After last week’s London adventure you’d think I’d retire for a rest, but no… the very next day we were packing the car to set off to the South Coast for a couple of days in the Bexhill/Hastings area staying with elder son and family.  It was an eventful start.  While I was away Higgins had tried out his ‘Super-Dog’ impression, leaping off the arm of the chair shouting at a passing jogger and landing painfully hard on his little stumpy legs and pulling a muscle.  This involved a trip to the vet before we set out, a rigorous examination to check nothing desperate had been done, and instructions to make sure Higgins took things easy, and No Running About…

What?  We were on our way to stay with his favourite little boys, who live in a house with a garden full of squirrels….

After a long day driving, Friday is not a good day to travel, Higgins had had the equivalent of 24 hours bed rest and was even less likely to do what the doctor ordered when he arrived, but a lot of effort was put into nursing care…

We had a peaceful morning on Saturday, with a spot of craftiness…

and a trip to the park in the afternoon…

but the next day it was pouring…

Not a day for the beach for anyone.

We spent the morning with a  little bit of knitting…

you just see how helpful Higgins was being!

In the afternoon however, we donned waterproofs and headed to Hastings…

I love the area around Rock a Nore in Hastings with it’s strange black fishing huts, and despite the rain found Claire Fletcher‘s great little studio opened for the afternoon full of beautiful bits and pieces, and one I had only that morning been reading about in a copy of Coast magazine…

When the big black doors in the photo are opened, you see this!

After a little wander around in the teeth of the wind and rain…

….we reached the Jerwood Gallery which I’ve wanted to visit since it opened.

It’s an amazing exhibition space, and although it is controversially built next to the fishing area of Hastings on The Stade , the sympathetic design means it sits comfortably alongside the black sheds.  Inside, the large plain windows frame the surrounding views, making the town part of the exhibition…

 I now wear the badge I bought in Claire’s Studio with pride!

And I did manage a little bit of creativity of my own…You don’t think I went away without my knitting did you?  Unable to find the pattern I made my fingerless mitts from a couple of years ago (if you remember, Higgins ate them!) I devised a new pattern of my own.  Very simple, (and I could knit in the car too, obviously not while driving!)

but with lots of scope for embellishment…

…and so good I made them twice!

I’ve written the pattern, and it’s available for free here, if you’d like to make some too.

So I’ll leave you for now with the link to Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour, and I’ll be back soon…x