Wendy's Week - An Island Escape

Hello you lovely lot, I hope you have been having a wonderful July so far!

Last week I decided to take myself off to the Isle of Wight for a few days, to spend some quality time with my parents and for a little bit of Island tranquillity in the summer...err...sunshine? Well, at least I was hoping so!

~ An Island Escape ~

Mum and me at I.O.W Railway // Freshwater Bay // New Knitting
Appledurcombe House //  Off to see a show // Clematis in my folks garden

I decided to head down to Portsmouth bright and early on Friday morning, as I'd been lucky enough to snag a super cheap train ticket from Waterloo to Portsmouth with Megabus (a site really worth checking out if you can be a little flexible with your travel times and are able to book in advance). So after a couple of early morning buses to get me to Waterloo, a train and then a ferry I arrived at Ryde pier head more than ready for a few days holiday.

View Across the Bay

The first stop on my trip was to Freshwater for a bit of charity shopping at the Wessex Cancer Trust Shop and to grab some fish and chips for lunch. I managed to get a relatively new copy of Winifred Holtby's South Riding (I blogged about the BBC adaptation here), for a whole 75p and some little black buttons for £1, which should hopefully work well with the next sewing project I have planned, so left Freshwater rather happy with my little haul. Dad drove us over to Freshwater bay, to one of my favourite viewing points on the island, where we sat to eat our lunch and the sun started to shine for what felt like the first time this year. It was bliss!

Dad as a station guard // Wartime Cheese Sarnies // Mum looking very chic in my beret, it really suited her!//
Stop Look & Listen // taking a ride on a train // US Army camp

It was the Round the Island Yacht race on Saturday but we decided to forgo an early morning start for a good vantage point to watch the boats, in favour of popping along to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway for the first day of their annual 1940s weekend.

If I am honest this was actually the main reason for my trip, it's something I have managed to attend every year for the last few years and now that I am a member of the railway's club it means that I get three free passes into the station a year, one of which I always save for this weekend. I've actually been visiting this railway since I was a tot and so it has a special place in my heart; as a child I used to pretend as we rattled along, with the wonderful smell of smoke and the smuts blowing in my face as I stuck my head out of the window, that I was back in the 40s or even that I was one of the Railway Children, so as you might imagine, the child in me is very happy that I get to pretend for real as a grown up, even if it is just for one day!



This year I wore my vintage style tea dress, which I bought many years ago from ASOS and thankfully even with all the stress eating I have been doing lately it still fit! The beret was a last minute change; it was a bit windy I didn't want to spend the day fighting with my hat so swapped it for the beret. Annoyingly I forgot to pack my newly finished Sunday Pictorial beret which was actually knitted to go with my fab late forties coat, which would have topped off all the blue and purple in my outfit perfectly! Mum's dress is a lovely floral one I found in one of my favourite (and much used) Etsy stores, Secondhand Rose Worcester, it's a lovely 80s cotton dress which really does look perfectly 40s too and as she loves it,that means it's a win all round! My dad wore the Stitchcraft Fair Isle Pullover I knitted for him many Christmases ago, he even had two ladies compliment him on it, which I think he was rather chuffed about!





This year there were many more exhibits than at past events, plus lots more of the visitors had dressed up in 40s style clothes this year, which is great as it really adds to the atmosphere and makes the day a lot more enjoyable! There was also many more vintage clothing stalls this year, which me and mum had a good old rummage through. I was quite restrained and so only bought a few pairs of vintage clip on earrings, which were real bargains from one of the charity stalls. We also bought some rag rug supplies from the lovely ladies at The Pig & Lion so that we can try our hands at making a 40s style rug with all the leftover scraps of fabric we have accumulated over the years, which should be fun!

Charity shop treat and a gift from mum // my now undone shawl //
I'll Be Seeing You at the Winter Gardens // Earrings from the 1940s event

On Sunday after a trip into Shanklin for a little lunch and a wander around Rylstone Gardens, we headed back to Ventnor to take in a show. The local theatre group were hosting a 1940s musical called 'I'll Be Seeing You' which was being performed in the very appropriate 30s built Winter Gardens. Mum thought it would be a nice way to end our 40s weekend and so treated us to some tickets. The atmosphere in the theatre was great and the show was fabulous. The story was really rather lovely and focused on a fictional family living in Ventnor during the war, I even got a bit teary in places and the ton of songs they filled the show with were all classics from the 40s and 50s, which were beautifully sung by the amazing cast, it really made the perfect afternoon treat!

