Deffo Not On Top Form.

You can tell I wasn't on top form yesterday. My lunch, as a grown woman buying her own food, was four dry ryvitas and a punnet of strawberries. Right-o. Mooooooving on.

I need to tell you about Knit in Public! It was marvelous! But not very debauched and I do believe that debauched-ness makes a KIP event, yes? Certainly last year we were *this* close to getting chucked out of the poacher - I took offense to somebody's definition of sock yarn (NYLON people NYLON!). Anyway, lovely stuff happened this year too. I'll show you:

We went to Fade and the Hard To Find Cafe just up Mansfield Road. It wasn't very busy and we took over one of the back rooms. A few of us turned up and then the Picnic organised by Knit in Notts turned up so there were many more. I reckon there were about 20 of us at the busiest point which was just perfect.

I set myself up near the entrance and started some steady drinking:

I laid the free stuff out on the table and people dived right in. Elaine was particularly pleased with her horrendous candy pink fun fur:

Hmmmm. Different strokes for different folks. To be fair, the plans for this stuff do sound pretty cute. Maybe I'll remember to keep you updated??

Steph baked AMAZING biscuits!

As did Singing Bird Artist but I forgot to take a photo because I am a tit. 

We discussed important upcoming projects, like this:

It's the Pearl Clutcher from Ravelry and once you've seen it you can't unsee it. I have genuinely spent some time trying to decide if I could get away with it? Perhaps in reallllllllly subtle colours?

On the way home I saw a friend I haven't seen in ages and we went for a drink and then I went to Boyf's where I made a giggly tit of myself infront of the in-laws. :) GOOD DAY!

I'll end this once more with an apology. This next super secret is taking it out of me a bit. It's consumed every day of my life since I first stumbled upon the idea and there's no end in sight just yet - especially seeing as the meeting about it that was supposed to happen last week isn't happening until the end of this week. I'm spending my time making more of the stuff but I'm not actually sure if I should be but where one door closes another one opens yes? So I'm in a weird place where I'm making stuff but I'm not sure what for but I have a self-imposed semi-deadline which is a lot more relaxed than it was the week before last but is still taking it out of me physically and creatively. My pointing finger on my left hand will never be the same. Suffice to say, in the three weeks since I've been consumed by this and therefore not blogging as much I've made, five and three halves of a blanket, two dresses, two jumpers, two cardigans, a soft toy, some booties, some bunting and a bowl. It does not stop. Anyway, I have some photos that I can show you without giving too much away.

 

That's certainly not all the bits, but they are the photos that I've already released and I've not been doing the secret for about an hour now so I'm starting to feel a bit antsy like I want to get back to it so I couldn't work out which of the ones I haven't released that I'm allowed to release. Oh. fml. This is going to be my whole summer isn't it? Haha. But once it's done it will be worth it! And you'll love it toooooooo. :):):):):)

Love Eleanor. xxxxx

 P.s. The Knit Now Mag's in and it's bloody brill!

Introducing Bobica!

 

I am SO excited about this! I guess you could call it my first 'proper' crochet design. It's got a bloody chart and everything... 

First and foremost therefore, here's the Ravelry link. Buy my pretties, you're paying for my coach trips! :)

If I remember rightly, I drew this on the toilet whiteboard on Love Your Local Yarn Shop Day.

I had an idea about a plump round thing in the middle of a lattice as a shawl and I started swatching. That's about as far as I got because then there was the Great Flood of 2014 and of course I went gallivanting with the oldies. I really got going with the pattern on a Tuesday - I know this because I was at knit group and I nearly drove them mad because I didn't reveal what or why or for whom I was doing it. It's the first time I've kept a proper secret I reckon (about myself anyway, I'm relatively good at other people's secrets...).

It started off  that evening looking a little like this:

Which morphed into this:

And I've got an idea for that, don't worry... But that had worked it's way by the end of the evening to looking an awful lot like this:

That's the image I sent to Vezza to ask if she wanted me to write a pattern for her Grad Club. She LOVED it because she trusts me, god only knows why. She was as excited as I was, so the next day I started on the 'proper' thing - crocheting a bit, writing a bit, taking photos.

And then came the holiday bit. I did take the pattern as written, and a gorgeous Truly Hooked Seafoam grad with my on holiday but I got caught up in doing something else which will appear on the blog at some point just as soon as I've sewn in ends and worked out how/when I should wear it/if it needs something else. 

