Hat Delivery Day

On Monday, we woke up early and packed up 5830 little tiny hats and went on an Adventure to the big city! 

 We were made to feel so welcome at Fruit Towers, and I was so pleased to be able to take my lovely mum along! We were shown the pen where all the hats will be kept, and had photos taken, and we were loaded down with lovely juice for the journey home. 

 (The hat pen - Before and after our hats were added...)

We also had a little mooch around London. It was just a lovely day.

Hello London

The summer is passing so fast and has been so full of adventures, but our trip to London was my favourite so far. We took ourselves off to the big city for three days and went to lots of fabulous places. 

We started at Tate Britain on Sunday, I've been so excited for the Barbara Hepworth exhibition and it didn't disappoint! I loved her beautiful sculptures, especially the later ones with the incorporation of coloured threads, and it was really special to see her sketches and drawings. 

On Monday we ventured up to The British Library to see the Magna Carta exhibition, then on to Gower Street to visit Speedy's cafe and the front door made famous in "Sherlock" (One of two nerdy pilgrimages of the trip, we also popped along to King's Cross to see Platform 9 and 3/4 and the shop next door but the queues were unbelievable! We went on to the Grant Museum of Zoology, it is part of the University College London, and is full of specimens and slides and it is really fascinating. We managed to pick up tickets to see "The Mentalists" in the evening, I'm a bit of a fan of Stephen Merchant so it was very exciting to see him perform. We were even in the front row!  

On Tuesday we had a slower day, starting out in the National cafe for breakfast, and then on to the National Portrait gallery to see the Portrait Prize. We had tea and apricot cake in the Coffee Tree on Shaftesbury Avenue and left there with beautiful vanilla Cannoli to take home. After that we wandered on up to the Flinders Petrie museum of Egyptian Archaeology, and I was particularly thrilled to see the drop spindles. Our last stop of the day was the Wellcome Collection, a place we always wanted to visit but never quit got around to. The special exhibition was work from Alice Anderson and it was amazing, I'd definitely recommend it! The main collection is full of strange bits and bobs from the history of medicine and anatomy, there are shrunken heads, medical implements, and even some examples of Plastination from the Gunther Von Hagens institute. Of course, my favourite part of the gallery was the oversized Jelly Baby...

My Week!

Another week has flown by, and what a lovely week it has been. It started just right with my trip to London, mooching around the British Museum, then on to the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery, all so very full of people enjoying lovely cultural excursions. I also enjoyed rather a lot of cake, scones at the British Museum and Cannoli from a sweet little cafe around the corner. A day out is not a day out without cake.  

The rest of the week has been spent working and knitting, and getting over some kind of lurgy that left me dizzy and confined to the sofa. I can't complain, I binge watched old episodes of The Simpsons and started a snazzy pair of Frankensocks, as well as finishing my first ever toe-up pair. I spent my Friday evening making pompoms for Innocent Smoothie Big Knit hats with my mum, and squeezing her little dog Jock. He's a happy little ball of fluff. 

Treasures of the British Museum...

The British Museum is one of my most favourite places. Ever since my very first visit I have been amazed by it's collections, the scale of the wonders of the ancient world and the ability to travel through every continent by simply moving from one room to another. As time goes on, I find myself looking less at the monumental sculptures and statues, and taking more time to look at the little things. Each room is full of tiny treasures, beautiful objects that have been made with such skill. 

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours pottering around, as always I stopped for a look at the Chinese Ceramics and the Japanese rooms, they are full of some of my favourite things, and I spent some time looking around the European art, the painted ceramic tiles and jewellery in particular caught my attention. 

During my degree I spent such a lot of time looking at how things were constructed, in particular how different brooches worked, different ways to fasten. I suppose I had a geeky moment in the Iron Age European room, looking at the beautiful brooches, admiring their elegant shapes. 

I really could quite happily spend days looking around the museum, I always feel like my creative batteries have been re-charged. 

My Week...

As weeks go, this one has been pretty special, full of my favourite things - exploring and adventures, and cosy times at home with my cats and my garden and some knitting. 