A change of Plan

Monday was grey and cloudy, which meant plenty of time for knitting. OK, so this is where I need to confess to something, something I have a feeling I may live to regret. I took along my shawl project (see it in the last collage) which I have been slowly working on over the last few weeks. As I have been working away on it I have been becoming less and less enamoured with it, not the pattern, that's fabulously fun and very easy to knit, it was the pink and purple stripes, they were reminding me a little too much of a stick of rock and so I decided to rip it all back; I just couldn't see myself ever wearing it! I did cast on another, though mum had two 100g balls of lovely navy DK glitter wool which she couldn't think of a use for and passed on to me, so I used this to cast on a new version and with more time and less distraction meant I rattled through knitting and even managed to cast it off just minutes before I had to leave to catch my ferry home! Mum was rather enamoured with it so I gave it to her as a gift and as I still have another ball I'll cast on a matching one for me!



Before I left for my ferry on Tuesday morning I did manage to fit in another little walk 'around the block' as my parents call it, which it's actually much nicer than it sounds, as once you get to the bottom of their road it's all hilly valleys and lanes. Also you get to walk past my favourite place on the island Appuldurcombe House, (pronounced Apple-der-combe, we were reliably told by a local many years ago) it's an 18th century ruin, now maintained by English Heritage, which is set back into a small secluded wooded area with fabulous views across Wroxall village and the hills beyond.

Appuldurcombe House

It is so beautiful and sad, that I fell in love with it the first time we visited when I was a child and always hoped that one day I might live near it. I am also hoping that one day, weather permitting, I'll be able to pop up there with a picnic and a Jane Austin novel and sit in the derelict tranquillity of the grounds to pass a sunny afternoon Oh, and just between you and me, if I ever did get married I'd dearly love it to be held here as it looks like the perfect place for an elegant party!

"Who are you...where's my dinner"

After a long journey home I was expecting a lovely warm welcome from the little furry one, he usually runs in and jumps on my lap for a few minutes attention, but the best I got was this sceptical peering from around the sofa before he ran off to find his dinner, haha, he is a fickle little beast!

Wendy x

Wendy's Week - Patterns & Packing

Hello, I hope you are having a great week and looking forward to the bank holiday that is just around the corner here in the UK (sorry if there's no holiday where you are I'm sure you'll have a lovely weekend anyway)! Thank you for all your get well wishes it's very kind of you all, I can confirm I am feeling much better now and have been super busy to make up for my much needed lazy spell last week!

~ Patterns & Packing ~

- 18th - 24th April -

Beautiful Spring Blossom // Officially a geek // Lots of new old knitting patterns
// A gift of sewing patterns // My Anderson Blouse // Packing for a trip

- Renewed my membership to the I.O.W Steam Railway. I haven't already made myself sound like a teenage boy what with Airfix kits and my love of sci-fi, I have gone one better and I am now a member of a steam railway too! OK, I've actually been on and off been a member from birth as my parents have been members since I think the 70s, but now that I have started regularly attending the annual 1940s weekend, it seemed only right to join up myself and help support them all year round, as nothing beats a steam train ride for a little bit of time travel!

- I went to the cinema! On Tuesday I went with my best friend Diane to see Disney's new version of The Jungle Book. It was great I won't lie I wasn't expecting very much but it was really good, it even had a couple of the original songs which was a nice surprise, my favourite character had to be Baloo played by Bill Murray, his voice was perfect for the part! How similar it is to the original cartoon I can't say as I have actually only ever seen the first half, due to it being the video of choice at Junior school for filling in the last day of term when we were all too demob happy to be expected to do any work which also meant it was always, without fail, turned off before it reached the end, so I know the beginning very, very well. The end? Well, that's still a mystery!