I'm pretty proud of myself that I got back on it and didn't leave it languishing too long. I think part of that is that Verity was so excited and had already started dying the yarn. I need a deadline/somebody that I like relying on me for shit to get done apparently... Look:

In my head the pattern was always going to be called 'cherries' and we discussed  the colourway she was going to make with reference to yarn in my shop. We gathered together a little collection of Bamboo, Cottonsoft, Pricewise, Patons' Diploma and Merino DK and it looked a little something like this: 

 

Can you see that's a little more 'berry' than 'cherry'? On top of the fact that by now I'd blocked the first full version of the shawl and the 'cherries' were much longer and less round than they'd originally been.

 

I still love them. I love the way that they look like they're hanging by a thread - like plump and delicious berries waiting to be picked by greedy fingers. Nom nom nom. I haven't shown you these have I? They're the very first strawbs from Boyf's garden - honestly the most delicious thing ever apart from the mushroom croquette thing at Verity's wedding.

 

 'Bobica' means 'berry' in Bosnian and Croatian. I like the jaunty sound. :)

Anyway, less about food (I think it might be lunchtime). It took me four full days to write the chart. It took a lot of the stuff that I've learned about internetting, patience and bloody steady fingers to do. I first drew all of the symbols and scanned them, then I cropped and saved the individual images. Then I had to 'rub out' the background of each bit so that all that was left was a see-through background and the symbol itself. I did this because in order to lay the symbols near enough to eachother the background of the individual ones were definitely going to overlap therefore they needed to be see-through. To save see-through things on a computer they have to be 'pngs' rather then 'jpegs' which is fine and I knew that. BUT if you save one that points right as one thing and then flip it so it points left and save, the left hand one turns into a bloody jpeg so it no longer has a see-through background. GAH! I lost about another half day to that, but I won't be doing it again, I can tell you that for free. 

 Each layer of the chart is then worked painstakingly on top of the last one. Making sure everything lines up is like trying to herd cats. Speaking of which:

AWWWWW. IMAGINE TRYING TO HERD HIM!

I must admit, I am dead proud of this pattern. I think it's interesting - certainly, I didn't get bored doing three of them. I think it's neat - I love the way the body moves into the edge. I think it's a perfect size - more than a shawlette, less than a shawl so perfect for using as both - ta dah! YEAR ROUND USE! I think it's adaptable - looks great in Verity's Grads, looks just as good in the Truly Wool Rich 4ply. And most of all it's written with love. 

It's been tested a couple of times and we've ironed out some problems, but as always, let me know if you get stuck - it might well be you but it could equally be me and if you're having a problem then somebody else will be too. 

Apart from that, ENJOY!

Once again, click here for the pattern.

 

Love Eleanor. xxxxxxxx

P.s Since I wrote this yesterday (it was released with no fanfare because the Truly Hooker's were getting their boxes but not all of them had turned up so I didn't want to spoil the secret...) I've made the top ten Hot Right Now crochet patterns on Ravelry. THIS IS MY MOMENT! HA! It doesn't get better than that. :):)

Appreciation.

I forgot to show you these videos. The first one is the cat enjoying the mouse that Lou (I think?! I will get your name one day...) from Loobylou Creations made for him.

Sorry it's sideways (unless it's righted itself now, it does that sometimes...).

And the second one is the cat, catnipped up to the eyeballs, enjoying crochet more than Boyf would like. Mwahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahaha:

I really enjoy Lou's creations and her blog. Chronic pain affects a fair few of my customers and I love that knitting and crochet (not so much crochet in Lou's world... One day!) offers a bit of gentle solace. And it's useful too. Look at this photo:

It's a cat from an adoption centre looking particularly happy with a mouse that she made. Ahhhhhh!

Check out the blog here and enjoy.

That's it. I can't talk about cats anymore because I'll be looking up ones to adopt. Off for more coding.

Love Eleanor.xxxx

Oh Dear

It appears that I'm up to my old tricks again... But I have a good reason! Just not one I can share with you... My Mum and I had a good discussion a few days ago based on an idea of mine and it looks like I'll be putting in quite a lot of behind the scenes work that'll have to stay secret until I've spoken to some other parties. It might not stay secret for long depending on what other people have to say but if it does stay secret then we're looking at about a timeline of a year or so where I keep things secret but work on them pretty much non-stop. Which is not v. good for having a blog is it?! Hmmm. At least today I have other things to speak to you about - new wool! YEAH!!!

So, Mark from King Cole came to see me t'other day and as usual, I'd seen most of what he had to show me on their facebook group before he came. That freed us up to talk about wildlife photography which is his real passion... He even won a place on the Countryfile Calender 2013 with this photo!!

 

Click here for his website - he's actually brilliant. 

