Travel swiftly and carry two pointy sticks

Well, a whole week away from the blog! A whirlwind tour of cultures it was, let me tell you. (And now, of course, I'm paying for it in terms of a severely diminished immune system, but never mind. It's the price we pay for our art, isn't it?)

So... first stop: Paris, where nearly every neck in the autumn, winter and even spring, sports a scarf. Like these in a window of a shop in St. Germain des Pres.

In my in depth investigations of the pret-a-porter scarf market (which, admittedly, only extended to shops in the sixth arrondissment and in Le Bon Marche, the Parisian equivalent of Saks or Harvey Nicks), these scarves -- many in normal stocking stitch and synthetic, not even natural, fibers -- would range in price from 200 to 500 euros, which I thought a bit ...excessive. But people were buying them, so I suppose for non-knitters that seemed a fair price. And *then* I came upon this:

A beautiful scarf by Kenzo, all cables and bobbles. Lovely, no? I thought so, too, until I leaned in to check out the price:

(You can probably see why it was a good thing there was a glass pane there to break my fall.) So, no scarf purchases that day, although I did empty some of my purse for some lovely colours of Anny Blatt Albatros. I had only intended to pop in at Le Bon Marche for some circular needles... but it somehow went all wrong and I left with not only needles, but some notions and a hefty bag of yarn! *sigh* I'm an addict, what can I say?

Afterwards, I rushed off to Le Marais to meet friends for lunch. And the fun continued in the evening when I had the opportunity to meet some of the wonderful ladies in Paris Tricot at a meeting organised by Sophie, who is as lovely in real life as she is online. :)

There is something both welcoming and energizing about knitting in groups. Don't you find that? Not only do you get to see other people's work, but it is amazing how much we can learn from each other. The best part, though, I have to say, is meeting so many kind and truly fabulous people -- which it seems most knitters are!

Unfortunately, I left Paris Tricot after only a couple of hours because I had a date for the opera where the ballet were doing a moving (and, in just the right places, pointedly shocking) adaptation of the story of Medea. Really beautiful.

But so was the Palais Garnier itself. There was plenty to see around the interior of this 17c building. Want inspiration? Look no further. Garnier is a visual treat in every direction.



Even, or in some cases, particularly, when you look up!



The actual theatre itself boasts a beautiful ceiling painted by Chagall. (Plenty of colour inspiration for everyone's Inner!Designer. ;) )

And the inspiration of the week did not end! The next day I boarded the train to London where I just managed to catch the wonderful Atropos at Kings Cross station where, incidentally, we happened upon this amusing sight:

The train we were taking, however, didn't go quite as far as Hogsmeade. But the destination was just as rewarding: Holmfirth, the Mecca of the Rowan-knitting world!!

Just about a three minute ride up from the centre of the town, nestled in amongst rolling hills that are the very definition of plushly verdant, is the Green Lane Mill, home to Rowan yarns.

It seemed the perfect place for a design course, for who can possibly fail to be inspired when surrounded by visual delights like these?





(even the road sign exuded the ambience of the place)





(view of the exterior from inside)

But there was no time for dawdling, as there was much to do over two days.

Atropos has posted a great account of the workshop on her blog. The workshop was led by the wonderful Louisa Harding, whom a lot of you already know from her gorgeous Miss Bea books for children. The workshop was simply, in a word, fantastic. We discovered straight away that not only is Louisa a creative genius, but a pleasant, warm and nurturing instructor. I doubt that many people could have explained the design process from inspiration to plotting to execution as clearly, patiently and enthusiastically as she did. And the mood was infectious. As you can see here, the workroom was boiling over with creativity as we put together mood boards from which we were to draw inspiration for our projects.

The knitting classroom was a terrific place, too, in terms of ambience, what with all that yarn stacked on the walls! And in the back, which you can just see in this photo, was a fully functional kitchen from which sustenance was brought to us at regular intervals.

This is Atropos' gorgeous mood board. The subtle colour combination is simply divine, isn't it?

This was what I came up with, drawing on plenty of elements from nature and throwing in the dreamy elegance of Weta Workshop's elven set and prop designs. At the bottom I laid out basically three different colourway combinations reflected in the yarn and materials, and although I fully intended to do up a swatch in green, I ended up swatching an intarsia design in the mauves (which made me realise that I was probably right to have gone with the green in the first place -- but never mind, that's what the process is all about!)

The next day, after our mood boards had been completed, the pattern forulae tested, and the swatches knit up, our collective works were set out on display. It's so impressive to see how different designers can take similar elements and develop them from completely different angles!

(Ooooooo! Aaaaaaahhh!) And at the end of the day, as the sun set, we were all exhausted but still buzzed from all that left brain activity (or whichever side of the brain those neurons fire from). Just... bliss.

Oh! Before I forget, here's a picture of Coco as she made her appearance at the opera!