Just back from Holmfirth

.... where we found Upcountry - the Rowan shop - and I spent almost £80 on
yarn for a very special jumper to wear on our Arctic Cruise. It will be the
most challenging thing I've ever knitted, I hope it's as good as the
illustration in the pattern book.


Mary

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...
... where we found Upcountry - the Rowan shop - and I spent almost £80 on
yarn for a very special jumper to wear on our Arctic Cruise. It will be
the most challenging thing I've ever knitted, I hope it's as good as the
illustration in the pattern book.


Mary


Is there a picture of the sweater on the Rowan site or in which pattern book
is it? Upcountry is a great wool shop, isn't it? I had a wonderful time
when I visited it, perfect place to blow your budget.
DA

"DA" don't live wrote in message
news
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...
... where we found Upcountry - the Rowan shop - and I spent almost £80 on
yarn for a very special jumper to wear on our Arctic Cruise. It will be
the most challenging thing I've ever knitted, I hope it's as good as the
illustration in the pattern book.


Mary


Is there a picture of the sweater on the Rowan site or in which pattern
book is it? Upcountry is a great wool shop, isn't it? I had a wonderful
time when I visited it, perfect place to blow your budget.
DA

I'll scan and put it up as a tinypic.

I blew my budget - it was £78 but the cruise cost a LOT more than that - and
I've only just started on my wardrobe.

Cl;othes are normally unimportant to me, i'm a scruff and don't care. But I
shall invisible mend the moth holes in his dinner jacket and search for
evening clothes I like - and possibly dayclothes too (jeans and sweat shirts
are hardly The Thing!) and bugger the expense.

You can't take it with you.

Mary

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"DA" don't live wrote in message
news
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...
... where we found Upcountry - the Rowan shop - and I spent almost £80
on yarn for a very special jumper to wear on our Arctic Cruise. It will
be the most challenging thing I've ever knitted, I hope it's as good as
the illustration in the pattern book.


Mary


Is there a picture of the sweater on the Rowan site or in which pattern
book is it? Upcountry is a great wool shop, isn't it? I had a wonderful
time when I visited it, perfect place to blow your budget.
DA

I'll scan and put it up as a tinypic.

I blew my budget - it was £78 but the cruise cost a LOT more than that -
and I've only just started on my wardrobe.

Cl;othes are normally unimportant to me, i'm a scruff and don't care. But
I shall invisible mend the moth holes in his dinner jacket and search for
evening clothes I like - and possibly dayclothes too (jeans and sweat
shirts are hardly The Thing!) and bugger the expense.

You can't take it with you.

Mary


Mary, I don't know how far you live from Bradford, but here is an
address/phone number for West Yorkshire Mohair Mills.
Address: Mohair Mills, Gibson Street, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD3
9TS, UK
Telephone: (01274) 471249

They have/had a huge warehouse open to the public, and good prices on wool,
mohair, etc.

Shopping for the cruise would be almost as much fun as the cruise for me.
Why leave it for your kids to take a cruise after you are gone.
IMO, you earned it, so you should enjoy it.
DA

"DA" don't live wrote in message
...


Mary, I don't know how far you live from Bradford, but here is an
address/phone number for West Yorkshire Mohair Mills.
Address: Mohair Mills, Gibson Street, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD3
9TS, UK
Telephone: (01274) 471249

We're eleven miles, door to door, from there. There were lots of such places
in this part of Yorkshire, indeed my great grandmother worked at the famous
Salts alpaca mill and lived in Saltaire. Yorkshire folk have been steeped in
the woolen industry for generations - from animal to clothing.

Sadly, now most mills are now used for other purposes - the huge one at
Saltaire is a gallery for David Hockney's work, small industry and retail
outlets.

They have/had a huge warehouse open to the public, and good prices on
wool, mohair, etc.

There are still places like that - but most are outlets for imported and
tourist/retail goods. We went in one yesterday - the 'Edinburgh Woolen
Mills', which had a 'biggest sale ever' sign outside. That sign has been
there for years - the same sign is at all the other EWM shops round the
country. The clothing is cheap, imported and of low quality - not made in
Edinburgh or even Britain, I suspect.

When I Googled for Mohair Mills I got a freight company at that address :-(

It's very sad but it's because people look at price rather than quality
these days. What am I talking about, 'these days'? It's been true for
decades. The more money people have the more most of them want to spend on
good quality - even for the food which eventually becomes us.

