Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

Weekend delights at The Sunday House

I thought that you might like to get a peek at the other delights involved in my weekend quilting at The Sunday House. It was a joy from start to finish.

Based in a converted Methodist chapel in Cornwall, The Sunday House quilting weekends are such a treat. Anne Baxter is the quilting tutor, and Corinna Knowles produces the most amazing feasts to fuel the crazy dawn to dusk sewing activities.

Ceiling detail - inspiration at every turn.

I'm not sure how best to describe the food. There are always plenty of tasty and unusual vegetable dishes alongside delicious main pieces - stew or quiche or soup. It's probably easiest to just show you some pictures...

This was a pear, walnut, parma ham and crouton salad with a blue cheesey dressing. I'm trying not to add Masterchef-style descriptions of it being packed with flavour, but it really was!

The main meal on Sunday was particularly spectacular, and I couldn't help but try a bit of everything. Working clockwise round my plate, starting at midday, you can see:
Roast baby potatoes
Mushroom risotto covered in parmesan
Apple, celery and walnut salad
Carrots with cumin
Smoked fish and pea puree quiche
Cauliflour cheese and bacon quiche (this is to die for!)
Pasta salad with pine nuts and herbs of some sort
Mixed bean salad

I'm feeling full just thinking about it again...

And here's a taste of what everyone else was up to while I was on my snowball/Gran quilt mission. Above is Julie's snowball quilt top. It really reminds me of French Parterre gardens, don't you think? So pretty! And quite unlike mine. Click on this and the following pictures to see a larger version in a pop-up window.

Val made this incredible string stars quilt top. The amount of work that went into the careful piecing of the stars and those scrappy borders was astonishing to behold. One day I'd like to have a go at something like that. I don't think my skills are up to it just yet though...

Di produced this completely stunning Milky Way quilt, which is all layered up here, ready for quilting. She's used some beautiful Tilda fabrics (not unlike ones I used in Jeni's quilt some time back). This is another large quilt, and just gorgeous!

Finally, Denise worked on a Glad Tidings quilt, which is just awaiting applique stars in the centre of each block.

Aren't they all amazing? And hopefully they give you a flavour of the variety of designs that were worked on over the weekend, as well as what a contrast the fabric choices make. Tomorrow, I'll share the first pictures of Gran's quilt with you. I think it's pretty safe to say that she won't be surfing and reading my blog, so I can share the secret with you.

Travels: A pair of yarn shops

I'm back from my journeying, and have news of two lovely yarn shops that I visited. First up is Yarn in Chilwell, Nottingham. We were staying with friends not far from this well-stocked shop, and following a delicious lunch at the Victoria Pub in Beeston (this pub is worth a journey - the food and beer are amazing), I persuaded Jim that it would be rude not to go and check it out.

The lady working behind the counter was just the right combination of friendly and helpful, while leaving us to browse. I had a good old look through the yarn - they stock a very wide range of Rowan yarns, and I was able to fondle some of their newer ranges that I hadn't previously met in person. I hesitate to say that they stock the full range, but they must come pretty close. I was quite restrained though, and only picked up City Retreat - a pattern collection by Martin Storey all using their new Creative Focus Worsted yarn. I love the colours in this range, as well as the wearable shapes of many of the designs in the book. I think I know what I will knit from it, but it might have to wait a few months as I work my way through my queue!

The second shop that we visited was one that we stumbled on completely by accident. I know that this seems unlikely, but it really is true. We were visiting my godmother in Stone, Staffs, and arrived a bit earlier than we had expected. So we parked up in the middle of town and wandered towards some shops, thinking that we would pass a half-hour with a cup of coffee. What should we see as we turned the corner though?

Yes! A small but perfectly formed yarn shop - Yarn Gathering of Stone. Jim's heart must have sunk as he hopefully suggested that perhaps it was shut! Happily it wasn't and we passed the time looking round and chatting to Jeanette, the shop's owner.

Here I gave in and had to purchase some yarn (I had to, really I did!).

I picked up a copy of Ysolda's new book, Saturday Treat, which uses her special colours of Fyberspates Scrumptious Yarns. It's a lovely collection, and there are a few patterns which will make it onto my queue in the coming weeks, I feel sure. As well as the book, I also picked up a ball of sock yarn for socks for Jim. I have a fair amount of sock yarn in my stash, but most of it really isn't suitable for boy socks, so I asked Jim to choose his own. He went for this Regia 4ply which will knit up mostly in blue with little flashes of green every so often. I think it will make some great socks (but maybe not untile Christmas! :-D). Yarn Gathering has a lovely selection to choose from. She has quite a few more unusual yarns, with plenty of Natural Dye Studio, some Artist's Palette, and a good selection of basics from Rico as well. A particular highlight was the wide range of independent designers' patterns. Jeanette has all of Ysolda's books, but also single patterns from the likes of Gudrun Johnston and Alana Dakos. Again, if you are in the area, then this is a shop that's well worth finding.

