Stitch a sheep at Stitch London

Last night I got together with Katie and Sarah (erstwhile Wollongong snb buddies) for a drink and a knit at Stitch London. And boy did we stumble upon the right night to go! It was great to see Katie and Sarah, they're clearly loving their London life ..

It co-incided with a book launch! A comic book launch no less. By a very lovely and talented illustrator and writer, Sarah McIntyre.

So there was free champagne! and cupcakes! And a competition to knit a sheep with the materials on the table, which we all entered. I must make a notable mention to Don, the website builder, who sat across from me. Each table had a 'designated teacher' attached to it, but ours was occupied so I kind of stepped in. Under some rudimentary tutelage, Don not only got the hang of it, he fashioned himself a very charming little blue sheep. He told me he had a Masters in Graphic Arts. I told him that was the minimum requirement to learn to knit.

I made a sheep too - I cut a t-shirt remnant that was on the table up and used it for yarn. For the face I used a snip of a brown and camel chevron knitted fabric, and for the legs I used the twiglets from the nibblies bowl.

I named him Wandsworth (after the bridge over the Thames) and he won a prize! Best coiffured sheep. And he's had a minor mention on Sarah McIntyre's blog today.

A great night, and many thanks to Katie for the picture from the phone.

We met up with Alan's old schoolfriend and his family today. They have two children identical ages to ours, and so it was a great opportunity to wander the British Museum. The children have suprisingly a lot in common, and Alan and I have a lot of catching up to do with our old friends. So we've adjourned our meeting to tonight - in about half an hour in fact - to the Texas Embassy in Trafalgar Square - a very familiar old haunt of ours from a time way back when. I am looking forward to it very much ..

Moments in Paris

What's in the La Drougerie bag? Enough recoup (recycled wool, cotton and viscose tweed) for a jacket for me, and three gorgeous 100g skeins of alpaca in a deep teal, lovely red and a muted purple. Not excessive, but just enough.



In the end there was no time for daily blog posts, or I was too exhausted when I got home from our sightseeing missions. And of course, we ran out of time to do everything we wanted to do.



We did get to do some of the things that I really wanted to do - we went to the Luxumbourg Gardens for a picnic, we went through the little flea market at Montmartre, sat on the steps of the Sacre Cour and watched the puppetshow, we went to Le Bon Marche, and saw the Monet waterlilies in the Orangerie, the Louvre, des Invalides. We didn't see as much art as we would have liked, ahh next time perhaps!



While we were in Bon Marche, I must admit I spent a little money. I bought a gorgeous dark grey linen tablecloth, with contrasting napkins in pale grey and deep fuschia - I can not wait to go home and set a table with them!

I also ogled the shoes. Prada, Jimmy Choo, Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Valentino - you name it they had them. I was bemused by the stylish parisian women who genuinely looked like buyers - such a contrast from the tough times so obvious on the streets of Dublin last week - but they did have one thing in common. I noticed these boots on the feet of many a well-heeled young Dubliner, but didn't think much of it. But when I investigated the source of the gaggle of shoppers crowding around one shoe department, by far the busiest, I was struck dumb. Ugg Australia. Somehow, some marketing genius has made them hip. We always knew they were comfortable, but these boots are serious fashion. Can you beleive it?

The top floor has a haberdashery department, where a vast array of buttons, trims, fabrics, yarns, sewing accessories and all kinds of curiosities are sold. The layout is a dream, and I was pleased to see it was very busy there. Parisians take their shopping so seriously, a lot of effort being made to looking fashionable even in the yarn section. They had Rowan, Arucania, Anny Blatt, Bouton Dor, Phildar, Debbie Bliss - some was reduced - but I resisted because we're going to London on Tuesday and I'm saving myself for Liberty et al. Still, it was so heartwarming to see an old fashioned section like this doing well enough to stay afloat.

I liked Bon Marche so much more than Galleries Lafayette - the building has so much charm, and not so crowded. As a bonus, it was full of dogs. It is true what you hear, dogs are everywhere in Paris; they're in the restaurants, in the metro, in the department stores, in the street. Life is so much better with dogs! (What a co-incidence, this post has been sitting in draft form for days, and DrK has since posted about life being good with dogs too.)