- I Bought some knitting patterns! My obsession with that Home Fires Fair Isle is still going strong and thanks to the amazing Liza from The Vintage Knitter I now am the proud owner of the original pattern (amongst a few others which I couldn't resist, see header photo)! I lucked out when found the original pattern on The Vintage Knitting Lady website so I knew it had to be mine. The original cast on and ribbing that I did for the jumper has turned out way too big so I will need to rip that back and start from scratch anyway though the pattern that I originally charted matches up perfectly, which means all I need to do now is work out how many stitches to add for a (much) bigger size and I will be ready to get started! If you are as besotted with ITV's Home Fires as I am, then do pop over to Liza's blog where she has created the most fabulous 'Home Fires: The Knitwear' post matching up the knitwear in the show with its original patterns, it is really wonderful and is making me want to add them all to my must-knit list!

The mini wheelie bin is a belated birthday present for my brother, if you have ever been to Liverpool you'll understand why!

- Started Packing for my trip Tomorrow I will be heading off up to Liverpool to meet my parents and brother, before flying off on Friday to Amsterdam for the bank holiday weekend! I need to stop for a second to appreciate the fact I have typed a sentence that has the word 'flying' in it without the usual stomach-churning terror, yes my nails are still bitten in anxiety, but the therapy I am taking is certainly starting to work! We are going to explore the city and to take a trip to the Keukenhof to see the tulips in bloom. I am really looking forward to our trip as it's somewhere I have wanted to visit for many years, especially the Keukenhof, as if it is in full blooming glory it should be really magnificent. Expect lots of pictures on my return!

- I was gifted some Vintage Sewing Patterns! Last week I got a message from one of my Facebook friends David, who I met (albeit virtually) through writing this blog over our shared love of the history of WWII's home front. He contacted me to ask if I would like some old sewing patterns that he had been given in a house clearance and were only going to be binned if he couldn't find a home for them, obviously, I snapped his offer up and so they arrived this week! They are fabulous, mostly they date from the 60s & 70s and most are in larger sizes, which is wonderful for us more curvaceous gals! I am honestly blown away by his kindness in thinking of me, it's really touching just how generous people can be, so with this in mind, once I am back from Amsterdam I will be hosting a giveaway so that I can pass kindness forward to you lovely lot, so watch this space!

- I finished my Sew Over It Anderson Blouse! As usual I could look happier about it in this photo, but honestly, I do really love it! I will write a more detailed/waffelsome post once I can get some better photos of it but it's done, I think it's great and I've already worn it twice! The fabric was a challenge at times, more so in the poor cutting out than in the sewing together, and basting the pieces before stitching worked a treat, thank you, Cate! It's by no means perfect, there are some dead wonky seams, but it has certainly given me the confidence to start on the dressing gown soon which is all I was really hoping for anyway, and now I have a bonus top to boot!

Have you any exciting or crafty plans for the bank holiday weekend?

Wendy x

The Last Enemy

...I closed in to 200 yards, and from slightly to one side gave him a two-second burst: fabric ripped off the wing and black smoke poured from the engine, but he did not go down. Like a fool, I did not break away, but put in another three-second burst. Red flames shot upwards and he spiralled out of sight. At that moment, I felt a terrific explosion which knocked the control stick from my hand, and the whole machine quivered like a stricken animal. In a second, the cockpit was a mass of flames: instinctively, I reached up to open the hood. It would not move. I tore off my straps and managed to force it back; but this took time, and when I dropped back into the seat and reached for the stick in an effort to turn the plane on its back, the heat was so intense that I could feel myself going. I remember a second of sharp agony, remember thinking 'So this is it!' and putting both hands to my eyes. Then I passed out...

It was whilst on the Isle of Wight that I was first captured by this paragraph. We had taken shelter from a seemingly never ending downpour in St. James church and after musing on the musty architecture and admiring the pungent fresh flower displays, it was time to move on to the secondhand book box nestled beside the pews, which, if I am honest had been on my mind from the moment we pushed open the heavy church door. I rifled through the books hoping yet again to find something interesting and I was not disappointed, this time it came in the form of a tattered, dusty, sweet smelling, little blue book with the biblical sounding title 'The Last Enemy', I opened to the Proem and read the words above. I was sold. I paid my 25p and we left the church, just as the sun began to shine for the first time that day.

