SEPEMBER

September always feels like the beginning of a new year, more so when compared to January. First of all my birthday is at the beginning of September. There's a lot of time spent thinking on what this past year has meant and also provokes me to narrow down my goal to accomplish before the year is over. Plus, fall is my favourite season. Small signs creep in and take over the fading summer. For a long time it was the start of a new school year, which meant new challenges and new projects. Now, September sparks the first real buzz again amongst the knitting community. Of course, I knit all year round, but during September I find more knitters are picking up their needles again after a hot summer and striving on with the fall projects and contemplating their Christmas knitting. 

This time last year I was just starting to get to know the knitting community in London. So far I had been interning at Pom Pom for a few weeks and one of the first events I helped Lydia and Amy with, was The Great London Yarn Crawl put on by Yarn in the City. Pom Pom hosted the afterparty for the knitters to regroup for drinks, a pop quiz and prizes! This year the organizers, Alison and Rachel added the Pop-Up Marketplace as a place to visit and shop along side London's independent yarn shops. The marketplace was at the Chelsea Old Town Hall and I was fortunate enough to be a part of this elegant event. 

Natalie Selles, also known as Leeleetea, and I will be teaming up together to take on some of the upcoming yarn festivals and craft fairs this year! 

Guernsey

It dawned on me recently that since settling in London, nearly nine months ago now, I have not left the city for a weekend where I can purely enjoy myself. Of course I've ventured outside to Farnham and Edinburgh, but those were both knitting and work related weekends, fun but still work. So when I received an invite from my housemate to spend the weekend on his home island, Guernsey, I thought "Guernsey can't be that bad right?". Turns out Guernsey is friggin' awesome and it's the kind of place that I absolutely love. If there's rugged landscape meeting the majestic Atlantic Ocean, I'm all over that and Guernsey certainly had lots of it. In a way it reminded me of areas of the Maritimes back home, only with more WWII bunkers and gin & tonics. 

A few of us ventured away from Kin 2000, our home in London, to spend the weekend celebrating Marcel Le Bachelet, the First of His Name's birthday, at his family's home. When I wasn't soaking up the sun in his mom's garden surrounded by cats and chickens, we were venturing across the island. We sat with our toes in the fine Guernsey sand, climbed over rocks and enjoyed the award winning dairy that Guernsey has to offer. I had the best scrambled eggs and ice cream (not together) of my life. 

I did bring some work with me on this short holiday. I can't help it! However, I was more than happy to wake up early before the boys to knit and enjoy the calm surroundings. In my next post I'll share what I managed to accomplish and my new knitting designs that the Guernsey landscape help bring to life. 

Weekend at Unravel

The venture down to Farnham for Unravel was an especially fun experience and over-all successful weekend. I started off the festival with my workshop on stranded knitting. It was a pleasure to teach in this fantastic dance studio and to be accompanied by a great group of ten ladies. I hope they enjoyed their morning as much as I did. 

I spent the rest of the weekend behind my stand getting to meet and talk to many knitters from Farnham and afar. The craft team at the Maltings was incredible host. There were many friendly faces from the customers and vendors as well. I was in the Courtyard Kiln with Texere Yarns Ltd and The Fibre Company, who were fantastic neighbours to have for the weekend.

The weekend weather was fairly dry but of course it had the rain during set-up and take-down. I got to feast my eyes on the beautiful colour pallets by The Fibre Company during my spare time and that never hurts! 

My first experience at Unravel was exactly what I expected, fun, refreshing and motivating. Meeting new people in the knitting industry and chatting up with old acquaintances was exactly what I needed to spark my inspiration for this coming fall and winter. I'm already looking forward to next year at Unravel!

Renegade

This past weekend marked my first introduction to the London craft community as Fiona Alice. I was lucky enough to participate in Renegade's London Holiday Market at the Old Truman Brewery. It was a pleasure to be surrounded by extraordinary UK crafters and to socialise with lovely customers. Thank-you to everyone who stopped by for a chat and to try on my knitwear. 

Photo Credit: Renegade Craft Fair

September

The sights of September have been fantastic so far! Pom Pom participated in the Royal Horticultural Society's Secret Garden Sundays on September 7th. Here are a few shots of the gorgeous things I was surrounded by all day. I left with fresh produce for dinner, handprinted cards and a few bottles of apple cider.

Monday, September the 8th, was my twenty-fifth birthday. So I decided to take myself out sightseeing again with Tally Ho! Cycle Tours. These pictures are from their Old City Tour. The weather was gorgeous and the cider was sweet. I couldn't have asked for anything more. 

Last week, Naho Izumi of Temaricious, stopped by Pom Pom Headquarters to tell us all about Temari. Temari is a form of  traditional Japanese folk art which is the process of making thread balls. Originally, they were for children to play with. Now they are just mainly for beautiful decor. Naho and her team also naturally dye the cotton threads used to make the temari balls.