Our apartment managers provided us with a trolley shopper - such a good idea - so we stocked up on pre-made savouries, dumplings, cheese and hams, baguettes, tiny macarons and chocolates - and wine of course and headed off for our picnic at the Luxembourg Gardens.



It was like stepping back in time. The park is filled with iron chairs, some with arms, some without, some with short back legs for reclining in the sun around the most picturesque of fountains, flanked with manicured lawn and garden beds, topiary and the beautiful palace as a backdrop. It was so beautiful - relaxing and invigorating at the same time.



From what I've observed, Parisian children are incredibly well behaved - and the old-fashioned pastimes of riding the hand-cranked carousels and racing the boats in the fountain are still popular today. Indeed my own playstation addicted media junkies also partook of these activities and declared it the best day ever. The Paris Tourist Authority must be followong me, placing little archetypical Parisian scenes in front of me. A little boy was racing the boats (actually he brought his own boat!) dressed in brown shorts and matching jacket - like a little safari suit, and a few girls in pinafores and swing coats were frolicking there. What I missed in good photographs I gained in sheer enjoyment - it was an hour of complete escapism.



We then played in the park a little, had a go on the carousel, and headed back home for dinner near the Champ de Mars. Dinner wasn't the best we've had, but we were exhausted and not really in the mood for a gourmet experience.

And the next day - I had to go to Disneyland Paris.

Now we've been in London for two days - the Natural History museum and the V & A were first on our list, and today we went to Liberty and Hamleys. We had lunch in a noodle bar off Carnaby Street, where I stumbled upon All the Fun of the Fair (a yarn store!) and sat on a table next to a supermodel beautiful young girl in a superchunky mustardy olive handknit scarf and superchunky handknit jumper. We talked a little about knitting; she learned to knit from You Tube.

Tonight though, I went to stitch London. It was a big event, a book launch - and the place was full of knitters, comic book illustrators and publishers. And I won a prize! But I'll post more on that tomorrow, after our trip to the British Museum.

I'm uploading pictures onto Flickr. Head on over and have a look if you're so inclined.

Paris is Sweet

Yesterday we took the lift to the top of the Eiffel Tower. When we got there, I was delighted to see this.



Well, it'd be rude not to, wouldn't it?



And so we shared a lifetime memory 'moment' with about a thousand other people.

After a reverent stroll through the Notre Dame Cathedral, another moment shared with about a thousand other people - the kids were bored out of their skulls.

Behind the cathedral is a small island called Ile Saint Louis, you cross a little footbridge where buskers play sad songs on the accordion, and one even on a piano on the back of a trailer, and suddenly you feel like you've been transported into a fifties movie set in Paris.

The narrow cobblestone streets are lined with tiny but perfectly decorated specialty shops selling quintessentially French ingredients - the boucherie has fowl complete with heads and feathers, there's a shop selling only fois gras, a chocolate shop the likes of which would melt the hardest of hearts, fromagerie complete with the intense ammonia hum, fishmongers with an astounding range of fish and shellfish on an iced trolley under an awning in the street, and all manner of galleries, expensive clothing and antiquities shops.

As if put there by the Paris Tourist Authority, the cutest of schoolboys wearing blazers and riding bicycles went into the boulangerie and came out with a baguette, ripping it in two and munching away while they continued on their journey home from school.

And between every few shops is an alleyway, leading into a courtyard, with white shuttered windows and windowboxes full of flowers - they're bed and breakfasts, boutique hotels, vacation apartments and presumably normal Parisian residences. The butcher was packed, as was the fromagerie, so although it is touristy, there are definitely local people doing everyday things there too.

There is a particular claim to fame that the Ile Saint Louis has that I wanted to test. They say that the best ice cream in the world is sold there.



It's called Berthillon, and being a huge ice cream fan I can solemnly say that if it isn't the best ice cream in the world, it certainly tasted like it to me yesterday. (I had caramel au buerre salle - it had the grown up bitter flavour of a creme brulee crust - a very small scoop was an elegant sufficiency. But I wanted to go back and have another one all afternoon.)

The rest of my family agreed that it was seriously fine ice cream.

