September knitting and crochet retreat

The September knitting retreat started on a glorious hot sunny Sunday. All five guests arrived at Bordeaux airport and by late afternoon were sitting in the sunshine chatting away like old friends. Regular visitor Sue arrived clutching gifts of antlers for BeBop and Buddy who were of course delighted to see her (I think she only comes back every year to see BeBop), the other guests were Natasja a crochet fanatic (see her lovely blog Crochet time) and Brenda with daughter Alison and their friend Phina a tap dancing granny from West Sussex!

It stayed warm enough to eat supper in the garden, so after roast pork with courgette & tomato bake and dauphinoise potatoes followed by chocolate torte everyone went off for an early night.

Everyone has a project planned for the week. Natasja has brought a bundle of yarn to crochet a throw inspired by the English countryside. It is a combination of vibrant green fields, crops of oat and barley and earthy ploughed fields, joined with a textured stitch to form hedges. Phina is working on crochet flowers, she is also a bit of a demon with fine knitting needles and makes me a gorgeous minature teddy bear. Brenda wants to master knitting in the round so starts on a small pair of socks and Alison wants to crochet a cushion cushion cover, so after reading through all my crochet books and the ones she has brought with her starts on granny squares in gorgeous pastel shades. Sue is working on a chunky cable jumper by Bergere de France for her son and a lovely soft scarf knitted in Rowan Kidsilk Haze.

Monday morning was fresh but dry and sunny. Sue joins me every morning for an early morning walk with the  dogs before breakfast, then we all settle down in the garden and studio for a day of knitting and crochet.

On Tuesday we went into Cognac to visit Tissus Bonnet the fabric and yarn shop in the centre of town. Everyone loves the beautiful ribbons, trimmings, fabric and yarns and we all buy something. After a coffee in the square we go home eager to start working with our new yarns after lunch. Natasja knits a snood in just a couple of hours using the pompom yarn she bought in the morning.

On Wednesday morning we visit St Jean d’Angely and wander around the market admiring the colourful pumpkins, giant beef tomatoes and beautiful flower stalls, then a bit of retail therapy in the yarn shop and kitchen shop followed by a coffee and a walk through the old medieval town.

Back home for a lunch of fresh prawns and cheese from the market and an afternoon working in the sunshine.

On Thursday we made a trip to Saintes to the big yarn and fabric shop on the commercial estate and all buy more yarn and pattern books, then drive back into the town for a coffee by the river and a quick visit to yet another yarn shop. I think this week holds the record for the amount of yarn shopping.

The final afternoon is spent trying to finish off projects, which everyone spreads out on the table at the end of the afternoon. It looks like a huge amount of work when you see it all laid out.

On Friday Culli takes Sue off first thing in the morning for her early flight from Bordeaux, the rest of us have a more leisurely start and drive down to Bordeaux later in the morning. We drop Natasja off at the airport for her flight then the four of us go into Bordeaux for lunch at one of the riverside café’s.

Then a wander around the lovely pedestrian shopping streets with the final yarn fix at La Droguerie and a visit to the huge book shop, a stop for a cup of tea, a bit more window shopping admiring he designer clothes and mouthwatering chocolate shops then I take Phina, Brenda and Alison out to the airport for their evening flight.

It has been a great week, with lots of inspiration, perfect weather and lovely guests who I hope we will see again.

Mystery Blanket workshop - the last day

Friday started with a wet walk for me with BeBop & Buddy, followed by a morning workshop.

The group have done amazingly well, with a total of 68 blanket squares knitted between the 9 members, plus 2 bags and one and a half mobile cosies knitted by Pat and Shelley, what a result!

It was Tracy's birthday, so we had a few renditions of 'Happy Birthday' and two cakes, a yummy lemon sponge cake which Annabel made and one of my banana breads.

Culli has been busy making yarn bowls and they are selling quickly.
After lunch of potato and onion tortilla and thai chicken salad, the sun came out and we went into St Jean d'Angely for the final shopping trip.

Starting at the sweet shop, filled with mouthwatering chocolates and sweets displayed in vintage glass jars, then on to a couple of dress shops and the kitchen shop, where everyone weakened, but Debbie still managed to outshop us all.

After hot chocolates at the fun bar we stopped off at the supermarket and then home for a final knitting session, kir royale and supper of antipasto, provencal pork and creamy croissant and honey bake.
The girls gave Debbie and I a really beautiful Missoni scarf each and a bottle of whisky for Culli. It has been another great week with a lovely group, lots of laughs, lots of eating and lots of knitting.
Most of us had to be up at the crack of dawn, so an early night was needed.
On Saturday morning I dropped Pat off at Bordeaux airport for an early flight and took Debbie, Shelley, Alan and Laraine into Bordeaux. We started with breakfast at the bargain price of 3 euros each, then stumbled across the most amazing button shop that had walls lined from floor to ceiling with boxes of every type of button and fastening you can imagine.

On to the book shop, Desigual and then La Droguerie. A quick sandwich by the fountain and then a mad dash to get them back to the airport in time for their flights.

April knitting holiday in France - last two days

Monday morning looks brighter, Culli and I have an early start as BeBop has to go to the vets for an operation on his eye, so after a long walk Culli takes him in for a day at the vets.

Imogen's lace scarf

Imogen's patchwork bag

Joan's chunky cable cardi

Betina's socks & beading sample

Betina's crochet shawls

I spend the morning helping Imogen with her patchwork squares, not that she needs much help as she is romping through the pattern. Joan is knitting more of her chunky cardi and Betina is swopping between socks and her crochet shawl.

edge of Le Vieux Port

meringues

the lovely streets of La Rochelle

gift packed sardines

hand made soaps

sadly not the real Jack Sparrow

Ice creams

We have an early lunch and go off to La Rochelle for a wander around the beautiful town with its designer clothes and colourful gift shops, followed by a coffee and ice creams in Le Vieux Port.
When we get back BeBop is home after his op which went well, but we have some worrying news from the vet as she has found a tumour in his mouth, so we now have to wait two weeks for the biopsy results and then possibly an agonising decision on what to do next. In spite of a general anaesthetic he is back to his usual chirpy self by bedtime, so it is hard to believe that there might be something seriously wrong.

BeBop and Buddy

Today is the last day of the retreat, after a leisurely breakfast Culli takes Joan to the airport in La Rochelle and I take Imogen and Betina to Bordeaux, we drop Imogen off at the airport for her flight and Betina and I go into Bordeaux so that she can visit La Droguerie and the book shop. She buys some lovely blue/grey alpaca yarn and a crochet book at La Droguerie and some more crochet books in the bookshop, her bag must weigh a ton as she has bought at least 9 or 10 crochet books over the last few days. I drop her off at the airport and set off for home.

cake shop in Bordeaux

It has been a lovely few days, I think we have all learnt a lot and really enjoyed each others company.
I now have a few days for housework, shopping and cooking before the Mystery Blanket workshop starts on Sunday, fingers crossed for a bit more sunshine.