Knitting On Holiday In France

Like most people I look forward to my summer holiday all year, a chance to kick back, relax and broaden our horizons – and for most knitters it's an opportunity to broaden our yarn horizons! I feel lucky that my hobby is fully portable, I have friends that are quilters and no matter how big the suitcase a sewing machine doesn't really make it into the luggage! While there are some restrictions with bringing knitting needles on planes you can pack them in your luggage and enjoy your hobby at your holiday destination, we choose to get the ferry to France each year – it allows our daughter to pack as much as she needs to keep her entertained for the two weeks, allows my husband to indulge his wine obsession and allows me to bring whatever I'm working on and more importantly allows me to visit any local yarn shops I can find and buy yarn!!!!!!

When we first visited France 8 years ago I could only locate one yarn shop in Quimper (we always stay in Brittany in a lovely coastal village near Quimper), since then I've found 2 other shops and one very lovely market stall holder in Corcaneau. I always love buying different yarns than what I can buy at home in Ireland. Brands bought were La laine Perlee, Phildar and Katia. I love finding new yarns and speaking to knitters from different countries, the latter usually involves my really poor schoolgirl french and their rather better english! I still haven't decided what to make with it all but here is a selection of what I bought!

Knitting in public can be a bit of a win/loose event – I've had some really lovely comments from both knitters and non knitters alike, I've also had some really, really stupid comments ranging from you're doing that wrong (from someone who hasn't knitted in 20 years) to why are you knitting socks when you can buy 5 pairs for €3.00 on the high street. I've also ended up helping people to remember how to knit or learn from scratch – something I'm always happy to do. I knit everywhere – waiting in the waiting room the doctor/dentist, on the ferry, in the car, on the beach, in the bar, by the pool. I really don't have very much patience and I'm a stickler for time keeping so knitting in these situations helps me keep happy while waiting. Below is my Cold Mountain WIP on the beach at Kermor in France.

As well as finishing the Cold Mountain, I also got a Seascape, also by KnitLab, finished and was able to work out a pattern for a Hat/Neckwarmer which I'll be posting as a free of charge pattern as soon as I get a chance to type up the pattern and work out the beanie version – the first version is for a very slouchy hat!

 

Finished Cold Mountain and Seascape after blocking:

 

On a visit to Pointe L'Abbe I was intregued to find this fantastic yarn bombing, and like Dorothy and the yellow brick road it lead to a yarn store!

 

Pompoms made by the local primary school for the yarn bombing!

It inspired me to do a bit of yarn bombing myself – our favourite local Coffee Shop/Italian Deli/Wine shop the Pointe Vecchio in Killaloe has a bicycle outside so of course it needed a woolly jumper just in time for the Feile Brian Boru!

Next time – Sock weight convertable Hat/Neckwarmer pattern.