Unwind Brighton 2014.....a weekend of fun, new friendships and lots of yarn.

Hello my friends, last night I got back from a long weekend break in Brighton. It was the weekend of the very first Unwind Brighton, so the weekend was arranged around it, though I wasn't sure whether I'd make it as I was ill, in bed for three days earlier in the week. I still wasn't 100% but I had an amazing time anyway, I met some wonderful people who I know through Ravelry and Instagram.

We stopped in a hotel called Five, a beautiful Georgian house situated on a Regency seafront square, directly opposite was the beautiful public gardens, perfect for some quiet time in the sunshine. As you can see at the bottom of the road is the beach, right by Brighton Pier. The hotel is very near the Laines, the Pavilion and on the doorstep were lots of bars, cafés and restaurants, saying that it was very quiet and we heard no party goers on the night.

The hotel didn't serve a traditional English breakfast but bought a picnic basket to you room consisting of toast and jam, croissants, muffins, cereals, cheese, fresh fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice. We're not fans of big cooked breakfasts, so this suited us down to the ground.

When we arrived on the Friday morning, it was raining heavily, we did have a little wonder around the Laines and through an Instagram friend's recommendation we had lunch at a little tapas bar called Casa Don Carlos, which was wonderful and very authentic.

After lunch, I could pick up my wristband and programme all ready for Saturday morning, we then checked into the hotel and relaxed for a while, it had stopped raining by early evening and we had a stroll down to the seafront. The first thing we saw was an open air cinema on the beach showing The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, it was free to get in so we took a seat and had a Margareita slushy, what a great way to spend a Friday evening!!!

We then took a walk along the pier where we ate chips and I had my fortune told by Zoltar!!!! By this time I was ready for bed, as I wanted a good night sleep before Unwind.

Saturday morning the sun was shining and Mick walked me to Brighton Dome where the event was been held, what a beautiful place for a fibre festival. The first person I ran into outside the doors was my lovely blog friend PJ from The Snail Garden.

We walked into the hall and was hit by a rainbow of colours, I dont think either of us knew where to look first, there were so many wonderful vendours, all very friendly and ready for a chat. I wandered around oohing and arrring, touching the luxurious blends of yarn, deciding what to spend my money on. It's my birthday on Friday so I'd been given my birthday money early to spend at the event, by lunchtime I'd spent it all and was very happy with all my purchases.

After lunch, I went to the Podcaster Meetup, where I met up with some wonderful people including Sarah from Crafts from the Cwtch, Kristina from Eaden Yarns, Tanya from A Yarn Loving Mama, Feltaria and Gem, Mrs Blaza who bought her adorable baby boy. All these lovely ladies, I've met through Intagram a great social media site for yarn lovers. I had a little chat with Green Triangle Girl from The Playful Day Podcast and also Helen Stewart from The Curious Handmade Podcast who I regularly do test knits for, it was a pleasure to finally meet her and she is as lovely as she sounds on her podcast :-)

I got to catch up with the lovely Zena also known as Little Yellow Uke, who I've got to know through Mel, Zena doesn't live far from me so hopefully we will meet up again soon. The photo above is of the two of us in the gardens, that we sent to Mel, hopefully next year they'll be a photo of the three of us!!!!

Zena gave me this gift, some beautiful stitch markers that she'd made with an handmade tag inspired by my class over at Camp Aloha Friends, aren't they pretty?

I got to spend some more time with Helen, Zena and PJ where we had a group cast on for Helen's new pattern Pebble Beach Shawlette which was the winner of the Unwind design competition. There was also some other ladies from Ravelry including Suddgummi and Ruthrabbit, we all sat in the Pavilion Gardens under the shade of a huge tree. I think this was the highlight of my day, sat chatting and knitting with such nice people, I could have sat there all day!!!!

Helen also gave me a gift, a gorgeous project bag and some fabulous Curious Handmade postcards, I feel really blessed to have met so many wonderful people over the weekend. Helen is having a Pebble Beach KAL over on the Curious Handmade Ravelry Group, why not join in, they are always great fun, with lots of chatter and the chance to win a prize.

This is my treasure trove of stash I bought, spread over my hotel bed. I would like to thank Dani and her team for putting together such a wonderful event, this was the first year for Unwind Brighton and hope it won't be the last!!!!

After the show I met back up with Mick and went to a few of the bars around Brighton, there's so many to chose from, lots had little hidden courtyard gardens. We finished up having dinner at English's of Brighton, a seafood and oyster bar. This is another restaurant I would highly recommend, we sat outdoors watching people walk by, listening to music played by the street musicians, eating the most delicious seafood and drinking wine. A perfect end to a wonderful day!

Sunday we spent the day at the beach, walking along the promenade, looking in the many art and gift shops along the front, stopping at the bars and cafés for drinks and snacks, we even watched a bit of the Punch and Judy show, that bought back memories of when my children were young. I also got to knit on my Pebble Beach, sat on the beach that is was named after.

 

The weekend ended far too quickly and on Monday morning we checked out of our hotel and drove further along the coast. We stopped off at Worthing and Bognor Regis, aren't the colours of the sea stunning, I could have sat there watching it all day. We finished the day off by eating chips on the beach before the long drive home. This has been one of my most memorable weekends away, I fell in love with Brighton and have left a little piece of my heart there. I'm so grateful to my husband for treating me to this weekend as a birthday treat and I hope to return soon.

Have a great week and I'll be back tomorrow to announce the winner of the giveaway.

xxxxDebxxxx

Yarn Along......Unwind KAL's.

