Day 2 of the Kaleidoscope workshop

A cool and cloudy morning, but never mind the knitting and crochet frenzy has started with everyone desperate to start their projects. Jane and Debbie have provided yarn for those who want to make their own designs from scratch and kits for those who want a starting point.

 Most of the day was spent in the workshop rooms on the first floor of the Chateau, a few brave souls ventured outside for apero's in the evening but after supper all were back upstairs working on their projects.

Kaleidoscope workshop

My tomato harvest!

The Kaleidoscope workshop at Chateau St Julien with tutors Jane Crowfoot and Debbie Abrahams has started!
We had B&B guests at La Verderie on Saturday night, which left me in a total panic trying to get everything ready to take up to the chateau on Sunday morning, however, we managed to pack everything into our super sized borrowed minibus and Grande Espace, I even remember to pick all the ripe tomatoes to take with us. We screeched into the Chateau on the dot of 12, unloaded the Espace in 5 minutes flat so Culli could head off to the station to meet the first two arrivals, Toril and Astrid from Norway.
There are a total of 20 guest this year, international guests include our two Norwegians who are returning guests and Canadian couple Amanda and Danny who are visiting the chateau for the first time. Danny is here to relax and teach himself how to play the mandolin while Amanda knits, I hope he survives being surrounded by all these women! Returning visitors include Felicity, Elizabeth, Sandra, Rhona, Chris, Clare, Wendy, Mary and Tania, new guests are Stacey, Vicky, Ros, Amanda, Fran, Eleanor and Katrin. The trains were on time and by 6pm the 20 guests were sitting in the sunshine sipping kir royale, all we are missing now are the tutors!
Jane and Debbie arrived with hubby's Andy and Steve just as we were serving dinner of lamb tagine with couscous, followed by cheese and chocolate gateau. After an exhausting day and a few glasses of wine we managed a reasonably early night.

On Monday morning Jane and Debbie gave an introduction to the course which is based around their new book 'Kaleidoscope' due to be published in spring 2013. The gorgeous knitted and crochet samples from the book are displayed in the music room, the vivid colours are guaranteed to inspire the most timid of knitters. Jane and Debbie's original inspiration for the designs in the book came from the beautiful painted friezes in the church of Notre Dame in Poitiers, when we visited it on our first stay at Chateau St Julien, five years ago. To show the guests how a knitting design can be developed from source material we took them into Poitiers in the afternoon to visit the church and take photographs. Sadly the yarn shop in Poiters is closed all day on a Monday, so we may have to make another trip later in the week.

Jane and Debbie

Supper was a choice of lasagne, prawn or veggie risotto followed by cheese and a wickedly rich banoffi cheesecake. Thanks to Andy and Steve helping us in the kitchen we managed to finish clearing up by 9pm, not sure if this is such a bonus as it seems to give us much more time to sit and drink too much wine. Wendy entertained us with tales of her daughter's travels and the laughter echoed around the mirrored dining-room.

2013 knitting and crochet workshops and retreats

are booking up quickly....!
We have one space left on the Mystery Blanket workshop in March and the knitting and crochet workshop in June with Carol Meldrum is now fully booked. However, there are still spaces available for the knitting retreats book here now!!!

Summer has arrived

The sunflowers are finally out in sunnyish France and at last the weather looks like it is improving. It has been  far better here than in the UK, but still not brilliant. However, we managed to pack in a fair bit with our French student last week.

My brocante purchase

Young Paul (age 13) was from Paris and stayed with us for two weeks to learn English. We have been cycling, sailing, shopping, visiting brocantes, playing tennis, building wardrobes, wood turning, painting, to the Blues Festival at Cognac, watching films, cooking and I am knackered, it was far more exhausting than a knitting workshop. The dogs are also shattered as he found communicating with them a lot easier than talking to us, poor Be Bo (he couldn't pronounce the p), has been made to sit, stand, walk, jump, lie down, run for 12 hours a day without a break.

sailing to Meschers

It was a big learning curve for all of us, however I am pleased to say that having arrived with no spoken English at all he was stringing a few sentences together by the end of the holiday. The next student arrives at the beginning of August, three weeks recovery time!

