England Inspirations for New Yarn and Designs

So I’m back from England!

I had the most jolly good time of my life! We saw everything and crammed each moment with excitement!

I have hundreds of photos and inspirations I want to share with you! They will have to be trickled out over the coming weeks.

Day 1, we went to Cambridge. The architecture. The bicycles. The wild drivers. The museum. Cathedrals. Cobblestone sidewalks. Gorgeous sunshine. The trees. We went punting (boating where they push the boat along with a big stick). Ate jackets (delicious baked potatoes with any topping you can imagine. I had garlic mushrooms).

Day 2, we took the train to London. Wandered around aimlessly for a few hours, ate at a french restaurant, bought a London pass, finally figured out what we wanted to see, only to find most of it was closed. We did go into the London Bridge Experience, which scared the heckaroony out of us. I was screaming the whole time, as it was basically a haunted house type thing. What it had to do with the London Bridge, though, I’m not sure. But it was a hoot.

Day 3, we again went into London. (At this point we were going solely on adrenaline, as sleep was a foreign concept at this point). We ate at the Ratatouille restaurant ( I had escargot. Snails. After the first one went down, it got easier. Mostly a mental thing), went to the Tower of London, the actual London Bridge, Big Ben, the London Eye, the Crown Jewels, had fish and chips and a screwball ice cream, rode a bus, rode the tube a lot (fun!) and then back “home” to Thetford, where we were staying.

Day 4, our bodies finally caught up with us. We needed sleep and sleep we did! We had originally planned to go to Stonehenge but it didn’t happen. But that night, we went bowling with some new English friends and they came over to the house. We taught them to play spoons, we all ate nachos and brownies and asked every question we could think of about their country and customs. Did you know car hoods are called bonnets? And that it’s considered rude to just “help yourself” at someone’s house even if they tell you to.

Day 5, we went to the Dover Castle, which was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. It was glorious. Stunning. Decked out inside, like it really would have been. Tons of winding stair cases! We went into the underground tunnels. Saw the White Cliffs. And FRANCE! You can actually see France right across the water. Crazy cool! The wind was so chilling and I hadn’t taken a scarf or shawl on the trip at all (not even a proper jacket) so I came up with all kinds of scarf and shawl patterns I want to design for such adventures! That night we went to a pub and played a quiz. So quaint!

Day 6, we headed back into London. I insisted on going to a yarn shop and found one! All The Fun of The Fair:

I bought this yarn!

I can’t read the label, as it’s in German, but I wound the ball from the skein as we plowed through London and even rode the tube.

I finally finished as we neared upon the Buckingham Palace:

We stayed at a cute little apartment that night and then got on the plane the next morning for our 23 hour flight back home. I started a tube scarf, with a slight lace detail, using my new yarn:

And in other knitting news, I finished a hat while I was there and used the remaining yarn to start a scarf (because I was cold). I ran out of yarn after about a foot of knitting, so I’ll spin up some more yarn and turn that into something. I will post the pattern for the hat soon, along with more inspirations, tons of more photos, new colorways I’m designing and dyeing and tons more.

I had the time of my life! If you ever get to travel to England, DO IT. And if you live there, lucky you!

So I’m off now to continue dyeing new colorways for you, based on my inspirations from England. I’ve already got two different colorways dyed up and drying, AND a new yarn for you. Very exciting, indeed.

Enjoy your day and plan a trip somewhere! It will change your life!

Peace & Light

C.