So, that's it for me little treats from my travels. Have you been to any nice yarn shops recently?

Millie Moon Wells

Step by step I will get back up to speed, following five days of frenetic activity at the Knitting and Stitching Show in London. First up is catching up with some blogging action.

On Saturday 1st October, my favourite fabric and haberdashery shop opened its second branch. I am lucky enough to have the Frome branch of Millie Moon just a 3 minute walk from my house, and I entirely hold them responsible for my sewing, and particularly my quilting obsession. Rachel and Becki opened their doors for the first time just 3 years ago, and since then have moved to larger premises and are now spreading their wings to a second shop. The new branch is in Wells at 14A Broad Street, Wells, Somerset, BA5 2DN.

On a very sunny and warm Saturday afternoon (who would have believed it was October?), Jim and I hopped in the car and went over to inspect the new premises.

The shop is instantly recognisable, if you have been to the Frome one. The familiar logo and simple, appealing displays are unmistakeable. There is a good range of fabric, both on the bolt and fat quarters, as well as lots of buttons, ribbons and other tempting treats. The shop is smaller than Frome, but as the workshops will continue to run from the Frome branch, this makes sense. I kept looking round and spotting things that I hadn't seen before (and I spend far too much time in MM Frome).

I want a spool of each cotton just because they look so beautiful!

Alongside the fabric are plenty of pattern ideas, and Rachel and Becki are always ready with a suggestion, if you are stuck for ideas. I was absolutely delighted to hear that the mix of staff across both shops will continue to be regular Millie Moon faces - Angela, Gaynor, Anne and of course Rachel and Becki - so you can be assured of a warm and knowledgeable welcome.

That's enough gushing for now. If you are in the area then do check out the new (or old) branch. It's well worth a trip. I came away with border and sashing fabric for a jelly roll quilt that's still in pieces on our dining room table. I had better add that to the to do list!

Disclaimer: I am good friends with Rachel and Becki, but they didn't ask me to write this blog post. :)

The knitters are everywhere

When spending 3 days on holiday in the company of other knitters, it was pretty much guaranteed that there would be a lot of knitting.

But I'm not sure that even I thought there would be this much. It was heaven! Above is Mary's shawl in Scrumptious 4ply. It was cast on in the car, and cast off in bed, and knitted on at every opportunity over the weekend.

We knitted in cafes, during informative film screenings, on the beach, in the car, in the house, in bed, in fact pretty much everywhere (yes, that is my Golden Wheat Shawl, and I knitted a whole 8 rounds of it!).

We visited fibre-related sights. This is at Tregwynt Mill, and these are samples of the yarn they use for weaving beautiful woollen fabrics. I was sorely tempted by a purple spotted coat.

There were bolts of fabric at every turn.

We then headed off to visit Blueberry Angoras, and purchased some yarn... It's a beautifully soft mohair that's available in 4ply and DK weights. I was quite restrained and only purchased a hank for a friend, but I'd certainly go back and get more once I've worked my way through some more of my stash.

Blueberry Angoras also sell wonderful woven finished items, such as these gorgeous throws. They were hard to stop stroking!

Yes, that's Mary's knitting project in the bag at her side. We didn't actually stop and knit on the beach on this day, as there was a lot of sand whipping around, but we did take it just in case. Then we headed home for a cuppa and a few more rows.

Pepita's mohair mittens.

Julie's stripey scarf.

And Mary's calabrese shawl. See those hands working at like greased lightening.

Thank you guys! I had such a great weekend with you all. Let's do it again soon.

Inspiration is everywhere

We had an amazing weekend in Wales - there was inspiration at every turn.

The colours of the stone used for builing against the resilient weeds, growing in even the smallest cracks.

Old commercial signs on the sides of many of the buildings. The faded and distorted writing is beautiful.

Rows of houses with delightful front gardens, and rugged stone walls.

Places to sit and knit, with the most amazing views.

Brightly coloured buildings and hints of a time before supermarkets.

Birds, boats and the sea. Doesn't the headland look like a collapse cake with icing?

Wind whistling through the grass on the dunes, and so many different colours in that stretch of green.

Light catching the sand being blown over the beach.

Feet about to get wet as the tide comes in.

Who knows what might find its way into my next design?

Was it really ten years ago?

I can't believe that it is ten years since the England football team beat Germany 5-1 in Munich! So it is even harder to believe that it is also ten years since Jim and I got married.

It was a day filled with smiles and laughter, much like the last ten years have been. Mum's hat is still just as "terrible" (say that with a French accent and meaning please!), as it was on the day. I love it! Mum did an amazing job with the speeches and all that, while Chris was awesome at keeping us up to date with the score, and persuading people to dance! Sadly it was just before the point where everyone had digital cameras, so we only have one set of digital pics - thank you so much Keith for taking these!

We have all come such a long way since then, with weddings and new family arrivals, changes of career (some of us more than once!), and moves around the country and abroad. I am enormously grateful to have been blessed not only with a wonderful husband, but also with an inspiring and fabulous family-in-law. Thank you A-C clan for making me so welcome!

