Monday 19 September 2011

T is for...

Travel.

It is quite handy that today worked out to be T, because boyfriend and I travelled to France for the weekend ;) As I would have been posting about that regardless, I'm quite pleased that it worked out that way.

So, boyfriend and I had a free weekend, and decided fairly last minute to jump on the channel tunnel and go to Calais *smiles*

Of course, I had checked out yarn stores in the area. For research, you understand ;) So on Saturday afternoon, we headed to Calais town centre to find the Phildar shop. From the photo on their website it looks like a flagship store, very fancy...

When we got there I was a little confused to be confronted with what appeared to be a clothes shop:


As we walked in, you could see the yarn section peeking out from the back of the shop:


Slightly bizarre *laughs*

Anyway, I had a good look round, making boyfriend take sneaky photos so that I could share them here ;)


The bags at the bottom of the pictures contained sale yarn, all packaged together in dye lots, which was quite cool. And I found this yarn, which obviously had to be photographed - not only does it look like lettuce (or seaweed according to the boyfriend) which I found interesting, check out the name *laughs*


Of course, I did have to make a purchase - it's souvenir yarn after all...


This is 70% angora, 30% lambswool and is so incredibly soft. It was in the bargain bucket, so the 5 balls cost me about £7. There's not a lot of length to them, so I'm not sure what I'll make yet, but as soon as it brushed against my hand, I knew I had to have it *laughs*

Anyway, lest you think we went all the way to France and only looked at yarn, we also took photos elsewhere ;) We went to Sangatte and wandered along the beach, then drove up the cost to Cap Blanc Nez, a memorial from WWII.


Boyfriend took a few pictures of this for me, but I love the moody silhouette look.

Looking out across the sea, you can just make out the white cliffs of Dover across the channel. It always amazes me how narrow the English Channel seems to be...


So, that was our trip to France. Hope you all had a lovely weekend too :)

15 comments:

  1. Oh wow, looks like you had an amazing time!! What a lovely way to spend the weekend :)

    Love the yarn you chose as your souvenir, must be heavenly to touch. And the 'lettuce' yarn made me giggle!

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  2. I've visited yarn shops in France which were pretending to be clothes/lingerie shops. Very strange.

    Love your purchases - they look so soft.

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  3. A weekend visit to France sounds wonderful. The green yarn is a little scary. Your purchases are lovely, so soft and squishy!

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  4. As an American I think it would be so cool to be able to say "We just decided to pop on over to France for the weekend."
    I was wondering if the clothes in that "yarn" store were hand knits?

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  5. Looks like a wonderful weekend getaway - and I love what you "got away" with.. I may be allergic to angora but I would make the sacrifice for your yarn. It looks so deliciously soft!

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  6. My weekend was nothing compared to yours! How beautiful. Glad you got to travel.

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  7. My apple-picking weekend seems REALLY lame right now!

    –Cassandra

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  8. Beautiful pictures!! I'd love to see you try to knit a Clapotis with that Clapotis yarn!!! =)

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  9. I too envy that you can "pop over" to France on a whim! I love that "Clapotis" yarn.

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  10. I'd got to France before I rode a Segway! I guess they're both worth it....

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  11. Hmmm, I remember buying Phildar patterns in the late '70s. They were very stylish even back then. Love your purchases and glad you had such a great weekend.

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  12. So jealous of the idea of just running over to France. Looks like a lovely trip for you two!

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  13. Oh, to pop to France for a quick weekend break...*sigh*. I do have the distinction of being able to see Tijuana from the top of a hill here in San Diego, but there have been travel warnings about heading across the border due to drug-related gang violence and so on, so it's not on the top of my travel to-do list. LOL

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