How was your weekend?

How was your weekend? We had a great weekend. We were expecting Vanessa to come home for the weekend and arrive on Friday afternoon but she turned up on Thursday. She's planned all along (and Emily knew) to come home on Thursday instead on Friday but wanted to surprise us. And what a lovely surprise it was. 

I was out teaching all day on Friday in Bude. Coastal Yarns is a lovley yarn shop by the canal in Bude. It has a great atmosphere and the owners, Angela and Janet, are very friendly. The 6 knitters in the class were all great and worked really hard all day. The topic was 'Professional Finishing Techniques' and we covered things like how to make finishing easier, blocking, mattress stitch, short row shoulders and three needle cast off, picking up stitches and one row button holes. They worked so hard we finished early and managed to fit in a bonus 'sewn cast off' practice. Below is a picture from the class taken by Angela or Janet.

On Saturday we wanted to spend some time together as a family so we headed down to Looe and had a Cornish Cream Tea lunch at the coffee shop, The Rusty Bucket, where Vanessa worked all summer.  A Cornish Cream Tea may not be the healthiest option for lunch but we all enjoyed it. For those who don't know what a Cornish Cream Tea is it's a scone (and this noe was a large one) with Cornish clotted cream (which is delicious) and jam. Traditionally it's eaten with a cup of tea but as i don't like tea I had Hot Chocolate instead.

Afterward we drove across to West Looe and walked along the sea wall at Hannafore. The weather looks lovely but it was very, very windy. It's still very mild for November though.

Picture looking out towards St George's Island (aka Looe Island):

 Vanessa and Simon walking along the sea wall:

 View towards Seaton:

Yesterday Simon's parents came for a roast lunch and we just relaxed at home in the afternoon until it was time for Vanessa to head back to Bristol. She did enjoy a cuddle with her dad and Sam before she left though (excuse the grainy picture). Sam was really spoiled this weekend as she got to spend every night in Vanessa's room.

It was great having Vanessa home. We're all still getting used to her being at uni. Not long till she comes home for Christmas though.

I've been knitting and sewing too. After my first successful 'Mollie Makes' bag I decided to make another one with longer handles so I could carry it as a shoulder bag. I got some linen from Social Fabric in Totnes last week and used some lining fabric I already had. I made some mistakes on this bag but overall I'm happy with the result. Just don't look too closely at my stitching.

 Some ladies at church have started a sewing group that meets fortnightly. So far this term, I've been too busy to go or I havent' had the car when the group meets. But today i had the car so I decided to skive off for the morning. I cut out some fabric (from Social Fabric) last night and decided to make a light weight 'shopper' bag. I've used some fleece interfacing to give it some structure. I managed to do the pockets and sew the lining up while i was at church but I've still got to decide on handles and sew the outer fabric and lining together. May try to do that this evening. 

Lining fabric & zipped pocket above & contrasting slip pockets for pens, phone etc with outer lining in the background, below:

I got lots of compliments for the pretty fabric. I got 1/2m of each print and decided to use one for the lining and one for the outer. I did consider trying to make a reversible bag but that makes it difficult to put pockets in and pockets are important.

My main sewing project this week is my new 'workshop bag'. I've got most of the exterior fabric cut out. Need to start cutting out the lining and interfacing. This is going to be a challenge to make up because it's got so many pockets and dividers. Good thing the pattern looks clear and easy to follow.

I've been knitting too but it's mainly secret stuff which i can't share. I was, however, inspired by Norway's live TV National Knitting Night streamed on Friday night that I cast on for a pair of Selbu inspired mittens in Quince & Co Chickadee. I've changed my mind about the main pattern so i may be ripping out a few rounds later. I'm experiementing with a new to me way of holding the yarn so I can knit continental with both colours. Normally I do continental with one colour and English with the other colour.

Did you watch the Knit Night? It was streamed internationally. If it has inspired you to learn to knit like the Norwegians do, ie Continental style with Norwegian Purl, don't forget I've got a class on that starting soon.