So, What Did You Get Up to on Your Holiday, Melody?
Holidays didn't start very well...... my strep throat started to reappear on the second evening of our holiday, about 36 hours after I took my last penicillin tablet, and although I tried to ignore it, a high temperature, a vicious sore throat and swollen glands, and an inability to swallow yet again threatened to ruin the holiday before it had begun. I realised I was plummeting downwards when I could hardly swallow a bacon sarnie at Pete's Eats so a swift trip to the local medical centre in Llanberis on Tuesday afternoon and a prescription for yet more penicillin sorted the nasty little strep bacterium beasties out and I was as right as rain after that.

And talking of rain...... this is what we woke up to on our first day of holidays:

The weather did perk up a bit eventually though and I managed to get a bit of colour on my shoulders whilst I knitted at Dolbadarn Castle. There's a piccie of me knitting with Dolbadarn Castle in the background, but it's on John the Brit's laptop at the mo and I have to dongle piccies across from the laptop, so piccies later on of that.

I Visited Stash!

I continued my Stashalonging in exceptional style, only buying a few balls of sock yarn when I visited Stash in Chester. We travelled to Chester so that I could buy Rowan magazine 40, and I phoned them beforehand to check that it had arrived in stock.

Steve at Stash explained on the phone that the shop could be closed at some point as they were expecting a huge delivery of Rowan yarns which had to be put in its respective places in the shop, but added that if the shop was closed I could knock on the door and explain who I was and what I wanted, and they would open the shop so that I could buy the mag. Top marks to Stash for offering brilliant customer service to a holiday maker/tourist to North Wales and Chester!! They've been added to my linky bit at the side there for special endeavours with respect to holidaying knitters in Cheshire... *big thumbs up*

Not only did I buy Rowan 40, but I also bought these luvverly books and needles from Stash - the first photo shows what I bought on the first visit, the second photo what I bought on the ....um... second visit to Stash the following week:







We only went back to Chester a second time so that the boys could visit the Dewa centre in the city centre, honest.... a ‘hands on' archeology/ Roman museum which the boys and I thoroughly enjoyed. *big grin*

A line-up of the sock yarns that I bought at Stash. I bought the grey/blue one second from the left to knit Dad another pair of socks but as it's cotton/wool mixture I think I'll need more than one ball. Hmph!

I also managed to track down a copy of Debbie Bliss' "Easy Knits" book (which I've been looking out for for months)in WHSmith in Chester, so I had a good shopping trip all told. Trouble is that now I'm too tempted by all the new patterns in all the new books I bought to contemplate even looking at my' old' list of things I wanted to knit before I bought the books, if you follow my drift.....

Vacation Knitting Progress

On the evening before our departure, I still couldn't decide which new projects to take with me and in the end took a load of half finished projects that I thought I could give my full attention during the fortnight. In the two weeks in Llanberis, I all but finished the bolero knitted in James Brett's Marble DK with just one part of the front band to pick up and knit, finished Dad's first Opal Magic sock with just the second one to complete, and knitted a good part of the double moss stitch yoke on the back of the half-and-half jacket that I'm fusion knitting.

My knitting had a rather eventful time in Wales, as I challenged myself to knit in as many touist-y places as I possibly could. I think I did quite well under the circumstances, and managed to knit on the Tram going up and down the Great Orme in Llandudno, on the Llanberis Lake Railway, on the Welsh Highland Train from Caernarfon to Rhydd Ddu, by the grave of that very brave Medieval dog Gellert *ahem*, and under the watchful eye of Dolbardan Castle. My knitting and I had fun. Enjoy the piccies as I stick ‘em on the blog over the next few days....