Tag: Hobbit

224: channelling my inner Bilbo Baggins

It was my birthday on Wednesday and I had plans. Such plans! I wanted to go to The Manor at Hemingford Grey, where Lucy M. Boston wrote the Green Knowe stories and made beautiful quilts and planted her garden.

Once again my plans were foiled (foiled!) by circumstances beyond my control. So, I was pretty grumpy and feeling extremely hard-done-by and underappreciated when I got up on Wednesday morning. I went for a run, took the furry idiot to the vet again (she was pretty out of sorts too, and I have the scratches to prove it) and then decided I’d take myself off for a bit of pampering.

I started with a proper pedicure at the Nail Bar in Harlow, and while you always have to wait in there I had my sewing project with me so the whole thing was pretty relaxing. The pedicure chairs are also massage chairs so I even got a bit of a back rub, and came out with sparkly red toes and feeling much better. I got my eyebrows threaded (ow) and then went and had lunch with my book for company at Mui & Koko.

My mum always used to say that if I had tattoos I’d regret them when I was 50, and last year when I hit the half century I swore I’d have another tattoo. I knew exactly what I wanted, but I didn’t quite get around to it for a whole variety of reasons, so as I was in Harlow with a free afternoon I contacted a tattooist who’d been recommended by a few friends. It turned out he’d relocated his studio to Hertford, and wasn’t officially open till the following day, but he liked my idea and said he could fit me in that afternoon.

And so, like Bilbo Baggins, I went on an unexpected journey. I hopped on a bus to the train station, bought a return to Hertford and went on an adventure.

I’ve only been to Hertford once before, to see Rich Hall, and as I had some time before my appointment I had a good wander around the charity shops (many, but not as good as Bishops Stortford). I also visited the little museum, housed in a historic building on a pretty street and full of information about Hertford life and, apparently, the largest collection of toothbrushes in the world.

I liked the exhibit featuring all the things Victorian travellers brought back as donations, including a set of Samurai armour and some Japanese sandals, and I had a go at the low-tech ‘dress the Samurai warrior’ interactive. There were a few interventions like this throughout the museum, including an opportunity to design a postcard inspired by the embroidered WW1 postcards on display. There was a little shop for children to play in, and WAY too many scary old dolls for my liking, including a ventriloquist’s dummy.

And then it was tattoo time! The new Gumtoad studio is funky, with some futuristic masks on the wall (that not even I could be scared of), and the tattoo artist was lovely – very chatty and it turned out we’d both lived on Hackney Road at various times, and he’d lived in the village where we live now. It was a wide-ranging conversation covering all sorts of things, from children to urban exploring.

The tattoo took about 90 minutes, and was considerably less painful than the threading earlier in the day. I’d taken my picture with me and he suggested I’d get more detail if it was about 10% bigger. We tested out the best position on my shoulder, and once that was perfect we got on with it! I absolutely love it – it’s exactly as I imagined it, and having it done made my birthday. Thank you to my Beloved, whose birthday present paid for it…

For anyone who doesn’t recognise the character, it’s Snufkin from Tove Jansson‘s Moomin stories – this is him heading off to be alone for a while, as he does every winter while the Moomin family hibernate the cold away. He always comes back on the first day of spring though. I’ve loved the Moomins since I was a child and still reread the books on a regular basis. Snufkin is wise, independent and kind, and has an excellent hat, and this illustration has always spoken to me about choosing to follow the direction you want in life. Thing 2 is named after the author, which tells you something about my long-term love of these little Finnish trolls! Jansson also illustrated a Finnish version of The Hobbit, among other things.

And when I got home there was cake, thanks to Thing 2, and presents from sisters – a book on Boro and Sashiko stitching from Irish sister, and new adventure pants and Moomin biscuits from London sister.

Thanks also to Ma and Pa for the birthday Amazon voucher – guilt free craft and reading!