I spent the rest of my all to brief time on the island immersed in this little books pages, amazed that I had never heard of this book or its author Richard Hillary before, and feeling so lucky to have found it. I was even more smitten when I spotted a inscription in the front few pages, from a Daddy to his son in 1943, I wonder if the unnamed son was also in the RAF, or perhaps it was in fact Daddy who was protecting the skies.

After the captivating Proem, the book becomes an autobiographical novel which is broken into two parts. Book one begins with the authors charmed days rowing and occasionally studying at Oxford, his joining the Oxford University Air Squadron, his subsequent RAF training and deployment to 603 City of Edinburgh squadron to fly spitfires, up until him being shot down. Book two focuses on life after, his rehabilitation and the pioneering work of his surgeon Archibald McIndoe to repair his fire ravaged body, his coming to terms with life as it will now be and his realisation that some of his firm held beliefs are no longer sustainable and that some of his actions and the treatment of his friends in the past begin to haunt him.

The Last Enemy is not your archetypal war hero story there is a lot of honesty amongst the moments of bravado. Hillary's is a young man, obsessed with the rather un-English desire for self analysis, which at times does make him seem arrogant, he likes to goad his friends in to debates and is frustrated by those who don't react to his intellectual taunting. But there is something about his unsentimental approach to life, the war and even the deaths of those close to him, which makes the descriptions all the more memorable. 

Immediately that I finished reading, I wanted to know what had happened to Hillary after publishing his book. If I had been able to, I am sure I would have looked online whilst I was reading such was my curiosity, thankfully my parents lack of modernity saved me from myself, so it was not until I returned home that I was able to discover the true sadness of his story. 

Richard Hope Hillary

Born 20th April 1919 Australia

(Image Source)

After his months of painful reconstructive surgery, Hillary tried and failed to regain his A1 flying status, instead he was sent to the USA to give talks to the people about his experiences in the RAF, with the aim of trying to build up public support for America to join the fight. Officials soon realised that Hillary's 'damaged' appearance made him unsuitable for public speaking, it was thought that American mothers would object to America joining the war effort due to the fear of a similar fate or worse being inflicted upon their own family, though  his 'new' looks didn't stop him from attracting all the ladies, whilst in New York he had a relationship with actress Merle Oberon. It was the public rejection that spurred Hillary in to finishing his novel that he had started back in London, once finished it was published in the USA under the title 'Falling Through Space' a title which was though inappropriate for a British audience and so once across the pond it was renamed The Last Enemy, it was a resounding success.

Hillary post-burn treatment, third from right at an awards ceremony (Image source)

On returning to England, Hillary again pursued his A1 Flying category and this time succeeded, even though it had been noted in the officers mess that he could 'barely handle a knife and fork'. In 1942 he was posted to No.54 operational Training Unit at RAF Charterhall in the Scottish borders, to train as a night fighter pilot. It was during bad weather in early hours of the 8th of January 1943, whilst carrying out an exercise in a Blenheim V, that Hillary and his Navigator F/Sgt. Wilfred Fison were killed when their aircraft crashed into Crunklaw Farm.

Initially, I found it hard to understand why, when Hillary had been through so much in such a short space of time and had such a resounding success with his novel, why would he be so very desperate to return to the skies, had he not wanted in his Oxford days to be a writer? I think though, the answer to this can be found within the pages of his own novel.

Much that is untrue and misleading has been written on the pilot in this war. Within one short year he has become the nation's hero, and the attempt to live up to this false conception bores him. For, as he would be the first to admit, on the ground the pilot is a very ordinary fellow...these men may seem to fit into the picture of everyday life, though they seem content enough in the company of other men and in the restfulness of their homes, yet they are really only happy when they are back with their Squadrons, with their associations and memories. The long to be back in their planes, so that isolated with the wind and the stars they may play their part in man's struggle against the elements.

Some have suggested that he may well have intended to kill himself, to atone for the loss of his friends, perhaps, but to me this seems unlikely, I just can't believe he would have wanted to have taken someone else's life along with his own. Perhaps you could see him as a headstrong young fool that put others at risk for his dreams, or you could see it as him dying for his passion for flying, either way his account of his battles with life even if at times woven with a touch of fiction (last chapter) make for a fascinating insight in to the war, which for me at least mean that both Hilliary and his novel should not be forgotten.