But, I knew I wanted something new - something a bit different, something a bit exciting! With weather like we've been having (blurgh. not good for a ys...) you need something new and fresh to keep the interest don't you? So I've invested in the lovely Shine DK. 

 Now, this has been out for a few months and I'll admit outright that I forgot about it. I remember the Meadow colourway, which is really much more of a rainbow, making a massive impression on me but I was ordering a lot of something else at the time and couldn't afford to get anymore (I think it was when I got all of the Merino DK. Ahhh). For some reason this was back in his bag this time and I had the money to get it so I did. It's pretty much an acrylic but it has a thread of polyester running through it. It won't be everybody's cup of tea but I think that even people that don't like acrylics tend to not mind them for kids and seriously, they have cornered that with the Glacier, Blossom and Meadow. For those of you, like me, who don't mind a bit of acrylic for ourselves then worry not. This is spun in a very specific way which makes it super smooth, it has four plies in total which means that the fibres are packed tight into their tiny little plies and therefore lie smoother - kind of like the idea of cashmerino type yarns, yeah? I think it's going to mean that the yarn takes texture really well, I was going to say cable then but it'd have to be a special cable or design to work with the colourways. Lace, however, looks bloody lovely!

That's 3846. Imaginative... There's been a bit of discussion on this. Firstly, somebody reckons that nobody would wear it... well the model in the shop will be and then I will be. But I'm gonna knit the model first because I'm not convinced I'll wear the meadow. I may be more like to knit it in the slightly more sedate quicksilver or glacier. We'll see. Secondly, a few people have mentioned that they'd cast on all of the stitches at once so that you don't get the blockiness between the front and the back. That would deffo work, until you get to the armholes and I guess if you do a machine steek you could also do the rest of it like that. But I like the blockiness of it - I think, especially in the meadow, it makes it just a little more obnoxious which is part of the appeal for me. Anyway,  here are the rest of the patterns. I think they've done really well.

So that's the Shine DK. Enjoy.

Secondly. And this I'm really super excited about. Might we introduce to you the Bamboo Cotton 4ply. ARGH!!! I've been asking for this for a LONG time!

 

 Now, they've chosen the top ten colourways from the DK version but that's left us with a slightly muted palette. These probably aren't the best sellers in our shop but certainly the Opal and the Dusty Pink should smash out like they usually do.

The patterns provided are stunning delicate things:

King Cole 3920. Hope you can see that there's a little cable in there. Perfect for summer and layering going into Autumn. 

There's also this pattern: 

King Cole 3938. Which is style pretty horrendously. But I can see this. I have a vision! I'm going the left hand version in white and I'm going to put it over a bright bikini not a bloody outfit. This is for the beach! It is a better version, because it's handmade of course, of a kaftan! But I don't expect you to believe me, I feel like I'm on my own with this one but you'll all be on my level soon! Mwahaha!

And click here for the rest of the patterns. 

 I was going to tell you about the brand new colours in the Fashion Aran but the lovely Chrissie's just gone and bought most of it! Haha. The Rum is now out of stock and we only have one left of the Lewis (I should have bought a million packs of that, I knew it'd sell!). Anyway, you can admire it by clicking here and look at this photo:

 

I feel like the Orkney needs more love but that's probably my fault - it's the blacky-grey hiding in the background there and it's lush! There are some new patterns for it too, they're right at the end of this list here.

And fiiiiiinally, we got two new colours of the Comfort Prints in.

Delight on the left and Spearmint on the right. Delight doesn't show up very well, it's a delicious mix of cream, dusky pink and beigey/browns. You're going to love it!

So that's the new stuff! I feel like there's a new energy in the shop now I've had a little move around and sort out.

And I was going to say more but customers have been in all afternoon and now it's nearly home time! So I'm offski.

Love

Eleanor. xxx

Machine Knitters :)

Afternoon Everybody. :)

I had the loveliest time last night and I want to tell you alllll about it! I went to see the Mapperley Knit and Natterers - a group of lovely ladies (and a few gents) who meet to talk about all things machine knitting. Now, I don't machine knit. I did it once and wasn't very good at all. Blurgh. But the garments that these ladies produced was just incredible! One lady I was talking to after, I could tell that her top was knitted but I had no idea that the skirt was too! It was a midi length pleated skirt in tiny tiny black yarn and it draped like a dream. It was so lovely to see the talent there! I was invited a few months ago to give a talk at one of their meetings and I said yes straight away without really thinking what I was going to talk about. My first inclination at these things would be something that I feel pretty passionate about like fairisle or socks but I couldn't work out whether that crossed over to machine knitting. So I decided to talk about the shop, which is the reason I was asked there in the first place so it seemed as good a subject as any.

