Local Hero

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

The gunpowder treason and plot,

I know of no reason

Why the gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Thanks to local hero, Guy Fawkes we went to a great Bonfir Night this evening.
Guy Fawkes was born and educated in York, so no Guys on the bonfires here!
There was a fire juggler - with his lovely assistant who had a fire hula hoop!

And a bonfire.

And fireworks.











And the safe alternative to sparklers - the led whirly thing.

there and back again

I set out early for work but paused to admire the avenue of trees, just sycamore but still they look good - I wonder who planted them for my benefit?

The leaf litter is appreciated by blackbirds, I counted at least eight rooting around as I walked along - plenty of hedges for nests around here.
















About three minutes later I realised I had left my work keys on teh shelf at home. So I turned to walk back and had the view back along the avenue towards my house.

I continue to marvel at my luck at having such a pleasant walk to work.

Travelling = knitting

I've spent a lot of time on the train today - an ideal opportunity to knit. I can listen to music, or a book or a podcast or simply reflect on the day.

The fact that I use the time productively makes me resent the long day much less.

The current on the train knitting is a minimochi scarf. The combination of a luscious yarn and a simple pattern makes for a very effective scarf.

The photo does not do this justice - I haven't seen much daylight today to take better picture.

Autumn colour

Last week I was walking to work on gloomy mornings and thinking I'd missed the chance to take any autumnal photos this year.
The clocks went back, the Sun came out and it all looks different.
It can't be bad when the path to the office goes this way.























After the workshop last week I am going to be a little more systematic about keeping images whose colour might inspire a knit. Here is a good start - a beech tree on my route.

a blog a day keeps a blogger alert

Apparently November is blogging month, so I am going to try and blog each day.

It may not always be thoughtful but will include a photograph taken that day.

I have had a few days leave this week and took the opportunity to go to a knitting workshop. Jane Thornley from Nova Scotia has an amazing eye for colour and has a style of knitting called 'freeform'.
So take some yarns you like and knit. The class was in a yarn shop, skeins in Glossop, and of course Carole had lots of beautiful yarns that would enhance my wrap.

This is where I had got to at the end of the day.












And close up:























Like a lot of knitting, it is strangley addictive; just few more rows, another repeat of the pattern, another colour. So when I came home I continued the knit and this is where I am up to today. It will be a jewel wrap.

Out and about

Back on the road (actually rails) again as I travel to meetings with teachers and colleagues.

On a trip to Sheffield on a sunny day I saw this water feature for the first time. We had arrived in the dark and travelled by taxi the previous evening, so seeing this the following afternoon was completely unexpected. It lines one side of a pleasant open space, Sheaf Square, in front of Sheffield Midland Station.
There is a cascade of water



















and a steel wall, appropriate for Sheffield, over which water runs. The wall reflects the Victorian station opposite.





















A few days later another trip to London and an early train gave me some time to kill on the way to my meetings. This building just off the Euston Road has an intriguing label over the door - "20th Middlesex Artists RV" Googling reveals they were a brigade of Rifle Volunteers for the Boer War.















Another building in the same area, dwarfed by its neighbours is Flaxman Lodge.




Tavistock Square includes a number of memorials to people including Virginia Woolf (well we are in Bloomsbury)

and Gandhi













And on to Bedford Square, which has a private garden at the centre, around the perimeter ar the ubiquitous plane trees, the lungs of London. The Post Office Tower, just visible is an important navigational aid on my wandering through this part of London.

The sculpture Driftwood is still in Bedford Square, and now slightly more weathered than back in July.












Eventually it is back to St Pancras and my heart always lifts when I see that great building, getting better on every visit as the scaffolding comes down.












Of course all this travelling means plenty of knitting time on the train. I have finished a lacy baktus, knitted in High Twist Haze from the Natural Dye Studio:











And I did finish my moebius cowl, but decided it was not long enough, so frogged the border to add some more depth. It really is a moebius loop and quite magic!

Still here

I hadn't realised quite how long it has been since I blogged.

Much has changed.

I am now working in York during the week and going back home at the weekends.
I have a new bike, which fits me much better than my old one and am comfortably cycling the mile or so to the gym for a swim. I am aiming to do that at least two or three mornings a week while in York - so far I have done 1, 1, 2 times. And increasing the number of lengths as I go.
I am living in a little microhouse - a living room with kitchen and a 'mezzanine' bedroom and small study area. And a small garden whenre I need ot do something about the weeds. Enough for me and my knitting. The house is only a mile from work so a brisk walk in the morning is so much better than the 40 minute drive in the last job.
The job is going well, working with lovely people, some I already knew and some I had heard of but didn't know.

I am still knitting.
I knitted 30 squares to go into a couple of large blankets which were raffled for medicin sans frontieres.
The top one on my pile is showing on the blanket at iKnit.