Sources & Further Reading:

• A recording from 1941 of the account of his crash which went on to become the Proem of his memoirs, read by Hillary himself, sounding much more mature than the 22 years he was at the time. 
• A Free digital version of The Last Enemy can be found at the Gutenberg Press Here.
• I am currently reading Sebastian Faulks - The Fatal Englishman which offers a much more in-depth look into Hillary's life.

Knit It - Victory Beret

I headed down to the Isle of Wight a weekend or so ago to celebrate my mums birthday and also to watch my little brother take part in the Great South Run. I had a lovely time, though it was a bit more stressful due to the wild and windy weather we had, not being the most sea fairing of folk I did struggle with the four ferry trips on increasingly choppy water needed to get there and back and there and back again over the weekend!

My brother did very well in the run and beat his time from last year even with the strong winds, which made me feel very proud of him and all the other amazing people who take part in such events, raising money for charity. So much so that in my swell of emotion I think I agreed to do a 10K with my brother next year! Considering I struggle to even run a bath, this could well kill me, but we will see, I do like a challenge!

Whilst on the Island I had been hoping for some lovely weather so that I could coerce my brother to take some snaps of my newest knitted, as it was there was only a 5 minute window of sunshine and typically on the one day I hadn't done my hair, but my locks are not the attraction here it's the knitting your supposed to be looking at and this is a very special bit of knitting indeed!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...- .. -.-. - --- .-. -.-- Victory ...- .. -.-. - --- .-. -.--

Pattern: Victory $5.00 on Ravelry
Designer: Tasha Moss
Ingredients: 

• Style Craft Special 4 ply:  50g Midnight (1011)  Deramores
• King Cole Big Value 4 ply : 50g Red (667), 50g Green (675), 50g Mustard (671)
• I've forgotten the brand but also 50g of White

I was contacted by the lovely Tasha from by gum by golly in September asking if I would like to take part in a bit of test knitting for a new style 1940s Beret/Tam pattern she was planning to release. I as you can imagine was over the moon with the opportunity, firstly the chance to help on such an amazing project was too good to refuse, and secondly, and much more selfishly, it meant I could finally have a bit of fabulous 40s Fair Isle (say that three times, fast) for Meee!!

My, this pattern is so gorgeous! This is not just any 1940s style fair isle beret oh no, this is a very well designed 1940s beret. Just look a little closer at the pattern, and you'll see a sweet little row of V's for Victory around the brim and above that a row of Morse Code which spells out the letter 'V' for... you guessed it Victory! What a wonderful touch! Plus there's lots more wonderful fair isle goodness to keep your eyes and your hands interested!

Something just as wonderful, is the fact that the fair isle pattern has plenty of 'breather' rows, by this I mean there are here and there a row or two of plain one colour knitting, which after following the fair isle pattern for a while (which is never more than two colours at one time,so never too taxing) comes as a welcome little holiday for your hands and more importantly your brain, and then it's back to the pattern work which your now looking forward to again.

For my version I used the odds and sod of leftover yarn from both my brother and my dad's pullovers, all acrylic and all 4 ply, making this a stash buster which is great, though there is a downside which is the acrylic doesn't hold the shape quite as well as the lovely Exelena wool used on the original (no lovely crease) but I'm OK with that. It also is a little bigger due to my forgetting that my gauge increases when knitting in the round, I did my test swatch on DPN's, but due to having short needles I realised I was going to have to move on to a circular or quickly lose my marbles as well as my stitches.

Victory is a very quick and fun little beret to knit up, I genuinely believe that it could be done in a weekend if you put your mind to it and have done some colour work before. Mine, in fact, would have been finished much sooner if I hadn't decided to be all grown up and have a nice glass of wine one evening whilst starting the crown decreases, all would have been fine if I had still been working on the main section, but I had reached the crown and well it gets a bit more attention grabbing and so it turned into a bit of an odd-numbered-dropped-stitch-sweary-mess which had to be undone the next morning so I could start over again! Don't drink and decrease people it can't be done!

I am very happy with my new beret & here you get a sneak peak of my latest serger dress!

