Thank you to all my lovely Festiwool customers ...

It was a truly splendid little fair with lots of lovely, friendly people - both buying and selling. I'm always impressed by how nice yarn-lovers are. I know it sounds schmaltzy and trite, and that there are always exceptions to every rule, but in my experience - gleaned from days on my feet talking to the passing public at yarn fairs, and weeks of my life given over to knitting retreats - I've come to the firm view that a love of all things woolly is, of itself, a pretty good character reference.

Festiwool 2016 ...

I’m really looking forward to Festiwool this Saturday. If you’re in the Hitchin area please drop by and say Hello! I’ll be on the Costa Brava Knitting stand all day.

It’s a lovely, friendly fair with some fabulous exhibitors – just the thing for stocking up on all your woolly essentials for the cold weeks of November and December … brr … isn’t it cold these days?

Happy Friday, peeps!

We've been battling to make teddy bears - and not teddy mice. It's been a challenge, but we're getting there.

This was the outlook across the dining room table yesterday afternoon as the sunlight filtered in through the half-open shutters.  Emi was writing an essay about three birds in a nest, and battling to get the punctuation right, whilst I persevered with my teddies, battling to get the eyes sufficiently far apart. A nice bottle of red beckoned with the necessary promise to get me through until dinner.

Teddy Mouse ...

We've been practising for the 11+ exams over here at Talk-a-Lot Towers, and I can't exactly say that it's been a bag of laughs ... . 

To keep hold of my sanity I've been playing around with some of my Merino double knitting, trying to make a good-luck mascot for the big day. The idea was to create a teddy bear in this lovely tweedy wool, but do you know what happens when you make your teddy's eyes too close together ... he morphs into a Teddy Mouse!

Anyway the pattern's a work in progress, and were he given a voice to reply he'd probably quote Marilyn Monroe and tell us: Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's always better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

And his name is ... Dave. Not sure why, but it's definitely Dave. 

All the best for now, and happy All Saints' Day!

Bonny x 

Costa Brava Rag Dolls

Here's what we got up to last week in sunny Sant Feliu:

For our October Knitting retreat we made these sweet rag dolls. They're knit in the round, starting with the legs, which are joined with a knitted gusset to create the basis for a body, which is then knit up to the head. They're a great way to use up scraps of 4 ply wool left over from other projects. We used our own-label, Costa Brava Knitting 100% organic cotton yarn. You'll need one 50 g ball of the skin-coloured yarn to knit the body of the doll and scraps for her shoes, dress and hair.

Just read on for the pattern:

October in Sant Feliu ...

This was the view from the quay-side, here in Sant Feliu, yesterday afternoon. We had a day of perfect sunshine and clear blue skies with hardly a breath of wind. I like it better now than in high summer; the October temperatures suit me: never too cold and never too hot.

I'd like to say a big thank you to my lovely guests who came on our October knitting retreat. You were all fantastic.  I'll post a teddy bear pattern soon for those 4 ply left-overs from our project during the week.

And finally I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween! We're all set to carve some pumpkins later on tonight.

All the best for now,

Bonny x 

Choco-nana muffins ...

In our house we very occasionally don't get around to eating all the bananas before they get over-ripe. Given a choice I prefer a slightly green banana. Too much time of the shelf, and they develop a chalky texture and cloying sugariness that I really can't be having.

When this happens I often peel them, put them in a sandwich bag and store them in the freezer for a batch of my Choco-nana muffins. With the sweetness of the over-ripe bananas there's no need to add much sugar, and the addition of some cocoa powder with bake-stable chocolate chips ups the ante to produce a really tasty muffin that can't be too terrible for the waistline ...

Just read on for my recipe:

Knitting tote bag ...

Happy Autumn Equinox, my lovelies!

I've just finished making a batch of these super-quick tote bags for a wonderful group of ladies who've asked me to organise a knitting group get-away in deepest, darkest Devon. The idea is to hand out their knitting kits in custom-made tote bags that they can then carry them around in, and which will also help (super myopic) me to spot all my gorgeous ladies in a crowded bar. Brilliant idea: win/ win for all concerned!

We're staying down by the Exe estuary, so I thought I'd go with a jaunty nautical theme.

Just read on for the pattern and instructions.

Farewell to summer ...

Farewell to a wonderful Costa Brava summer. It was warm, golden and gone too soon.
Thank you to all our lovely guests.
And here's to the autumn ...

All the best for now,

Bonny x

Chasing the fish ...

Yesterday morning I happened upon the last fishing boat as it re-entered the harbour. It was pretty spectacular. In its wake were more seagulls than you could have shaken a stick at. The fishermen clean out their catch on the way back to harbour and I'm guessing that they toss the bits they don't keep back into the sea. As a result this big boat is a serious gravy train for all those hungry sea birds.

Perfect beach cardi ...

I've just made the perfect beach cardigan for covering up with as the evenings get a bit chillier. It's still lightweight and airy, which makes it perfect for summer evenings and dining al fresco as the sun sets over the bay. It feels casual enough to pull on over a bikini if you want to cover up on the beach - hence the name!

And it's knit in my wonderful own-label double knitting bamboo in the aptly-named colourway: Sandy Beach. This pattern makes a generously sized cardigan that will measure 48cm or 19" from arm pit to arm pit with the wool un-stretched. If you'd like it a bit smaller or larger you can adjust it by adding more / removing some pattern repeats. The pattern will repeat over 6 stitches and four rows. I used 570 g of wool, which totals 12, 50g balls of double knitting bamboo yarn, which totals about 1,200 metres of yarn. This yarn knits to a tension of 22 stitches x 28 rows on a 10cm x 10cm square in stocking stitch.

Just read on for the pattern: