Sunday in the Sun...

The Great Big Plan last weekend was to head off to Wonderwool Wales - you know, just M, E and I, girls together on the open road, lured West by the attraction of yarn and the idea of meeting some of our favourite internet yarn sellers.

Well, that statement holds true for two of the travelling party. E is five.

While she does knit, I am not certain that she has reached the stage where she might travel miles to hunt and gather yarn. Clearly, in this - M and I are beyond help!

However, as with all good plans - it came unstuck at the last minute. Actually, I prefer to think that common sense prevailed over wool induced fever. Even if it was not until about 23:30 last Saturday evening. I peered at the route map - I rubbed my eyes and looked at it again. It hadn't changed:

Distance: 186 miles. Journey Time: 3.5 hours.

Hmmm. You see, I thought of Builth Wells as being just a little bit beyond where my mother used to live. That's no hassle: jump in the car, tank down to Wales - job done. In my head it was 2-2.5 hours. Somehow 3.5 hours is perilously close to 4 hours (with a short stop).

A day trip with 8 hours of travelling...on a motorway populated with Sunday drivers?


Cue emergency text correspondence:

G: How would you and E fancy a girly day trip to Brighton instead?!

M: How about the Henley Craft Fair?!

G: Done!

Now, while Craft Fairs might not be everyone's cup of tea, you have to hand it to those folks at Henley - they know their audience! It was set up well for families with all sorts of activities to keep children entertained while their parents shopped.

So instead of being cooped up in a car for 8 hours and then being hauled from stall to stall to look at yarn, E got to...

...make a cat...

...and make a crown with M!

Although both projects had merits - for me, the crown was the clear winner of the two. You see, by the time the cat had dried out in the sun (following its coating of brown tissue paper), it looked a little strange. I didn't dare comment but M did suggest quietly it looked a little like dried out roadkill...!

As for M and I, we window shopped and even though the closest I got to wool was this...

...somehow, M managed to find a stall with a small amount of Mango Moon recycled sari silk. So she came away stash happy!

I came away empty handed - mostly because I just couldn't persuade myself that I had money or space at home for this 5ft paper mache cockerel...

....a shame really.

It was ridiculous and yet, oddly magnificent!