A British Wool Week Trip to Cafe Knit, Lavenham. Oh, and a Chunky Snood #FO!

 

Lovely jaunt through the Suffolk countryside today, along beautiful autumnal country roads to Cafe Knit. Somehow, courtesy of HeartFM, this journey was set to an 80s/90s sound track of the Pet Shop Boys, Simply Red and Tina Turner: not my usual choice, but I was singing at the top of my voice as I hurtled along.

Cafe Knit never disappoints: a lovely cappuccino with good conversation from a friend and the other customers. We had a good rummage around the Debbie Bliss yarns and looked at Louisa Harding's hat patterns - I really want to make one these, and what a good cause:

http://www.louisaharding.co.uk/macmillan/

Indecision prevented me from buying wool today, but I will be making the pompom hat soon . . . or the green heart cable one . ... or the beret-style green one . . .

I did buy a great shawl pin for my Sarah Hatton jacket: picture of this to follow. This means the jacket is finally wearable - a genuine FO!

Oh, and Louvera The Sheep is outside the cafe to celebrate British Wool Week!

 

In other FO news, I made this snood for my sister's birthday last week:

 

 

It is a version of the hugely-popular Gap-Tastic Cowl by Jen Geighley over at Ravelry. It's a lovely dark teal colour - not as navy as it looks here. She was very pleased with it (or very polite!) so I hope she enjoys wearing it!  Still, what with that and the crochet snowflakes for the Workwise shop, I'm rather behind on my Lady Friend's jumper... better get to it!

 

Remembrance Day & Weekend Treats

I saw these fantastic knitted smoothie hats in Sainsbury's last night - if you buy one of these, I think 25p goes to Age Concern.  We knitted some at Stitch 'n' Bitch last year, but I haven't got on with any this year yet - but these inspired me! The pattern is on the Innocent Smoothie webpage.http://innocentdrinks.co.uk/bigknit/what_it_is/index.html

Meanwhile, my lovely snood is coming along quite well. I'm using Rowan Big Wool in Mulberry - a lovely maroonish colour. One ball has knitted about 12 rows but I'm hoping to do the whole thing out of two balls, so I hope I have enough.

I had a moment of real pride in where I live, today: at 11 am, all the traffic had stopped as the two minutes' silence were observed. At the war memorial, a crowd had gathered to see the wreaths laid and there was a real atmosphere of calm.

I'm so glad it's Friday - I am really looking forward to spending the weekend making snoods and reading Alan Hollinghurst's "The Stranger's Child." I've read Part 1 so far and it hasn't disappointed. He's a fantastic writer: wry, precise, unbelievably observant and detailed. Part 1 was so evocative of the era - early 20th century. The child Daphne, confused and attracted to her brother's college friend, is particularly well-drawn.