Carol Meldrum knitting and crochet workshop
Carol is back again for another fun packed workshop and this week we are dressing dolls! Carol is well know for her love of scaled down knitting in her books Knitted Icons and Knit your own Boyfriend. Some of the guests may not have seemed over enthusiastic about dressing dolls at the start of the week but by Friday they were all hooked and produced some great characters.
We started the week with an outing to the brocante, which provided lots of goodies. Stalls selling vintage lace, baby clothes and sewing accessories, beautiful antique linen sheets and colourful pumpkins and squash.
On Sunday afternoon everyone settled down to the first workshop. Carol had brought along samples from her books for a bit of inspiration and everyone was provided with a rag doll to dress.
On Monday we had a full day workshop and the dolls were starting to take shape.
On Tuesday we had an outing to Saintes for fabric and yarn shopping and on Wednesday morning a trip to St Jean d'Angely for the market, more fabric shopping and a coffee. October is breast cancer awareness month, so the town has been decorated with pink ribbons and umbrella's with some wonderful yarn bombing in the square.
On Thursday we went to Cognac for more yarn shopping and a coffee in the square.
and on Friday morning there was a frenzy of activity to finish off dressing the dolls and start to give them faces and hair.
On Friday afternoon we had show and tell of all the dolls and here they all are in no particular order -
Jane
Annabelle's doll is still hairless and faceless but that is because she decided to make a boyfriend as well.
Carmen's doll Valentin
Nina's doll is called Sweetie
This was Carol's doll that inspired everyone
This is Mary's doll Lucy
and Lucy again in her 2nd outfit
This is Eileen's doll Lily
This is Fransyska's doll Adele
This is Mary's doll
This is Fiona's doll Fonty
And here they all are together
Thank you to Carol for her never-ending patience we had a wonderful week with a lot of laughs, lots of new techniques acquired, lots of talking and lots of Belgian chocolate, all summed up by Jane's wonderful poem -
Bercloux Oct 2022
Girls at Bercloux, ready to knit
for Carol’s dollies wardrobes that fit!
It’s all very small
a challenge to all (except perhaps Annabelle)
so to childhood we regress
in full expectation of success
And the chat goes on as it always does
the winds in Orkney, the brocante buzz
knitting wool, crochet patterns, new techniques
Family, work, what’s loved what piques
then chafing crotches and knitted knickers,
Life stories, politics, but no one bickers
Mais attendez, cette semaine c’est beaucoup plus interessant
Nos amis de Belge ajoute le francais et le flamand
et le shopping, Saintes, Cognac AND St Jean
everyone’s hoping to get those full cases home
Ahh and while the border crossing I’m about,
I wonder if our illegal immigrants will get out!!
And a couple of other things not in rhyme...
le question des patrons flexible.....
tous les bons mots, mais pas forcement dans le bon ordre
(ref Morecambe and Wise & Andre Previn 1971)
Thank you to Carol and her ever patient presence
To Culli for his behind scene work (including doggie day care) and of course GIN
and to Sue for seamless organisation and frequent and delicious food
Bon voyages a toutes
We started the week with an outing to the brocante, which provided lots of goodies. Stalls selling vintage lace, baby clothes and sewing accessories, beautiful antique linen sheets and colourful pumpkins and squash.
On Sunday afternoon everyone settled down to the first workshop. Carol had brought along samples from her books for a bit of inspiration and everyone was provided with a rag doll to dress.
On Monday we had a full day workshop and the dolls were starting to take shape.
On Tuesday we had an outing to Saintes for fabric and yarn shopping and on Wednesday morning a trip to St Jean d'Angely for the market, more fabric shopping and a coffee. October is breast cancer awareness month, so the town has been decorated with pink ribbons and umbrella's with some wonderful yarn bombing in the square.
On Thursday we went to Cognac for more yarn shopping and a coffee in the square.
and on Friday morning there was a frenzy of activity to finish off dressing the dolls and start to give them faces and hair.
On Friday afternoon we had show and tell of all the dolls and here they all are in no particular order -
Jane
Annabelle's doll is still hairless and faceless but that is because she decided to make a boyfriend as well.
Carmen's doll Valentin
Nina's doll is called Sweetie
This was Carol's doll that inspired everyone
This is Mary's doll Lucy
and Lucy again in her 2nd outfit
This is Eileen's doll Lily
This is Fransyska's doll Adele
This is Mary's doll
This is Fiona's doll Fonty
And here they all are together
Thank you to Carol for her never-ending patience we had a wonderful week with a lot of laughs, lots of new techniques acquired, lots of talking and lots of Belgian chocolate, all summed up by Jane's wonderful poem -
Bercloux Oct 2022
Girls at Bercloux, ready to knit
for Carol’s dollies wardrobes that fit!
It’s all very small
a challenge to all (except perhaps Annabelle)
so to childhood we regress
in full expectation of success
And the chat goes on as it always does
the winds in Orkney, the brocante buzz
knitting wool, crochet patterns, new techniques
Family, work, what’s loved what piques
then chafing crotches and knitted knickers,
Life stories, politics, but no one bickers
Mais attendez, cette semaine c’est beaucoup plus interessant
Nos amis de Belge ajoute le francais et le flamand
et le shopping, Saintes, Cognac AND St Jean
everyone’s hoping to get those full cases home
Ahh and while the border crossing I’m about,
I wonder if our illegal immigrants will get out!!
And a couple of other things not in rhyme...
le question des patrons flexible.....
tous les bons mots, mais pas forcement dans le bon ordre
(ref Morecambe and Wise & Andre Previn 1971)
Thank you to Carol and her ever patient presence
To Culli for his behind scene work (including doggie day care) and of course GIN
and to Sue for seamless organisation and frequent and delicious food
Bon voyages a toutes