I'm back!

I tried doing some mobile blogging while we were away but it didn't work. The WiFi were we stayed was rubbish. We had a great time away. We went to Butlins at Minehead for Spring Harvest, which is a Christian event. There's a packed programme of Bible teaching, seminars, lectures and worship celebrations. It's not a relaxing holiday. Obviously all the events are optional but you kind of want to take advantage of everything that's on offer.

I watched the Big Start (an all age service at 9am) and the morning Bible Teaching on the chalet TV every day, as the seating in most of the venues is not good for my back. Them I met up with Simon late morning and we went to the 'Talk Zone' which was an interactive session on that day's theme. Back to the chalet for a lunch and a nap (I ended up taking a nap every day apart from the last day). In the afternoon there was 2 different seminar streams. I missed the first one because of my nap and went to a late seminar every day. Then back to the chalet again for dinner before the main evening worship celebration event. This took place in the Big Top (which is a huge circus tent seating 4000 and it was full every night). The band was led by Vicki Beeching who was great and the speakers were great too.

These pics were taken from our seats, we were about 2/3 of the way back. It's amazing to be worshipping to a live band with 4000 other Christians.

The Butlins site is quite big so we did a lot of walking just getting to and from the chalet and various venues. I had planned to try to go for a walk on the beach a few times but I only managed to get outside the gates once. Most days I was in too much pain and too tired to walk too much plus there was too much going on.

 Simon and I did walk along the beach into Minehead one afternoon though. Most of the time the weather was good, but we did have one day of rain and on the last morning it was a bit showery.

 These photos, taken on our walk along the beach into Minehead, were taken on my mobile phone as i forgot to bring my camera.

 In the Skyline, which is the main pavillion with restaurants, shops and entertainment venues, there was a Christian book shop set up every day. I hadn't really planned to buy anything but I decided to buy this Bible. My old Bible is getting quite worn out but I like it because Simon and the girls bought it for me when I first became a Christian but when I saw this pretty, PURPLE Bible I just had to have it.

 I did quite a bit of knitting but not enough. The Quince & Co Finch shawl was my easy chalet project which I worked on while watching the Bit Top events in the morning. I could knit & concentrate at the same time. I finished it last night when we got home. It needs blocking and i'm a bit nervous about doing it as I didn't do the final increase row, hoping I wouldn't need it but I've got a feeling I might do. There may be ripping soon. I'm going to try to block it first though. There's a bit of lace & beads among all that squishy garter stitch.

 The Finch shawl will be part of a 3 or 4 shawl pattern collection which I'm hoping to publish my June. It'll have a bit of a royal connection. Another shawl in this collection is the Silky Camel Lace shawl I cast on. The Silky Camel is gorgeous to knit with and this shawl will have a slightly unusual construction. There's beads too and so far I'm LOVING it.

 I nearly finished the first of a new sock design. this was my 'carry along' knitting. I mainly knitted on it when relaxing in the Skyline or during seminars.

 I did a few rounds on my old sock too. I'm halfway through the heel turn now and I ought to just take an evening and finish it.

I didn't do much knitting on my secret project so I need to crack on with that this weekend. Before then I've got 2 projects which need some finishing, ie seaming, bands etc.

Talking about finishing. I'll be working on my online workshops over the next few days. The Continental Knitting with Norwegian Purl workshop is starting on Saturday. Click here to read about what previous students though. I'm also working on a Professional Finishing Techniques workshop too. I'm also thinking about doing some 'knitalong' workshops. The idea of these classes is that they will be based on a certain project and the class will teach each step of the project and guide you through the project step by step with videos and photo tutorials. Perfect if you want to try something new or challenging. What do you think?