And now it appears that I've filled another post about yesterday, when what I really wanted to tell you about TODAY, where we visited the Louvre, then La Drougerie, got kind of lost in the seediest part of town (where there are alleyways between every few shops too, but the activities in there are of an entirely different nature), and stumbled into the Galleries Lafayette during a storewide 30-50% off sale (and stumbled out again pretty quick - the crowds were horrible).

I'll wait till tomorrow - because La Drougerie does deserve it's own post. If I had to wait half an hour for them to wind my yarn (which they did tell me was about to happen, so it wasn't a shock), you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out about what's in the bag..



Bonsoir mes amis. (stop rolling your eyes)

Paris - Day 1

So we arrived in Paris after lunchtime today - after losing an hour crossing the channel. We got the RER into the city from Charles De Gaulle (in spite of their being strikes, which we read about in the UK) - and found our way to the apartment. In retrospect, a taxi would have been far more convenient and possibly not that more expensive, but some old backpacking habits are hard to shrug off I guess.

We were greeted by Phillipe, who showed us around the place - I paid particular attention to the workings of the espresso machine, less so to that of the cooktop and oven. Having said that, the first thing I got organised was a load of laundry, unavoidable even on holiday.



The apartment block is pretty boring, built in wings around a central courtyard garden. It reminds me somewhat of a university campus - but appears to have a wide range of residents of all ages. It's in the 7th Arrondissemetn, very close to the Champs de Mars, and therefore, the Eiffel Tower. On the inside though, it's compact but comfortable - the bathroom in particular is very nice - and the view is pretty amazing.

There's a very chatty and comprehensive guide to our area in the apartment, and they've included lots of information on local restaurants and food markets where the owners and their friends like to frequent and recommend. Listed in their top five is the corner brasserie - Cafe Suffren - so that's where we headed out for dinner tonight.

It's a typical corner style cafe, with awnings and outdoor seating. A pedestrian was hit by a motorcycle as we were crossing the road,the motorcyclist swore and hurled abuse at the pedestrian who shrugged and kept walking, whilst in the centre of the chaotic intersection a tiny ancient car was stalled fatally and the driver was frantically trying to start it up again, causing all kinds of horn-blowing and swearing and fist waving - it was a quintessentially Parisian kind of traffic scene - shambolic and starkly dangerous, but with pretty harmless outcome. In any case, the kids were astounded at the spectacle.

In a way it's great that they're at an age now where they just order off the normal menu, because we all get to try different things - but of course there is the corresponding expense that goes with it. However, we all treated ourselves tonight to two courses, and shared some starters as well.

We shared two starters - a country style chicken pate and a saucisson brioche - the pate came typically with a bitter leaf salad raddicchio, cornichons and brown rye bread toast. It was delicious; a chunky and rich with a rustic terrine-like texture. The saucisson brioche was like a posh toad in the hole, with a lovely deep onioney verjuice reduction sauce.

Our main courses were hearty cuts of meat with frites or garlicky roasted potatoes. There were some lovely girelle mushrooms on one of the beef dishes - and the side salads were beautifully dressed and the mother in me was pleased to see they all got eaten.



For dessert, I had what was described as a 'sweet coffee' - which was an espresso with a selection of very cute petite fours. The tiny macaron was hardly as wide as my thumb - and the raspberry tartlet was divine, rasperries are in season at the moment and are only one euro per punnet in the market .. I see a lot of raspberries during the next week ..

After dinner we had a lovely post-prandial stroll around the park. It was late, almost ten o clock, and even though the elevators were still working in the tower pediments, the crowds and the hawkers were pretty much dwindled by then.

We stopped along to way to savour the moment - 'are we really here?' - and when we got to the centre we didn't forget to look up.

We haven't fully decided what we're going to do tomorrow yet - we might get a picnic together and head off to Versailles, or maybe we'll see the Mona Lisa, or perhaps race paper boats in the Luxembourg Gardens. Whatever we do, I'll try and check in again, even if it's just to tell you what we ate again!

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

Here I am in Dublin at my mother in law's house. The children have gone for a sleepover at their cousin's place and husband has gone to the pub for a drink with his brother. I opted to stay at home and upload some pictures and knit a little.

The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace was fantastic, although I do admit to feeling a little lonely while I was looking at the exhibits and textile art installations. At times I found myself talking to no-one in particular, and then feeling a little sheepish when nobody answered me back.

