Huttoft

Today was a good day.  (This is not the place to talk about yesterday). I’ve tried to explain to M that when you grow up by the coast the lure of the sea never leaves you. Thankfully Rick Stein said something very similar a few nights ago while M was watching one of his programmes from about thirty years ago (I’d happily live without sky tv thanks!). Upon hearing Rick reflect on this matter M looked ‘enlightened’ and I knew we’d be heading towards the coast pretty soon.

Riley has never seen the sea before. It would have been overwhelming for him when we first adopted him. Back then he hated new places. If we took him for a walk somewhere we’d been before he’d trot off happily but if it was a new location he’d walk beside us with his head down. I think it was a sign of trust that he ran off like an over excited child today. He took one sip of the sea water, decided it wasn’t that tasty but still stayed in the water for a very long time. Although the tide was incoming today it was quite rough and deep in places so we had to keep calling him in. We could see that his legs were being washed from under him at times. He just hasn’t experienced tidal water before, unlike Harvey who seems to sense when to go for a swim and when not to.

This beach was new to us too. We’ve often visited this stretch of coast since it’s the closest, as the crow flies. Although it’s only about forty miles it takes some time to drive down narrow and winding country lanes for most of the journey. We travel through the Lincolnshire Wolds which is always uplifting since the rest of Lincolnshire is so flat. The beach itself is called Moggs Eye Beach near Huttoft, I can’t find any information on where the Moggs Eye name comes from but the village of Huttoft is mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book several times apparently. I’m not much of a history buff but I can’t help but imagine what life was like when you drive by ancient churches, windmills and tiny little white stone cottages.

It was too windy and cold to sit still on the beach, even between the sand dunes, so lunch was eaten in the car with the dogs well and truly worn out and snoring in the boot. It was soothing to watch the waves break onto the sand but also entertaining to watch other dog walkers. One very brave man arrived with a camera and tripod and did a series of delay timer video clips of himself doing star jumps and little speeches on the beach. I thought he might be a travel vlogger and M thought he was making a video profile for a dating website. I guess we will never know.

My wip attack has taken a bit of a nosedive in favour of a project idea that suddenly came to me. In fact it was the result of sorting out wips that gave me the idea to make a duplicate project bag! I bought this fantastic canvas project bag in Brighton last year:

http://yarnandknitting.com/product/ditty-project-bag/

It’s been absolutely perfect, it sits flat because of the round base, it opens easily with the drawstring, it has plenty of pocket space on the outside which I use for hooks, a notepad, ball bands, scissors and a pencil. It’s a good size for most of the projects that I’m likely to cart around with me but not big enough for blankets or perhaps garments unless just for transporting parts of those. 

I’ve quite literally chucked it in suitcases, large handbags, baskets, backpacks, the floor of the car, wherever I go! I often empty out one project in favour of another depending on the type of project I want to take on the road which is why it’ll be useful to have a similar project bag. I’m simply using the dimensions from the canvas version and recreating it in crochet. I picked up the yarn for less than £1, it’s too coarse for anything worn next to the skin but ideal for a bag or basket. It must be about Aran/worsted weight and I’m using a 5mm hook to make it a tight fabric but not too stiff.

I haven’t got a plan for attaching the pocket(s) but that should be fairly straightforward. I might dig out some leather cord for the drawstring. I’m undecided about whether to introduce a second colour. I’ve got a similar yarn in a deep mustard colour which was also thrifted (I’m wondering whether these are rug yarns perhaps?) but knowing me this could end up being a monochrome affair!