Summer in the Charente-Maritime

Bee's making the most of the sunflowers

August has been a lovely month at La Verderie, it has been hot and sunny with a gentle breeze. The sunflowers have been flowering all month but are nearly over now and BeBop has tested the maize and declared it ready to eat. 

We have been sailing every week at Royan and working hard on the house and gallery.

fishing huts near St George de Didonne

Fishermen off Royan

Culli's band, The Billy Whizz Band played a great gig at the campsite at Bignac last Wednesday, an idyllic spot by the lake.

We have had some lovely Chambres D'hotes guests and my old college mate Kim to stay and the first of the two summer open studio's was yesterday.

August 31st

It feels like summer is coming to an end. The weather today has been wonderful, a clear blue sky with a day time temperature of 28c, but when I went for my morning walk with the dogs it was a very autumnal 9c. Gill and Merv our part-time neighbours head back to the UK tomorrow and Culli, our sailing friend Mike and I are off for a late summer holiday on our little boat leaving my cousin Moira and her mates to dog and house sit. The grapes and tomatoes are falling on the ground so my last job before I go on holiday is yet more spicy tomato chutney, grape jelly and grape vodka..... (not totally convinced about that one, but watch this space). We get back in time for the first of the autumn workshops at Kangaroo, the first knitting retreat here at La Verderie, bramble jelly, sloe gin and very probably green tomato chutney.

The last day of June

It is the end of another month and summer is finally in full swing, hot and sunny with a temperature of 35 in our courtyard, the photo is of the hollyhocks that grow all around the little hamlets here like weeds.

Culli and I have just spent a busy week in the UK, a hectic mix of work and pleasure with not a spare moment for up-dating the blog. We finally got to meet Martha our newest grand-daughter and at the other end of the scale went to my uncle Martin's 100th birthday party! He still lives on his own, does his Tesco's shopping on-line and what do you think we gave a 100 year old for a birthday present? - a webcam!

I also met up with Kay the Rowan rep and got to see all the new autumn/winter range, difficult to think of in soaring temperatures, but the new magazine no. 48 is due out in just over 2 weeks.
The summer sale is still going at Kangaroo for a few more days to make room for all the new stock, so snap up the bargains now.

Kangaloonies member Sally

When did you start knitting? I used to knit years ago, but then it became so much cheaper to buy knitted things rather than knit them yourself, especially for the kids, so I stopped.

What made you join the Kangaloonies? I'd started knitting again and was doing the Rainbow cardigan in Rowan's Kasbah Collection, but I had got in a mess with it. In fact, the dog had decided it served a much better purpose as a nest! So I came to Kangaroo to see if anyone could help me sort it out. We decided to change to the Sunshine jumper in the same book and I am delighted with the result. I even had enough Rowan Summer Tweed to make a matching scarf out of all the left-overs!

Was this your favourite project this year? Well, I also made some Noro gloves, the frilly ones from Mini Knits Two and the child's hat with ear flaps for my grand-daughter, they were great fun.

Favourite yarn? Noro - I love the colours and textures and it's great to knit with.

What other projects have you tackled? I've done a few of the KnitKits bags from Kangaroo which I've enjoyed doing - the Rosebud one in moss stitch and also the mitred purse in denim yarn.

And now? Well, I have an on-going project knitting squares (mainly when I'm travelling) for the Picnic blanket in Debbie Abraham's 'More Blankets and Throws' book, but have also just started a project using Rowan Siena which is lovely.

Favourite needles? Skinny Prym's - they'r my favourite needles as I love fine, plain knitting.

Aspirations for 2010? That's easy - learn to knit faster!

Rowan magazine 47 competition

The prize draw for this months competition has been won by Catherine Moores and a £50 voucher is on the way! Thank you so much to everyone for all your lovely emails. The two favourite designs from Rowan 47 (both receiving exactly the same amount of votes) were Blithe (knitted in Summer Tweed) and Serene (knitted in Milk Cotton DK), closely followed by Halcyon (knitted in Fine Milk Cotton) and then Margate (knitted in Handknit Cotton).

Rowan Summer Crochet

At last! a pattern book from Rowan dedicated to crochet. Rowan Summer Crochet has 12 gorgeous designs using Rowan Cotton Glace and Rowan Siena 4 ply cotton.