Shopping for the cruise would be almost as much fun as the cruise for me.

Well, I don't like shopping and because I know nothing about clothes I know
I'll dither and make the experience worse! But I have made a start.

Why leave it for your kids to take a cruise after you are gone.

I couldn't agree more. When he railed about the cost of the cruise I asked
what he'd rather spend the money on? He couldn't give an answer, we don't
want anything. And I've spent lots on special treats for him over the years
I feel that he shouldn't begrudge me this one indulgence.

IMO, you earned it, so you should enjoy it.

Indeed.

And by the way, I started making a gauge swatch last night and the wool
(Rowan) is beautiful to work, the swatch is so lovely and even that I shan't
want to pull it out and I feel that the finished jumper won't irritate my
skin as most wool does.

It's an American pattern and the needle sizes are slightly different from
ours so the swatch is essential. I can't rely on getting exactly the right
gauge without doing one. Interestingly, because there is no plain stocking
stitch in the pattern the gauge is measured over 'seed stitch' (which we
call moss stitch).

I'm so looking forward to starting on the real thing!

Better scan the picture for you to see.

Mary


DA

"DA" don't live wrote in message
news
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...
... where we found Upcountry - the Rowan shop - and I spent almost £80 on
yarn for a very special jumper to wear on our Arctic Cruise. It will be
the most challenging thing I've ever knitted, I hope it's as good as the
illustration in the pattern book.


Mary


Is there a picture of the sweater on the Rowan site or in which pattern
book is it? Upcountry is a great wool shop, isn't it? I had a wonderful
time when I visited it, perfect place to blow your budget.
DA

For some reason I can't get Tinypic to upload the picture. Any ideas for an
alternative similar site?

Mary

We're eleven miles, door to door, from there. There were lots of such
places in this part of Yorkshire, indeed my great grandmother worked at
the famous Salts alpaca mill and lived in Saltaire. Yorkshire folk have
been steeped in the woolen industry for generations - from animal to
clothing.

One of the reasons we chose the Dales to visit. When we go on holiday my DH
and I try to avoid large cities and the "typical" tourist haunts.


When I Googled for Mohair Mills I got a freight company at that address
:-(

I think that the company is probably listed as A.C Wood.


And by the way, I started making a gauge swatch last night and the wool
(Rowan) is beautiful to work, the swatch is so lovely and even that I
shan't want to pull it out and I feel that the finished jumper won't
irritate my skin as most wool does.

It's an American pattern and the needle sizes are slightly different from
ours so the swatch is essential. I can't rely on getting exactly the right
gauge without doing one. Interestingly, because there is no plain stocking
stitch in the pattern the gauge is measured over 'seed stitch' (which we
call moss stitch).

That makes for more interesting knitting. It is rather ironic that you chose
an American pattern, I prefer British patterns to most of what I see in the
US knitting books and magazines. I have a collection of old Rowan books from
which I am still knitting various jumpers.

I'm so looking forward to starting on the real thing!

Better scan the picture for you to see.

Please do and also I would love to see a picture of the finished garment
too.

DA

For some reason I can't get Tinypic to upload the picture. Any ideas for
an alternative similar site?

Mary



Mary does your ISP/news server provide access to
alt.binaries.pictures.crafts or alt.binaries.crafts? You could upload it to
either news group. In case you are not familiar with posting to binary
groups, just attach the picture to a message just like in email.
DA

"DA" don't live wrote in message
...


For some reason I can't get Tinypic to upload the picture. Any ideas for
an alternative similar site?

Mary



Mary does your ISP/news server provide access to
alt.binaries.pictures.crafts or alt.binaries.crafts? You could upload it
to either news group. In case you are not familiar with posting to binary
groups, just attach the picture to a message just like in email.
DA

I'll have a look. I subscribe to a binaries garden ng so am familiar with
it, thanks for the idea.

Mary

"DA" don't live wrote in message
...


For some reason I can't get Tinypic to upload the picture. Any ideas for
an alternative similar site?

Mary



Mary does your ISP/news server provide access to
alt.binaries.pictures.crafts or alt.binaries.crafts? You could upload it
to either news group. In case you are not familiar with posting to binary
groups, just attach the picture to a message just like in email.
DA

OK, I can get alt.binaries.crafts.pictures. Shall I put it there?

Mary