Where have I been?

You may have noticed (or not) that I have not posted anything this last week. This is because I have been away. Previously when I have gone away I have prepared a post or two that I can publish through my phone but this time being a bit tired and uninspired I just missed a week.

The answer to the question in the title is that I have spent a few days on the Isle of Wight with a few of my friends from Friday’s “Crafty Coffee”.

The weather was rather variable and we definitely had more rain than sun but I have put together a few photographs that I took while I was there.

Even when it wasn’t raining the light was not ideal and most of the time I had to take the photographs pretty quickly to keep up with the others but I hope you like a glimpse of what I have been up to.

Living in Southampton the Isle of Wight is just a quick trip over on the ferry. We took two cars and stayed in a guest house in Sandown.

In the day we went out to various places and in the evenings we sat in the sitting room and crafted – Knitting was the most common activity.

The Tuesday we went to Godshill.

The first thing that caught my eye when we left the car park was this model of a dinosaur in a garden.

The Isle of Wight is rich in fossils including those of dinosaurs apparently.

We then visited the ‘Old Smithy’ gift shop.

There was a fine collection of quality gifts and as you can see there was a lovely array of plaques in the window.

Round the back there was a garden made in the shape of the island.

Later on, some of us went up to the church.

It is a lovely and very old church and the two things that most caught my imagination were this medieval wall painting of Christ on the lily

And the tomb of Sir John and Agnes Lady Leigh where there are two monks, one on each ‘sole’ of his shoes, praying for his ‘soul’.

After a ‘full english’ breakfast none of us wanted a proper lunch so we went to ‘Chocolate Island’ for a drink. I had some of their hot chocolate made from real Belgian chocolate and knitted a bit of my latest sock.

The sock yarn is Rico Superba Bamboo – Purple Mix. Not sure why the name as it is blue and pink and green and contains no bamboo.

While we were on the Island we also went to Shanklin old village and I photographed this cup and teapot on top of one of the thatched cottages.

On another cottage there were models of a cat chasing a rat. There were also real white doves that perched on the thatch above one of the windows.

One day we drove along the southern coast of the island and stopped to look at the sea.

Another day we went to see the steam trains. I didn’t find much that made an especially good photograph but perhaps this gives you a bit of a feel for the trip.

We also visited Bembridge Mill and learned about when the Isle of Wight was virtually two islands.

It was a shame it was partially surrounded by scaffolding but I did get a few photographs of the inner workings of the mill.

I tried taking a black and white photograph of this hand quern while we heard the history of the mill.

A couple of members of the party were talking about going for a swim but the weather was not really suited to the beach however on the last morning we did  go down to Sandown Pier

and a few of us had a paddle.

including myself.

And I tried to take the perfect picture of the waves.

or this

The other side of the pier the beach was full of breakwaters.

We then proceeded to travel back to the Ferry via a Donkey Sanctuary.

Isn’t the grass green!

I had taken knitting and crochet with me. I took the sock with me when we went out for the day but in the guest house I was working on making one of Jill’s Bonbon hats. (http://jillgoldberg19.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/how-to-make-a-bonbon/)

The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK in saffron. More on making the hat when it is finished.