Welsh wedding
We spent last weekend in Wales at a family wedding. It was a whole weekend of families, parties and being away from it all, and it was lovely.
The church was tucked away from the bustle of the town, with wild flowers growing in the borders and an air of simplicity about the place that often says more than heavy religious decoration.
The simple theme was echoed in the flower arrangements …
and the sun shone as we made our way to the hotel where the wedding breakfast was to take place.
More simplicity: home made lemon curd to mark seating places.
It suited the bride and groom very well, and we were very happy to be part of it.
We rented a sweet little house just outside Mold, where the wedding was taking place – only a short drive away rather than the hour or so that it would be from Winwick – and looked out onto this view as we woke up in the mornings. Isn’t it nice to see cows? There aren’t any where we are in Winwick so it makes a nice change.
On the Saturday, we had some time to ourselves before meeting up with the family again, so we took ourselves into Mold to have a look around. It was market day, so we loaded up with local bread and teacakes and a few other bits and pieces. Then I spotted the yarn shop. Small daughter and my husband said they would meet me later.
What a find this place is! This is the rather wonderfully-named Yarn O’clock, a lovely little shop on Earl Road run by Anne Aukland, who used to work for a larger yarn store in Chester which has now relocated, giving her the opportunity to open a yarn store of her very own. Yarn O’clock has been in business for four and a half months now, and is well worth a visit if you are in the Mold area. Anne really knows her stuff too, so is happy to help whether you need advice on choosing yarns or with knitting problems. It’s a place where you could quite happily sit and knit for quite some time!
Anne’s aim is to stock mostly British and Welsh yarns – West Yorkshire Spinners, Rowan, John Arbon and Fyberspates amongst others. Her aim is to offer a different range to other yarns that can be purchased locally, and her choice of brands is excellent.
I like that Anne is also making a focus of Welsh yarns. This is Cambrian Wool which comes from Welsh Mule sheep – local Welsh sheep crossed with Blue Faced Leicester. Cambrian Wool is a CIC, which means Community Interest Company where the aims of the company are to benefit the local community; in this case, the farmers and people who work to promote the wool and traditional skills of the Cambrian mountain area. This yarn is produced with the help of the Natural Fibre Company which is the spinning company connected to Blacker Yarns where I bought the yarn for big daughter’s Peru socks … I’m learning that the yarn world is connected in all kinds of ways …
Anne is also in contact with a local alpaca farm and has already started selling their yarn, and has her own range of Yarn O’clock hand-dyed yarns which were specially dyed for her by fivemoons yarns.
By this time, (some considerable time later, actually!) small daughter and my husband had got fed up waiting for me and headed to a cafe for some lunch. I got a text telling me that my cup of tea was going cold, so I had to say goodbye and hurry to meet them – not without paying for my yarn first, though! I simply can’t resist these sea glass colours this summer; this is linen lace yarn, a blend of baby alpaca, silk and linen and will need to become a shawl at some point … must knit faster!
Back at our rented cottage, there was time to finish off my husband’s socks before the party that night …
and about time too, considering that I started these back in May! His preference is always for black socks (which may explain why they get left …) with coloured heels and toes. I use leftovers for those – this time he chose the sparkly pink Sparkleduck yarn that I used for my Twinkle Star socks (he doesn’t believe in “boy” colours!) and I used a short row heel rather than my usual heel flap. These are what he calls his “proper” socks; I’ve been knitting them for years for him and he much prefers to wear these socks than any others he has.
Black socks finished, it was time to turn my attention to something a bit brighter. These socks are for the Yarndale Sock Line and I’m knitting them in West Yorkshire Spinners yarn in the shade Tequila Sunrise. There was a summer house in the garden where we were staying, and we spent a happy hour or so in there with the newspaper, mugs of tea and sock yarn.
Back home again, the sun has continued to shine through the rain showers. The grass really needs cutting but as soon as I get ready to go out it rains, so it’s very quickly starting to look like a field again. I’ll be spotting cows in Winwick after all soon!
The hanging baskets are appreciating the rain, though. I’m never terribly good at remembering to water them so always fill them with geraniums which are much more forgiving than other bedding plants. The red blooms look fabulous with the white star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) which smells divine whenever you set foot out of the front door.
The Yarndale socks are coming along nicely, and match my Herdy mug very well 🙂
I’ve also been working on this – it’s a pattern called Exmoor by Anniken Allis which I spotted in the The Knitter magazine this month. It called for a ball of Zauberball and it so happened that I found one in my stash when I was hunting through. I am never going to knit socks from the Zauberball as they wouldn’t match, so using it for this shawl project instead is ideal. It’s not overly complicated but does require a bit of thought as the rows are getting longer, and that makes a nice change from the simplicity of the plain rounds of the socks.
Big daughter comes home today; I’ve been tracking her plane over the internet (isn’t it marvellous that you can do that!) and we can’t wait to see her at the airport. I’m finding it quite hard to settle to anything today, so I do hope this post hasn’t seemed too disjointed!
