Yesterday a friend and I went on a long overdue visit to Beckside Yarns in Clapham. We’d been meaning to check it out for ages and in the end I gave her a virtual voucher for her birthday to expire by the end of February. So we decided to go yesterday as a joint birthday treat.
What a gem. As you walk in, to your right is a wall of Noro yarn – just imagine the riot of colour and throughout a wonderful selection of yarns to distract you and set the mind wandering through a myriad of possible and potential projects.
We browsed and browsed through yarn and pattern books and chose some gorgeous yarns. I went for some hand dyed Spring Tide sock yarn in the ‘Don’t Look Now’ colourway from Solstice yarns who are based in Yorkshire.
I just love this combination of colours and the name of the colourway. These skeins are destined to become a folded sweater which I’ve been wanting to make for a while, along with lots of other patterns by Veera Välimäki.
I also couldn’t resist a copy of Modern Top Down Knits by Kristina McGowan – there are even more fabulous designs than those included in the pictures on the publishers website, and reading through it last night it’s beautifuly and clearly written. Now I need to sit down and work out what yarn I have in my stash that will work with which of my favourite patterns…
All this shopping demanded a cup of coffee, a homemade scone and a bit of a knit in a nearby cafe and then we decided to make the most of the great weather and walk up to Ingleborough Cave.
From the Beckside Yarns you just cross the beck and follow the path which is clearly signposted.
The banks of the beck were carpeted with snowdrops which always makes me feel that spring surely is on the way?
Then you come to a small waterfall…
We were so lucky with the weather, bright springtime sun shone down on the lake and the water was so clear that you could see the autumn leaves still among the rocks.
Then you can see Ingleborough, the summit is an iron age hilltop site and is 723m above sea level and provides amazing views. We didn’t walk further than the cave as we had limited time but definitely worth a return trip with a bit more time.
By the time we got back to Lancaster it was raining and then the forecast gales arrived, maybe you do have to go to Yorkshire for blue skies!
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