Socks and the Lake District

I finished my stripey socks last week and I am thoroughly chuffed with them. I know some people obsess about stripes matching, I am not one of those people. When I finished the first sock the beginning of the next stripe repeat (which are very long in this Opal yarn) started at the toe. I refused to wind right through my ball of yarn to get to where it started again so just cast on the second sock and knit. They are a few rows out in matching but not enough that you can really tell and I love them anyway.

I do love this yarn. It's just so soft and doesn't feel at all overprocessed in spite of being mass produced self-striping. I very much envied the socks I had knit for Mr.NM in this yarn so am please to finally have got round to a pair for myself. I have another ball in my stash to do another pair for me (I can't see Mr.NM wanting a pair in the yarn as it's pink, lilac and green but you never know!) I also had quite a bit left over so may be able to get a little pair of trainer socks if I use a different yarn fo the toes.

My Ravelry project page for the socks with details of yarn is here if you're interested.

My new socks went on a little trip away at the weekend when we visited the Lake District. It was not really woolly sock weather as you will see from the pictures though they kept my feet comfortable for our long walk.

I got Mr.NM to take a photo from the car as we drove over the Hardknott Pass but I'm not sure it really reveals how difficult the driving was (the link explains if you're not familiar with the road). It was rather frightening in my little car which only has a 1.2l engine! Fortunately though we made it in one piece and I did have a great sense of achievement afterwards. I think you should get a badge really "I've survived the Hardknott Pass" or something.

The glorious (and very un-Lake District like) weather meant our planned walk for the Saturday went ahead. We took a lot of pictures so I'll share a few of the scenery.

The little white dots in this one are lots of sheep, oh my goodness did we see a lot of sheep! Not just in the fields but up in the fells where we ran into plenty of Herdwick sheep, I'm sure they were amused at how we struggled up the hills...if sheep are capable of being amused. I'd like to think they are.

A rare sight of a sheepless field!

We saw this rather handsome fellow in one of the fields, look at those horns! Fortunately we did not need to cross this field as I doubt he'd show the indifference that the ewes do.

Mr.NM fell behind as I stormed ahead with one of our friends...

Part of our walk took us through a forest of pine trees which smelled fabulous but were not so fun to have to push past when they were close together, they were rather prickly.

My new socks doing their duty! They got a touch muddy as whilst it was very sunny when we were there it had been raining heavily the week before and the ground was boggy in places. Fortunately the combination of good boots and wool socks meant my feet were dry and comfortable.

This was the view from the highest point of our walk (well there abouts) it was a bit hazy but breathtaking. I do love this part of the country.

The end of our walk involved walking back down the Hardknott Pass where I had driven the previous day. This was much harder on the feet (and the knees) than walking over the grass on the hills but after 10 miles of walking it was a relief to know that we were nearing the end of our walk.

We had a lovely time but on the way home I did not wish to drive through the passes again so took the longer (and much easier) route along the coast. We stopped briefly in Ravenglass for some toasties and a pot of tea feeling sore from the previous day's walk and rather glad to be going home as the rain was threatening. I made a mental note to visit in the future as it was quite pretty. We saw some Morris Dancers but I didn't take any pictures of them, they were wearing impressive costumes though.

I feel very fortunate to have managed a weekend in the Lakes without getting soaked (I've NEVER achieved a trip there without getting soaked to the skin at least once!) I'm just a little sad now that we don't have another camping trip planned until the end of July. Oh well, it's good to have things to look forward to.

I hope everyone has a lovely week and I'll be back soon with an update on the progress with my cowl.