Where are my Followers?

Firstly I seem to have a problem with my blog. Could someone let me know if they can see any followers in the Followers section.  There should be 13 but at my end this is blank.  Also if anyone has experienced this and fixed it, please could you tell me what you did as I'm at a loss.

Is it me or is it hot in here? I'm suffering from a lack of quality sleep at the moment and unfortunately as a result so is my hubby.
I have reached that dreaded age when senior moments are becoming all too frequent (I forgot what I'd had for my tea the other day) and the power surges all too severe.  'Hot Flush' says I'm a bit warmer than usual, I'm volcanic.
An old lady came to my stall on Saturday flapping her hands in front of her face in the classic I'm having a hot flush way, and informed me that they never go away! Is it cotton tops and baggy trousers for the rest of my life. Pass me a gun x

The Great British Bake Off

I love baking and love watching cookery programmes, so to get a program that is about baking is a double whammy for me.
I have been looking forward to the return of The Great British Bake Off for some time but I had to miss it on Tuesday evening because we decided to go and see Brave at the pictures. The movie was absolutely brilliant.  I loved every bit of it and so did hubby so it must have been good.  As soon as I heard it had Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson doing the voice overs I knew it was a 'must see' and I wasn't disappointed. I'm a sucker for kids films but Disney's films seem to appeal to everyone.  Going for the 8.00pm showing seemed to keep most of the kids away so it was peaceful at least.
Anyway, I caught up with Mary Berry and company last night and really enjoyed the program.  It is the same format as before but they promise that the competition will be even harder this series.  I remarked that I wouldn't mind going on the show but soon changed my mind when they dealt out the various baking challenges.  I'd be a nervous wreck.

In honour of the program and totally inspired I knocked up a few fairy cakes.  They were certainly winners in our house.

Row Markers

I was thrilled to receive a brand new delivery of felting wool recently.  It took some getting due to collection difficulties but it arrived safe and sound, and lovely it is too.
I then realised that I had a lot of work to do as I needed to take pictures of the bag I had made and then put this on to a pattern in order to give it away free with every felt wool ball sold.

I also wanted to make some row markers as the bag is knitted on a circular needle and therefore the start of a new row can get lost.
It was a good excuse to visit my local craft shop where I bought a couple of beads in order to practice.  I also got a few tips from the owner whilst I was there.  The problem was that because of the size of the needles the normal marker rings which slot on are too small and so I had to think of an alternative.  Unfortunately bigger rings weren't available to buy.

Hey presto.  I am really pleased with the result and sold 3 on Saturday. I mounted them on pretty printed card just to make them look that bit more professional.
Last night at my Knit and Natter group it was great to see my friends getting to grips with the circular needles and happily using the row markers.  It sounds silly but it was a proud moment watching them using something I had made.

I'm looking forward to making some more. 
The next order due is for sock wool so I think I will make a few stitch marker sets as you usually need about four when you get to the shaping bits.
Oh well it's time to go.  Thank you for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment.  I would love to hear from you. 

Allerthorpe Lakeland Park

Yesterday we decided to go back to Pocklington a) to visit Allerthorpe Lakeland Park and b) to revisit Burnby Hall Gardens.
The lake was fantastic with plenty of people sailing and canoeing, some were even swimming.

It felt like we were on holiday what with the Caravan and Tent park by the side of the car park.

There were three lakes in total with one dedicated to fishing.  We only walked around two of them.
The facilities are great and you can hire everything you need including wet suits.  We plan to go again very soon.

This butterfly landed on my hand. I couldn't believe it.
After partaking of a well earned coffee and toasted teacake we moved on to our second destination which was Burnby Hall Gardens. There was a Railway Brass Band playing so we were serenaded to on our walk round.

We wanted to see if the Water Lillies had started to flower and we weren't disappointed.

The flowers are so perfect.  The park holds the national collection.

I think the yellow ones were my favourites.

What more can I say.  We had a wonderful day which was made complete after watching the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.  Wasn't it just amazing. Well done to everyone involved. It made me very proud.

Sledmere House

We decided to escape Olympic mania and have a trip to Sledmere House.
As the weather was so nice we didn't go inside and decided to have a lovely walk around the gardens instead.

The church wasn't open to the public but it looked beautiful.

I absolutely love the cottage garden look. I'm determined to do ours like this one day.

Walled Garden

There was a very old traditional greenhouse which was sat beside the big modern one.  The old one had such wonderful character.

I find it amazing that no matter how bad the weather, nature always catches up in the end.

The Sweet Peas looked great unlike mine which have now gone over.  They caught green fly unfortunately.

Summer House

Etoile De Hollande - Highly perfumed climbing rose

I seem to duplicate my photos sometimes and I apologise but we really like visiting stately homes and their gardens and I hope you enjoy visiting them with us.
Have a great evening.  Don't stay up too late watching the Olympics.