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Sunday Fashion Show

The sunny weather in the morning made it possible to take good pictures of some knits that I have done a long time ago - way before Ravelry existed. Therefore I cannot remember the correct years in which in knitted them, but it must have been somewhere between 1996 and 2000.

Green Silk Cardigan (Seta from Lana Grossa)

G and I ran outside (in the middle of breakfast - obviously not trusting that the sun would last until we finished!) to take these. Probably to the delight of the entire street. We had some people passing by, watching with amusement, not understanding what was going on. And might I add it was still freezing in the sunshine and the light breeze didn't help to make me any warmer. Thankfully I got some hot coffee with the rest of my breakfast after we finished.

Golden Top, horrible pattern, but really cool once done, made as a concert top (looks great 'au naturel' with black trousers) with Lincraft Starry Night

Cable Top with Seta from Lana Grossa

Lana Grossa India

I have never tried this combination before, I made it as a concert top. I knitted it for a skirt I found on sale at Monsoon for a fraction of the original price (broken zipper - a nightmare to fix). I had no idea what to wear with it. It's difficult to combine because of the changing colour of the skirt. I told the lady who runs the yarn shop at home, when I went home for Christmas (obviously I had to have a stop in my old LYS) and she suggested this ribbon yarn. Amazing what you can find in your LYS!

Express Lane Socks and Saturday Roast

D - I finally managed to make a picture of the Express Lane Socks I knitted for M (lovely pattern! I just had to make the socks slightly shorter as I was knitting with leftovers from my previous project: Dream in Colour, Smooshy, Colourway: Beach Fog).

When I woke up at 7.30am this morning, the beautiful awareness trickled into my conscience, that it was SATURDAY! The day to turn over in bed and sleep or doze another hour or so... no squeezing into the tube (London Underground) or fighting your way through masses of city dwellers on their way to work, to make it to work just in time (as the London Underground train had to park in the tunnel once again and took 30 minutes for a supposed 10 minute journey...)

So I turned over in bed and enjoyed the sun that tentatively shone its way through the clouds and into my window. K could unfortunately not make it to our weekly mosaique meeting and rehearsal today, so M and I had a nice long breakfast, knitted a few rows and listned to Ella Fitzgerald (Ella Swings Lightly). Such a lovely chilled and cozy morning.

A little later, we got this ready (here it is just going into the oven):


Oh so yummy pork roast on a bed of roast potatoes, tomatoes and onions.... mmmmh...
A, who is studying in the UK for a year (or more..), came by for lunch and we had a lovely - and, lets face it, fattening - meal and nice chat. In a couple of weeks' time M and I will be staying with her parents in Salem, OR :-) I can hardly wait - Seattle, Portland, Salem, Bend, Cannon Beach, Crater Lake.... here we come!!

Until then I shall knit a little faster to be able to finish my gifts for our lovely OR hosts, and I might add a couple of items to my USA shopping wish list...

Say it in French

...I really wanted to say that to this house owner who has been getting work done on her property for months now. The same person who would only know me at official neighbourhood watch meetings and always overlooks me otherwise (as I 'only' rent and do not own the house I live in).
Like all builders, no matter in which country or from which nationality, hers come in the early morning to make a lot of noise (jackhammer was the favorite tool this week), then have an extensive break and do something around midday again. The time when the rest of the population will either still sleep or have a lunch break (should they work from home). The builders' van/lorry/skip will block the street for hours - making deliveries to other houses in the street nearly impossible.
This afternoon they added a new sound effect: a high pitched screech, not unlike what you hear at the dentist. To this you add the noise of the planes (thanks to Heathrow Terminal 5) which sometimes sound like they are flying through the attic, especially at 5.45am and 11pm (thankfully not every day). Well, you get the picture.
When I saw this doodle in another blog, it expressed what I felt this morning when I was so tired I nearly fell off the bed. This sleep deprivation then made me forget to eat lunch and bake Banana bread for one hour before realising that the temperature was far too low to make anything happen to the dough... time for the weekend and some sleep!

Oh, Pictures

What to do on another rainy day in London (apart from dreaming of the upcoming holiday.... just 11 days to go!!!!! Watch this space for Oregon travel pics)? Look at yarn and FOs and brag with past achievements :-)

Melon pattern scarf (Victorian Lace Today) - in Blood (yes, what a name for a coulourway) Kid Silk Haze...

And Beaudelaire Socks (Dream in Colour Smooshy)

I knit day

Ooh, what weather - London didn't try very hard to make this a nice sunny, welcoming day... rain and wind and more rain... a cheerful grey-in-grey.
Not daunted by the non-hospitable weather, M and I packed our little cotton socks (well, cotton hat in my case, as I am knitting gifts for D's little son who is expected in 3 months' time) and made our way to the I Knit London Day. Guest speaker was the Yarn Harlot (Stephanie Pearl McPhee), but as we hadn't made up our minds early enough, we didn't buy a ticket for her special event. Sorry, Stephanie, we would have loved to hear you speak, daunting as the Lindley Hall might have been - I'm sure you did a great job and hope you had a fantastic time with all the British knitters who bought their tickets on time!!

Instead, we used the lull in market hall visitors and managed to make our way to the book stands. I sometimes wonder how very lovely knitters can transform into very scary people who run over you and use elbows to make it to the fronts of stands... hmm. There we are - focus on yummy yarns and goodies might be to blame here (at least I hope that there are no more sinister reasons...). Anyway, it was great to see the lovely Socktopus with busy helpers, and enjoy looking and squeezing my way through some beautiful (oh so forbidden) and scrumptious yarns.
And despite my very firm stash-buying-ban, one little skein of lace yarn somehow clung to my hands at The Loop stand, and made it into my bag (making me part with my pub lunch money... probably better spent on the lovely lace yarn... my re-heated Risotto at home was quite nice, thank you very much)

Back at home, slightly shivering, we made the kitchen nice and cosy, had coffee with our fellow mosaique member and pianits K, talking about warmth, reindeer candles, future recording projects, etc. I think I might pick up my cotton hat now and knit a few more rounds for D's baby while letting the day pass by in front of my eyes one more time. More iknit day pictures here....

Under the spell of the 'L'...

There is a lot to be said for the equality of letters in the alphabet, but after M found this on YouTube, there is no question - I am decidedly a new fan of the 'L'. Thank you Sam Ramey



And - have I made you an 'L' fan?