I’ll be letting you know how she – and her socks – got on!
I am glad you had a lovely weekend away Christine. So much knitting going on at yours! I can't believe your older daughter is coming home today, it only just seems like yesterday that she left. It's good to welcome them back, isn't it? x
We are counting the minutes until we set off for the airport! Yes, the four weeks that she's been away have flown really, but it's been quite long enough now and time she was back with us 🙂 xx
Glad you had a lovely time. Haha I have a ball of Zauberball in my stash for the same reason, I will need to look for this pattern.
It's knitting up really well with the pattern, I'm very pleased with it so far! xx
Your shawl looks as if it will be gorgeous. Beautiful colours. Love your yarn bowl/holder. What is it made of? Looks perfect for your ball of Zauberball. I'm sure I have some Zauberball lurking in my stash! Can't believe your elder daughter is home today. What a quick four weeks. Not for you though! Enjoy hearing what she has to tell you.
It's a ceramic bowl, Kat, I bought it from Yarndale a couple of years ago and it's really handy for spotting my yarn rolling all over the floor! Yes, we're very much looking forward to the stories (and the llama selfies!) 🙂 xx
Mold sounds like a lovely place and I'm glad you had a good weekend. Yarn O'Clock looks like a treasure trove of yarny goodness. Have a wonderful time with big daughter. Time seems to have passed quickly since she left but I'm sure it felt much longer for you!
The longest part was waiting for her to pick up her baggage at the airport! Now that we've got her back, it seems to have gone very quickly 🙂 xx
Always enjoy reading your blog! It inspires me, every time.
That's really lovely to hear, thank you! xx
I hope that big girl has had a wonderful time!!! The wool shop looks like a fantastic place!
She's had an amazing time thank you, and the yarn shop is fantastic – if it wasn't for the fact that my stash is already bigger than it should be, I could have run up a very big bill! 🙂 xx
Glad she had a good time. When my lass came back it was on the day of the eclipse in 1999 and she was at Heathrow when it happened. They all came home on a bus so I had to pick her up from the school. She ran across the road to hug me – first time since she was a little girl! I cried!
Aww, that's a sweet story! It was very emotional at the airport for us too last night! xx
I am glad you liked Mold as it is where I live just a five minute walk from Yarn O'Clock.I do hope it works out for Anne.It is a brave venture!
It's always a brave venture to follow a dream and set up on your own, so I'm hoping it works out for her too. It's a lovely shop so I am sure it will! xx
Your weekend sounds lovely and the lemon curd favour is so cute. I live ten minutes away from Mold and found out about the yarn shop last week. I'm going in two weeks time and then the following month to spend my birthday money!! I hope your daughters Peru trip was everything she expected it to be. x
The wedding looked beautiful – I love simplicity at events like that, less is always more. Yarn o'clock has gone on my list of yarny places to visit when we return to the UK (hopefully end Sept….) and I love how she displays her yarns, especially the hanging skeins. Hopefully your daughter is back home safe and sound and I would imagine you are bouncing around the house with glee!!! Much love. x
The wedding worked wonderfully well because of the simplicity, it was great! I think you'll love Yarn O'clock if you can get there when you get home; Anne's lovely and you'll like her very much. Oh yes, much bouncing has taken place! 🙂 xx
Hello! I've been perving through your blog as I am a crocheter but am soon exercising my 'bistitchuality' and going to attempt to knit socks! I love the fact your hubby chose pink toes and heels for these socks! Good on him! My fella would do the same 🙂 I've been through all your sock pages and am wondering if you had a blog post about how to match stripes with self striping yarn which I may have missed? xox Louise
Hello Louise, it's lovely to see you! We've had lots of crocheters on the Sockalong who wanted to try knitted socks – you'll find the post you need on matching yarns in the Sockalong tutorials (click the yellow picture at the top right of the page). Being somewhat obsessive about matching socks, I couldn't leave that out! 🙂 xx
Ah! I can't believe I missed it! The yarn shop I bought some self striping yarn from today were kind enough to wind it into 2 matching cakes for me! Thank you xox
Oh that's good of them! It's always great to find a yarn shop that's really helpful. Anyway, you'll know how to do it next time 🙂 x
I love that you found a yarn shop while you were away. Wow I can't believe big daughter is back … that time has flown and I look forward to hearing her tales from Peru. Joy xx
It seems like hardly any time at all now she's back, it's funny how that works, isn't it? She's going to be sharing some of her pictures soon (I hope!); they're fab! xx
That wedding sounds so lovely, and I like the simplicity of little jars of lemon curd as favours, how wonderful. And what a pretty setting with a really good yarn shop, too. I am, as always, in awe of your sock knitting – well, all your knitting really. You are very clever. xx
What a lovely thing to say, thank you Gillian! Mutual appreciation … I'm always in awe of your effortless interior styling and beautiful photos! xx