I did not even know I needed (although my recent blog posts probably do tell you how run-down I have felt this month, this very long month from hell) and my head is buzzing with ideas. It feels good.
One of the very good things I realised came courtesy of my good colleague and friend, Miss K, who had knitted up a green version of my Red Cardigan of Doom. Miss K wears an abundance of feminine 1950s inspired tea-dresses over which the cardigan looks effortlessly classy. She has a petite frame so she could definitely wear the cardigan as intended, but instead she has chosen to let it hang unbuttoned and it looks so nice. So my plan is to rip back the sleeves beyond the unfortunate chicken cutlets and reknit them straight. Then I'll sew on my pretty buttons, finish the buttonband, weave in the ends and wear my cardigan almost-proudly.
Whilst on the train I began (and finished! That's what eleven hours of travelling can do) a crochet scarf. I'm writing up the pattern but it'll be tied to the teaching stuff I do, so I won't release it globally just yet. I learned a few lessons with a previous scarf pattern.. I am also seeing the end of my Fancy jumper-turned-shrug. It is so nice to be finishing things which I have been working on for so long. Maybe this is a good time to whip up a few sewing projects because autumn is going to be hectic workwise.