An overdue catch up

Sheep, shawls and stationery

Do you ever feel as though you need a holiday after a holiday? I am firmly of the opinion that there is a real market for a post-holiday concierge service.

Someone who will take care of all the laundry and grocery shopping and general life admin that needs doing, whilst we waft away to a creative hideaway.

One of the (nice) problems about completely shutting off for a week and having a break is that my creative mind after a slow start suddenly goes into overdrive. It’s as though a couch potato has suddenly pulled it’s running shoes on and decided to run the London Marathon.

And I am scampering at the back, trying to keep up, taking notes and trying not to miss anything important in the post-holiday scramble to catch up on all the things.

This is all a lot of words to say that a post-holiday catch up is sorely needed. But first - how cute are these sheep?

These were our woolly neighbours for a week, in the field next to our rented cottage. Normally the field hosts the gorgeous Herdwick sheep but this year they had these charming creatures. Naturally I had to look them up and find out more about them. Ryeland sheep are a British breed with a distinctive brown colour and are known for their docile and placid nature.

They were extremely calm and even when we were right up close to them in the field they were spectacularly unbothered. Normally the nursing mums are quite skittish as you cross the field but the lambs actually came up, curiously to check us out. It made for a delightful start to our morning walks.

Back to the knitting

Somewhat disappointingly I got almost no knitting done while I was away. It was though someone had removed my battery and taken it away for a much needed recharge. I did manage to start this little project as a gift for a friend though - a version of my Worth The Fuss Shawl in the appropriately named Primavera in Malabrigo Sock yarn.

Is it just me or does anyone else find the start of a shawl really cute? Like a mini baby shawl.

Worth The Fuss Shawl

What’s made me smile this week

🧡 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. I’m a huge fan of the Hunger Games series (both the books and the films) and while we were away we were having a family binge-watch of all the films. It was a good time then to be reading the follow on book to Songbirds and Snakes. The latter tells the story of a young Coriolanus Snow (to become President) and Sunrise on the Reaping follows on from that with the backstory to Haymitch and how his Hunger Games unfolded. It’s truly fascinating and great fun to make the connections between these and the events in the original trilogy.

🧡 Tiny beginnings of a shawl - before the long rows begin - and can fool yourself that it is still a quick knit.

🧡 The @daily_breathing page on Instagram. I found this recently and am a tiny bit addicted. It’s a short, daily, focused guided breathing practice and I’ve found it to be really helpful in forcing me to slow down and just “be” for a minute.

🧡The Big Flock - a new yarn festival based in Bristol in May. It is in the UWE Conference Centre which is really close to rail and road links and I am very much hoping to be able to swing a visit there, even if it’s just for a day trip. The vendor line up looks really interesting.

🧡An ode to letter writing. As you know I do love a good written letter - so much so that here in the Everyday Knitter community we had a PenPal project last year (and will be having another one this year). This article by

Audrey Gidman

really resonated with me on both a practical and a personal level. Plus she shares a ton of resources and ways to get creative with your letter writing.

A list of letter-writing resources for the creative and hopeful heart

Simple Pleasures Shawl

Spring/Summer sale

There are just a few more days to take advantage of my spring/summer sale - a selection of my patterns with a 20% discount already applied are up on my website at the link below. If you prefer to buy on Ravelry you’ll just need the code SUMMER25.