Other things making me happy this week:

  • The sunshine!
  • Finishing the black tote bag and marking out a new one with cat stencils from Mont Bleu Studio
  • Tea in the garden with neighbour Sue this afternoon
  • Finishing week 2 of couch to 5k
  • An afternoon sitting in the garden reading crafty books
  • Gorgeous peonies from my colleagues

Same time next week!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading

A Sign of Her Own- Sarah Marsh

Neither Here Nor There/Down Under– Bill Bryson (Audible)

Taken – Robert Crais

Shadowstitch – Cari Thomas

62: Or, what I did on my holidays

This time last week I was in Criccieth, North Wales with London sister (LS): we were peering out of the window at the torrential rain and howling gale and wondering what to do with our day. Luckily, having spent most of our childhood holidays in Wales, we are waterproof and hardy.

We drove up on Friday, via Abergavenny and mid-Wales: through convoy road works, diversions for road closures (including the old Severn Bridge) and finally up through the Dolgellau pass where the car in front of us burned out their clutch, the clouds were down on the road and there were free range sheep on the roadsides. We were staying at the Lion Hotel in Criccieth, where LS explained she was learning Welsh. She asked if it was OK if she practised on them and they promised to help. The hotel is family-run and so friendly, with hot showers, big breakfasts and comfortable beds. We ate in the restaurant on our first evening: whitebait and a freshly baked steak and ale pie for me, and spring rolls and gammon for her. The gammon steak was HUGE, from a local butcher, and came with egg and pineapple – none of this ‘or’ malarkey! They even had a gin menu, featuring local gins – I tried the Rhubarb and Ginger gin.

We went for a walk before dinner, as the rain had stopped and we needed to stretch our legs after the trek up from London: straight to the beach, where we watched a surfer and I got water in my wellies attempting to cross the stream. I squelched for the rest of the walk, causing LS to snigger a lot.

  • Welsh weather
  • Criccieth Castle from the beach
  • Someone stole our mountains
  • Crashing waves
  • Sugared almond houses in the rain

LS had planned our weekend itinerary, and Saturday saw us heading for Aberdaron to pick up the Wales coastal path on a route that would take us to the most westerly part of North Wales….after breakfast, of course, where we discovered that no one knows the word for ‘hash browns’ in Welsh. Google has it as ‘brown hash’ but LS decided ‘tatws wedi hashio’ was better. Not sure we convinced the waitress though!

The sun was out, and we got to Aberdaron in time to buy freshly-baked pasties from Becws Islyn for a picnic lunch on our walk. After a few false starts (getting on the wrong bit of beach, for example) we picked up the coast path and, using the trusty Ordnance Survey book, we headed up. And up. And down. And up. There are steep steps cut into the cliffs and in some cases the path takes you right down to the beach and back up again – Porth Meudwy, where the boat for Bardsey Island leaves from, is a prime example here. It’s a narrow cove with a slipway and not a lot else. The weather by this point was glorious: breezy and fine, and we even had to remove a layer of fleece.

  • Above Porth Meudwy
  • A long way down
  • Bardsey Sound
  • Sheep!
  • Round the first headland from Aberdaron

Mynydd Mawr was our destination point: there’s a coastguard station on the very top and the remains of a wartime radar station. The walk instructions at this point were ‘keep walking upwards’: straight to the point there! After a quick peek at the coastguard station we found a spot on the cliff to eat our still-warm pasties and, as we were facing westwards, we could see Ireland in the distance as the weather was so clear. We waved at Ireland sister but we’re not sure she saw us! We moved round the mountain to drink our coffee, eat Snickers bars (the perfect walking snack) and admire Eryri (Snowdonia) in the distance.

