Spring Tides

 

Once the Stay Local restriction was eased, we were able to go a little further to our favourite coastal walk at Tollesbury.  Blackthorn blossom is out at present.

A reed bunting displaying.

The saltings harbour a range of bird life.  Walkways provide access to the mud moorings.

But what a change when we went again yesterday.

A high Spring tide had completely covered the mud banks and saltings.  Water had spilled out on to the roadway.

Meanwhile, inland, blossom was in full plumage.

And we passed this curious abandoned tanker.  Not clear what it is or how it got there at the field edge. 

My current Work in Progress: Eala Bhan by Alice Starmore.

Blossoms

 

Springtime

A cowl, using a stitch pattern from the Japanese knitting Stitch Bible and Peruvian alpaca gifted to me by a friend who had been there.

And a hat to match.

The swatch for the Gardengate jumper by Jenn Steingass, using green from a yarn pack bought in a charity shop in York .  This clearly dated from the 60s or70s when it was still possible to buy the yoke already knitted with enough wool for you to knit your own plain body.  Worn with a matching tweed skirt, this has the classic look of the time just before the miniskirt arrived. 

In my sample, I am aiming at a more modern aesthetic.  In actual fact, knitting with three colours in the row is not for the faint-hearted.   I managed the yoke by identifying which two colours to knit first, slipping the stitches for the third colour, and then filling in the third colour on a separate round. 

 

Vaccination Day!

 We were called a couple of days ago; fortunately, we both got the same appointment time for Earls Colne Pump Hill surgery.  Very efficient process with the roads clear for us to get there.  But, my, it has been cold.

With the minor roads still treacherous, we have been forced back on local walks around the village.

And, finally, an ice sculpture created by cars splashing up water on to overhanging branches on the way to Earls Colne.

Catkins

 Signs of Spring on our daily walk:  hazel catkins bursting out all over, that curious greenish gold they have.

Heavy snow predicted for the next two days, so the catkins might have been a bit premature.

A bit of knitting:  a little cowl using just under 50 gms of a lovely blue alpaca skein i found, not in Peru, but in the charity shop in Cockermouth.  Pattern is one of the simpler ones in the "Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible".

Two hats, one with the yarn held double.  Interesting how that felt to knit up.

And one with the yarn held single and using a traditional Fair Isle pattern.

My current knit, again a pattern from the Japanese book.  Not as complex as it looks.

Christmas in Coggeshall

Real effort has been put into Christmas door wreaths this year.  I went all round the village and hardly saw one duplicate.

 

Snow!

 Early December in Essex, after a day and night of heavy rain.

It's been a busy time on the teddy bear front.  Using the amended pattern I can make the skin in a couple of hours, but the finishing takes a little longer.

Warm jumper in a 28 inch chest size using vintage Jaeger Matchmaker yarn.

Hat and three pairs of fingerless mitts to use up the yarn.

And some Izzy dolls.  All the above now out of the house and on the way to Knit for Peace to cheer someone up, hopefully.

And, finally, my new project using oddments of Shetland yarn. I'm going for an autumnal hedgerow palette here.

Special places

 

What can this be?  We pass several of these on the way to our chosen parking place to start our daily walk for exercise under lockdown.

If we are lucky, as we were today, we see at least a few of these trotting about or grazing at the edge of the woodlands.

In the heat of summer, now long gone, we discovered this pool, spring-fed and so always full, unlike other watering holes which simply dried up and disappeared.  Then, we sat and watched as several varieties of dragonfly - ruddy darters and Imperators - hovered over the water.  One day we were privileged to see a kingfisher on patrol.  For three days he was resident at the poolside and then moved on. 

 Yesterday we were delighted to see a grey wagtail making the place his own.  He hopped up and down branches, hovered awkwardly down on to the leaf layer on the water, then took a leisurely preen, quite oblivious to our presence on the bank.  He is there in that picture.

Can you see him now - he's right in the centre, well-camouflaged because his plumage fits exactly with the leaves.

This was the weather first thing today - bright and sunny but with a hard frost and a chill to the air.

And what was that at the top of the page?  It was a sugar-beet mountain.  It has been the crop of choice around here this year, and will be taken off in huge lorries to Bury St Edmunds to be processed into sugar.  The churned up state of some of the fields has to be seen to be believed.

A bit of knitting

 A trio of bears, knitted basically to the Comfort Bear pattern.  I've worked out that it is possible to knit the bear reducing as many seams as possible. So two legs stitched together to make the lower half then knit up the body cast on extra stitches for the sleeves.  Put those on hold while knitting up and over the head, then put them back on the needles for the back.  Eventually you have a top half and a bottom half which you seam together around the waist. The grey bear was knitted this way. 

And a trio of Izzy dolls, knitted with a brown skin colour as requested by the charity.

And some clusters of fingerless mitts, using up odds and ends of yarn.

All of these have now been posted off to Knit for Peace, where there have been specific requests for these items.

I knit more when I am anxious as I find it helps.

Maldon

 

A little drive to our afternoon exercise: the historic town of Maldon.  The town itself is up a steep hill, but this is the curious section called the Promenade Park where tidal river meets a kind of seaside atmosphere.

Out on the exposed mudflats were many birds, happily foraging - a little egret.

A godwit.  We were within yards of these birds but they took no notice as no one would venture out on that mud.

Atmospheric images of ancient boats pulled up and left to decay.

We could not understand, viewing it from the other side, why the Yacht Club headquarters had such a list on it, but from behind it is clear that it is mounted on a barge.

Out on the end of the promenade, a statue to Brythnoth, leader of the Brits against the Vikings at the Battle of Maldon.  Good luck fighting in that mud

The sunshine had gone by this point, but we were cheered by the change of scene from our usual walks.  We'll be visiting again.