Thing is, and you know me, when I start thinking about the shop, or anything, it just comes out in a big burble. The important part about giving a speech is that it has to have a backbone. A frame to hang all of your anecdotes and jokes and pithy one-liners on (not many of those I'm afraid...). I've had a dead busy few weeks and and even busier weekend so the first time I really got to thinking about it was yesterday in the day time. I decided I was going to talk about why I love being a YSO. My backbone was essentially - introduce the shop, when we started, why we started, how we started, our ethos and then I thought about six different reasons I love owning the shop - the wool, the people, the community, the freedom, the confidence it's given me and the free stuff (mwahaha). Within that frame I talked about neon things, knit club, affairs, the Healthy and Every Size Movement, Love Your Local Yarn Shop Day, the Christmas jumper, setting up a dating event for knitters, Verity, the Bead Shop, having stupid coloured hair, going to London, the birthday parties, the blog and all sorts of other things. I'm glad with the way I organised my thoughts because I was able to shorten a few of the points when I was running out of time. RUNNING OUT OF TIME!?! I HAD AN HOUR AND I RAN OUT OF TIME! Does anybody want to pay me to talk for 24 hours? I could totes do that. Totes. I summed it all up with the plan for the future and a nice cup of coffee (which meant I was awake till like three this morning - bad call, Eleanor).

The ladies were lovely and very appreciative - I get the impression that mostly their speakers were a little bit more sensible than me? They kept telling me how 'bubbly' I was. Well, yeah, I am. :).

I took a single solitary photo:

 

Which doesn't show the ladies to their best effect really. But I tried. the boss took a few photos of me as I was speaking so I'll share those if she sends them to me.

Now, the deets. The ladies meet on the first Monday of the month at Haywood Road Community Centre which is dead easy to find even if it is a little tucked away. I believe you can get there from six and they have a bit of a chat and buy some machine yarn from eachother etc. Then they have a speaker from 7 to 8 and then there's a bit more chatting afterwards and everybody left at about 8.45 or so. I have contact details for you so please don't hesitate to e-mail or comment for them but I'm loath to put them out there for security purposes. Do go on down if you get the chance though, it was seriously lovely!

  And now, why was I so busy? Bloody gardening. That's why. Boyf has a lovely but small garden that was covered in concrete. We started smashing the concrete last Sunday and that made me ache all week and then his parents decided on the spur of the moment to come up to help us take it to the tip. We got rid of loads of stuff! Smashed up a bit more concrete. Moved a completely full compost bin. Moved the normal and recycling bins out of the garden and into a ginnel that belongs to them but has been kind of co-opted by a load of nosy neighbours that have a legal (equitable actually. blah. law degrees) right to use it as a cut through and they do even though it's actually farther for them to walk. Whatevs. And then we started putting up a decking - which I didn't want but Boyf did but we ran out of wood. So that's why they'll be doing next Saturday whilst I'm at work. Thank the Lord! We borrowed a drill from my dad and I took the opportunity to photograph his cave:

Which goes some way to explaining the shop and why I'm so pleased that it's in the state that it's in. What I call tidy.

 Yesterday I spent some time moving the pots of things that we planted a few weeks ago into the raised beds which are the only part of the garden that we're not changing and cat helped a lot. Can you see him? Incidentally, he's deffo a he because I saw him spraying in a manly way t'other day. Knowledge is power.

Incidentally, have you seen this?

It's a decoy wasp nest knitted in super chunky. Find the pattern here: Robin Stephen's Wasp Away Decoy Nest and it's amazing!!! The idea is that wasps are terratorial creatures and if they see that there's another 'nest' nearby they'll bugger off somewhere else. I have an irrational fear of wasps (and bees but I am bothered about that and trying to stop myself) and I've seen a wasps nest and it made me feel sick and I would hate my life if I ever had to see one again so I'm going to wack up these buggers all over Boyf's garden whether he likes it or not. I'm thinking it'd be great in the Seriously Chunky but I reckon you'd have to up your needles to an 8mm so that it's still sturdy but you don't do your hands some damage trying to work it.

And, once this is finished and posted I'm going to get on with the final touches on the super secret project. Actually, the penultimate touches. Because Boyf's parents were down I couldn't use him spare bed for blocking so I still need to do that and photograph them and the weather hasn't helped with that but if I can get that done then I can photograph on Wednesday. It's really taken far too long to do.


