May knitting retreat

Anne in the studio

The last two days of the retreat have been very lazy. Yesterday and today are public holidays in France and true to form it's raining! Sad for all the brocantes as the morning was a total washout, however, we had no plans to go anywhere. Anne was on a mission to finish the back of her sweater (which she did) and Pat was happy to finish her sock and search through more of my magazines for inspiration. We spent most of the day in the studio, which is proving to be a fabulous workspace, it looks like a woolly whirlwind has gone through it but that is fine, I don't need to tidy up every day!!!

Anne with the back of her sweater completed

Pat's sock

The sun came out briefly in the afternoon allowing for a short walk around the vineyard before supper of garlic and ginger prawns, chicken and fennel cassoulet and pears poached in red wine. Today it was raining again. Anne made a start on the sleeve for her sweater so that I could help with the decreasing around the top and Pat started knitting some i-cords to make a necklace similar to my design in Vintage Knit Knacks.

After lunch we waved goodbye to Anne as Culli took her off to Angouleme to catch the train back to Paris, she seems to have gained a lot from the week and I think is confident enough to carry on with her knitting on her own, hopefully she will be back for a workshop next year. Pat and I spent the afternoon knitting and reading, she is off first thing in the morning for her flight from La Rochelle to Stansted. It has been another great week, with two more lovely ladies who I think will be back.
Tomorrow I have to do a quick blitz on the house ready for the painting and woodturning course at the weekend!