Culli's latest wood-turning projects

Paul's gorgeous chocolate cake

the jamming session at Cognac Blues Passion

June Retreat days 2, 3 and 4

Breakfast on the terrace

The week seems to have flown by. Tuesday was brighter weather so we spent the morning relaxing at La Verderie with our knitting, then after lunch a trip into St Jean d'Angely. I had a hospital appointment, so left the girls to find their own way around the town and came back to meet them in the cafe later.

St Jean d'Angely

Beer and coffee in the square

They managed to find the kitchen shop to make a few purchases and have a wander around the town. It was warm enough to cook and eat tagine in the garden.

a warm summer evening on the terrace

Wednesday was hot and sunny, in the morning we headed off to Cognac. A quick stroll through the indoor market where Jelena bought some cheese to take home and Jacqui bought some purple garlic.

the indoor market at Cognac

Next stop the yarn and fabric shop where everyone purchased buttons, trimmings and fabrics, Jelena and I split a remnant between us, to make a skirt for her and a shirt for me.

beer and coffee in Cognac

Then up to the square for coffee and beer and back home for lunch. In the afternoon we went for a dip in our friends pool and spent a lazy afternoon sipping chilled rose and tasting the local Cognac. Back home for a BBQ of fish kebabs, toulouse sausages and salad in the garden.

A cooling dip

Cognac tasting

This morning we have been to Saintes for more retail therapy, the sales have started! More bags of shopping to cram into suitcases tonight, just managed to get the market before it closed to buy fresh prawns and moules for a paella tonight.

the museum in Saintes

Saintes market

We are just sitting down for an afternoon of knitting and magazine reading, we don't seem to have achieved much knitting so far this week, but everyone seems very happy!

June knitting retreat

The latest retreat at La Verderie is underway. Jacqui, Diane and Sue arrived at Bordeaux airport yesterday morning, after leaving Luton in the pouring rain at the crack of dawn the sunshine here was very welcome. Culli picked up Jelena at Poitiers, so by 6.30 we were all sitting in the sun with a glass of rose in hand. I managed a bit of stash sorting in the afternoon and a quick lesson in beading for Jacqui. Everyone has brought a project for the week, Sue has a choice of a lacy shawl (difficult when talking too much) and a Rowan sweater (less taxing), Jelena finished a pair of socks today and has started on a lovely lacy cotton dress, talking, knitting and drinking seem to pose no problem for her, Diane is knitting a cotton cardigan which is growing quickly, Jacqui is knitting a gorgeous lacy shawl in fluffy yarn with sequins and I have just started a really simple winter sweater for Culli, no plans on which winter it will be ready to wear.......

We have spent the day chilling, knitting, talking and eating, everyone managed a stroll around the vineyard this evening with the dogs followed by supper of pear, roquefort and walnut salad, seafood ragout with tagliatelle and tarte tatin. Culli is nagging me about getting rid of the rowing machine, methinks I will definitely need it after this week.

Tomorrow a morning of knitting and a trip to St Jean d'Angely in the afternoon, for me a visit to the hospital for the dreaded mammogram, for the girls a bit of sightseeing, the yarn shop and a coffee. 

Catching Up

 Phew! The knitted samples for my latest book have finally gone off in the post, just a few patterns to check and that is it - hurrah!

Since the crochet workshop in May there has been so much going on here, but sadly no time for blogging or website up-dates until now.

In between the frantic knitting I helped Culli to antifoul and varnish the boat ready for the sailing season as we have guests who want to learn to sail. We have had B&B guests at the weekends and a short retreat for knitting friend Caroline and her daughter Betsy. 

Caroline knitting in the garden

Betsy swimming in the lake at Thors

Beading in the restaurant at Thors

The weather has been mixed, hot when the sun is out but not brilliant for June. Betsy braved the lake at Thors and went for a swim, whilst we sat in the restaurant and knitted our way through lunch.

The garden has gone mad, the fennel is taking over, we have fresh lettuce every day and my tomato plants have gone wild (yes, I forgot to pinch them out again....), however it looks like there are plenty of toms coming as long as they survive Bix the dog's veggie cravings.

We have another knitting retreat starting this Sunday, with four guests arriving at Bordeaux and Angouleme, we will make a plan for outings when they get here.