And finally. A competition! Can you remember at Love Your Local Yarn Shop Day I said I'd be giving away a free Yarndale place and then promptly forgot? Well, I'm making that good now! I'm going to be asking a series of questions about Yarndale and the shop over on the Facebook and Twitter pages and every time you answer a question you get entered into a draw to win a free place! Only one entry per question though so don't go answering 20 times on Facebook and Twitter. ;) For those of you who have already booked you can have your money back (in shop vouchers) if you win and for those of you who haven't booked, I'm saving a space on the coach but separately from that there are only six spaces left so if you definitely want to go then you really need to book a ticket and then do all your entries for a chance of getting that money back. 

Click here to book your place.

And that's it! I'm off to tidy for twenty minutes and then get down to the super secret project.


Love Eleanor. xx

Perks

Of being a business woman. Free booze! Ha! You'll have to forgive me because this is a very bitty and bobby post and I can't say an awful lot because I have a super secret project on the go but it's been nine days (NINE DAYS!) since I last posted and I've got an idea for you... 

World Wide Knit In Public Day (it's a week now but whatevs...) is a-coming and I've been chatting with the lovely Steph from Knit In Notts. We decided that, since I was teaching a lesson on both Sundays that the week was running, she would organise a picnic in the day at the Arboretum (you can find the event by clicking here) and that would kind of morph into a booze up from 4pm at Fade and the Hard To Find Cafe hosted by the shop (and you can find the event for that by clicking here). So far, so much like last year which was bloody marvelous so problem? What problem? 

Buuuuuuuuuut. Last night I was invited, because I'm a businessperson, pillar of the local community and all round good egg, to the opening of the Homemade Cafe on the Pavilion. Now, I know very little about the pavilion. I know that that's where the toilets are at Goose Fair and that they used to do terrible teas there at other times... That's it. But it seems that since the redo in 2013, the council had other ideas and they invited Homemade to open their third cafe there and it is LOVELY! Actually really nice. There has been some trouble with getting a license though I can't actually find the report about that at the mo and I, for one, want to support them. 

Though if you look at these photos I'm not sure they really need it: 

It was mad!!! Like a hundred people maybe??! Blimey! We didn't stay long because you know me, I hate people, but it was a dead friendly atmosphere and the food was delicious and I can see myself out on the terrace in the sunshine with a glass of wine. Look!

Obvs it'll look much better in the sun and it will be sunny on WWKIP day... Just check out the photos on their facebook page. I got the idea that we would do our celebrating there! YES!?

Anyway, they usually shut at around 4.30/5pm on a Sunday so I've e-mailed the owner to see if she might want to open a bit later for us but that will depend on how many people are going to turn up on the day so I need some yes's! If you're on facebook then simply tell us that you're 'going' on the event page and if you're not on facebook then comment here or tweet or e-mail or whatevs so I can get a good look at the numbers for her.

In other news, Let's Knit Mag sent us a new copy of the Best Yarn Shop in the Midlands certificate which got ruined in the great flood.

Isn't that wonderful of them!?!?! I got another little burst of pride when I opened the envelope and saw it again. :):):) Don't forget that you can nominate us for the next round and then maybe we can win again!?!?! And this time not ruin ours in a flood.... Click here to nominate. Pretty please!!!

And then finally, this is why I've not been around so much:

It's my super secret project which I don't believe has been mentioned on the blog before. Started before my holiday, almost finished and a big massive ballache that will turn out to be a beautiful collaboration like a butterfly from a wriggling ugly caterpillar (sorry nature lovers but blurgh to caterpillars. Especially hairy ones). Anyway, this has beads. And a chart. And don't I know it. Haha. More, much more, later.

That's it. I'm off. I need to finish this secret project up to the getting the pattern written and the final version made today. Blocking, prettying up the pattern and photographing the thing come later (when there's hopefully some sun!).

Love Eleanor. xxx

Voting Begins!!! :)

It's that time of year again, when we'd like you to take a moment to nominate us (if you think you want to) for Best Local Yarn Shop in the Midlands.

Click here to vote!!!

When we won last year it really was the most amazing feeling for a messy, silly, disorganised person like me and I'd so like that again (it also gives me chance to show off in posh shops as I hop around the country - standing up for all us knitters who don't want to spend £60 on unicorn bum fluff...). Can you remember when me and Verity travelled all the way to London to collect the award and we saw famous knitters and famous places down south? I wanna do it again!!!

You might be able to see from from the photo that you can also vote for us in the best blog, online shop, pattern house, website and Yarn Shop Day experience too - I'd particularly like to win that last one because it was bloody brill!!!! Obviously, partners, spouses, siblings, kids, friends, aunties, next-door neighbours can vote too (if you make them)...

