Take one ball of sock yarn, a pair of .....

....... ( in 'old money' ) size 14 needles (I never remember the modern sizes) and ....... You'll have to scroll to the bottom of this post to find out more. It would be good if you had time for a quick read on the way!

Having wandered through the streets of Much Wenlock we retraced our steps. I wasn't allowed back into the wool shop - I will definitely find an excuse to call again though! We were parked in a disused quarry on the top of Wenlock Edge. Quarrying is still continuing a little further along but not on the 'front face' of the edge - so as not to spoil the views. Well-signed paths lead us along old lanes - the varied hedgerows on tall banks suggesting their age - then along the top of the 'Edge' and back in a loop. There was much evidence of old quarries and what we assume to be the remains of lime kilns. From the top of the ridge, the cooling towers of the power station at Iron Bridge are clearly visible. This is a lovely walk in a pretty and rural environment. We wondered how much noise would have carried from the Iron Bridge Gorge in centuries past - I imagine steam hammers and other frighteningly large metal working machines make an incredible noise and there would have been no background hum of traffic struggling up the Edge in low gear to deaden the effect.

The quarry in which we had parked was full of cowslips - unfortunately it was quite breezy and they were dancing around a little too much for a good photo. It was a lovely picnic spot though!

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..... and now to the sock yarn. One of my purchases from the wool shop at Much Wenlock. I like to use self-patterning sock yarn. It makes me experiment with colour combinations which I might not otherwise choose and I like the way one colour blends into the next - an effect which can't be replicated  by knitting stripes of individual colours - at least not without some fiddly splicing! I have knitted two strips in the yarn - both destined to be embroidered cuffs. The first knitted along from one narrow edge, the other knitted up from one wide edge. I think the photo explains more clearly what I mean:

The same yarn, but tow very different results. My inclination is to embroider and embellish the 'knitted-along' one - with broader stripes, entirely in creams and ivory. My initial plans for the 'knitted-up' one - with much narrower stripes is to accentuate the lovely colours with bright trimming, threads and yarns.

I'll show you the results over the next few days.

Other projects for the next few weeks include more needle cases, featuring floral embroideries on felted backgrounds produced by felting many yarns on the embellisher machine - to replace the daffodil design which recently sold.