princessdeia

As Saturday was Worldwide Knitting in Public Day, the guys at iKnit organised a little knitting themed treasure hunt in London, taking in some of the many venues from the Knitting nights. Mel, Sally, Justine and I formed Team 4-Ply. As well as the 61 questions we had to answer we were also given several tasks including buying souvenirs beginning with the letters K-N-I-T, taking photos of London Landmarks beginning with P-U-R-L. Of course the obvious London Landmark beginning with a U, is the Underground!

 Another task was to try to take a photo of you knitting, next to a policemen, Pearly Knit or Queen, Street Performer of a Famous Person… whilst we enjoyed a cheeky half pint in the Royal Festival Hall, some fellow treasure hunters stopped for a chat, and they recognised Miss Flip Knit’s voices from their podcasts, so of course we decided they were our stars!  

 The whole way around the course we carried out lovely yellow balloon (you got an extra 2 points for returning your balloon) and knitted a skinny scarf… upon returning to the store our balloon was sabotaged (we will get our revenue next year!) However our scarf was the second longest and overall we won (I think I am still in shock about this).

For more photos check out the iKnit Pool on Flickr

Last night was the first meeting of the the Socktopus Sock Club at the Troubadour Coffee Shop in Earl’s Court. Some of us arranged to meet up at the tube station first, and planned on walking to the cafe together.

After waiting for a while the call of knitting was too strong and we headed to the cafe, but concerned we might have left Alex behind we left her a little note, thanks to Mel and her Post it Notes!

Once we got to the cafe (and found Alex), we discovered it was buy one get one free on cocktails, I figured it was safe to have a couple of Cosmo’s and knit, fully expecting that I would have to rip back my knitting this morning!

It was great to catch up with everyone, meet some new knitters and even watch as we converted our waiter into a knitter! It almost makes up for having missed Alice’s Hen Do.

All in all a perfect night, knitting, greats and some rather lovely Stockey Tiffee Pudding!

Like most of the knitters in London, yesterday I headed up to Alexandra Palace for the Knitting & Stitching Show. Originally, I was meant to go on Thursday, but due to a heavy workload, I decided to go on Saturday, luckily Alice brought a ticket which she no longer needed, as she was now exhibiting, so I used her ticket. This helped me as well as I got to meet up with the girls - who had a list of stalls they wanted to visit.

1. Rooster Almerino Aran, 2. KnitWitches Pure Silk, 3. KnitWitches Pure Silk,
4. The Natural Dyed Studio - Alba, 5. KnitWitches Sock Yarn/4ply, 6. KnitWitches Sock Yarn/4ply

I managed to get some yarn for the swaps I am currently doing (not shown), and of course a lot of sock yarn - I also discovered a new store - KnitWitches, as well as selling some amazing, sock yarn they had some fabulous silk dyed in the most amazing colours. All I wanted to do after the show was go home a knit - but I decided to go to the pub and watch the rugby.

I had one of those amazing weekends where I got to spend time with friend (and meet some new friends) and see some family (most of whom I haven’t seen since my wedding).

A few weeks ago, Alice announced that she was planning a launch party for her online store, knowing that we were going to a wedding over the same weekend, I had to decline the invitation, but over the last few weeks the buzz on the Ravelry London Board has all been about the party.

So I managed to convince the hubby that as the wedding wasn’t until the afternoon we could travel down in the morning.

As well as getting to see the iKnit regulars Alice, Emms and Laura (and Ross), I also got to finally meet Sharon and Arianne. Then there was the lovely ladies from Ravelry - Anna, Gabrielle, Izzie, Mel, Mulene, and Sarah. (I am sure I have forgetten someone - sorry if I have).

Aside from the wonderful company and food, the real reason were all there was to sample Alice’s wonderful finds - over the last few days she has been tempting us on the Socktopus Blog with images of Shelridge Farm, Dream in Color Smooshy and Chameleon Colorworks, and of course we all had to buy, buy, buy.

Of course, what you really want to see is what I brought…

After months of knitting alone in from of the TV or in the car for the first time today, I ventured out to the Central London Knitting Morning in Foyles Bookshop. Rather than try and be adventurous and start the front of Marco, I took along my Wavy Gravy Scarf, as it was simple garter stitch, so I thought I could knit and talk – but some how I managed to still drop a stitch (when I only had 12 on the needle), and I have no idea where it went :(.

I recognised a few faces from their blogs, Acechick, Purlpirate and Purlyqueen, all who’s blogs i enjoy reading.

It was nice to finally talk about wool, patterns, and yarn stores without having to explain my weird obsession. I had a feeling there would be a mention of the drama over at UKHandknitter’s Yahoo Group (it’s been an interesting few days over there :D).

And finally, I got to see a sari silk Clapotis up close and in person, finally, I see the obsession! When I have seen photos of Clapotis on blogs – as it was being knit with circulars, I thought it had hundreds of stitches – but having seen the pattern today, I think was being stupid. I see myself investing in some more silk in the near future to start this pattern.