Anyway, I don't want to go on for too long but we really would appreciate the nomination and then it we get shortlisted we'll be asking for actual votes later on too but that'll be in a few months or weeks I guess. And if you feel like you can't vote for us - let me know why??? I'd love to put it right.

And again: CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Love Eleanor. xxxxx

Exotic Walkin Centres.

Oh yes. Remember when I went to the Isle Of Wight and ended up at the Walkin Centre there? Well last week I visited Weston-Super-Mare and their Walkin Centre and I must admit, it's one of the nicest I've been to. But before I get to that shall I start with actual holiday stuff??

So, of course it was another coach trip and this time I went with Singing Bird and it was lovely all over! We were originally staying in either one of two hotels in Weston itself (cheaper not to know which and that suits us fine) the week before last but every single holiday got cancelled for lack of interest (I've always been on the week of the May bank holiday before now and it's always been a quiet holiday but this one, the week after, wasn't so maybe they're onto something...). We had a few choices for holidays to take and they would pay the difference and we ummed and ahhed a little but settled on Sand Bay the week after. I'm sure at the time we had no idea that Sand Bay was just down the road from Weston (at least I didn't) but definitely neither of us knew it was a Pontins. Haha! So not my thing!!! Or Bird's for that matter. But actually, as Bird is with wheelie-walker it was really pretty cool to have an accessible building altered specifically for old people in mind - made everything just that much smoother and out of all of the professionals/workers we encountered throughout the holiday they were definitely the most accommodating.

And the BEST thing?! IT HAD A BLOODY POOL!!! After booking Weston, just for the sea, which as my Dad kept reminding me isn't really a sea or is only a sea some of the time because it's actually an estuary, is also known as Weston-Super-Mud and is not really cut out for swimming...

 

Yeeeeeeeeah. Swimming? Not so much. 

But swimming  is what all of my holidays are about! So I was MEGA please to find it had a pool and I was expecting a tiny little thing but actually it was a good size pool - maybe 25 metres? So not massive but good enough. On the first day we got to our chalets at around 4.30 and the pool closed at 5 so I rushed around and managed 20 lengths before dinner. So refreshing. Lovely!

Then we had a wander out to the beach which was probably 150 maybe 200 metres away. Just up a little path and you could hear the seeeeeeeeeeea from your beds. Ahhh.

 

Look at that. 

The beach was a bit out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-y iykwim?? A bit nature-y? It's around four maybe five miles along the coast from Weston. Not so much hanging around, having a cup of tea, taking a dip, reading a book, eating an ice cream which is really my kind of beach but nice all the same.

But Bird collected lots of driftwood and seaweed for art and inspiration and the wheelie-walker (that you can just about see in the background) stretched it's legs on the beach for the first time.

On the Tuesday we decided to join the rest of the coach trip on a day trip to Bath which everybody seems to get really excited about and genuinely didn't grab me in the way that Weston or Bournemouth or other slightly battered looking places do. We visited a yarn shop that was tucked away in the corner and was nice with a really good range of yarns (and I bought a lot) but I can't wax lyrical about them in all honesty so I'm not going to do my usual review-y thing (the lady, who wasn't the owner I must add, asked what sort of things I stocked in my shop and when I told her she was like 'oooooh yes, well, we have serious jumper knitters here so it's going to be different' or some such. Hmmm. I'd like to show her my serious jumper knitters. But it's not a competition ey, I know how brill you lot are). They did, however, tell us about the Kaffe Fassett exhibition that was currently at the American Musem just a bit out of town and we were both excited about that so after a lot of faffing about in the yarn shop we jumped in a taxi and were off!

It was lovely! But small. I thought. You lot know I don't go in much for art so maybe this is the normal size of an exhibition? For me, if you pay nigh on £10 to get into something it should be a full day's worth of stuff, no? But shut up moaning, look at this:

 

Amazing yes?! I have sooooo many photos of the yarn bombing but it was actually everywhere! Everywhere you could see there were knitted bits and crocheted bits and these pom poms and the 'lanterns' are big plant pots covered in Kaffe printed cotton. Ahhhhh. Easily the most impressive yarn bombing I've ever seen.

 

This was right outside the separate section of the museum that the Kaffe bit was in and it just about sums up the exhibition - mad! The entrance walls were b.r.i.g.h.t. pink and around the selection there were separate 'rooms' painted in different colours and displaying works grouped by colours that matched. Really well thought out. You were allowed to take photos, without flash, but most of mine turned out blurry which is just as well really because the details don't matter (in fact a fair bit of the knitting was a touch on the messy side if you ask me...) it's the colours and shades that do. The man has an actual gift - imagine how less rich the craft world would be without his input, amazing. 

