Long Weekend

This weekend was a long weekend in the UK and I think it was a long weekend in the US too and perhaps other countries (I know it was in Norway). That makes today, which is a Tuesday, feel like a Monday and gives me 4 days to get 5 days worth of work done in. It's going to be a busy week. Emily is on half term this week. She's in the middle of AS level exams so will mainly be revising. Vanessa has finished her second year of university and came home on Friday night. She's home until July when she starts a year's work placement in Cardiff. In June she's off to Norway to visit my parents.

End of next week, Vanessa and I are off to London for 3 days. That means that I've got two short weeks in a row and I've got a very busy time coming up. From middle of June until early July it's non-stop here. First I'm off to Sutton Coldfield to teach at Sitting Knitting on 21 June (Pro Finishing, check with Rachel if there's still spaces). 

Three days after we get home, we're off to Cumbria for Woolfest. That means I've basically got to have most things ready for Cumbria/Woolfest before we go to Sutton Coldfield. The day after Woolfest, we drive on to Scotland to visit Simon's sister for a few days. We drive back home the following Friday (it's a 12-15 hour drive and we're doing it all in one day). At this point we've still got all our left over Woolfest stock in the car. On that Saturday and Sunday we move Vanessa to Cardiff to start her job.

And at some point in the next two weeks after that my parents are arriving for a visit. Not sure exactly which date they're arriving. We've got some big jobs to do before they come, as well as the normal tidying up etc. Plus after Woolfest, the house is in chaos for at least a week while I unpack the show stuff etc. So this weekend was the last relaxing weekend for a while and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I tried to avoid work this weekend. Last week, I'd planned to have a bit of a de-stash. This is all part of getting ready for my parents coming to visit and de-cluttering the house. I need more space in my office as I can't fit all my stuff in here and therefore I need to get rid of some stuff. My plan was to list it all on my website, send out a newsletter and blog about it. But that didn't happen. I spent late Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, taking photos and immediately listed some on Instagram as a trial. Quite a bit of it sold but not everything. On Sunday I listed some more on Facebook and most of that sold. I'll be listing the remaining and some stuff I've still to photograph, on my website in a de-stashing category. And I will send out a newsletter when it's ready. So sign up if you haven't already.

On Sunday afternoon, we decided to go cycling. We thought it was going to stay overcast but dry but by the time we got to the Camel Trail it was drizzling. It did stop eventually and we didn't really get wet. We started at a different point than normal and did 23 miles in total. We're working up to cycling the full length of the trail from Padstow to Wenfordbridge and back again in August. That's 18 miles EACH way. It's mainly flat but a section is slightly uphill.

Cornwall is lush and green at the moment, which means we've had a lot of rain lately.

I finished my Noro Silk Garden design on Sunday. I've got to cast on for a new deadline design today but for the rest of yesterday, I decided to knit a bit more on my Kettle Yarn Co Pandora circular shawl. This is coming out to play between deadline projects at the moment and is progressing nicely after the big 'frogging incident of 2015'. I think this will be my Most Frogged Design ever. But I'm happy with it. I'm aiming to finish it on our trip to Cumbria and Scotland so I can get it published in July.

I managed to sit in the garden at lunch time yesterday. It was just warm enough to sit outside to knit for a bit. Our dog, Sam, is enjoying being outside in the sun too.

Yesterday afternoon, Simon, Vanessa and I headed down to Looe, which is the location of my autumn retreat, Mastering Lace Knitting. Don't forget to book your space!

We walked around the town and headed out to the Banjo Pier. Took lots of photos of the sea and of each other taking photos.

We had an ice cream by the beach. And yes there were people on the beach and even a few kids in the water. It wasn't that warm though.

We strolled back by the river, past the fish market. The hotel where the retreat is being held is directly opposite the fish market on the other side of the river.

It was a relaxing and fun weekend and I'm ready for a busy few weeks ahead. How was your weekend?