Autumn is here and, as I said last week, with all the promise of a new year. My sister texted me last week after reading the blog and reminded me that in France this time of the year is known as La Rentree – because everyone is re-entering everyday life after the summer holidays, not just school, but work and all the other usual routines and it really feels as if that might be happening here too.
So, as is usual at the end of month, this blog is looking forward into September, and I find that apart from our normal routines we are not as busy with workshops and courses as we have been in the last couple of months but this does not worry us, because we know that September will also bring in the people who don’t knit in summer, but will be planning their winter knits. In effect, they will be coming back to their winter pastimes. And we have one more crochet workshop in the pipeline: Crocheting Festive Mini Stockings on 16 November. There is much excitement in the air, too, about Stephen West’s latest Mystery Knit Along – the Go Go Dynamo Shawl which is going to be knitted in two colours of fingering weight yarn (two balls/skeins of each). My preferred colours are in the photo below, although I might not do the Mohair Dare. If you are thinking about it, pop in and see if you can find a combination that you like. The first clue is out in the first week of October.
The Autumn yarns are beginning to trickle in to the shop, starting with West Yorkshire Spinners gorgeous Retreat Chunky Twist, which is a variegated chunky perfect for warm winter garments. They have also released their Christmas Signature 4 ply sock yarn, Yuletide, which has a golden sparkle. That is flying off the shelves. October will be bringing in some real treats, I promise you, so keep watching.
Today we have some lovely people here learning to knit fairisle – they are currently casting on (which could be a whole separate workshop), and at the end of the session I hope that they will be heading confidently off to knit themselves a beautiful hat rich autumn colours – red, yellow, gold and brown with a lovely azure contrast coming through. If you are interested in learning to knit stranded colour work like this, let me know and I will look to setting up one more session this year. We are also going to be planning next year’s courses and putting out the dates soon, so again, let me know if there is anything in particular you are interested in learning.
The other workshop that we have in September is the Amigurumi Workshop – crocheting Millie the Cat. Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crocheting small animals and is very popular. The workshop will be on Saturday 21 September from 10am to 1pm and you can book here if you are interested.
Our next regular workshop is Beginners Knitting and will start on 5 October. You can find more details here.
Social Stitchers dates and times are as follows:
Tuesday 3rd 11am – 1pm
Tuesday 10th 2 – 4pm
Saturday 21st 2 – 4pm
Tuesday 24th 7 – 9pm
We still have a few places left on the Retreat in April, although all the accommodation has now gone. If you are interested, contact me.
As part of the whole Back to School thing, we are driving our daughter back to Falmouth tomorrow for her second year of university, and staying there to explore Cornwall a bit more. So far from being ready to pick up the reins of normal life, I am in holiday mode! I have put in a bid to see the Lost Gardens of Heligan, which have been on my list for a while, and I believe that a visit to Tate St Ives is also planned. There is no doubt that I will drop into the fabulous Stitches and Cream yarn shop in Falmouth, and I will be taking several different pieces of knitting in a bid to finish some of them. We are coming back via a family wedding in Berkshire and I must say that it is nice to contemplate a family event that is not a funeral for a change. Although it is only a week, it is the first holiday we have taken in a long while and I am very much looking forward to it. Thank goodness I have the lovely Mandy here to mind the shop while I am away and I hope that you will come by to see her. Also, I will not be doing a blog and newsletter next week, but will be back to normal on the following weekend.