In the summer my Mum had a hip operation and spent a week or so keeping her company and helping her recuperate. I began to knit a blanket of my own, with scraps of sock yarn.
The first square was this one.
And now many more squares have been added. My new avatar at the top is a close-up.

Cropredy 2009

I have enjoyed Fairport Convention's music over the years but never been to Cropredy. Fortunately we have some good friends who have been several times before, so we were guided through the experience. We just went for the Saturday this time, maybe longer next year. There is just one stage so the plan is to get your pitch and stay there for the day, with occasional wanders to buy t-shirts, food and other goodies.















Its a great place to people watch of course:




















The music was diverse, including golden oldies such as Ralph McTell and Yusuf .















With 12 hours of music there was plenty of time to knit of course:

Relaxing at the seaside

We've been to the seaside and I took loads of pics (of course).

Southwold is a very genteel seaside resort, and so relaxing.

For words and many more pics you need to go to flickr.

Walking in London

The teaching is over but the new job doesn't really start until September. However I have the odd day to do before then and yesterday was one such day. I had to go to London.

And there was no rush so I had time to walk.

Arriving at St Pancras is always such a joy - the refurbished new-old station is a pleasure to see, with its Derbyshire brick and soaring glass roof.



I was early so had time to drop into the British Museum - and another wonderful glass roof.

And then to Bedford Square to my meeting.

Imagine my delight to come round the corner and see this:



A sculpture named Driftwood Commissioned by the Architectural Association. More about it here.

On another corner there was 'driftwood' on a smaller scale.

A heavy downpour had washed material from the trees into pattern reminiscent of the beach.

And after the meeting a wander back through the streets, taking a different route and knowing I could 'tack' back to the station that I would end up somewhere along the Euston Road.
Taking an unfamiliar turn I came across this building, which looked like the Stasi might be behind the portcullis.


It is the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, so maybe I wasn't too wrong!

Back to the British Library, I always want to walk through the courtyard even if I don't have time to go inside. And here is Newton after Blake by Paolozzi.



And finally back to the wonders of St Pancras again.

More pictures on Flickr.

Tour de France - new challenges

So that's teaching over - finished 10 days ago actually. Still a couple of loose ends to tie off but will do those this week. Since the end of term I've done some long overdue visiting to my mum and to my daughter.

Alongside that I have been knitting of course.

My current focus is the Tour de France Knitalong - we're a weird lot we knitters and sometimes we have to find a justification for sitting on the sofa and knitting obsessively. This KAL is about knitting while watching the Tour.
We set ourselves a challenge - to go for the yellow jersey and knit something challenging that may take the three weeks to complete; the polka dot jersey - to climb all those peaks that are lying unfinished in your knitting basket; or the green jersey, short sharp sprints making lots of smaller items.
I have gone for the green jersey; I am aiming to make a blanket square everyday for the p/hop blanket. So far, in addition to a couple I made earlier I have made fourteen - the last two are currently blocking, but here are the rest.



The yarn has come from a number of very generous knitters who I don't knowpersonally, it is almost all the leftovers from knitting socks. There is a fantastic variety of sock yarn out there - as you can see - much of it is dyed in such a way that you get a pretty fair isle effect without having to change balls.

That's it then ...

The hospital appointment today has confirmed my forebodings.

No more running - when the man himself says 'well its your knee so I can't tell you not to but looking at the wear .....' you can't ignore the advice.

I'll probably get an VLM place now :<(

So its walking and swimming and learning to love the bike - but I don't actually have a bike at the moment. I shall wait until I get to the new job, when I can buy one through the 'bike to work' scheme and get Alistair Darling to cough up his share.

No more running

After some real pain with my knee over the past week I have decided to give up on trying to run until some serious weight has disappeared. Although the last straw was not running but sitting on a train and driving to and from school, I have to do something.

So resting, icing and exercising the joint at the moment. To be followed by seeing the phyzz and and another hospital appointment.

To lose weight I have to find some new exercise to do that I can fit in to life while still at school. The school pool has opened for use after refurbishment, so I think that will be the way forward for the next few weeks to the end of term.

Meanwhile feet up and more knitting:

Amongst other things:

A breast to help breastfeeding counsellors teach expectant mothers about latching on.



And a couple of squares for the p/hop blanket

Back to plodding (a little)

Plodded twice this week. Only 20 minutes of RW each time - but I have to start somewhere. After all I have put in for the VLM ballot - like zillions of others. So its base building until October when we know the result of the ballot.

A little knitting too.

Some more squares for the blanket - I love this one:

And another dishcloth - this is based on a much larger version called 'Curve of Pursuit' designed some clever mathematical knitters called "Woolly Thoughts". One day I'll do the full blanket.