The Bellingen Crafternoon Tea Party

A Crafternoon Tea Party was on Saturday, and the time went by in the blink of an eye. It was a really lovely afternoon and something I'd definitely love to run again. The afternoon was held at Cedar Bar & Kitchen in Bellingen, which is the most gorgeous venue. Running Crafternoon alongside me was Megan of Dolly Henry, and over the last few months, we've had many chats about Crafternoon, tweaking things and finalising details until the day was finally here.

A Year of Workshops

Prepping the kits the day before

On Saturday I taught my last knitting workshop for the year, and as I looked around the table while everyone's heads were bowed in busy concentration, I realised that I couldn't have asked for a nicer workshop to end the year on. Saturday's group of knitters were truly the loveliest bunch that made teaching the workshop easy and relaxing.
The workshop was Learn to Knit socks, and by the end of the day there were some finished little socks (we knit a mini so that all the techniques could be covered in the short time) and every single student had a big smile on their face and plans to continue on knitting socks. I do believe some even planned to cast on a pair as soon as they got home!

Teaching Workshops

I wanted to share some photos of the Magic Looping workshop that I held in Bellingen on Saturday. It was a wonderful day, with the best group of knitters, and there was lots of laughing and chatting amongst the learning.

I love the entire process of teaching workshops - from putting together the kit's the day before, to setting up for the day. I always try to bring a bunch of flowers with me to brighten the table, and this time a large bunch of native blooms and foliage had pride of place. I made a pompom to decorate each participant's bag, which contained their knitting needles, organic wool and my Cherry Pie Beret pattern.

The setting of the venue, Cedar Bar & Kitchen, is so pretty and pleasant to be in for a day. It's an old church that has been redecorated and turned into a beautiful restaurant. Aside from its pretty looks, the food is scrumptious. I didn't manage to capture a photo of the delicious lunch spread that we enjoyed, but I did get a quick photo of the chocolate brownies that were part of afternoon tea. Alongside them were the fluffiest house-made scones and a beautiful fresh fruit platter.

Winter Gardening, Spring Plans & Spinning Yarn

After a week of frosts and chilly days, this week it's been all warmth and mild temperatures. This afternoon was particularly warm, and despite my love of winter, I have to say that I loved the warm change. It's still cold of an evening, but it's feeling evident that mid-winter has passed and we're ever so slowly creeping towards spring.

I've been heading out to the veggie patch every morning and staring closely at the mulch, as I await the appearance of some winter seedlings. I sowed the seeds over a week ago, so I think I can now reasonably hope they'll appear. Among them are Sweet Peas, which I'm hoping will still shoot even though I was late in planting them. It was pretty cold when I put them in, so fingers crossed they sprout! I've put a little teepee over each planting, and if they grow I'll be able to see their pretty flowers from the office window. I'm also hoping to see cornflowers and snapdragons, too.

Here & Now | July 2018 Link-Up

Welcome to this month's Here & Now Link-Up! It's shamefully late, but that's been a bit of a theme throughout the year, hasn't it? Never mind!
The link-up is open now, so if you'd like to join in you can!

My Bellingen Knitting Workshop

My shawl knitting workshop was on Saturday afternoon, and what a great afternoon it turned out to be. It was lovely walking into Cedar and seeing the beautiful room set up ready for the workshop. I got busy unpacking everyone's kits, and putting out the selection of yarn I brought with me along with many knitted things to use as samples. Megan (of Dolly Henry) came along to help me, and to take photos, and she was a wonderful assistant. Not only did she take heaps of lovely photos (which I've tried to go sparingly on in this post, but might have failed!), she did everything from help to keep the workshop running smoothly to arranging the flowers.

This is the first workshop I have taught and I couldn't be happier with the results. Everyone left with big smiles on their faces at the end of the day, so I'll take that as a sign that everyone had a good time! There was lots to learn for many, and they did a wonderful job with persisting through the trickier parts to eventually get the hang of it and have their shawl growing beneath their hands.