I think you can tell that I love it, I did worry it might be a bit too bright as I was working on it but now it's done I think it's wonderful and there is no way I am going to get lost in a crowd. It's certainly perfect for long country walks in the crisp autumn air!  I must say I am already keen to knit another for the Knit for Victory challenge...something to go with my Lightfield's Blouse..pinks and blues, I think I'd better get cracking...now knitting on a treadmill...hum...that's certainly a challenge!

Wendy x

Knit It - Wartime Farm Pullover

It made its debut at the Haven Street 1940s event, but getting my brother's pullover finished on time became a little bit of an event in itself!

My Dad and Brother rocking their hand knitted Fair Isle!
I agree they could both look a lot happier about it :)

Wartime Farm Sleeveless Pullover

Designer: Susan Crawford

Pattern: Wartime Farm Sleeveless Pullover £5

Ingredients:

Style Craft Special 4 ply: 100g Camel (1420), 50g Midnight (1011) Deramores

King Cole Big Value 4 ply : 50g Red (667), 50g Green (675), 50g Mustard (671)

Robin 4 ply: 50g Brown (51)

YouTube-ualr Know How: 

Cast On, Knit & Cast/Bind Off

Fair Isle Knitting

Pick up Stitches on Neck & Armholes

Circular Cast On

I don't think I need to tell you how much I wanted to knit this pullover, you can read all my January gushing here. I cast on not long my after in February for the 36-38 size, and made my way through the rounds and rounds of knit one purl one rib to reach the required 3 inches, then I flew straight into the pattern and was clicking along nicely until I had got up to the second star pattern repeat, it was then dawned on me that this might be a little big for my athletic little brother, who it's worth noting, prefers his clothes not to be too baggy. At all! - I guess if you've worked as hard as he does to keep fit you want to show it off!

Now, I know this pattern is designed to be a looser fitting style, just like the one in the show, but knowing my brother if I carried on regardless I knew he just wouldn't wear it. So, I ripped it all back (I hate doing this) and started again, this time, a size smaller 34" chest, which I knew would still be a little baggy, but better too large than too small.

It has to be said this set back killed my enthusiasm, I got through the rib welt quickly enough and then, I lost interest and got distracted. So it stayed just a stretchy waistband up until May.

During the last May bank holiday, I finally cracked on with the pattern, ever aware that my 6th of July deadline was, looming not so far off now. Once I got back into it I remembered how much fun it was to knit, and so my enthusiasm and the pullover grew with every stitch, meaning I was making steady progress and was now convinced I would be finished before my holidays.

Oh, I very nearly was. Before packing my knitting in my rucksack on the 4th of July I had just one pattern repeat to do on the front neck section and the arm and neck bands to do (and sew in all those pesky ends, of which there seemed to be thousands!) and 2 days left to do it.

Why don't my Instagram videos have sound, it's very annoying!
Please just imagine seagulls squawking and the waves lapping on the beach...
...Oh, and knitting needles frantically clicking!

This lead to me on the 5th of July, sitting at Colwell beach in the Isle Of Wight, desperately trying to finish the neck bands, whilst trying to enjoy the seaside and the company, with this playing over and over in my mind!

OK, so as dedicated as this all sounds, I should confess there were more than a few moments when this happened...

My knitting guru!

So after finishing all the bands, pin curling, both mine and my mum's hair, I managed to get to bed about 3am in the knowledge I still had the ends to sew in before we left in the morning. Thankfully, with my mum's stirling efforts, she did one side while I worked on the other, we finished it!

Tada!!!

Front & Back

I would have loved to have been able to have given this a quick wash and block before it was worn but sadly there was no time, so it's a little bit on the puckered side, I'd rather that though than it have been unfinished. In the end the fit was not as bad as I had feared, it's still quite baggy (not helped by my brother being ill the week before and losing about a stone) I could have probably gone down another size, but it's not as ridiculously big as it would have been if I had not frogged it in the beginning, so overall I think it's a win!

I chose to use Stylecraft 4 ply for the main body, I've not used it before but it was recommended to me by lovely Lucy from 1940's Style For You - it was what she used to make the beautiful turban she made for me at Christmas; I am so glad I did as it's the first acrylic yarn I've ever used that feels as soft as wool, and doesn't become all fuzzy as your knitting, plus it is a great price and the range of shades it's available in is pretty vast. The other colours were what I had leftover from my dad's pullover, I'd actually bought the pale green for my dad's version but decided against it at the last minute, so this makes this pullover it a bit of a (much needed) stash buster too!

