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Friday 29 September 2017

Just hanging in there ...

Happy Friday!

I'd like to share a fun shot that Mr B sent me yesterday. This was the scene outside his window whilst he was eating lunch at his desk down in Canary Wharf:


Wednesday 27 September 2017

London Bridge Sheep Drive and the Pop-up Wool Fair

I'd like to say a big thank you to all my lovely customers from Sunday past, who came along to the pop-up wool fair that popped up for the London Bridge Sheep Drive. The sun shone, the sheep were driven, and everyone had a ball.

Way back in medieval times the Grant of the Freedom of the City of London was a right allowing individuals to carry on a trade within the city. They would have taken the grant, and joined one of the trade guilds that flourished in ye olde London towne. The right to drive livestock across the bridges into the old city without paying tolls was an important privilege that came with the Freeman's grant. And it's a right that is still practised every September, but now the Freemen receive their grants as a civic honour in recognition of outstanding achievement and the event raises money for charity.



Friday 15 September 2017

Toddler's cardigan - age 3

It's taken me the longest time to get this little cardigan off the needles - and then to get the pattern written up. I started work on it way, way back in May, and I really struggled to get it finished on time for Fibre East at the end of July. Here we are in the middle of September, and I'm only now managing to write up the pattern. There's been an awful lot of procrastination going on at this end. The truth is that I've spent all summer playing a form of tennis called Padel. I've had classes with the loveliest and most patient of instructors, and I've been out on court practising my shots every chance I've got. It's been more than slightly addictive. Anyone who came to visit me this summer has HAD to play Padel. No ifs no buts no coconuts - it's been down to the Padel court at every opportunity. And as a consequence all the patterns and knitting and stuff that normally occupies my time has ground to a halt.


Anyway back to the project in hand.  It's knit in our own-label Costa Brava Knitting 4 ply cotton, working in 2 colours: Post Box (red) and Tangerine (orange) using 3.25 mm needles (US size 3/ UK/Canadian size 10). It knits in stocking stitch to a tension of  [23 stitches x 32 rows] on a 10 cm x 10 cm square. I've taken my sizing from Ralph Lauren size 3T, and knit the jumper to match. You'll need around 150 g of wool to knit this size - 100 g of Post Box and 50 g of Tangerine.

Thursday 14 September 2017

End of season adjustments ...

By now the Sant Feliu summer season is over and most of the tourists have packed up and gone home. Only the locals and a few stragglers remain. The atmosphere in town has changed. During the height of the summer season there's an element of hedonism in the sweep and fall of the day. The repeated kerching! of the holiday trade echoes loudly around the centre of town. Hoteliers, waiters and shop owners walk around with a pronounced sense of purpose.

Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Catalunya
Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Catalunya

Sunday 3 September 2017

Alien Invasion

This morning we woke up to an alien invasion. Sunny Sant Feliu has been overrun by brown jellyfish - medusas, as they're known in this part of the world. Emi assures me that they're not too bad. For one thing they don't sting as much as the white ones do - or so he tells me.