Life LackaDaisiCal

An afghan is a HUGE commitment.....time, $$$ and let's face it....emotional commitment.  To get so far and be this close to finishing! Need a bit of incentive? How about a chance to win yarn and pattern books...and a subscription to Rowan Magazine? Thought that might catch your attention! Rowan has just announced the finished photos competition. They made up some different categories so that you can enter your finished afghan photos and be eligible for selection for the prizes. It's just a bit of fun.....they say....but you can win yarn! And pattern books! So get your afghan finished, take a photo, post it.....read all about "the competition" on the KnitRowan  Facebook page....or on the Rowan Yarns  finished afghan thread on Ravelry. As a Rowan Ambassador, I am not eligible to participate in the photo sharing competition.....but seeing all of the fabulous finished afghans is keeping me excited about finishing MY afghan!  I am sewing my squares into...

The time has come to let you in on the what happened at "The Mill" full disclosure....no holds barred.....are you ready? But first, a little history..... The original "Rowan Weavers" operated from premises above a local shop in Holmfirth, but in 1979, Stephen Sheard and Simon Cockin, friends and business partners, bought the neglected Green Lane Mill building with the view to rejuvenate it and make it their home. A chance meeting with Kaffe Fassett, a deal with a magazine, their first mail order kit, "Super Triangles Jacket" changed their focus toward knitting yarns, and "Rowan" was born. the "Super Triangles Jacket" Rowan thought that they "might" sell 400 of these kits. Woman and Home magazine thought that this design called for too many shades.....nobody would knit it! over 7000 kits were sold! in 1986, Rowan launched their twice annual Rowan Magazine series... Kaffe Fassett, Sasha Kagan, Annabel Fo...

I was so excited to be visiting the home of Rowan, "The Green Lane Mill" in Holmfirth.  This would actually be my third visit...but my first as a Rowan Ambassador. Knowing what I'm like with jet lag, I decided to arrive one day early to catch up on sleep and do a recce of Holmfirth. After a long flight to London (our take off was delayed two hours), a scramble to rebook my connecting flight to Manchester, and having to read the railway timetable to figure out what train to catch to Huddersfield, a short taxi ride later and I was checked into my room. my room, with a view... Holmfirth was on the Tour de France route, and the village had done itself proud. store fronts were decorated with bunting... red and white flowers...and bunting of course! this cafe had gone all "Tour de France" for the occasion! and the main street just around the corner was heavily done up in "Tour" bunting! There is a yarn shop in Holmfirth, cal...