Brittany | Keep Calm and Crochet On U.K

We spent some blissful days at the end of June in Brittany, France (again!) on our big family holiday. I think we are falling in love with the Brittany region; the sun, the sea, the bread, the cheese and wine…need I say more!

We were blessed with beautiful weather and we did lots of adventuring around the various nearby cities and towns. One of my favourite places that we visited was Mont Saint Michel, which for people that don’t know, is a magical island topped by a gravity-defying medieval monastery and is easily one of France’s most stunning sights.

Yes we climbed all the way to the top, even Little G and let me tell you it looked an awfully long way down from the top! The people at the bottom look like teeny tiny ant’s don’t they!

So you remember me telling you about the Granny Square Crochet / Fabric Dress by Mon Petit Violon I was making Little G for her holiday? Well she wore the finished item the day we went to Mont Saint Michel. I was really chuffed with how it turned out in the end especially as I’m the first to confess that sewing DOES NOT come naturally to me!

The pattern is very well written with clear written instructions and accompanying photos. It comes in sizes 9-12 months and up to 3 years; as Little G is a very tall 4 year old I played around with the pattern a bit to match her measurements and used double knit rather than sport weight and a 4mm (US size G) hook rather than a 3.25mm (US size D) to help up the size.

The top half of the dress I made from Young Touch 100% Cotton DK from my stash which has sadly been discontinued (which is a shame as it’s lovely to work with). The fabric for the dress part Little G and I fell in love with at a local haberdashery; it was so bright and summery it was just crying out to be made into a dress – and it matched the Young’s Cotton perfectly!

What would a summer holiday be without a trip to the beach. We had one full proper day at a pretty beach which Little G thoroughly enjoyed – the rest we were off gallivanting around Brittany.

Other beach trips were to look for treasures such a unicorn horns (twisty shells) and other exciting things – we got quite a collection of lovely scallop shells.

There was a most fantabulous pool / water-park at the place where we stayed so we spent many an enjoyable afternoon there all playing on the slides! I think this is one of my most favourite pictures of the holiday – I love how much fun Little G and my husband are having just shines through the photo!

We all enjoy exploring where we were and taking in the sites of Saint Malo, Zooparc Tregomeur, Village Gaulois and Perros-Guirec. Though we did have a couple of chill days to recharge our batteries. I did take my crochet with me and before the sun came up and the day got too hot I luxuriated in some peaceful hooky time with a cuppa. I have to confess that I finished off Little G’s hat for her holiday actually on the holiday as I ran out of time before hand!

When I first saw the Create A Cloche pattern by JoAnne Grimm Thompson I just knew it was the perfect hat I had been looking for! The pattern includes instructions for 2 different body styles, 2 bands, 3 flowers, leaves and stem with leaves. I chose the solid version with the giant flower but I actually forgot to take the pattern with me so had to improvise on the leaf part which is why it looks a little different. It’s a great pattern, clearly written and comes in sizes 0-6 months, 6-12 months, 1-2 years, 3-10 years, teen/adult and large adult and I know I’m going to be making more of these in the future!!

I love how this hat turned out!! The pattern called for Lily Sugar’n Cream Solids & Denim, which isn’t easy to get your hands on in the UK so I used Drops Love You 5 100% recycled cotton. It’s the first time I’ve used this yarn and it’s a super lovely Aran / Worsted weight cotton usually available at a fabulous price and comes in lots of bright / fun colours – I created the ombre effect using three different shades. As it’s recycled cotton it’s also a nice environmentally conscious option for yarn.

All in all we did manage to have a wonderful holiday whilst we were there and I’m so grateful for the time we spent away as a family. I’ll end with a few more of snapshots…

Wonderful memories!

And there goes July! Another summer month over! But what’s been nice is that for once England has been blessed with uncommonly good weather!

We spend the last days of June and the beginning of July in France on our family holiday which was just fantastic. The camp-site was amazing with a great onsite indoor and outdoor pool with water-slides (which Little G loved!). We got to see a lot of the sites around Brittany, went on a boat trip, a miniature train and Little G even rode a miniature pony! It was just lovely spending time together as a family. We spent a couple of days at the beach… and I’m not trying to make you jealous but look!!

Though whilst on the beach I came across a really strange phenomenon; an escargatoire (I googled it) which basically means a collection of snails – and what a collection! I thought it was kind of beautiful.

It was nice to see that crochet was present in Brittany; on the top of the little shops many had these adorable little crochet pelmets! I swear I can find crochet anywhere!

It really was a wonderful holiday! We were all a little sad to leave; though there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed!

It was too hot to crochet on holiday so I didn’t actually pick up a hook the whole time I was there which was strange and I was itching to pick up a hook when I came back. So on my return I had some fun working on an amigurumi test for Gerald Giraffe which I blogged about here. I also released my own free amigurumi pattern the ‘teeny tiny daschund’ which I blogged about here. The rest of the month was taken up working on a sort of big something new (all will be revealed at a later date!).

One thing I have to confess to is that I am completely behind my schedule with my personal mini Afghan square challenge to design 1 new afghan square per month. Well I have designed the squares for each month I am just behind in getting them tested! I need to catch up on that – but the weather has been so nice; it’s a shame to waste it sitting inside on the computer!

That said I’m off to try and spend a bit of time writing up some overdue patterns for testing so watch this space!

Have a happy month of hooking!