holiday

Holiday Wool Haul!!!!

Posted on by arappleby

So after a trip to Seal Island Wools where I met the lovely owner and her son who were true wool officionados in my opinion.

I ended up adding knitting patterns that I don’t have in my small but growing collection. I wanted to get some very cute designs that were “easy knit” but small enough that I could make them and not go insane like I have been with that cable knit jumper that has been barely growing at all. Yes they are baby cardigans but no there is no “news” in that department. I just thought they were some really cute designs for “one day”…

Well I got some wool I am excited to make into a blanket (yes another one) but I can’t decide if I should do the spiral knit like the other one I am working on or to do a giant simple granny square blanket, I must admit I do like the granny square blanket idea that little bit more, however I think I should wait a little while to do that after I have finished the current spiral knit blanket in progress… however I have put a picture of the wool just below, its a gorgeous combi of mint green, lilac and cream.

 

I ended up buying a rather soft lemon colour to make a lemon yellow cardigan with ducky buttons just like I had when I was little, however I haven’t yet decided which pattern I want to do with it. I quite like them all and I don’t know what one I want to commit too but I am sure it will still knit up a gorgeous little cardi.

I also brought this very cute lilac speckled wool that I wanted to contrast with the minty green which I think would look great with that frilly cardigan in the patterns I brought. I wanted to do something rather cute and unusual and that wool combination looks perfect in my opinion.

So all together my little haul from my holiday… and yet I would love to get lots lots more wool so I think another trip to the shop is in my future! I loved how friendly the owners were and how knowledgeable and how passionate they were. I loved the sense of welcoming and friendliness and relaxed come sit and spend some time here feel that the shop had. It was certainly cozy and gorgeous and the wool on offer was beautiful and I could have spent a hell of a lot more there if I had the money I would have too… I had to sort of stop myself going crazy in there considering it had to be carried home too!

 

Holiday!

Posted on by arappleby

So I mentioned a trip to the seaside, and we went to see some sights in Selsey. Which is a new little area of the UK to me, and bloody hell it is a cute little place.

We had lots of fun in a self catering little cabin thingy just relaxing to be honest. We went on daily trips to the shops and got to do some very out of fashion things that you don’t do in the city. We went to a butchers shop, which was a strange new adventure for us. I think we struggled with the amount of choice we had each day.

On our first day after arriving we had a kebab take away I admit but most of the time we cooked. We made a pie the first day to kick it all off. I think that is why I got back into the idea of cooking again. I even made a brisket for the first time ever which I found really exciting and it was really easy. We made pastry twists for puddings and we had lamb chops and it all just felt fresher, even though we often cheated for lunch and had a pot noodle, it was a quick solution after a trip back from the swimming pool when we were starving. Sure I still can’t swim but I had lots of fun trying, and often floating was some of the most fun.

I really enjoyed the trips to the shops and our little routine. We even broke the routine a little and went down to East Beach and had our first ever crab melt panini for breakfast (late breakfast) discovered that crab melt panini’s are very very filling. We saw the life boat station and the boat, which was bigger than we expected …

As you can see there were some cool views and ducks and some very yummy drinks. The other half loved the cold water and I got to relax and sit down for a while. The drinks that you can see was a coffee frape thing and mine was a bubblegum millions flavour milk shake that we had on our first day trip to the shops exploring, which was actually a really delicious drink if I am honest but very sugary!

We saw some gorgeous cottages and fell in love with some of the architecture. There was a really cute shop with a really nice lady inside who made her own jewellery, I got a couple of rose rings made from wire. I haven’t got any pics of those yet. Oh and I made three trips to a knitting shop in the town which I thought was brilliant. I think I will make a post dedicated to that later.

It was a wonderful week, we spent the evenings either trying to annihilate each other playing Mario Kart or watching The 100.

I wish we could rewind time a little and go back on holiday again, it was really great quality time just enjoying each others company. It gave us time to get into a nice rhythm and relax in a really chilled way. I like the peace and quiet and the time away from the day-to-day routine, I think it really helped to give me some more direction in a way. Getting that space showed me the kind of future I wanted and what it was I wanted to do. I really want to pursue a vocation over the idea of a career. I want to feel like my work is my passion, and I think writing is one of those really big passions.