  • Coffee break view
  • Coastguard station
  • Ireland – quite big but far away
  • Cheers!
  • Admiring the view
  • Eryri laid out before us

The route back took us through some farmland – we were diverted from part of it due to landslips and erosion, and then we rejoined the coastal path back at Porth Meudwy – sadly at the bottom of the steps, so we still had to climb up again! We admired bluebells, foxgloves, late primroses and lots of gorse, and learned about the National Trust’s activity to replace the gorse with heather to create heathland. The final stretch was a scramble across the rocks at Aberdaron as we couldn’t face the final set of down and up steps: the tide was coming in but we raced the waves and rewarded ourselves with an ice cream on the beach. After nine miles of mostly hills we had earned it!

Back in Criccieth, I decided to go for a swim. LS sat on the beach with her book and a G&T. The sea was calm and the beach shelves very quickly, so you don’t need to go out very far to submerge. The hotel landlady thought I was quite mad, and now we get to say ‘o mam bach!’ instead of OMG…

We had fish and chips on the beach for dinner – quite the best I have had for a very long time – accompanied by prosecco and hovering gulls. We didn’t share.

  • Mmmm
  • Keepin’ it classy
  • A baby bird behind a satellite dish!
  • Dinner time view

Sunday’s weather was the complete opposite of the previous day, so we headed to Caernarfon for the family zoom call to wish Ireland sister a happy birthday, and then to Newborough Forest and Traeth Llanddwyn on Anglesey for a walk. The Forest is a red squirrel sanctuary, but we didn’t see any: I suspect they were tucked up in their drays hiding from the weather! We did see a woodpecker, two ravens and a lot of sand dunes, and made the sensible decision not to go to the island to see the chapel as we’d have been blown away. We drove back via Llyn Padarn and Llanberis, being awed by the waterfalls in full spate and the number of idiot drivers, and then in the evening we ate at Dylan’s in Criccieth: a beautiful Art Deco building designed by Clough Williams Ellis in the 1930s. No mussels were available so more whitebait, crab arancini and then crab salads.

  • Caernarfon
  • Llanddwyn sand dunes
  • Llyn Padarn

On Monday’s homeward journey we called in to see our cousin Myfanwy and her husband in Fairbourne, where sheep roamed the streets and the bakery makes excellent brownies. It was lovely to see them – last time I met them it was in Kings Cross so the scenery was very different!

I think the kids were pleased to see me when I got back, it’s hard to tell…

Reality…

The excitement continued on Wednesday as it was the monthly sunset and full moon swim at Redricks – this month was the flower moon, so there were some mad hats on display. The lake looks so pretty lit up by torches in drybags and glowtubes.

On Thursday I had my last day on site at the museum, as we had to be out on Friday for the building work to start. It looks so empty! We recycled and donated as much as we possibly could: scrap metal and wood, charity shops, the Scrap Project, schools, other museums, churches and charities. It’s going to be an adventure for the next few years to say the least!

Baby cow, do-do-do-do-doooo

Amigurumi cow and baby

A finish this week has been this cow and calf, which is probably one of the weirder things I have made – it was a commission from a friend as a gift for her sister in law, who loves all things cow.

I also frogged half my latest sock (Mulled Wine by Vicki Brown Designs) as I decided I didn’t like the solid colour I was using. I took it back to the toe and redid the foot with a self-striping yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners – Winwick Mum in the Wildflower colourway.

The year of handmade gifts

I had a brainwave a few weeks ago and made a chart of all my work colleagues’ birthdays so I can plan a bit better! I am now ahead of myself, having finished the next one and kitted up two more – one for work and one for a friend who is getting married soon.

I have also picked up the Hobbit Hole pattern again, which has been on hold while I’ve been making gifts – I was stitching in the garden yesterday, and while watching films last night.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit…

So that’s been my week! A lot of heavy lifting, glorious walks, time with my sister, cross stitch and crochet. And it’s a bank holiday weekend too – hurray!

See you for week 63, which won’t be nearly as exciting as this week I am mostly doing spreadsheets.

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Peaches for Monsieur Le Cure – Joanne Harris (Audible)

Attention All Shipping – Charlie Connelly

Pel is Puzzled/Pel and the Staghound – Mark Hebden