If the Hat fits....

Finally, a hat which I feel comfortable with.  This is Crystal Palace Mini Mochi, in  a very lively colourway.  It looks like a thin lopi yarn without much twist and is a little splitty, but it certainly feels luxurious.  The key to fitting my over-sized head seems to lie in the ribbing, which has plenty of give.  I started on 3.25 needles and increased to 4.mm, also increasing for the cables.  Perhaps I have come to the end of a run of hats, just as the weather becomes spring-like and the first sharp greens appear on the trees.

More images of Maryport, this time of Fleming Square.   Maryport was not developed until the end of the eighteenth century, when it became a major port for the export of coal and then iron ore.  Fleming Square is a lovely open space surrounded by impressive Georgian houses.

Here the cobbles of the square and  the central obelisk can be seen.  Just yards from here are unparalleled views over the Solway to the Scotch hills, and a Roman Museum full of world-class Roman artefacts from the mile fort at the top of the hill.

A curious little group of statues down by the harbour, and, just visible, a new venue called the Wave centre, hosting concerts and community events.  These things are clear evidence of regeneration, whether they are quite to one's taste or not.  Like much of West Cumbria, Maryport has gone though a long decline with prominent high street properties standing empty.  Once it was possible to walk clear across the harbour on the decks of the herring boats, an old lady in the nursing-home told me.   Those days are long past.


More Cumbrian dialect: many words seem onomatopoeic: "scrow", for example.  The high incidence of words with that initial sound is apparently due to Norse influences.  Thus "scop" - throw and "scree" - loose stones on a steep slope.  And "scratting" and "scraffling", both of which I recall used in the context of struggling to make a living.  Interesting how they evoke a whole way of life.