 

My favourite bit I think. 

 

This was a jumper that reminded me of the Chinese Basket Pullover I made my Dad once. I really must dig that out and photograph it for the blog. It deffo deserves one of its own. 

Apart from all of that there were these amazing, inspiring quotes from the man himself all over the walls. Most of them came out too fuzzy to share here but I'm going to remember them for when I need a kick up the bum. 

 

Of course, this last one is bollocks. You just have to ask the Contemporary (paid for with our tax money, ahem), you see, they're 'art' and we're just 'craft'. I do find it funny when people try and combine the two as if we crafters need to be thought of as artists before we, or anybody else for that matter, can truly appreciate what we do. I mean, well done for Kaffe for being an artist and a crafter and combining the two and managing to get it into an art gallery. But you can bet your bottom dollar that a woman, a mother, knitting bits and bobs for her kids whilst working, picking up the kids from school, walking the dog, watering the garden, organising a birthday party and perhaps fitting in a bit of a social life won't be appearing at the American Museum in Bath any time soon - so let's not kid ourselves that it's craft that's made the big time here. It's actually craft that's made acceptable by the fact that it's made by a man who's really, actually, an artist. Blurgh. Rant over. Holiday chats resuming now...

 When we got back from Bath we had to dry off a bit from the showers that we got caught in and then we had to have dinner. We got laughed at (nicely) every evening for being the weirdos that knitted. Since another company has taken over the place the food has become self-service which suits me and Bird really very well being the oddballs we are with food (one veggie and one slightly ocd eater that can't deal with tomatoes touching eggs) but did not suit the oldies who were used to table service. We reckon it's because they got there bang on six and queued up right away despite the fact that food was replenished until seven and the queues disappeared after about 6.30. Problem? What problem? We just knitted and chattered or read the paper.

 

 That evening I was determined to make the most of it so I went out for a wander. I put my big boots on and set my alarm for an hour to see how far I could get in that time and still get back before 10 or so. I tell you, I got far. Look:

 

No words. 

 

 There was loads of WW2 stuff. I've no idea what this was but I also found a bunker type thing:

 

 I didn't dare go in because it looked fairly well used by the local drop-out community but I peered in as much as I could.

I mainly walked up the beach until I hit quicksand (it wasn't really quicksand but again I'm a scaredy-cat) and then I turned around, found the road and followed that up. Where I found this:

And a National Trust sign and you all know how much I love the National Trust so naturally I headed up there not knowing where it led to or how many bloody steps there were... At the end there was this hill:

Which I climbed, and it was bloody hard and steep work I'll tell you and it led to this view:

 

Which looks like a fairy might live there and then my alarm went. So I had a five minute sit down, rang Boyf who I couldn't hear (a portent of things to come) and then I headed back home.  

 I was dead pleased with myself and almost had the feeling that other people say they get when they've done exercise - something like exhilaration and endorphin rush but it wasn't enough to stop me feeling like I was dying by the end. As I was walking back I took this photo:

The arrow shows where I *think* I walked to. It wasn't that clear but I think I recognise the landscape. I also checked the mileage when I got back to the chalet and we made a conservative guesstimate that it was around four miles which is as far as I ever walk really and it was up hill and it was after a full days doing stuff AND Boyf wasn't pointing a (metaphorical) gun to my head. Didn't I do well?

So, the next day, I woke up and there was ...stuff... coming out of my left ear. The previous day it felt like it had been popping far too much whilst going over the hills to Bath and then, with this, I knew something was up. My first instinct is to go to the Walkin Centre but Bird suggested the pharmacist which was a great idea. Only they couldn't really help me because I wasn't in pain as such and they aren't allowed to look in so they told me to go to the Walkin Centre... I really didn't want to. Two holidays ending in Walkin Centre visits on the trot isn't a great record. But I did. I caught a taxi and, surprisingly, I was straight in! I knew I wasn't that ill because I was able to crochet whilst waiting but I also knew that I shouldn't swim with an ear infection so I had to do something. When I got in to see the nurse practitioner, he was dead nice and told me I sounded dead northern (haha proud!), then he looked in my ear, looked a bit puzzled and said 'hmmm interesting'. I asked if I was dying and he laughed and said no but I did had a perforation in my ear drum that didn't seem to be that recent (as in, I hadn't popped it when I felt like it was popping on the journey the day before or, indeed, in the swimming pool). He told me it would probably heal on it's own but that I ought to see my doctor when I got home because with it not being that recent and not being healed then there might be a problem. And then he showed my ear to a few medical students because it was a text book example. *Proud*.