The fresh Spring weather has blown away the winter cobwebs, and the opportunity to wander aimlessly in the sunshine has been so welcome. I have so enjoyed watching the hard work we've put into the garden start to pay off, and seeing little birds foraging for bits and bobs for their nest is a joy - They work so tirelessly, with tufts of fluff and twigs to make their little homes cosy. 

As always, I've tried to make time for some craftiness, and have finished two pairs of socks that have been on the needles for some time. It's been a good week. 

My Weekend in the Big City

This weekend I packed my little red suitcase and I took myself off on a little jaunt to the big city. With my notebook and knitting in hand I set off on my way, dashing through the rain and hopping over puddles to the British Museum, where my adventures began...

In just one day, I travelled the world and explored treasures from every continent. I started in Ancient Greece, at the "Defining Beauty" exhibition, and then moved on to Korea, and then China and onwards to Japan. 

The cabinets full of tiny things are my favourites, so many precious little objects, ancient hand crafted loveliness. 

After a tea break, I carried on to Europe, taking a little wander around the pretty jewellery and ceramics. 

By the end of the day, I think I had been in every room of the Museum, and felt utterly worn out, and my poor little feet were aching, but I had a head full of absolutely amazing things. 

After a good nights sleep, my adventures continued with a trip down to Tate Britain. I had a jolly lovely time looking around the exhibitions, and the permanent collection. 

I am home from my adventures now, my suitcase is unpacked and my notebook is full of big ideas. It's nice to go away, but it's lovely to come home again.

2015 so far...

Here we are, halfway through a crispy January, and only now am I finding myself back into my daily routines. It was a delightful festive season, and I fully immersed myself into the holiday spirit, with plenty of crochet, reading and good food. I finished my granny-a-day blanket at a nicely cosy ninety squares, which is plenty big enough for my sofa, and began a new daily square blanket on 1st January. I took the plunge with rather large ambitions to make a Sunburst square for every day of 2015, the plan being a blanket that will be 16 squares by 23 squares, hopefully finishing up with a somewhat impressive 368 squares. I am holding out high hopes for this one, I really do want so much to complete a year long project. 

As is always the way, I was completely unable to get through a holiday without starting a new project, and I am very pleased to say that I finished it yesterday - a sunburst square cushion. It was a low-concentration stash-buster project, and I am rather pleased with it. 

Some of the other adventures from my holidays were passing my driving test on New Years Eve (a rather lovely way to end 2014), turning 30 on 8th January and the mountains of tea and cake that followed it, and being enlisted as Bridesmaid for one of my most wonderful friends - I am so terribly excited, I have never had the honour of being asked before, and I hope to do her proud.

I also had a splendid trip to London with my dear husband! We visited the British Museum for the Germany and Ming exhibitions, as well as the National Portrait Gallery for the Grayson Perry exhibition, which was fabulously inspiring. 

So I suppose that after all of those adventures, my plan to hibernate for the rest of January seems completely reasonable. 

Happy New Year lovely friends, I hope 2015 is a wonderful year for you!

Off on an Adventure

London is one of my most favourite places to visit, and I'm lucky to spend so much time there. Our little adventure started on Saturday, here are some of my favourite moments...

Sunday at Tate Modern for Matisse and Malevich, followed by a visit to the Twinings shop and museum.

Monday at the London aquarium followed by the V&A Disobedient Objects exhibition, particularly liked the Guerilla Girls section, and the "Nike Blanket" petition. We had a mooch around Covent Garden too, it's a lovely place.

I love the aquarium, it's a curious and interesting environment, so different to the every day experience. 

And on Tuesday we had a second visit to the Harry Potter Studio Tour, and it is absolute happiness. 

It's back to normal today, in my stall chatting to lovely customers, and working on pompoms for Big Knit hats!

A Week Full of Adventures!

Taking a quiet moment to look back on the last week. 

Sunday - Jon Ronson at Llangollen Fringe Festival
Monday - crochet and cake in one of my favourite teashops with one of my favourite ladies
Tuesday - passed my driving theory test and celebrated with a very large piece of cake, before going to see Victoria Coren-Mitchell at the Llangollen Fringe Festival
Wednesday - Allo Darlin' at the Lexington in London
Thursday - The "Comics Unmasked - art and anarchy in the UK" exhibition at the National Library in the morning and the matinee of "Richard  III" at the Trafalgar theatre in the afternoon.