The final workshop of the year was back to back with the
previous retreat, the last group left on the Friday which gave me a day to get
the house ready and do all the shopping – phew!
The weather forecast was lousy with the first rain we have had for ages, but the autumn colours and the cosy wood burn cheered up even the greyest of days.
Carol arrived in her usual enthusiastic mode full of ideas
for Christmas wreaths, birds, baubles and Halloween surprises.
All the guests had been here
before so it was lovely to see old friends again, we also had my friends Jane
and Annabelle here as day guests, so a full house. Sunday and Monday were full
day workshops. I had provided yarn from my stash, so there was a huge choice of
yarn types and colours for everyone to sort through and decide on their colour
palettes – after half an hour it looked like a yarn explosion!
On Monday Jane arrived with the largest pumpkin I have ever
seen – it was so heavy that the two of us struggled to get it out of the car.
Pumpkin soup for a very long time!
On Tuesday afternoon we had a break from workshops and went
in to Cognac for the afternoon, visiting my favourite little yarn shop Petite Mailles
then on to Tissus bonnet for fabric and trimmings.
Wednesday morning was a visit to the market in St Jean d’Angely
to buy fresh fish for supper and of course a visit to the kitchen shop so that
Barbara could stock up on her cutlery.
In the afternoon there was a lot of
giggling over the ears we were all making for the Halloween party that evening. Carol had also been busy making a crochet eyeball for everyone to go
with the ears – a scary sight!
Sadly we had no trick or treat visitors so
had to eat all the sweets ourselves............
Thursday was another full day workshop, the race was on to
finish the wreaths by the end of the week plus a few birds, angels, pixies and
baubles.
On Friday we went to Saintes for yarn and fabric shopping at l’oasis and Christmas decorations at Maison du Monde.
Jane rounded off the workshop with another amazing sonnet -
October in Bercloux - with apologies to Shakespeare for taking liberties with his sonnet form
Here for a week of knits, crochet and shopping
Carol's theme is wreaths for Christmas, and by chance
our week's all Hallows, the spooks will be a popping!
The care is great, delicious food and gin at 6,
Patterns are clear, owls, leaves, berries and finally a bird!
Then to Cognac or Saintes for a retail fix,
More patterns to study, shhhh hardly a word.
But beneath all of this a subtext lies
Old friends new friends, laughter, fun, ideas
Sitting together, creating, learning, how time flies
Eagle owls, tassells, crocheted eyeballs, birds with ears,
Whatever the techniques we stitchers employ
This week has truly SPARKED JOY!
Then I discovered that Rhona, Sandra and Lillias had been yarn bombing the banisters, perhaps this will be added to next year?
We finished the evening in hysterics watching Rhona and Lillias flying around the room in a frenzy of Scottish dancing – the perfect end to a fantastic year. Thank you to all my lovely guests for making my job so enjoyable.
If you would like to book a space on one of Carol’s workshops next year we still have a few spaces available in September and October 2019, see details here.
A few more birds, baubles and pixies -
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