How is everyone today? Well I'm definitely going to Unwind, the hotel and tickets are all booked, we decided to go for a long weekend. I haven't been to Brighton since my girls were very young and I'm looking forward to exploring Brighton as well as spending the Saturday at a yarn and fibre festival. I did ask my husband if he wanted a ticket, to look around with me but declined which is probably a good thing as he won't know how much I've spent!!!!!

Over on Ravelry, there are a few different Unwind KAL's going on at the moment on the Unwind group, I decided to take part in two of them. The first is the Pavlion Mystery Sock KAL by Rachel Coopey, I finished Clue 1 just in time to start Clue 2, which was released on Sunday.

I'm not going to show the full sock as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's knitting them and hasn't finished the leg, all I will say is the pattern is gorgeous, with lots of cables, think of Brighton Pavilion, the clue is in the name! I've finished Clue 2 on the first sock, which takes you to turning the heel and I hope to finish the second sock, before Sunday when the last clue is released.

This is my first mystery KAL and wasn't sure whether I would like the not knowing but I've really enjoyed the process, I like keeping to schedules and love that I will get a pair of socks finished in three weeks. I will definitely do another one.

The other KAL I'm taking part in is the On the Pier, a beautiful feminine shawl by Justyna Lorkowska, I chose to do this one as it's a very simple lace shawl and knew it wouldn't take long to finish as the main part was all Garter Stitch and then a simple lace border, perfect for the evening when I'm watching TV.

I'm using yarn from my stash and the main colour is Drops Alpaca in the Light Grey Pearl Mix and the contrast colour is some leftover Juno Alice in the colour Second Site. I've only got a few more rows before I start the lace section.

Jodie came down, this weekend and I asked her to look through some of my knitting books to see which baby patterns she wants me to knit. One of my favourite books is called Lullaby Knits by Vibe Ulrik Sondergaard, it's full of beautiful but more unusual patterns. One of my favourites is the Small Cable Cardigan which buttons down the side and that is one she chose, yay!!!! I wasn't sure whether she would pick it as it's modeled by a baby girl but I think it's quite unisex.

The pattern uses two balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and again I had some in my stash so I could cast on straight away. It's partly knit in pieces then you knit all the pieces together on long cable needles with a raglan sleeve.

I'm still reading The Perfume Garden and as I get further into the book, I'm enjoying it more and more. The chapters alternate from 1936 set in Spain during the Spanish Civil War to Valencia 2002. The two eras are now coming together and the characters are intertwined, very enjoyable. I did go to the library, yesterday, and picked up this book, Paris by Edmond Rutherford. I love the city of Paris and I'm always drawn to anything Parisian, from the blurb on the back of the book it is an historical novel, I'd be interested in what you thought of it, if you've read it.

I'm taking part in Ginny's Yarn Along and Tami's WIP Wednesday, thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your week and I'll see you on Friday with a finished project.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Yarn Along.....A Mystery Knit Along with Unwind Brighton and Coop Knits.

 

Hello my friends, I hope you're enjoying your week, so far. I've only been knitting on a couple of things this week, so here's what I've been working on.

This is all I can show you of my first project, it is a Mystery Knit Along run by Coop Knits and Brighton Unwind so I don't want to show any spoiler photos and ruin it for other people who maybe taking part. The pattern is called Pavilion and I'm knitting them at the same time on two sets of DPNs.

This is my first mystery knit along and for those who aren't sure what it is, the designer releases part of the pattern each week, until the pattern is complete so we start knitting along only knowing basic information. The only thing I knew about this pattern was they were cuff down socks by Rachel Coopey with some cable and twisted stitches in the pattern. This MKAL has three clues over three weeks so I'll hopefully have them finished by the end of the third. If you want to join in the fun you can find the two Ravelry groups here and here

I'm so excited, it looks like I could be going to Unwind which is a knitting and fibre festival been held in Brighton. I've never been to a yarn and fibre event before and I was telling my husband about it and he said if I want to go, book some accommodation and we'll make a weekend of it. It's my birthday week so this will be my birthday treat!!!!

There is so much going on, not just in the main part where there are stalls and workshops are but all over Brighton such as knitting in the Pavillion Gardens, to see everything that's happening, look here. There are a few knit alongs over on the Ravelry board going on, with patterns from some of the designers who will be there.

I'm still reading The Perfume Garden which I started last week but I'd thought I'd share this new magazine I bought from Amazon. It's called Bustle and Sew and is full of beautiful sewing projects, very vintage and whimsical. I haven't had a good read of it yet but I'll let you know what I think of it.

I'm taking part in Ginny's Yarn Along and Tami's WIP Wednesday.

The other thing I've been working on is the Gramps Cardigan by Kate Oates, I'm knitting this for my nephew's first birthday which was on Sunday. I haven't finished in time as I had to wait for some DPNs to arrive, last week to start the sleeves. I was quite sure I had some 4.5mm but I couldn't find them so I ordered some new ones.

This has probably been the hardest pattern I've knit, I'm fine with lace, cables and charts but I really struggle with raglan. I attempted one before and ended up frogging it but I have persevered with this and I think I've got it now.

I think I must have been wearing my lucky pants this week as I've won two giveaways!!!! Tin Can Knits were hosting a Big Destash Giveaway and I won two skeins of this gorgeous Show Pony 4ply by Pony Yarns. It is a massive 874yds of yarn plus I won the Made in the UK ebook which I already had but they kindly offered to gift it to one of my Ravelry friends.

I also entered a giveaway on A Playful Day's blog, who has been having lots of giveaways and is continuing too as part of the Unwind event. I won Through the Loops Mystery Shawl Pattern by Kirsten Kapur, another mystery pattern which runs for five weeks. I'm hopefully going to cast this on, once I've finished the Gramps Cardigan.

Thank you for stopping by, have a great week.

xxxxDebxxxx