Sunday 30 June 2013

A weekend away from yarn...:o(

 Well that was a wonderful weekend!  We're planning a family ascent of Snowdon (A mountain in Wales) in 3 weeks time, so the in-laws came over for the weekend to get a couple of practice walks in - as we live near the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains there's plenty of practice hikes near us! No weekend is ever completely knitting/crochet free in Claire Clutterbug land though, so I spent the 5 hours hiking up The Skirrid Mountain in Abergavenny thinking about yarn bombing!

My husbands cousin is a fellow knitter & crocheter, but she's much younger & cooler than me & is into yarn bombing.  As she'll be coming on the Snowdon trip, we have decided to do a joint venture - we're going to decorate Llanberis with knitted & crocheted pot plants! So en-route I took a few inspiration photo's & I plan to design pot plants based on these flowers I saw along the walk from Abergavenny to the foot of the Skirrid:
Dog Rose
Wild Geranium

Blue Geranium
I had lots of thoughts on how I could make the stems & leaves & stamens...amazing what your brain comes up with when you're refusing to let it think about how much your thighs hurt!  The Skirrid isn't that high - 1,129 ft from the foot of the mountain, but it's very steep - about as steep as you can get without needing climbing gear!
 But the views from the top were worth it!
Abergavenny is to the far left, Sugarloaf Mountain is in the centre
 And we couldn't have picked a better day - it was sunny but not too hot with some amazing cloud formations, breezy but not too windy & perfectly clear - we could see for miles & miles!
Sugarloaf mountain to the far left & the Brecon Beacons
 Isn't South Wales just beautiful?  I'm so lucky to live here!
Herefordshire - England looks so flat compared with South Wales!
 Once we'd made the steep climb, there was a long gentle climb along the ridge to the highest point - to the left was Wales, the Black Mountains & the Brecon Beacons, and to the right was the flat fields of Herefordshire & England - the difference just looking to your left, then to your right was amazing!
I love clouds - I find them fascinating!
 I could have sat up there looking at the views & the clouds all day long...
An arty black & white photo of Sugarloaf from Skirrid
 But we didn't have any food & were running out of bottles of water!
The top - finally!
 But we finally made it to the very top :o) All I was fit for when we got back home was eating my dinner, snuggling on the sofa with my husband & sleeping!  So I didn't get to write down any of my design idea's...so I'm very glad I took the photo's - can't wait to get started on them tomorrow!  I only have 3 weeks to make them, so I'm hoping to be able to add a new pot-plant pattern each week for the next 3 weeks - hope you like them!

Well, we've been for another 6 mile walk around Penarth Marina, the Barrage and Cardiff Bay today & my legs are starting to feel rather achey, so I think it's time for a long soak in a hot bath.  And I think I deserve a treat so I may take a glass of Baileys & ice with me!  Oh I hope I'm not in too much pain tomorrow...

Love & hugs

Claire Clutterbug xx



1 comment:

  1. Hi Claire, Thank you for sharing this journey :) My Nana was born in Wales and we were very close. I was able to visit with her and my Grandfather, many years ago, and it was so very beautiful! I loved the photos :) I always remembered Wales looking like a 'patchwork quilt' and the photos still make me think of that. She was born in Pontypridd, Glam. I can't wait to see the flowers you design. The foxglove is beautiful. I shared it on my pages.
    Hugs from across the 'pond', Rhondda

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