The pattern was very simple to follow, and actually despite my best efforts did knit up quite quickly once I got going. The only problem I had was just after I had divided for the front and back, I could not for the life of me seem to make sense of how many more rows I had to do, I had a look at the photo in the pattern and winged it from there, which luckily worked out perfectly. I am convinced that if I reread that part now, it would all make perfect sense, I think the pressure of finishing it on time was getting to me!

By my staggered stars!

Well, there was one other goof. The star pattern which runs up the pullover should all be in line, on my version they alternate, this was caused by me thinking I knew what I was doing rather than actually reading the pattern! I actually rather like how it has turned out (perhaps it was my subconscious making choices for me) so I am claiming it was a decision rather than an overconfident accident!

My brother's opinion? Well, as he is a man of few words, I think this last photo says it all...

Double thumbs up! Must be good!

And if he's happy I'm flipping ecstatic!

Wendy x

A Grand Day Out - Havenstreet Railway 1940s Weekend

A few weeks ago now (goodness how time flies) I went down to visit my parents on the Isle of Wight. It's not often that we are all able to get together, only at Christmas really so it was rather nice, especially as for once it managed to coincide with the beginning of some lovely weather! I have taken far more photos than is healthy, so rather than bore you all with them here's a quick collage.

As you can see my time was mainly spent wandering in my parents beautiful garden, taking long country walks and eating alfresco, it was bliss!

The main reason that we had chosen to get together was to attend the annual Isle of Wight Steam Railway's 1940s weekend. I've wanted to go for years, but due to other commitments I've never been able to be down on the island at the right time. This year everything worked out wonderfully and rather sweetly my parents and brother decided to join in on the dressing up too! My Dad had his Christmas pullover to wear and both Mum and I sported 80s does 40s dresses I had found on eBay a few weeks earlier.

Before we left I ensured we got a proper family photo to mark the occasion, my brother I think had last minute nerves about dressing up (we've all been there) so chose just to wear his Wartime Farm pullover, which I had literally just finished 10 minutes before this photo was taken (more on that tomorrow). As you can't see it in the above photo here is a close up of the lovely new brooch I bought recently, from the lovely Jo of Mrs B's Brooches.

I was thrilled that I got the chance to properly show off the fabulous 1940s inspired brooch and I think it went perfectly with my dress.

On arriving at the station, we could tell it was going to be a fun day as the station looked wonderful decked out in its 40s regalia and there was an impressive turnout of people all ready to have a good day!

We were all issued with an identity card which we had to fill out before entering the station, which I thought was a nice touch!

First off we checked the schedule, to ensure we didn't miss anything!

First stop was the was the events field where there were lots of vintage stalls...

...a Spitfire...

and lots of vintage vehicles, including a Seaview Services PD2 bus that naturally I just had to pose in front of *cough* blame the day job :-)

It was then time to escape the heat for a bit and take a ride on one of the two steam trains running that day.

As lovely as it was to have some glorious weather, dressed as we were in our 80's polyester and acrylic fair isle woollens, the heat had become a little overwhelming, so we had a blissfully cool hour travelling up and down the line.

It was then time for lunch, so we stopped off at the refreshment rooms and dined on some Corned Beef Hash and chips, which was rather good, if very filling. We even had Viv The Spiv offering to sell us some more wooden cutlery while we ate wich was fun!

After lunch, we had another wander and caught 'The Three Belles' singing one of their many sets of the day and I have to say they were really rather wonderful, so much so I bought their CD as soon as I got home, which is also wonderful!

After a quick sit in the shade and a much needed ice cream, it was time to head home, not before we caught a few minutes of the 'Cinque Port Lindy Hoppers', who I really did feel for, it must have been exhausting to dance and jive in such heat, but they did an admirable job.

I think it's safe to say we all had a great time, and we've even discussed going again next year! I think the highlight of the whole day for me, had to be entering into the Isle of Wight Girl Guides raffle and winning a...

A can of Butter Beans!

Wendy x