Half term is not always a holiday for me but I did book Monday and Friday off. On Monday Ben and I spent the day together while John and Steph were at work. and on Friday I set off early to Surrey to stay with my friend. The week is over - as always so quickly and now I'm sitting in my 'nest' drinking a lovely cup of tea made with delicious water from Northumberland - Kielder to be precise. It makes the most fragrant and clean tasting tea. The water in Surrey is very hard. It's not good for hair washing or making refreshing tea. Having said that I've had a lovely weekend being pampered by my best friend. From delicious cooking, flowers in my room, to scraping the ice off my windscreen, before I left this morning she has looked after me royally this weekend. We always have a good laugh but I have also had a very productive weekend. We went to 'Unravel' at
Farnham Maltingswhere we were overwhelmed by the amount of yarn and goodies on display. I had planned to spend some money at the
Natural Dye Studio's last exhibition before they mothball the business (big boo hoo). I came away with some lovely yarn which will keep me going for absolutely ages.
These lovely skeins of 4 ply wool (merino and merino/silk mix) will join my stash of Blue Faced Leicester wool in becoming a hexagon quilt style blanket and an autumn shaded swag of flowers and fruits and leaves (design is still in my head). There should be enough for another blanket/throw which will be a present for Karin (above mentioned best friend). I'll need to put my little cedar blocks in to keep any pesky moths away though.
The exhibition was slightly overwhelming though as there was so much on show. It wasn't super crowded but it was set in lots of different rooms on different levels and it was difficult to keep track of where you had been. I think you need to build in a lot of coffee breaks and try not to rush round all in one go at something like this.
We had a quiet but industrious Saturday - Karin practising a pattern she bought - quite a lot of cursing and unpicking went on because she never goes for the simple option. It will be fab when finished - a lovely 1950s inspired top - very lacy and shaped.
I spent the day sewing together the mystery quilt we have been working on in the quilt class. Can't show you because I haven't given out the last part yet, but here is a little sample.
We had a luscious tea of chilli and salad with a little prosecco to wash it down. I did a little more on my christmas present scarf, before I got to tiddly to knit!
It's made from alpaca and is not in the slightest bit itchy, which is always a worry. It's an unusual pattern where you just keep knitting until each ball of yarn runs out.
The journey back today was uneventful and suddenly I am nearly ready to go back to work. Where does the time go? I'm sitting listening to the sound of the washing machine, contemplating the week ahead which is full of not very nice meetings, wishing I could spend more time on my projects. But if I didn't have a job I wouldn't be able to afford to buy such lovely things. Catch 22. Hey ho, I'm cosy in my nest while the rain outside patters against the window, feeling unravelled in the nicest possible way.
Happy stitching.
