Weekend Adventures

We had a lovely adventure on Sunday. We came home from church and it was wet and miserable. Vanessa had to revise for exams (science exam tomorrow) but Simon, Em and I wanted to go out but it was raining. So we decided to take a trip to the tropics.

It was a bit humid there too:

But we saw some beautiful flowers:

And we visited a banana plantation:

Saw a hot air balloon raising up through the rain forest:

It did get a bit hot and humid so we decided to pop over to the Mediterranean to cool off a little bit:

Where we saw more beautiful flowers:

Look at all those oranges:

and last, we visited a cotton plantation. Look at the cotton plants:

And a tub full of un processed cotton:

I took my 'Carmen' shawl and did some knitting on that:

So where did we really go? Does this give you a clue?

We visited The Eden Project which is a local tourist attraction. There are two big biomes, one tropical one and one mediterranean one. In the winter they do special offers for locals and we got a one year membership for the whole family for £14 which is less than their normal entry price. I think it's valid for everyone living in Devon and Cornwall. We've not been for a couple of years so it was a nice way to spend a wet afternoon.

For the rest of the weekend my knitting was concentrated on a new wip. I gave in to temptation and cast on for a shawlette in Great Northern Yarns Mink/Milk/Merino fingering weight yarn. It's gorgeous to knit with and apparently it will bloom when washed and blocked. The only thing I worry about is the yardage. I think it's about 360 yds which is less than I'd like to have available for a small shawlette. This was my progress earlier this afternoon:

Since then, I've started the next lace chart and only have 15 gr of yarn left (I had 26 gr when I took the pic). this is a quick knit. I'm knitting an edging across the top as I go but I've not decided on the edging for the lower edge yet but need to decide soon. I think I will sleep on it.

Talking about sleep, I'm incredibly tired tonight. I've been struggling to stay awake and have spent a large part of the evening knitting with my eyes closed and half asleep. I open my eyes for the knit rows (so I can work the lace pattern) and close my eyes for the purl rows. I taught the second session of my Beginners class at The Cornwall Yarn Shop this morning. We had a great class and started a mini sweater. We knitted a whole mini sleeve in the class. They all did great. The Cornwall Yarn Shop have a trip to Wonder Wool and Knit Nation. If you're in North/East Cornwall or West Devon, it's worth visiting this lovely shop.

There will hopefully be a shop update tomorrow. I have a huge pile of yarn waiting but I also have several patterns that need finishing first, so it depends on how well i get on with those. 

Nite x