And of course the day was filled with friends as well as family. This is just a small selection of the wonderful people who came and shared our day with us. Sending a big wave and hugs to all of you!

But most of all, I want to thank you Jim, for being the amazing person you are. Happy 10th Wedding Anniversary! And here's to many more happy years.

Jen xxxxxxxxxx

And there's video of us being loud as well

One of the course members has kindly put some videos of our Gamelan group up on You Tube. So if the pictures weren't enough for you, here are some movies.

This is Baris, the warrior dance. I'm playing Ugal in the front (and modelling my new cowl...).

 

And then the second film is Hujan Mas, which was my favourite of the pieces that we played. I seem to be playing quite loudly in this as well. Jim has managed to hide pretty effectively in both of these clips, but there's a glimpse in each if you know where to look!

 

Thanks so much to Danielscourt for loading those videos!

Apparently we were loud

The weekend Balinese Gamelan course at the SouthBank Centre was absolutely brilliant. I really can't thank Steph enough for mentioning it on her blog some weeks ago. It was a weekend of celebration of Indonesian music, and the first time in many years that the SouthBank had hosted three different styles of Gamelan orchestra in one performance venue. Jim and I signed up for Balinese Gamelan, while Steph was studying Sundanese, and a further group played the Javanese Gamelan that I learnt on as a child. From about age 9 to 13, I played with the Javanese Gamelan group at the SouthBank on Saturday mornings, so it was a real trip down memory lane for me!

Metallophones make up one section of the orchestra. We played a style of Balinese Gamelan called Gong Kebyar (there are many, many different styles even on a small island like Bali).

One of the many brilliant things about Gamelan is that you learn lots of different parts. You don't just pick an instrument and play it all weekend, you swap around. In the performance I played Kendang (drums) for the first piece. It was a processional piece with lots of Ceng-Ceng (cymbals) playing complex interlocking rhythms, and I had to beat to a mnemonic of "I had lunch with Carol Vorderman". So I have that stuck in my head for the rest of the week - for sure!

The Ceng-Ceng players sat at the front with the Suling (flute-like instruments). I'm pulling one of my many concentrating faces...

Then in the second piece, called Baris, I took the main melodic part on the Ugal (a metallophone with 2 octaves of notes). There were two different main tunes to master, along with transitions between the two. I didn't get it totally right on the night, but it was excellent fun.

You can see I have another concentrating face on here, and you can just see Jim at the back, who's playing gongs. Our teacher, Andy, is playing Kendang here - he was brilliant!

The gongs are really important, as they mark the cycles of the music. If you get lost you listen for the gong and you know where to start again. The group that we worked with were excellent - everyone mucked in to explain your part if you weren't sure. That's one of the great things about swapping instruments so much. There's usually someone else who can help you to remember how it goes!

Our final piece was called Hujan Mas (Golden Rain) and was super-loud with fantastically off-beat interlocking rhythms.

For the finale, we swapped round again, and Jim played Ceng-Ceng, and I moved on to Gangsa Pemade where I played polos (the direct tune). The girl on my left is playing sangsih (the differing tune that fits together with mine like a jigsaw). This was my favourite piece. The rhythms and tune will be firmly lodged in my liver for quite some time I think. In this work, we alternated between playing, and listening to another tune played on the Reyong (pot-like small, horizontal gongs that sit in a wooden frame and are struck with beaters). We had to keep our ears open for the signals that the tune was going to change - this is no mean feat when the volume of Balinese Gamelan is mostly loud or louder!

And what is the only other thing that could have made this weekend more perfect? Yes, you guessed it... Great food! We did knitting with friends over dinner on Saturday evening. Thanks Lucy, Nora, Michaela, Mélanie and Steph!

And also met up with Will (Jim's brother) and Issy on Sunday. They came to the concert - thanks guys - and then we had dinner at the British Film Institute. A perfect weekend all round! I even finished my cowl... More on that tomorrow.

Thinking happy thoughts

The news is too shocking this morning. It's taken away my desire to write about fripperies, and I thought twice about whether to blog or not. But I figured that perhaps we could use some happier pictures after the sight of London (Birmingham, Bristol and other cities) suffering such destruction.

After taking Franklin Habit's wonderful photography course at Knit Nation, I have been wandering round with my camera set to manual. Sometimes it works, and sometimes less so! Here's a selection of pictures from the break in France.

See you tomorrow, after a hopefully quieter night, with some pictures of finished projects.

A bientôt!

Having had time in France for work earlier in the month, it's now time for an actual holiday. I'll be back to the blog with lots of pictures and news in around 10 days time. I've nearly finished knitting a cardigan in Rowan Denim, so there may even be pictures of that, and a few other things I'm planning to make while I'm away. But most of all I'm looking forward to having some time to catch up with Jim. Freelance work hasn't left me enough time for that of late.

A bientôt!

Jen xx