The venue itself is spectacular, and I was lucky enough to go in the morning of the first day and the crowds weren't too bad. Maybe a few more schoolgirl groups than I'd like, but not a jostling crowd like I've seen at the Darling Harbour shows.

The huge popularity of knitting and yarn was clear - most women were talking about only being there for the knitting - and there were many many yarn stands. I was particularly starstruck by the Jamieson and Smith display - the whole range, all the colours, and the lovely scottish women working there. The Rowan stand had the lot; fabric, patterns, buttons, yarn - it took up four spaces. I met the koigu people (who were lovely), the habu people (from the New York store), the Buffalo Gold man (with his £30 a skein bison yarn) and saw lots of yarn I'vee never seen before; like Spud and Chloe, there was also some fibrespates, and a beautiful English longwool with the most gorgeous lustre that I'm kicking myself I didn't buy.


One of the busiest yarn stalls was a pretty rudimentary affair, presentation wise anyway. Piled on the floor were bags and bags of discontinued Rowan, Sublime, Debbie Bliss, Mirasol and many others. I picked up two bags of Sublime baby cashmere/merino/silk dk for £22.99 per bag.



From another stall I got two zauberball - one lace and one fish - and from koigu, two skeins of koigu in the most amazing purple and gold combination.

I also picked up some fabulous buttons with bees on them, but I didn't take a photo of them.

The textile art installations and exhibits were out of this world. I didn't have a lot of time to really look at them, but they were like nothing I'd ever seen before. And there was an entire wing of artisans chosen by a group called 'craft guerillas' - I haven't done any research about them but the stalls in that wing were the most innovative and fresh textile wearable art peices I've ever seen or imagined.

But, dear readers, I have a confession to make. I've left it right to the end to say it, in the hope that not all of you have read this far.

I succumbed to the lure of a novelty yarn.

But can you really blame me when, just hours after casting it on (you just push the needle through the yarn in a few places to cast on) I had this gorgeous thing?

Ridiculous, I know .. But I love it anyway ..



And, last but not least - do you want to know what everyone is wearing? One of the big trends is - not only in clothing but evidently in everything including yarn in the UK - it's vintage/my fair lady style (or military) - kind of post-war fifties British style of making do - which includes knitting. Everyone is all over wool - they've even yarn bombed Browns Focus!

All the high street fashion shops like topshop, h&m, zara - even M & S - the whole range of clothes have been made made to look old and second hand - it's all crushed velvet, aged denim, tiny floral patterns on dresses, lace up brogues. And chuck out the ghd - straight hair is dead.

Anyway, I'm off to the Irish countryside tomorrow for a pub lunch with the rest of my husband's big family. Sorry about the long post!

Bon Voyage Cardigan

If there's one thing I appreciate about a knitting designer, it's when they don't treat their audience like fools. A simply shaped predominantly stocking stitch cardigan with set in sleeves can be a clumsy looking thing, or it can be transformed into something special by the elegance of good finishing, and great detailing.


I'm no master knitter, but with a pattern as good as audrey in unst, and a yarn as lovely as wollmeise lavendel, I couldn't really go too wrong. It still needs buttons,(hello la drougerie!) but the knitting is done.


Pattern: Audrey in Unst
Source: Twist Collective
Yarn: Wollmeise we're different lavandel, a smidge over two skeins
Needle size: 2.75mm, 3.0mm and 2.5mm (I've got the slackest tenstion in knitting)
Size Made: The seventh largest size
Modifications: The sleeve ribbing is a little shorter for my short arms. Not because I'm lazy and wanted to finish them early, no not that at all.



My favourite bits are the knitted on i-cord around the neckline, really making it looked polished, and the beautiful way a set-in sleeve looks when you pick it up round the armhole and short row it in.



The colour is off in the pictures, it's more purple in real life. I just wanted to get it photographed and write this up now, because I might not get time to take better shots before we fly out on Tuesday.

If all goes well, the next post from me will be from London, about the knitting and stitching show at Alexandra Palace, and I'll have crocheted a teal silk cloche.

Then Dublin for a few days to see Alan's family, then Paris for a week, then London for a week, then Hong Kong for a few days before coming home just in time for the Melbourne Cup!

PS: knitabulous yarn orders can still be made after the 4th October but they won't be mailed until 1st November.