He also told me I shouldn't swim.

 Ignored. It's my bloody holiday ain't it!? What I actually did was bought some waterproof earplugs and swam with my head above water like an oldie (I'd been doing dead well with my butterfly up until then, it's been years since I've been in a pool empty enough to do that!!!). I blame myself if it gets infected (and it might possibly be because I can't hear a thing... really useful for Boyf's drunken snoring on Friday night...).

Anyway, once I got back into town I went on the pier and had a l.a.r.g.e. glass of wine and some crochet:

 

 And I think that that was also the day that we sneaked some booze back to the chalet in Bird's (the tee-totaller) wheelie-walker:

 

 Haha. Wool cart. Booze Cart. Clothes line:

 

We should totally all get one. 

I was knacked, as was Bird who'd enjoyed a day of pottering about around the park and cheesy chips, so we settled in for a relaxed night of knitting, crochet and documentaries. Bird doesn't have a tv so it was all a novelty including the bloody adverts. :)

 The next day I enjoyed some line dancing in the morning:

 

The oldies didn't though... They each taught three dances but it was all a little bit disastrous which was good for me because I'm not much good at proper dancing and it's been about two decades since I last line danced (though I won awards for it haha), but the oldies who do it all the time took such an issue to one of the steps in one of the dances that they essentially bullied him out of the room in tears and the woman had to take over. There was a blind-ish man who was near the front with me and we were just shaking our heads in disbelief. If they want to do other steps, surely they can just do other steps? Ahhhhhhh, some people don't understand what a holiday's about do they? Bum. I did enjoy it though, even if the poor bloke didn't. 

 Later in the day Bird had an appointment to meet a friend for tea and we agreed that I'd go off swimming in a 'marine lake' that we'd seen and meet back up after that for the bus home and dinner. This is the marine lake:

As far as I can see it's a bit like the Tunnels in Ilfracombe - as in, it's a man made pool filled with sea water that's perhaps a bit safer than the real sea. I knew I needed to swim in the sea but I didn't fancy quicksand so this was my only option. See the last building before you get to the sea just to the left of the middle of the picture? Around about there, there's a walk way that divides the sea from the lake and I managed to swim all the way to that and back (like an old lady and with my ear plug in, don't worry). The water was gorgeously cool but the walk to get to the swim was horrid - it's not sand under foot, it's slick and slimy mud. I ended up just flopping down into the sea when I felt the mud. Elegant. Blurgh.

Then I had an ice cream: 

 

Which was the most delicious thing ever. And I read my book, kinda. And then I went to the shop to buy some bits, got some cashback and didn't bother picking it up. Which meant that when we got back to the chalet I had a bit of a panic, rang them up and had to get a taxi back which cost £9.50 just to collect £20. What a nobber. And worst?! I could have got a taxi, sat around on the beach a bit and then a taxi back later but I didn't think so I got a taxi there and back all in one go which left me in the chalet which was isolated, without a pub unless I wanted to face the hoards of moaning oldies having a tea dance and shouting and line dancing teachers. That would have been a lovely end to the week.

Gosh. I'm reading this back and it sounds quite a lot like a rant doesn't it? But actually, it was all a bit magical. The weather certainly helped. I would have been miserable stuck out in nowhere land without the sun but having Bird and the sun there made everything a hell of a lot brighter. And blimey o'reilly after last week I needed a holiday! Much appreciated!!! Me and Boyf keep looking up the next seaside place we could go to, we're thinking of camping. CAMPING! Not even glamping. Just a big ol' muddy tent. haha.

Anyway, I have a few more random photos that I didn't fit into my story and then I'm going to get on with designing a new print advert because I'm able to do that (not)....

 

Ahhhh. The Weston beach from the promenade. How beautiful is that???

 

We were actually in Hi-de-Hi. :)

 

This was the driveway into the complex. Just thought you might like to see. 

 

Just because. 

 

And another. Seriously. The photos from that evening (the one that I walked a million miles in) all came out stunning. It must have been the light. 

This was the day that I went into the Walkin Centre and I decided to walk along the forest path to Weston. It's kinda between four and five miles and takes about 10 minutes in the car but it took me like an hour and a half. Stunning though? It's also the first panorama that's really worked on my phone!

 

Four different drinks! Including scrumpy that Bethan told me I had to have. Blurgh. 

 

The burnt out pier that looked like just the most magical thing. I'm sure it's not that old but I can imagine kind of smugglers coming through. I don't think I've ever seen a pier with its own jetty before. 

 

Hi-de-Hi with three bachelor ducks. :)

And that's your lot.

Love. xxxxxxxxx