It's knitting, Jim but not as we know it....

Well, would you believe it? A knitting museum almost on my doorstep and I didn't know about it!
You'll be telling me there's a cake factory right next door that I was unaware of next!!
Mumbly, middle sister and I went for a visit to the Ruddington Framework Knitters' Museum last week, (or was it the week before? The sequence of days have become a blur of baking cakes, minding small children, crosswords and cups of tea - I don't know where I am!)
The 4 tiny terraced cottages housed 29 people/four families at one time!!
We were shown how they earned a meagre living working 14 hour shifts knitting and seaming stockings.

These early knitting machines take 8 steps to knit a single row and look very complicated to use.

They didn't even have a comfy loo to escape to:



We met Rebekah Wood, a student at Nottingham Trent University, (where I studied). She's doing a Phd and has been set loose on one of the machines to learn how to knit lace. The technique is so difficult that she's practicing the manouvres before adding any yarn into the equation!


My favorite bit of the museum is the room that houses donated yarn and sock knitting machines. Only the day before had I seen one of these machines in action on YouTube, before then I had no idea of their existence - what an enlightening experience this visit is turning into!




It's not all socks - look at some of the other things that had been knitted on the machines:









My sister's favorite was this doll - his snuggley face was made from a turned heel!


This was enough to convince me - I got right onto ebay and bought one of these babies to play with - watch this space for adventures with a sock knitter!!!! (That is, if I can figure out how to use it!!)

I haven't moved completely over to the dark side though, I'll never leave my first love.... hand knitted progress has included a huge, red, loopy, mohair wrap:


A long, chunky, striped beanie:















A cabled beanie for my nephew, a beret for Mumbly's Women's Club sale, (photos to come) and a stripey cardi for Mumbly, knitted from the contents of the Rowan Felted Tweed drawer:








Rosie is all finished. Guess who bought her before the sale had even started?


Last night we trundled off to the farm where my sister and her little family were hosting an early bonfire night celebration. I haven't been in England for Bonfire Night for about 10 years so it took me back to 5th of Novembers past when we would impatiently wait for the sun to go down, the lighting of the bonfire, the burning of the Guy, sparklers, fireworks, baked potatoes with tonnes of butter and bonfire toffee. I used to love making toffee, so this year I was asked to make a tray-full for the event.

Baked tatuz - grown on the farm:











Mushy peas. (I don't like them, but it's traditional!)



Catherine Wheel in full swing:










It's handy having a digger around to fix the fire:



After all of our fireworks had gone off, we sat drinking mulled wine and watched other firework displays from over the fields.

Kate was being her usual mischievious self and after a day of fire building and fresh air fun, she asked me to read her "Miffy Loves New York City"
It's usually a lengthy and tiring chore to get her to sleep, but last night she dozed off an my lap!

Here she is with the Danes:


Mumbly knitted her that jumper for when she was born - I don't think she got the measurements quite right! But as she has been known to say, "It comes in, dun't it?"