I’m not usually a fan of spiders at all, but I was out cleaning the shed today and bumped into this little fella. I’ve got to admit, he doesn’t look as scary as some spiders that I’ve seen (well, maybe those fangs….)
He’s been very busy building some rather carefully constructed webs ready for his house warming party later. The guests have started to arrive already.
First there were two.
Then there were three.
Next thing you know, four of these little monsters are tucked up together getting ready for a big night in. The Bluebottle kebabs and aphid salad are ready to serve and everyone is buzzing with anticipation. (Or is that just the kebabs I can hear?)
With eight legs apiece to shake their (rather generously sized) booties with, they really are quite the party animals. Spencer can even play the fiddle and still have six legs left to dance a jig! It’s going to be one helluva party in my shed tonight.
I was invited and I thought I might try to be brave and go along – but then this big Black Widow arrived and suddenly I’m thinking… I’ll take a rain check on that. I know her tricks. 
She’s got a habit of playing dead and then biting your ankle when you’re not looking! Not my idea of fun!!
I think I’ll just leave them to it. I know the famous saying ‘If you want to live and thrive, let a spider run alive’ but I think it’s going to be me doing all the running every time I bump into this lot together.
There’s just way too many eyes and legs gathered together in one space. I’d love to try to get over my arachnaphobia but I think I’ll have to take it one spider at a time.
There’s certainly plenty of space with which to tackle all my crochet projects and the dappled shade is perfect. (As you can see, Tigger thinks so too). If you look carefully you can see a little teaser of my next crochet pattern!
We all enjoyed some great new vegetarian barbecue recipes from the BBC Good Food website that were completely lip-smackingly delicious.
Lushious colour contrasts make each square totally unique and are going to leave me spoilt for choice as to how to combine them. I’ll keep it all quite random I think…
Curious little things that they are, I think they’re enjoying a sneak peak back at you too!
I reckoned that this should be enough yarn for a minimum six hours in the car and a few hazy hours at the Jurassic Rocks Festival on Saturday, plus a lazy Sunday on the beach. And in case I do run out, I have a back up project. Little necklace purses for my next craft fair. Both projects are using self striping yarns so I get all the fun of working with lots of colour but without having to pack up tons of different balls of yarn.
I can cope for the weekend if I forget a change of clothes or my toothbrush but I’m not so laid back if I don’t have a project to keep my hands occupied. It’s my meditation and recreation all in one. So Saturday morning has arrived and we have woken up to thunderstorms and torrential rain here in Worcester. Time to check the weather forecast…and it’s not looking too good, with severe weather warnings in place for much of the country, most specifically down south which is where we’re headed!
Not to be deterred we pack up wellies, waterproofs and umbrellas. A good time will be had – regardless of the British weather. After all, a rain sodden car journey can always be made more tolerable and much brighter with a few balls of cheery coloured yarn.
In the end the wet weather and stormy clouds cleared completely by the time we reached Weymouth. So glad we didn’t chicken out and cancel our weekend. Instead I got to do a bit of drinking and crocheting while listening to some local bands and basking in the sunshine:
These lovely blue skies certainly cheered everyone up and added to the bon homie! Several hours and several bands later it was time to retire to the tent with a whole day by the seaside to look forward to tomorrow. Bliss! After packing up the tent in the morning we headed off in search of a cup of tea. It took us longer than we anticipated because of all the distractingly beautiful views on the way from Portland to Weymouth.
But we got there in the end. In fact right at the bottom of this street was a life-saving brew. 
(Those are hubby’s hairy arms by the way, not mine, but you probably already guessed as much!) With the morning ritual of a good old cuppa sorted we were ready to head off to Chesil Beach for a few hours of rest and relaxation. I took some photos of beautiful tangles of fishing nets on the way as I can’t resist anything remotely yarn like!
Time to have a good look through my Granny squares from yesterday evening.
Hmmm, I think this one may have been made after one too many ciders last night! It’s definitely not very square. I love the way the colours echo the sea and the pebbles though.
I made a few more squares but then decided a bit of beach art in the form of a yarn bomb might be more appropriate. I got hold of the biggest pebble I could lay my hands on and, inspired by all the fishing nets I’d been photographing, I set to work. An hour or so later and here’s my homage to the sea-side.
There’s plenty of eating places to choose from so we took our time and had a wander around all the little alleys full of wonderfully tacky kiss-me-quick hats, buckets, spades, saucy postcards and the obligatory sticks of rock.
…where we ate the perfect crab lunch from the Ivy Coffee House on Cove Row.
Lovely views and an outdoor table in the shade made it all just perfect. 
Now for a tub of cockles and a bit more exploring before we head off home.
On the horizon is the Isle of Portland where we spent last night camping underneath the stars.
The clouds have been very kind and stayed light and wispy around the periphery of the sky all weekend. We have a car boot jam packed full of wet weather gear in all it’s forms but I’m certainly not complaining that we didn’t get to use it. Back in the car at last and the journey whizzes by. I’m a little sun burnt (yes, we packed wellies but didn’t think we’d need to pack any sunblock, but as the saying goes – ‘Life’s a beach and then you fry’). I’m a little tired too but the Radio is on and I’ve still got a ball of yarn left and so I embark on the last of the Granny Squares. Looks like rain again as we get nearer to Worcester.
Ah well, no-one can say that we haven’t had our fair share of sunshine this weekend. By the time we arrive back home I’m glad to unpack, have a cool bath to take the heat out of my lobster red shoulders and take a minute to assemble all of my weekends crochet achievements. Not a bad haul for such a busy couple of days. Now the next fun bit is deciding what to make with them. Whatever they end up being used for they’ll always remind me of my gorgeous weekend of fun in the sun.
