Holebay

Yes, the final day of the Summer holiday has arrived! We've thoroughly enjoyed it this year, even though the weather was abysmal at times! We spent a week on the Dutch west coast in the forest, close to the beach (which we didn't see at all, due to a massive sand storm when we went, rain and low temperatures which meant we did mostly city-related day trips) and a week in the east of the country, on a great campsite which we are definitely going to again.
I did some knitting, but I read a lot. I really missed doing that at home, so it was great to be able to just sit down, let the children run wild and just read... Read...
The knitting isn't finished yet (socks, of course, the perfect bring-along for camping knitting), but I do have to show you some other stuff. During the holidays, I also did some sniffing on eBay, and because I am such a bad loser, I bid hard (not too hard, by the way...) and won two lots from Colourmart.
The first one was three cones of DK 2/6 merino in an eye-popping fuchsia colour.

I've started knitting Alwar, and after swatching and a few false starts, decided to start with a 3mm needle and the small size. As the gauge is a bit off, I expect this to end up as an M. I hope. ;)

The other lot I bought was a bit of a gamble, as the colour was a bit hard to see on the screen. But when the cones arrived, I just jumped with joy. This is a beautiful colour! It is green and it isn't green. If you know what I mean...
This is a more lace-weight yarn, and it will probably be turned into a gorgeous shawl some day. For now, it's just to look at...

One thing I did finish knitting on holiday, were my Aardbeientompoezen. There are currently in the wash basket, so hopefully I will have them ready for a modelling session this weekend, along with the multicolours I'm knitting on now, but here's a sneak peak...

A perfect pattern, yet again, by Janneke Maat. Thanks! If you purchase this pattern, the proceeds go to charity, so please go and buy! The yarn is from Easyknits, so soft and super comfy to wear.
Talking about soft (and cuddly): our latest addition to the family, a wee bunny called Flappie!

If it's up to Batman, he would walk about holding her all day!
And one last piece of news. I have finally given in and signed up to sewing classes. I'm quite a good seamstress, but  want to become an even better one. As I'm totally self-taught, I'd thought it would be a good idea to have a teacher go through a few projects with me, to see where I'm going right, going wrong and could do better. This is going to be my first project. Yes, stretchy jersey, I'm mad... and obviously in about 100 sizes bigger than the model (well, 4, but hey...).

I already had the fabric for this for about a year (and maybe I've blogged about this before...), but I actually went out today to buy the extra bits and bobs I needed, so I can get started on Monday! Totally excited!