Knit Now - Out now!

 ...yes, that's me, the resident expert in the "Ask the Expert" column! Squeee! It's very exciting to be involved in the newest UK knitting magazine. You can find out more about Knit Now here and there's a great subscription offer, too. For a try before you buy preview, check out the online taster here .

S is for....Summer School

... or the Association of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers Summer School to be more precise.

I was delighted to be invited to teach again this year and I had an awesome time. The students were fantastic, the organisation and venue brilliant and the inspiration provided by all the tutors' exhibition work and the work of their students was breathtaking. Seeing all the submissions for the various Certificates of Achievement was wonderful. It really was a great week.

A huge thank you to all my students, to conveners Doreen and Margaret, to Queen Margaret University and to everyone who participated - oh, and not forgetting my lovely other half who would have won an Olympic gold for washing yarn, setting up and running the trade stall, fetching and carrying and driving the van. What a superstar! (Erm, sort of wondering what I actually did now!)

There is so much more to see in the photo album so do go along and have a look at the fabulous work the students did, but here is a small selection...

Self-striping yarn - winding those long skeins!

Never let it be said that dyers aren't a resourceful bunch....

And painting

Aren't the results amazing?

 

Work in progress

Creating colourways

Taking advantage of the fire alarm for a quick team photo : )

Still busy!

My exhibition work

At the end of a busy week!

My right-hand man and all-round superstar in a rare moment with his hands not in the sink

And all nicely rounded off with a ceilidh : )

Phew!

R is for...."R & R"

..."Rest & Relaxation" aka a quick holiday-related post....

Cornwall this year was fab as ever. We were hugely lucky with the weather and we stayed in the same house as last year so we had all our creature comforts (three large bedrooms and a shower/loo each!), nearby pub, best restaurant in Cornwall 5 mins away, our fave boarding beach and Padstow all within easy reach. Perfect!

I know photos of other people's hols are never as exciting as your own so I'll spare you the full album and share just a few of highlights of the week...

Clotted cream tea on arrival - nom nom : )

Dinner at the Journeyman - the best restaurant in Cornwall 

Sandcastle #1 (the first of many!)

Poldark Mine

The Eden Project

A trip up the biome platform - very high, very hot, super-humid (but worth the three trips round the dome to see if it was open!)

Not one to do if you suffer from vertigo!

 (Note my rather rosy cheeks!)

Labyrinth Circus at the Eden Project - awesome!

  And the Juggling Skills Workshop...

(Also note the obligatory tongue sticking out - an essential aid to any act requiring concentration!)

 The subject matter for my first "proper" watercolour  - there may be a pic of the acutal watercolour later but it's a bit "rudimentary"

Caaaaake! (At Pauline's in Newquay) And that pic does not convey the scale of those pieces, believe me!

And for you texture/colour lovers out there, I've uploaded some of the plants/buildings/rocks etc. onto my Pinterest page but here are a couple of my favourites...

"P" is for Proud Parent

This post is definitely a "double P" event!

GCSE results were out shortly before we went on hols and it was a time of nailbiting, sleepless nights and nervousness (me and the DH not the DS I hasten to add - he was reassuringly confident). The booking of a holiday not 24 hours after results day was starting to feel rather ill-advised and it was hard to concentrate on the packing.

Results were out at 10am and when I hadn't heard anything by 10.20am I was getting panicky. Deep breaths, happy thoughts (and tea) were in order. 10.28am and the news was in - 2A*s, 5As, 1B and 2Cs. All the right grades were in the right places (sciences) so a place at SGS was secured : )

Not being ones for leaving things to the last minute (!), this necessitated a Betty's Mad Dash to the Trafford Centre for suit shopping (6th formers wear proper suits) so he'd have at least one suit to wear when we got back. Pleased to say we weren't the only ones as we bumped into his bff in Topman, also purchasing suits!

(I know this may not strike you as us being overly confident about the results but we like to think of it as not tempting fate!).

Seeing Will in a full-on three-piece (suit not suite) was amazing. It was like someone had stolen my little boy and replaced him with a young man overnight. What happened to those first 16 years? He'll always be my baby of course, but I feel truly blessed to have such a great young man for a son. Well done, Will : )))

A rather out-of-sequence post brought to you by the ABC meme (I blame not being able to find the photos!)